Just some random stuff about Ari...
As I was getting Ari dressed one morning last week, she said, "Mommy, can you put my hair in a pretty ponytail? I want to look bee-YOO-tiful today!"
Of course I said yes. And also made a point of telling her that she's beautiful no matter what.
Lately, we've been teaching Ari her address, Daddy's phone number, etc. I mean, they say it's important for kids to know stuff like that, right? The problem is, she likes to share that information with random strangers--last week, it was the cashier at Target. I guess we need to make sure we also teach her the right times to share that kind of stuff.
She's getting a lot more bold with strangers, lately, which amuses me. She talked to a man in a wheelchair at Target, asking him his name and what he was doing. When we were walking a few nights ago, she asked the same questions of a man we passed on the sidewalk... and then proceeded to invite him over to our house. Goofball.
We've been struggling a little bit at bedtime with Ari. She's always been a fantastic sleeper, and would usually go to bed with no issues. Now, she keeps getting up. At first, she would say she had to go potty--and how can you argue with that? But then it would turn into 3 or 4 trips to the potty, so we finally told her she would get in trouble if she got up and didn't go potty. But now she's moved on from that to just making random excuses to get up--like saying she wants different pajamas, or different animals for her bed, or there's a light shining through her curtains, or she misses us. Really, it's SO hard not to laugh at some of the crazy excuses she comes up with. There was one time recently where she kept yelling for me, and when I finally went to her and asked her what was wrong, she went, "Um... uh..." and I swear I could see the wheels turning in her head as she struggled to come up with a legitimate reason for calling me. Little rascal.
Ari brought me a toy car yesterday, saying, "Mommy, look." She shoved it under my nose and calmly said, "Spider." And, indeed, there was a real, live spider sitting on the seat. I set the car on the coffee table, trying to be all calm and cool, and told her to go get me a tissue. When she came back, she kind of grinned nervously at me and said, "I'm scared." Of course, I told her not to be, trying my best to be reassuring. I picked up the car, turned it upside down, and hit it lightly against the table, figuring it would be easier to kill the spider if it was on the table instead of in the car. Sure enough, the spider fell out, and I went to smash it with the tissue, feeling pretty proud of myself for being so chill about this. Except the spider kind of started to move, and my fingers were kind of right on the edge of the tissue, and I kind of half-smushed it with my bare fingers, and as soon as I realized I'd done that, and also not really killed it, I yelped like the sissy little girl that I am as I lifted the tissue and brought it back down right on top of the spider, killing it for good. Then I glanced at Ari, and she was just staring at me, a bit wide-eyed, but with a hint of a smile, as if she were trying to figure out how to react. So of course, I went back to being the calm and cool mom, and laughed and said everything was fine. Then she grinned full-on and said, "I knew you could do it, Mommy!" And then I laughed for real and hugged her.
Conversation Tony and Ari had as he was putting her in her pajamas last night...
Tony: Hey, Ari, do you know what your shirt says?
Ari: What?
Tony: It says, "My heart belongs to Daddy."
Ari: No, it belongs to ME!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
4 things
It's Monday. Blah. No one really likes Mondays, right? So I thought I'd share something upbeat... a few little stories of things that have touched my heart recently.
1. We went for a walk as a family on Friday evening. Ari has a giant red wagon that we always bring with us, so she has something to ride in when she gets tired. When she does want to walk, she usually insists on pulling the wagon, which is fine with us. She was doing that on Friday, kind of running a little, when she tripped and fell. Her hand had gotten trapped under her body and taken the brunt of the hit, so 2 of her knuckles were scraped pretty badly and bleeding. Of course, she was crying and sobbing, and we had nothing with us--I didn't even have any tissues in my pocket. And we were a good distance from our house. We tried to calm her down, cuddling her and then sitting her in the wagon and continuing to walk, but she just kept crying and bleeding. I was thisclose to using the hem of my own shirt to sop up the blood on her fingers. Then Tony spotted a woman sitting out on her porch and asked her if she possibly had a tissue or papertowel or something, explaining that our daughter had scraped her hand. She scurried inside quickly, and came back out with a few papertowels, an entire box of band-aids, and a bag of chocolates for Ari. She was SO nice. We blotted the blood with the papertowels, then bandaged up Ari's fingers, and once Ari stopped crying, she started interrogating the lady (a sure sign she was feeling better)... "What's your name? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Where are your sons? When will they be home?" The lady gave us a couple extra papertowels and a whole bunch of extra band-aids, and even kissed Ari on the forehead as we left. It was so sweet, and I was so touched by her kindness. She told Ari that her 2 sons were all grown-up (in their 20s), so I'm sure she loved having a little kid to fuss over. I wish I could remember what house was hers, to thank her.
