Showing posts with label Lane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lane. Show all posts

Monday, October 27, 2014

Lane: 3 til 5

Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote a post about my oldest and what a hilarious hoot she is. So lest I forget...



Lane,

You, my dear, are hilarious. About a month ago some friends brought by some dress-up clothes that their daughters have long since outgrown. You wear them every day. Seriously, the amount of laundry that I have to wash has been drastically reduced because you usually don't wear real clothes. Just a dress, some tights, a tiara, bracelets, rings, and necklaces, and of course princess shoes. All matching, which to you means they are the same color. You pretend to be a princess, a princess kitten, a princess elephant, and so on. But always a princess.



Speaking of matching, you love for things to match right now. Which pretty much means that you want them to be the same color. You do not like it when I tell you that you can't wear pink pants, pink socks, and a pink shirt all at the same time, because, "But mommy, I want to match!" [insert extremely whiney voice here.]


You thought you looked so awesome with the hat, headband, and sunglasses. You also had a bow tying your two braids together in the front at one point...

Your vocabulary and understanding of how English works is, umm, funny. For example, you keep asking me if things "matter." Like, "Do these socks matter?" I don't know how to explain to you what exactly it means when I say, "It doesn't matter" about your socks... And today you were asking about the cost of things...I was explaining to you that my wedding ring(s) is expensive and that you couldn't play with it. You asked what expensive meant and I said that it cost a lot of money. So then you asked if the iPad cost. Umm, yes, it cost a lot, but my ring(s) cost more. What about the couch? Did it cost? You're so funny.


You still love bugs and frogs.

You love to do crafts. Love, love, love them. We've done three in the past few days and you are in hog heaven. Today you made an owl and the other day we did fingerprint trees. Your tree looks better than mine. You're four. I'm 34. Not fair. Your love for school stuff has dropped off...you still like to do it but I think you only like the easy things...you don't like it when I actually make you work to do something correctly, or to follow the lines more precisely, and so on. So we're taking a break until I get my wherewithal and get us into somewhat of a preschool routine. Until then, you know everything you need to know in order to start kindergarten next year.


Your artistic skills continue to grow. This was in April just three months after you turned 4.

You have turned into a great big sister, Lane. Just a little over a year ago you still did not like Noel. We'd ask you if you were glad to have a sister and you'd always answer, "No." But now you two are like peas in a pod. Granted, you fight a lot, too, but you have so much fun together. You're partners in crime, thick as thieves. You're best buddies. And it makes me so glad that you have each other. And in about 1.5-2 years Raye'll be in on the action, too. You and Noel thoroughly enjoy each other and you play well together. You argue like all siblings do, but overall...I'm so, so happy with how you love each other.



You're also getting a lot better at listening and obeying and we do not have to discipline you nearly as much as we used to. You do still get spankings (usually for just pushing it too far...taking our grace at bedtime, for example, too far and refusing to be quiet and instead asking for twenty million things as we're closing the door) but generally you are obedient (maybe reluctantly) and helpful. You like to tell me, "You're my best mommy." And you lavish the love on us in the mornings...saying that you've saved some snuggles for the other parent.



Lane, you're a sweetheart. You love to color and paint and run and climb, to watch TV or play the iPad (we never let you do these things as often as you want!), and to "tie" things. You love a challenge but cry easily when you're embarrassed over doing something wrong. You get upset easily over things that are frustrating you but conquer new things (zippers, buckles, etc.) regularly. You're doing things now that just a few months ago you balked at (brushing your own teeth, always putting on your own clothes, always feeding yourself). You try new foods (once again, maybe reluctantly, but willingly) and eat what you are given, usually without much complaint. You're fully in size 5T clothes and I think you're approaching 40 pounds. You love to help me in the kitchen. You love to coo at Raye and make her laugh. You love to dance, although I think you inherited your daddy's skills in that department and not mine, sadly. You're a pleasure now more than a pain and I'm so thankful for the girl you are and are becoming.

