Car conversation

Scarlett is feeling philosophical.  

"Everything is where is it. 
Why is everything where it is? 
Why do some things stay where they are today?  
Why do buildings not move?"

Toddler For Sale

We've had some rough nights lately because Scarlett, our sweet angel who a few weeks ago was offering me kisses and asking to hug me extra at bedtime, has turned into a total ....  She gets out of bed immediately after we leave the room.  Like, 20 times.  She wants a drink of water, or to go potty, or for us to talk about her day again.  She wants to sleep in our bed, or she doesn't like her room, or it's too light or not light enough.  She is throwing bedtime tantrums unlike any I've ever seen, and it's exhausting us but it doesn't seem to be exhausting her.  She's also getting up at night- something she has never done- and walking out of her room.  Sometimes she goes back to bed easily, sometimes not.  I'm so tired that I don't even know if this has been happening for 5 days, or two weeks.  It reminds me of her 0-6 month phase, where we'd take hours to try and gently coerce her to fall asleep and she'd wake up again 20 minutes later.  Now, I just stand in the doorway and when she opens the door, I point to the bed and tell her to go to sleep.  I even took Arnie away for a while, but he's my bargaining chip and after that, she had no reason to stay in bed.  

I'm explaining all this because everything is a phase (right?) and soon she'll be over this, and back to being lovely and sweet at night, and I will read this post and laugh about how dramatic I'm being.  

In the meantime, here are some adorable photos of actual Christmas morning.

Chocolate mousse

Merry Christmas

Scarlett woke up this morning and ran out to the living room, asking me to turn the tree lights on.  She asked me to tell her a story, so I told her about Santa and the reindeer.  Her favorite Christmas song is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, followed by Frosty the Snowman.  Sometimes she likes 'a rum puh pum pum' she says.  As we're driving, she squeals that she's looking at Christmas lights.  Being a kid looks so fun, I'm glad I get to experience some of the winter magic with her.

The first pecan pie I've ever made is cooking in the oven right now.  I love pecan pie, why has it taken me this long to make my own?  Yesterday afternoon, we made chocolate mousse and it's waiting, in 15 little cups, to be devoured.  Where we're going for Christmas dinner, there's a hot tub.

(We're having some camera-to-computer confusion, so these pictures are actually from last week.  They're about as cute as Christmas though.)

"I like the presents."
"I love green things."
"I love this frog." (I don't know what that's referring to, because she has like 10 new frog things.)

Morning song

Singing, "Mom Mom Mom, I love you"

Stops and turns to me, says "I'm singing a song about you being a scarecrow."

Another half

Once again, it was a very cold winter morning and Heather and I did some running.  We were a few minutes slower than last year- 2 hours 10 minutes for her and 2 hours 11 for me- but lets assume it was due to the rain, the cold, and the awesome blister on my foot.  This blister is epic.  I've never run that far in the rain, but we're native Oregonians so we can survive a blustery day.

We didn't take any pictures at the race, but here's us after we've showered, changed, and had coffee. 

Scarlett did a cold winter run too.   She's much cuter when she's running than I am.

What is this stuff?

Appreciation

I wish that the reminders I get to appreciate my family and my life and my beautiful child didn't have to be so painful.  I can hardly write about what's happened in Connecticut because it makes me cry, I have never felt so affected emotionally by something that has happened far away from me.   But I will admit that I have loved on Scarlett and giggled with her and cuddled with her more over the last few days than I otherwise would have (and believe me, this kid gets a lot of love and giggles anyway).  It feels disrespectful to go on with my life and feel happy and enjoy my loved ones, when other families are dealing with the unimaginable, but if we all don't do that, then the worst people win.

So here are some happy and cheerful things.

This is my little frog, who is sitting on a lily pad next to her little frog.   She honestly thinks she's a frog.  She ribbets around the house.  Sometimes she is a fish frog, or a frog giant, or a fish frog giant, but always a frog.  She wants to eat with the green spoon and wear the green pants. 

Yesterday we were reading a story about blind men and an elephant.  And she asked, are they blind in this picture?  I said yes, blind people are always blind.  She said "They are only blind when they're outside, not inside." 

On Friday, Scarlett had her first slumber party at our home, where Hope stayed the night.  We did pedicures, and she & Hope slept in the big bed together.  Scar woke up very early in the morning, confused asking to go back and sleep in her own bed.  But otherwise, it was a huge success and hopefully the first of many.

Christmas outings

We went to see the Christmas lights at the Grotto, which is impossible to take pictures of.  But the best part anyway was the petting zoo, and as far as Scarlett is concerned, there was popcorn and a petting zoo and nothing else worthwhile.  She said she was dressed as a polar bear.  So, I guess, here are a polar bear and some goats.

