Gemma on Easter Morning

Here is Gemma discovering the wonder of Easter eggs with a few jelly beans inside.

Honesty is the best policy

Amelia and I went to a birthday party for one of her classmates a few weekends ago. As part of the treat, there was cake and a variety of flavors of individual ice cream cups.
Trying to be helpful, I handed out the ice cream cups while the mother cut cake for the excited crowd.

The littlest party guest told me she wanted chocolate ice cream*. Chocolate? Yes, she nodded. I grabbed one from the bag and handed it to her before moving on the next child.

Then I noticed the girl's face. She appeared horrified. She had her hands up in the air as if there was a big spider in front of her instead of a cup of ice cream. When I asked her what was wrong, she replied that she had requested STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM! THIS IS CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM!

I apologized and switched out the ice creams. As I handed her the strawberry ice cream I off handed my said, "I'm sorry- sometimes it's hard for me to remember things. I'm getting old."

Upon hearing this, Amelia's head popped up and she bellowed, "You're not SO old mom! YOU'RE ONLY..."

Which is when I clapped my hand over her mouth.

She pulled the hand away from my mouth and practically screamed in her excitement, "BUT YOU'RE ONLY 35 MOMMY! THAT ISNT VERY, VERY OLD!"

Thank you dear girl for announcing my age to a whole crowd to verify that I am only a little old. Not very, very old.

*I swear she said chocolate and I confirmed it before handing it to her. I think she changed her mind after her friend chose strawberry....

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Key, v.infinity

This has been an epic year for keys for me. Tuesday, I went to pick up Gemma after work at the babysitter's house. I packed up her things and buckled her into her car seat. I didn't have a pocket, so I tossed the keys into my cup holder so I would easily be able to find them. As I shut Gemma's door and walked around the car, I hear the van beep. I was busy thinking about laundry, dinner and the impossibility of a nap.

When I reached the driver's side door, it was locked. I peered into the door to see that my keys had fallen out of the cup holder, landed on the remote, and locked the door. What is the probability of that happening? Really! I'm not sure I could do it again if I wanted to.

So, Gemma is buckled into her carseat and locked in. She is locked in with the keys. I ran through my options and then went back in the house to consult with the babysitter. The easiest solution was to take her car to our house, pick up an extra key and then drive back while the sitter stood in the driveway watching Gemma.

All in all, it worked out. I do not recommend. At least it wasn't very hot or very cold, right?

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"Sleeping in a thousand star hotel"

Title credit goes to the okiedokie brothers.

Alternate titles:

soccer game is cancelled, now what?

What should we do today?

The weather is perfect- let's go!

The great outdoors is calling, we answered

Cutie pie

At breakfast this morning:


Amelia: Hi there cutie pie! Mom! When you moved over, I saw Gemma and I said "hi cutie pie!"

Mama: that was sweet Amelia !(continues to eat cereal)

Amelia: Gemma is a cutie pie.

Mama: she is a cutie pie, isn't she?

Gemma: Numna! Aik a coo pie.

Mama: what?

Gemma: Numna! Aik a coo pie! Cu pie!

Mama: did Amelia call you a cutie pie?

Gemma: Yeah! (It is still so exciting to be understood. She is so happy and usually laughs/claps when we finally get what she is saying)

Mama: are you a cutie pie Gemma?

Gemma: Yeah! Yeah! Cu pie!


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William's field trip

Over a week ago, I was lucky enough to be able to go on William's class field trip. We went to an nature reserve nearby and hiked the woods, learned about the process of metamorphosis, and dug around in the pond for critters.

I was assigned 2 other sweet boys in addition to William. At the end of the day, I couldn't get over how well behaved two of my boys were. They listened carefully and stayed by my side for the entire day. My son on the other hand was so busy running between friends and checking out what EVERYONE else was doing that I hardly saw him!

Other than missing William, I really enjoyed putting my science teacher hat for a short period of time. We talked about trees, rocks, clouds, pond animal life and other science topics near and dear to my heart. Another mom caught me in full science teacher mode in a photo she shared with me.

It was a delightful moment when 3 little girls walked up squealing about the yucky stuff in their nets that they had captured in their nets. I took the opportunity to get down to their level and asked them to show me what they found. So we looked and poked around together. For several minutes we all poked around in the dirt water and tried to find evidence of the animals that live there (we found beetles, the hugest tadpoles I've ever seen, snails and fish eggs). It was the most amazing feeling until another little friend ran up to us while waving their net around, causing a shower of pond water to splash all over me.....

Gemma is Silly

Last week, I went on William's school field trip on Wednesday.  This required quite a bit of juggling as there are not siblings allowed during school events.  Our regular sitter watched the girls in the morning and John picked them up at lunch time.  I had to work the following day and I drop the girls off as normal.  When I went to pick up Gemma and the sitter's house, I didn't get the big smile I've come to expect.

When I put my hands out for her, she didn't run into my arms.  No.  She pushed my arms away, took two steps back and said, "No, Mama.  Dada. Broom, Broom."  This is essentially toddler speak for "Go away mom.  I want to go home with Daddy."  I'll admit it, my heart was a little sad!

Sadly for her, waiting for Daddy wasn't an option and she had to come home with me.

This isn't the end of this story.

On Tuesday when I picked her up from the sitter's house the SAME THING HAPPENED.  She told me quite forcefully, "No, Mama.  Dada. Broom, Broom."  And then she laughed.  Because she is hilarious.


______

Gemma still naps every afternoon.  Getting her to her bed has become more difficult, but once she is there, she usually sleeps for 2-3 hours.  Her latest stall tactics include:

Running away (while laughing)
flopping over on the ground
flopping over while in your arms (so much so you have to react quickly to keep her from throwing herself completely backwards)
demanding toys/books/blankets (book!  Bunny Book! Kitty!  Baby!  Baby diaper!  Kitty blanket!  Pillow! More books!  More baby!)

The most recent tactic is also my favorite.  I always try to read her a book before putting her in her bed.  Most times, she turns this option down.  She would rather play.  That is until today.  I offered to read her books, which she answered with a resounding "NO!"  However, once I started gathering up her sleepy time items, she suddenly changed her tune.

"Ree boos?" she politely asked.


How can you turn that down?  Once she found success, she played that stall technique again. "Ree mo boos?" (Read more books?).  It only worked a few times, but we may be in trouble!