Tidbits

Around noontime we picked up Annabelle for an afternoon of just "us" time. Since Sophia has come into our family we haven't had as much time with just Annabelle. We started out eating at the Piccadilly.

On the way we cut through some back streets and suddenly Annabelle got excited. "That's where I went to the doctor!" she says. Then it hit me that we were indeed in the area of where one of her appointments for evaluation of speech therapy had taken place. We zigged and zagged around and since we obviously didn't go in the same way, things didn't seem quite the same after a certain point. But she was right, I'm sure, that it was the same place she had been earlier.

One conversation completely out of the blue with Annabelle, while we were eating lunch:
Annabelle: Molly cheers for Georgia. I don't cheer for Georgia. I cheer for Tennessee!

Grandmomma: Why does Molly cheer for Georgia?

Annabelle: Because she likes Georgia. I don't like Georgia. I like Tennessee. I want them to win. We (Daddy and Annabelle) watch football on t.v. We cheer for Tennessee!

Grandmomma: And why do you suppose Molly likes Georgia?

Annabelle: Because her Mommy and Daddy went to school there.

Grandmomma: And your Daddy went to...?

Annabelle: TENNESSEE!

Grandmomma: I don't like Georgia, either. I have to cheer for Tennessee. Well, sometimes I like Georgia...when they aren't playing Tennessee.

Annabelle: YEAH!

I have no idea what provoked that conversation. Georgia and Tennessee had not even entered the conversation. But so much for what thoughts run through her head.

I think she's quite good for a 3 1/2 year old when it comes to noticing direction and where she is. Really amazing to me. Of course she is quite the traveler so I guess that helps some..

And she has a good memory for other things as well. As soon as she had finished her meal she reminded me she wanted a balloon. The same lady almost always takes our tray and seats us. She always remembered to ask about the other two who were missing in the family, too.

But first, from the visit to Journey's End yesterday, she wanted to play a game of putting a small amount of food in her mouth while she had her eyes closed and she would guess what the food was. I was reprimended for not following Mommy rules for eating her food.

Annabelle: But you put too much food on my plate. Mommy doesn't put that much on it.

Usually Mommy puts a litte bit of food on her plate and requests that she at least try it and if she wants more she can have more. I'm accustomed to putting amounts of her favorite things on her plate in amounts I'm sure she will have no problem eating. That didn't work this time.

We did play our game for a few bites until she was all finished and ready for her dessert of bran muffin (the whole one she didn't want to share with me.) Then it was onto the balloon. And our kind waitress obliged by bringing her a pretty red one this time.

Since she had barely eaten the pile I had put on her plate we took the remaining food and beloved balloon home for safety and the food for her to eat later tonight. She asked that I tell Mommy not to eat the rest of it while we were gone so she could have it later. I doubt she ate it later, but that was her request.

Then it was on to Stone Mountain. She kept telling her Granddaddy he was going the wrong way. And he was because he had turned too early and we had to change our route. She knew this wasn't the way to Stone Mountain because Daddy didn't go that way. He takes her out there on Saturdays sometimes...enough that she knows her way....maybe. Every turn we made brought on the same statement. We weren't going the right way, Granddaddy. At one point she even reminded me we couldn't go that way because we had to stop by Publix to get some hotdog buns or some cereal or something to feed the ducks. And, of course, we didn't turn the right way to go into the park. She's such a little back-seat driver. When she drives she's going to have to be behind the wheel because only she and her Daddy know how to get there.

At one point I told her we were going to let her drive next time, to which she replied in a soft little voice, "But I'm not old enough to drive!"

After a few real life unintentional mis-turns and Granddaddy not following her directions we finally made it down to the lake for her to feed the ducks. Four baby ducks, or four young ducks I should say, and their Mommy attached themselves to us. We figured the biggest duck was "Mommy Duck" because she stayed right on them and she would quack her warnings out to the babies. I'm sure she was telling them, "Don't get too close to that little girl. You don't know if she's your friend or enemy. Stay back. Don't fight over the food. Let me have a chance for a bite of it." There were several other bigger ducks out wanting so much to be able to get their share.
Mommy Duck was determined they wouldn't bully her babies around. After she was more comfortable with us being around, she would turn herself around, duck her head low and she would fly out at the others, keeping them away from her babies and their feeding time.

Even the sassy Blue Jays were perched in the trees waiting for their chance to swoop down to eat their share. They got very few chances because those babies were on that food as soon as it hit the ground. We had to throw Mommy Duck her food above the heads of the babies.

A couple of times Annabelle apparently got a bit generous with the amount she threw and Mommy Duck grabbed up the big piece and moved down into the edge of the water where she promptly ducked her bill down into the water to make sure it was soft enough for her to eat without choking. Maybe she was teaching her babies a lesson or maybe she knew it was too much for her, but she did this several time. Quite interesting.

Granddaddy had just pulled our chairs out so we could enjoy watching the ducks and Annabelle when she decided she had to go potty. Since we didn't have the portable potty with us (one thing I had forgotten to ask for) we had to pack everything up and go back up the hill to the potty.
We had enjoyed the ducks already for a good bit of time, so instead of returning to the lake, she decided she wanted to walk down to the grist mill. Well, she thought she wanted to go to the grist mill. She really just wanted to walk along on the ledges and run ahead of me. She and I spent a good amount of time just running (that would be her, not me) along and just enjoying ourselves.I kept reminding her I no longer could move as fast as she moves. I was really afraid she would fall on the stone steps and get hurt, but she didn't seem to see the danger.

She found a bit of sand in one area and decided she needed to stop and play in it. She wanted to take her shoes off, but I discouraged that, so she promptly just pour the sand over her entire shoe, down into her socks and shoes. Uggg!

We stayed down there for a good while and then finally I convinced her we needed to move back up to where Granddaddy was waiting in the car. I never realized just how old I'm getting until I tried to keep up with her coming and going to and from that car. I was completely exhausted by
the time we got back to Granddaddy.

One other thought, when we pulled into the parking spot to go to the bathroom, beside us was a pretty little convertible, top down and all. She said, "I like dat car!" I'm sure she did and I'm sure that will be one of those things in life that will totally drive her Mommy to her wits end once she gets her very own convertible. She's already showing signs of being a wild woman in her future years.

The train came by while we were turning to go down to feed the ducks, earlier. She decided she was through with the ducks for now and she wanted to go down near the train tracks. She also stated she wanted to ride the train, but we talked her into waiting another time for that. She said she hasn't ridden on it before and I thought maybe Mommy and Daddy wanted to be there for that. She agreed.

She kept telling us we couldn't park in the parking lot near the train. We had to walk. Well, I can't tell you how excited I was about that. Apparently she was right. We never found a close enough parking spot for poor-worn-out Grandmomma to make the trip down to the train tracks. I was informed we could call Daddy. He knows where it is. Apparently everything about Stone Mountain is within Daddy's realm of knowledge. She said Mommy wouldn't know. Daddy would.

Before we left the park we made one final round to feed the ducks. Armed with one hot dog bun we started out for the ducks, but not before she wanted to share with me the special place she and Daddy walked.

Annabelle: I'll show you where we walk. (Annabelle and Daddy).

Grandmomma: I'm really tired, Annabelle, maybe next time.

At this point we were out of the car and she was headed toward the fenced-in area leading to the area where they walked. I followed. And, of course, she had to hug a tree. A small tree. For a picture to remember earlier years when she had hugged a big tree for a picture. This was her idea. On the way out I pointed out the tree I thought she had hugged when she was younger. She looked at it and decided I wasn't right. It was too big. I guess we'll have to pull out the old pictures to jolt her memory.

On the way back to the car at the end of the day she said, "Grandmomma, do you think you and Grandaddy can come back and get me tomorrow? Maybe for three hours." (At least it wasn't her usual favorite numbers of 28-now-27!) Of course that made me feel good because she had enjoyed her time with us.

Finally we were on the way home with a tired little girl in the back seat. She kept rubbing her eyes and she had started coughing. That started up while we were walking down near the grist mill. She said, "I think I'm getting sick again."

She really wanted to go to sleep on the way home, but I didn't want to mess up her bedtime this late in the game so we engaged her in a conversation about what the Mommy Duck probably said to her babies when she was quacking at them.

Annabelle: What do you think she said to them, Grandmomma?

Grandmomma: Don't get too close to her. She might want to grab you and eat you!

Annabelle: What else did she say, Grandmomma?

Grandmomma: Don't be greedy!

On and on this conversation went. After exhausting all my thoughts on what Mommy Duck would/could have said/thought, I asked Granddaddy what he thought Mommy Duck had said. He thought for a moment and then said,

Granddaddy: She probably said, You better eat all your dinner. I'm not cooking again today.

Now, where did that come from? Out of the mouths of three and a half year olds and Granddaddys...

When we had talked earlier about whether she was ready to go home or not she had said, no, she wasn't ready, but then finally she said she was ready. She wanted to go home to see Mommy and Sophia.

Every good thing has to end eventually. And it was a good day for all. That's all that counts.

Ambitious

I've wanted to change the heading to my blog for a while and couldn't get up the courage to do so, until now. I decided if I could make my mini-scrapbooking cards, I should be able to do something with it. So, since I was awake at 2:00 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep I decided to attempt to tackle the job to see if indeed I could do it.

I was a bit nervous because I was afraid I would do something to erase the entire blog and I would be really hurting because I would miss my previous thoughts.

I get a kick seeing a cute 3 year old covering her little face with cake batter while licking the mixer spatula clean. And I managed to steal the most recent one I've seen of the new little two plus month old Little Princess #2 from her Mommy's blog. I found one of The Analyzer reading his book out in the park while they were on their six-week vacation to New York last summer to meet up with friends they made when they lived in Jersey a few years earlier. He's grown quite a bit, but I still love the picture of him. Little Free Spirit assumed the role of Harry Potter in the picture of him. This was made around Halloween this past year. Isn't he adorable in his glasses. He doesn't really wear them in real life, but he's still a cutie. And Beautiful Blue Eyes is simply cute as a bug in a rug while he tries to dig a hole to China when they were at the beach early part of summer last year. I could have chosen a few of this little mess because he is a clown, but I liked the beach pose best.

