Now I lay me

Little Lady's prayer tonight after accidentally seeing one of her birthday presents...

"Dear Jesus, please, please, PLEEEAASSE tell me when it's my birthday and our camping trip so I can get those books. (Long Pause). There's not really anything else to say. "
.

Making the moment

Lately I've been thinking about how we often have a lot of dreams, ideas, and good intentions but how they don't always manage to materialize. For example, you might visualize your relationship with someone to be a certain way but without putting in the effort to achieve that it's not just magically going to happen. I might imagine that Prince Charming and I, ten years down the line, are going to travel together and laugh and be the couple that never runs out of conversation. But in order to actually get that image in my mind to be a reality I have to put in the work now. If I visualize myself as being really close with a friend that won't be reality unless I am putting in the time and the effort to be there, make the phone call, etc. There have been times with friends where I have assumed that we are very close but over time I begin to realize that we are drifting or have drifted apart and usually it's because we have both been busy and without even realizing it have been neglecting each other. Sometimes it's because I've been making the phone calls, sending the messages or gifts, planning the get togethers, but it's been a one way street and I've eventually got tired of being the main person to put in the effort. In any case, I've realized that our perceptions of our relationships don't mean much if they are not based on real actions.

One of the areas where I realized that I haven't been putting in the effort to get the results I want is in my relationship with Little Lady. One of my fears about having a daughter was that we would have a strained relationship where she would feel as if she couldn't quite measure up. Sometimes since her brother was born I've been afraid that I am fostering exactly that kind of relationship since so often the focus has been on him and his sickness, achievements, etc. I know what it's like being the big sister who can't quite compete with the cute little miracle brother and I don't want her to feel the same. Although I realize it's not reality, I want a Gilmore Girls esq relationship with my Little Lady...or at least as close as reality will let me come. So lately I've decided to do something about it. Here and there I've been finding ways to connect with her as a friend and not just a mom. Looking online for dresses (she's a shopper), watching wedding movies (she's all about brides lately), etc.

Last night we had our first spontaneous sleepover and it was SO worth it! We hauled out the double bed mattress from the spare bedroom and set it up on her floor with lots of special blankets and pillows. We rented a girly movie and ate a ton of junk food. We painted our nails shades of pink with tons of sparkle. We giggled and chatted and every minute was so special. Even as she fell asleep she kept randomly giving me kisses and saying "I love you" or "You're so special". I will treasure these moments forever and hope that they are working to make the relationship I want a reality.

Oh and I almost forgot! About a week ago Little Lady made up a song all on her own...with a tune and lines that actually made sense! Her song : "Jesus is the yarn that holds it all together. Jesus holds me all together. Jesus holds me all together." A budding little song writer!

Reverse Birth Control

Recently a child free friend who joined me and the kids at the grocery store during one of Little Lady's more...demanding... days commented that these kids are birth control all on their own. And there are days when boy is she bang on. But today has had the reverse effect of my reproductive longings.

First of all in the last few days I have finally started to see the effects of some really intentional discipline on Little Lady. After feeling exceptionally frustrated with her lately we decided to change our tactics slightly to IMMEDIATE, calm, and related consequences to misbehavior. For example rather than calling her to the table ten million times we call her once and if she doesn't come we call her again and say if she doesn't come right now the toy she is distracted with will be taken away for a day. Then we follow through. All of it is done calmly and quickly. Zero yelling or delaying. It's been REALLY hard sometimes not to snap at her or to carry through when I'd really rather not or to actually discipline her when I almost feel it would be quicker, and take me from what I'm doing less, if I just continued to call. But something had to change for all our sanity so we gave it a try. On top of that we've really been focusing on good behavior and on spending quality time with her.

Anyway, today she has been an angel, listening the first time I tell her to do something and with a smile on her face. But the real boost to my baby desire came when I asked her to clean her room so I could vacuum. It was a pretty big mess from her very imaginative morning and usually she will pick up a few things and I will end up doing the rest. Since she's only three I usually feel pretty content if she just helps out with some of the stuff or does one of the jobs, like put away all her ponies. So I wasn't expecting much but when I walked in the WHOLE room was clean. It was like a miracle! My little cleaning prodigy!

Lancelot also impressed me today by beginning to stand on his own while holding an object and by walking a step or two between furniture. I feel some intense independence coming on. It won't be long until I really won't have a baby anymore.

