Sunday, February 26, 2006

Presto Change-o

The past two nights, Kyra has been getting up after we put her to bed and changing her room. It's a little unnerving because she's done this without our knowledge, which means she's being extremely quiet about it. And anyone who knows her or has read my previous posts, realizes this is quite unlike her. Last night, we went in to check on her and make sure she was covered up and warm around an hour after we'd put her to bed. To our surprise, we found her previously slightly messy room immaculate.... Then we found that she'd stuffed everything into her closet and shut the door. But her room definitely looked nice! Fast forward one day.... This evening, I once again went in to check on her about an hour and a half after we'd put her to bed and found her room completely trashed...drawers hanging open, her basket of blankets rumpled and half empty.... Then I noticed Kyra's jammies that she'd gone to bed in were lying in the doorway. Curious as to what she had on now, I walked over to her bed, and found her looking ever so fabulous in a black velvety dress, complete with matching black tights! I started giggling and ran and got Steven so he could see the metamorphosis also. Funny, yes, but boy does she have a mess to clean up tomorrow morning!

Tidy up your language!

Steven and I were walking through the mall on Friday with the girls, when all of a sudden, Kyra turns to me and says, "Mommy, what's titties?" I looked at her funny and said, "What's what....?" She says again, "What's titties?" I was racking my brain trying to figure where she'd heard or read that word and kept coming up blank. So I calmly asked her, "Where did you see that word, honey?" She said, "In my book." So of course, I asked her what book and what it said. She replied, "In my Peedie book from the library. It said Peedie 'titties' up his nest." I chuckled and figured out what word she meant. So I replied, "Oh! TIDIES. Peedie TIDIES up his nest. It means to clean up." She said, "OH! Tidies. Ok." Whew. Steven and I looked at each other with laughing eyes and internally breathed a sigh of relief.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

The Mommy Dance

At her usual time the other night, Siana started to get hungry and sleepy, so I started our nighttime routine. I laid her down on the changing table, pulled a diaper down off the shelf, got a wipe ready, and changed her diaper. We have a SwaddleMe blanket deal that we wrap her in, which makes her look like a little baby burrito and helps her sleep really soundly. I got the SwaddleMe out and started to adjust it and get it ready to put her in. Meanwhile, she's lying on the changing table and getting irritated because she's hungry. She started to fuss and I immediately started bouncing and swaying. I just as immediately felt like a total idiot because the baby was lying there on the changing table and not in my arms. But apparently distance dancing also does the trick, because she stopped fussing and looked at me strangely, probably wondering What on earth was that? At least nobody saw but the baby, and she'll never tell.... =)

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Bottoms Up

We go to small group on Sunday evenings at Kyra's friend Spencer's house. She and Spencer get to enjoy each other's company while the grown ups have a devotional and some fellowship. Well, last Sunday, Kyra headed to the potty before small group started and I wasn't really paying much attention because going to the potty has become old news for her by now. As she exited the bathroom and headed back upstairs to the play room, the guy sitting next to me on the couch commented nonchalantly, "Was Kyra wearing pants? Because she's not now." I immediately snapped to attention and said, "No pants whatsoever?" He told me she still had her underwear on, but had apparently nixed the pants in the bathroom. I quickly checked out the bathroom and found her pants lying in the floor, deemed unnecessary by a 3 year old who would rather be naked 99% of the time. I grabbed the pants and quickly beelined for the playroom to replace the discarded article of clothing on my half-naked little girl. I also informed her that although she may do that in the privacy of our own house, wearing pants is a requirement when we're out and about.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Ready or not

This afternoon, I told Kyra it was time for rest time, which meant she had to spend some quiet time in her room for a little while. I told her she didn't have to get in her bed, but she had to stay in her room. She went off to her room without incident and I started to get some work done around the house. After a while, I noticed it was abnormally quiet in there, so I went in to check on her. I found her sprawled face down across her bed, feet hanging off the edge, dressed in her pajamas and her slippers! I had sent her to quiet time fully clothed, so this amused me. Then as I got closer, I noticed she had even changed out of her underwear and put a pullup on! Apparently she was so sleepy she performed her entire nighttime ritual before she laid down to rest!

Finger assignments

We were talking today about what day tomorrow is, and the next day, and the next day. We talked about how tomorrow is Friday, which is the day Daddy gets to stay at home with us, then comes Saturday, when Daddy is also home, and when Nick Jr. comes on CBS (a big highlight in our house). So she calculated that Nick Jr. will be on in 2 days. We congratulated her on her brilliance, of course, and she held up 2 fingers, repeating that Nick Jr. is 2 days away, there's Friday and then Saturday. She then went on to expound that "this finger is Friday and this finger is Saturday!"

