is that a kookaburra in your chest...

...or are you just happy to see me?
Background. For some reason S is weirded out by doctors listening to her. She does not like the idea of the stethoscope, despite the fact that it doesn't really bother her. It's just the anticipation that's a killer.

Anyway, when she was diagnosed with her bladder infection a couple of weeks ago, we told her that the doctor was listening to the butterflies in her chest and looking for butterflies in her ears. She thought that was funny, and she kept telling me that she had a pink butterfly in one ear and a green butterfly in the other.

Then, yesterday, we had to go for her 2.5 checkup. The whole way to the doctor's office, she whined, "I don't want him to listen to me." So, I told her they weren't going to listen to her, they were going to listen to the kookaburra in her chest. (Kookaburras are the fave animal du jour.)

Now, she keeps coming up to me with her play stethoscope and telling me she needs to listen to the kookaburra in my chest. Then she wants me to listen to her chest, and then she tells me what animal I'm listening to. Sometimes it's a kookaburra. Sometimes it's "just a ladybug." Sometimes it's a mary-kat (meerkat).

This kid. She wears me out.

my girl v2.5

S is now officially two-and-a-half. Here's a look back...

0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5 (She is apparently so old now that she requires the use of a cane.)

our morning at carnton

Since I just finished The Widow of the South last week, Mel and I decided to head over to Carnton Plantation today. It was a gorgeous day outside. So, despite some hiccups the day went well.

We left late because the floor guys decided to come over this morning to give us a quote on fixing our floors. When we got there, we had to wait about a half an hour for the next tour of the house to start. No big deal. We hit the cemetery (or "cemquary" according to S) before touring the house. I know what you're thinking.

"You took a two-year-old to a historical tour of a plantation?"

Well, the tour was supposed to last between 45 minutes and an hour, and she can hang in for that long. Unfortunately, we got the long winded tour guide. Seriously. Long. Winded. We spent twenty minutes in the first room, and we were stuck in a corner. I thought S would burst. When we went to the second room, the furniture wasn't roped off, and S took that to mean she could climb all over it. When she first went and calmly sat down on an antique sofa, I was cool. When she climbed down and calmly sat on a footstool, I was cool. Then she got back on the footstool and she leaped off. Not so cool. We decided to go outside. There were outbuildings and a very nice garden to tour, not to mention that the weather was divine. So, we went out to play, leaving Mellie to tour the house, which meant I was going to miss seeing the bloodstains and the view from the back upper gallery, but that was alright.

Over an hour later, after a tour that started after ours had ended, S and I were getting a little cranky and hungry, and we had to pee. Alas, the keys to the car and my wallet were in Mellie's purse. Luckily, she finally made her way out just after I sent her a very smarty-pants text message. Really, we had a very nice time, but S is not invited when we hit the Hermitage. And, I got some nice photos of my girl.

for MoWask.
I'm not entirely sure this is appropriate. At all.

My favorite little face.
Holly Hobby in her new bonnet.
Running in the garden.

some pictures.

As if I didn't already know I'd been remiss in posting pictures lately, MoWask gently reminded me of it this morning. So, here are some recent shots. Nothing too exciting.

This is what you might see anytime you drive by our house. A kid in a bathing suit and ballet slippers. Practicing to be a ballerina. In case you couldn't tell what that was.
She's like the wind.
Contemplative. Yeah, right.
Sporting a party shirt for her potty party. With cheeks stuffed full of strawberries.
Checking out the giraffes.
Entertaining at the dinner party.
One of the cakes from my Grandma Foreman's birthday party. My sister (S2) actually made those flowers. Seriously.
Entertaining again. This time it's just a playdate.
And these? These are just for me. I picked them up today with our produce from Fresh Harvest.

kicking and screaming.

Well, not really kicking a screaming, but definitely crying.

S had her first dose of heartbreaking punishment this morning. Heartbreaking for a toddler, that is. This morning was supposed to be her last kindermusik class of the summer. Turns out, last week was the last class for her. When we got there this morning, Ms. Kelli had already put out the wooden clackers for the kiddos to play with. S took a couple and then promptly moved the basket to the other side of the room and stood guard over it. I told her that, "instruments are for everyone." No one seemed to care though, so I let it slide. Then she let one of those wooden clackers fly. I sat her down and explained that, "we do NOT throw instruments. If you do it again, we are leaving." Then she went back to guarding the basket of clackers, so I took her into the hallway, sat her down and explained in no uncertain terms that she was treading on thin ice and if she couldn't share and behave we were going home. We went back into the classroom.

