The amazing Diana

This week has been full of funny. Both Amelia and Diana have been hilarious.

For example, I took Amelia and Diana to Target a couple of days ago to look for Christmas gift wrap. My goal was to simply get out of the house, but my plan was to buy some cute gift wrap for the girls' presents. While we have plenty of Christmas wrap sitting around the house, almost none of it seems to suit the cute gifts we'll be giving the girls.

When I got Amelia to that section of Target which sells Christmas wrap I asked her to help me choose some wrapping paper. The wrapping paper she chose was nice, but not really what I had in mind for the girls. Still, if it was what she liked then that was what I would buy.

One of Amelia's selections was red paper with snowmen on it. Pretty basic Christmas wrap in basic colors. The other selection was a more artistic design with reindeer. This paper was pretty but full of non-traditional colors like pink, lime green and baby blue. Though I liked the paper, I thought it would be worthless unless we could find matching bows somewhere in the store. None of the inexpensive bags of bows I found nearby had any colors like those on this gift wrap, so I decided we should move to the front of the store to check out the pricier individual bows in the party section.

It was almost impossible to get Amelia to the front of the store. I did everything I could to avoid all of the toy aisles at Target, but it still took several long minutes to reach our destination. FINALLY we reached the bows and it seemed that they had all the pink, green, and multi-colored pastel bows a girl could want. I looked at Amelia, relieved that we were finally almost on our way out the door, and asked her what color bow she thought we should buy to match her paper.

Amelia looked me right in the eye and said, "White."

I don't think she had any idea why I burst out laughing. At that point, I was tired and starving and her comment struck me as the funniest thing I had heard in years.

Later that same day Amelia pulled out another gem. I had been reluctantly deep frying (I hate to deep fry because of the mess and smell) batter-coated tofu when my nose told me that I had to change Diana. Diana fought this diaper change with every ounce of her being, still I had to move fast in order to prevent my tofu from burning. After I finally got Diana into a clean diaper I rushed back into the kitchen to attend to my work.

A few short seconds after returning to the stove I heard Amelia state, in a dead-pan voice, "Diana's diaper's off." Sure enough, there was Diana standing in the middle of the family room floor holding her diaper over her head in one hand. She reminded me of a tiny Houdini and seemed very proud of her achievement.

I quickly rushed to her side and re-dressed Diana in her diaper. You don't leave a girl known as "puddles" without her diaper on for long.

The next day Amelia and I went outside to hang Christmas lights. Amelia was fun to talk to, even though she wasn't too much help. While I was moving the ladder around to the side of the house Amelia noticed the numbers near the front door. She read the numbers correctly and I was proud that she was starting to learn our address.

So I told Amelia, "You live at that address, so if you're lost and meet a policeman what will you say your address is?"

Amelia stared at me blankly.

"Amelia," I continued, "If a policeman asks where you live, what do you say?"

She thought for a moment and answered, "I live in Indiana."

Even though that information wouldn't do Amelia any good if she were lost, it was a really, really funny answer. Boy, if she met a cop while wondering around lost and told him or her, "I live in Indiana," they'd think she was very lost indeed.

Lisa

Thankful I can keep up

Our Thanksgiving vacation has been a lot of fun. In fact, both girls have been having so much fun that they never want to go to sleep. I can't remember a time when Diana fought sleep as hard as she did her first night at my dad's house.

Although Amelia's hay fever has been acting up she's been a big bundle of energy. She's driving her mom crazy by constantly jumping and climbing over grandma and grandpa's furniture. Grandma asked Amelia who had told her it was okay to jump on the furniture and she answered, "Mommy." I don't remember saying this was okay, but I guess in photographing the action (it was really difficult to catch this picture of Amelia airborne) instead of scolding Amelia I sort of gave permission for her to bounce de facto.

I have to watch what I take photos of in the future, I suppose.

Lisa

Almost as fun to make as it is to eat

Today Diana discovered that the best thing about yogurt is the squishy sound it makes. (I admit she does look a bit embarrassed about the mess in this picture, but I'm not convinced the sentiment is genuine.)