I love you,
Mommy

Monday, March 24, 2014

And Then She Was Four

Lane's fourth birthday started the way our family's birthdays usually start: with birthday pancakes. My brother traveled down from Norfolk to spend part of the week with us, so he was here that morning, too. Lane opened a few presents from her Alabama grandparents, and we took her to the movies to see Frozen for her main birthday present from us. (She also got a new jean jacket and a book, to which she replied, "I wanted a toy." Grateful child, this one.) It was the first time either of our girls have been to the movie theater, and I think they both liked it for the most part. They at least liked the experience of it, even if the snow monster in Frozen was a little scary for them. Later that evening my mom brought a small ice cream cake and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Lane and all had a small piece of cake before bed.


A birthday "4" for our oldest girlie!


Enjoying some popcorn and…the previews, I think. Noel sat in Shannon's lap during most of the actual movie…the seats were a little strange to her since they kept wanting to fold up on her.


Birthday cake #1 on her actual birthday, courtesy of Food Lion's frozen food section.

Lane's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, and my niece Denali's birthday is three days after Lane's, so we had a joint birthday party for them on the Saturday following Lane's birthday. We just had pizza and cake, and everyone opened presents and played. It was very low-key, but I think the kids had a lot of fun. The girl cousins all dressed up and we called it a "princess party," even though the only thing that made it one was the fact that the girls were all wearing fancy dresses. Lane requested a butterfly cake, so I was more than happy to oblige: this cake only took me about two hours of labor to frost and decorate…I've spent much more time on her previous cakes!


Butterfly cake with sticker butterflies and sparkler candles!


Princess birthday girl!


Opening gifts…you can see Denali in her "princess' tutu on the right!


My oldest (younger) brother with all his nieces and nephews (nephew?…there's only one boy…).

Lane's big gifts were a couple of new princess dresses with matching shoes and jewelry from my sister and brother-in-law, and my dad and step-mom took her shopping for new shoes the day after the party. And my mom gave her a box of art supplies and tickets to the…circus! So, while Shannon was in Ohio my mom and I took the girls to the circus, and my brother-in-law and nephew came along, too. It was fun, although the girls cared way more about the animals than about any of the other cool stuff at the circus. In hindsight, the rinky-dink circus we took them to last summer was probably about as "fancy" a circus as we need to take them to until they're older. We were too far away for them to really get into it, but they did like the elephants and lions and kangaroos.


All dolled up and ready for the circus!


The one thing they still mention about the circus: the elephants "standing" on each other.


My mom and the birthday girl!

And finally, I actually conducted this birthday interview with Lane on her fourth birthday, so it was relevant two months ago. I'm not sure how much it is now, but then…it was current!

1. Your favorite color is purple.
2. Your favorite toy is dollies.
3. Your favorite fruit is strawberries.
4. Your favorite TV show is Care Bears.
5. Your favorite movie is Winnie the Pooh.
6. Your favorite thing to wear is dresses.
7. Your favorite animal is cats and dogs.
8. Your favorite song is "Bless the Lord."
9. Your favorite book is Green Eggs and Ham.
10. Your best friend is Mommy.
11. Your favorite snack is cheese and crackers.
12. Your favorite drink is lemonade.
13. Your favorite breakfast is yogurt.
14. Your favorite lunch is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
15. Your favorite dinner is spaghetti.
16. Your favorite game is Hiss.
17. Your favorite thing to play outside is kicking a ball.
18. Your favorite holiday is Valentine's Day.
19. At night you sleep with: blankie.
20. You want to be a mommy/chef when you grow up.

I love seeing how these answers have changed since last year! And I also love how about half of them are totally not her favorite things…she just can't think of what her real favorite things are at the time I'm asking the questions.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Lane: 3 and 3



Dear Lane,

I'm so, so sorry that I haven't written you a real letter in nine months! Talk about a slacker mommy! I've kept thinking about how I want to write down all the cute things you're doing these days, and I just kept not doing it. So here I am, better late than never, writing it all down for you.

