Last Year

Edee is playing with Daddy and Chicken in their bedroom while I'm cleaning up dinner.  All the sudden I hear from the background:

"I Not paying wit you any more!  You hit me and I yeaving!"

Edee comes into the kitchen

Me:  "What happened?"
Edee:  "Daddy hit me wit the ball yast year!  And I am YOOOO mad wit him.  Grrr!  He's so mean!"
Me:  "Last year?"
Edee:  "Yes, yast year in my room. And I so mad at him."

Soon Daddy came out and she gave him a hug and got over it.  I'm glad that she decided not to hold a grudge for something that happened "last year."

Kids

On the way to church, out of the blue.

Edee:  "You guys will be in one house, and I be in a different one."
Me:  "Huh?"
Edee:  "When I growed up. I goin' to take my kids to the playground when I grow up."
Me:  "Your kids? Oh yeah?  Even when it's cold outside?"
Edee:  "No.  Wait...yeah.  I put a playground inside a tent."
Me:  "A tent?"
Edee:  "Yeah it will be sooo warm inside."
Me:  "What a cool, creative idea Edee. You'll be a fun mom."
Edee:  "Yeah, I gonna buy my kids YOTS of toys when I older."
Me:  "Oh I bet you will.  How many kids are you going to have?"
Edee:  "Um, dis many." She holds up five fingers.
Me:  "Wow, five kids!  That's a lot!"
Edee:  "Yeah.  You, you, YOU guys will have more kids!!"

 Daddy and I look at each other simultaneously, each raising an eyebrow.

Me:  "Oh really.....how many?
Edee:  She holds up two fingers.  "Dis many.  Maybe dis many."  She struggles to try to hold up 3 fingers.
Me (to Daddy):  "I hope she really means total and not 'in addition to'."

Hush Little Baby

I sing "Hush Little Baby" to Edee sometimes.  It's become kind of a joke as I sing because after the verse that goes "And if that looking glass get's broke..." I have no idea what the rest of the song is.  So I'll make something up and see how long I can possibly go with the rhyme.  I wish I had written some of them down. At times both Daddy and I would be laughing out loud with what clever verse we came up with.
It seems Edee has caught on pretty well to this.

Tonight she opened up a book and started singing to us:

"Hush lil' Chicken don say a word.
Mama's gonna to buy you a mocking bird.
An if dat mockin' bird do-en't fly,
Mama's gonna to buy you a mocking chair.
If dat mocking chair do-en't sing,
Mama's gonna to buy you a mocking bird.
And if dat mocking bird doesn't sing,
Mama's gonna to buy you diamond necklace
And if the diamond necklace do-en't fit on you neck and da ring do-en't fit on your finger,
Mama gonna buy you a mocking dresser
And if dat mocking dresser do-en't open,
Mama's gonna  buy you cheerios and puffs
And if dose don't taste very good,
Big sister's gonna buy you a mocking bird
And if dat mocking bird do-en't lay eggs,
 Big sister's gonna to buy you eggs dat won't break
And Mama and Edee gonna buy some stuff for Chicken
and it will be okay when we get home."

I've caught her singing this Chicken a few times (er...you know, a version of this).  He loves it.

Love

Bedtime....can be a brutal time.  It can also be the most tender time for a momma.  At least for this one.

For our bedtime routine we read scriptures together as a family, say a prayer, then Daddy takes Chicken to brush his teeth while I read Edee another story.  After his teeth are brushed Daddy will carry him back and sneak around the hall corner, peeking Chicken out a few times (adorable), and we blow him kisses.  He's well trained enough now to "catch" the kiss and slap it to his grinning mouth.  Heart melt.  And now, the best part, is that when I say "I love you, night-night" he says it back!  "Ah wud-ooouuu.  Nigh-nigh".  with a little wave. Then off to peaceful dreams he goes after being smothered with another round of kisses.  L.O.V.E.

Edee often gives me hugs throughout the day and tells me she loves me (she is very particular about wording here--If I say "I love you" first, then she says, "I love you, too", and vice versa.  If she says "I love you" first and I only say, "I love you" without the "too", we have to start over.  The "too" is too important ).

Last night as I laid down with Edee in her bed I told her how proud of her I was and what a good girl she is. She answered with "You're a good mom."

Being a mom is so tough.  Some days I want to run away from it.  But moments like these....these are the moments I live for.   I'm so grateful that I'm a mom to these two beautiful children.  I've never known love like this before!

Sun

Driving in the car for any period of time with a preschooler and toddler has the potential of being brutal.  It always seems as if one kid has the sun in their face at any given time and has to let everyone else know how miserable it is.

Edee especially.

Edee:  "The sun is in my eyes!!!   Wahhhh the sun is in my eyes!!"
Daddy: "Close your eyes.  Screaming about it won't help."
Edee:  "The sun is in my eyes!!! It in my eyes!!! WAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Me:  "Turn your face the other way, Daddy will be turning the car in a minute, Edee, be patient."
Edee: "The sun is in my eyes!! The sun... is in my nose!  The sun is in my NOSE!!  Waaaaah!!!!  It's so stinky!!!"

