Hi Cara!

Here's a sound out for B's friend!

Hair Spray Inspired Pigtails

Of course she sprayed her hair right before we were leaving for church set up Sat night. That front part was not going anywhere. Ryan had to wash and wash later to get it out so we got creative with her hair and did some trendy pigtails we've been seeing around lately. I'm just not sure she could get any cuter! But I'm sure I'm a little biased. :-)

Jesus Loves me...With Flair

We had some video sessions and she wanted to sing Jesus Loves Me. Love her!

Hair Spray and Cuteness

B took advantage of the fact that I left my hair spray laying out on the counter. I sent her up to go potty and she came back down a minute later with hair that I thought she had wet in the sink. Then I realized it smelled pretty like Aussie Scrunch Spray and quickly dried, unlike water....oh dear. She told me all about her little 30 second adventure and told me it made her "gorgeous". So of course I tried to get her to tell her little story on the camera but to no avail. I did get some fun footage though and here it is...

When are they old enough to brush their teeth?

Miss Personality

B cracks me up. Her Spiritedness just oozes out in everything she does. I was walking up the steps this evening and she greeted me with an unsolicited dialogue that went something like this, "I go swimming with Daddy... ewe not go swimming, Daddy take me...when it hot...I get my bading suit...ewe not, Daddy swim, we go.... So I went to grab the camera for a video because she was cracking me up. Well, I didn't get the same chatter on camera but she had me laughing none the less. She was trying to fix her hair in the beginning of this video if you wonder what she is doing. Hollywood here we come!

Haircut

Today B got her 2nd haircut. Well, not counting the other day when I snipped some dried ice cream out of a clump of hair. :-) This was her first haircut at about 14 months.

Look at that sweet little baby and those CURLS!!!

Today we went to Cookie Cutters here in town and she had lots of fun and did a great job. In fact, it was just a good day all around. She really didn't have any fits, a few starts but she pulled it together pretty quickly. She was lots of fun and we got her hair all done! I know that rhymed. :-)

Before

During

After

Snow Ice Cream Recipe

I should have posted this yesterday! Here's the recipe...

Snow Ice Cream Recipe

INGREDIENTS
1 gallon snow
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk

When it starts to snow, place a large, clean bowl outside to collect the flakes. When full, stir in sugar and vanilla to taste, then stir in just enough milk for the desired consistency. Serve at once.

Snow Ice Cream

I can remember making Snow Ice Cream as a kid. My mom sent the recipe to us recently so we had a go at it today. She LOVED making it and even liked eating it. I have to admit, I like it too. But I can't figure out if it tastes good or its the nostalgia. Here's our little venture today. Don't worry all you grandma types, she has on like 5 layers and we were only out in the cold for a couple of minutes. Her gloves, well she hates them and we couldn't find them anyway and its hard to scoop ice cream into a bowl with big mittens. Her coat was in the car which Ryan took to get us a few things. She hates wearing it in the car seat... anyway, I digress. Here are some fun Snow Ice Cream pictures!

FIRST STEP, RIGHT INTO A DRIFT OF COURSE, SPIRIT DOES NOT

ALLOW FOR GRADUAL BEHAVIOR--LET'S GET IT ON!

UMM, HAD TO MOVE HER AWAY FROM SNOW BY THE CAR, GROSS...

OK, THIS LOOKS CLEAN...SCOOPING...

OOPS! SNOW IS HEAVY APPARENTLY!

HELPING WITH THE SUGAR. MY FLOOR IS STILL STICKY, 3 WASHES LATER.

HERE COMES THE TASTE TEST...

HMMM, THE VERDICT IS STILL OUT...

SHE LIKES IT!!! SHE LIKES IT!!!

SOME SERIOUS VIDEO FOOTAGE. WELL, NOT REALLY BUT HERE'S SOME VIDEO.

Blizzard 08

Sooooo much snow. What to do with it all!? We decided to make snow ice cream with it! But that's the next post... These pics are around 11am on Sat, the 8th of March. I think we got a few more inches after these were taken. I've seen worseand am just glad it will be over. I guess I need to change my In like a Lamb, out like a Lion... post to be in like a Lion, out like a Lamb because we had 2 Spring like days and then BAM! Here we are, in the worst winter we've had yet this year. Which is fine with me! Let's get it over with and on to Spring!

You So Sited Momma!

I ran downstairs before R left this morning and switched the laundry over. B had been hanging out with Daddy for a few min and was sitting in the hall upstairs when I came back up. She saw me and said, "You so sited momma!" I said, "I am, why?" She said, "You so sited (excited) because I wuv ew! (because I love you)." Awwww, I am so excited about that. Then R told me she had just asked him, "You going to work Daddy?" He told her he was. She said, "Oh, be a good girl." :-)

A New Day

Today was a new day. I do believe B is getting some more of her molars through and that may have been the temper tantrums root cause from yesterday. I kept her loaded up with Ibuprophrin today and it was a much better day. We went to a rec center where they have a play time for Preschoolers on Thursdays this morning with the mom's from our small group at church. Its very fun to have a group of people with little kids to hang around with. Plus they are a fun group of people! Here's some pics from today. A fun time was had by all.