I have to revert to old pictures sometimes because I can never get their cute little faces if I really want to take one of them.

I am still being a bit conservative in what I add such as I haven't figured out how to add the papers along the side and I haven't figured out how to make my writings move on the paper below, but who knows, someday I may even tackle something like that.

Maybe, but I doubt it, I might just change the pictures before the kids reach high school or graduate from college. For now I've quite pleased with myself...Simple and all.

But it certainly took me long enough to get this much perfected to the point I was willing to post the header. I know it's not really perfect, but for me it is just fine. Many hours early this morning and all day today produced these results. Oh well.

I did leave out one of the girls...Sophie the doggy that belongs to the boys. Room was very scarce, so somebody had to go and it was Sophie the pup, not Sophia the baby girl.

Gotta write about it

About three weeks or so we were visiting the girls at their house. Mommy had decided she needed to break out a bathing suit. Since she had only given birth a few short weeks before, she was skeptical about how she would look in her bathing suit. Apparently she went up into the attic to find the previous one she had stored up there. At least I thought that was what it was, maybe not. That's not important. She was just in the attic for something.

Annabelle comes running into the living room and says, "Grandmomma, I think you need to write about that!"
What was I to write about? Mommy had hit her head on a rafter or something and Annabelle thought it was very funny. I'm not sure what salty language Mommy used, or if she did say anything at all, but Annabelle thought it needed to be documented.

One time several months ago, and before Sophia, I was trying to give her a choice of pictures we would work up and I would make into cute 5 X 7 mini-scrapbooking pages to cover special things or pictures we had of her. As I was writing down the particular number of photos (which, I might add, was pretty much all the pictures we viewed!). somehow I got side-tracked and didn't mark down one she thought was worthy of scrapping. I had told her earlier where she could look to see the number of the picture on the computer. I hadn't written down the one she "liked" and after telling her I didn't know if I had written it down or not, when I came back to my notes I found little scribbling just below the last number I had written down. She was determined I would not miss one of her favorite pictures. Apparently she didn't find a number on my list that matched the computer. So funny.

Does any of this tell you which way our conversation goes when we're around her? Write it down, write it down, write it down.

Got it right

Tonight the girls, all three of them, had dinner with us. This was the conversation about what I served:

Annabelle: Grandmomma, you fixed the right chicken tonight!
Grandmomma: I did?
Annabelle: Yes it is my favorite!

That was nice to know I had pleased my sweet granddaughter.

And what kind of chicken did I fix, you ask?
It was Barber Foods, Creme Brie and Apple, filled with Brie, cheddar, & Mozzarella cheeses, sliced apples and cranberries.

It just happens to be the favorite of her Grandmomma, Granddaddy and now her Mommy as well as Annabelle. You just can't beat it. But don't go stealing it from my stores. I could only get it from Sam's for the longest time, and only there around Christmas time. And, not all Sam's stores carry it. It was a seasonal item from them. Why? I have no idea. It is sooo good.

I bought up a bunch of it at full pice at Sam's when it came out Christmas this past year and then found it at a much reduced price just as the season was closing out. I went back to get more (yeah, I'm greedy, but I love what I love) and someone had wiped out the whole case! Someone was much greedier than I because I would have left a little bit. But Publix has started stocking them in a two-piece package. I bought several when they had them on special recently with a coupon from Barber. The woman who helped me find them told me if they kept selling them they would keep stocking them, so it makes sense to me to keep buying them. Some Publix stores were more difficult to find them in because they apparently had already sold out or were close to it by the time I got there.

One of these days I am planning to work up my own recipe, casserole style, using what Annabelle calls "Nonnie's Chicken". It just takes time and for me to be in the mood, plus cooler weather, for me to spend my time one it, but I'm telling you folks, I will make myself independent of that company one day!

Until then, we'll keep trying to buy them at the best price possible.

I have to agree with Annabelle, they are the best!

The taste of a three-year old

Monday,March 8, 2010

Today was one of the nicest days we have had in a few days so Annabelle's Mommy invited us to go to the zoo with them.

In the middle of busy traffic, headed through downtown these are some of Little Princesses' comments:

"I want a car just like dat one! Right dare. Da one without a top. Will you get me one Mommy?"

Indeed there was a young girl/woman driving through the crowd of cars with the top down on her convertible. (I told you it was a nice day!")

Annabelle's Mommy told her she (Annabelle) would have to work and save her money so she could buy her own convertible someday.

Little Princess has her dreams. Guess that's the reason she always wants to get out of the buggy when she's shopping with Mommy. As she says, "I need to get out so I can look for pennies!" Yes, we must start with pennies. It's truly a good start, especially when you're only three and are limited in good paying jobs.

Keep saving Sweetie. Maybe, just maybe, your dreams for a convertible will come true. Although I'm not so sure I really want to see you behind the wheel of a convertible.

Not so good...

Annabelle spent Saturday night with us while Mommy and Daddy went out on a 'date night'. They don't get a chance to do much without their little tagalong, but this was planned months in advance when her Mommy had bought tickets for Annabelle's Daddy's father's day surprise for an up-coming event.

During the night I awoke to the sounds coming from the baby monitor at my head. "I need you! I need you!" Those were words I didn't wait to react to. I flew into her room to check on her. She staggered to get up onto her feet and was ready to get out of bed. I picked her up and instantly knew she wasn't feeling well. She was so hot, literally from her head to her little feet. It's not unusual for her to feel hotter than I expect her to, so since she was at this point, wide awake and laughing at different things that had happened, I asked her if she wanted me to sleep in the big bed with her. Of course, she agreed.

It's hard not to carry on a conversation with an almost three year old when you're moving them from one place to the other, so I broke the cardinal rule set by her Mommy, and found myself quite engaged in conversation somewhere between 12:30 and 1:00. I thought we should go back to sleep, but she was wide awake and chattered away for at least an hour. But at least she seemed to be feeling better and not quite so hot.

When I remembered Mommy's rule and fell silent, she finally went back to sleep. By then I was wide awake, feeling of her to make sure she wasn't getting too, too hot again, listening to those sweet little snores she does and has since birth, and even snickered at times when I heard her at one point say to someone unknown to me, "Tank Coo!" as she accepted something from someone in her sleep. She talked in her sleep about other things too, but I don't remember exactly what. That was the funny thing she had said.

Of course, while she slept, I tossed and turned, finally getting up to play on the computer and back again. The last time I saw the clock it was 6:17. Sometime after that I was awakened by "I want Mommy!" I explained to her she would see Mommy later and asked if I could do something for her. Finally she said, "Can we get up now?" This was approximately 7:05! And we did get up. She played for a while and then we went to eat at Granddaddy's favorite place for breakfast...Hardees. She ate a fairly good breakfast and laughed and acted almost normal again.

Since she had so little sleep during the night, Mommy and I decided she needed a nap, so I put her down after the usual stories and songs and a piece of peppermint candy as well as three M & M's to take care of her trips to the potty where she had earned them.

She slept for almost an hour and woke up crying. I could tell she sounded like she was trying to get her breath as in coughing, etc. so I went in and got her up. We didn't make it to the bathroom before she threw up on the floor. I put her down and she flew across the hall to the bathroom. She lifted the toilet seat and leaned her little head over and threw up. It looked like blood. I began to worry because she had been so hot last night. I washed her little face with a wash cloth and told her to hold on, I was calling Mommy. Mommy had planned to work at the office because she and Daddy both have been slammed with work. Mommy immediately said she was on her with. I checked Annabelle's temperature with a thermometer this time and it was 101.8, orally. I called Mommy and told her to bring some Tylenol and since she had been so hot last night and still now, she might need to give her some.

While I was trying to take care of this business on the side (Granddaddy had gone to meet her Daddy at Home Depot to pick up a steel door to put on my laundry room) she was still trying to finish her throwing up episode at the toilet. After standing for a few minutes with her head hung over the toilet, she reaches over for her little step stool she uses to climb up onto the potty. Instead of climbing up onto the potty, she pulled it over and sat down on it in front of the potty. I certainly never suggested it, but she had felt so rotten, and since I was on the phone with Mommy, she figured out what to do all by herself. She was sick. Too sick to stand. Solved problem by
herself. There are somethings that you can see the humor in even when one you love is very sick, if you just look.Even though it was a sad, sad thing it was so cute she had figured out what to do.

As she and I waited for Mommy, I told her that I would take care of her until Mommy got over here for her. She listened as I told her I would care for her and then she said, "Me and Mommy were both sick the last time!" To which I reminded her, Yes, and I had taken care of both of them then. (More her than Mommy. Mommy had to fend for herself that time since Annabelle was my top priority.) This had been many, many months ago since they had been at our house and the two of them were sick at the same time. Her memory is something else.

Mommy came and took Annabelle's temperature the way she takes it and it was 101.9. This was after I had been washing her face and body off with a wet cloth to try to help break the fever. Mommy gave her some Tylenol and she was playing around feeling a little better, but not really up to her old self. She was so very, very pale. Mommy talked her into the two of them going on home.

Work Deadlines or no Work Deadlines, sometimes Mommies and only Mommies are what they need to recover.

Hope you feel better soon, Sweetie. I love you, All the way to the Moon and back!

The Country Mouse and The City Mouse

When Annabelle spent Saturday night with us, she and I went through the ritual of reading books, singing, etc. before bedtime. She loves some of the small, thin versions of some of the classic tales and could read them over and over again without tiring of them.

The Country Mouse and The City Mouse was one of her choices for the night, this time. As I began reading to her, she stopped me, hopped down and flew out of the room. I was completely surprised, since I knew she was enjoying the book. But I waited, because without a doubt there had to be logic behind the leaving.