2. Later Friday night, I was at the computer working on church-related stuff, and Tony was out in the living room watching TV. My phone buzzed with a text message... from Tony. He wrote: "I love you so much... You are my best friend. My soulmate. My wife. My lover. My one and only. My true love. I am so blessed to be married to you. I LOVE YOU!!" When I mentioned it to him, he tried to act like he didn't know what I was talking about, silly boy. The next day, we were at the wedding of a couple friends of ours, and he kept looking at me with this look in his eyes... and kept stealing kisses throughout the day. Weddings make us BOTH sappy, I guess.
3. I had just stumbled out of bed on Sunday morning, and was barely even awake, when Ari joined me in the bathroom. She, of course, had already been awake for a good half-hour or so (but even still, she's totally the type who wakes up fully alive and alert in the mornings). She came over to me and stood in front of me for a moment. "Mama," she cooed... and man, I wish you could hear the way she says that sometimes. It's the sweetest, most loving tone. Anyway, as she said that, she wrapped her arms around me and I asked, "What, sweets?" She sighed a happy little sigh and added, "I miss you, Mama. And I love you." Just totally out of nowhere. Not sure why she was saying she missed me, since she'd been lying beside me in bed not 2 minutes earlier, but the "I love you" was especially precious. There's nothing--nothing--like an unprompted "I love you" from someone you adore.
4. And last, but not least... a friend of mine here at work brings me chocolate every Monday, and he just delivered my weekly fix... today, I got 2. Dove dark chocolate. Mmm. I know it's such a small thing, but it makes me smile every time. It really is the little things.
1. We went for a walk as a family on Friday evening. Ari has a giant red wagon that we always bring with us, so she has something to ride in when she gets tired. When she does want to walk, she usually insists on pulling the wagon, which is fine with us. She was doing that on Friday, kind of running a little, when she tripped and fell. Her hand had gotten trapped under her body and taken the brunt of the hit, so 2 of her knuckles were scraped pretty badly and bleeding. Of course, she was crying and sobbing, and we had nothing with us--I didn't even have any tissues in my pocket. And we were a good distance from our house. We tried to calm her down, cuddling her and then sitting her in the wagon and continuing to walk, but she just kept crying and bleeding. I was thisclose to using the hem of my own shirt to sop up the blood on her fingers. Then Tony spotted a woman sitting out on her porch and asked her if she possibly had a tissue or papertowel or something, explaining that our daughter had scraped her hand. She scurried inside quickly, and came back out with a few papertowels, an entire box of band-aids, and a bag of chocolates for Ari. She was SO nice. We blotted the blood with the papertowels, then bandaged up Ari's fingers, and once Ari stopped crying, she started interrogating the lady (a sure sign she was feeling better)... "What's your name? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Where are your sons? When will they be home?" The lady gave us a couple extra papertowels and a whole bunch of extra band-aids, and even kissed Ari on the forehead as we left. It was so sweet, and I was so touched by her kindness. She told Ari that her 2 sons were all grown-up (in their 20s), so I'm sure she loved having a little kid to fuss over. I wish I could remember what house was hers, to thank her.
2. Later Friday night, I was at the computer working on church-related stuff, and Tony was out in the living room watching TV. My phone buzzed with a text message... from Tony. He wrote: "I love you so much... You are my best friend. My soulmate. My wife. My lover. My one and only. My true love. I am so blessed to be married to you. I LOVE YOU!!" When I mentioned it to him, he tried to act like he didn't know what I was talking about, silly boy. The next day, we were at the wedding of a couple friends of ours, and he kept looking at me with this look in his eyes... and kept stealing kisses throughout the day. Weddings make us BOTH sappy, I guess.