Addendum to Today's Post

And the temper tantrums. This evening I took her to the YMCA with me where she played in the childcare room. She likes this once she is in there for 30 seconds and really enjoys it. We left and I told her we were going to get ice cream for a special treat on the way home (you know because I worked out, so why not have ice cream?--I was going to get a low cal one for real, Cold Stone has a great Sorbet.) Anyway, we stopped in Children's Orchard for a minute because they have a sale going on. B likes going in there because there are some toys she can play with. However, after her having 2 temper tantrums in the store for no particular reason, I picked her up and we left. I informed her as I strapped her in that we were not stopping for ice cream on the way home because of how she had acted in the store and gave her specific details on what behaviors were not acceptable. The shrillness of her voice screaming for ice cream was uncanny. Never have I heard her scream words this loud and in this pitch. It was a great one. I just kept calmly reminding her what the problem was as she got louder and more shrill. Then at one point she very, very pitifully saying to me, "That make me so happy momma." Refering to her special treat of ice cream. Oh my goodness that broke my heart. Not enough to change my mind but it pulled at my heart strings for sure. So the tantrum lasted about 15 minutes by the time I finally made her get in the bathtub. Water seems to soothe her. Oh yeah, and she also peed her pants in her carseat on the way home as well--which she does from time to time when she is sooooo mad. Nice, very nice. I did put a sweet girl to bed so all's well that ends well. Night!

A day in the life of spirit

Well, we are back to normal around here. B seems to be feeling just fine. She was extra chatty and extra active all day. I've recently had people ask me what is so hard about B and why I would consider her "Spirited". Now I have a suspicion these people may have a Spirited child of their own--and maybe even more so than mine! Or, remember, I only have this one kid! People who have four with one or-oh-my-goodness-more than one Spirited child in their group will surely be wondering why I think my girl is a little harder than the normal to raise. Now don't get me wrong here people, I don't think she does anything out of the realm of ordinary, I don't think she has special needs or anything like that. I just think on a scale of normal for things like activity or frustration level, she is always going to score on the high, high end. Not so high that she's "diagnosable" as I like to say but so high that parents who have different personality types of children think, whoa, glad that's not my kid! But I always have loved a challenge and have a suspicion that I may have been this same way as a kid so I'm so thankful God saw fit to let me be the one to raise her. It takes all kinds of people to make the world go round, right?! But let me give you just a few examples of what I think makes her "spirited"....

You may want to read a past post: Top 10 ways to know your life is filled with Spirit! to get a good start on what it all involves.

For one thing, as a parent of a Spirited Toddler you notice that naps get harder and harder to make your child take. And sleep for that matter just does not seem that important to your child. In fact, the less sleep B gets the worse she sleeps, but does that bother her? Not enough to actually sleep! She would rather be grumpy, rubbing her eyes, throwing fits that she gets in trouble for then to just finally settle down and sleep.

I also notice that she notices EVERYTHING. We can be in the grocery store and she will see a Shrek on a cereal box that is literally 2 inches tall and no kidding, 20 feet away from us and be pointing out Shrek and insisting on seeing it. I on the other hand have no idea what she is talking about because who in the world notices those kinds of things even if they are looking for them!

Here's one....

What do Yo Gabba Gabba Toys have in common with the little touching statue of the Father with his baby? She broke them! In a nano-second. Poor Foofa lost her Flower top hair and Plex had his arm amputated and lost the handle on his door. This is just the most recent pile of items that I saved to take a picture of. She is forever trying to figure out how things work and what buttons do and that sort of thing, therefore she is always prying, turning, twisting, etc. And well, this sort of thing happens. And she is extremely quick about it. (We are wondering if she will be an engineer someday.)

I wish I could put into words all the times things go a little haywire around here with her. Its so often and normal now, I think I just go through the motions and don't even think about it being odd. When I talk to my friends who don't have a spirited child I am quickly reminded. Let me just sum it up in my next pictures...

This was lunch. She got down so quickly to check something out on the floor (because she notices everything remember) that she pulled her place mat with her entire meal and cup of milk (which poured over her head on the way down, notice the plastered down part in her hair) onto the floor and all over the sides of the chairs and table. So whether there is a mess like this clean up during the day or not, this is pretty much how it feels a lot of the time to raise her... Like one big chaotic moment. Is she stinking cute in the middle of it? Absolutely. Is it a bit overwhelming to think about the job ahead? Well sure. Does it take extra effort you weren't planning on? I can't lie, it does. Would you trade it? Not with that cheesy grin staring back at you, not for anything in the world.