Pretend Play & Names

Elizabeth does a lot of pretend play and some of the scenarios are worth capturing.

Yesterday I mentioned that my throat hurt, so Dr.Elizabeth to the rescue! Well after waiting quite some time in the chair I was told that she was the nurse and that the doctor would be right in, we just had to be patient and wait (no idea where she might have picked that up from!)

This morning she was having some "friends" over for breakfast and wanted to open the front door to let them in and became rather frustrated when the door was locked and she couldn't get it open.

She really likes to play with her baby dolls. She wants you to hold them, but you have to hold them exactly like she tells you and it is slightly different every time. I actually drove home with Clarabell (cow from Micky Mouse) and Snowball (a beautiful cashmere stuffed dog) on my lap from Target because she wanted me to teach them how to drive. In addition, if you ask her what her babies or even her friends are named we get some very interesting answers. Six months ago it was just "baby." Kind of how our fish is named "Mr.Fish." A few months ago she really got stuck on the name "Lula" (no clue). Now the beginning parts of the name will make sense but she adds something interesting at the end. It is hard to write because it is her own made up language, but it would be something like "Lula de scensy"

She also likes to take Grant on adventures. This entails her pushing him around in his high chair! They both think this is quite fun!

The Toon Car - Those familiar with Mickey Mouse will understand the toon car! She got out her little table and chairs today when she had a friend over to play. I had previously put them away because of our dare devil climber. This afternoon when naps weren't panning out, she decided to load the toon car (table and chairs) and go on a trip. These are things she said: "I have to load the toon car. Don't forget the baby. (small pause) Now where did put the baby? Oh we need food. Maybe I should go to the grocery store. OK! Everybody load up! Too-Toot! Oh I think the car is broke, I better get out and fix it!" Unfortunately, Grant was not into sitting still in the toon car and not touching any of her precious loaded items. He would grab something, she would try to take it from him and he would grunt at her with his best goat noise. Quite the scene.

Dress-Up

I feel like we may be entering that very precious "dress-up" phase. So this post will be dress-up pictures. It is only a matter of time before Grant falls victim!

Things Elizabeth Actually Says

I don't have enough of these to post each day, but I am going to accumulate them in one post over time and then post them.

The following is out the mouth of a 3 year old!

- "Can you bring the iPad over here so I can check the weather. Yep it has some green coming through. Yep that means it is going to rain"

- "It's ok if you go the wrong way mommy, it is just an accident" (as I got lost driving to the park)

- Me: "Elizabeth do you have to go potty?"
E: "No, do you?"

- "Jack is saying, Why isn't anyone letting me inside?" (as Jack is patiently waiting outside the door)

- "Can you make it smell better in here?"
Me: "Why?"
E: "I tooted!"

- "Mom! He pooped! Change him, NOW!!!"

- "I am not feeling very patient" (after asking her to be patient in a check out line and explaining that we have to wait our turn)

- "I picked a green tomato, but don't worry I put it back in the dirt so it can grow"

- "I have a plan! Sound good?"

- "I can't ever kiss anyone!" I ask why, she responds, "I have a cold and you said I couldn't!"

- "Hold on honey pot...just a minute" (talking to Grant)

- My dad, "I think..." he pauses briefly and Elizabeth interjects "we should move along!" (she was ready for the next activity)

- "I don't want to nap today. I will go to bed early and I will be happy"

- "You are being kind of loud and I'm trying to listen!" (directed to me as I was trying to soothe her crying baby brother)

- "I have to go potty. Are they cleaning the bathroom?" (at Wal-Mart...where they are always cleaning the bathroom when she has to go!)

- "Daddy when are you going to take us out for dinner?" (Brandon looks at me. I promise I did not but her up to that, but what a great idea!)

Children in Furniture Stores

My mom and I were very brave this week and took the kids to a large furniture store. Let me just share a few tidbits of our adventure.

First, Elizabeth touched everything!! You know all of those figurines they use for staging...the animals, she had to pet and say a kind word to....the "treasure" chests, she had to look inside and there were a lot of these....the furniture had to be tested.

Grant was fairly content to sit in the stroller and munch on a few baby mum mums....something that wouldn't make a mess and if he threw I could easily pick up!

There were train tracks near by and we watched the ENTIRE train pass.

Then we get to a more spacious area and are looking at a particular piece for a good amount of time. Elizabeth decides this nice foyer area would be nice to spin Grant around in. She starts twirling him in circles...he is still in his stroller and then says, "how you doin' buddy, are you getting dizzy? Let's go this way now!" Oh my, I had to put a stop to this. I could see the stroller careening out of control and wiping out a whole display.

