Month 38 - Recap

My darling boy,
Hold everything! Stop the presses! Alert the media! Charles Elijah Smith has knowingly consumed both ham AND broccoli. ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes. Dessert has often been a motivator to get you and Natalie to eat a good dinner. Perhaps that's not the smartest method, but, well, we've never claimed to be the smartest folks, so it's the method we use. Up until last week, 100% of the time I offered dessert as a way to get you to eat something that wasn't found on the base of the Food Guide Pyramid, you would say something like "I'm not in a choc-wit mood" or "I not feel like eating ice cweam tonight". I, of course knew that was complete malarky. Because who in their right mind isn't in either a 'choc-wit' mood or an 'ice cweam' mood? Nobody, I tell you. No. Body.

Do you know what it took for you to eat both ham AND broccoli that first night? Was it the promise of never offering you vegetables again? Was it the promise of a puppy? Was it the promise of beating your sister in a foot race? Was it the promise of actually turning into Batman himself? No, no, no, and no. What it took was this: someone you had just recently met simply said "Oh! You should try that! It looks good!" Seriously. That's it. And it worked. *insert epic eyeroll*

I was blow drying my hair recently and you popped your head into my room. I turned off the dryer, looked over at you, and you said "I just wanted to tell you that you're pwetty." Stick a fork in me. This momma is DONE. I could barely function the rest of the day under the weight of all that sweetness.

You threw up in Target a few days ago. You had been complaining that your stomach hurt but, in all honesty, I thought that was code for "Geez, MOM! I'm tired of looking at boring stuff. When can we get to the toy aisle?" I took you to the bathroom a few times, but you still kept complaining. And then, right under the 50% clearance rack of girl clothes, you let loose with what I can only assume was every morsel of food you had ever eaten in your 3+ years on this planet. But, as I'm trying to make a point to do, I found the good in the situation.

1. At least it was Target and not another store that shall remain nameless (but happens to rhyme with Stallmart). The employees were very helpful and kind.
2. At least it was Target and not a gas station. I didn't have extra clothes with me and gas stations don't usually sell boy clothes.
3. At least it was Target and not the library. Natalie sobbed hysterically the whole time. I'm pretty sure she thought you were dying.
4. At least I was with you and not Daddy. Daddy is a sympathetic puker. I am not.

I might send Target a thank you note for helping us. I know this isn't the first or last time it's happened, but I did feel bad they had to clean it up. Later that night, you looked at me and were all "Momma, I don't like fowing [throwing] up. Food isn't 'posed to come out of my mouff." Truer words were never spoken, my bear. Food in, good. Food out, baaaaaaaaad.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

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Headlines for January 9, 2015:

• Kidnapped Toddler Rescued After Picking Up Cell Phone
• Canine Commuter Rides Bus Solo to Dog Park
• Boko Haram Uses School Girls in Nigeria Suicide Bombings
• Paul Ryan Will Not Run for President in 2016
• A 12-Year-Old Wrote a Letter to Each NFL Team – And Only the Carolina Panthers Responded

Edited to add: I totally forgot about your recap this month. You'll notice this was written four days late. Here's hoping my neglect doesn't land you on a therapist's couch one day.

2014 - Year End Review

Happy you-now-need-two-hands-to-show-how-old-you-are, my precious little peach.

You are the girl who made me a momma. You are the girl who mirrors many of my flaws and the girl who inspires me to be better. You are the girl who leaves me in stitches and the girl who leaves me wanting to pull my hair out. You are the girl my heart needed.

Here are your Top 10 lists.

Top 10 Things You Love:

1. Big kid chapter books (Nancy Drew, Ramona Quimby, and the Boxcar Children are your current favorites)
2. Singing (you get so into singing that sometimes I expect you to put your finger in your ear a la Christina Aguilera and erase an imaginary chalkboard with your other hand)
3. Church
4. Doing (most) anything with Charlie
5. Playing on my Kindle
6. Rainbows
7. Drawing (you say you want to either be an animator or an illustrator when you grow up)
8. School (thank the Good Lord!)
9. Francesca Battestelli
10. Legos

Top 10 Things You Don't Love:

1. Trying new things (sadly, this is one of my less desirable attributes that you inheirited from me. You hate making mistakes and you feel that if you can't figure something out within two minutes, you'll never figure it out. You like the familiarity and predictabilty of doing things you're good at.)
2. Beans, cumin, steak, avocados, rice, and yogurt
3. Jeans ("Oh Mommy, they're just the worst things in the WORLD.")
4. The dark (You've slept with a lamp on in your room for years)
5. Storms (they're magnified by our house's metal roof)
6. Sweating (clearly the apple did not have far to fall with this one)
7. Bad guys in movies
8. Waiting, taking turns, and sharing
9. Dresses that don't twirl
10. Bugs

Top 10 Things You're Good At:

1. Reading
2. Unloading the clean silverware from the dishwasher
3. Writing notes and stories
4. Being too big for your britches (I know it's hard to believe, but I have a mom. Daddy has a mom. Charlie has a mom. And none of those mommas are you, my love.)
5. Sleeping (except you have been known to come back out into the living room after being in your room for only eight seconds complaining that you had a bad dream ...)
6. Telling stories (your flair for the dramatic really shines)
7. Cleaning your bathroom 
8. Thinking of others (you love drawing pictures and writing notes to practically everyone you know)
9. Praying (although you don't usually like to do it in front of anyone other than Daddy, Charlie, and me)
10. Jump-roping

Top 10 Things You're Not Good At:

1. Using your indoor voice (BEING LOUD IS FUN!)
2. Playing without an audience (doing things independently is something you've always had a hard time with)
3. Being creative (And I don't mean that as necessarily a negative trait of yours - you just like clearly laid-out directions. "Make a house out of blocks" thrills you. "Make something out of blocks" frustrates you.)
4. Making decisions (it usually ends with a teary "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO PIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!")
5. Tying your shoes
6. Being sick in silence ("Mommmmmmmmmmmy! I don't FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL well! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!")
7. Thinking before you speak (this has been something we've been working on a LOT this year ... and will continue on for at least another year or twelve)
8. Differential equations (six years going strong)
9. Washing your own hair ("It's TOO HARD, Mommy!")
10. Asking for something only one time ("Mommy, can I have a cookie?" "Mommy, can I have a cookie?" You don't even give me time to take a breath before you ask again.)

