Hearing voices....

Christmas Eve, Steven was trying to get some holiday ambience going, so he flipped the TV on and found It's a Wonderful Life playing. He left that on, without turning on the stereo receiver, thus rendering the movie a silent one, and proceeded to turn on a Christmas CD instead. So after a while, we walked into the living room to find Kyra firmly planted in front of the TV, watching the movie in silent mode. We chuckled at this, and proceeded to go about our business of getting ready for the following day. About 20 minutes later, my sister went back into the living room and sat down next to Kyra, who was still watching the movie with no sound. Kyra turned to her with a confused look and asked, Why don't they have any voices?

Tough Love

To prepare Kyra for Siana's arrival, we had long been hyping up how much fun she was going to have with her baby sister and how much they would love each other. This strategy seemed to have worked a little too well. We wanted to make sure Kyra loved her little sister, hoping to offset some of the jealousy issues by establishing a relationship even before Siana was born. However, we should also have incorporated some practice in how to touch and talk to babies in that process of generating excitement. Kyra has always been a pretty touchy-feely, physical kid. So from the first time they met, Kyra was right in the baby's face kissing her, squeezing her in big bear hugs, giving her "noses" (Eskimo kisses), and generally mauling her in the process of showing her affection. So every day now, it seems like the only word that comes out of my mouth is ....gentle.... This experience has given new meaning to the phrase "love her to pieces."

Welcome Little One!

We're overjoyed to announce that our 2nd beautiful daughter, Siana Nicole, was born today, December 13, 2005 at 4:01 p.m. She was a healthy 8 pounds, 21 inches long and fiesty from her first moments. As she was emerging into our world, her head came out and the doctor stuck her finger into the baby's mouth to suction out whatever goo comes standard in baby's mouths. Siana promptly chomped down onto the doctor's finger, to which the doc responded with a loud "Woo! She bit me!" It was quite humorous. Poor Siana's going to need all the spunk she can get to keep up with her big sister!

The Day Arrives!

Well, tomorrow is the big day...baby day! Since my due date came and went last week, my doctor decided on an induction, since the baby is so large and she doesn't want her to get any bigger. (Neither do I!) So we're going in Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. to start the process. Hopefully, by the end of the day Tuesday, the large bulge in my tummy will transform into a sweet little girl that we have to hurry up and name!!!

Goliath and Armor All

To the left of the door that enters our house from the garage is a large set of shelves containing all kinds of cleaning supplies, painting supplies, etc. The shelf about eye-level for Kyra holds a container of Armor All wipes for the car. I don't think she's ever actually looked at these shelves before, but she noticed them tonight. As we were walking into the house, she spotted that Armor All container, which features a logo of a giant Viking looking-guy, and exclaimed, "Mommy! There's Goliath! How did Goliath get on there???" I'd never really paid that much attention to the Armor All logo before, but she's right, I imagine that is kind of what Goliath would have looked like....

In the Secret...

There is a song that Steven and I love called In the Secret. One line of the song says, In the secret, in the quiet place, in the stillness You are there. Kyra has apparently learned this song in her Bible Hour-type class at church because in the car the other day, we were listening to this song and she said, "I know this song! We sing it in my class at church!" We thought that was pretty cool. Later on that day, she brought it up again. She said, "Mommy, we sing this song at church....In the Secret, Be Quiet Place." =) Not the original intent of the song, but I like that version too!