Then Feathernester and L showed up. S threw her clacker and the empty basket into the air. I am pretty sure that it was just excitement, but I had told her not to throw the instruments. I picked her up, grabbed her shoes, and out we went. She was bawling. Crocodile tears pouring down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, mama."

"I want to go back and play."

"Please, mama."

"I didn't mean to throw, mama."

It was heartbreaking. I told her no. I told her that she had to learn that there are consequences to misbehaving. And now we're at home. And that is that. And I'm pretty sure I just graduated to the next level of parenthood.

so fun.

Ohdeedoh posted this. They mentioned that it would be a great little piece of luggage for a teen. Um. No. It would be a great little piece of luggage for me. Oh, I do want it. It is so choice.

Also, I mentioned it on FB, but I'll throw it out here, too. The Time Traveler's Wife. I do declare it may be the best "new" book I've read in years. Of course, I haven't cried that thoroughly in years, and my throat still hurts from it, but it was just lovely. If you haven't read it, you sincerely should. I do not, however, believe I'll be able to see the movie. I hate to cry, and I wouldn't be able to tolerate the gallons of snot and tears pouring out of me and all my fellow movie-goers.

Au revior, peeps.

hi.

I have nothing to post about really. I'm trying, but I just can't think of anything interesting to say. Since I last blogged...

• I've seen Harry Potter twice. It is good. I will say no more in case you, dear reader, have yet to indulge.
  
• We have finished the deck, but I refuse to post pictures until the furniture makes its way home. Finishing the deck was a big deal, and I find myself staring at the window smiling at it. I am so, so pleased with how it turned out.
  
• I also stained the front of the door. I'll likely get around to the back of the door and the coats of urethane sometime this week.
• S continues to be a potty champ. We've had two accidents in the last nine days. I love my child.
• We had a lovely playdate with Feathernester and L and a couple of mommy/kiddo combos from the 'hood.
• We ate at the Farmer's Market Supper at House Blend, and I am salivating thinking about the delicious food. Mel got the best entree- BLT Shrimp and Grits. Mine and M's were also delish. And the salads were divine. And the desserts were heavenly. Oh. Oh. Oh.
• I just finished reading The Widow of the South, which I enjoyed but didn't love but am still super glad I read. Now I just want to go to Carnton Plantation.
  

I suppose that's it. Pretty exciting, huh? Have a great remainder of your Monday.

oooh.

I am dying to do this. I've been looking at sun jars forever.

i wanna rock and roll all night...

...and potty everyday.

Seriously, I'm about to run out of clever things to say about the potty. So maybe this'll be the last potty post for awhile. I know you're sad, but I'm certain you'll make it. Besides, it's only 2 days until Half-Blood Prince, so most of you have more exciting things to think about.

Feathernester pointed out that a little potty progress report was due, so here it is. While we're a long way from being really, completely potty trained, my girl is doing astoundingly well. (As I say this, she may be peeing on the living room rug.) It took until Wednesday last week for anything to happen, but she peed twice on the potty that day. Thursday was the horrific day, and nothing good came of it. Friday and Saturday she pooped in the potty, but no pee. There were several accidents those two days. Yesterday, however, she peed and pooped in the potty at one sitting, which I thought was a pretty big deal. And today she's peed twice in the potty. No accidents. Of course, she scared the bejesus out of me by telling me that she pooped in her panties while we were in the grocery store. That would've been no fun, but I think she may have just tooted because there was no poop in those big girl panties.

So, here we are. Partially potty trained. It's not a bad gig, but puddles of urine aren't may favorite. The sticker chart is nice motivation (thank you, dear sister-in-law), and we are not above bribing the child with popsicles and ice cream. Overall, it's not been as bad as I thought. So far. I am not so naive as to think we're in the clear. I will say, however, that waiting until you really think a toddler can handle potty training is seriously critical. It was obvious this time around, as opposed to last summer's potty training attempt, that S could handle it. It didn't stress her out like it did a year ago. She doesn't like to have accidents (mostly because she doesn't like for her shoes to get wet), but she doesn't wig out.