3. I had just stumbled out of bed on Sunday morning, and was barely even awake, when Ari joined me in the bathroom. She, of course, had already been awake for a good half-hour or so (but even still, she's totally the type who wakes up fully alive and alert in the mornings). She came over to me and stood in front of me for a moment. "Mama," she cooed... and man, I wish you could hear the way she says that sometimes. It's the sweetest, most loving tone. Anyway, as she said that, she wrapped her arms around me and I asked, "What, sweets?" She sighed a happy little sigh and added, "I miss you, Mama. And I love you." Just totally out of nowhere. Not sure why she was saying she missed me, since she'd been lying beside me in bed not 2 minutes earlier, but the "I love you" was especially precious. There's nothing--nothing--like an unprompted "I love you" from someone you adore.
4. And last, but not least... a friend of mine here at work brings me chocolate every Monday, and he just delivered my weekly fix... today, I got 2. Dove dark chocolate. Mmm. I know it's such a small thing, but it makes me smile every time. It really is the little things.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mother's Day weekend
This has been a pretty busy weekend. Friday night, we did some shopping for Mother's Day cards and gifts for our moms, and then let Ari play around at the mall a little, riding the carousel and things like that.
Saturday morning, our church participated in "Community Day" in the town where our church meets, for the first time. It was pouring down rain on Saturday morning, so everything got moved into the town's middle school. We got a good spot, though, and everything seemed to go well. Of course, we wandered around to check out the other booths, too. We came across one for a dance school in the town--they were having a drawing for a free year of dance class, and we both entered. Plus, Tony got chatting with the people running the booth and got a lot of information on the school and the classes they offered for kids Ari's age. Then, later in the afternoon, they had several of their dance classes perform--almost like a mini-recital. Ari saw all the girls walking around in their costumes and wanted to watch, so we snagged some great front-row seats, and she sat and watched the entire show, which lasted well over an hour. At the end of the show, they did the drawing... and pulled out Tony's name. So we now have our choice of one dance class for Ari, for one full year (as in, a school year... so, September through May/June)... for FREE. We are so excited. I hope Ari will love it. And even if she doesn't... hey, it was free.
I got my Mother's Day gift from Ari on Saturday afternoon, which was a good thing, because Sunday was so hectic. She painted this frame in preschool, and then Tony provided the picture (which I guess makes it a joint gift).
After Ari went to bed that night, I treated myself to a little trip to Kohl's and bought these 2 purses as a Mother's Day gift to myself. I couldn't decide which color I liked better, so I bought both, planning to return one. But now I think I might keep them both... I love the style. I'm using the silvery-gray one right now.
Then I made banana muffins... from scratch. Because I rock.
Sunday was church, of course, and before the service started, Pastor pulled me and Kerry aside and presented each of us with a new Bible, as a way of thanking us for all the work we do with the church. I thought that was so sweet of him.
After church, we headed to my parents' house and spent the afternoon there. We had dinner, dessert, played some board games, and just hung out. Dave, Jess, and Micah came over later in the afternoon, too.
I wanted to get a picture of me, my mom, and Ari.
Tony took this shot in between poses. I love it. Candid pictures are the best.
And last but not least, a couple of videos. On the way home from the mall on Friday night, Ari kept making up all these crazy songs, about all sorts of subjects. There was even an entire song dedicated to poop, and a song about the dogs that ended with "And Ivan licks Sasha's butt." But she did sing some sweet songs, too--about the seasons, about Daddy, and about Mommy. I tried to get her to continue when we got home, and even though these songs are cute, they're not nearly as insane as the ones she was inventing in the car.
This first one is the Tummy Song...