It's all about me

Steven and I were discussing a decoration for our living room today and where we thought it would look good, etc. Kyra butted in and informed us, "You can't talk about that! Stop talking about that!" We looked at her strangely and clarified, "Kyra, Mommy and Daddy are just talking about a decoration...." She came back with, "No...you can't talk about that! You have to talk about me!" Oh my. Let me be the first to gently and lovingly inform her that, contrary to what she may believe, the world does not indeed revolve around her.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Taking Root

Since we've moved to Amarillo, there's been a bit of a tug of war going on inside me as to whether or not I should put down roots here. I didn't really realize the resistance I had to settling in until I realized I was dreading getting Texas license plates for my car. How weird is that? It's like I want to be identified as a "foreigner" still, even though I live here now. I think I've been hanging on to some small piece of something that might even be construed as hope that we might not be here long and so I shouldn't get comfortable. I'm sure part of that comes from the fact that we never really got to settle into our last job, so maybe this will have a similar turnout. But at the same time, the thought of staying here only a short time makes me sad too because, like it or not, I've bonded with several people here already. The longer we've been here, the more I've realized that it's difficult not to put down roots because we ultimately long to be comfortable, familiar, and accepted where we are. And I've come to the conclusion that it's wrong of me to resist putting down my roots where my God has planted me. If I don't put down roots, then how can I grow? So, Amarillo, here's to a long or short relationship, but a piece of me and my family is officially a part of your landscape. We'll bloom as best we can for as long as we're here.

Robert Who?

Kyra's class last Wednesday night was about the Good Samaritan, and in her class, the kids each got to act out a part from the story. So she told me that someone played the hurt man and other kids played the "Roberts." I must have missed that part where they actually mentioned names....

Friday, February 10, 2006

Pete & Repeat

Ah, where to even start with this one? Well, I'll just prelude by saying that Kyra, good girl that she is, occasionally has a bit of an attitude issue. Typical 3 year old. Well, at times, these episodes progress to the point where she is threatened with a spanking or isolation in her bedroom if she continues her sassiness. She is also consistently, day in and day out, about 10 decibels louder than any other human being on any given occasion, happy, sad, mad, or glad. Which brings us to this evening. I had run into the store after dinner tonight and left Steven in the car with the girls. When I got back, Steven informed me that Kyra had repeated something I had said to her, apparently on enough occasions for her to remember the line verbatim. He said that she was increasing in volume during their conversation (as usual) and as she escalated into sonic boom volume, he said "Shhh" to remind her to keep her volume down. She then turned to him and very sternly said, "If you say that to me one more time, I'm going to wear your bottom out." I found this to be particularly humorous, although not in Kyra's presence. Steven, just as sternly, informed her that parents might say that to kids, but kids may not say that to parents. I'm not sure he found the humor in it as quickly as I did, but perhaps down the road he'll look back on this post and chuckle. =)

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

"Sign" Language

We had just come out of a restaurant with some take out this evening when Kyra started reading the posters in the windows of the stores flanking the restaurant. All of a sudden, she says, "muvpuhs...muvpuhs???" I asked her what she had said and she repeated the same strange word. I internally guessed what she had seen and began searching the signs for the culprit. I asked her where she saw that word and she read the sign that she was referring to. I looked next door at SportClips haircuts and saw what she was talking about. It was a large sign that had pictures of guys with nice haircuts and said something about being "M.V.P.'s" aka "muvpuhs."

Monday, February 06, 2006

Things we learn at the fair

Kyra did something the other day and I gave her the thumbs up sign and smiled at her. She smiled back and said "Thumbs up!" Then she put her thumb pointed toward the floor and said "Thumbs down." I laughed and asked her where she'd learned that, because I didn't even know she knew what those meant yet. She replied, "I don't know where I learned it. Probably at the fair one time." The fair? I've never taken her to the fair! I think she's been watching too much Charlotte's Web...the fair is a veritable shmorgasbord-orgasbord-orgasbord....

Kid Conversations

I overheard a funny conversation between Kyra (3) and her friend Spencer (4) yesterday at the Super Bowl party we attended. Here's how it went:

Kyra and Spencer are sharing an ottoman and watching the beginning of the Super Bowl.
Spencer to Kyra: Are you into football?
Kyra to Spencer: Nah.
Spencer: Then why are you watching it?
Kyra: Because I like it.
Spencer: I like soccer better.
Kyra: Yeah, I like baseball better.
Kyra and Spencer both walk away to "play" pool instead.

The whole conversation just cracked me up, particularly because I know for a fact that Kyra has never even seen a baseball game! I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to hear how their conversation progressed after that point. =)

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Budding Shopaholic

Kyra was playing next to me in the bathroom while I was putting on my makeup this morning. We were playing store with some of my stuff and she declared, "Mommy, I'll be the shopper and you be the ma'am." "The ma'am?" I said. "Yes," she said, "I'm the shopper and you're the ma'am...Ma'am what do you have here?"

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Working Girl

On the way home from church last night, Kyra and I were chatting in the car. Somehow we got onto the topic of jobs and she made the declaration that she's not going to have a job because she's not a boy. I found that interesting, because I stay at home with her, but she knows my mom and sister both work and we've visited them at their respective jobs. She went on to say that when she grows up and becomes a boy then she'll get a job. I responded that she won't ever be a boy because God made her a little girl. She pondered this a moment, and I asked her if she would ever have a job. She said yes, that when she grew up to be an adult, her job would be to watch "adult movies....like Red Eye!" I couldn't help myself and busted out laughing. Can I have that job too?