Just Give Me a Box

It's so funny to me how the things you think kids are going to love, they end up being neutral on, and the things you never expect are what they find the most pleasure in.... Steven, Kyra, and I went to the Barnes & Noble bookstore yesterday, as we do fairly regularly. On the way out, we noticed an Upcoming Events flier on the table and saw that Winnie the Pooh was going to be there in person, or in fur, the following day (today). So we thought, hey, Kyra likes Winnie the Pooh, she'll think that's like the coolest thing ever! So we go back to Barnes & Noble today for storytime and to see Pooh. Well, after waiting for about 15 minutes, all excited because we just know she's going to love this, and with both video and digital cameras in hand, Pooh Bear arrives. Steven took a few seconds of video and then turned it off because there was absolutely no reaction whatsoever from our sweet daughter when Pooh came around the corner. I was like, look Kyra, it's Pooh Bear! She looked up at me like Duh, and....? So yeah, our big plans to make our kid's day were crushed to bits before our very eyes. =) She was totally unimpressed. And then during the reading of the story, she kept getting up and going to get her own books off nearby shelves, bringing them back to her seat (front row, mind you), and reading to herself. Oh well. It was kind of like Christmas where you think you're buying the best toy ever and the recipient finds more joy in playing with the box it came in. Hey Pooh Bear, where'd you get your bear suit? Did you happen to keep the box?

Kyra Quote of the Day

Kyra to Daddy this morning as she was sitting in bed with us: "Daddy, I wish you didn't have any hair on your arms."

Good Touch, Bad Touch

Why is it that pregnancy brings out the crazies in droves? I was minding my business in Wal-Mart last night, when this woman and her friend enter the same aisle that I was in. As she passes me, she gasps loudly and says to her friend, Oh look...she's gonna have a baby!!! And then she proceeds to reach over and rub my belly as if she were expecting a genie to pop out. Excuse me, do I know you? I was so excited because I'd made it this far in my pregnancy and not had any molestation incidents yet. *sigh* And I'm not one with a whole lot of hangups about stuff like that. It doesn't bother me in the least when my friends or people at church come up to talk to me and touch my tummy. No problem. However, random women in Wal-Mart with fe-mullets who look like they just rolled in with Achy Breaky Heart blaring from their pickup truck, not so much. Little scary. Back away from the belly, girlfriend, and don't make any sudden moves....

You Can Count on Me

Recently, Kyra has been calling to me from her bed when she thinks she's done with her rest time. She says, Mommy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10! Then she'll say to me when I eventually go in and get her, Mommy, I was counting on you! Or Mommy, I counted on you 10 times!

Our budding techie

Since we've moved so far away from family, we've set up our webcam and microphone so that we can video chat with all our relatives who are out of state. We've done this a few times now and Kyra is enchanted by the whole process. She thinks it's the coolest thing to see and hear her family on the computer screen. So now, every time I'm on the computer, she runs up and says "Mommy, push iChat, push iChat!" I guess it just runs in the family....

A Name for the Baby

Steven and I always have trouble deciding on a name for our babies. We named Kyra a week before she was born, and we still don't have a name for this new baby. However, we have always had nicknames for them while in-utero. Kyra was Peanut, due to her shape in our first ultrasound at 7 weeks, and this current baby is Little Bruce Deuce. People ask Kyra fairly often what the baby's name is and she used to say Little Bruce Deuce, but this week, she has started calling the baby something else. The other day, someone asked her that question and she said the baby's name was Georgie. Georgie??? Where on earth did that come from? And since then, she's repeated this to multiple people, including Steven's mom and my parents on the web chat this evening. My parents even asked her, Isn't that a boy's name? And she adamantly declared that no, the baby was a girl and her name is Georgie. So I guess Georgie it is, at least for Kyra. =) Hopefully once this little one finally gets an official name, she'll make the switch, or else her little sister will always have a rather strange nickname....

Nice abs

Kyra has a Halloween pez dispenser with a pumpkin on the top that she was wrapping up in fuzzy ponytail holders this morning. At first, she said they were the pumpkin's fuzzy pajamas. Then after a while of playing with it, she declared that it was the "Abdominal Snowman" like on Rudolph. I guess that means it has a killer 6-pack. =)

Kyra's Pet Rock

Tonight in bible class, Kyra made a pet rock. I'm not exactly sure what the lesson was, but the pet rock was the craft project she came home with. In the car on the way home, she asked if she could hold her pet rock. I told her she could have it once we got in the house as the glue was still wet and we didn't want his eyes to fall off. She asked what he would say if his eyes fell off. I responded, well, he would probably say, Hey, I can't see anything! To this, she replied, um, actually, I didn't give him a mouth. Details, details. =)

Something Loud....

