Conversations with a three year old

Fin was supposed to be taking a nap. I was supposed to be catching up on my emails. All of a sudden he's at my elbow.

"Fin, you're supposed to be in bed."

"Mama, you wook hungree."

"I look hungry?"

"Yeah, wet me get chu a snack."

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Fin is attempting to take the shell off a hard boiled egg all by himself, but he keeps pushing too hard and makes holes in the egg. Frustrated, he lets out a big sigh and says

"uuuggghhh! WHAT is going ON with me?!"

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Once again Fin is supposed to be napping.

"Mama? Do you know where Sissy is?"

Me, alarmed: "Why? She's not in bed?"

"No, she just isn't there."

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In the car:

"Mama can you put on a sast (fast) song?"

"Umm...like this?"

"No, wike weally weally sast." pumps hand into the air frenetically

"This one?"

"NO! I wanna rock out. Wike the ones with the guy goes rwwwaarrrw rwwwarrw" and does his best impression of Daddy's heavy metal music.

There is absolutely nothing sweeter...

than getting an unsolicited kiss from your babes.  Nothing can compare.  

Wascally Wabbits

This was the first year both kids were old enough to really participate in the egg hunt, and boy did they.  I don't have a single picture of their faces, because they could not be bothered to look up for a millisecond, lest they lose sight of an egg.  Once they had filled their baskets, and Parker realized there were treats inside, she tore into them like she had just crawled through the desert for four days with only a water bottle.  Never mind she spent the entire morning with a Peep in one hand and broccoli in the other (only Parker would eat both with equal enthusiasm).  She had about twenty eggs in her basket, and every single one was opened with the same fervor as the last.  She'd break it open, grab what was inside, throw the egg behind her and raise the treat in the air in triumph, mouth agape, eyes wide "WWWOOOOWWW!!!"  And before you think she was excited about candy, my brilliant cousin (thats his cutie pie Gavin in the picture) had the foresight to fill the eggs with healthy fruit snacks and whole wheat cookies.  My youngest cousins (both in their teens) arrived after the first egg hunt, so we staged another one for them.  Fin helped us hide the eggs, and then heroically found them once the hunt was on.  "I found one Mama!!"  Never mind he hid it in his own shoe two minutes prior.  "Maaaayyybe there's one over here Mama?" eyes so wide and innocent as he pointed to the egg he hid in the water fountain.  "Maaayybe, Fin, maybe!"

A Day in the Life

On our walks we've discovered a nest, which is too high for me to see in, but low enough for me to lift Fin and Parker to see in.  Fin informs me that there is one white egg in it, and from what little I know of the local flora and fauna I believe it to be a hummingbird nest (its pretty tiny).   Yesterday on our walk, Fin declares:

"Oh! Mama look, that tree would be so cute for our bird!"

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We just set up my parents old stereo system and were loading up the cd player (5 disc changer!  we're living now!).  Fin is going through the cds and comes up with these gems:

"Dave 'n Bowie is my fav-writ"

"Let's put these in, their my fav-writ bands, yeah I 'member when I went to see these bands"

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Fin and I are walking to drop him off at preschool.  Its a really pretty spring day.  He sighs and grabs my hand

"Mama, its a great day."

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Parker has started a new rebellion.  While we are so grateful that diaper changes are now relatively easy affairs, we now can not dress her without an all out brawl.  The only time she does not fight me is when she I put on a shirt that belonged to Fin as a baby.  Its red, with black argyle diamonds across the chest, with big skull and cross bones in each diamond.  The only "pants" she wants to wear are the plastic covered undies we used for Fin when he was potty training.  Its quite the outfit.  I've yet to get her to even try on the gold flats I just bought her, she preferring her vans instead.  She does acceroize though, usually with her pink cowboy hat, shell necklace and brother's Lightening McQueen slippers (see picture).  I had to force her into that shirt and skirt.  