Moments like these find me with no words.

Story

My little boy is growing up.  He is trying out most words.  His favorites lately are "ear"--while grabbing my ear, "hair"--while grabbing my hair (the way he says it sounds like ear, but I can tell which he's saying by what he's grabbing), "nose"--while violently grabbing my nose, and eye...while poking my eyes. 

Another recent favorite word has been, "Nooooo!" in a shrill shriek.  He usually says this when I take him away from a fun activity like putting beads in his mouth or prying him off of the table he climbed up on; or taking away the floss or tube of toothpaste he's trying to run away with.  And then there's the whining....lots of whining.  This all started happening seemingly suddenly.  I've had to stop denying that my little laid-back baby is gone, gone, gone.  The good news is all of his teeth (except his two-year molars) have poked through and better days are on the horizon now because of that.

Today we were telling "fill-in-the-blank" stories, where I start to tell a story and pause for Edee to fill in a word at regular intervals.  Chicken kept on interrupting and yelling out before Edee had a chance.  So, today the story was about "GooGa-DA" who went to see a "Daddy Choo-choo" who said "CHoo-choo" because he was so excited; and so on. Edee and I were rolling in giggle fits as Chicken proudly soaked in the attention with a big cheesy smile telling "his" story.  He's such a ham and I LOVE it.  

Patience

Some days, I'm not Mommy.  Instead I am Sarabi or Mean Hyena;  Edee is Nala and Chicken is Simba.  Other days I am Mushu while Edee is Mulan and Chicken is Shang or Lucky Cricket.  Or Edee is Rapunzel, Chicken is Flynn Rider, and I'm Mother Gothel (booooo).  You get the idea.  It's hard to keep track of all this; fortunately Edee is really good at reminding me if per chance I forget and get a name wrong.

Today, Edee threw in a new curve-ball and dubbed herself "Mommy", Chicken as "Daddy" and me as "Edee".   I've been having a hard time keeping this straight but had just started to catch on come snack time.

Edee:  "Edee, peease open my yogurt."
Me:  "Just a minute, Edee.  I'm getting applesauce ready for Chicken."
Edee:  "I'm MOMMY, and dis is DADDY."
Me:  "Oh, right Mommy.  Be patient for just a minute, okay Mommy?"
Ede:  "Um, Mommies don't have patience."

Ouch.
Touche.

Storytime

Most nights I lay down with Edee at bedtime to help her fall asleep.  Sometimes I'll sing her songs; most of the time she prefers stories to my singing.  Occasionally the stories come naturally to me and I'll make up something pretty good (if I do say so myself).  Most of the time they are a stretch, but she eats them up regardless.

Tonight I asked Edee to tell me a story after racking my brain for something clever and coming up with nothing.  Here is what she told me:

"Once upon a time, there was a pony, unicorn, and horse.  And dey yiked to run down da hills.  When dey were on da water a towdull..."

I interrupt:  "A toad?"
Edee:  "No a tow-dull."
Me:  "A turtle?"
Edee: "HA HA HA, Yeah!--

"A tow-dull jumped on de horse and den he got him out.  And-and-and-and-and den a monster came out and chased the princess!  Den dere was a dragon, and a nice dragon.  And-and-and da nice dragon ate the mean dragon.  And she had to take yittle bites.  And the princess was yooooo happy.   Da end."

She was SO proud of herself for that story.  It was adotable.  I am so proud of her too, what an imagination! Did I mention that she gets her story-telling skills from me?

Snuggly

Chicken is such a snuggly, cuddly little guy.  I love it.  Edee from day one of infancy was too busy to cuddle, only wanting me to hold her for transportation purposes.  She became much more affectionate in her toddler years, but I felt like I missed something without having a snuggly baby.  Then enters Chicken into my life; a gentle soul who lives for snuggles, touch, hugs and kisses.  I've commented to Daddy a few times how he's going to need to marry a woman who is very affectionate...and how Edee is going to need to marry a man who likes going a hundred miles per hour (or doesn't mind having circles run around him).

Yesterday Daddy was talking to me in the kitchen while I was making dinner.

Daddy: "I'm willing to bet that Chicken will marry a very snuggly girl, named Abby (Chicken says 'Ah-bee' for the word 'open'.  We had been hearing that word a lot lately).
Chicken, immediately from the background:  "OH YEAH!!"

Daddy and I snapped around to look at each other, a little shocked at the instant and enthusiastic response. You know that we are going to be suspicious of every Abby we meet from here on out.

As for Edee, when she's not marrying Chicken or Daddy she has her sights set on Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid.

Manners

Edee:  "Mommy, I want some more cereal!!!"
Me:  "Use your manners, please."
Edee:  "Mommy, you may get me some more cereal."

Wrong order, right intent.   I think.

Another time:

Edee:  "I want more milk!!!"
Me:  "Hey, do you have any manners?"
Edee:  "Yes."

And then she walks off.   Another work in progress.