My husband is obsessed with sound. It may be music, surround sound for the tv/movies, or just sound equipment in general, but he loves it all. We moved into our new home in Amarillo this past Friday, and on Tuesday, the Star Wars Episode III DVD came out in stores. Never mind that we still have boxes of stuff lining the walls in each room, we went to the store and bought the DVD, then went home so he could meticulously set up a makeshift entertainment center complete with surround sound speakers set up on boxes in particular locations around the room so we could watch the new movie that very night. That amuses me. But what was even funnier, we put Kyra to bed, and after Steven had white noise tested each speaker and configured the system for the distance each speaker was from his ears, we started the movie. About 1/3 of the way into the movie, I hear a loud "MOMMMMYYYYY" from down the hall. It was persistent enough that I had Steven pause the show and went to Kyra's room to check on her. We have been leaving her door open since we're all still adjusting to the new house, so I went in and asked her what the matter was. She replied, "There's something loud in here...and it's Dad's movie." I busted out laughing and told her I would ask him to turn it down a little and I would shut her door a bit so it would be quieter and she could sleep. Then I kissed her, still chuckling, and went back to report to Daddy that he would have to lower the intensity on the surround sound this time.

What's the Baby Saying?

Kyra's latest obsession is to incessantly ask what the baby is saying, which is rather difficult to say, seeing as she's not even born yet. Kyra will say something into my belly, then look up excitedly and ask what the baby said when she did that. This is not a one time occurrence....it consumes a large part of our day. It amuses me and makes me happy that she is so anxious to interact with her little sister, but it becomes increasingly difficult to be creative in my answers. Today, we had a mini-concert for the baby. Kyra has a kid's songbook with about 15 songs in it. She went page by page, singing each song to the baby, then putting her hand on my tummy and saying "What did the baby say about that song?" It was very sweet, and I just kept telling her the baby loved her song and was so happy that Kyra was singing to her. I think she's going to be a very sweet big sister..... =)

The Official Vehicle of Texas

Well, I guess we are now officially Texans...we bought a truck. =) We decided to leave our beloved "Pimpster" in Indianapolis rather than attempt to drive it 1000 miles across the country. The Pimpster is a 1989 Buick Park Avenue that has seen better days, but was still running well enough to make us sad to leave it behind when we moved. So once we decided on a house to buy down here, we moved on to the next big purchase we had to make...a "new" car. We decided to buy something used for Steven to drive back and forth to work so as to avoid having a car payment. I will keep "The Nugget," our gold Impala, for a family car for the foreseeable future. So we started looking on the internet and drove around every car lot in town trying our best to avoid the "vultures" who swarm around the car before you even stop. We finally narrowed it down to 2: an older Infiniti J30 or a late 90's Chevy 1500. We finally decided that, being in Texas, the resale on the truck would far surpass the resale on the Infiniti, especially since the dealer selling it didn't even know that Infiniti was a Nissan product..... So we got our money together and took more cash than we've ever had in our hands in our life and plunked it down on the desk of the dealer, then drove away with a semi-shiny, slightly scratched, but very clean black pickup. Steven is enjoying having a truck again and we are still pondering a name for our new vehicle....I'll be sure to post when it's christened. We are contemplating going out and buying a gun rack just to fit in. I think it would be funny to get a gun rack and store one of Steven's guitars on it, but he thinks we might actually get shot at for the mockery....

