Odds and Ends

Yesterday J started resisting sitting on my lap. He wiggles and straightens out his body as if he wants to slide down onto the floor. Sometimes he wants me to hold him up so he can jump on my lap. His jumperoo will do for about 5 minutes but after that he wants out.

Also new this week, he has started fussing when he's tired and I'm holding him. Unable to soothe him, earlier this week I just laid him down with his binkie in and he immediately settled down and went to sleep. I thought it was a fluke but he's done it several times since then. He often rubs his eye also, so that is my cue to put him down. What a blessing! I thought I was going to have to train him to self-soothe, but he taught himself!

As for Bug this is her first day in panties. So far so good. I am really proud of her. It is definitely her deal and that has made all the difference.

After lunch I was loading the dishwasher and Bug came and sat on the floor next to the open door. She started playing with the silverware. She said a spoon on one end was having a party and began moving all the other utensils into slots on that end so they could attend the party. She cracks me up.

I'm starting to see that at least some of what I tell her is sticking. This morning she brought her pillow and softest blankets to the kitchen by the sliding glass door. She told me she was sharing them with Jack and Zoey (they love to lie in the warm sun there) because "it's good to share." She also told J yesterday that he doesn't have to be afraid because God is always with him (maybe the sweetest moment I've seen between them to date). Last night she showed Hubby her continent map and pointed out where we live, where Christian the lion lives (Africa), and the ocean in between. Looking at it again during breakfast this morning she told me that if we had a mechanic and a boat we could go pick up Christian the lion, bring him to where we live, ride him, and then take him back to his home. She was also very interested in visiting Europe like Hubby's parents and also Canada (not sure where that came from) .

Something funny I don't want to forget: I bought Bug some small letters and numbers that stick to the wall of the bathtub so I could start making bath time fun AND educational. One night she stood up, held a letter between her legs, and then dropped it. She did it two more times. I asked her what in the world she was doing and with a smile she said "laying eggs."

When Bug gets out of the bath she makes two (or more, depending on how energetic she is) wet footprints on the rug while I dry her off. She says "You be Shermahock" so I, in my best Sherlock Hemlock impression, say "Egad! Footprints!" Then I speculate about what could have made the footprints (e.g. an ostrich). She grins, says "No!" and then proceeds to try to convince me that she made the prints.

Bug is very interested in all things medical. Every time she sees Hubby's mom she asks how her ouchie is (she is still recovering from hernia surgery). If she hears about someone who was injured or got sick she asks repeatedly over days and weeks to hear the story. When she sees an ambulance, fire truck, or police car on the road she begins speculating about who they are going to help and what happened to them. Playing doctor is one of her favorite things and no matter what your problem is she can give you a shot that will fix it.

Yesterday morning she told me that when she grows up she wants to be fireman. By lunch she wanted to be a stylist. By dinner she had decided that she just wants to be a mom. Equal to her interest in medicine is her interest in school and being a teacher. I'm trying to get her used to the idea that I'm going to be her teacher and that school for her will be at home, but she disagrees saying that we can both go to school and I can be her teacher there. Hopefully she'll come around by next fall.

She is also working out contractions. A while back she caught me off guard when I told her she was piddling and she vehemently said "No I amn't!" I tried to explain that she had the right idea about contractions but that amn't isn't a word. But when that little girl gets something in her head it's tough to get it out (e.g. no amount of correcting has yet convinced her that babies are fed from breasts instead of brains--last night she informed Hubby that he can't feed J because he doesn't have brains).

Bug asks me a lot of questions she already knows the answer to, often things we have just talked about. While it can be frustrating and I normally turn it right back around and ask her what she thinks the answer is (and she always knows), I think it is her way of trying to make conversation.