She re-entered the room almost as fast as she had left it, with something clutched inside her little hands. She carefully placed it into my hand and said, "Dare, Grandmomma." She had brought me the computer mouse from my computer. She had remembered seeing it when I had moved it earlier in the night. Everybody needs a Country Mouse, a City Mouse and a Computer Mouse when they read a good story!

It never ceases to amaze me just what is going on inside that sweet little girl's head.

Feel better soon, Sweetheart, Grandmomma's missed you! Captain D's is not the same without you. Your Great Aunt, Great Uncle, Granddaddy and Grandmomma all said so. It's all just a dull meal without you to entertain us!

Little Attitude

So, tonight was the first time since I broke my shoulder and another bone or two since Annabelle has spent the night with us. Mommy and Daddy had a date night that didn't include her. It was planned at least four months or more ago, so I knew I had to get over this shoulder mess by this time, at least enough to handle Annabelle. With Granddaddy's help, of course.

She's always a pleasure to take with us. She never complains, she just goes where ever we go and if we say she needs to stay in the car this time, she does and if next time she can get out she also does.

She was her usual squirmy little self tonight at McDonald's, but while she had to go potty a big group of people came in and occupied the spots next to us, therefore keeping her more confined. Thank goodness for small blessings.

She was cooperative during our final runs of errands and then it was back to the house for some playtime. She loves playing on the screened in porch, then we went inside for a few things to entertain us there. I had bought some Tangrams which I introduced her to for the first time tonight. She loved making the different shapes with them and when she was finished I mentioned to her the different colored zipper represented the color that held that particular color shape so she could put them back in their right bag. Being the little renegade she is, she didn't want them put back into the bag they were supposed to go in, so she changed the color bag and the color shape into different ones. Just because she could.

She had taken one that we called a pie (really it was a triangle shape) in for Granddaddy to 'eat'. Granddaddy asked her what it was. She came running back into the room with me pretending to cry. "Granddaddy didn't know it was a piece of pie!" says she. Sometimes Granddaddy just doesn't see things like Annabelle and I do.

As we put them away for the night into their big plastic container, she took the lid and turned it first this way (wrong way, of course) and said, "Is dis right?" Then another way which she knew was wrong and we played this game throughout every possible way it could have been wrong before she hit the right spot. She knew, she knew what she was doing! This is a game for her. She just messes with your mind, she thinks. I have no doubt she knew which was the right way to begin with. She's just challenging you. Pretty smart, I think, if you ask me.

Mommy said she probably would need to go to bed early, so we started around 7:45. It was around 8:30 before I finally got her into bed. It really wasn't her fault, though. We did our songs, (one was Mommy's song because she didn't remember the words to it and I certainly didn't know it, so it must have been Mommy's song), our books to read, our peppermint patty, our juice and water and then I sent her to go potty and then to brush her teeth. All had gone just fine until the teethbrushing episode.

Part of me said, "Remove her shirt before she brushes her teeth." The other part apparently wanted to live dangerously and left the silly pajama shirt on. Yep, by the time she had finished brushing her teeth she had wet the entire front of her pajama shirt. No problem, I thought. This would be a good time for my new dryer to jump into action and show just how fast it could dry that little shirt. I sent Granddaddy in to throw it into the dryer. After a few minutes it still wasn't dry. Then I took matters into my own hands and threw in a dry towel to help absorb the moisture. That didn't help. After probably 10 minutes or more of trying to dry that silly shirt I gave up. It had letters saying 'sleepy head' on the front and those letters had no intentions of drying tonight. So, I did the next best thing. I scrounged through her bag and found a bright lime green one. Bright enough to match those pajama pants I thought. I came toward her to put it over her head and she promptly says, "Grandmomma, that doesn't match!" "What?" Again she said the same thing. At this point it was so funny I had to laugh at her to her face. "Little attitude!" I told her and pulled that lime green top over that cute little head and left the room. It's dark when the lights are out, Annabelle, it doesn't matter if they don't match. Believe me! It won't bother me half as much as it bothers you, really it won't. Good night, I love you!

I do love you and unless you do something to change my mind before your Mommy and Daddy come to get you tomorrow, I'll still love you...all the way to the moon and back. And that's a long, long way. They even have to go on rocket ships to get there and back.

Hope you had a good time, Mommy and Daddy. And don't forget to bring my camera back tomorrow. You can download the pictures before you leave home!

Nice try, kiddo, nice try!

While we were at Captain D's I leaned over and whispered to Annabelle and said:
Grandmomma: I love you!
Annabelle: I love you!
Grandmomma: I love you more!
Annabelle: No, I love you more!
Grandmomma: NO, I love you more!
Annabelle: NO, I love you more!
Grandmomma: I love you all the way to the moon!
Annabelle: I love you all the way to the moon!
Grandmomma: I love you all the way to the moon and back!
Annabelle: No, I love you all the way to the moon and back!

On and on we went playing this little game. One trying to outdo the other. This reminded me of the little story about 'How much do I love you', which I love so much maybe because my then college-aged daughter, Annabelle's Mommy, bought the big hard-back version for me for Mother's Day or my birthday, I can't remember which. I think it had just come out around then or maybe had won a big prize for childrens books. It quickly became one of my favorites. She knew it would.

And, Miss Annabelle, since I have the last word on this here...I love you all the way to the moon...and back many, many times.

I hope this will become one of your very favorite books in the future, too.

Wednesday, while we were returning to our house from Captain D's, from the back seat the Little Princess set forth her ideas for what we would do when we got home.

Annabelle: "Grandmomma, when we get back to your house, after we play with the ABC's, we can watch a little T.V.!" And there was a devious little look on that sweet little face.

Umm, I don't think so little one. Your Mommy doesn't look too kindly on "watching a little t.v." Once we got home she never mentioned it again. She found other things to play with.

Nice try, anyway, Sweetie.

At least someone feels sorry for me

As I have had to add different things to my routine to strengthen my shoulder and arm, I have shared them with Annabelle. I've encouraged her to do the things I know she can do. Yesterday as Granddaddy, Mommy and I were still eating our meal, I noticed Annabelle standing over at the wall. She was slowly doing my wall walks walking like a little spider, up and down. She also likes using the ball, pushing it up and far as she can and back again.

I saw her using my tubing as she tried to exercise her arm by pulling it back and forth, only she didn't exactly have it down right. She would turn it loose and let it fly back against the door. That one and the others can be kinda a problem. I understand how she can get confused. She also does her counting as she exercises. So cute. May you never have to use the exercises in real life form, Sweetie, but my bet is the odds are against you making it as many years as your Grandmomma did before she broke her first bone. Grandmomma isn't exactly excited about trying to break another one, either. It's way too much stress and pain for an old woman like me.

Annabelle also loves showing me she can pick up a two pound weight in each hand and heist it over her shoulder. She really scares me because I am so afraid she will fall backward and really injures herself.

She loves using my squeeze balls but mostly she likes for those to be made into babies. One day I picked one up and squeezed it out of shape and she told Mommy that Grandmomma had messed up her baby and wanted to know why I had done it. Simply because I didn't know it was her baby, maybe???

Next I will have to show her how I have to use a towel to pull my left arm behind my back and up my back so I can hopefully get that shoulder/arm behind my back as far as the other one. That's going to be the bugger out of all my therapy, I'm afraid. I don't look forward to the next few weeks forcing that arm behind me, but it's pretty essential. There are times when I need to use it. I will continue to try and I know Annabelle will be right there feeling sorry for me and helping keep up my spirits as well. I need all the help I can get.

Just the bare-bottom facts for you

Mommy had given permission for Annabelle and me to watch a few cartoons while she and Granddaddy were working on putting new flooring down and re-hooking the dryer vent in the utility room. (I still say Granddaddy is being babied way too much for my broken shoulder, but I guess he figures if he can milk it for all it's worth, why not?)

Annabelle watched a few of the Jon and Katie Plus 8 before she became antsy and had to move on. She decided to search through her little bag of supplies I have for her to use for her hair when she comes to visit. Well, inside that bag were a couple of boxes of bandages. She had to pull them out to examine them more closely and wanted to know if they were hers (after all they were in her little bag.) So she proceeds to open the box and spread them all over the floor in Annabelle fashion. She decided she wanted one on her body somewhere, anywhere, so since she had a mosquito bite on her back side I pasted one over the injured spot.

"I go show Mommy," says she as she flies to the utility room before I can remind her Mommy was on the outside of the house pushing the dryer vent back into the house. Not to worry.

Into the utility room still shouting, " Mommy, Mommy, I need you, Mommy, Mommy, where are you? Mommy, Mommy, come see!" When she realized Mommy was at the hole in the wall, so she dropped to the floor onto her tummy and scooted her little bare-bottom over as close to the dryer hole as she can get. "Look, Mommy, look!" Then her Mommy saw the bandaid on her cute little bare bottom. Mommy couldn't miss it. She was on the ladder and at direct eye level. "I see! says Mommy.

Granddaddy reminded me of this little episode at lunch today when we were talking about things she had done yesterday. He said he wished he had the camera handy when it happened so he could get pictures. The movie camera would have been best to capture this moment in her life.

Why was she bare-bottomed, you ask? Just because she's Annabelle and she can be bare-bottomed. Also when she goes potty, it's fun and easier to drop your panties and leave them when there's no one handy to pull them up.

Just ignore me...

Annabelle was chattering away, as usual, and her Mommy didn't quite understand the message she was trying to get across.

Mommy: "What did you say, Sweetheart?"

Annabelle: "Nothing, Mommy. I just talking to myself."

And she even answers herself...when she's talking with her Little People! Hmm! You also become a large part of the talking Little People because she loves to hear others 'make 'em talk.' While you talk you can just see her absorbing everything you say.

I'm just wondering what the backseat conversation will be if Mommy is ever pulled over by the police, because Mommy can really become quite 'into' talking herself out of a ticket with the pretend Little People policeman. She's had plenty of warnings and tickets from that little guy. I hope Annabelle never gets to share Mommy's conversation with that pretend policeman, with a real life. I'm sure Annabelle can give him quite an earful, and I suspect she will help Mommy get a real ticket!

