Oil Slick

Eva has decided lately that naptime isn’t for napping.  Instead, she empties all of the clothes out of her dresser, takes all the books off the shelf, dumps the entire toy box out onto the floor…you know…kid stuff.  Today, however, all of her normal “naptime” activities weren’t exciting enough. 

Today was more of an empty-an-entire-jar-of-Vaseline-all-over-the-bedroom kind of day.  And I mean an entire jar.

She spread it on the curtains, the dresser, closet doors, window sill, window, her bed, a book, and all over her face and hair.  I had to use a putty knife to scrape it up off the window seat.  Thankfully she didn’t get any of it on the carpet.  Her skin has a nice sheen to it and she’s sporting an attractive Greaser Hairstyle now. 

You might be asking yourself, “Who's the dumb idiot that left a jar of Vaseline in a toddler’s bedroom?”

Big Boy did it.

Ok.  Fine.  I did it.

Diseased

Our little girl is sick with a terrible cold again.  She’s had a habit of picking up viruses lately and it makes everyone tired and grumpy.  The one upside to having her feel miserable is that she wants to snuggle.  I do love that part.

Last night I let her sleep with me because Myke was working late and I was tired of running back and forth to her bedroom.  In the middle of the night she rolled over, stroked my cheek and said I was beautiful.  I nearly cried.  Then she commenced thrashing around like a rabid dog, kicking me and smacking my face, and the moment vanished.  At one point I was on the very edge of the bed with only a sliver of blanket.  It was a long night.

Consequently, this Mama is tired from lack of sleep.  But I look so beautiful, you’d never know it.    

Globetrotter

We went on a safari today in Africa and Eva was lucky enough to be able to sit on a wild animal!

Disclaimer:  By “Africa” I mean the library.  And by “Wild animal” I mean a stuffed elephant.

Still.  It was very exciting and practically the same thing.

Public Humiliation

Well, she did it.  Eva made me feel like a jackass in the grocery store.  And not just any jackass; one with no control over her bratty, ill-behaved child.

Eva threw the biggest fit of her life today and she kindly saved it for until we were inside the store and I already had a cart full of groceries.  I’m talking a piercing scream, legs kicking, arms flailing kind of fit.  She even took off her shoes and chucked them over the side of the cart.  And her pacifier.  (Yes, she still has a pacifier.  Chalk that up as another one of my parenting flaws.)  You see, a few weeks ago I let her help me push the flat bed at Costco.  Now she thinks it’s her right to push every cart in every store we enter.  Today was no exception.  She wanted to push the cart and I wouldn’t let her.  First of all, I needed to hurry and it’s torture having a toddler push the basket.  Secondly, it was a larger grocery cart and she couldn’t even reach the handle.  Apparently not being able to reach is an invalid argument because she freaked out when I told her no.  And she continued to freak out once I put her inside the cart.  And continued until we reached the check-out. 

I was mortified!  People were staring and judging me.  I usually don’t mind strangers’ glares when my child is misbehaving, but this fit was so intense I was humiliated.  It went beyond Eva being upset to Eva being bratty. I was sweating and panicked because I didn’t know what to do.  I really wanted to march her out to the car and give her the what-for, but I didn’t know what to do with my cart of food.  I’ve never been in this predicament before. 

So I ignored her and hurriedly finished my shopping.  A few people made comments to me about the intensity of her screams but I ignored them too.  I was exhausted by the time we made it back to the car and gave Eva an emphatic, “No!” when she asked to listen to The Little Mermaid music.  I lectured her for a few minutes and then turned the radio up and ignored her screaming all the way home.

I’m too old and tired for this toddler business.

Happy New Year!

We went to our friend’s house again for New Year’s Eve this year.  While we were loading into the car, Eva insisted on having Elmo strapped in next to her.  She calls it, “All tuck in.”

He looks pretty comfy.  We had a fun time playing games and eating a grocery store's worth of food.  (Or maybe that was just me.)  Unfortunately, we had to leave before midnight because Eva became a terrible grump.  It’s miserable to have a kid throwing fits at someone else’s house.  Also unfortunately, I inadvertently had a repeat of last year and was on the toilet when the clock struck 12. 

My New Year’s resolution is to not do that again.  3 years in a row would just be embarrassing.

Story Teller

Eva was graciously reading to Elmo this morning.

He looks mesmerized by the story.  It must be an exciting book.

A Very Merry Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas we had!  Eva is not quite ready for the excitement of Christmas Eve, so we haven’t cemented any traditions yet.  Instead, we had the missionaries over for dinner and Myke shared his Quadra-copter with them.  They took turns flying it around the living room and cheering each other on.  We had lasagna for dinner and chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips.   By the time the Elders left, it was bedtime for Eva.  We told her all about Santa coming and that there would be presents under the tree in the morning.  She was really excited during the conversation but I’m sure she didn’t understand what we were saying.

I was looking forward to sleeping in on Christmas morning since Eva wouldn’t be anxiously waiting to open presents.  Unfortunately, she started crying at 6:30 because she couldn’t find her binky.  Myke went to her room and tried to tuck her back in but she wasn’t having it.  So we got up early.  I needed a few minutes to fill Myke’s stocking so he was keeping Eva preoccupied.  He said he would read her “A Very Busy Spider” but I was done and ready to open presents before he started to read. We took a video of Eva coming down the stairs and told her that Santa had come.  Myke and I were acting more excited than she was and nudged her toward the pile of presents under the tree.  Eva didn’t care about them, she wanted to read the book Daddy promised.  Myke handed her a gift to open in an attempt to redirect her attention and Eva swatted it from his hands and said, “No!”  We have it on video for a future time.  I finally said, “Fine, Mama will open your presents,” and started to tear a little bit of wrapping paper.  This made Eva angry and she ran over and took the present from me.  Manipulation at its best. 

Santa was very good to Eva.  She received an Elmo doll, some books, a guitar, a stuffed pig that rolls around on the floor and laughs, slippers, Cinderella on DVD, and some Tic Tacs and a couple toys in her stocking.  She ate the entire box of Tic Tacs within a few minutes.  She also received money from my parents for swimming lessons and an ornament, tea set, and movie from Grandma Lisa.  It was a good haul for a little girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the afternoon the missionaries came over to use our computers to Skype with their families.  It was nice having them over when they were so excited about talking to their loved ones.  It made me miss my own family.  We had Christmas dinner at our friend’s house in the evening.  I contributed pot roast and chocolate cream pie.  It was a delicious dinner and excellent company.

And just like that, Christmas was over.  We had an excellent holiday and it was a very pleasant day.  It really was a very Merry Christmas.

Now I’ve got to take down all the decorations.  Sigh.