Next we go into the fabric swatch room. There are several rack of the fabric hanging. It is a carpeted room and Grant has been sitting most of the day, so I let him get out to crawl. He decides it is quite fun to crawl through the lowest row of fabric, through the rack. He isn't being too distributive, but then big sister decides this is fun so she will do it too. Well she is a little bigger and the two of them together is a bad combo. The hangers are now falling down and I know we are crossing the line and these kids are not so "cute" anymore. We quickly pack up and head on down the road.

I guess we wore our welcome out there! This seems to be a recurring theme. I am struggling with letting the kids do things that aren't harming anyone or property and being so strict that all they can do be like statues/robots, which let's face it, even if that was the desired behavior I would still have to figure out a way to execute that and I don't think I can do that 24/7!

Two Toes Injured

What are the chances of Brandon and I both dropping something on feet and injuring the same toes within 24 hours of each other? In our house apparently pretty good because it happened!

I will spare you pictures, but let me just say we each have a black and blue toe. I was putting something away in the kitchen and bumped a really nice, really heavy bottle opener off the counter. Luckily, my toe broke the fall. I am really looking forward to wearing heels to a wedding we are going to this weekend! Brandon was moving the mini trampoline for Elizabeth so she could show him her new tumbling moves (which is kind of strange, since they didn't use a trampoline in class, but I digress) it slipped out of his hands and fell on his toe. I would like to note that we were both very good and no bad words were said, just lots of groaning and I personally wanted to throw-up it hurt so bad.

Well no band-aid or boo-bunny is going to fix these ugly toes, just time!

Grant's Latest

The stairs are Grant's favorite place to play. He is a pro at crawling up and if he thinks he is really getting away with something he will give the cutest belly laugh and crawl even faster to get away from you. He is pretty good at coming down too. He always turns around and most of the time will slide right down. Sometimes he gets preoccupied and remembers it is fun to go up too and just gets wrapped up in the fun of going up a few steps and down a few steps!

I took video of him crawling the other day because I feel like this chapter will be closing soon. Surely our walking days are just around the corner! He pulls up on everything and walks along everything and holding my hands. He has even stood unaided a few times, but no solo steps yet.



The eating adventure continues and all I can say is that this kid has an arm! I wish he was throwing a baseball or football (well not really, but you know what I mean), instead it is food and sippy cups. There is no polite, I am finished with my drink. It is all outright thrown down of the sippy cup to the floor! Same goes for food. Sometimes it is because he is done, I think other times it is his way of sorting through what he likes on his plate and sometimes I am certain he just does it for fun and because he can.

Last night for dinner he had a mini corn muffin, a whole kiwi, black beans and grilled veggies. He is still putting away plenty of food! He new breakfast favorite is oatmeal. I have been feeding it to him, but we will work our way up to utensil usage!

Teeth are still coming in and he is a little crabby as a result, but since being on the antibiotic he has been sleeping through the night, which I am very grateful for!

Grant and Elizabeth are still working on their sharing skills. There is still a lot of swiping of toys, hair pulling and biting. Any guesses on who does what? Yep Grant is the the vicious one pulling hair and biting, but it's the only thing he is really capable of as a matter of defense at this point. I have a feeling we will be working on these skills for years to come!

Pre-School Tumbling

Elizabeth had her first tumbling class yesterday. She was very excited and maybe a bit nervous, as she asked a lot of questions that morning. The other girls in her class are very sweet and well behaved . The big deal about this tumbling class is that is/was supposed to be a "drop-off" class and I had prepared Elizabeth for that. Only problem was that all the other mommies were staying. She was doing really well. She was sitting with the group and paying attention. I wouldn't say she was actively participating, but soaking it all in, in true Elizabeth fashion.

She seemed comfortable so I decided to leave. The only mistake I made was coming back a bit too early. Class wasn't quite over yet and she tried to get clingy. A quick trip to the bathroom and a little coaxing and she was back in the circle. Soon it was time to get a little piece of candy and a sticker. This might have been the high-light for her! She first picked out a piece of gum. Really? Who puts Super Bubble in a tub for pre-school aged children? Luckily we were able to swap for Smarties. Although at bed time she asked if she could get gum next time and give it to the neighbor girl who is older - if she was old enough to have gum! Such a kind heart!

Later in the middle of the day, out of the blue, she started breaking out her new moves. We had banana twist and tuck jumps being attempted in the middle of a store! I am glad I was there to see some of it so I know what is talking about and the moves that they learned so that we can practice a little.

Good job Elizabeth! More fun next week!