The Cadillac Ranch

I was bored out of my mind today (Steven had a meeting all afternoon), so I took a little drive to go see the infamous Cadillac Ranch. Boy was that a disappointment. It was totally lame and I actually drove right past it at first. I drove 1/2 hour out of the city expecting to see some sign or something pointing to it. Finally I turned around and saw it by accident on the way back. Of course, it was about 2 minutes outside of Amarillo and there was no sign and no fanfare, and just 10 cars parked standing up in the dirt. Holy cow, that's dumb. =) I'd heard so much hoopla about the stinkin things that I thought for sure it would at least have a sign pointing it out... Not so much. So whatever, I had nothing to do this afternoon anyway and I just confirmed that there's absolutely nothing on either side of Amarillo. So I'll never leave the city again. haha

Just Like Mommy

Yesterday as Kyra was lying in her bed and starting on her naptime, she looks up at me and randomly says, "i'm just thinking about what I want to be when I grow up." Rather surprised at this declaration from a barely 3 year old, I say, "You were? What do you think you want to be?" Kyra responds, "I don't know. Probably just like you." Wow. That's a lot to live up to...for me not her!

Kyra Quote of the Day

Mommy: Kyra, can I get some clothes on you?

Kyra: No thanks. I'm good.

Kyra's Musings on Amarillo

Kyra, upon arriving in Amarillo, Texas after 3 long days of driving:

"They don't have trees here...."

That about sums it up. =)

Change of Scenery

Well, we've finally decided, after much anxiety and tears, to take a leap of faith and move our family to Amarillo, Texas, which at this point seems to us like the middle of nowhere, but will soon be home. We are excited and anxious, yet sad and homesick already. We have met some wonderful people that we can already tell will become close, if not lifelong friends, so we are looking forward to those relationships, although we will greatly miss the close bonds we've formed with people here over the last 7 years. We are interested to see where God takes us on this journey...if this is just a temporary stop on our timeline or if this will become home for years to come. We plan to pack up "the wagons" and head out on September 19th, stretching the long trip over several days. Our first official Sunday will be September 25th. I'm sure much awaits us to learn and experience in this new adventure.

Have a Heart!

Apparently the reality line between cartoons and real life has not been realized just yet for my sweet little girl.... I was giving her a big hug and kiss this evening and afterwards, she looked around and commented, "No hearts came out!" She was looking for the hearts that always surround people that love each other in cartoons. I told her that the hearts were definitely there, but we just couldn't see them. =)

Shout out the window and you will receive

Kyra has recently discovered the amazing feat of yelling out the window of a car at a plastic box, and then getting all kinds of yummy things to eat. The other day, we pulled up to the Arby's drive-thru to grab some lunch. Steven rolled down the window and began to order, when all of a sudden from the back seat, a small, but very loud voice begins to shout, "Um, I would wike a kid's fwosting please!" We had to stop ordering for a minute because we were laughing so hard. Then as we got our food and drove away, we tried to explain to her that only Wendy's had Frosties and that we had gone to Arby's instead that day. I'm not sure she got it, as now, every time we pull up to any drive thru, she tries again to order a "Kid's Fwosting."

Transference

We recently sold our house that had been on the market for about a year and half. During the transition time, we accepted an offer from some friends to stay with them for a month or so while we found a new place to call home. We didn't know how Kyra would handle the transition from our house to a temporary residence, but so far, she's handled it great. The other day, she surprised Steven and I by referring to our old house as "Robert's." Robert is the name of the man who bought our house. We found it amazing that a 3-year-old would grasp the concept of someone else buying our house and the house then becoming theirs, much less refer to it as "Robert's" instead of something like "Our old house."

The New Trinity?

Lately, Kyra has been making a strange connection with things that she learns at church. Each time we ask her what she learned about in class, she says, "God and Jesus...and Santa Claus." Seeing as it's the middle of summer, that seems a bit unlikely....

Breakfast in the Closet

As we're packing up our belongings all around the house and getting ready to move, Kyra has been quite curious as to what some items are that she doesn't recognize. Today, we were packing the coat closet by the front door. Steven was pulling out all the scarves, gloves, and hats, as well as a pair of old earmuffs that I haven't worn in years, but for some reason still have. Kyra grabbed them out of the box, turned them over several times, and said "Mommy, what are these things?" I answered that they are earmuffs. She said oh and continued to pick through the items that Steven was putting into the box. She came back to the earmuffs after a minute and announced, I'm going to wear the "Ear Muffins." Well, that's something I never hope to find in the breakfast aisle.