While the other three of us were trying to eat our dinner, Annabelle decided she needed to hide a thin book she had talking Mommy into reading. She slid it between the table top and the fold down leaf. The perfect spot until she tried to get it out. She ran around looking for her little pink knife to try to dislodge the book. In the meantime I had reached under and pushed the book back to the front. She was still trying to find her little pink knife when she came back into the kitchen and found the book in view.

Mommy told her that I had pushed it out for her. "How'd you do dat, Grandmomma?" I told her it was through magic. She was still puzzled and wanted to know how I did it? Some things are better kept a secret, especially a table leaf that folds down.

Later, she found the little pink knife on the floor in a place she hadn't looked. In that sweet little voice that has so much expression she said, "Dare it is! I was just looking for that dat!"

Annabelle was so full of different things that she said and did yesterday, but no book, no pencil, no record. She was a full participant in our conversations, though, and kept me laughing at just how smart she is when she enters our conversations.

It's amazing how one little tiny being who, less than three years ago, couldn't talk, walk, or do much of anything but breathe, sleep and cry, and now has advanced into the beautiful, intelligent little human being she's become. She's such a clown, she's full of entertainment and wears us all completely out with her antics. But, I think we'll keep her.

Annabelle with her peaches

If you click on the picture I think you can at least see the pictures at a larger size. You just have to scroll over and up and down to see each of the pictures. Yes, that is a bottle sitting next to her tray, but no, she doesn't use a bottle. That's her baby doll's real bottle which has to be filled with real water. She's never been a bottle girl. I think Nonnie gave her this one to use with her dolls when she was at her house one day recently. She loves her babies having the real thing. I can understand that. I would have loved that myself when I was little had I had such available to me for my dolls.

This layout was just an experiment to see if I could download one since I couldn't change the settings to make it small enough to transfer. After a couple of tries looking for the correct version, I finally succeed with this one.

Just had to add a picture of something that happened while I was out of commision. These pictures were made two or three days after I fell. Broken bones haven't stopped me so far from getting pictures of that sweetie. They may be a little blurry, but they would have been anyway, had I had both hands/arms available.

This was one of my first layouts since I broke my shoulder and arm bones. I had great desire to use my recuperating time in a constructive way, but my shoulder and mind had different plans.
I didn't make the layout several days after the accident. The layout was made a couple of days ago.

My sister and her husband gave Annabelle her very own peaches to enjoy. You can see she was enjoying them. I've also made another couple of her and Mommy making a peach cobbler so her aunt and uncle could also enjoy the remaining one with her. That's for another day, maybe.

This method was a new technique I learned from a lady who sends me her tutorials over e-mail and after a couple of tries I finally found a way to do it to suit my sometimes bouts of perfectionism. I break the bank sometimes just having copies printed until I get them like I want.

I'm amazed at how much the brain cells died and I forgot what I had learned in making my layout. I guess I was using them to recover, but I've been stretching them the last few days and even though I've been very aggravated at times, I'm beginning to remember a lot of the things and learning some new problems that I've managed to create.

Annabelle's Mommy and I had signed up for another course on line, and I was really looking forward to it, but alas three days before the class was to begin, my central vacuum cleaner hose and I had a disagreement about how much work it was going to do. I was nice, I didn't scream at it, I just suggested we get an early start to the day while Granddaddy was still asleep. I really wanted to get out somewhere and make some pictures of flowers or something. It was having none of that. If Granddaddy could sleep in why did I have to be an old fuddy dud and insist on starting the day early? Guess who won? It turned into a great Python and after body slamming me to the floor it immediately settled down for a very long nap, leaving me in pure torment.

I don't argue with him anymore. Granddaddy is in charge of wrestling him within my reach and recently I just started tackling the job of vacuuming once more, but only after the snake is within my safe reach and control. I always warn Granddaddy, though. That thing is vicious! And evil!

It's amazing how much pain just running a vacuum can cause after you've broken a bone, but I've tried to be stubborn like my Mama and not let it get the best of me. Almost six weeks have gone by and I still haven't completed the on-line course. I've enjoyed watching Annabelle's Mommy post her new found talents occasionally on her blog.

Oh, and forget all that hogwash about having a telephone close by or your cell phone on you at all times, blah, blah, blah. I was very close to a telephone but there was no way I could have reached those few inches up for that telephone with that broken bone. Another one of those, you have to be there and have it happen to you, moments. And the cellphone would have been shattered to pieces, so it would have been no good. I have no good advise on how to handle such a situation. I can only tell you how to prevent it. Don't mess with a python vacuum cleaner hose at 8:00 in the morning! Especially after it says, "NO!"

Granddaddy took very good care of me, however, after about a two-week period we were both getting tired of this arrangement. I definitely don't have patience for such. Certainly not the six months (yes, months) the doctor said it would take for it to heal completely. I had other things to do, other plans made and it didn't include six months or even six weeks of recuperating. I guess I found out differently.

It's hard having to depend on someone else especially when you have to have them assist you when you bathe and the ultimate frustration may have been having your spouse roll your hair. Remember, a girl has to have her hair washed and rolled to be able to face another wee. To me, it was a very simple process. Part the hair, roll it up. To him it was something he had never in his life dreamed he would ever be called upon to do. It was as though I had asked him to do the most difficult thing he had ever attempted in his life. The look on his face was really pretty pathetic. I had to feel sorry for him. He didn't cause this but he was having to pay for it just as I was. But I am so thankful it was me and not him! I wouldn't wish that on anybody but certainly not him.

Some asked me why I didn't get it done at the beauty shop. There was no way I could have had them wash my hair. That would have been much more painful than the way we did it. Those sinks are hard enough to tolerate under the best of circumstances, but not with broken bones!
So you do what you have to do. You wash it with one hand and hope for the best.

It took a lot of determination on my part and there was one week when I had to have him hold my bad shoulder up so I could reach the back side and the other side. Then the next week I would prop my shoulder against the wall to help me reach the back side. You certainly get creative when you have an emergency.

My aunt got the biggest kick out of my story about the hair rolling and said she wished she could have seen pictures of him rolling my hair. I assured her we were both so frustrated with each other that had I had a camera in my hand, I might have conked him over the head with it. Well, I might would have, I said. I didn't say I did or would! Just might. And there were the cooking lessons, washing clothes, etc. No, it was no vacation for me, I promise you.

I was so thankful my doctor had told me how to help relieve some of the pain when I asked him on my second trip in two days after I fell. I was still on meds that Friday when I asked him. He immediately said, "Recliner! Sleep in the recliner!" I never would have believed sleeping in the recliner would have made such a difference. I never would have survived this whole episode without the recliner. I slept in it for probably almost four weeks. I've just returned to my bed and though it still hurt like heck, it felt some better, not scrunched up in the confines of a recliner. But believe me, I am so very thankful for recliners. Who could have known that sleeping in a bed, your arm would feel like dead weight. Not me,but it surely does. I hope this is the worst I ever go through. A broken wrist is easy compared to this.

The doctor said my break was one of the most painful breaks you could ever have. He gets no arguments out of me. He said in his short life (he's just a little middle-aged baby) he has had shoulder breaks on both sides, so he knows pain. He's had other breaks to, so he would know.

I am also thankful for what my son-in-law calls Physical Terrorists. I am glad the doctor referred me to them. I'm not sure how much I would have been able to use this side had it not been for my PT. He has helped me through lots of painful treatments without killing me. I still have a ways to go, but I am very happy it has come this way, so far, so good.

I miss playing with my sweet baby girl. She has shared my frustration at times, too. She has tried so hard not to hit my arm and was upset when she thought she had. I had jumped because I was afraid she would hit it and on an occasion or two she did bump it, but she didn't now it. I couldn't make her feel that awful over something she couldn't help. She's about as ready as I am for me to get well.

One day she wanted to show me "her pictures" and wanted to sit with me to look at them. She ran from one side of the recliner and the finally in total frustration she almost cried. She said, I want to sit up dare with you!" I made room for her on my 'good' side and we both enjoyed the pictures and each others company.

Maybe soon I'll feel like posting a few more of my blogs I was trying to bring up to date. But then, I may just get bogged down in doing more layouts.

But for now, I'm just happy progress has been made and I'm on the mend. And my sweet daughter took care of me as well. She prepared lots of good food that kept us nourished, even though she did run out on me one time for several days to go on vacation! Can you imagine?
No, I appreciate everything she's done for us. I don't know what I would have done without her.
She's a good daughter and I hope she's rewarded in the future with an equally good daughter should she ever need her. I'm counting on it, for her sake.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009
While on the way to our favorite Wednesday spot, Teddy fell onto the floor in the back seat of the car. To stop the onslaught of the melt down I knew was coming if Teddy stayed on the floor. This is the thanks I got for my efforts:

Annabelle: Why did you do dat, Grandmomma? Why did you pick Teddy up off the floor? I can do it myself with my legs.

And she showed me exactly how it’s done, successfully, I might add. Nice trick you’ve learned there, Annabelle. It keeps me from breaking my back twisting around to pick up Teddy.

At Captain D’s since Annabelle loves her dippy sauce, which can be anything from ranch dressing, tartar sauce or packaged butter, she cracked open a package of butter and dipped her trees (bunches of broccoli which she has stolen from my plate) into the butter. When she ran out of broccoli, and I had already finished mine she decided it’s not good to waste the remaining butter. She covers her tiny little mouth and nose with the container as she tries to lick the whole thing clean. Anyway, while trying to clean out the container with her face she got butter all over that sweet nose, mouth, cheeks and chin.

She was sooo funny. She had fun. And Grandmomma had fun making pictures. Kids can really be quite amusing if you just let them do harmless things and not worry about whether they will grow up to be adults who will embarrass themselves at that important job interview. Chances are they will outgrow most of it by the time they need to, but oh, how much entertainment they can provide us just on an everyday basis if we just stop and watch them. I guess that’s the joy of being a grandparent. As parents, we worry too much about making sure they are guided in the right direction that we miss the best parts. But luckily we are redeemed when we see life through the eyes of our smart, precious grandchildren. We have been blessed four times over and each is very different from the other, so we have much spice in our lives at this time, and we are so thankful for each of our grandchildren.