The past months have been rough, girlie, I won't lie to you. You are a stubborn, strong-willed little girl. You want what you want and do not want anyone to tell you what to do. You will scream and fight and pitch a huge tantrum over the smallest thing. We usually put you on your bed to calm down. In fact, a couple weeks ago I put you on your bed and after you had calmed down and I came to get you, you said, "I just got tired of skweeming." It's almost like you pitch the fit solely for the sake of pitching the fit. You know it won't gain you anything. Anyways, the past months have been full of trying to train you and discipline you and you're slowly getting it. Slowly.

You also are still not sure what you think about having a sister. I watch you have fun with her, but if I ask you if you're glad that you have a sister, you adamantly answer "no." Most of your discipline these days is related to you taking something out of Noel's hands, not sharing with her, pushing her, being too rough with her, being spiteful and mean (hiding a toy from her that you know she wants), and so on. I really, really hope that as you get older, and as Noel gets older and gets disciplined more (and you see that she really does get in trouble, too), that you start to like her more and not see her as such a nuisance.



Let me tell you about all the awesome things you're doing these days. You love to paint. LOVE it, I tell you. You want to paint every day. You want to color, paint, cut, stick stickers, and so on. You love art stuff. You also love to help me cook or bake. You get very upset if I don't let you dump something in the bowl, help stir, and so on. And you get extremely upset if I don't let you lick the beater for some reason or another. You love sugar. It's your love language.

Speaking of sugar, we've recently given you the treat of an ice cream (or something else) if you stay in your bed at bedtime and in the morning until we come to get you. You just didn't seem to care about punishment (a spanking...or ten) for getting out of bed. You needed some motivation to stay in your bed. So, ice cream it is. It's working well for us both. You think you're winning because you get something sweet. I think I'm winning because you'd probably get dessert every day anyways!



Lane, you love to "do school" with me in the afternoons while Noel is napping. We work some activity pages and you love it...tracing, coloring, practicing letters, matching numerals to groups with that many objects, and so on. You also really enjoy being read to, but usually I have to convince you that you want to be read to. You'd rather play, but if I can get you to agree to two or three books, then you'll keep asking for more.

You love for me to snuggle with you at bedtime. We sing a few songs together...these days it's "Sanctuary," "I Love You Lord," "Bless the Lord," "Zaccheus," and the "la la's" (Braham's lullaby, but with no words). You always want me to stay until you fall asleep, but if I do then you wake up all night crying, wondering where I am. It works much better for you to fall asleep on your own. But I love snuggling with you and debriefing your day, asking you what your favorite part was. Of course you always have about five favorite parts. I don't think you understand "favorite" yet.

You love fruit, olives, bread, sweets, yogurt, cheese, nuts, milk, juice, and water. The other day you told me, "Coke is yucky. I like milk, juice, and water. That's what I like." You do not like bell peppers or tomatoes, although I can get you to eat them most of the time if they're cooked. Oh, and onions. You do not like onions and will always pick them out if they're tough at all. Most of the time you're fairly compliant when it comes to food, although you clearly have foods you prefer over others (hello, strawberries!).



Lane, you can write your name without help, count to 29 correctly, are completely potty trained and never have accidents (you've had one in the last six months, and it was at nighttime the day after we moved), You can put your clothes on if we give them to you facing the right direction. You do excellent at tracing letters. You love to color (still with markers, especially), dancing, climbing and swinging and jumping. Currently you love picking dandelions, because, well, there are a gazillion of them around. We've also been having lots of tea parties and picnics, and you like to build a "gate" out of legos to keep all the "fewocious" animals in.

I've thought about it recently, and I love parenting a three-year old. You are so hilarious and sweet, and while you're still selfish and mean and disobedient a lot of the time, at your core you are fun and loving. All the things I don't like about parenting you right now are just the things I don't like about parenthood in general, and most of those are just because I myself am selfish and don't like being inconvenienced. You're a lot of work, sweetie. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love you and am so happy to be your mom.

