Sleeping Beauty
Growed Up
Apparently this is what happens when you wait three years to return somewhere. Your kid grows in to a giant.
(See my previous post for the original photo, and to see how different the light is in Boulder in the summer…so warm!)
We’re back from Colorado and work has swallowed us whole. When I have a chance to come up for air, I’ll post some more pictures and a full explanation of why three somewhat intoxicated family members tried (unsuccessfully) to teach me to play card games. And how Trent apparently has magical powers. The two are mildly related.
I Love Lucy
Remember when I used to write monthly letters to my little Lulu? I stopped doing that when she turned two, due the worry for her privacy, the lack of time to keep up, et cetera, et cetera. But just last night Trent and I were talking, and I started to worry that some of the greatest Lucy moments are slipping by, and if I don’t get them down in writing, I might forget completely! So here, in no particular order, are a few things about Lulu that make me smile on a daily basis.
– Every morning she tells me I’m her best friend
– If she sees Trent and I hugging, she run over, yell “Family hug!” and squeeze in between us
– She likes to be in charge of feeding the dog and is constantly telling Molly how wonderful she is
– She uses words like “cool” “awesome” and “bummer”
– When she accidentally wacks me in the head with a book or arm or something she automatically starts going “sorry, sorry, sorry” and kisses wherever the injury is
– She only likes to wear dresses that twirl when she spins
– She hates tights/pants/anything on her legs
– She tells me I look pretty when I’m dressed up for work, and then asks if she can borrow my clothes when she gets bigger
– She can work my iPhone better than I can
– When we’re at home she’s either in her jammies or a princess dress up dress, never normal clothes
– When she gets in trouble or gets denied something she says “I’m sad about that” and storms off to her room
– She lies to strangers and tells them she has older brothers and sisters
– She likes showers, not baths
– Her current favorite album is the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack
– Her current favorite book is The Lorax by Dr. Suess
– She’ll yell at strangers for littering (see: Her favorite book)
– She’s a master at stalling, she’ll always ask to stay up for “12 more minutes”
– She likes to lay nose-to-nose in her bed before she’ll fall asleep
– She hates getting up in the morning, and will cover her head with her pillow and hide when I come in to wake her
– Her favorite game is “hiding,” but she will always tell you where she’ll be hiding before she goes there, as in “I’m gonna go hide under the couch, then you come find me”
– She does not like broccoli
I know it’s totally cliche, but I adore Lulu. She is my favorite person in the world. Ever. She’s inching closer and closer to the age when she’ll be totally embarrassed by everything I do (am, say, act), but for now, she still thinks I’m the best person she knows. And honestly, there’s not really anything better than that.
Relaxation
Last night, after a trek across the blizzardy Kansas prairie to get to a family Christmas engagement, we arrived home exhausted and ready for day-long naps. It’s so funny, we spent our entire Christmas Eve and Day at home, snowed in, and happy as clams to be hibernating through the holiday, and when we were forced to leave our house for a mere 27 hours, it almost killed us. I think we are officially in winter mode. Give me the remote, a fire, some hot cocoa (and Bailey’s if the night is just right) and I’m good. We have built up such a collection of movies not yet seen, we may be here until March. Goodbye cruel world, we’ll see you when the temperature hits 60 degrees!
So last night we get home and Lucy, totally spent from the whole Christmas extravaganza, starts screaming. I can’t remember why now, but I’m sure it was either that we made her take off her jammies or put on clean underwear or turn off Thomas the Train….life is hard for that kid. She screamed and screamed until her face was bright red, and then she crawled on to the couch with her daddy to watch football. Somewhere along the line she guilted him into changing the channel, so they both sat there, under piles of blankets, watching the Sound of Music. That’s when I decided to make a break for it.
I took our little TV/DVD player from the kitchen and put it in the bathroom, filled the tub with hot water and bubbles, popped in a rom-com I’d received in my stocking and turned out the lights. This was gonna be ah-may-zing.
I sat down in the tub and immediately realized something was wrong. The water was lukewarm, barely warmer then the air. I like my baths scarily hot, so this certainly would not do. Then, as I emptied out half the tub and started to refill with hotter water, I heard little feet coming up the stairs. Lucy came bursting into the bathroom with Trent right behind her, and within ten seconds had completely stripped down and was climbing into the bath on top of me.
“What are you doing mama? I love baths! Oh, bubbles! I want to take a bath with YOU! Yay! You’re my favorite mommy in the world world and my very best friend!”
As she jumped in, the (still cold) water sloshed out and Trent scolded me for having electronics on the floor. Well, when it was just me in the bath, there wasn’t much danger, was there? He quickly unplugged TV and took it out of the bathroom, turning on the lights on his way out.
There I sat, in cold water, getting soap splashed in my eyes by a three-year-old. After about five minutes I decided this was ridiculous, and got us both out (Lu screaming, of course, because she wanted to play with the bubbles longer). Trent had checked our water heater, and it had gone into “vacation mode” during our holiday absence. The hot water would be back on by morning. I took the wet, screaming child in my room, wrapped both of our cold bodies up in towels and blankets, and proceeded to read an hour of princess books before she went to bed.
Then I went to get a nice glass of wine….and we were out. With the million holiday parties we had to attend this year, we’d given away every bottle, finishing the last one with Christmas dinner.
So I went to bed instead.
Relaxation = FAIL
Merry, merry!
Happy Christmas to all of you lovely people from the crew at Crazybananas headquarters! We are spending our first holiday at home starting new traditions (s’mores on Christmas Eve, baking cherry pie, crossing items off our life lists and watching Charlie Brown Christmas in bed, to name a few). Hope your holiday is as magical as ours!
