Moon Catcher

Remember when your parents were superhuman and capable of anything? They knew all the answers and were never wrong. I've just realized that right now, in Evanie's eyes, I'M the superhero.

Some day she'll be shocked to realize that I'm human and frail and chronically wrong and gave birth to her in my 20s and truly had no idea what I was doing. Just like everyone else.

But for now, there are no limits to what I can do and to what I know.

Today we were out for a walk and the following conversation happened. Evanie was in the stroller, her neck craning towards the sky, her little hands cupped as high as she could reach.

E: "The moon Mommy! I see the moon!"

Me: "Sure enough, you found it."

E: "I catch it mommy. Here moon. Coooome. I catch you!"

Me: "I'm not sure if this is going to work out like you think..."

E: "I can't reach it."

Me: "That's because it's way way high in the sky, Evanie. I'm pretty sure only God can reach it."

E: "Mommy do it? Mommy reach it!! Ok?"

You see? She thinks I could just get a little step stool and pull down the moon for a cuddle! What an adventure you have as a kid...and you never really realize it until you're not a kid...

Easter

When my current course is over (and it almost is), I will resurface. For now, monthly pictures of this cute little girl are all I can do.

She was having a hard time looking at the camera because of the sun. We're not used to the sun in these here parts!


Poor little watering eyes.


Tired princess, playing with mommy's jewelery.


This is post nap, let the Easter hunt begin! She had no idea what we meant by "easter party" but she was SO excited.


Every time she spotted an egg it was more exciting than the last one!


I love the little mouth in this picture.


This picture progression make it look like she spotted this easily but let me tell you, that is not the case. And I'm one of those 'super fun' moms that can hardly keep from stepping in to point out hidden presents and correct childish crafts and make everything as grown up and neat as possible! It was all I could do to just keep encouraging her to keep looking rather than diving for it myself.


Trying out the chalk....or colors as she calls them. She could hardly believe that we were letting her draw on something other than paper!


Little test run with the watering can! She carried that with her for the rest of the afternoon!

If all the squeals and smiles were any indication, I'd say our Family Easter Party was a success. Certainly better than Christmas when nothing happened.

Squeak Squeaker, Squeak Squeakin'

Two weeks ago Justin and I planned to go on our biannual date night and had to cancel because I had a raging fever. Sucky.

Then he got it.

Then Evanie got it.

So we rescheduled our date for this weekend because, "if we're only going twice a year, we're going to be HEALTHY and we're going to LOVE IT! And who stays sick longer than two weeks? Nobody. We'll be totally healthy by then!"

Before we had fully recovered we got some swollen, sore throat thingy which went away pretty quickly for me and lingered for him. So out of sympathy for him, I got a sinus infection.

Now those demons usually last a minimum of 3 weeks for me so I went out and begged a pharmacist for a homeopathic remedy that was effective and safe for pregnancy.

He gave me this and I AM A BELIEVER!

My sinus infection whimpered and died in 24 hours.

So I got up this Friday morning delighted....with a littttttttle tiny sore throat.

Friday evening it was full on laryngitis.

Out of stubbornness and desperation, we kept our Saturday date plans even though I literally had zero voice. Not even a squeak. After Evanie was already with the babysitters and we were driving to dinner Justin asked if we were being silly and should we just cancel again.

I gave him a thumbs down, then a thumbs up, then a thumbs sideways.

Loosely translated this means,"NO we shouldn't cancel!! It'll be great! Orrr...sort of great....hopefully...."

So we went and the food was a DELIGHT and our server was AWESOME annnnnnd we pretty much didn't talk at all. We did communicate, Justin is highly skilled at my caveman sign-language attempts and reads lips well. Although it was the quietest date we've ever been on, I'm SO glad we went.

Makes me realize how much more I talk than Justin....and how much of it isn't important.

At one point in the evening, someone we couldn't see shrieked out the loudest, squawkiest female laugh I'd ever heard and Justin and I, because we're horribly immature, nearly died laughing.

Which is really quite pathetic because we really almost DIED laughing. First of all, I had a completely silent laugh and Justin was all high pitched and hoarse due to coughing for the past two weeks, and then we both lapsed into major coughing fits and had to dive for our water to help us swallow all the phlegm we hacked up! Can't really spit that in your napkin at a restaurant.