Love,
Mommy

Monday, January 28, 2013

And Then She Was Three


    The birthday girl with her Minnie Mouse cake. It wasn't as big as it looks here, I promise. =)

This year, Lane's birthday "celebrations" began at around 9:30 the night before her birthday, when she woke up complaining that her tummy hurt. An hour later, the puking began. At 3:30 a.m., after a few hours of dozing in our bed and waking every 30-45 minutes gagging in her sleep, subsequently dry-heaving and puking up any spit that accumulated in her tummy while she slept, she finally fell asleep for the night. Around 7:30 the girls woke up, so I got up with them, leaving Shannon to sleep for awhile longer since he also had been up a lot of the night puking. (Lest anyone think I escaped the plague, rest assured that I had it the night before.)


    "Hey, dat's my NAME!" said the birthday girl.

So, we woke up and I let Lane have a big glass of water since she had been puke-free for 4-5 hours. Big mistake, as she immediately threw up all over the kitchen floor. Lesson learned. Until noon she only got a couple of tablespoons of water at a time, and no food. Some great birthday breakfast, huh? That morning she opened her gifts while on Skype with my mom, and spent the rest of the morning playing with her new toys, other than the hour and a half that she napped, which she desperately needed since only getting six or so hours of sleep the night before.


    Birthday pancakes. For lunch.

We ate our birthday pancakes for lunch, played some more (and watched new Mickey Mouse shows), and had the birthday girl's request, spaghetti and broccoli, for an early dinner. Lane was in bed by 6:00. Her actual birthday was, I'm afraid, quite the let-down, at least in my eyes. But I think she had fun, despite being exhausted and not feeling too well.


    Playing with her new Minnie Mouse Birthday Boutique.


    Watching Mickey Mouse shows.

I had wanted to give Lane an actual party this year, since she's finally old enough to know what's going on. But I knew it would have to be Mickey Mouse, and the more I looked at ideas for party decorations and party favors, the more stressed out I became. I don't live where I can just drive to Target or Walmart or the nearest party store and come home with a tablecloth and birthday banner and color-coordinated balloons. So we decided to forego an actual party (and save my sanity) and instead to celebrate with the people we fellowship with on Sundays.


    Birthday dinner, complete with candles. Hey, when the sick birthday girl wants candles in everything and for you to sing to her, most people oblige, right?


    The Minnie Mouse cake I made. A big shout-out to my sister who sent me the candy melts and to our friends who loaned me 1/4 cup of corn syrup! And to Pinterest, which makes coming up with cake ideas so much easier!

I made a beautiful (if I do say so myself) cake for her, found some birthday paper plates and Minnie Mouse napkins, and called it good. A few friends brought her gifts which she opened on Sunday, but honestly she was quite overwhelmed just with everyone singing to her, and what started as a huge grin at the onset of "Happy Birthday" turned into a shy little girl looking at her lap until it was time to blow out her candles. She could barely handle opening gifts (and the children who were so excited to give them to her), so I think in hindsight, it's a good thing we skipped the actual party this year. Maybe the big "4" will be a winner in the party department.


    Our birthday gift: a mini trampoline. I love the fact that now when she's being crazy I can tell her to go jump on the trampoline if she wants to jump around, and most of the time, she does!


    One of her favorite gifts: a BrainQuest dry-erase tracing book. The tracing lines gradually get lighter until they're not there. I think that's a pretty good solo H for a just-turned-3-year-old, don't you?

Anyhow, it was more or less a birthday week, stretching over five days with gifts and cake, and even today she got to finish her piece of cake from yesterday (of which she only ate the frosting). I can't believe my baby girl is already three years old. I about threw up when I realized she'll leave home in 15 years, that my time of day-to-day influence in her life is 1/6th of the way over. Here's to hoping that three is better than two was (in the temper tantrum, I'm-in-control-and-want-it-my-way, learning-to-be-obedient areas of life), although from what I've heard...I'm gearing up for another long year. I love my girlie to death, but her stubborn side might just do me in before we reach next January!


