Playing Mommy

Caroline's best friend at school is Sydney. She tells me every day that her favorite part of school was playing with Sydney. They play "Mommy" many days. Kevin probed her a bit tonight at the dinner table to find out exactly what playing Mommy means.

Daddy: So, Caroline, how do you and Sydney play Mommy?

Caroline: Well...usually Sydney is the Mommy.

Daddy: And are you a Mommy, too?

Caroline: No, I'm the Honey!

It was all I could do not to die with laughter at the dinner table!

31st

My 31st birthday party was planned by Caroline. She did a great job. I had dancing, balloons, a cake, singing, and presents - a perfect party! (I did cook dinner, but that's hardly a chore for me!) Kudos to Kevin for always involving the kids in planning and executing special days for me. It's neat to have a husband who really listens to his children.



My cake top was a little haphazard because the real bakery worker was on a break. Didn't make one bit of difference in how yummy the cake tasted!


Caroline sang "Happy Birthday" to me. It was great!










Kevin told Caroline what letters to write on her card envelope. She did the writing all by herself. She wrote her name on the inside of the card, too. Kevin did not have to tell her the letters for that word! This was a gift in itself! I am so proud!

This girl's got skills

Kevin and Caroline were playing with the Aquadoodle tonight. Kevin spelled "Helen" for her and she wrote every letter herself - without help! Wow... We are so proud! (Don't you love her dirty face from dinner?)

Punkin patch

We took Caroline to a real pumpkin patch this year. It was so much fun and the pumpkins were very reasonably priced (much more so than at the "patches" in town). She loved looking for little ones just for her. But my favorite thing has to be that she says "punkin"!

Overheard

Kevin was playing with Caroline while she was in the bath. Caroline said, "Daddy! I'm trying to do some serious work here!"

What a goof! I wish playing in the bath were my serious work!

It's not what you think, Mimi and Papa

No, we haven't suddenly become Longhorn fans. We're still saying, "Boomer Sooner!" around here--I promise! This is Caroline's new sign. She came up to me yesterday and said, "Look, Mommy! I did it! I love you so much!" (My family has always waved goodbye using the "I love you" sign and now I do it to her and Kevin.) I didn't even realize it was something she had been trying to do, which makes it even more endearing. Talk about tugging at my heartstrings... I got a silly video of her, too. It's hard to get video these days because she always wants to "see the movie."

Birthday party, Father's day, and a funny

Caroline and I went to a little birthday party last Saturday. It was at a gym for kids. There were all kinds of miniaturized gym apparatuses for the kids to climb on. It was great. The best thing was this big bouncy air thing. Caroline loved it. So fun.

Father's day was sweet. Caroline really gets into presents and cards and "helping". We went to the pottery painting place a few weeks ago so Caroline could paint a mug for her Daddy. Then I had one of the girls in the store help me put Caroline's hand print on the mug. I didn't think Caroline was going to do it - she hates being dirty. But she thought it was so neat once it was on there. She actually pitched a small fit when we went back to pick up the mug because we weren't going to "do hand".

OK - now for the funny. Caroline loves Tigger. She calls him "my dog" or "my puppy" and is always trying to hug him or ride him or play with him. He's just now started figuring out she's fun to run around with. She helps me feed him every day - filling his bowl up with dog food and putting it down for him, saying, "There you go, buddy." Sunday on the way to church she told me she had asked Tigger if he wanted a cookie. I said, "What did Tigger say?" Without missing a beat, Caroline said, "He barked!" Duh - dogs don't talk, Mom! They bark! Kevin and I laughed and laughed about that one!

Bird watchers

Now Caroline can watch birds with Daddy using her new binoculars (or "knockers", as Caroline says)!

Put a smile on your face

Not too terribly much going on around here lately. We're waiting on the sunshine to come back!

We love this video - particularly the forced, "Everybody happy!" She's becoming quite the little comedienne. I have to make a point to write down some of the things she says because I know 10 years from now I'll never remember.

Tickle, tickle

Santa dropped by during nap time

Gearing up for Christmas and the end of 2007

We're busy, busy, busy here at chez Garrett. I thought I better take a moment before I go to bed to reflect and write down some of the things that have been going on.

Kevin's been quite the jet setter - two interviews in two different cities in one weekend. Oh, and the airlines lost his luggage once and misplaced it once. Whew. That's a lot even for Mr. Even-Steven to deal with! I know he'll be glad for some time off this week.

