Conversation at the duck pond

Me: Look at the little sleeping ducks!
Scarlett: Their mama will put a blanket on them.
(We walk together for a minute)
Scarlett: They don't have a Violet to sing to them.

Pie!

Yesterday evening, after several days of potty training fails and some backsliding on the progress we've made, I told Scarlett that I wanted her to be a big girl tomorrow, and stop having accidents, and that we knew she was trying and that she could do it.  The thing is, she can control her bladder, if she wants to.  But she doesn't want to stop playing to go sit on the potty, or she wants to go but she wants to grab 13 stuffed animals and read four books first.  And by then, it's too late.  So today, we turned on a timer and every time it rang, regardless of what we were doing, Scarlett had to take a bathroom break.  And it worked.  Zero fails today.  She wasn't always thrilled, but she agreed to go.  And now I'm going to make a big sign that says: IT HAS BEEN ONE DAY SINCE OUR LAST ACCIDENT.

To celebrate, she and I walked up to the Bipartisan for pie tonight.  We planned for blueberry but they had marionberry instead.  Which was fine, she was mostly interested in the whipped cream anyway.

Big steps

Scarlett is suddenly able to climb this crazy steep thing at the park.  I don't know it happened- one day, she just ran to it and climbed up before I could think to get spot her.  She's never attempted this thing before, and I never pushed her towards it because it was so steep.  What is this called anyway?  A kid rock wall?

These pictures aren't from today, since today there was pelleting rain, and in Eugene it snowed 7.5 inches. On Sunday afternoon, Scar touched hail for the first time- after it hailed loudly and we watched out the window, the sun came out and we went outside to splash in puddles, stand under the gutter drip, and squish hail in our hands.

This week she also climbed up the rope ladder at the park all alone, and climbed into her crib for the first time.  I went into her room, expecting her to be reading books like usual.  But she was lying in her crib, looking up at me and giggling.  I asked, how did you get in there?  She said 'I climbed!'.

Shamrock Run-day

Today Scarlett took my deodorant and pretended to rub it under her armpits.  Charlie asked what she was doing.  She said 'Shaving my legs'.

Today also, I ran the 15K Shamrock Run.  Instead of the show that was predicted, we had a very cold but mostly sunny morning.  And thankfully I had these two leprechauns to run with, which kept me 1. upright and 2. moving.

March in the Rain

She:

• Is really interested in people crying.  Loves to look at the pages where Clifford or Frances cry, and ask what's happening.  We talk about being sad and she immediately counters with 'he's happy now'.  Even though he isn't, and it's obvious.
• Has been saying 'I'm a little happy'.  
• Saw a small elderly lady at the grocery store and asked 'What's that little girl doing?'
• Sat at the dinner table nicely, two nights in a row, without even trying to get up.  Tonight she ate her entire dinner.  Small victories.

It's been raining really hard for a couple days, and it's been light later into the evening, so we've taken a few after-dinner rain walks.  Her favorite new thing is the grates in the street where the water runs down.  On one particular corner, there are FOUR DRAINS and she runs back and forth between them, leaning over, pointing and squinting her eyes to focus.

This week, the Blazers fired their coach.  Tonight as we watched them beat Chicago, I told Scarlett to cheer for the Blazers, she grabbed her red & black knit blanket and shook it in front of the tv and said 'Blazers blanket!  Blazers blanket!'

Chalkboard

Now Scarlett has a place to draw with chalk, other than the places she already drew- chairs and the floor.

We've had several days of sunny weather this week, the first streak in months.  Scarlett took her 2012 inaugural zoo trip, and she's been taking walks and just generally being adorable.  Last night I read her some bedtime stories and then I asked, can I sing you a song?  She said 'No, two songs'.  So I cuddled up with her on my lap and during the songs, I told her that when she was a tiny baby, I would hold her and sing songs all the time.  A minute later she looked up and said 'I am happy right now mama'.  ME TOO!

Hello orca friends

Stripes at dinnertime

Lately, Scar has been really disinterested in dinner.  She eats 3 breakfasts, and lots of snacks and a normal lunch.  I can't blame her, breakfast food is the best!  But after her nap, she doesn't want very much else.  And she certainly doesn't want to sit at the table with us.  The scene was no different at my parents' house- their bed is just tall enough that she can climb on and off it by herself, and with all the pillows, it was far too tempting.  Who wants to sit at a boring table when you can mess up a nicely-made bed!

After she went to sleep, Lauren and I had trouble opening a wine bottle.  Which is surprising, since I have a lot of experience with that.

We did finally get the wine open, but it wasn't pretty.  Other things I had trouble opening in Eugene were 1. a two-litre bottle of Sprite to make punch (I ended up cutting off the bottom), and 2. a glass bottle of tea (unsuccessful).

Happy Cousintime

Hello, March

Scarlett has had a particularly fun week.  I think.  Fun by her terms would be nonstop trips to the park, but it hasn't really been park weather so we've been forced to get creative.  We went to the pool on Monday and she ate a lot of grapes.  Not sure which of those two things she liked more.

She did some painting, for the first time.

We learned to play musical chairs.  But in our version, there were more than enough chairs to go around.  I set the ipod up so that she could start and stop the music herself.  This teddy bear, named Peanut Butter when I was little, has been re-named Davy, by Scarlett.  I think she was probably saying Gravy, which is the name of Ramona's stuffed dog.  Anyway, Davy is really good at musical chairs.

We also took a day trip out to the Edgefield.  The weather was cold and the ground was muddy, similar to that day 6 years ago when we got married there.  Scarlett walked up and down the hallway, and carried some golf balls around the gift shop, and we had dinner.

 

The most exciting part, which Scarlet doesn't recognize yet, is that we bought tickets to see Ben Harper at the Edgefield in the summer.  EEK.