    I let her lick the beater when I was making her birthday cake. I'm an awesome mom. =)

Friday, October 5, 2012

Things I Never Want to Forget

There are plenty of things about my oldest daughter that I would just assume forget. Like her über stubborn nature and the eight bazillion spankings or time-outs that she gets every day of her life for being disobedient. Like how last week at church she questioned Shannon, "Daddy, you have boobies?" for all to hear. Like how she gets out of bed at bedtime and will request which parent she wants to give her her spankings. Like how she will not for the life of her share anything with her sister.

But let's not go there tonight. Let's face it, parenting a toddler is hilarious. It's stinking hard, too, and frustrating to no end, but every day, all day long, I'm reminding myself that God gave her to me. And I don't know how long I get her. So while I'm trying to raise her to love Jesus (and to be a respectful, obedient, and polite member of society as well), I'm also trying to focus on the things I love about her and the things I will miss one day when she's more obedient and socially appropriate.

Current faves of mine:

How she hikes her shirt up and holds it under her chin while going potty, no matter how short or long the shirt.

That when counting: if there are more than 13 or 14 items, she gets to 13 and then repeats 13 (or sometimes she makes it to 14) over and over and over again until she's gotten to the last item when she proudly states "13!"

    Actually playing together for once...hoping this becomes a more common occurrence as they get
    older!

That anytime she says her tummy hurts and we suggest that maybe she's hungry (because most likely she's refused to eat all of her breakfast/lunch/dinner and isn't getting anything to eat until she finishes it) she replies, "Or proby need go poo poo. Which one?"

How at certain points in certain books she giggles and proclaims, "Dat funny!"

She still calls a bathing suit a "behmin suit" and helicopters "hot doctors." I don't care how long she says these things this way.

She loves farm animals. Still. And now she's always saying things like, "Dat not rooster, mama. Rooster have dis big fwuffy tail." Or, "Dat chicken. Or hen. Or rooster. Which one?" (Can you tell she likes to give us choices and say, "Which one?")


    Working the "Asia" puzzle. With help, of course, but she can pretty much put all the countries in by
    herself if we help her get the edges and water in.

We have a puzzle of the U.S. and Canada with pieces shaped like the states/territories. As I handed her Nunavut earlier today I said, "Here's Nunavut. Can you say 'Nunavut'?" She replied, "Nunabut." Cracks me up.

She does things that crack me up all the time, but I just wanted to write a few of them down so I don't forget...because God knows, one day I will forget.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

25 Months Old

This is much more up my ally now that I've got another girlie to do posts for. I stole the idea from Barbara over at Footprints in the Sand. Thanks for sharing, Barbara!



Saturday, January 28, 2012

24 Months Old

Two whole years. I still can't believe it.

Lane continues to seem like she's becoming a little girl, as opposed to the whiny, needy toddler that she has been. She's still needy, don't get me wrong, but she's just seeming to...grow up...a bit more every day. She is quite the joy, and quite the work as well!

At 24 months (and 6 days) old, Lane:

*continues to get better and better at playing pretend. She likes to "cook" in her kitchen, brings me and Shannon food or drinks, gets bites of pretend food and feeds it to Elmo or other dolls/animals, and so on.

*is learning new words almost every day. I'll never forget about a week ago when she was on the potty and just started saying "yes" and "no," working out the sounds until she was saying them correctly and then repeating them over and over again. It was amazing and hilarious. Some new words this month (I'm sure I'm forgetting some) are: black, backpack, hi, hello (sounds like "yellow"), I, two, nine, bye-bye (bye-bye-yuh), spaghetti (pa-geh-ee), please (peeze), yes (yesh), no, doll, m, love (wuhve). She can also say correctly the letters B, E, I, and O. We haven't taught her any more sign language, but she still uses the signs she knows, accompanying them with speech if she can say that word.

Sitting on the potty!