This year was a pretty eventful one, my love. You started ballet, graduated preschool, learned to put your head under water in the pool, and started kindergarten (I hear your teacher is pretty rad, by the way). Some things I didn't think would give you trouble, did (swimming) and things that I thought you wouldn't like, you did (school). Both swimming and school involved learning new things, but one was met with tears and bribery and the other one was met with excitement and eagerness. This just confirms that I still haven't gotten you figured out. And that's OK. I'd probably turn into a lazy momma if I had you pegged this early on in your life.

One thing that sticks out in my mind is church. You love church. The kids program at our church is amazing and they do such a good job at feeding, nurturing, and encouraging the kiddos. A few times, you've come to big church with Daddy and me and you LOVE it. You're not a fan of sitting quietly and listening to the message, but you LOVE the singing. And you know most of the songs because you've heard them on the radio/Pandora. To watch you standing up, arms raised out, belting out the words and so openly worshipping our Great God is a humbling moment for me. You are unashamed about expressing yourself and you just look so free. It's a moment that's tucked away in my heart forever.

You are emotional, kind, helpful, responsible, sensitive, and curious. You are moody, dramatic, snuggly, expressive, and sensible. You are hilarious, thoughtful, energetic, insightful, impulsive, and nurturing. You love to learn, you love to be tickled, you love to succeed. You like to be alone, you like to be with people. In short, my girl, you are the Queen of Overreacting, the Feeler of All the Feelings, and the Follower of All the Rules. And Daddy and I are the Luckiest Parents in all the Worlds.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

December 2014 - Recap

How was this your last month as a five-year-old?!

We began sponsoring a beautiful little girl this month. Her name is Joceline and she lives in West Africa. I specifically chose her because you girls have the exact same birthday, right down to the year. So we call you two twins! You've been really interested in learning about her and where she lives. You like finding where she lives on the map and are always amazed at how far it is from Florida. We've had some pretty somber conversations about her. Like how the money we send her won't be used to buy Elsa dolls, crayons, and pizza. "What do you MEAN she doesn't have clean water?!" "How come she doesn't have medicine if she's sick? If she gets SICK, she has to have MEDICINE!" "Wait, she doesn't have a BIBLE? But she NEEDS a Bible!" This has been a nice lesson for you to learn about how fortunate we are to live where we live (a house, a safe neighborhood, a quiet city, a nice state in a free country) and to have what we have (Daddy's job, family, medicine, books, healthy food, church, education). We've sent her a picture of our family to connect her with people who she knows are praying for her, and we've mailed her some letters. You're also working on writing a 'Note-y Picture' (what you call a picture on one side of the paper and a letter on the other side) to her. One day, I hope we'll have the means to travel as a family to meet Joceline and love on her in person.

You've added to your list of future aspirations. When you grow up, you either want to be an animator, an illustrator, or [the new one] a judge on a cupcake baking show.

Me: So pretty much, you just want to get paid to eat cupcakes?
You: Yep!
Me: I like the way you think.

You were sick over Christmas, you poor thing. I don't know what it was, but it sure as heck caused you some serious internal distress. And, in keeping with Natalie tradition, you refused to suffer in silence. You whined and wailed and moaned and cried and dramatically flung your head up to your forehead. Thankfully Bob was here to play with Charlie because there was no way you were letting me out of your sight, let alone earshot. I mean, if you can't whine to your momma, WHAT'S THE POINT.

You got a neat Lego set for Christmas. In my mind, it would take you at least a few weeks to put it together. And the day after Christmas, you had successfully put together over half of it. I imagine you'd have finished the whole thing if you had felt better. Clearly you've outgrown your inability to put together Lego sets without dissolving into millions of teardrops (like you did this past summer - on a set that was probably 1/10 of the size of your new one). I like that growth, kid.

Speaking of Christmas, you are Christmas decoration CRAZY! You love the tinsel, garland, wreaths, Nativity sets, lights, the blow-up Christmas critters, the whole shebang. You've taken it upon yourself to redecorate our Christmas about a dozen times. 90% of the ornaments are now hanging precariously on the bottom third of the tree. It's, um, oh what's the word ... charming?? In my mind, I think I'd like a fancy tree, looking like a page from Better Homes and Gardens. And maybe I'll have that one day. But right now, I'm OK with my lopsided, skinny tree that's full of homemade Popsicle ornaments and gaudy snowflake ornaments (that you picked out because we just HAD to have them). BHG ain't got nothing on that.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

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Headlines for January 1, 2015:

• AirAsia Flight 8501: Searchers Race 'Against Time and Weather'
• NY Man Breaks World Record for Most Champagne Bottles Sabered in One Minute
• 36 dead in New Year's stampede in Shanghai
• Earthquake off coast shakes northern California
• American Girl's 2015 Girl of the Year: Meet Grace Thomas, Baker and Entrepreneur