I've been busy in the kitchen doing my yearly baking - but not as much as I have in the past. I decided to stick with the things I like most - Mimi Lee's peanut brittle, Swedish Spritz, Pepparkakkor (Swedish ginger cookie), chex mix. When I was a girl, I cherished those special family goodies my mom made only at Christmas. I know her mom made them when she was a little girl. And now - joy, oh, joy - I get to share them with my own little family and make our own holiday baking traditions.

Caroline is the biggest blessing of our lives. She changes daily and I try so hard to savor every moment. Maybe not the bad ones as much as the good ones! Every day is an adventure.

Her favorite Christmas activity is driving around after dark looking for Christmas lights--blue ones specifically. I never get tired of hearing her say, "Oooo! Wow! Cool! Neat!" for miles all around the neighborhood. I've got to get it on video.

She loves singing and music, especially when someone else is doing the singing. But she adds words here and there when she knows them. She loves looking for where the music is coming from in the grocery store. She puts her hand to her ear, looks excitedly around, and says, "Mommy, whissen. Hear music?"

She can fill in the important words in all her favorite books (Good Night, Moon; The Going to Bed Book; Hug; Go, Dog, Go). She loves looking at books and reading them. Sometimes we spend 20 or 30 minutes just reading in her rocking chair. I attribute books (and Sesame Street) to the fact that she already knows how to count to 10 and her colors.

Caroline loves having everyone do something. If the Little Einsteins are shaking their whole bodies, be assured that Mommy, Daddy, Caroline, and Tigger are all shaking their whole bodies, too.

Caroline's favorite game is hide and seek. She hides an item or body part or person. Here's how a typical game goes...

Caroline: "Hand! Where are oo? Where is it?" (hand in coat pocket)
Mommy: "Where's your hand?"
Caroline: "Hand. Hiding in dere. (pulls hand out of pocket) Here is! Hand! I find it! Yay, Tine!" ("Tine" is how she says "Caroline".)
Mommy: "Silly Caroline!"
Caroline: "Silly Mommy!"

So silly!

One of our favorite things is seeing her pray with us. She bows her head and holds our hands, eyes peeking up at us to see exactly what it is we are doing. And there is always a small-voiced, but hearty "A-men!" at the end. We ask her who we pray to and she says, "God," in a very awed and reverent whisper. We pray that there will never be a single day when she doesn't know the love and grace of God.

Well, I didn't intend to ramble on. But I think I'll be glad someday I wrote all this out. Next post - a picture or two. I promise.

Jingle bells

If this doesn't put you in a holiday mood, I don't know what will! (Sorry for the dim light...)

And some bonus footage for you...

The playground and fall festival

The weather was wonderfully sunny on Saturday morning. So in celebration, we decided to take a bike ride. Caroline patiently waited in her carriage while we got everything ready - taking a bike ride is not the spontaneous event it used to be! We rode up to a school nearby and played on the playground there. It was great - we had the whole place to ourselves. Caroline had the best time on the slides. So did Daddy! Then we had lunch at Holiday Ham, where Caroline ate like a champ. All that sliding makes a girl hungry.

Saturday night was our church's Fall Festival. I didn't get many pictures - I was too busy chasing a running toddler. She and Elizabeth enjoyed the moonbounce for a total of 30 seconds, and I did get a picture of that. We had dinner with Elizabeth and her mommy and daddy. The girls haven't stopped talking about each other since. Then it was home for a fun scrub in the tub and a cartoon before bed. I doubt that toddler life gets any better than that.

Jumping on the bed

Practicing with a cup

The bathtub is the perfect practice place!

Hello, hello

She never really talks on the phone, but we pretend a lot. She even props it between her shoulder and ear like I do. She says, "Oh, oh." (Hello, hello.) When Kevin calls and I ask her if she wants to say hello, she shakes her head and runs off. Pushing the buttons is fun, too.

Animal signs

This is just a cute clip of Caroline doing a couple of her animal baby signs. She knows a ton! It is seriously hard to get this girl to stand/sit still for a video, so I had to catch her at lunch.

Boo-boo

Caroline and Tigger had a collision in the backyard one night about 2 weeks ago. I am so thankful that Kevin had "skin superglue" in his bag and some friends working in the ER. He fixed her up right here at home. It's healing well now and doesn't even need a bandage anymore. When we ask her if she has a boo-boo, she points to her forehead and says, "Boo-boo!"

Excuses, excuses

Caroline has been skipping some naps lately. (I think we're transitioning to one nap a day. Bummer.) Anyway, I still give her a chance to take the nap if she wants it. One day this week I heard her beating on the wall and went in to see just exactly what was going on in there. This video is probably only a fourth of her entire explanation. She's quite a storyteller.