So as a tip for all parents out there - be warned that though your toddler may be secure and less than ten feet away and though you may only have taken your eyes off her for a minute or two, one little girl can make one giant mess.

Lisa

Early holiday fun

Though the week started a little rough, all of us have been having a lot of fun these past few days. First of all, on Thursday, I finally found the playground that Amelia had been asking to visit for days. I had heard from both her and her dad that the park contained a big, red Clifford dog to play on. In my mind I pictured a giant, red slide shaped like Clifford, but the "big" red dog turned out to be only a rocking toy to sit on. I guess what matters is that Amelia finds it exciting.

Even more exciting to both girls than the plastic red dog is the fact that this park is right next to a fenced dog park. Amelia and Diana were extremely excited about watching the dogs run and play. It made me think about getting a family dog (I am still searching local pounds).


Today was "family portrait" day for all of us. We piled in the car around nine o'clock and rushed off to be photographed for this year's Christmas card. The photography session went much better than I had anticipated and both girls were very good.

After we ordered our photographs we all went out to lunch. We had some silly fun there as well.

This afternoon there was a Christmas season parade downtown. Amelia and Diana had a great time. Amelia got to pat a pony before the parade started. During the parade we saw a lot of horses, some goats, sheep, doggies, firetrucks, cheerleaders, a marching band, some local public officials...you name it! This was the girls' first parade and Amelia is already asking to see another one.

Mommy has already started on her Christmas shopping, too. I hate to rush around at the last minute, and I hate crowds. I am going to try to be finished with all of my Christmas cards and all of my shopping by December 10th. Wish me luck, everyone.

Lisa

Adventures in potty training

I wouldn't want any of you to consider me a tattle-tale, but let me tell you about my most recent adventure in the on-going, potty training saga.

Monday night, as we were preparing for bed, Amelia insisted that she wanted to wear underwear to bed - not a diaper. I was very hesitant, since she had had little to no success with underwear in the past, but I concented. After all, if I don't trust her to wear panties then how is she ever going to progress away from diapers?

Still, after I put Amelia in a pair of "Happy Feet" drawers I explained to her (for the 12th time, at least) that she was not to pee in her underwear. The only places it is acceptible to pee are the potty and a diaper. Amelia said that she understood. We had this same discussion at least three times before Amelia went to bed that night. Each time she assured me that she would use the potty if the need arose during the night.

I was sure that Amelia would wake me Monday night. I was hoping she would wake me to ask for help in using the potty, but I might have accepted being awoken due to a wet bed. I was not awoken all night and was extreemly pleased to see that Amelia and her sheets were dry Tuesday morning.

At least, I was thrilled until my nose told me what had actually happened. Apparently, this girl just ignored her wet bed and went back to sleep. I would have never guessed that a girl would completely ignore being wet or dirty, but Amelia couldn't care less.

I did not scold Amelia, because I do want her to one day use the potty like a big kid. But, I did explain very clearly that you cannot pee in underwear. After my talk, I heard Diana wake next door. Amelia and I went down the hall to retrieve the baby together.

As she has often done, Amelia asked to play in Diana's crib after I brought Diana down to play with her books and toys. Amelia bounced in the crib and played with the toys there until I finally decided that we all needed to go downstairs to eat. When I picked Amelia up and put her feet on the floor I noticed a large puddle in Diana's bed. I just couldn't believe it - Amelia not only wet her own bed, but she also had the nerve to wet her sister's bed. Unbelieveable!

So I guess you know how I spent my afternoon. And you may understand why I'm hesitant to push Amelia to wear her underwear. She likes her undies and wants to wear them, but because she couldn't care less about the cleanliness of her bottom I can't expect her to see underwear as a reason to use the potty.

If you've heard enough about potty training, let me tell you a funny story about something Amelia said the other day. Yesterday afternoon as I was getting Diana ready for her nap Amelia said, "She doesn't want to take a nap." I told Amelia, "That may be true, but she still has to take one." Amelia looked at me and said quietly, "That's mean!"