On a recent day when I talked with a neighbor, she and I were talking about Annabelle. I had told her we were keeping her overnight, and she referred to her as our Little Blessing. She has used this little expression before and I have to agree with her 100%. She is our Little Blessing or Big Blessing. She came at a time when our son, daughter-in-law and the three grandsons were leaving town for bigger things. Two years can be a lifetime when you don’t get to see the grandkids you’re accustomed to seeing frequently. She didn’t replace them, no one could but she certainly helped make the change just a tiny tad easier to handle.

On the way back to our house we usually pass this certain restaurant. A few weeks ago when we passed by I showed it to Annabelle, pointing out the mouse on the sign. The name of the restaurant was Chuck E. Cheese. Today as we neared the spot she proudly proclaimed, “Dare’s Chuck E. Cheese!" or more like Tuck E. Tease! I shared the story with her Mommy later in the day and she found it pretty hard to believe she had recognized the place and knew it by name. She said Annabelle was really tiny, like two years ago or more since she had been to Chuck E. Cheese for one of her cousins’ birthday party and there was no way she would have recognized that sign from being there.

I explained I had told her once on a prior occasions it was Chuck E. Cheese. She certainly has an excellent memory to have pulled that out of her hat at this time. There had been several weeks' time since I had told her because we had eaten at other Captain D’s or she had been on vacation, etc. She’s just a very careful listener and she observes everything.

I have been making mini-scrapboook pages to scrap little events in Annabelle’s life. It’s easier than making 12 X 12 pages, cheaper to print up, easier for Annabelle to hold while looking at them and just fun little card-sized pictures to share with people who love her as much as I do. If that is possible!

I had packed the scrapbook books for Annabelle to entertain herself while we were in the restaurant waiting for our food. She wanted to look at them in car, so I showed them to her and let her hold them. She loved looking at the pictures of her and most recent new friend, Annalee as they shared time together on vacation this year. This is the conversation from the back and front seat regarding those pictures of the two of them.

In a laughing and sometimes giggling sweet little voice:
Annabelle: I see me and Annalee!
Annabelle: I see another picture of me and Annalee!!
In an effort to attempt to teach her a little bit of proper grammar, (yes, I really do know a little, I'm just always so busy trying to document things I get a bit slack, so quit being so critical!) I made the following comment:

Grandmomma: Annalee and me. Pictures of Annalee and me.
Annabelle in an excited little voice: Where? Where? Grandmomma? I don’t see you and Annalee!

So much for trying to teach a 2 ½ year old the importance of putting someone else before yourself.

And to show you a bit of her creative side: I had bought some of these foam kneeling pads for the two of us to use either at her house in the yard while playing in the sandbox or at home while sitting on the floor and one was still in the back seat of the car. Of course she found it and asked that I remove the plastic from it so she could use It as a lapboard to put her Teddy and other things on while we traveled. It did make a pretty good little lapboard because it is soft and safe for riding in the car and a nice size as well. That little mind doesn’t stop working and I hope it never will. She’s got so far to go in life, it would be a big shame and loss if she ever stopped exercising that little brain.

The Pillow or The Piddow
For some reason over the past week I had decided Annabelle needed a pillow for her bed. It may have been prompted by her asking for a pillow in her pack and play when she spent the night last week. I only had a nursing pillow I had bought a long time ago thinking it may come in handy somewhere down the line for a good neck pillow. It was an older version and not one of the soft wrap around type her Mommy used when she was a newborn. I gave her the pillow because it too up less room in the small space and it was the smallest one I had. She slept all night with it in her bed.

I think she’s had it in her little brain since she and Annalee spent part of their vacation together and Annalee had one of her own cute little My Little Kitty pillow. Annabelle had to settle for a place mat she spread on the floor. I think she has been sort of envying her new little friend’s pillow. She needed her own.

I had seen them at Sears last week and kept putting it in the back of my mind thinking I would go back later and get one for her. They had them buy one/get one for $4.99. I could get on for her to keep at home and one to keep at my house.

In yesterday’s blog her Mommy mentioned that Annabelle wanted a pillow in her bed with her before going to sleep late. She had given her one of her big pillows, but Annabelle had abandoned it before she went to sleep.

This reminded me I needed to check into finding her one. Actually I was reminded yesterday as we walked through Sears and saw the regular sized pillows, but no child sized one, and then her Mom wrote the blog and it stirred my memory.

This morning when we went over to pick up Annabelle for our lunch date and day together with her, I suggested to Granddaddy we should maybe stop by the Sears close to us since that is where I found them before. I had planned to take the camera in with us and let her pick her pillow out of the travel sized pillows. I just wanted to make sure they still had some before we made the trip out here, kid in tow just to be disappointed. After a good 20 minutes wasted trip we found they had no more. Why couldn’t I learn my lesson and just buy the things when I found them? If I didn’t like them I could always take them back.

We decided we would go by the Sears nearest to them to see if someone had put them somewhere else. I really wanted those cute pictures of her picking out her much desired pillow! Camera and Toddler in tow we headed for Sears. Into the store we went, hopping between Grandmomma and Granddaddy, jumping like a jumping bean, then onto the escalators with Grandmomma and Granddaddy helping her on and off, to the bottom floor and the coveted pillow.

Yes, they thought they did have some more left, back in the far corner. Off we go, camera ready for those special photographs and an excite 2 ½ year old finally able to pick out her pillows. She thought she was only getting one; she didn’t understand the meaning of buy one, get one. She posed occasionally for my shots. More than usual.

Of course I was carrying the first digital camera we bought a hundred years ago when they first

came out, so it was hard to get my shot before she moved, but I think a lot of them came out alright. Why did you take the old camera, you ask? Well, I have been known to be asked not to take pictures inside a mall since 9-11 so I wanted to be a little lesson conspicuous by carrying the smaller camera. Did I say how much I wanted those pictures. The employees were pretty cooperative and didn’t ask me to put the camera away as my sweet little darling plopped her two pillows and two covers onto the counter for Granddaddy to pay for. She was beaming from ear to ear. $4.99 for two pillows and $2.69 each for to pillow case covers wasn’t too shabby for the beautiful look on that little girl’s face. May you have sweet dreams tonight and every night on your new pillow, Little Princess. You are so worth it.

Favorite words of Annabelle today probably were:
“I do!” with different expressions each time she said them. She’s practicing for saying those big important words in about 16 or 18 years.

She’s one stubborn little girl as she tries to move the step stool from its designated spot into the kitchen area so she can help Grandmomma “wash da dishes.” “I do it by myself!” she announces as she gently pushes me way from the sink and holds that sassy little hand out to keep me from moving forward again to help her as she puts water onto her napkin to wash the dripping watermelon juice from her face and hands.

And with each little piece of watermelon I put in front of her as she watched me cut up the big watermelon she says, “Tank ooo, tank ooo, tank ooo” over and over and over. So sweet.
When she saw the watermelon seeds on the counter she asks “What’s doze” and I tell her they are what make new watermelons if you plant them in the ground at the right time of the year. “Oh,” she says. Then as she picks the seeds from one of the pieces she says, “I help you. I pick da seeds out of dat one, Grandmomma!” When we put them in a bag and Granddaddy put them outside for the critters, she asked what we were doing with the seeds. I told her we were putting them out there for the birds and other critters. “Why?” So the birds and critters would have some good, sweet watermelon to eat as their dessert.

Oh, how I hate those watermelons with seeds in them! I usually avoid them like the plague, but I really wanted a watermelon to share with Annabelle since she loves them so much. And those seeds kept Annabelle entertained for as long as I needed.

More thoughts:
Around Easter time I had bought a little chicken that lays eggs (bubblegum). I thought Annabelle would enjoy watching the hen “lay” her eggs. She found the little chicken one day recently and we pulled her out to play. I wasn’t sure we could persuade her not to eat the eggs, but she did a good job of ignoring them. Besides she needed something for the chicken to lay. We did lose a few of them. Some of them scattered under the sofa, making friends with the dust bunnies hidden from sight, some disappeared underneath the recliners and others just managed to disappear like the proverbial socks that are lost in the washing machine each week.
We were down to about 5 today until some just happened re-appear out of nowhere until we finally ended the day with around 11 or 12 and her favorite one, purple had re-appeared also.
She loves purple at this point in her life. Anything purple, Annabelle will choose! When we were checking up on some paint yesterday I found a booklet on purple and I picked it up just for you, Annabelle. You were so thrilled to get it and we packed it with your stuff to take home. You showed it to your Mommy and laid it down and promptly left it behind. I’ll save it for you for next time. At least you know Grandmomma thought about you when she saw your favorite color.

You also left behind your red calculator Grandmomma got for you, too. You were so busy showing it to Mommy and letting her know you had your very own calculator that you forgot it, too!

But she did remember to take the bag of cotton candy I got her. Mommy asked me if she had told me she wanted cotton candy. I told her she had not and asked her why she thought she had. She said when the two of them were looking at pictures from the circus we went to earlier in the year, Annabelle had told her Mommy, “I didn’t get any cotton candy!” That had been an almost promise that Granddaddy would get her some cotton candy when we go to the circus. It turned out the cotton candy was way too expensive for melt in your mouth instant satisfaction we had decided not to get it.

But Annabelle, you got it today, sweetie. And you asked if you could take it home with you and, of course, we bagged it up and you took it home. A dollar spent at the Dollar Tree made you very happy.

It made you remember to pull out the little Fisher Price Circus or County Fair toy I had bought earlier for you. It was your idea to open up the cotton candy and enjoy our day at the fair. And we did as we put pieces into our mouth and waited for it to melt! I didn’t have to suggest it. Was I surprised? No, not really because you’re pretty good at thinking things up to do.