God and the balloon

We went to Applebee’s to eat with my parents last night and as we were leaving, Kyra was given a pretty pink balloon. We tied it around her wrist and went out towards the parking lot. As we were chatting with my parents and getting ready to say good-bye, Kyra began dancing along the sidewalk, jumping up and down, and consequently the balloon untied itself. Before we could react, it was floating high above our heads. Kyra handled it well, but kept asking for her balloon back. Someone ended up telling her that the balloon went up to God. She later asked me in the car, “Mommy where did my balloon go?” I somewhat mindlessly repeated that it went high up in the sky and went to God. She replied, “No Mommy, it can’t go to God in the sky!” That got my attention and I asked her why. She then informed me, “Because God is in our hearts.” So of course, I felt like a moron and told her how right she was. =)

Commercialization

Kyra and I were walking through Wal-Mart the other day, and we went down the dishwashing aisle to pick up some dishwasher detergent. As we went back down the aisle to return to the grocery section, all of a sudden Kyra yells, "Wait Mommy! We need some Palmolive Oxy Plus!" I have never bought that particular product before, so I stopped, backed up the cart to the dishwashing liquid section and clarified. I asked her "What is it we need to buy?" She then pointed right to the bottle of Palmolive Oxy Plus and repeated herself. After I realized they show that commercial fairly regularly in between Dora and Blues Clues, I died laughing and told her we don't need to buy everything we see commercials for on TV. A little scary, but amusing nonetheless.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls!

Steven and I just found out on Monday that we're going to be the proud parents of another beautiful baby GIRL! We're very excited that Kyra is going to be a big sister soon. She is already very sweet with the baby and regularly lifts my shirt up so she can kiss my tummy. The other day she said that she can't wait until the baby comes out so they can read books together. I told her that was a great idea and the baby would love it if Kyra would read books to her. The beginning of a beautiful friendship....

Performance Arts

Each day, both when she's waking up and settling down for a nap or bedtime, Kyra practices her art of conversation and singing. She sings everything from Dora the Explorer and Blues Clues songs to worship songs from church or our CDs. She also has long extended conversations with whoever it is that she talks to when no one is around. The other day, she had gone down for her nap with a certain stuffed animal friend who, at the end of naptime, was nowhere to be found. I asked where her little friend had gone and she informed me that she threw him under the stage. The stage? I inquired as to what she meant by under the stage, and she indicated that she had thrown the poor little guy under the bed, which at naptime and bedtime, apparently becomes her stage.

We're Happy!

Kyra and I went to Wal-Mart the other day and as we were walking through the aisles, out of nowhere, Kyra exclaims at the top of her lungs, "Look at us, everybody, we're happy!" It was hysterical. But I'm thrilled to have been able to provide her a childhood so far that she will remember as happy. That makes me happy too.

Story Time

Kyra has a book called "Guess How Much I Love You." In this book, you hear the story of Big Nutbrown Hare and Little Nutbrown Hare and how much they love each other. Well, the routine is Steven or I will read her a book, then she'll take the book and read it to us. We had just finished reading about Big and Little Nutbrown Hare, when she announced she was going to read it to us now. Things went downhill when she opened to the first page and started reading about "Little Butt Hare." I knew right away that we would need to read the book a few more times to make sure she got the names right....

Kyra Quote of the Day

As spoken by Kyra this morning when I tried to put some clothes on her,

"I want to be naked and dance."

Now That's Service!

Steven, Kyra, and I went to Subway for dinner this evening. As we sat down at our booth and finished up our sandwiches, Steven pulled out a small bag containing the cookies he always gets with his value meal. Kyra asked him what was in the bag. He said they were cookies. She said, "For me?" And Steven said, no they were his, but he'd share a piece with her. So then Kyra said, "Is the manager going to bring one out for me?" We about fell out of the booth we were laughing so hard.

