A Sword Foot.

I have been having problems with my left foot on and off and it makes it hard to walk on sometimes. The girls like me to carry them down the stairs (a habit we are trying to break). This morning as we were walking down the stairs Madeline says,

"Mom. I know right now you can't carry me down the stairs because you have a SWORD in your foot (my foot is sore), so I will just walk slow and be really careful... okay mom, okay?"

Don't worry mom, it's real.

I over hear Mads in the playroom making fight noises...
Me: "Madeline... what's going on in here?"
Mads: "My camels are fighting."
Me: "Ohhh, but our toys don't fight remember? Because we are a family and we love each other."
Mads: "Don't worry Mom, it's real."
Me: "You mean it's pretend?"
Mads: "Oh mom, you make me laugh. You are a funny mom."

April Fools Fail

I took great care this morning cleaning out our almost empty mayonnaise jar and refilling it with some vanilla yogurt so I could rave about this new "Mayo diet craze" I had heard about on the Internet (an April fool's joke on Paul) tonight at dinner.
As I sat at our dinner table, spooning "mayo" in my mouth, and telling Paul about it - hoping for a "oh my heck! Why are you eating that?!! Gross!!" reaction - he actually began asking me questions....
"How much weight are you supposed to lose? What's in mayonnaise? I would think you'd GAIN weight on a diet like that. So you want me to buy you a bunch of mayo then?" blah blah blah derp!

Epic FAIL.

STAR WARS Stuff.

Let's face it. We are Star Wars fans. This isn't something we have ever been ashamed of. We like the movies - some more than others - and we would probably do pretty well in a Star Wars trivia contest. We're not "convention" nerds, meaning we probably wouldn't go out of our way to dress up and attend any science fiction conventions - unless they were in our town or something, then we might. Or maybe in some nearby town... like no more than 100 miles away. Road trip! Woo!
I have always been a fan, but more in my later years, as I have spent time with Paul. Girls do that sometimes when they want to get a guy... they like something, like sports, more than they normally would.  It gives the perception of sexy well-roundedness. I even tried to do a yoda origami for him once. Can you guess which one I did? I didn't think so. Pretty good, right? Almost an exact replica.

Paul grew up loving Star Wars. He even knows more about the fake history of these fake characters because he read Star Wars books as a kid.  He also loves Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter, The Matrix, and The Godfather... and he has watched a romance or two with me (and enjoyed it). He's a pretty well rounded fella. We really enjoy movies in general.

So when our friends invited us to a Star Wars party we were pretty excited.  I knew right away there would probably be 20 princess leia's so I would be different and go as the only other female character, Queen Amidala (There are actually several female characters like the crazy dancing girl who gets eaten by the monster because Jaba pushed her down a hole, or that jedi lady with arms on her head, for example). I've even memorized several of her lines - Queen Amidala's (and wasn't able to use them as the opportunity did not present itself - sad). I actually tried using one of the lines during the party (NERD) and as I was saying it the person who I was talking to turned away to do something else. I stopped half sentence and ended up in one of those laughs of dorky embarrassment instead. I really am a nerd. hmph. I wonder if he would have even recognized it as a line from the movie if he had heard it?  Probably not.

Do you ever do that? Do you ever plan to say something and hope the opportunity presents itself? I can't be the only one who does this.

Paul - up until the day of the party - was going to be the evil Emporor "Paul"patine (Palpatine). We ordered a mask and a hooded cape from Amazon and had them Aramexed in. Expensive, but we felt it was worth it. The girls and I helped him for a couple weeks with a couple of the Emperors lines - even Abs was walking around the house saying, "Noo, Noooo, Noooo!!!" in an evil, gritty tone. It was awesome. But last minute, and because the mask was uncomfortable and didn't fit well, we changed his costume to Darth Paul (Darth Maul).

Can you tell which one is from the movie and which one is Paul? Pretty close eh?

