Anna: So glad to hear that Mielle is one the mend!
Liz: I wish I had half the imagination of the little ones (and a quarter of their energy, too!)!
Jilly: I think it's a stage. As long as he *can* do it, that's all that matters (to me at least
). Elizabeth can do all those things, but I still do it for her. She insists that I pull her pants up and put on her socks, and it's difficult for her to do those things, but every other day I tell her to try. Today she actually said to herself after she peed on the potty, "I am going to pull my
own shorts and fancy panties up.
Myself." And the next thing I know she is showing me what she did, shorts and panties all bunched up and her shirt tucked into them.
And for the record, she cannot (as far as I know) get herself dressed. I just do it for her.
Becca: Sounds like a cute parade. When I was younger, my parents bought an *early retirement home* in a pretty rural part of Indiana. My father took my brother to the parade for the 4th in the closest town, and it was exactly as you describe. Now, where we live in indiana, there is a huge parade, it's between two and three hours long, so this little one was pretty disappointing to him!
I took E to the parade, and since my uncle is the mayor of our town, we got to sit in the grandstand in front of City Hall. There are food and beverages available inside for those who are invited (nothing like having a beer paid for by the city at 10am!
). E spent time with her cousins, catching candy for them (I did let E have a piece of candy yesterday since she was working so hard
: ).
About halfway through the parade, E told me she wanted yippies, and I was totally shocked! She never wants to
when we're out. So we went inside, I gave her yippies that lasted for all of six seconds, and she wanted some more food. I got her some food, and we sat at a table while she ate. In the mean time, I'm talking with my councilman, and this guy (Daniel) comes up and sits right next to E. They start talking (because E is the friendliest to strangers) and I am watching them out of the corner of my eye. He wrote his name on a name tag and asked her to read it (I'm like HUH???).
Anyway, he was *all up in her grill* (
: sorry, it's truly the best way to describe it) and I am more than a little freaked out about it. I asked my uncle who this guy is, and he's the city janitor (cleans City Hall, washes police cars, etc.). Nice. The city janitor has an unhealthy interest in little girls.
I went outside and told my aunt to keep an eye on her three girls because this guy was just not right. I can't quite put my finger on why, but my Jungle Mama instinct went haywire. I told my brother and his friends to please keep one eye on E along with me (I figure safety in numbers) because I feel that this guy, well, the wheel's spinning, but the hamster's dead.
Today of course I'm getting paranoid about it! I'm thinking that he could possibly get our information (except all he knows about us is E's first name) because of where he does his work. But then I talked to a friend of mine, and as soon as I told him the story he knew exactly who I was talking about. Seems my friend's brother has dealt with Daniel before because he works on the police cars, so when he takes them back to the station he runs into Daniel. My friend is under the impression that Daniel is a nutjob from what his brother says. So I feel a little better, maybe because he's weird all the time or maybe he just relates to children better than people, but I have this ache in the pit of my stomach that says, "Lock your doors and windows!"
We went to a party after the parade and E just dazzled everyone around her. I, too, have found a babysitter if I ever need one (a good friend of my cousin's and a fifth grade teacher), and E had both males and females falling all over her. She was quite the social butterfly! As rough as I am on myself on how quickly I go from talking to yelling, I know that I am doing a pretty darn good job (if I do say so myself
) raising E. She has manners, speaks well, learns from others, and she teaches them some, too.
She also held her first sparklers.
:
After all that babble, tomorrow E, my cousins (ages 26, 13, 11, and 9), and I are going to a dairy farm. It's going to be quite fun! The website says, "From grass to glass" so I'm hoping I won't have to get all PETA on their asses because they are cruel to the animals!
I'll make my cousin take pictures if I start a protest or something!