*is showing signs of being ready to potty train. We've been letting her run around the house without pants on a lot of the time and most of the time if she needs to pee she'll say "poo-pa" (we're still not sure what that means...peepee, poopoo, or potty?) and we'll all run off to the bathroom and she'll pee in her potty. She's had a couple of accidents, but only a couple. She is not interested in pooping on the potty though and will wait until nap or bedtime, delay it for hours (getting up, saying she needs to "poopa," not going, and so on), finally go in her diaper, and then fall asleep. We'll probably start "officially" potty training her in a couple of weeks, at least for awake periods of time.

*is 34 inches tall and weighs 25.25 pounds. We've all been to the hospital way too much in the past two weeks, once for her 2-year checkup, again for her Hepatitis A shot (she was sick at her 2-year checkup so I didn't want her to get any immunizations then), and again for nursemaid's elbow. She's actually gotten nursemaid's elbow three times now (once in November, I think, once last Thursday, and again this past Tuesday). On Tuesday when it happened I managed to fix it myself...how sad is that, that I've watched doctors fix her arm enough that I can do it myself now? Sheesh.

Just readin' a book.

*is getting better at letting us brush her teeth (she needs to be since she's getting so many cookies for peeing in her potty!). The trick that finally worked?: let her hold a toothbrush while Shannon or I brush her teeth, then let her brush them. She hasn't shed a tear yet with this method.

*holds up two fingers and says "two" when we ask her how old she is. She can also hold up either one or three fingers, but doesn't know the numbers that go with them.

*loves the color blue. I think it's mainly because it's one of the only colors she knows how to say, but she only wants to eat out of her blue bowl, drink from her blue cup, and wear blue diapers. It's quite comical.

My happy girl at the aquarium on the last day of her second year.

*is just plain funny. She was carrying a pretend cupcake on a plate last night and as the cupcake would tip over she'd stop and put it back upright before continuing on her way. She also likes to blow zerberts on our bellies, gallop around the house, jump down stairs (while holding onto one of our hands), or just jump down the hallway.

*is still fascinated with farm animals and the song "Old MacDonald." She still bounces animals (or other things) in front of us to indicate she wants us to sing Old MacDonald with whatever animal she's showing us. It's really funny when she bounces, say, Elmo in front of us. What does Elmo say? So we sing Old MacDonald with all sorts of weird animals: alligators, giraffes, seahorses, elephants, frogs, and all the normal animals, too. Pretty much if it makes a sound at all, we sing Old MacDonald with it.

*loves a couple of new books this month: Llama, Llama, Red Pajama and A Potty for Me.

Christmas jammies, a crazy ponytail, and a fake smile.

*has started asking us to pray at random times for people: baby, mama, dada, and all the grandparents. She folds her hands and then says who she wants to pray for.

*is pretty obedient most of the time. The things she gets spankings for the most are: hitting and/or kicking us (usually when she's upset that she's getting a spanking for something else), screaming, or just being plain disobedient. She pitches a fit sometimes, but generally speaking she's good and obedient, and most of the time if she's pitching a fit it's because she's tired and needs to go to bed.

And there you have it. Parenting is a lot of work, but it really is just all worth it. Even when I want to pull my hair out just one look at Lane's big, hazel eyes and curls falling around her face will cause me to stop and be so thankful for her. Where else can you get a giggling, squealing ball of energy tugging you to go play with her or blowing zerberts on your belly?

***Sorry for the lack of photos...it seems that taking pictures has not been very high on the priority list these days...***

Sunday, January 22, 2012

And Then She Was Two

12ish hours of work for a Sesame Street cake...she was thrilled, so it was worth it!

Just checking out the fish at the Istanbul Aquarium.

Family photo with Poseidon.

Skyping with grandparents and opening presents.

Climbing in a "shipwreck" at the aquarium.

Fascinating.


The top of her cake. She got to eat the Elmo.

Feeling the iceberg.

Kissing the shark.

Noel just chillin'.

Lane with her buddies who went to the aquarium with us.


Ooh, a lobster!


Yum...cake!


Birthday pancake this morning. Still can't believe she's two!