In this photo I told Paul to give me a growling, evil face... it looks like he's smiling.
He can't even FAKE the dark side of the force.

Awww, Darth Paul with his daughters, Princess Madeleia and Princess Abidala.

 I painted his face and made him a two-sided, red light saber out of a mop stick, some paint, and some shiny sticky paper I had. He still used the cape and then wore my abaya and a belt as a top. He looked awesome. And I do believe he enjoyed flailing that stick about when he demonstrated to the girls how to wield a light saber.

Here I am as Amidala. I should have smiled, but in the movie, when she is all dressed up in her Queen uniform, she doesn't smile. She also talks with this weird deep voice... "I cannot condone a course of action that will lead us to war." (ha! there, I said one of my lines).

We ended up going seperately.  It worked out fine. Even with a babysitter it might have been a problem because the girls don't know anyone that well and they are both still waking up at night at least once each. It would have been cruel to put a stranger in that position - Mads having a cough attack and Abigail, who doesn't take a bottle, wanting to nurse - Ha!

Paul went first for an hour or so and then I went.  I took some Bantha Fodder (homemade granola) as a treat. There was a nice selection of food. Both our costumes were a hit and I had some nice conversations with some good friends.  I also got to spin fire.  They had a friend who plays with fire come with his fire stick and fire balls. It was fun.  Picture to come soon I hope. 

May the force be with you.

Those Darn Shoes.

On our way up the stairs to bed... Madeline stops and drops to the floor.
Me: "What are you doing? Let's go. It's bedtime"
Mads: "Carry me."
Me: "Madeline, I am not going to carry you. You have two healthy, strong legs, and my arms are full." (already carrying Abs, some books, and some water).
Mads: "My legs aren't working." (Moans and fake bottom lip shaking)
Me: "Madeline... lets go. Stop playing games." (continue walking up stairs).
Mads: "aaaahhhhh... my legs! My legs! They hurt! I can't walk. Ahhh haa haaa"
Me: "Do we need to go to the hospital? Do you need surgery? Do you need... a great big shot?" (thinking this would stop the moaning).
Mads: "Yes. I need to go to the hospital. I want to be in the stroller because I can't walk..." (moaning and screaming).
Me: (fake calling the doctor on my cell, but calling Paul's cell instead) "So Dr., she will need 10 shots AND can't play outside, go to school, or go to dance class ever again? Will you tell her? K. Here's the phone Mads. It's the doctor who will do your surgery"
Mads: "Hello? Uh huh." (high pitched moan) "Oh-kay...huuh huuh... Mom. let's go."
Me: "Okay. Go upstairs and get your shoes."
Mads: (Stands up. RUNS UP THE STAIRS TO HER CLOSET to get her shoes.)
Me: (from the hallway) "HA! You CAN walk! Ha!"
Mads: (With the realization she has been caught in her lie, drops to the floor screaming in agony).

Blast From the Past: Paul + Edith 2007

I was browsing my old blog posts and came across this post from when Paul and I were living in Memphis and before we had kids.  We used to frequent Best Buy a lot as a past time. Enjoy!
http://edithannith.blogspot.com/2007/02/best-buy-blunder.html

Gunning The Drain.

I've been having some really vivid dreams lately and wanted to share a particularly funny one.  A good friend of mine, let's call her Erin, was in this dream.

Erin was giving me a tour of a mansion her and her husband had recently sold. It was gigantic, and beautiful, and very well lit.  There were mirrors everywhere and every other door in the hallway had a well dressed guard standing in front of it.  I asked her why there were guards in front of those particular doors and she said, "because the rooms are filled to the ceiling with money!"

She admitted to me that they had given it all up just so they could move to Saudi Arabia to live here in the compound and work for Aramco.  I couldn't believe they had given all that up, but Erin was so passionate about her decision I didn't say a word.