On top of that Lancelot and her played house ALONE (with me peeking to make sure nobody was passed out or anything) in his room for HALF AN HOUR today! Well, she played house and he cooperatively crawled in and out of doors when she told him to and otherwise played with his toys and ate his feet. But nobody bit, kicked, hit, or cried about the other kid! And Lancelot, a complete mamma's boy, didn't even attempt to crawl away to find me or scream for me to scoop him up and get him back into my sight! I was totally in awe. It really was worth it to have siblings!

Now if only there was a way to skip the sleepless nights, sickness, and stress I think I'd practically be begging for another baby!

Gesundheit

"AH-CHOO!" Lancelot sends splatters of cereal off into space.
Little Lady looks up from her breakfast with surprise....
"Mommy he bless you'd all over me!"



Little Lady looks out the window.
"There's a bus!"
At the word bus Lancelot explodes with laughter
"Bus" His sister says again.
Lancelot begins giggling so hard he can hardly sit still
"Bus" Big sister repeats
His sides are splitting, his eyes are tearing, he can't catch his breath.
This continues for ten minutes.
Apparently Little Lady is an up and coming comedian. It was lost on me but the laughter was contagious!

"layme down prayers" and the magical world of Little Lady and Lancelot

I have often wondered at the wisdom my children acquire. Where do their sweet little brains go to soak up this information? Since I am a stay at home mom and my children rarely go anywhere at all without me I would LIKE to think it is all because of my superb parenting. But I doubt it. I am not a mom who uses Montessori methods in her home (at least not on purpose), I RARELY sit down and teach my kids ANYTHING. We hang out, we play, they watch me clean or come along on errands...but I don't purposefully teach anything. Of course Little Lady asks questions from time to time and I answer and sure, I try to throw in learning with the day. But it's totally casual and generally ignored like,
"Mommy I want an orange please."
"Sure. Did you know orange starts with the letter O?"
"Yup" She yells over her shoulder as she runs away.
That is the extent of my teaching. And yet somehow they still learn.

For example, this morning Little Lady is drawing at the table while I make her brothers breakfast.
"Mommy is this an E?" She asks
I walk over to her paper and sure enough she's got a bunch of E's. She has never written an E before. This is similar to the first letter she learned at about 2 and a half....one day she just wrote an H and knew what it was. She can now write several letters without any prompting at all and I didn't send her to some expensive pre-school or even a plain nursery "school" for her to learn it. I don't even home school.

She can also spell. One day while reading her Strawberry Shortcake book she asked how to spell "angel" then "cake". She can now spell both as well as the word moon and her name. Then my husband decided to put batteries in our old Word Whammer which has been laying around since Little Lady's second Christmas and has never been used. The first two words it asked her to spell were Web and Rim....she spelled them both.

And it's not just academic learning. We go to church and we pray with the kids and we have spiritual conversations between Prince Charming and I but we rarely even read bible stories to the kids. However somehow Little Lady has developed this angelic heart for the hurting and for God without a lot of prompting. After a conversation recently about how some kids don't have a mommy or daddy she has prayed daily for the "babies and kids that need us." She asks God to help us find them and today she told Prince Charming, "I'm asking God to lay the babies that need us on your heart." Apparently this kid must pick up on EVERYTHING!
She has also really been into singing to God lately. This I believe I can attribute to Sunday School though. She will make up ten minute long songs about "Pleasing the Lord, God wants you to please the Lord. Be a Trischan. Say Layme Down prayers. da da da da. Please the Lord." Tonight she took an appliance manual and sang this song "from the book" in front of the mirror for 15 minutes....naked. :o) So cute. But we don't even sing from books in our church....again...no idea.

Lancelot also seems to learn without any direct teaching. One day he just started to wave. We hadn't really worked on it...he just did it. And yesterday he started playing catch! We didn't show him. He just did it. He's 8 months old and he will "catch" the ball and throw it back! And trust me we are NOT a sporty family. This was definitely not taught!

Seriously these kids amaze me. They are beautiful and snuggly and smiley and smart and I have no clue how they got that way but I sure feel blessed that they are!

Now if only when I actually TRIED to teach them something they would do it! Like getting Little Lady to clean up her room!

Genetic Lottery.....or not

Long legs, major muscles, hair that turns heads, these are the things you WANT to get given to you through your genetic code. My kids, however, got the short end of the stick.