I love standing in the background and listening to all the interaction you have between you and the toys you are playing with. If I could, I would just sit and listen, but that isn’t your idea of fun. You would rather see my interaction, but yours is always cuter! I only do it to watch your face as you react to whatever goofiness your Grandmomma can think up.

Airport Park and Picnic with Annabelle

Thursday, May 28, 2009
Annabelle’s Mom called to see what we were doing and if we’d like to join the two of them for a picnic at either the park at the airport near their house or at McDaniel’s Farm near ours. Annabelle finally chose the airport park near her house after we had made plans to go to McDaniel Farm.

Granddaddy has been working on painting the ceiling to the carport and he was still working on it and wanted to complete taping around it so he could work on it later. But, of course, he was all up for taking a few hours out to spend time with Annabelle and her Mommy. I was so surprised! Not!

We packed our picnic goodies and were just getting ready to pull out of the driveway when her Mommy called to see how far we were on the way down. Annabelle was refusing to wash her hands despite threats we would stop our picnic at the park and not come down at all. When she was given a choice of us staying home since we were still at home. The little stink told me, “No, don’t come.” She stuck to her guns, but we headed there anyway. Mommy finally had to pick her up and use Mommy rules before she got to go to the park. She is one stubborn little kid when she wants to be. She had shown that to me yesterday when she refused to finish her dinner and get some Bugles treats. She called them Doritos.

Just as we were pulling off the expressway her Mommy called again to tell us she was almost there. Then she realized she had left her part of the picnic at home on the counter. We offered to go by there since we were closer, but she wanted to turn around and go back for it. So, we continued on to the park expecting a miracle for us to continue on this picnic.

We were able to get the table set up with her favorite Snow White/Disney tablecloth we have been using on some of our picnics. It was a little brisk and the sun decided to peek out but we were underneath a nice covered top of steel. Granddaddy met them at the parking lot and escorted them in. We had a nice picnic, but not before Annabelle spotted the pools of water trapped underneath the picnic area. She tromped through those puddles, back and forth, back and forth in her tennis shoes. But she had loads of fun!

She played on the playground (after being slicked up with sunscreen) for quite some time. She rode the planes which were the little back and forth see saw type things. She piloted the plane sometimes and invited Mommy to pilot it at other times as she became the co-pilot. Then she moved over to the “castle” as she called it. The Castle became a bus which she also collected the money and drove across the city, with Mommy as it’s only passenger. Sounds about as efficient as our federal government, doesn’t it? But she did try to get her second passenger on board, namely me, but I told her it was very difficult for me to climb those steps and if I fell and got hurt that would mean I wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with her as I’d like.

She did get to swing in the swings as Mommy pushed her up to the sky. She didn’t let a little (really lot, lot, lot) of hot sun keep her from enjoying her day at the park. We stayed there for a good while, while she changed from fun thing to another.

I know she was very tired and exhausted when got home for her nap in the afternoon. And probably when she went to bed, too, if she wasn’t too hyped up.

We left them around mid afternoon and back home for Granddaddy to start his work again. And I could work for a while playing around trying to figure out PSE 5. It’s getting a little easier for me since I bought a very expensive book over the internet. It just seemed to help make some of the things clearer so I could finally have a light bulb moment. I’m certainly not the expert I want to be, but I’m getting there and it’s more fun with each new thing I learn new.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN???

Where have I been for the last two months you ask: Building memories with my precious little Annabelle. I'll begin with the current and work down as I have a chance to post them. I've written down some dates, but haven't worked on the pictures yet. You get unedited mistakes and all because as you can see I've been pretty long-winded on this one.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Today would have been my parent’s 81st wedding anniversary. Yes, I stand corrected by my daughter. How do I remember the number of years? Simple…I was very, very pregnant with my baby daughter 31 years ago when they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. We celebrated their special anniversary by giving them a party and inviting their friends and neighbors. The party was at our local little community church the four children had grown up in and my father’s family had chartered. It was a very, very hot day for this already suffering pregnant woman who had chosen to wear the only dressy dress she had available to her. (Long sleeves, long dress, and silky, clingy to my bulging body. But my soon to be daughter (six weeks away from delivery) was there whether she knew it or not! I just add her age to 50 and know how long they would have been married.
To add to the misery my father-in-law had been and was in the hospital suffering from a heart attack. We had made many trips 2 ½ hours drive away on the week end and this would be the first we missed for maybe 4-6 weeks. I had been restricted from long drives on the road until after my delivery and the prior week end was to have been the last time I traveled to see them. Sadly, he would pass away the Friday following my parent’s anniversary.

About six weeks to two months earlier my sister-in-law had passed away. My mother-in-law and father-in-law had both come up for the funeral. Things moved fast in a very short time.

Earlier in April my only sister-in-law had passed away at a very young age of around 38 of a blood clot to the heart/lungs. She was a wonderful sister-in-law and I felt as though she was my sister, too. She taught me so much, or she tried to. She was fun and she and I could find lots of things to get into and relate to. She helped me make my first meal of hamburgers the summer my first niece was born. She took me to my first movie (a drive in showing ‘The birth of twins’, yuck!. My brother just happened to work at the drive-in to support his young family while putting himself through college and we were able to get into the movies free, I’m sure.

After Granddaddy and I married we still maintained our relationship with them and spent a few week-ends with them. Anytime she got a new gadget or appliance, she made it look like so much fun to use, and easy, too, that Granddaddy knew he would be looking for one in the stores for me later that week. I had to have the exact same Kenmore blender she had because she could make the best coleslaw in hers. Mine didn't quite turn out the same. The cookie maker that made the best spritz cookies was just for me. I could go on and on at the money she costs us during my early marriage.

My sister-in-law had a built-in sense of anything domestic. Too bad more of that didn’t rub off on me. She taught herself how to decorate the most beautiful cakes, probably long before Wilton started offering cake decorating classes. I had to pay for two courses with my best friend to learn how to make and decorate cakes that didn't look nearly as pretty as hers. I remember being in awe at the lovely cake covered with her very first perfectly sculpted home-made roses made from frosting that she brought for either my Daddy’s or my Mother’s Father/Mother Day celebration. She was very young when she came into our family, still in college, and it was such a shock and a very big loss when she passed away, way too soon, in April.

I have always said the ending of 1977 and the first 7 months of 1978 were the worst years of our marriage or even my life that I had ever lived through with all the tragedies we had gone through. They just didn’t seem to end. But the sorrows we had suffered were finally replaced with one of the biggest and best blessings we have ever had…we got the beautiful little girl we had so hoped and prayed for and our little girl was here, safe and sound. She was the very best thing to come out of 1978.



Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Now on to sharing some of the good things that came out of the year 2006…Annabelle!
We had our fairly regular routine of time with Annabelle, today. Her Mom has lots of meetings to go to especially during the summer so we get to spend time with Annabelle and since this was Wednesday we went to her house. We weren’t sure if we would eat fish with her today because my sister and my brother-in-law had other obligations to fulfill and didn’t know if the would finish in time to eat fish. But they did and we did. But first we had to convince Annabelle she really wanted to eat out today. We had to finish dressing in a hurry. There was hair to comb, shoes to find and put on, sippy cups to fill, bathroom runs to make and lots of other things to do, but she had decided she didn’t want to go out to eat today after all. Mommy says she has gotten to the point she doesn’t want to go anywhere anymore. Just likes to stay home and this was another one of those days. When I reminded her we needed to go out to eat she said she didn’t want to go out to eat and ran over to her left-over breakfast I had moved over to her high chair and out of the way. She had something to eat. She didn’t need to go out. I finally had to get strong with her and made her help me get finished. She settled down but not without giving me a bit of trouble.

Earlier in the week I had bought some cute little flower shaped silicone cupcake holders and I just knew Annabelle would love to use them to eat her food from. They came in a set of 12 for $10 from Wilton and I got them at Joann’s using a 40% off coupon, so I got them for only $6.00. There were six yellow ones and six pink ones. My choice would have been to have gotten them all in purple since that is her very favorite color for now, but I had to settle for what I could fine.
She found them on Monday before I had a chance to wash them and she did love them as I knew she would. I know my granddaughter, at least at the moment. I told her what they were for and that we would use them when we ate out or went on a picnic.

I had packed them in the car because I wasn’t sure if it would be a picnic or eat out day. So, I pulled them out at lunch and we divided her meal into those darling little cupcake holders! We used four of them because we just didn’t have a lot of room at the table because we were too late to get our usual favorite spot.

We put her favorite item of cooked broccoli in one, shrimp in another one, coleslaw in still another one and her fried okra in the remaining one. We didn’t have room for her hushpuppy. It drained off some of its grease on a napkin on the side. She chowed down on her food, so much so that she finished off most of my broccoli, as well as hers.

On the way over she had told Granddaddy exactly what she wanted for lunch: Broccoli with butter (so she could stick the broccoli into the butter like they were trees growing out of the butter) coleslaw, okra, shrimp, not macaroni and cheese, hushpuppy, and water. She tells us exactly what she wants each week and usually it’s pretty much the same as above. But it’s fun to listen to her ‘order’ though we know what it’s going to be.

After finishing her meal we headed back home. If you know Annabelle you know she moves at her own pace. She doesn’t let your time constraints affect her schedule. Somehow we were foolish enough to leave the Sunday paper in the backseat beside her. Lucky for us she didn’t see it when we were running late earlier. But she did see it this time. And the particular section she found was covering summer places to enjoy the water around the area. It took a bit of persuading but we finally got her in the car seat and buckled in.