Working for this company, especially in this dream, is a blessed and elaborate opportunity.  Everyone around the world wants to live and work where we do - a reason why Erin and her family gave everything up to come here.  It is like an exclusive club that only the the most elite of the species are privileged to be members of. 

After the tour of the mansion, we were back on camp hanging out in the locker rooms at the gym.  Each bathroom stall in the locker room was a room of it's own, with couches, showers, bathtubs, flowers, lotions, and chocolate scented soaps... not that this was needed.  If you lived here, your poop smelled like roses or, vanilla in my case. 

The ONLY rule on camp - a rule that, if broken, would mean the immediate firing of your husband and expulsion of your family from the camp - was to NEVER gun the drains in the bathroom.

Gunning the drains - the act of putting your hands together in the gun formation and pointing it at the drains in the bathroom while making peeyoo peeyoo peeyoo (shooting) sounds.

Erin and I? We were rebels. We loved daring each other to do things.  We were the only ones in the locker room. So I, unfortunately and to our future dismay, dared her to gun the drains.  Erin, never one to turn down a dare or a challenge, immediately put her hands together in the shape of a gun.

"Peeyoo! Peeyoo! Peeyoo-peeyoo!"
"Peeyoo! Peeyoo! Peeyoo-peeyoo!"
"This is so thrilling!" she yelled.

But then... her cell phone rang.

She answered it. Then dropped it.

It was her husband.  He had just been fired from his job.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!" She screamed. 
"Why?!! Why Edith? Why did you dare me to gun the drains??"

"I'm so sorry Erin! I am SOOO sorry!" I said.

"Nooooooooooooooooooo!!! Ahh haa haaa haaaaaaaaaa" as she dropped to her knees in despair and agony.
.
.
.
.
.
Then I woke up.

A Nice Cold Glass of Money.

I have been sleeping really deeply the past week or so. So, at times, when being woken up by one of my girls, I am not as coherent has I have been in the past. It has been a strange week.

Last night Madeline sat up and began screaming for me. I jumped out of bed, tripped over the strategically placed pile of laundry on the floor, bashed my thigh into the foot of our bed and went stumbling down the hallway to her room. Then I sat on her bed, gave her a hug and said,

"I'm here sweetie, are you okay? Do you want some MONEY?"

A tactic that may work in the future when she is older and I am really tired, but not right now.

What I meant to say was water... do you want some WATER. It was one of those out of body experiences because in my mind I was saying water. She looked at me like I was insane. I then handed her some water.

Blow Kiss My Butt.

Madeline and I have been blowing kisses at each other from afar for a couple of years now. The procedure for her and I is as follows: She kisses her hand, blows it towards me, I catch it, and smack it onto my cheek. Then I kiss my hand, blow it toward her, etc. etc. Sometimes we even do ten of them at the same time really, really fast. It's pretty cool and one of our little things.

Today I blew her a kiss. She caught it, smacked her own bottom, and then said, "You just kissed my butt mom! Hahahaha!"

Bad People.

My sweet, and increasingly capable, 3 1/2 year old loves to unlock and open the front door by herself. She thinks any time the door rings, it is knocked on, or if she just feels like it, she should open the door. So yesterday we had a discussion about strangers. It somehow progressed into a discussion about bad people. When I asked her what she thought a 'bad person' was she replied,

"Someone who pokes you in the boo boo."

I have to agree. If someone poked me in the boo boo, I would think they were a really, really bad person.

Madelinisms

Just after I dropped some watercolor paints all over the floor,

Madeline: "It's okay Mom! I'll get my magic wand!" while running down the hall in a hurry.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

While in the bathroom about to take a tubby, Madeline is running all over the place and keeps bumping my leg with her bum,

Madeline: "Look at my butt Mom!" laughing hysterically and shaking her butt at me

Me: "Stop messing around buster brown!"