2-year-old Theology

It's amazing to me how much Kyra understands about God even at only 2 years old. She's paying attention to and ingesting things that I don't even realize. She shocked me the other day as we were driving (a long long drive) to church. She was just making two-year-old conversation, talking about her little friend Brooke's new baby sister. Kyra's very into names and which people go together. When we talk about her friend Brooke, she always likes to review what Brooke's mommy's name is, what her daddy's name is, and now what her baby sister's name is. After this chain of events, she then started on her own family. She informed me that her own daddy's name is Steven and her mommy's name is Angewa. Then she asked "What's my sister's name?" I glanced back at her and said "Do you have a sister?" She said yes, so I asked her what she thought her sister's name was. She responded, "Somethin." This response is typical of late. She then asked "What's my brother's name?" I again asked her "Do you have a brother?" She again said yes, so I asked her what she thought her brother's name was. She once again replied with, "Somethin." I asked her if she wanted a baby brother or sister, and she said yes, so I told her she'd have to ask God to bless our family with a baby brother or sister. At this point, she began to talk about babies, and ended up saying, "Jesus was a baby!" I said that he sure was. Then she said, "But he went up into the sky at church." We had watched a video clip portraying Jesus' ascension a few weeks ago that I didn't even know she was paying attention to! Then she went on to say, "But he'll be back in a widdle bit. He wuvs us. And God does too." Out of the mouths of babes!!! It takes some people a lifetime just to get this far in their belief structure. I'm so thankful that she is learning this at an early age. I hope that basic truth always guides her in her life choices. Jesus came to earth as a baby, rose up to Heaven, but he'll be back in a little bit, and boy does he love us!

Vacation funnies

We just returned home from a week long vacation in Michigan to visit family and friends. We had a great time and accumulated quite a few Kyra funnies along the way:

Steven's mom has a Ukrainian girl living with her for a few months while she's in the country. Her name is Anya and Kyra had a great time playing with her. Each night, when we said our bedtime prayers, Kyra would add, "And thank you God for Onion." That still makes me chuckle every time I think about it.

One morning, Steven got up to find Kyra downstairs waving a ginormous flag around and yelling "I'm a Captain! I'm a Captain!"

While we were at my grandmother's house, a friend of ours came over who has a baby who's a few months shy of being a year old. Kyra was thrilled to see Baby Makenna and Baby Makenna's daddy. Kyra is very big on names and refers to people by name incessantly. Apparently, we forgot to inform her of Makenna's daddy's name. (It's Patrick.) So she was playing games with Patrick and laughing like crazy when he got up to put something in the kitchen. She followed him in there and from the kitchen we heard her say "Hey Dude, what are ya doing?" I wasn't quite sure if I had heard correctly, but as she ran out of the kitchen with Patrick not far behind her, I heard her say "Dude! Follow me, Dude!" So apparently, Dude was the best substitute for a name she could come up with. Needless to say, we all died laughing.

For the Love of Taxes...?

Steven's sister Melissa works seasonally for a tax preparation company (for "fun"). The other day, Steven decided to take Kyra to visit Melissa at the tax place for a little while. Kyra had a great time, and was very good about waiting for "Missa" while she was with a customer doing his taxes. When Melissa was ready, Kyra got to play with her and talk to her for a little while. However, when it was time to go, Kyra was quite distraught and wanted to stay there so Missa could do her taxes. Melissa told her she would come over the following day to see her, and would do her taxes for her then.

The next day, Melissa came over, as promised, to do Kyra's taxes. She asked her how much money she made last year, and Kyra said, "One and two." Then Melissa asked how much she had withheld from her paychecks, to which Kyra also said, "One and two." So Melissa told her that she would receive a refund of approximately 2 billion dollars. Kyra was content with this verdict and was glad to have "had her taxes done."