We went to the doctor again today...if we were American our doctor would be filthy rich, rolling in money by now. It seems we are there at least once a month. The whole office knows us by name...they even get out the special Dora stickers for Little Lady because they already know that's what she'll want. Lancelot is so used to going there he flirts shamelessly with both the receptionist AND the doctor. I say he should go for the doctor, I wouldn't mind that for a daughter in law. Of course....Lancelot flirts with EVERYONE female. I cannot take him to a restaurant or even the hospital without all the nurses gushing over him and then of course saying he can't be sick because LOOK HOW ADORABLE AND SMILEY HE IS! Right.

Anyhow, Little Lady has had a cough for three weeks straight that has not improved one iota and was starting to have me freaked out because OMG WHAT IF SHE HAS CANCER/PNEUMONIA/PULMONARY FAILURE SOMETHING OR OTHER TERRIBLE DISEASE....because yes I am that paranoid. So we traipsed off to the doctor AGAIN and sure enough it turns out that that little cold she had triggered asthma which she so luckily inherited from me. Sorry kiddo....you did not get mommy's long fingers or big brown eyes which have more than once been refered to as "Model eyes" or "Bedroom eyes" (hmm...maybe I DON'T want my daughter walking around with those eyes!)...you got her asthma. Lucky you. So every time she has a cold or allergies she's at risk for it triggering her asthma. The upside is that a) it seems to, like mine, only be triggered by colds or allergies which means she should at least not be on inhalers very regularly and b) Since I have pretty much had every inhaler/asthma medication in the book I at least understand how to operate all these weird inhaler contraptions.

Then just because I am that paranoid I asked the pediatrician if she could please check Lancelot's ears as well since he seems to be pulling on them lately and since every time he has a cold he seems to have had an ear infection and he's had a NASTY runny nose for over a week. Our pediatrician is the most amazing woman ever and even though she knows I am overly paranoid because of Lancelot's start in life she always obliges me and gives the kids a head to tow IS EVERYTHING WORKING RIGHT? ARE YOU SURE? REALLY SURE? I MEAN REALLY BECAUSE I AM SURE I HEARD HIM SNIFFLE ONCE LAST WEEK AND THIS COULD BE THE END OF THE WORLD examination just to calm my crazy nerves. So she turns to me and says, "Well it's a good thing you asked me to check because you were right. He's got an ear infection." Again. He just got off antibiotics for one two weeks ago. It turns out that this is Lancelot's lucky lottery win....his dad's ear canals. Prince Charming has strange shaped ear canals that he apparently passed on and until he had his tonsils out around grade 3 also had constant ear infections since his ears wouldn't drain properly. Of course...Lancelot also looks EXACTLY LIKE HIS DAD.... except with my dad's build and height (solid and tall). So he kinda did win the lottery there.

So we are on a new round of all sorts of interesting medications around here again. Hopefully this time things clear up quickly and for GOOD. Or at least for many MANY months and we can give our poor pediatrician a break. Then again, she IS Canadian...so she's probably poor anyway.

Miss Manners

We are eating dinner at a friends house and Little Lady is valiantly trying to be on her best behavior. It's not easy. It is late and she is overtired, i.e. in an especially destructive and hyper state. As we sit down to dessert we remind her that we don't eat until the hostess eats. Patiently she eyes her cake in expectation. As the hostess begins to take her first bite Little Lady looks at me and asks, "Now mommy?" I tell her she may begin and then turn my attention to adult conversation. After a number of minutes I suddenly notice she seems a little frantic and worried.
"Are you alright?" I ask
"I think I need a little bit of help." She says shyly. "I'm having some trouble eating every time they eat."
She had misunderstood our initial instruction and had been busily trying to take a bite every time our hosts did!

Luck be a Lady

Annoying Mom Alert: I know it's annoying to hear another mother brag about her kids but I am bubbling over and have to write. So if you don't want to hate me later please be forewarned and avoid reading ahead.

When I was pregnant with Little Lady I worried about whether we would get along. I worried that if she was a girl we would be opposites and I wouldn't know how to relate. I figured I'd get a really sporty tom boy...that would be just my luck. However, in my journal I often refered to the baby I was bearing as "my little sunbeam". It was a very accurate description of my future daughter. Little Lady is the most delightful ray of girly sunshine you will ever meet. Not only that but luck was on my side and gave me the most amazing Little Lady. She is smart, creative, caring, and the world's best shopper. She LOVES to shop with me. When we arrive home she is just as excited about putting it all away as she was about purchasing it. She'll try on every piece of clothing for an impromptu fashion show. Twirling on her tip-toes she will admire each article, her confidence glowing from her bright green eyes. The crowds and crazy mall atmosphere doesn't phase her a bit and never has. Right from her first shopping experience at 6 days old she has enjoyed the mall. For her even getting to go to the grocery store is an exciting event. Her girlish ways don't end there. Shoes are like candy and she extremely sensitive to the needs of others, always the nurturing mother. Recently we were looking at pictures of the destruction in Haiti and she asked about the kids. After I explained that some children are orphans and don't have families she quickly decided that they should then come live with us. Now she prays daily for "the babies that need us". When other moms tell me how their daughters throw tantrums if they want them to try on new clothes or I see a kid who doesn't care about anything outside their own world I can't help but think of Lorelie Gilmore standing in the doorway of her daughters room saying quietly to herself, "I got the good kid!"