Madeline: "You! Buster blue!" laughing some more "Buster red! Buster yellow!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
After eating her lunch all gone,

Madeline: "All done Mom! I really enjoyed that food. Thanks!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Talk one afternoon at lunch,

Me: "What do you think I should be for Halloween Mads?"

Madeline: "Hmm. You could be a Mom!" pauses a minute "How about a balloon?" 

Nice Cold Refreshing Privacy

This morning I was in the bathroom, doing my bidness (not a word), and Madeline opens the door and comes in. 
Me: "Hi Madeline."
Mads: "Hi mom."
Me: "Can I help you with something?"
Mads: "Whatcha doin'?"
Me: "I'm going to the bathroom."
Mads: "Eewww, you stink."
Me: "Thanks.  Madeline, do you think I could have some privacy?"
Mads: "Okay Mom." She leaves and closes the door.
Me: "I'll be out in a minute."

A minute or two goes by... the door opens again. It's Madeline.

Mads: "Here you go mom." She hands me an A&W rootbeer.
Me: "What's this for?"
Mads: "Here your pwivacy"
Me: Laugh my head off for a couple minutes... Madeline joins me. Then I explain what "privacy" is.
I have no idea why she thinks a rootbeer is "privacy".

Madelinisms

Paul is sitting on a chair in our dining room holding Abigail, Madeline is standing next to him, and I am in the kitchen cleaning up dinner.  Abigail begins to cry:

Madeline - "Ohh Abigail, it's okay. Mommy is right there (pointing to me).  Yook at your mommy. She's right there. Isn't she beautiful Abigail?"
------------------------------
Every morning Madeline asks me for her gummy vitamins like this:

Madeline - "May I have some gummy vitamins please yes you may thank you!"

She just has the whole conversation herself so there is no confusion as to what should happen.
-------------------------------
Tonight at dinner:

Madeline - "Ohh, I'm hungry Mom, so you fix me dinner, yeah, thank you!"
--------------------------------
When being put in time out:

Madeline - (screaming and crying) "I'm SO FYUSTRATED MOM!!"
-------------------------------
While opening a box full of candy and toys from her Grandma:

Madeline - "Ohhhhh, Holy cow! I yuuuuvvv candy! Yook Mom!! YOOK!!"

Precious Rap

Whatever happened to that cat we used to have?  Oh you mean, Precious Kitty?

We still have her!

Kitty took a backseat when Madeline was born, and now that Abigail is here? Let's just say I feel awful on a regular basis for the neglect of this poor little cat.  In spite of it all, Kitty keeps active - attacking chair legs; running really fast on the wood floor in the middle of the night; hiding outside a door so she can jump out and scare the crap out of us when we leave a room; attacking toys Mads may have left out; Meowing an opera downstairs at least once a week around 3 in the morning; puking on all my rugs; hangin' in the garage on the car; hangin' in the backyard meowing at birds... she's a good kitty, and I make it a point to give her a nice scratch and a pet each night.  She always comes and sits by me whenever we are relaxing or watching a movie.  She brings a smile to our faces on a regular basis... wait. Did you just read that? 

"She brings a smile to our faces on a regular basis."  - that TOTALLY rhymes and would be awesome in a rap song. Lemme see what I can come up with off the top of my head:

K. I. T. T. uh T. T. Y.,
Kitty sits and whines at birds who fly in da sky.
She's a maniac at night when she chases her tail
Betta watch urself girl, when you jump o'er that rail. (Mee-yow!)
Don't worry 'bout dat feline, she will land on all fours
But if she don't! watch herself! she can run into doors! (Hay-ohhhh!!)
She eats like a horse, we're alwayz fillin' her bowl...
S'okay, with nine lives, livin' long is da goal!
She's hangin' like a dog, waitin' for some dropped dinner
in a race down the hall, she is always the winner
She twitches in her sleep, and makes a lot of weird noises,
Must be dreamin' 'bout the times little Mads takes her toyses.
She brings a smile to our faces
on a regula-lar basis
oh yeah we love our Kitty, Kitty, Kitty Kitty - Mee-YOW
I said, we love our kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty - Mee-yow!
K. I. T. T. uh T. T. Y.,
I said uh
K. I. T. T. uh T. T. Y.,
Hollaaaaaaa
K. I. T. T. uh T. T. Y.,
Preciousssssss (in a whisper)
Peace (Spoken while holding up the peace sign and a kitty toy).

