July 2016

July 1:  We got our keys to the new house!  Daddy was in Austin this week so you and I drove to the house and met the realtor then went to pick him up from the airport in Palm Springs.  With the July 4 holiday we got to spend an extra long weekend there and we're all very excited.

We've spent 3 weekends there already.

First night in the new house!

Daddy was looking at TVs at Best Buy and you became entranced by Queen playing on one of the screens.  You threw a fit when I eventually made you leave.

Painting at Hana's house.

I love this one.

Hana's sister Divya just turned 18 months!

You love to play Rainbow Train.  This means you grab any long object, like a ribbon or blanket, hold onto the end and make Daddy or I, or both, grab on and follow you around the house while you sing "who will ride on my rainbow train....."  This is from school.  I think this must be how they shuffle the class from one place to another.

Another new favorite game is called Little Tiny Sand Crabs.  This means one of us is supposed to lay in the bed with you and pull the covers over us to protect us from the rain.  We don't even know how you know what sand crabs are.

I used to lay out 3 or 4 outfits for you on school mornings and let you choose which you wanted to wear.  Then you started adding your own outfit to my options and choosing the one you set out (obviously), so I just stopped laying any out and letting you choose.  So then you started laying out options yourself and choosing from them.  You always want to make sure I see all the options you put together.  "Come look at my options!"

Most beautiful parking lot ever?  Seriously, each individual space is separated by palm trees.  Like a little private oasis for your car.  Also, let's take a moment to appreciate the lack of cars.  This is at the Palm Desert Aquatic Center, near our new house.  Never would you find a parking lot this empty in LA.

Playing with Jack.  Look at him standing!

"Reading" a book to Charlotte.

Some days lunch just needs to be fun.

Playing doctor at Kelly's house.  Notice the double headbands (large black one on top and thin blue behind the head).  You insisted on fixing your own hair.

Lunch with Kelly and Gina.

Practicing your sewing.  I've had to make some adjustments to several items of your clothing lately and you didn't want to be left out.

Intently watching the ESPN Crossfit Games while waiting on our food at a restaurant.  Not sure why this was so interesting.

I adore this picture.  I think it's the way you are holding onto his arm.

House and yard for all your action figures.  I think the most impressive part was that we finally got all the action figures standing at one time.

We decorated the walls in your bedroom at the new house.  I am in love with it.

I also let you paint handprints inside your closet so we can remember how big you were when we moved in.

New couches delivered this weekend.  We had them approximately 32 hours before you peed on one.  Not happy about this.

Also, why didn't I just fix the pillows before taking the picture?

I promised you a splash pad Saturday morning at the park by our house.  I thought it would be smart to go early before the midday sun and before it got so hot, but when we got there it wasn't on yet.  You waited very patiently for a full hour before it started, but had a blast once it did.

Lining up all the "fairies" in their beds.

Playing outside.

Fairies again.

You were sick a couple of weeks ago over a weekend and I kept you home on Monday, too.  To make up for the sick day we busied ourselves building a fairy house.  I was pretty proud.

We put you to bed Friday night as usual and you woke up only about an hour later with a tummy-ache.  Due to all the dairy issues last year, we generally associate a tummy-ache with poop so you wanted to sit on the potty.  You did for a long time and never went so I finally made you get up and I was going to the kitchen to get you a vomit bowl to put by your bed.

As I carried you through the living room, you were concerned only with why the lights were still on.  As we turned the corner and started into the kitchen, the vomit started and I held you over the sink to finish.  At that point we were both already covered though.  Daddy helped with towels and clean clothes but you had it in your hair and I felt I needed to at least comb it out and secure it out of your face before putting you back in bed.  When I started to work with your hair you were just worried about whether or not I had washed my hands.

You made it through most of the night and woke up around 5:30 vomiting again (or rather, dry heaving).  When I heard you and went in your room you were holding the vomit bowl I'd left you, and coughing into it.  I was more than impressed that you'd even remembered it was there.

After we built the house, two new fairies "magically" arrived to live in the house.

You claimed we needed to make cupcakes for Dad's birthday.  Nevermind that was 2 months ago.  It doesn't take much to convince me we need more sweets.

One of the happiest smiles I ever see on your face is when we have a "family hug."

After I spent several hours sweeping and mopping the house the first weekend we were there, it didn't take much convincing for me to go ahead and buy the Roomba I had been considering.  We named her Rosie (think The Jetsons) and we love her.

You know most of your favorite books by heart and regularly sit in your room reading them aloud.  You get them right pretty much word for word.

I recently pulled out some old favorites from when you were a baby and you just made up your own stories for them since you didn't remember them.  Great creativity, kiddo!

YARD!!!

When we watch movies I always pop a bag of microwave popcorn and divide it into 3 smaller brown sacks so we each have our own.  You will nurse your bag for an hour or more, and if you make it to the bottom before the movie is over, you will ask for more.

Recently you want to know what ALL street signs say.  A trip in the car is a constant interrogation about every sign you see.  It's gotten so out of control on some trips I just narrate the ride in a constant stream explaining each and every sign.  When I get tired enough I tell you that you can ask about 3 more and then I'm done.  At that point you start telling me what the signs are for and you are right on at least half of them.  I guess I should just be thankful that you are listening when you ask.

This was the day you taught me how to hang helicopters from your bath caddy.  You were so proud.

Favorite mispronunciations and quotes:

"Cer-tops" = Triceratops.  This one is actually fading so I thought I should document before you stop saying it all together.  I'm happy that you are learning to pronounce things better, but I keep your mispronunciations close to my heart.

"Access" = Excess.  "My swimsuit has access."  (a ruffle)

"Make sure-ing" = Making sure.

"We fastened up" = The car sped up.

"If you ever need _______, just yell KINLEY!"  You mostly just want to be able to get what I need for me, so instead of getting my own roll of toilet paper, I should yell KINLEY!  And you'll get it for me.

Lastly, this is a follow up from last month because it was funny.  Father's Day fell on one of the weekends when we were in Olney so a few days prior I took you to Wal-Mart to choose gifts for Daddy and Grandpa.  You picked out cards and then I wanted to help you narrow your focus on the gifts.  Here's a summary of the conversation:

me:  "What do you think Grandpa likes?"
you:  "Newspapers."
me:  "Okay, newspapers.  What could we get him that would go with his newspapers?"
you:  "A newspaper."

You eventually settled on a package of Sharpies and a little locking box.  I will give you credit though, reading the newspaper is the thing he does at the end of the day when he finally sits down to rest.  You are an observant one.