In every way this girl, as much of a handful as she is, is more than I ever dreamed of in a daughter. It feels like my best friend was born 21 years late! I am a very lucky lady.

My heart is bubbling over with Joy Joy Joy

I know I am one of the luckiest woman alive. I have a good husband, a nice home, and two beautiful, healthy, kids. But I have a confession to make. There are days when I envy my single friends. My mind wanders to where I'd be if I hadn't gotten married at 19, if I hadn't had a kid at 21. Jealousy leaves my nerves jangled and my emotions a mess. What would it be like to have been able to pursue my own career, continue my education, experience my 20's the way the rest of the world does, take time to travel? What if instead of running a home so that my husband could have his dreams I was developing my own? Not that having a husband and kids hasn't been part of my dreams. It's just that I sometimes see everyone else my age pursuing their passions, going out whenever they want, working in exciting careers, and I want to be one of them.

But then, just before the blues really bring me down my kids shower me in brilliant sunlight. Lancelot brings his pudgy little hands together with a glee filled grin and claps with great gusto. "Joy Joy Joy" sings his sweet sister and he cheerily claps along with her song, a new trick he has just discovered. Little Lady smiles and after smothering us in kisses asks if I am ready for our mommy daughter date. She is so delighted about the prospects of our day it is the same question she has asked me from the moment she first woke up. See their joy? Watch how they want to be with me even when I am day dreaming of another life. I bask in their love. I am lucky. I am blessed.

My heart is bubbling over with Joy, Joy, Joy.

Tires and Tea Parties

Today I watched my Little Lady and once again was completely in wonder of her. She is the essence of the multi-faceted modern woman. One moment she was politely pouring tea from a china princess tea pot and laying out a party on a pretty pink cloth, the next she was trying to help her daddy as he tinkered on the car tires. The most amazing aspect of this is that she was in her glory doing both. How can one girl have such varied and in-numerable interests? She loves to paint her nails and play in the sand box. She loves train sets and tiara's. She loves tea parties and fixing tires. Of course she does even the more "masculine" things with a feminine flair. Creating snacks in the sand box, playing house with the trains, making sure everything is clean while daddy fixes the tires. What a gift to be so entertained by such a wide variety of activities though.

"The Future's not ours to see..."

Little Lady looks skyward with great anticipation. She begins to climb an imaginary ladder. Her laughter dances across the room like sunlight tinkling off a thousand crystals. Rainbows reverberate.

"Mommy, I'm climbing to my future!"

I wonder what she sees.

Oh Where Oh Where has my little girl gone?

The other day we were walking through the mall and Little Lady was lagging behind because she was busy inspecting everything as usual. She is such a shopper. I kept looking back and encouraging her to keep up so she wouldn't get lost. After awhile I hear....

"UUuuugggh. Mom I'm OKAY! You don't need to worry about me!" I couldn't help but laughing at this little lady with a lot of attitude. She sounded just like me at thirteen.

Then this morning Little Lady was working on a craft and picked up a piece of paper. With a look of thoughtful consideration she stated matter-of -factly,

"I assume I can cut this."

And later,

"This is a sticker so OBVIOUSLY we need to stick it on something."

This Little Lady, although growing at much to great a pace, sure can keep me laughing.

A Little Lad and a Little Lady Grow Up

I have been meaning to post for more than a month already but life has held an abundance of "busy" in recent weeks. Since my last post my Little Lady turned three and my baby boy is now a bouncing four and a half months. I thought it was time to give a bit of an update on their growth if for no other reason than that if I don't write it hear I will probably forget these times the way I forget so much already and as I watch my baby's grow from little bundles to tiny people...I want so badly to remember every precious moment.