Moving On Up

After eighteen months residing at #55 Trabuco Road, Parent's Room Parker has made the move to #55 Trabuco Road, Griffin and Parker's Room. Her new abode features more square footage and many other amenities including an in home library, walk in closet, reading nook, aquarium, and growth chart. She has begun her interior design, incorporating a more "bohemian" feel with original artwork by renowned artists including Janice Gardner and Joshua Wright (who also happen to be her great grandmother and father). She and Griffin are still discussing paint options (his vote is for pink, Parker has yet to make her opinion known).  Plans for a housewarming party are in motion...

Girl Power

Though I've known my daughter was female since she was 20 weeks in utero, it still comes as a shock and delightful surprise to me that she is so...female. Her love of babies, jewelery, kitties and all things glittery amazes me at every turn. What shocks me most is that it seems almost innate in her, like she was born with a sparkly pink gene. While I am not a tomboy by any means, I don't think anyone would describe me as a girly girl. I only started carrying a purse when I was in college. I only recently (and this is honestly true) started to actually buy makeup, having previously relied on whatever free gift with purchase makeup my mom would toss my way. Parker would carry a purse everytime she left the house if I let her. One of her favorite games is to put her Cinderella purse on her arm, cellphone in the other hand and roll around the kitchen on her ladybug rolly, casually talking to Dada while commuting to the kitchen table and back. Other favorite pastimes are making brother's pirate action figures dance together (and kiss on occasion), and softly rocking and shushing her baby back to sleep. Her most potent female trait, however is her flirt. This is a girl who blows kisses to the cashier at Target, the doting elderly at the grocery store, the trashman, and the park. Trick or treating with her this year was about three times longer than it needed to be, because with every house there was the ten minute goodbye - "Say thank you Parker!" "Dahnk uhh! Buhbye! Mmmmmm-mwah! Mmmmm-mwah! Buh-bye!" etc, etc. But I think why I love her girly girlness so much is because it is countered by this attitude and bravado that is traditionally thought of as thoroughly unfemale. Where brother was timid and reticent on the playground Parker makes up for it with an unabashed love of the thrill of flying down a slide twenty times her size. I've been on the receiving end of more than one dirty look from playground Moms as Parker climbs to the very top of a slide by herself, sits, counts to three, throws her hands in the air and squeals down a slide (how could I let someone so small and fragile do that?!). When I push her in the swing she either leans all the way forward or all the way back for maximum danger. If she does fall, she picks herself up, growls a bit, and moves on. There's nothing she likes more than for Daddy to throw her up as high as he can and catch at the very last second. She will jump off anything, no matter the height, and you better be ready to catch her cause she won't wait for you. She uses her Sit'n'spin as a stepping stool (the top of which is a disc six inches in diameter) to climb on top of the table to dance on. She will more than likely be the one to jump off the roof in pursuit of flight. And while her fearlessness may shave twenty years off my life, it also makes me secretly proud. Because when it comes down to it, all I want her to be is strong, confident, assured in who she is. Well that, and to stop kissing strangers.

10 things I loved about Sarah's 21st Birthday

1. That she had it at a German pub in Anaheim.

2. That it just happened to be Karaoke night.

3. That besides my family the only other people in there were the help, and two tables of hardcore German pub Karaoke bluehairs.

4. That the first thing they did was call out Sarah and DEMAND that she sing. DEMAND. Weren't even nice about it.

5. That five minutes after we sat at our table one of the bluehairs asked Fin if he liked to draw, and then handed him some crayons and three little drawings she drew for him of the funniest "monsters."

6. That the same lady then drew Sarah singing karaoke and blowing out candles, and proceeded to sing "Black Velvet" in the thickest German accent you've ever heard.

7. This:
*Old man steps up to the mic, slurring from either too much beer or possibly a stroke
"This one's for Ssssarah. Where is she?! SARAH! SSSSSSSSSSarrrrrrraaahhh?? Well (shrugs) she must be in the crapper"

8. That she was.

9. This:
*Fin is going to the bathroom chatting away with me. He hears a man singing a country song.
"Mom, what's this song?"
"I don't know Fin, can you hurry please?"
"Sounds like Johnny Cash, Mom"
Lady in stall next to us exclaims
"HE KNOWS WHO JOHNNY CASH IS??!!!"
me, *sigh* "He knows everything."

10. That it was.