I would totally buy that on iTunes.

Juice Box Hero

You know that song... Jukebox Hero by Foreigner?

I used to think the chorus said, "Juice box hero."  The song came on in the car the other day and the idea just popped into my brain:

What if they used the chorus to that song as a jingle to a commercial for a juice box? They could change the words just a little bit from Jukebox to Juice Box. 

Here's the Scene - a cute, attractive toddler comes walking down the hallway of the preschool in slow motion, winking and waving and pointing at cute little toddler girls as he drinks a juice box. The little girls are jumping and smiling at him as if he is a JUICE BOX HERO. 

I tell ya, these ideas just flow out of me.

Defiance.

"Smile Madeline"

Calm Down Mommy.

Madeline is two.  I hate to put her in a category or label her... labels are evil.  But she is SO TWO.  I love her so much and she is such a cuddly, lovable, sweet little person but she is testing our limits on an hourly basis lately.

It's funny in a way (after I've taken a few breaths) because it's silly little things like saying everything is hers, and I mean everything.  It's not looking at us, ignoring us, hiding from us... and now, all of the sudden, after two years of never putting anything in her mouth she is putting EVERYTHING in her mouth.  She licks.  She licks the floor, herself, furniture, doors, and US!  She climbs, stands on tables and chairs, bangs on the walls with hard, pointy objects... Whenever she sees I am getting upset with her she now immediately says, "Sorry Mommy, Sorry" and she actually tells me to calm down.  My two year old tells ME to calm down and tells me to go into time out.

I honestly believed she was so perfect we wouldn't have to go through this.  I know - I'm naive and a bit unrealistic. 

At least we have some stories to tell her when she is a mom... "Well, you know Madeline, if you think little Freddy is bad...."

Through it all she is still a sweet, sensitive little stinker who keeps us smiling and laughing and we love her so stinkin' much. 

P.S. I wanted to get some pictures from our great friends who had us over for Thanksgiving before I made a late Thanksgiving post.  So hopefully that is coming soon! 

Visiting The Past: Homeo

...until I can come up with some more entertaining and interesting blogs, I thought I'd take you back on a journey many moons ago to 2006.

I STILL haven't seen a movie like this made: Homeo. Enjoy!

Girl Talk & Tea Time

This morning Madeline and I were sitting down to our tea time and I told her that today I wanted some peppermint flavored tea. She immediately got a chair, pushed it to the kitchen counter and grabbed the pepper. She came running over, shook some into my cup and said, "there Mommy. Better?" And we slurped the morning away discussing shapes, rainbows, and future plans of clipping our fingernails.

Madeline's Monthly Message: Month 23

Dear Madeline,

What a speedy and fast month it has been. At 23 months of age, you are such an individual with so many talents and such a huge personality. It really is a lot of fun watching you become the person you are. Every day you discover a new thing or notice something that is interesting to you. Whenever this happens you spend a good week or two talking about it non-stop. You talk a lot, often copying the words we say. You not only copy words but you copy gestures, faces we pull, and dance moves. You are also beginning to form your own opinions about things - no longer agreeing whole-heartedly with everything mommy thinks - and it has been a bit of a suprise for me. I am trying to respect your ideas and opinions about things because I know this is just the beginning. Right now we are talking about where to sit at lunch or what to wear or when it's time to get your diaper changed... not boys, college, or a career or anything like that yet. But at times you seem like a small opinionated adult.