Saturday morning, our church participated in "Community Day" in the town where our church meets, for the first time. It was pouring down rain on Saturday morning, so everything got moved into the town's middle school. We got a good spot, though, and everything seemed to go well. Of course, we wandered around to check out the other booths, too. We came across one for a dance school in the town--they were having a drawing for a free year of dance class, and we both entered. Plus, Tony got chatting with the people running the booth and got a lot of information on the school and the classes they offered for kids Ari's age. Then, later in the afternoon, they had several of their dance classes perform--almost like a mini-recital. Ari saw all the girls walking around in their costumes and wanted to watch, so we snagged some great front-row seats, and she sat and watched the entire show, which lasted well over an hour. At the end of the show, they did the drawing... and pulled out Tony's name. So we now have our choice of one dance class for Ari, for one full year (as in, a school year... so, September through May/June)... for FREE. We are so excited. I hope Ari will love it. And even if she doesn't... hey, it was free.
I got my Mother's Day gift from Ari on Saturday afternoon, which was a good thing, because Sunday was so hectic. She painted this frame in preschool, and then Tony provided the picture (which I guess makes it a joint gift).
After Ari went to bed that night, I treated myself to a little trip to Kohl's and bought these 2 purses as a Mother's Day gift to myself. I couldn't decide which color I liked better, so I bought both, planning to return one. But now I think I might keep them both... I love the style. I'm using the silvery-gray one right now.
Then I made banana muffins... from scratch. Because I rock.
Sunday was church, of course, and before the service started, Pastor pulled me and Kerry aside and presented each of us with a new Bible, as a way of thanking us for all the work we do with the church. I thought that was so sweet of him.
After church, we headed to my parents' house and spent the afternoon there. We had dinner, dessert, played some board games, and just hung out. Dave, Jess, and Micah came over later in the afternoon, too.
I wanted to get a picture of me, my mom, and Ari.
Tony took this shot in between poses. I love it. Candid pictures are the best.
And last but not least, a couple of videos. On the way home from the mall on Friday night, Ari kept making up all these crazy songs, about all sorts of subjects. There was even an entire song dedicated to poop, and a song about the dogs that ended with "And Ivan licks Sasha's butt." But she did sing some sweet songs, too--about the seasons, about Daddy, and about Mommy. I tried to get her to continue when we got home, and even though these songs are cute, they're not nearly as insane as the ones she was inventing in the car.
This first one is the Tummy Song...
This is the Spring Song... She even added some "interpretive dance" moves to this one...
Monday, May 3, 2010
A trip to the zoo
On Saturday, we went to the zoo. The idea entered my head during the day on Friday... the forecast was calling for such nice weather, and it seemed a shame to "waste" it. Plus our library has a free pass you can borrow that's good for up to 2 adults and 4 children--but it's first come, first serve. Luckily, I was able to get it on Friday night. I had Ari with me when I went to the library, and I made sure to grab a book that featured a lot of zoo-type animals. (She cracks me up when we go to the library--she'll just pull random books off the shelves and hand them to me. But at least she's interested in books, so I'm not complaining.) Once I had the pass, I told her what we were going to do the next day, and she was suitably psyched.
I grabbed a quick father-daughter picture right inside the entrance...
This display was right next to the condor. I like her little pose here...
The prairie dog exhibit was one of my favorites, and Ari's too, I think. They had a tunnel under the hill with several holes you could climb into a get a closer look at the prairie dogs. See Tony and Ari in that middle one?
We stopped by again later in the day, and here are me and Ari in the same hole. I'm amused at the obvious height difference between me and Tony. And for the record, I was even standing on my tiptoes in this picture (I had to, in order to see over the edge).
Close-up of some prairie dogs because they're just oh-so-cute...
They had a table set up where kids could do stamps of some animal footprints. Yeh, don't ask me what animals these are... I totally don't remember. But Ari got a kick out of doing this.
This zoo had several types of birds that were free to roam the premises, and Ari just loved that. She kept wanting to catch one. Here, she's following a pheasant.
OK, look at the difference here... picture with Daddy, Ari is smiling nicely...
Picture with Mommy... she's trying to strangle me. (Nah, I think she was just hugging me. I think...)
I love the smile on her face in this picture...
And here she is, following a free-range rooster...
I should have gotten a video of this... she was cooing at this duck (? goose? whatever) in the sweetest little voice...
Among the free-roaming birds were several peacocks, and this one put on a lovely display for us. I took a bunch of pictures, because it was so pretty, and I don't think I've ever seen a peacock do that in real life. (Don't worry, I won't show you all of them.)