She didn’t stop by casting the newspaper aside. No, she had to ‘read’ the paper all by herself. She examined every inch of the pictures on the page. She reminded me of the days when her oldest cousin always examined pictures on his presents and books, etc. when he was very, very young. She was just too cute not to take pictures of her. I hope my pictures came out, but I had to stop taking them because the camera showed a card error, so I may not have gotten them. (I found out my camera didn’t take but 2 pictures and it really didn’t take those two, so I’ve missed all those great shots of her being her natural self. It just makes me sick. I had taken quite a few of them and it looks like some of them would have been on there. And after Granddaddy reformatted the card and everything was erased he decided I should reset the date on it. I know little about whichever camera I’m using and having switched from the first camera we had to the second camera didn’t help. While I was fiddling with it I happened to come across a picture of my oldest grandson and me when he was just a wee tiny little fellow. How it survived all the previous reformatting we’ll never know, but it was there. Granddaddy swore up and down that it wasn’t possible until he saw it for himself. We just don’t know how to get that one little picture off the camera. I would love to have it so I can see how long ago it was. I’m wondering now if it wasn’t some that were stored on the camera itself and not the card!) Back to my original story…She was engrossed in her newspaper almost all the way home. Finally, she handed me the paper and said, “Read this to me, Grandmomma.” And after reading under one picture she wanted to continue to the next until we had read the page again and read it all. I didn’t mention that when she first picked up the newspaper with the water/beach pictures she found a Joann’s page. Being her grandmother’s grandchild she is she asked if she could put it with her paper and carry it home with her. You can’t start them too young on that crafty stuff!

Later in the night her Mom asked why I had left the newspaper at their house. Because it was her paper and she had really enjoyed reading her paper on the way home.

Since she had slept a little later this morning I knew my dreams of her naptime were just that…dreams…and I was so right. I had gone to bed so late and gotten up early for the last few days and I found it very difficult to stay awake. I suggested we both take a nap. She was having none of that. I laid down on the floor and closed my eyes and a busy little body would fall on top of me and pound me In the chest. “Don’t go to seep, Grandmomma, Wake up, Grandmomma,” so many times I finally gave it up and we played “Let’s go shopping, Grandmomma!” We sorted our goods into sections: food, toys, jewelry, etc. and then went shopping, only to have her finally knock her shopping bag off onto the floor…kerplunk, where it stayed until the day was almost over.

At one point she decided she wanted to put her sippy cup filled with her water/apple juice over in her shopping cart. I knew we would forget where we put it. At least I would forget. I suggested we move it from the cart because we would forget. She looked at me and said, “Nooo, I say, ‘Where are you, apple juice? And it will say ‘I right here, Dannabelle!” This was her logic for finding it. And as she was imitating her talking apple juice that cute little hand was just a moving as though her juice was holding up its hand telling her where it was. And this was all said in Annabelle’s precious little sing-song voice with much animation added.

At some point in the day Annabelle thought it would be a good idea to bake a puppy dog cake. She had found her two ended spatula I had bought her earlier to use with her cooking utensils. She left the room to find the puppy dog cake we would decorate. This was a little pull toy doggy that Aunt Kate, Uncle Ken and the boys had given to her when she was younger. She has loved that puppy and loves pulling him around the floor, but today he would become a puppy dog cake. She handed him to me and said, “You decorate the puppy dog cake, Grandmomma.” And I did. I spread plenty of white frosting on his body with that spatula. I added black for his eyes and she pointed out I need to add blue for his collar until finally I thought I had finished decorating him. But, alas, I had missed a few spots here and there and had to add the frosting to the missed spots until he was perfect to both of us. Until she holds up her hand and says, "Wait…wait Grandmomma, I haven’t baked him, yet!" She had to bake him in her oven and I had to frost him all over again, but he turned into a beautiful, delicious tasting puppy dog cake.

Conversation between Annabelle and Daddy at dinner:

Annabelle: “Daddy, where’s Mommy? Is she stuck in twaffik?”
Daddy after recovering from his shock: “Yes Sweetie, she is stuck in traffic.”
Annabelle as she twists and turns that cute little silly face around in front of Daddy: “But you didn’t get stuck in twaffik, Daddy!”
Daddy: “No, Sweetheart, I didn’t.”
Annabelle, after a moment of thought: “You need to fix doze twaffik lights, Daddy!”

There were two things going on in that little mind. First of all she was remembering what Grandmomma had told her earlier on the way to eat. We had gotten stuck behind a malfunctioning traffic light and it seemed to never want to change. Once it did change, it was a very, very short turn signal and it seemed we might have to sit for another long period of time behind that same light. Grandmomma made the comment that the next time she was with Mommy or Daddy and the light turned red she should say to them, “Daddy needs to fix that light!”

So since Mommy was apparently late due to being caught up in traffic it must have been Daddy’s fault because she couldn’t get through those badly mistimed traffic lights between Mommy’s office and home.

Daddy was a bit puzzled where all this came from. It didn’t take him long to figure out Grandmomma was somehow connected. After all, she gets blamed for quite a bit.

Annabelle has such a tremendous memory! It’s really hard to believe things she can remember from a while back and some from times when she wasn’t as vocal as she is now.

From the mouth of Annabelle...

This is a conversation that occured yesterday while we were in route to get Mommy's hair cut:

Mommy: Annabelle?

The conversation stopped at this point because Annabelle's Daddy had called on the cell phone and Mommy had to stop to answer it. After a very patient moment or two, and in that very sweet little voice that she has, Annabelle says, "You called me, Mommy?"

Where in the world did that come from? She simply amazes me with the thoughts and sayings she can come up with. But then, she is just Annabelle.

Adding more dolls...

Today Annabelle's Mommy and I went to our usual semi-annual consignment at a big church near them. Granddaddy and I left early and waited outside until we saw there was life in the house. Annabelle stayed in bed until around 9:00 per Granddaddy, who drew the straw to stay home with her while we played around.

Mommy and I left around 8:30 to stand in line for almost another hour before they finally let us in...almost ffteen minutes late.

I went in my favorite direction...to the toy department...and Mommy headed for the clothes.

I was a little disappointment in the fun toys I was looking for, but I did find a cute, cute small, soft Cabbage Patch kid, maybe 6" tall. She was a little red head so I needed to take her home for Annabelle! She was only $1.50! Also, I found another Cabbage Patch Kid with a sticker that said she was only $5.00. I scooped her up. She was supposed to be new. Well, maybe the owner didn't notice some little kid had placed their artistic mark on her face with a red marker, but she was still in very good condition, overall.

I also gathered up a few other goodies for her Mommy's approval or disapproval and moved on to the books. I felt someone crowding me out and looked up and there stood her mother. I was very surprised because she never finishing finding clothes in that short period of time. She had promised herself she would only spend (X) number of dollars on those clothes.

Then we moved on to the reject room only to find someone had the nerve to occupy our little room before we could get there, so we moved to a corner of the room and sat on the floor to decide which ones she would keep and which she would put back.

I showed her my goodies first and of course, she didn't want me to get the big Cabbage Patch Kid. (Annabelle had just this past week taken one of her mother's old dolls back home (Rebecca Ann) and I guess her bed is beginning to be filled to the point where the child will be able to use them as a means of escaping from her bed.

Reluctantly I put the doll back with the hopes that some other little girl would get her. (Before we left we went back over to the toy area and saw that someone had picked her up and put her with their things, so I felt a little better putting her back.)

Her Mother managed to cull out a few of the cute clothes and kept within $2.00, but put another one back to keep within the limits, with the exception of a couple of books she did buy for Annabelle. After taxes she still went over the set goal but she found some cute outfits.

That is a first for us. We usually have to wait for the classrooms to clear out and the parents to go through pick up before we can continue our shopping, but this time we managed to get out before all that mayhem started.

We found a garage sale on the way back to their house. Guess what I found? Several more of the little small dolls and a very small replica of Annabelle's favorite teddy bear. It wasn't made by the same company, but it was so close you couldn't tell it. So, I bought it so teddy wouldn't be lonesome. And I found some smaller little dolls like McDonald's has had in the past. I couldn't leave them there. They were a quarter each but the lady told me I could have them all for $.50. I can't pass up a bunch of dolls and a teddy bear for $.50. I don't know who loves them more, Annabelle or me!

We got back to their house and Annabelle was glad to see me. I showed her Little Teddy and Baby Lorraine (She is a baby match for her bigger Cabbage Patch Kid, Lorraine.) She liked Little Teddy best, of course, but they both must go through the washing machine before she can have them. That's Mommy's job.

I had missed her this morning since she was in bed when we left. I got my loving and Mommy pulled out the clothes she had bought. She and I talked about them and I asked her which one she liked best and she picked the wildest color in the batch and said that one was her favorite. It was a lime colored beach jacket with matching Pooh Bear bathing suit. She loves her loud colors! I think she loved them all, but that was her favorite just based on the color.

We went to lunch at Piccadilly and she spotted a muffin I had gotten for her after she finished her lunch. She knew it was for her because I usually get her one when we go there. She ate a fairly good lunch after begging for Mommy's biggest piece of fish. It was better than hers. She also didn't want to eat her carrott souffle. She wanted the food from her Mommy's bowl. Mommy had to be sneaky and load it from Annabelle's plate and pretend it came from Mommy's bowl...then she wanted to finished up what Mommy had, but Mommy had already given her the last bite of fish (which Mommy really wanted) and she wasn't going to give her all of the remainder in her bowl.

We ended the day once we were back at her house. She needed a nap and so did we. I got part of mine on the way home. But it was a fun day anyway.

It's like herding cats...

I’ve heard that statement a good bit lately and pondered its meaning. Well, after tonight I can, with great authority, tell you what it means. Obviously it was a comment made by someone who has three little boys, probably ages 9, 7, and 3 they were responsible for keeping together in one big house.

It is highly likely that one or more of the three could be found in an entirely different part of the house in one of three levels that constitutes their home. You just have to make sure your one body can keep tabs on the three of them. Cats would be more easily herded, I’m sure. And anyone who knows anything about cats realizes that is virtually impossible. Cats have wills and minds of their own. So do kids.

Oh wait, did I say there were three of them to herd? Well, yeah, in my case there were three little boys, but I forgot to add the newest little baby girl in the family,
and she was right there with the three little boys. She was just about as devilish and as active as
they were.