That's the deal, peeps. I hope you're having as much fun as we are.

unexpected

At first glance, today should've been a good day. I need to finish the deck, which is a huge to-do, but I haven't been terribly stressed about it, especially since dear ol' hubby burst my "I will get the deck done for Friday's dinner party for seventeen people" bubble. Really, the only thing that I had to do today was go to Lowe's for more stain, and S has been awesome the past few days as I've continually dragged her in and out of Lowe's. So, I thought that would be a breeze. I called Feathernester with my brilliant plan.

"Let's pick blackberries and let the girls run around Lowe's."

Sounded good in theory. In practice, it didn't work out so well. For starters, it took 30 minutes of fruitless potty sitting before we could get out the door. Then I wanted to get cash so that I could stop by a little produce stand. I do have that little party tomorrow night, and I thought I'd pick up some tomatoes and squash. Alas, the lady in front of me was slow as molasses, and I forgot to take a magic pill this morning, so I had/have zero patience for slow ladies at ATMs and toddlers who scream from the backseat that, "Mom, we are at the bank. I want a sucker." Moving on...the produce stand couldn't sell me anything because "the cops are trying to run us off." What? Okay. Back in the car. To Aunt M and Uncle E's for blackberry pickin'.

I grabbed the colander I brought and all four of us headed to the bushes. L ate a couple of berries and lost interest. Instead, the girls thought climbing over a broken fence rail was more fun. Fine. Then S peed on herself, which reminds me, Aunt M and Uncle E, there's a pair of Cinderella panties in your yard. I forgot to pick them up. After the accident, the girls went to play in the front yard. Feathernester went with them while I mutilated my hands with thorns in my quest for berries. Then, I heard Feathernester yelling for S to stop. I assumed that S was picking on L, as usual. Then I heard the car horns. And some wailing. And I dropped the colander and took off. S is fine...she just ran into oncoming traffic. She was pretty shaken up, but not as badly as Feathernester who is probably still breathing heavily. So that was fun. The girls then proceeded to stomp in some mud and eat a ton of blackberries.

Then we left for Lowe's. In all the excitement that was trying to get two toddlers into two cars when they were both hot and one was pantie-less, I completely forgot to buckle S into her car seat. We were halfway to Lowe's when I heard, "Mom, I'm falling out of my seat." Could this day get any better?

At Lowe's angelic S totally disappeared and both of the girls thought it wildly hysterical to run shrieking through the aisles. Shoot me now. I don't deal well with shrieking. Especially without magic pills.

Once home, things got a little better until S decided to throw her entire container of play food, and when I told her to clean it up, she totally lost it. Totally. In the floor. Sobbing. I can't tell you how much I wanted to join her. But, I carried her, B, frog, and Princess Pinky up the stairs, made the bed that had been stripped because of a leaky diaper, and threw that child into the crib. Then I promptly walked myself downstairs and took a pill. Now here I am. I think I'll lie down now that I've gotten it all out.

ain't no party like a potty party

I decided Sunday that yesterday was the day to try potty training again. There was no impetus, I just decided. Granted, I'd been considering it for over a month, but it just hit me on Sunday. The decision meant that we had to go to Walmart, but that was okay. We got a new princess potty seat (the kind that sits on the regular toilet), we got new princess panties, we got princess stickers for rewards, and we got big kid wipes. We also picked up a cake because I decided we'd kick off potty day with a potty party.

So, at 9am yesterday Mel, Hillary, and Abbe showed up. We threw a candle on the cake. We sang "Happy Potty Day to you." S refused to let anyone else have cake, but no one cared because it was bought cake anyway. Then the attempts to potty train commenced.

