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.