These are a few of my favorite things

Today we painted rocks. Tia Lila gave MajPaj & Khubz a bath. There was lots of play with some wild animal toys we brought to Gramma's house. There were only two time outs today. Khubz was great with the "please"s and "thank you"s. I had a shower.

It really was a fine day. Better than fine. Really good day actually. I feel sort of unsatisfied or sad with the day and can't figure out why. I think I need to get out of my head. Lists are good for that aren't they?

Khubz has recently discovered Julie Andrews. In particular, she likes "A few of my favorite things" and we listen to it on repeat from our house to Grammas every day (it plays approximately 4.7 times, depending on how many red lights we hit.) I'm trying to broaden her musical horizons so its not all "C is for Cookie." So she also likes "Cecilia" and "Pay Me My Money Down." What else does she like?

Puddles. We got her rain boots--I think they're really ugly. They have cows on them. She LOVES them. She also got an umbrella. Watch out. She will take your eye out with it. We go searching for puddles each day and as I pulled her out of the carseat today she said, "no puddles today?" None today. But it is Springtime in Iowa. There will be more puddles.

Pears. Grampa is the giver of pears and she quickly becomes offended if he doesn't offer her a bite of his pear when he's eating one. She was not a fan of the kumquats, by the way. I'll try giving her one again after she's read some Christina Rossetti.

Play time. "Isnot naptime??" Khubz demands reassurance every time we wash hands or settle in to her room for a story or anything else that seems suspicious. No, habibeti, it is play time. "Ohhhh. Playtime!"

The letter W. Please DO NOT take that as a political statement. She goes looking for Ws everywhere. Sometimes I doubt her when she says she's found one but there it is. And sometimes it is an "M" and I don't have the heart to tell her that's a different letter. She is so happy when she spots a W. Other letters? "G" for our Goddess Guadalupe. "C" truly is for cookie. She's beginning to take a liking to O as well.

The number 2. And 3. And 7. And 10. She likes making these numbers on her hands. Especially 10. She will resist naptime by trying to make me smile (this works.) "Where's deiz, Mommy?" where? "Right here!" She throws up her ten fingers. Smart, cute girl. Now go to sleep.

Two Mommies. "I gots two mommies. I gotta mama--thats a mommy. and I gotta mommy. I gots TWO." and she'll flash you the number two. This makes me unendingly happy. It helps counteract some of the "where's my daddy?" that she took on after hanging out with MajPaj and his daddy so much.

Frog. "Frog" makes everything funny. Want to make a joke out of "row, row, row your boat?" Just sing: "row, row, row your frog!" Then gasp loudly and say, "Frooooggg???!" Hysterical laughter. Now repeat. When that gets old, try this one. "A, B, C, D, E, F, FROOOOG" And you think that's funny? How about "ring around the rosy, pockets full of poesy, ashes, ashes we all fall froooog!" You get the idea.

And what about little thumper? He is also developing some likes and dislikes.

Thumbs up to: Amoxicillin. Yes, he has another ear infection.

Thumbs down to: Audiologists. He passed his hearing screening in one ear and failed it in the other. She thinks this is due to the ear infection and the huge gob of wax on his eardrum. It took an hour and half because his ear canals are so small they didn't have an instrument small enough and we had to keep starting over.

Thumbs up to: His sister! He loves to watch her. Even though she thumped him on the head today he still smiled at her and all her "frog" renditions.

Thumbs down to: Carseats. What's with the prettied up language anyway. Call them what they are. Child restraints!

Thumbs up to: Sleeping with the mommies. He seems to enjoy it when his sister joins in the fun as well. That's fine for him. He's not the one who goes on yellow alert.

The thumbs up really do outnumber the thumbs down. Thumbs up to: ceiling fans, gramma, taking baths, tylenol, being adored, farting at will, smiling, pacifiers, tummy time and the evening (when Khubz is asleep and its an endless milky buffet).

I guess that's a pretty good summation for today.

The thumbs up do indeed outnumber the thumbs down.