I thought it was sweet that Amelia was sticking up for her sister. I explained to Amelia that mommy knows best and discussed the consequences if Diana did not take a nap. She seemed to understand.

Diana is also working on her speech a little more. Yes, her sister talks for her a lot of the time, but Diana is working on singing, "Twinkle, twinkle little star." It's about the cutest thing you've ever heard, and I will do my best to get it on film at some point. She is also an expert at saying, "One more," though the phrase sounds more like, "Un mun." This phrase is very useful when you want to hear one more story before sleep or to eat one more M&M.

Lisa (an exhausted mommy)

Getting better

You all will be happy to know that Amelia is finally getting over whatever it was that she had. Though she seemed lazy today, she perked up in the late afternoon and acted like she was ready for a trip to the park. So, I brought Amelia and Diana to the "brown park" after a trip to the store. Both girls had a great time.

Amelia's favorite thing about the park is the other children. She integrates herself into groups of older kids and acts like a part of their family. Today she spent a lot of time chasing two older boys who had been playing together. When the sun started to set I told her we would be leaving soon. She answered, "But I want to chase the boys." I reminded her that she would have most of the rest of her life to chase boys.

Diana is learning to go down the slides by herself. She gets really excited when she reaches the bottom of a slide by only holding loosely to mommy's hand. In fact, when I tried to get Diana to sit on my lap and go down a slide with me she protested and fought to go down alone. She's getting to be such a big girl.

Mommy's almost figured out how to record and send photographs with her telephone (speaking of big girls). If you're wondering about this shot of Diana, she insisted on sitting all the way forward in her swing seat and looking down as she swung back and forth. I guess plain old swinging is boring now.

Lisa

Halloween and other scary stuff

I realize that some of you are itching to see photos of the girls in their Halloween costumes.

First, let me tell you that this was almost "the Halloween that wasn't" since Amelia had a slight fever on October 30th. But on the 31st, she seemed to be feeling much better and was eager to get out and play.

We started the day by bringing Amelia to her gymnastics class in the IU cheerleading outfit uncle Mike bought her in Bloomington. This was perfect for class and Amelia looked great as a cheerleader, even though I don't think she knows what a cheerleader is.

We had a couple of choices for costumes for Diana as well. Here she is wearing one of her sister's tiaras and dressed as, well, princess Diana.

(Or princess "Minnie Pearl" based on the price tag on her head.)
Though both of the girls would look beautiful in anything, they finally settled on dressing as a witch and a cat. In fact, Amelia likes her witch costume so much that she asked tonight if she could wear it for Christmas. I explained to her that we don't normally wear costumes on Christmas - we'll see if she remembers that when the holidays roll around.

We only took the girls to about half a dozen homes on Halloween night. Neither of the girls ever managed to say, "Trick or Treat" with any degree of clarity or conviction, but they still got candy every where they went. As a bonus treat, almost every house seemed to have at least one big, friendly dog.

So I have to say that all of us had a good time. Grandma seemed to really enjoy knocking on doors and calling out, "Trick or Treat." The weather was cold, but I had a good time, too.

Neither of the girls completely understood what was going on, but they knew a good deal when they saw it.
Diana knew exactly what was in the little packages she was given at the door. She couldn't figure out how to open the treats, but she seemed very eager to get at them.

The following weekend, mommy had to go to work. Saturday was a little rough for me, but Sunday was awful and I came down with some kind of terrible cold.

The next thing you know, Amelia has the same cold, only hers is accompanied by a fever. This cold (or whatever virus it is that is floating around) zaps every bit of your strength for days if you catch it. As proof, check out this photograph of Amelia sleeping "on" the couch. I assure you that not only did the girl fall asleep in this position, but she was also snoring when I took this shot.

Daddy got the virus next. Diana had a fever today. I am finally getting better: Well enough to type away on the blog while everyone else in the house sleeps. Still, I don't want to relapse, so I'll be off to bed myself. Hopefully, I'll have the energy and mental clarity to write again soon.

Lisa