My only consolation is that dozens of people we know are dealing with the same back to back sicknesses this spring. Otherwise I would be tearing out my hair....because, you know, that's a good solution....

What to do....

...when your sweet 19 month old starts using your "mom voice" and your "mom sayings" against you!?

I hear a lot of very loud, angry "NO's!!!!" out of her so we've been working on turning that monster into a sweet "no thank you." And there is measurable success. I have no desire to squash (all) her opinions and I don't mind if she voices her say but it does matter to me that she is polite and kind. Howevvvvvvveeeerrrrr......our "no thank you" practices have turned into something like this:

Me: Evanie, time to go potty.

Evanie: No hanks.

......

Me: Ok Evanie, two more bites and then you're all done.

Evanie: No hanks.

.......

Me: Evanie, 1 more minute and then it's naptime.

Evanie: No hanks.

Awesome. I have to admit, at this point I pretty much have to turn away to hide my smile every time but still...what a stinker!

Tonight she pulled out a new one on me. She's turned into a show watching fiend since I started my final online course because I often have the TV babysit for me. (By often I mean 1 or 2 shows in a day) I don't feel guilty because it's a short term situation and only used when I must, but I'm wondering if I need to find a new system. It's quickly turning every day into one big long-

Evanie: "Show peas mama?"
Me: "Nope, no more shows today!"
Evanie: "Show PEASSSS MAMA!"
Me: "No Evanie, we're all done with shows."
Evanie: "SHOW! SHOW! SHOW! SHOW!!"

Repeat scenario 700 times.

So anyway, we were going through this tonight right before bedtime and instead of throwing the "show fit" she put her little hands on either side of my chin (like I do to her), and very calmly and matter-of-factly said:

Evanie: "Yisten...yisten...yisten mama. Yisten. Show."
Me: "Um, are you seriously telling me to 'listen'?"
Evanie: "Ya. Yisten. Show."
Me: "Unreal..............the answer is still no."

She had the serious face, the raised eyebrows, the no nonsense tone- all of it. I was a little scared.

Thankfully, although Evanie spends most of every day pretending to be a big girl, far bigger than I am ready for her to be....she still sometimes lets me hold her and cuddle her and rub her back and kiss her about 74 times a day. And I've clearly taught her to be a regular kiss dispenser because she now has a routine where she kisses me on each cheek, the chin, the forehead, the lips, and then the nose. I just love it!


Here is my big girl. We were out getting groceries and because I'm a fun mom (or because I feel guilty for being anything BUT a fun mom between daycare, school, and pregnancy!) we stopped a bought a balloon. And because she asked the lady so nicely, we got it for free!


We also found new fuzzy slippers for $3 to keep her toes warm on this winter that wants to last forever.

P.S. I cannot take good pictures, much less great pictures and I'm sorry. It is partially me and partially the camera and I don't know how to upgrade either of us!

I Like Her

She's a somewhat uncooperative nut but I just love her.

Untitled from Carolyn Wiebe on Vimeo.

Between doing nearly fulltime daycare and a recent housesitting/childcare week, it has been well over two weeks since Justin and I had a day to spend with just Evanie so this weekend was a real treat. She ignored her toys and followed us around and "helped" with everything. She loves to carry folded laundry for mama, empty the silverware from the dishwasher, ask daddy "what's that?" about everything he touches, vacuum beside me (she has her own plastic vac....best $.99 I ever spent!!), hold the dustpan for mama, throw away random carpet fuzzies in the "dabidge" , and sample everything I chop while making dinner.

She also delights in sitting ON my feet whenever I'm working in the kitchen. I can't decide if I'm more annoyed or more thrilled, it's a good mix of both. How many people love you so much that they'd rather sit on your feet all afternoon then go play with their 8 boxes of toys!?

After bathtime on Saturday evening we introduced her to the vice that is McDonalds icecream cone. She was SO excited! (And I was up with a killer stomach ache for hours. Dam dairy!) And although she's not much of a cuddler I got so many kisses and hugs and cuddles this weekend that I know she enjoyed having mom and dad to herself for 2 days! This morning she woke up with a fever at 5am and who can resist a tiny little voice asking, " 'ay down, mommy an' daddy?" So we cuddled some more!