Day One yielded zero success, but it wasn't terrible. S somehow figured out that drinking liquid leads to having to pee, so she just refused to drink anything all morning. She also refused to sit on the new princess potty seat, so that was a total waste of ten bucks. There were no accidents before nap time, but that's only because she was holding it. She woke up from her nap in a little sea of urine. Then she had a tiny accident that we never could find, but her panties were wet, so I think she may have just stopped the flow. The only big awake accident of the day came while I was at Lowe's. M took her outside to play, and when I got home there was a puddle of piddle on the front sidewalk. When I came inside, S was screaming at me, "Mommy, I had an accident." Awesome.

She seems genuinely interested in obtaining a sticker for her potty chart (thanks, Elmo), so I'm hoping we fare better on Day Two. I'll keep you posted...though I'd wager that continued posts about nothing but my kid's pee will leave my little blog completely reader-less.

Have a great day, peeps.

killing time

I'm sitting here, killing time before the beans go into the oven, and before I post about what I wanted to post about, allow me to mention that yesterday was as close to perfect as days can get. S, M, and I had a little alfresco breakfast. Fresh blueberry muffins, coffee, fruit, and the newspaper on the porch swings. The weather was divine, complete with a lovely breeze. We played. S danced on the sidewalk in a bathing suit and ballet slippers and pushed her baby stroller all around. At one point, she just sat down under a tree and talked to herself. It was lovely. Then we went to the store. Then, during S's nap, I laid on one of the porch swings and read some Harry Potter while M sat on the other swing working diligently because he's a workaholic. Really, he's just insanely busy and I forbid him to go to the office on July 3rd, 4th, or 5th. Then we had a lovely evening on Feathernester's back porch, and the only thing that would've made it better was if I could've gagged S because she would not stop whining. Other than that, a delicious day.

I digress...

...as I sit here killing time, I ran across this article. Then I had to follow the link to this one. It got me thinking about all of S's books and the ones that are our favorites, and I decided to share, but then I realized that it will have to wait. Know why? Because the rest of Team Ouiser is in the other room, and I'm going to be with my family. I hope you all do the same thing and have a wonderful 4th of July.

lucky number 500

This is my 500th post. Wowsers. You'd think I'd have something profound to say, but I don't. Being profound isn't really my thing, which is obvious from the previous 499 posts. So...back to your scheduled programming.

S will soon be the proud owner of this.

It's the Kettler Sprint Frog Balance Training Bike, which is a mouthful to say. She is much too big for the tricycle she got for her birthday. Her knees hit the handlebars, so it's impossible for her to learn to ride properly, so we're going another route altogether. I was debating between the balance bike and a bigger tricycle, and I thought we'd give this a whirl. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Beyond that excitement, there is nothing to report here. I am S-free for the day, so I'm planning to wage a war against the dust in my house. I haven't adequately assaulted it since before Relay, so things are way out of hand. Not after today. Dust, consider yourself warned.

Have a great 4th, peeps.

the recap

I'll go ahead and call Firefly a success. No one passed out from the nearly unbearable heat. No one fell in a hole and broke their ankle. No one got stuck in the field trying to park. Nothing was stolen. Oh...and some art was sold, which was the point, right?

I managed to purchase five gifts for people plus a mug, a baking dish (specifically for brie and hereby dubbed "my brie dish"), a large painting, and a face made from a frying pan just for me. I also came home with my aunt's birthday/Christmas gift for me, which is an awesome mixed media piece. I am so happy I could squeal. I've been drinking my coffee exclusively from my new mug, and it just makes me happy. Happy. Happy. Happy.

S loved meeting Farmer Jason, and she had a great time dancing with her friends Esther and Solomon at the show.

I managed to avoid any major sunburn issues, though I did miss a spot on each side of my neck when applying sunscreen on Friday. My forehead got a little leathery, too, but I think that was a dirt/suntan combination, which sounds as disgusting as it felt. Of course, nothing was as disgusting as my "festival feet." I assure you my feet have never been as dirty as they were throughout the festival. Yikes.

Okay, S is awake, and we're off to Kindermusik this morning. Here are pics of the new acquisitions, some of which you've already seen on FB.

Watching Farmer Jason set up before heading backstage.

Shyly requesting "Moose on the Loose."
Rocking out with Esther and Solomon.
Unafraid by Scott Phillips
by Steve Meadows
Five Crows by Irene Gates
by Adam Egenolf
by John Sellberg
Strawberries for breakfast. Um...she looks like a big girl today.