This brings us to last night. During our nightly prayer, Kyra typically interjects as we pray, with things she wants to pray for or give thanks for. I had just finished thanking God for Kyra's friend "Bwooke" when Kyra burst in with "And thank you for taxes!" I had to stifle my laughter, and say through gritted teeth, "And thank you God for taxes." I told Steven after we put her to bed that this may be the very first time ever in all of eternity that God has ever had someone thank him for taxes....

On Babies...

Kyra was reading magazines tonight, and as she flipped through an issue of Parenting, she stopped on a photo of a sleeping newborn. I said "Isn't that a sweet baby?" She just looked up and grinned. And then, since we've been entertaining the idea of expanding our family, I asked her, "Should we have a new baby in our house?" To this, she replied, "I'm reading a magazine right now, we'll have a baby in a minute." If only it were that simple.

Lyrical Stylings

Here are a couple of Kyra's most-rotated songs of late:

Ring Around the Rosie:

Wing A WaWa Wozee
Popta Fo A Posie
Azin da Azin
We Ah Fah Down!
This is followed by much giggles and usually another repetition.

And don't ask me what a "Popta Fo" is. I don't know. =)


The other is The Farmer in the Dell:
A Fahmah inna Deo
A Fahmah inna Deo
I no a day-e-o
A Fahmah inna Deo

A Fahmah takes a wife
A Fahmah takes a wife
I no a day-e-o
A Fahmah takes a wife

A Wipe takes a chy-ode (child)
A Wipe takes a chy-ode
I no a day-e-o
A Wipe takes a chy-ode

A dog takes a cat
A dog takes a cat
I no a day-e-o
A dog takes a cat

A cat takes a mouse
A cat takes a mouse
I no a day-e-o
A cat takes a mouse

Sometimes she inserts the mouse takes the cheese verse here, sometimes not.

Day all wun affa a mouse (they all run after the mouse...)
Day all wun affa a mouse
I no a day-e-o
Day all wun affa a mouse

Just being polite....

We've tried from the very beginning to instill manners and politeness into Kyra. Apparently, it's working a little too well. She excuses herself whenever she bumps into anything, no matter if it's an inanimate object. Today, she was getting out of her seat in the car and as she scooted into the floor and turned to exit, she bumped into the seat with her arm. So she says, "Skooz me cawseat." Then later on, she ran into the coffee table as she was dancing around the living room. She got up and said, "Oh, skooz me tabo!" Hopefully this will translate into people skills somehow in the future. =)

Making Music

Kyra has been expressing interest in musical instruments recently. Her daddy plays his guitar frequently, and she'll go up to him and say "Daddy less pway insumments!" So he goes and gets his guitar and she goes and gets an old broken Beta 58 mic that Steven gave her a while back, and they sing songs together. We figured now would be a great time to introduce her to some instruments of her own. So I ended up getting her a nice set called Band in a Box. It has a hollow wooden rhythm fish with a stick, a tambourine, a harmonica, 2 egg shaker maracas, spoons that are attached to each other with a handle, and a kazoo. She totally loves it! So now her favorite "insumments" are her "woccas and her hambowee." (Maracas and tambourine.) =)

Love and Marriage

I had just given Kyra a bath the other day and was combing her hair when she pointed to my left hand and said, "Dat's your wedding wing?" I said yes, that's my wedding ring. And she said, "Daddy has one too?" I said yes, Daddy has one too. She then pointed to her hand and said, "I have a wing too?" I replied that no, she didn't have one yet, but one day when she picks out a very special boy to marry, she'll have one too. I then told her that she would have to pick carefully and make sure that he loves her very much and loves God very much too. To this she replied, "I marry Uncle Shane?" It took all I had not to crack up, but I said that no, Uncle Shane was already married to Aunt Melissa. So then she asked if she could marry her Daddy. Again, I said no, Daddy is already married to Mommy. About this time, Daddy came in so he could enjoy the conversation as well and asked her what boy she thought she might marry. She thought for a minute and then said, "I marry Stanley.....and Spiderman." Ironic, as she never even watches these cartoons. So basically, she likes them either bald or climbing the walls..... =)