You are very good at communicating your feelings, usually. There are those rare times when you either just don't want to try or you can't quite figure out how to tell us something and you will result to tantrums and flailing about on the floor, but not always. As far as words are concerned you are speaking well. I believe you are advanced for your age when it comes to talking among many other things. You have a hard time with words that start with "t" or "s" and will often replace those letters with "f" - for example: truck = fruck or Shrek = frek or ice cream = kah-kyoom.

You enjoy teasing me and your dad when you sit on our bed. A cute thing you always do is sit on my side of the bed and say, "Mommy's pot! Moooot Manyin" (translation: Mommy's Spot! Move Madeline") and then you laugh and run over to Daddy's side and do the same thing. In the mornings if I have not woken up before you, which unfortunately is rare, you will pull on my arm or leg and say, "Gig up mom, gig up!" (get up).

You love to sing, and even when you don't quite know the words to a song you will hum along and sing the beginning or ending words to each statement. You're getting better at your ABC's and you can count to 7 now. You love counting and will count anything that there is more than one of. For a little while you were saying, "one, two, four, free" but your dad helped you with that and now they are in the correct order. You are also doing well with your colors and shapes. The shape you love the most is the star and whenever you see one anywhere you point it out. You love colors and have a good time at stop lights. You get blue and red mixed up a lot and will say "booo, top!" (blue, stop!) when we pull up to a red light. You've got "green, go!" down though.

As of July 31st, 2010, you are no longer breastfeeding. Sometimes you still put your hand down my shirt or you will ask for some "boom boom," but I no longer get kicked when I tell you no. I will usually say something like, "Oh, we don't do that anymore, remember? You're a big girl now!" And then I will offer you some milk or juice. It is really nice to know you are finally, successfully weaned. I do miss it though because now when you are crying or hurt or tired I can't just whip out the ol' teet - the perfect and immediate answer to your past problems! I actually have to use other reasoning to help you with your dilemmas, and it takes a little more time.

You are healthy and full of energy, so I assume you are getting enough nutrition to meet your needs. Sometimes you will not eat a thing and other times you will eat everything on your plate and then ask for more. You are quite picky and I am hoping (praying with great devotion) that this is just a toddler phase and not something that will stick like it did with your father. I am realizing though that the more I accomodate his pickyness, the more you are only being exposed to certain foods. I need to expose you to more foods. You actually like broccoli when I give it to you! You love to help me cook and you are very involved in the kitchen. You know where the silverware, the pots and pans, and the mixing bowls are. You like to pull up a chair and watch me cook and you understand that the stove it hot so you don't touch it. You also like to help mix things in bowls and stir juice.

When you are bored at meals and not hungry you play with your food. It is hilarious to watch but I have to admit it gets annoying sometimes. You like grapes so you have them a lot. You enjoy rolling your grapes down your pancakes like it's a slide; you sing row, row, row your boat while sliding food across your tray; you like to lift up your plates and cups and hold them high in the air as if you are giving a food sacrifice; and you love to mix things together, particularly your drinks and bread because you have discovered the spongey capabilities of bread. You have also realized that some of your bibs have little pockets on the front of them and you will hide your food in the bib sometimes.

Last Christmas we bought you some fake food to go with your shopping cart and you have a very good time playing with it. You know what most of the foods are and enjoy taking orders from me and preparing a nice fake meal for me. You love ice cream and if it were up to you we would have it every day. So on the days I don't want to give it to you, we will come upstairs and have fake ice cream. It doesn't always satisfy you, but it has worked most of the time.

A really cute example of your imagination: Last week we went to a friends house for a playdate and she had a fake tea set with a tea pot, tea cups, plates, and some fake desserts. You spent most of our time there pouring imaginary tea into the cups and offering it to everyone in the room. I couldn't get over you and how freakin' adorable you were!!