First my Little Lad:
At his four months appointment we were blown away by this boy. You would never know that he was a baby who we could hardly get to eat and wouldn't grow. He was completely off the charts for height, measuring about the height of our average ten month old! His weight was also above average, although still lean for his height, at just under 17 pounds. The doctor said that she would let us keep him in his infant carrier til his six month appointment, even though he is technically to tall, but that by his next appointment he would need to go into a bigger car seat and she suspects that by nine months he will need to be forward facing because he is so tall it would actually be less safe for him to be rear facing even though he won't be a year! He is wearing nine month sleepers and 6-12 month clothing and my best friend calls him her "squishy" because he is SUPER cuddly and has the chubbiest little cheeks! He is a smiler. With Little Lady we had to coax every smile out but with him he just sits around grinning half the time and it only takes a tiny bit of attention to get him all out giggling. He thinks his sister is especially hilarious. She could just be sitting there eating her lunch and he'll be practically rolling with laughter watching her. Speaking of rolling he rolls from tummy to back and ALMOST from back to tumm and can turn himself in circles when lying on his back by doing this strange rocking/rolling thing. He can sit up on his own for over a minute once we've got him stable enough but as soon as he gets excited...which happens often...he tips himself over. He also started cereal this last week. The doctor had told me to start him at his last appointment already because he is so big and was already showing all signs of readiness...but I couldn't bring myself to do it until after this Thanksgiving weekend when I saw how upset and frustrated he was whenever we ate and how he was grabbing at our plates and cups for food! He is enjoying the cereal quite a bit. As for his health, as you can tell he is doing much better, but he is still rattly much of the time. I find that frustrating but I calm myself with the fact that the doctor seems to believe that this is just his normal and he will outgrow it and that it's not of concern. The truth is that it doesn't seem to affect him...but it makes me a very nervous mommy anyway. Lately it has seemed a little worse but I think it may be because he is teething. He has an ABUNDANCE of drool which is actually more like a water fountain springing forth from his mouth and he is constantly soaked. I think the extra saliva is making him more rumbly because it just sits there since he hasn't figured out how to swallow it down or clear his throat properly yet. Hopefully it doesn't last much longer so my nerves stop being so frayed!

Little Lady:
She is a handful and a half lately. I have to say that although she is becoming a beautiful little girl and is so grown up sometimes...I really do miss my toddler. Oh the whining, the whys, and the temper of a three year old! Sometimes I just want to scream right along with her. At the same time she is turning into such a sweetheart. She can be the biggest help with her brother. Getting him toys, reading him books, bringing me things, throwing out diapers. She helps me clean and cook and do pretty much anything. She is always the first to notice when her brother wears a new outfit or I've had my hair cut or have painted my nails and she is always complimentary. She can also be very sweet and considerate. Recently when I was home alone with the kids early in the morning I started falling asleep nursing. I must have drifted off because suddenly I opened my eyes and there she was beside me on the couch quietly reading her books. When she noticed me looking at her she said, "It's ok. Go back to sleep mommy." She is incredibly creative and loves her crafts, reading, and colouring. She also loves to play all sorts of imaginary games and could spend hours outside inventing things for herself. Sometimes she is a little too inventive. Yesterday I was nursing her brother when she decided she wanted to paint. I asked her to wait and she made no complaint. However, when I checked on her several minutes later she had taken out all her paint supplies, found an ice cube tray, pulled a chair up to the sink, filled the tray with water, and began her painting project. Also I am incredibly worried she is going to cut off her hair. She loves to play "spa" and will do pretend waxes, massages, and hair do's on me or her dolls. I have told her multiple times that she can't really cut hair but she has an obsession with scissors and it seems no matter where I hide them she finds them. So far she hasn't caused any huge disasters but I'm definitely afraid that one day I might not catch her in time.....
The days of getting up in the night for bathroom breaks or night mares have sadly begun. Her latest fear is funnily...tractors! I am so not a farm girl so I find it a little amusing that my daughter has an actual FEAR of tractors and I really do feel for her. But although I have a dislike for most farm animals and machinery I have no idea where she got an actual FEAR from! The other night she woke up from a nightmare and was terrified that tractors were going to get into the house. It took us forever to convince her that we live nowhere near a farm and even if we did tractors don't just randomly drive through walls...and also that they cannot open doors. She talked about it all day and had a really hard time falling asleep even after we reassured her that there were no tractors near by and that we had securely locked all doors. She even put it in her prayers "Jesus please keep the tractors locked in the barn with the cows."
I wish I could remember or write down all the things she comes up with but I would have to be writing a couple times a day. Another thing recently though was last Sunday at church when she saw one of the new baby's who is about her brother's age.
"Mommy is that baby's name Jaren?" She asked.
"Yes that's right!" I said
"Why is that his name?" All conversations now involve at LEAST one why question.
"Because that's what his mommy and daddy wanted to name him. What did your mommy and daddy name you?"
"They decided to name me SWEETHEART!"
And she hasn't forgotten yet that she wants to marry an athlete. Recently she was asking me when she could go wedding dress shopping and we were having a whole discussion on marriage when I told her that before she got married she would have to find her prince charming. To which she replied that she had already FOUND her prince charming. He was on her cereal box. The skater...remember mommy?

