If the shoe fits...

Well, wait a minute now.

Let me see...

Yeah! I think these can work...

Okay. Easy does it....

Let me just check the fit now...

Perfect-O.

And as the saying goes, "If the shoe fits- Wear it!"

How to Bee cute...

My five year old daughter has had a lot on her mind lately about a certain small little something.

Something that she is both fascinated by and fearful of all at the same time.

I am not sure why this is coming up again 2 years later, but I believe it originated when my son (who was nearly 2 at the time) was stung by a bee in his eye. Apparently that made quite an impression on my daughter because nearly 2 years later, she is still talking about it. And lately- given her exploding curiosity with (what seems like) absolutely everything and how everything works, she has been quite curious about bees.

The other night, one of these curiosity Q & A's turned into massive tears, as she tried to wrap her mind around why it is that bees sting and, more importantly, how she could avoid ever getting stung. In all honesty, I am just about the worst person to ask about bees... I dislike bees very much. People always say, "Oh, just wave them away- they won't bother you." Well, those people are lying. I've tried that. Nope. I swear, it has happened more than once, a bee has smelled my "fear" from a mile away and flown directly to me, landed on my arm and just stung me out of spite. I've tried that "be cool and they'll leave you alone" and it hasn't worked. I've been known to hop out of my seat at an outdoor picnic faster than you can say, "pass the chips" and run away squealing like a little girl, at the mere site of a bee buzzing near.

BUT- of course I am not going to tell the truth to my already fearful daughter. The truth that bees really are just out to sting you. So, I perpetuated the "lie" and told her that bees are nice and they make honey and we can all just get a long with a little tolerance - you know - all that stuff.

Unconvinced and undettered, the questions continued on. More than anything, she was looking for a promise that she'd never get stung by a bee. Since I couldn't guarantee that, I tried to explain all the ways to avoid being stung. "Just be friendly," I told her. Bees only sting when they are scared and they think that you are going to hurt them."

Through her tears, she looked at me and asked, "Mom? Can I smile at the bee? Then it won't sting, right? Yeah- I'll just smile at it." And with that, she had resolved her own problem.

Oh.... my dear- if only life were so simple. But if that wasn't the cutest thing I had ever heard.

Until a few days later, when she said this...

Asking more questions about bees and how they make honey and how the colonies "work" - she expressed much interest in the "Queen" bee. Finally, she interuppted my husband and asked,
"So, Daddy- what does she wear?"

Daddy: "What do you mean, honey? What does 'who' wear?"

Grace: "The Queen!... Does she wear a crown? A robe? What does she wear?"

Thank you, Grace- for an entirely perfect "bloggable" moment. May you read this in 20 years and laugh about how incredibly sweet and full of wonder you were.

Jam session...

Our little baby girl is a budding pianist.

Okay, well, not really. BUT- I will say in all honesty that she does seem to really be enamored with the piano, and with music in general. If someone starts singing a tune, it's a sure bet that you will hear her little pip squeek voice humming in the background, trying to "sing" along.

And when I sit down to play piano, she comes flying over and crawls up on my lap. It is awfully difficult to play piano, turn sheet music and try to play the right notes with my little munchkin sitting on my lap. But I find it so endearing I always let her stay.

Now, there are many other times that I am not sitting at the piano that she will sneak in the piano room and start "playing" herself. And, truth be told- she's not half bad (for an 18 month old baby, that is). She never bangs the keys. She always carefully touches one key at a time and tries to string along the notes and sometimes it even sounds like music!

And while I relish those few moments while she's sitting quietly at the piano, the perfect picture of angelic sweetness, the fact that by nature she truly is a crazy energetic, spunky, height lovin' toddler, it's not long before her impulses take over...

Until slowly but surely...

She's back to doing what she does best...

CLIMBING!

You are not welcome here...

No.
Not YOU! (reading my post)

YOU....



Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Ah HA! There you are. I see you peeking.



It's one thing to peek. And yet a WHOLE other ball game when you wake me up at 4:45 a.m.

Every morning.

And continue your nonsense all throughout the entire day.

So, here is a message for you, in case you haven't gotten it already from the posters of "people faces" I've put up in the window to try to scare you away.

Stop...



Banging...



INTO MY WINDOW!!!

A whole lotta love going on...