We picked the boys up at the day care center afternoon just before 4:00. Surprise for us…Beautiful Blue Eyes (3) and child number 3 greeted us warmly and was ready to go home with us. His Dad said this morning when he reminded him we would be picking them up, he wanted to take one of his toys over to Grandmomma and Granddaddy’s house. (Though we were only going back to his house.)

When he first saw us he came over and what were the first words out of his mouth? “Where’s Annabelle?” She’s the baby in the whole family. I think he thinks she lives at my house. I have told him in the past that Granddaddy and I will arrange to pick him up sometimes and bring Annabelle with us. I guess he was hoping this would be the time.

Once we were all safely back at their house, the three of them decided to play a nice quiet (ha, ha) game of Nerf darts with their Nerf guns. They each took careful aim at each other as well as every window in the living area.

I was afraid one might pop the windows. Please, not on my watch. Wait until Daddy gets home.
They romped and ran and hid and screamed at each other as they fought their battles. They lost the darts and Sophie found them.
She would scamper away like the little thief she was,
leaving BBE, AKA James, the human baby in the family, very frustrated as he tried to catch her without luck. The Analyzer, AKA Carter the oldest brother, would finally intercede and take the dart away and return it to BBE, over and over and over.

Then Sophie found an over sized tennis shoe that probably fit the 9 year old. She chewed a while until I took it away from her. She loves their stuffed dogs and other toys. She chews with those little sharp teeth and broke off a piece of what had just been the very favorite toy of the seven year old when his three-year old brother wanted to play with it. I had to throw that broken piece into the trash can. He forgave Sophie even after she broke his toy. Little Brother would never have been forgiven so easily. It’s amazing the working of a child’s mind.

At one point BBE, child #3, became very frustrated and wanted the fan turned off. Well, good luck! Finding out which light switch works which thing is very confusing. But, I did finally figure out how to stop the fan. And there stuck to one of the fan blades was his perfectly fired dart.
How he made such a perfect shot is beyond me. Then came the challenge of how to get it down without breaking the light bulbs. I think big brother was the best shot and got it down for him.

Thank goodness dinner time came, finally and we were off to Moe’s for dinner. The boys love eating at Moe’s. Not particularly our favorite but we ate there anyway. I won’t go into the evening there. The meal wasn’t that great, order got mixed up, at least one kid went home hungry or at least that’s what he says, but then he is a nearly pre-adolescent and what are you supposed to expect from that. The chicken was left off of three quesadillas and a sprinkling of cheese was all that graced the poor quesadillas. Ah, I won’t really to go there with the rest of the story. Guess it will be The Varsity next time. They all love their grease fix there, anyway.

Then it was time for bed. I didn’t really have a big problem with the two older boys. They got themselves ready for bed without much ado. But…that little one, who was supposed to be in bed by 8:00 sharp, kept dilly dallying around with more things to keep him from going to bed. It’s amazing how many things he can think up to stay out of bed! And he’s only been here on earth for three short years!

Of course the seven year old would have nothing to do with allowing the three year old share the shower/bathroom part. It is a shared bathroom, but not according to the seven year old so we moved on to find another bathroom.

I’m not sure the three year old wasn’t in on this little deal because he immediately told me his Mommy had told him he could take a shower in her bathroom so a bit reluctantly we took his towel into Mommy and Daddy’s bathroom for a shower. My doubts were well placed as soon as I saw the shower/bathtub. Mommy surely wouldn’t be foolish enough to allow a three year old to take a shower in that bathroom with hardwood floors. Then he said, Mommy wouldn’t let him take a shower in there, but he could take a bath. Check out the bath. It was a large oval tub with the faucets to the outer side of the tub, and it was deep, deep, deep. Hard for me to get the plug into the tub without practically getting into it from a very awkward position. But I did try. Just as I thought I had the plug almost arranged like I needed it, I felt a very cold sensation running down my right arm.

BBE says, “I help you Grandmudder!” And he had. He turned on the cold water just as my arm reached across. My sweater was completely soaked. “What are you doing, James?” I asked. “I helping you, Grandmudder!” “But James, now Grandmother has a very wet sweater, and I don’t have any dry clothes! Now I’m all wet!”

He reaches over and feels my arm. “Oh,” says he. He tried to help me dry it with his towel, but it was still soaked! I reached over again to put the plug in place and caught sight of him once again trying to help me.”No, James, don’t do that again!” He really was trying to help, I just didn’t trust him after an arm full of water running down my arm.

We finally finished the bath and moved on to finishing up for bed. Daddy had said the younger two needed to be in bed by 8:00. The other one could stay up. He likes to read before he finally settles in usually by 8:30 or 9:00.

“Where are your pajamas, James?” “I don’t know.” (He also didn’t know where his tennis shoes were when we got ready to go eat. We had to grab a pair of Velcro type ones to wear. And I still don’t know where his other shoes are.) So remembering some clothes that had been washed and sorted but, thank heavens, hadn’t yet made it to their proper place, I searched to find a pair that looked like they belonged to him. Size 5 Toddler. Looks about right. I grabbed them and headed upstairs. “Are these yours, James.” "I think so, I think they the ones from Grammy’s house.” Good. I stood behind him while he tried to shove his little feet and legs and arms into them. All went well…until I noticed one ribbing around the arm didn’t seem to match the ribbing around the other side. We had managed to put an arm into a leg hole and visa versa, but they almost fit…until I tried to zip the pajamas. Then they didn’t fit so well. He began to get hysterical because Grandmomma didn’t get his pajamas on right. I laid him on the bed and we started over again, my way. This time we finally got him into them the right way.

“Almost 8:00, James, we must be in bed by 8:00. Daddy says so…” I’m really trying, and I’m completely ignoring the older two. They are big boys and don’t need me breathing down their neck. Then James picks out two good, long books that don’t look at all interesting to me (a book about pirates and another about trains and how they work.) Mommy reads those books to him, says he. And I had promised him I would read a couple of books, so I was committed.

Granddaddy’s main job was to make sure Sophie didn’t come upstairs while I was working with James. That was a very simple task anybody should be able to handle, right? Well, why did James and I suddenly find a bouncing, biting, sharp toothed little white Bison puppy flouncing around in the middle of the two of us as one of us tried to read bedtime stories and the other tried to rescue treasures from the deep, deep sea with his Rescue Heroes anchor guy, whatever his name is.(I’m really not that good with this boy stuff once they pass the trucks and tractors stage!) How did Sophie manage to escape Granddaddy’s sharp eye?

It took a while before Granddaddy realized we were being charged and eaten alive by Sophie. He finally did come up, but long after he was needed. Finally story time came to an abrupt end after I accidently flipped through a few pages that happened to get stuck together, and I realized I could get away with it, hee, hee, hee, hee. But at the end of each story he had to read the book in condensed version to me.

Finally, at around 8:15 after much insistence that we just HAD to be in bed by 8:00, he settled down. And then after he remembered he hadn’t brushed his teeth, and after he had to search for his toothpaste in the drawer, and after he had to stop to sip water through the toothbrush a hundred times, and after he had to return his toothbrush to his drawer…but wait, that wasn’t where he had found his toothbrush. It was in his glass on the counter. No, No, No, he wanted it in the drawer. Who cares? Not me. Just get to bed, please, please, please. I am responsible for you right now, and if you are grumpy tomorrow at school, I don’t want to be blamed!

So we moved to the bed…again. But not before he had to show me his tractor blanket Mommy had made for him and not before we had to remove the stuffed green dinosaur he wraps around his little neck and has for the past couple of years. He seems to be a bit spooked out with this dinosaur in his room and asked me to put him in Charlie’s room. He didn’t feel comfortable with sleeping in the same room with that dinosaur. Charlie didn’t want the dinosaur in his room either, so I put him just inside the bathroom door, out of sight and out of James’ mind. Whatever brings happiness to him makes me happy.

After the final tuck in of the night he looks at me and this is his basic revelation:

“Grandmudder, my teacher says, ‘How did you get that bruise on your four-head, James?’ and I said, No, free, my free-head! (3) and she said, ‘your four-head’, and I said no, not my four-head, I free. And she said, ‘yes, you are three.’” Somehow she made him understand she was talking about the bruise on his head. I think she finally rephrased it by asking how he got that bruise on his head, no four head, no free head, and he went on to explain it got there when his older brother and he were playing with the Legos and bumped heads or something, I’m really not sure. I really only heard something about Legos...I was too busy convulsing.

I have to tell you I really was almost popping, trying so hard to hold back the giggles. How could anybody not follow the logic of that sweet little boy. His teacher knows he’s ‘free, not four’. What was wrong with her, it was not his four-head! You just have to love a little "free-year old" guy with his practical reasoning. It certainly made sense to me.

And it was just one of those sweet moments I was able to hear him tell himself, and not having it retold by a parent, who would probably have forgotten to tell me. I got it first hand! I felt myself to be quite privileged. He shared the moment with me.

This is one of those times I wish I had taken my little digital tape recorder along with me. It was a Christmas present so I could record these precious children and their straight-forward statements. So innocent, so sweet, so real, he was just like a typical three year old, only smarter. Of course I would think so. But I had forgotten to take it along. Sophie probably would have chewed it up, anyway. Sigh. Really must get into the habit of making sure it’s with me at all times.

What really amazed me was that when I shared the story with Granddaddy he just stared out into space trying to figure out the logic. His Daddy reacted in the same way. What’s the matter with you people? Again, he’s not old enough to have a four-head! Not when he’s only free! Really, now.

The night with the sweet boys ended after I kissed that sweet little face good night and promised him he could leave his bathroom light on and the door cracked. Because Mommy lets him. After saying our good nights and giving kisses to the other two, and just as I had gone down the stairs and into the living room his Daddy called and said he was ten minutes away. He missed so much fun tonight! But he almost didn’t!

Attempting to herd the cats, oh, I meant the kids, can be fun when you see the funny little twists and turns that can take place while you’re herding them, in a four or five hour span. What a blessing they are. It's all in the little moments.