And, one day we saw reindeer.  There was also a Santa there, and kids standing in line to sit on his lap.  But Scarlett was disinterested, she doesn't really know about Santa.  She knows he's part of Christmas, she knows what he looks like, she accepted a candy cane from him on the train.  She gave the candy cane to daddy, because she also doesn't know about candy canes.  Anyway, we asked if she wanted to sit on Santa's lap, but she looked at us like we were crazy.  So we ate more popcorn (there was alot of popcorn last weekend) and saw reindeer and left.  This is fine by me- I'm far too cheap to buy her presents and let her think they're from somebody else.

What else she says

Backstory: Scarlett is a library book hoarder.  Charlie is trying to convince her to return some.

Charlie: "Okay, let's return 3 books."
Scarlett: "How about this, we return two."


Backstory: I'm trying to hurry Scarlett to bed, because we have friends coming over for dessert.

Me: "It's time for bed, let's be done with that."
Scarlett: "Just a minute Mama, I'm doing something!"


Backstory: I have a bandaid on my thumb, which Scarlett really really wants me to remove.  When I do:

Scarlett: Your thumb is sticky. I like this sticky thumb. 

Zoo Lights

We braved the rain and wind and went to Zoo Lights yesterday.  Last year, we stood in a loonnnngggg line for the zoo train.  This year, the line was much shorter- because even Oregonians are afraid of the rain- and we did a quick train tour of the zoo and then left.  There's a baby elephant, but they won't let us see her yet.

Pictures at zoo lights are not a good idea, but we tried.  Why do all the characters stand in front of bright lights?  Stand behind the light!  Anyway, Scarlett hasn't inherited the fear I had as a child, of people dressed in full-body costumes.  Here she and Hope are, hugging a polar bear.

And beforehand, 'helping daddy' get the tree off the car.  Tonight, there will be tree decorating.  

Last night

Scarlett said the following things to me:

"I want to touch your big head."
"I want to stand on your painted toes."

Dear Scarlett

Dear Scarlett,

I haven't written you a letter in a while, and there are a million things I want to say.  You are growing into a smart, stubborn, very chatty little girl and I couldn't be more proud to be your mom.  You sing and chatter to me at the grocery store, making observations about everything you see.  We get a lot of smiles, because you look so cute and happy I guess, and I think I look like a pretty happy mom. Grandma-aged women in particular seem to smile at you.

Lately, you have been extra loving your mama, so we cuddle under blankets to read books and occasionally you ask me to snuggle up next to you when you're falling asleep.  Last night you wrapped your arms around my neck and said 'I love hugging you' and then 'I love kissing you'.  I love those things too!

You've regained interested in Q&A, 'what could I not do when I first came out of your tummy?' and 'tell me things little girls cannot do'. I say, you could not eat popsicles, you could not play outside, you could not say Arnie.  Sometimes you call me mom, sometimes mama. 

At night, you still ask me to talk about your day.  But it's turned into more of a conversation, where you tell me about games you played and things you saw, sometimes these events are from past days. 

You have grown so tall, you like to say "I'm as tall as you mama!"

Your favorite things are Arnie, reading books, playing with cars, and coloring.  A new activity is that you listen to books on tape on the laptop, and you sit up by the computer so you can watch the screen saver as you listen to the story.

You still seem afraid of loud noises, but now you're able to tell me that you're scared.  And sometimes, when there are lots of people in one room, you go into another room and sit in the corner with a book. When I can't find you at your cousin's house, you are usually sitting on the floor by the fairy house, quietly, playing alone. 

I just love every minute with you. 
Love, Mama

Gratitude

This morning we drove home from the turkey trot, which has become a Thanksgiving staple for our family despite Charlie insisting that he hates it. And during this drive, I told Scarlett that today we will talk about what we're thankful for.  My list is long, but here's the short of it.

1. I'm most thankful of all for these two faces.  In the car, Scarlett told me "I'm thankful that I love you" then "and, for my steamer".  I guess I'm thankful for coffee so she can be thankful for a steamer if she wants.  Her world is so much smaller, she doesn't yet know to be thankful for health or having a job or an intact family.  I'm glad that right now, her life is easy and happy and she doesn't have to worry.  I'm thankful I get to see her face every morning when she's first waking up, when she's sitting on her bed, squeezing Arnie, and her hair is all messy. 

2. I'm thankful that our friends on the opposite coast have finally gotten to take their baby home from the hospital for good, after eight months of fits & starts.  Scarlett likes to see pictures of Max and say 'And his belly is fixed!'.  The months of reading about it and worrying have led me to hug my baby even more as a byproduct of the whole situation. 

3. This morning I ran 4 miles with my superawesome sister-in-law.  I'm so so grateful to the sport of running for keeping me sane and healthy, and for Sally who really nurtured my interest when I first got started, when every run was hard and I was always heaving for breath.  She told me that it was okay to walk.  She talked me through the hardest miles of my marathon.  And now our kids are doing the kid running events, so we must be setting a good example for them.  Here they are, in this morning's running gear, enjoying animal crackers and oranges post-race.  Scarlett thinks she ran a marathon, so if anyone asks, let's just say she did. 

