My Little Girl

For those of you who didn't know, I have a little girl who's seven months younger than Scotty. Miraculous, I know--both that I had babies 7 months apart and that I had a girl at all! Obviously she's not really mine but she accepts me as a mom substitute. She lives next door and her and Scotty are great friends so I get to see a lot of her. She's taken to spending church with me as well, walking over to sit on my lap during Sunday School or sitting in the piano bench next to me.

I got to sew this dress for her during one of my recent crafting kicks. Cute, huh?

Thanks, Christine, for letting me borrow the only girl I may ever have!

Dr. Scott

Yesh. E-BYE. Uh-oh-oh.

Sometimes Scotty's new words make us laugh. To the point where we consciously encourage his mispronunciation.

He gets us back with his Doctor routine. Whenever he's close enough to touch my face, he starts poking. "EYYYYYE" he says. Followed by "ose" "douth" "deeth" "arr" and the other "arr"...

I actually caught him on camera giving himself the check up.

Yep. All parts accounted for. Sad we didn't ask for his belly button--that's one of his favorites.

Sunny Adventures

Well it's finally warmed up and we are LOVING the nice weather! We get to spend more time outside visiting the baby ducks and going to the park.We were finally able to go to a few baseball games, which Scotty loved. He would point out the ball and cheer whenever someone got a hit. He also liked the music and chairs that flip up.

Last week we finally tamed the yard--four hours worth. I did some serious pruning and weeding in the flower beds while Eric whacked down the weeds with a lawn mower. As a reminder, here was before...

and after!

Wow, it actually looks nice! We have since sprayed the weeds so it's pretty brown and dead looking, but hopefully after putting seed down this weekend we should get some actual grass.

Yesterday, we headed to the zoo with Adree, Bryson,
Martha (plus baby minus one week!), and Marian.

Scotty still loves adventures as much as always, and he cheerfully walked almost the entire three hours. He especially liked this monkey. Long lost sibling, perhaps?

Toddlers in a PC World

I've always joked about political correctness. Now I REALLY get it.

Scotty isn't stubborn, he's determined.
He's not disobedient, he's focused on other things.
He's not obnoxious, he's full of personality!

Scotty's not mischievous, he's inquisitive.
He's not rowdy, he's animated and energetic.
He's not loud and yelling, he's expressing his verbal ability.

Scotty doesn't make messes, he's being artistic and creative.
He's not squirmy, he's active.
He's not whining--he's in touch with his feelings.

Most of all, my adorable little toddler isn't pushing my buttons and driving me crazy--he's exploring the child/parent relationship!

A song for everything

My mom has a personality quirk that I like to call "a song for every occasion." Some of my funniest memories involve my mom's random songs. For instance, about 5 years ago we took a family trip to CA as we do almost every summer. That year we decided to include sea kayaking off La Jolla Cove. As my dad is Mr. Solo when it comes to things like this and my brother was with his girlfriend at the time, my mom and I shared a kayak. She voluntarily let me sit in front so she "wouldn't obstruct my view." After about an hour I started to notice that it was getting harder and harder to paddle. I turned around to see if my mom was rowing off-time from me or something, and I discovered that she wasn't even holding on to her paddle! She was taking pictures of everyone else rowing and singing "Row, Row, Row your boat" to herself.

I told her she wasn't allowed to sing that unless she actually started rowing!

If she can't think of the perfect song on the spot, she'll often change the words to make it fit. Eric was recently treated to a "Happy Graduation" song to the tune of the Jewish folk melody, Hava Nagila.

So here is your moment mom, the one we've all been waiting for, the one where I say to myself, "I'm turning into my mom!" and even think it might be a good thing.

I just changed Scotty's diaper and found myself singing....

"He's a super stink, super stink--he's super stinky!"

Happy (early) Mother's Day.