OK, just one more...
I thought these 2 ocelots were so adorable...
You can't even see what Ari was looking at in this picture (a pygmy marmoset, if you're curious), but I just love the look on her face.
Near the bison exhibit, they had a small display with a bison skull and some patches of their summer and winter coat.
And then the lady manning the display table offered to take our picture. I think it came out pretty nice. It even features the bison (who we found out is named Dakota).
They had this giant hollow log the kids could climb into...
We spent probably about 3 hours roaming around the zoo. And once we left, she quickly conked out in the car. I think it's sweet the way she's clutching her library book here.
And that was our Saturday. Sunday was church as usual, then we spent the afternoon hanging out at a friend's house. It was just as sunny and warm as Saturday had been, plus a little more humid. But the kids (a total of 5 of them, all age 6 and under) played outside ALL DAY. They were sweaty and flushed, but still had so much energy. One of Ari's little friends has a quad, so they all got a chance to drive/ride it. (Ari just rode--but she loved it!) And when they weren't riding, they were playing elsewhere outside... and Kerry and I even took them all to the park, and they still kept going and going and going. Of course, by the time we got home, Ari was thoroughly wiped out, so the bedtime routine involved a lot of crying and whining and even screaming. But once I got her into bed, she pretty much went right to sleep.
And that was our weekend.
I grabbed a quick father-daughter picture right inside the entrance...
This display was right next to the condor. I like her little pose here...
The prairie dog exhibit was one of my favorites, and Ari's too, I think. They had a tunnel under the hill with several holes you could climb into a get a closer look at the prairie dogs. See Tony and Ari in that middle one?
We stopped by again later in the day, and here are me and Ari in the same hole. I'm amused at the obvious height difference between me and Tony. And for the record, I was even standing on my tiptoes in this picture (I had to, in order to see over the edge).
Close-up of some prairie dogs because they're just oh-so-cute...
They had a table set up where kids could do stamps of some animal footprints. Yeh, don't ask me what animals these are... I totally don't remember. But Ari got a kick out of doing this.
This zoo had several types of birds that were free to roam the premises, and Ari just loved that. She kept wanting to catch one. Here, she's following a pheasant.
OK, look at the difference here... picture with Daddy, Ari is smiling nicely...
Picture with Mommy... she's trying to strangle me. (Nah, I think she was just hugging me. I think...)
I love the smile on her face in this picture...
And here she is, following a free-range rooster...
I should have gotten a video of this... she was cooing at this duck (? goose? whatever) in the sweetest little voice...
Among the free-roaming birds were several peacocks, and this one put on a lovely display for us. I took a bunch of pictures, because it was so pretty, and I don't think I've ever seen a peacock do that in real life. (Don't worry, I won't show you all of them.)
OK, just one more...
I thought these 2 ocelots were so adorable...
You can't even see what Ari was looking at in this picture (a pygmy marmoset, if you're curious), but I just love the look on her face.
Near the bison exhibit, they had a small display with a bison skull and some patches of their summer and winter coat.
And then the lady manning the display table offered to take our picture. I think it came out pretty nice. It even features the bison (who we found out is named Dakota).
They had this giant hollow log the kids could climb into...
We spent probably about 3 hours roaming around the zoo. And once we left, she quickly conked out in the car. I think it's sweet the way she's clutching her library book here.
And that was our Saturday. Sunday was church as usual, then we spent the afternoon hanging out at a friend's house. It was just as sunny and warm as Saturday had been, plus a little more humid. But the kids (a total of 5 of them, all age 6 and under) played outside ALL DAY. They were sweaty and flushed, but still had so much energy. One of Ari's little friends has a quad, so they all got a chance to drive/ride it. (Ari just rode--but she loved it!) And when they weren't riding, they were playing elsewhere outside... and Kerry and I even took them all to the park, and they still kept going and going and going. Of course, by the time we got home, Ari was thoroughly wiped out, so the bedtime routine involved a lot of crying and whining and even screaming. But once I got her into bed, she pretty much went right to sleep.
And that was our weekend.
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