4. When I started this blog post, two pot pies were in my oven (I'm very thankful for crust, it would make the list if this list were my top 20) and I had a fridge full of chocolate mousse.  I feel blessed to have family here in Portland, and people who are family of my family but who have become my family, if that makes any sense.  Scarlett has real cousins and pseudo cousins to play and eat chocolate mousse with, which she did tonight, very happily, and I'm grateful for all of them.

Falling asleep

She is holding her arm, looking very concerned, and says "Mama, I want to turn my arm around and nom nom nom on my elbow."

Aquarium

Scarlett is really into frogs, and whales, and dolphins, and for months I've been talking about taking her to the aquarium.  We finally got our chance, thanks to Heather and her generosity and her family beach house.  We went to Newport in early November and not only did Heather and I run like vikings against the full-force gale winds on the beach, not only did Charlie and Dan gather MORE CRAB THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE, not only did we drink wine and play on damp, cold sand, but we also hit up the aquarium.

And we had snacks, of course.

We saw the otter feeding, and the aquarium announcer told us that the largest otter eats $17,000 worth of restaurant-quality seafood every year.  I am seriously considering becoming an otter.

We spent a lot of time in one corner, looking at all the orange fish, which Scarlett named homebah.  She still talks about homebah fish.  She would stare and point and ask, which one is homebah?  Silly, we said, they are all homebah.  We finally peeled her away from the homebah fish but then we had to walk back by them a second time, and they captured her attention again.

When she wasn't staring at homebah, she was in this position, looking through the glass on the floor.  I think she could do this for hours.

Post-crabbing, we spent several hours shelling (or, is it deshelling?) crab, which is really gross and smelly even though I love crab.  It was worth it though, because of these fine fellas:

Car games

Charlie bought a bunch of his toy cars home from Chicago and Scarlett has been playing with them nonstop.  For example:

Car wash:

 Road:

There have also been bridges, mechanics, car beds (she reads them books as they're falling asleep), and the newest one, ramp.  Ramp is a whole lot of fun because she's encouraged to let the cars go really fast and end up all over the floor.  Be careful if you come to our house, you will probably trip on a car and break a knee.

Fall blogging

This fall has felt like a whirlwind and I have skipped blogging on a bunch of things that I really wanted to talk about. I'm hoping to make up for some of that this week.  In the meantime....

Jon and Adelina got married!  It was lovely.  There are lots of pictures on their blog but here are a few you won't find there.  The theme is, kids and balloons.

Many moons ago, at our wedding, Sally and Lauren had to buy alternate bridesmaid dresses because they were both pregnant and didn't fit into the dresses the others were wearing.  Fast-forward to Jon's wedding- Sally finally had a chance to wear that bridesmaid dress.  It's so cute, I must have excellent taste.

 

By the end of the night, Arnie had drank too much and danced too much, and he passed out on the floor.  I think that means it was a success.

Vintage

Scarlett, being photo-bombed by a duck.

And her BFF, of course.

My happy little girl...  Look at how long her legs are!  She's gotten really tall lately and so many of her shirts are suddenly too short.  So she walks around the house showing her belly, which is super cute.

Welcome Back, Barack

It's nice to have you. 

Birthday Eve

Today, on my birthday eve, Scarlett has promised me the following birthday presents.

A hug
A kiss
to paint a picture of a frog
to paint a picture of a rainbow
to paint a picture of a whale
Sing happy birthday to you
Sing the frog song


The frog song is new, it's to the tune of 'I'm a little teapot' and the opening line varies.

"I'm a little froggy cute and green"
"I'm a little froggy cute and cute"
"I'm a little froggy froggy froggy"

Sometimes she will sing more, about living in a house that's clean (clearly, this isn't a real-life song), or about kissing, or about being green green green.

What I really want for my birthday, is to be happy about the election results.  Last night we talked to Scarlett about election day, which I always have fond memories of because it reminds me of my birthday.  And we told her excitedly "One of the candidates is Barack Obama!  He has two little girls!!" And then, in a much more monotone voice "The other man is Mitt Romney."  The brainwashing seems to have worked, because this morning she was excited about Obama's picture in the paper, and she wore my Obama shirt around the house for a little bit. 

If the election goes south, at least there will be sushi and a frog song. 

Apples and moons

Scar and I were reading one of our household favorites, Ten Apples Up On Top.   She asked why the bears were trying to steal the apples.

Me: "Because everyone likes apples.  People and animals." 
Scar "But not moons."
Me: "Well, no, I guess not moons."
Scar: "Because moons don't have mouths, mom."