You love to play with your toys and dollies. You talk to your dollies regularly and ask them questions. You drop them on purpose also and tell me they are "hurt" and need a bandaid because you love putting bandaids on everything. I love listening to you when you don't know I am listening. You ask the cutest questions and say the cutest things to your toys. You also really enjoy dressing up - wearing hats, tutu's, mommy's shoes, etc.

You love talking on the phone, especially to your dad when he is at work. If he is not too busy he calls around lunch time and you have a nice long chat with him about Shrek, Harry Potter, tea pots and ice makers, among other things. You are also starting to talk more on the phone with your grandma's and other family in America, which makes them and us very happy. We enjoy sharing the cute. You love to skype with your cousin Toshie and talk about him a lot whenever I talk about going for a visit.

You love to read and we try to read every night before bed. You enjoy picking 5 or 6 books off your bookshelf and bringing them over to your bed. Sometimes you like mommy to read and sometimes you like daddy to read. We don't usually get through and entire story though. When you are distracted or get bored you usually close the book and say, "end!" Your favorite books this month are "Kitty Up!" and "Are You Ticklish?"

We invested in a bed for you. I sort of wish we had gotten you a real toddler bed with rails, but instead we got you a nice twin mattress and box springs from the serta store here in Saudi because your Dad wants you to be comfortable. The problem with that though is that you have rolled out of bed a couple times. We have it up against the wall and I usually prop a pillow or two under the mattress on the open side to assist in inhibiting the rolling, but it doesn't always work if you go a different direction. The first few nights were pretty good and then you took a really late nap one day and weren't tired at bedtime so we made the mistake of letting you sleep with us again, and honestly it has been that way since. So we are still working on getting you to sleep in your room in your own bed.

You have TONS of energy but sometimes it is hard to get it all out because it is so hot and humid this time of year I keep you inside a lot. So you figured out how to get your own exercise. Every night, usually before or after dinner, you and your dad (sometimes I join in) will run, you say, "Run Dad!". You run through the kitchen into the front room down the hall into the dining room and back into the kitchen over and over and over in a big circle. We have had to focus on mentioning to you that it is important to look straight forward when you run because you run into walls or cupboards sometimes when you get really excited and want me to look... "yook mom... BAM!"

This month we set up your training potty. You don't use it regularly yet, but when you remember it or see it you want to sit on it. You will fake-wipe and waste a lot of toilet paper, and you love to empty the little bucket inside the potty into the big toilet and flush it. You have pooped and pee'd in the potty several times this month and I honestly don't believe it will be hard to get you trained soon.

This month we found out you are having a baby sister! You got to come in and see the baby on the ultra sound and you were very cute and excited about it when you saw the baby moving around. I have told you many times that there is a baby in my tummy and sometimes you come up and kiss my belly - a very precious and awwww moment for me.

You love other little kids and babies still and whenever you see a baby you will run up to it and point and say, "baby! baby!" But you also enjoy roaring at babies and children, and adults actually, like Shrek does. You tell people you are an ogre and then you raise your hands up and scrunch up your face and say, "RRrrraaaaaarrrrrr!" You do it to Mohammed, our house boy, every time he comes to clean.

You like Mohammed and know his name. You say, "hello, hammed" and "bye bye, hammed" when he comes and goes. You also say his name whenever you see any type of cleaning supplies in the store or here at the house. You like to give him five and will regularly help him with the cleaning. He gets a kick out of it and laughs a lot when he is here.

This month we also celebrated your Dad's birthday. You had a really good time with the balloons, singing happy birthday (we probably did it a hundred times), blowing out the candles, and having ice cream cake! That was a big deal and you talked about how it was Dad's birthday and you wanted ice cream cake for several days after. Your birthday promises to be even more fun.

I am cherrishing these last few months I have alone with you because I am beginning to understand how truly important these days are. I know it will never again be the same. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be at home with you each day, to watch you grow and learn. You are so much fun and I love you so humongously much Madeline. You will always be my number one and my sweet, funny, talented little friend.

Love,
Momma