Well that's a little look into the lives of a Little Lad and a Little Lady who are far to quickly becoming not so little!

Let's Go Fly a Kite...

Sometimes the things little mouths say come out a little different than their original intention.

Today at lunch Little Lady suddenly stopped eating. Her fork poised in mid-air, an expression of purpose on her face.

"I need a kite." She stated with resolution.

"What for?" I ask. I am surprised at this sudden statement and the serious tone it is delivered in. We were not even remotely on the topic of kite flying.

"Nanna told me I need to go fly a kite!"

What on earth will she come up with next?

Watch Your Mouth

Little Lady learned a new phrase recently from her movie quoting father. Prince Charming was searching the house for something before leaving with her on an errand and was apparently taking to long for Little Lady's liking. From the front porch we hear her call,

"T..T...T..Today Junyor!!!!"

We really need to learn that this Little Lady is a giant sponge!

High Standards for her Highness

This morning at breakfast my beautiful little girl began asking questions that lead to a conversation about her future beau...and boy was I surprised to hear she has already set standards!

It all started when she saw a picture of some Olympic athletes on her cereal box and asked what they were called. I explained that people who participate in sports are called athletes and then began listing some sports. When I got to hockey she didn't believe me that they were called athletes so I said,

"Yes most people who play hockey are called athletes...but you don't need to marry one."

I added the last part just to be silly since I have an aversion to hockey players.

She immediately responded "But I have to!"

To which her daddy said "If he's in the NHL you can marry him."

And I said, " Don't you want to marry a doctor?"

She laughed "No! I'M going to be a doctor!"

"Oh do you want to marry a business man?"

"No!"

"a lawyer?"

"No!"

"A car fixer?"

"NO!" More laughter

"Well who would you like to marry?"

Immediately she points at the Olympic athletes on her cereal box. "I want to marry one of those guys who's getting some exercise!"

On the Tip of My Tongue...

This evening on the way home from church we asked Little Lady what she had learned. What follows is our enlightening conversation:

"What did you learn in Children's Church?"

"My picture."

"What's your picture about?"

"The tongue. It has an owie. It got hurt on the tongue."

"Why did it get hurt?"

"Betause it lied. When you lie it hurts your tongue."

"How do you make it better?"

A moment of thoughtful silence....

"With milk!"

Now I lay me....

Remember that great Golden Book with the adorable toddler on the cover, blond bangs pulled back in a clip, hands clasped in prayer? Her chubby cheeks are washed in a rosy glow and she looks like a little cherub? Lately whenever I look at Little Lady I am reminded of that book and it's beautiful images.
Little Lady has long ago memorized the typical children's prayer of "Now I lay me" and when we tuck her into bed each night she offers up this poem or a prayer of her own which involves thanking Jesus for pretty much everything....especially cookies and candy. Recently however she has expanded her prayers to "telling Jesus" about her day or asking for requests. She even presents requests on behalf of her babies. Yesterday she knelt by her dollies bed and, head bowed, asked, "Jesus please help my baby have a good sleep."
What really melts my mommy heart though is how in her prayers I get a glimpse of how she perceives the world. For example she recently prayed, " Jesus please help baby brother not to be sick so he doesn't have to go to the hosital anymore and mommy and daddy and Alli and baby brother can be home."
The past two nights her prayers have involved her nanna and pappa who are currently on vacation. The first night she prayed, (with a huge pout on her face and a quiver in her voice), "Jesus please help nanna and pappa to come home from Paradway (paraguay) because I'm crying!"
Then last night she prayed "Jesus please help Nanna come home so we can sleep in the tamping (camping) trailer. Me and Nanna. In the little bed." She is very specific in her prayers!

From the Little Lady

A few phrases my Little Lady has recently learned...


"I don't want any more cereal mommy....trust me!"

Prince Charming: "Would you like a glass of milk or something before bed?"
Little Lady: "Chances are I'll want a glass of milk."