Milestone. . .

Well, we've reached another milestone ~ accidentally! Gracie got her first hair cut today. . .not to even up the mullet (which seems to be correcting itself) or trim bangs (since they are always hanging in her eyes). Unfortunately, it was to remove a hand held fan from her beautiful, blond locks. Thankfully it was only a few dozen strands and no curls were involved in the mishap, but to say the least it was not fun for either one of us! All I could think to say when I was cutting out the knot was "Don't you ever do this yourself!" I must have repeated myself at least 5 times! I guess it could have been worse. . .right, Aunt Heidi:) As I am re-reading this post I am feeling pretty bad about my lack of compassion. . .I guess I should tell you that the fan blades were bendable plastic, so I did not think she could really get hurt. Obviously, I did not take in to account that one might want to turn it on and see how it felt on their head. Maybe next time I will ask her what she thinks something should be used for before I hand it over!

New favorite place. . .

We are so blessed to have our wonderful neighbor, Miss Claire ~ She lets us play with the cutest puppies ever, raid her garden for lettuce, tomatoes, & plums, and feed her horse carrots or peppermints whenever we desire. Well today she gave us another gift. . .the library! We took her to pick up her car in Castle Rock, which happened to be next to the library; as a life long teacher, she suggested we stop in on our way home. Gracie and I discussed what a library was before we went inside, as well as the need to be quiet. It was obvious that she was completely overwhelmed, and quite honestly, so was I. This is the most fabulous library ever! We bee lined for the children's area which greeted us with a special "secret" door for the kids. They had just started story time, so of course we joined the others on the floor. At first she would not leave my side, but by the second book, she was up on the rug with the other kids singing and clapping along. After the session I set her free. . ."OH MY GOSH! Look momma (with finger pointing)!" was heard numerous times by most of the patrons. I think she found every princess book in the place, including a special hand painted fairy table and chair set. She kept telling me "You go over there and I am going to have private time at the fairy table!" Now I just have to help her understand that a library has several copies of each book. I think she pulled out 5 different copies of the same Princess Book. She would look at is for a few minutes, place it on the return cart and then run over and grab another ~ wash, rinse, repeat! I finally made a xerox copy of the cover and she came running over and hugged my leg and said "Oh, thank you Momma, this is the best day!" What a precious experience. . .part baby, part big girl. I am sad to see the baby disappearing, but thrilled to be with this joyful, intelligent little person. Our topics of conversation often amaze me ~ she is so insightful. I guess it's true ~ you do learn everything you NEED to know before Kindergarten. Thanks for the reminder, precious one!

Here are a few photos from yesterday. . .the puppies are 5 week old bundles of energy!

Kisses. . .

Kisses are a big deal in our house. We have regular kisses, Eskimo kisses, butterfly kisses and now "cushie kisses". Daddy just got home and is playing with Gracie. She started screaming "I want a cushie kiss, I want a cushie kiss!" Our daddy is so smart. . .he realized she was asking for a HERSHEY KISS! I think she will forever relate daddy to Hershey Kisses since that is what he left for her while he was at the DNC. Amazing how two weeks apart make such an impact. . .she still prays every night for his safety! You are Daddy's Girl!

I'm a bad blogger. . .

Sorry gang. . . lot's of exciting stuff this week, but not much time to write. I can honestly say the light at the end of the tunnel is shining bright! No wet diapers in over 72 hours! I hope next week we will move from pull ups to panties:) We had our 30 month check up this week. . . 65th percentile for both height and weight. . .2 shots:(. . . way ahead on her vocabulary (surprise, surprise) and about 9 months ahead on physical / cognitive tests. We have been lacking on sleep this week after Amma and Poppy returned home from Disney with a new dress and pair of glass slippers! No kidding, she woke up at 5:30 a.m. for two days demanding her "Sherella" dress. Thanks, Mom! We will probably have the glitter cleaned up in a few years! You will see photos next month, as this will be her costume for Halloween. We have actually had a pretty mellow week. We are heading to the mountains tomorrow, but for you puppy nuts, I will be taking pictures for Claire before we leave. You can check her sight to find out the latest. . .Have a great weekend and please be praying for all of those in Houston. The storm is on track to go over our old house as a Cat 2 or Cat 3 hurricane. So hard to watch, but so thankful to be out of harms way!

Light at the end of the tunnel. . .

BIG DAY. . .HUGE DAY. . .Major event on the potty! I won't give the details but let's just say there was chocolate and the "advent" calendar involved. We were both very excited. I am so proud of you, Amazing Gracie ~ even if it was an accident! Now, I am just keeping my fingers crossed that this is the beginning of the end. Watch out panties. . .here we come!

Disco. . .

First off, today is puppy day! To see pics and video, click on Claire's Blog.

Next, pray for us tonight. . .After the usual lunchtime routine, Gracie went down for her nap. I was getting ready to go take the puppy photos when I heard "Momma!" I thought "OH, NO! It's only been 40 minutes!" I went in to calm her and it did not go well. I finally went to get more "milky" and while I was away it became totally silent. I was so hopeful. I stood outside her room for 5 minutes ~ NOTHING! Then I heard the call. As I opened the door I started to laugh out loud. . .Her room looked like it had a disco ball with flashing colored lights! She had found her light up "slip-slops" and was dancing around her crib! To say the least, nap time was over. This always seems to happen on nights with "big" t.v. ~ the season opener of Grey's Anatomy, other episodes of Grey's Anatomy (o.k., I can't think of any others), and now THE speech. I will be watching this, I hope you will, too. Let's educate ourselves since no one else will. . .

Strange day. . .

MORNING POST:
Gracie just came to me and said "I am going to send an email while you clean up my mess!" Unfortunately, it was not the "cleaning" part that made me laugh (mainly because she is constantly telling me to "clean it up"). I asked her who she was going to send the email to and she said "MeMe, Pappy and Uncle John." I asked what she wanted to say and she said "It will be a story about a pony and a princess and she will go. . .(she proceeded to gallop around the room like she was riding a horse)." I asked her what else she wanted to say and she replied "nothing!" So yes, this is a cute story, but more importantly, it is a reminder lesson in email etiquette. . .
1. Know your audience
2. Be educated on your subject matter
3. Be unique
4. Finally, get to the point and move on. . .(in her case, lunchtime calls!)
Funny how we can learn so much from a two year old!

AFTERNOON POST:
I am totally at a loss. . .My precious, verbal child woke up from her nap in her normal sweet, happy mood. 5 minutes later she was laying on the floor refusing to look at me or speak to me??? We are going on 15 minutes now. . .I have asked if something hurts, if she is sad or mad (which I don't think she really knows what that means). I laid down next to her and she ran away. So I came downstairs to "watch" this play out. She peeked over the bridge to find me, then proceeded to walk with her eyes closed so I couldn't "see her". I went back upstairs (because I was so baffled) and she ran to her room and closed the door! We then (one sided) discussed that it is o.k. to have private time but not o.k. to close momma out. She finally came down (mainly because she wanted a cookie) but was still not really speaking to me. I am certain that this is the first of many times, but I will admit it breaks my heart to know that one day I will not be able to solve all of her problems; that some days she may not want to share her thoughts and feelings or even worse, would feel like she could not come to me when she was scared, embarrassed, angry or lonely. . .
Lord, please show me how to establish a foundation for a relationship that she will always feel safe to come to me; one that she knows I love her unconditionally for who she is at that exact moment. May she always know that I have her best interest at heart and would go to any length to protect her ~ I guess I am praying for a relationship that is the just the way you love me. . .Thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy and undeserved, unconditional love. May I be able to show and teach that to my precious child.