telling stories

Kiddo gets more expressive by the day. Not only does she add one to three words a day, but she's starting to tell stories. Right now she has three. She only repeats two words, and I fill in the details, but here they are.

"Ants. Feet." This tells us about the time she stood in an ant pile. After standing there (I didn't know!), she miraculously came the second time I asked her too (she does not come easily). As I put her in her car seat, she announced to me that "annss. feet." I miraculously understood her on the first statement, looked at her feet, and sure enough, there were at least 20 fire ants climbing on her feet. I quickly took of her sandals and brushed them clean. She only had 4 bites, which stopped bothering her by the time we left the parking lot. But it left quite an impression. Every day for the last three or four days, at least once she tells me "Annss. Feet."

"Booke. Dass." This tells us about last night, when she grabbed for my glass of water (mostly empty) and dropped it on the floor, shattering the glass in a lot of pieces. I had to run to get her out of the glass before she started touching it. It took my mom quite a bit of time to clean it up (thanks) because of the size of the mess. But Kiddo is clear: "I booke. Dass."

"Airpane. Mo-ow." Kiddo is an airplane expert. Most loud noises have been attributed to airplanes, and she can spot them from the car, on the sidewalk..., she loves to see and identify airplanes. I told her that we were going to visit great-grandma in seattle tomorrow, and we would take an airplane. And thus began her next story: "Airpane. Mo-ow."

the hair dilemma (and solution)

So this picture is sideways, but I just don't know how to fix it; tilt your head please. This is my adorable daughter. See how her hair is so close to her eyes and mouth and nose? Well, about two weeks ago she determined that she had no need of the ponytails we had been giving her. So she pulls them out within 20 minutes of me putting them in (usually immediately, but sometimes she could be briefly distracted from her cause). But most of the time, her hair was loose, and it did not stay to the side of her face like in this picture. Both she and I spent quite a bit of time trying to push it out of the way, until it would fall down again.

So then she often looked more like this:
It couldn't be ignored. I took a deep breath, and had my mom cut her bangs. They are cute. I am still unsure whether we'll let them grow out or not, but for two days, she hasn't had hair in her face, and that's a good thing.

for grandma

By popular demand, two delightful pictures of Kiddo at the temple. They illustrate some key features about her.

She likes to lie down anywhere, and she loves water.

me and the Rackely's

Two weeks ago, we met the lady who would potentially rent her on-the-market house to us for three months. A short term lease is an all-out miracle in this town/area. We had been looking and looking, calling and calling, and the answer was the same for company and private apartments alike: we only do 12 month leases. We were praying for a miracle. Specifically, I prayed that someone would learn our story, or meet us, and think: I need to help this family.

Prayers are answered. After meeting the woman and viewing her house, we fell in love, and she grudgingly told us that we could rent it if we wanted it. We discussed it that night, and decided to keep our family intact throughout this last semester of school. As we viewed the house, and met the woman, I learned that her family was a big name on campus. I kept thinking: "Rackley, Rackley, where is that building? why is it so familiar?"

As we drove off, it hit me. Two years of my life were spent working from that building. Numerous classes were taken there. It is a part of my academic career. And now I was probably staying in the house belonging to the man for whom the building was named. Weird.

Last Wednesday we signed the lease. As we were going through the process, I told our landlady about the connection. She was impressed. It became more important later in the process when she told us her story. Her parents-in-law (the people who the building is named after) sold her the house a few years ago as a gift. As she was debating whether to rent to us, or to another person (who was willing to sign a 12-month lease), she had a dream where her mother-in-law reminded her that the house was a gift. Our landlady took that as an indication that she needed to rent the house to us, and help our little family.

Prayers are answered, and the Rackley's are a part of my school experience.

ps- as exciting as signing the lease was, my husband is even more excited to end our two months as squatters, and sleep in his own place on Sunday!

do you hear what I hear?

Kiddo is a talker. She has lots of words that actually sound like what they are supposed to, and even more that I can understand. She also has some short sentences and phrases. Because I currently am a blogging slacker, this entry is everything I can think of right now.

She finishes all prayers with a very enthusiastic "A-Man!" and can even pray by herself. She will fold her arms, bow her head, and babble until she is done (and not a moment sooner) and finish with an "A-Man!" She finds this very fulfilling, and will often request "mo-one" (more) afterwards, and start again.

She does a similar trick with a cell phone, she picks it up, babbles for a while, then says "bye," and shuts the phone. Then she opens it again and starts over.

The weekend of graduation she learned a handy phrase: "I NEE!" "What do you need?" is often my follow-up phrase. Mostly, she points, or I infer. She needs books, toys, television, my glass of water, fruit snacks, or anything she can see and desire. Recently she has helpfully added "I NEE DA" (I need that...) so although she has added an object to the sentence, I still don't always know what she wants. It should be clear that often, the answer to her request is "you don't need [whatever]."

The exception to her undefined needs is in the car, where she likes to listen to her "on the farm" CD (thanks mom, it was a lovely gift). She will sit in her car seat, and repeat "I NEE song" until we press play. But she has recently mastered climbing into her car seat by herself, so that is a great help to the getting in the car process. "song" is one of her newest words, and she likes to say it, and hear them.

There is a shed in the backyard of the house we're currently in. We walk into the backyard, and she yells "barn!" with contentment and goes to investigate.

She can say "fun" and "friend" and "funny" and "book" and "bath" and "duck" and "nest" and "cat," among others. She recently learned "baby" and says it whenever she sees anyone (in a book or real life) cradling something. When I pick her up that way she says "baby" and snuggles in for .5 seconds before she wiggles into a more toddler-esque position.

Often when she wakes from her naps or in the morning, she calls out for us "ma-mine...da-da...ma-mine...da-da" until one of us (in the morning, that's usually my husband) gets her. Then she joyfully cheers when she sees the other one of us. She is most capable of using "da-da" in sentences, such as "mo-one, da-da" (whether she's talking to him or me) and "where's dada?" She is big on having us both present and accounted for currently.

And she knows "wet." After spitting her water out, or spilling it all over herself, she announces with a little consternation "wet." We agree with her, and let her suffer the consequences.