There's been a whole lotta love circulating around here in the form of love notes. Every where I turn there is another love note!!

Are they for you? .... you ask


No. Sadly they are not.


They are from a little girl who is so crazy about her Daddy that she can't stop writing it here, there and everywhere!


Exhibit A...





Dad, I love you.


You are the best.


You love me.


We go to the zoo.


I like you.


You love me and I love you.




Exibit B



Dad


I love you because you play


You make me :)


I like to go to the zoo with you today.







Another card laying around...

"Open It" (she writes)

Oh... but of course.

It reads...

Oh! Look. Here is (yet) another one...

"For Dad" it reads

"Look in the back" she writes...

And there they are again- holding hands on one page and, again, another reminder that "I Love You"

These are just a few of many, many, many notes and cards I have found laying around the house in the last week. I will bet I have found 10 or 11, at least.

Of course, this declaration of love does not go unnoticed. She received a note of her own from her dear Daddy...

And here they are. Daddy and his little girl...

She realllllly likes avocado...

Mmmmmm....

Nothing like delicious, nutty-tasting, nutritious avocado.

I'd really like some for a snack, but I don't want to wait for Mommy to cut it up for me.

Let me see here...

Nope, I don't see anything on it about not just taking a juicy bite right out of it whole...

Mmmmm..... YUM!!!!!!!!

I think I'll take another bite.

And another!

Yeah? What are you look at? It tasted fabulous!

Let's take a closer look at that, shall we?

*For those of you who are wondering, NO, I did not just hand her an avocado and think it would be funny to trick her into taking a bite. She came up with the "taking a bite" thing all on her own. Had it not been for my older daughter screaming, "MOM!! Hurry!! "- it is likely I wouldn't have flown down the stairs and caught her before she had eaten up the whole thing, and not merely taken 3 bites. Though I found this incident to be entirely gross, and a little traumatic (sweeping avocado peel out of her cheek, since she couldn't swallow the rind), I have to admit I found it just humorous enough to grab my camera and snap 2 pictures before I whisked the avocado out of her hand.

Consumed... with consumption

Those of you who know me, know that my husband and I buy almost everything online. If it can be purchased online... THAT is where we get it. Groceries. Clothes. Books. Diapers. Toys. Appliances. Cars. You name it.

But yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I had to venture to the Mall. I had not been to the Mall in months. And the only time we go to the Mall, it is almost never to buy things, it is to go to a movie, or to bring the kids to the Food Court for a "fun" night out. Which is never fun for the parents, but fun "enough" for the kids when we are cooped up inside for the 5 (or, in this years case, 9 months) of a long MN winter.

I very much dislike the Mall. Okay. Let me just be honest. I hate the Mall. I am just not a big shopper. I take no enjoyment in perusing through aisles of stuff I don't need, wandering aimlessly about. I think it's because I hate to waste time. I am your fairly standard Type A personality... not big into wasting time, which is what I consider shopping to be. That is why I like the Internet. I go directly to the online store that is carrying whatever it is I need, throw it in my cart, press "Submit" and Wallah... 3-5 days later Mr. Friendly UPS is at my door, needed items in hand. It's become somewhat of a (not very funny) joke around here. Between my husband and I, UPS comes just about every single day.

But here's what landed me at the Mall... I need a bedding set. After searching for hours and days and weeks online and in catalogs, I have found nothing that I've liked, so I thought I'd give it a try... head to the Mall and just give it one last shot.

Big mistake.

First, let me clarify. The few times a year that I end up at the Mall, it is always with the kids- which means I am 100% distracted and not really engaged in what's going on around me.

But this time, I was all by myself. And I was overwhelmed. I was amazed. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. I felt like I was a big cow in a herd of cattle just moving forward, feeling suffocated not only by those around me, but by all the STUFF that was surrounding us all.

The more I walked around, the more frustrated I became a) Because I could not at all find what I had come to purchase and b) because the more I walked, the more oppressed I began to feel by all the stuff... JUNK around me. What in the world do we need with all this stuff? And when I began to let my mind wander and I was trying to wrap my head around what it all requires (resources) to manufacture all this STUFF, I was about ready to have an anxiety attack. Every where I looked there were signs and colors and objects and messages screaming SALE! HURRY!!! The sense of urgency to come buy... buy... BUY was suffocating. And depressing.

The Mall is really such an appropriate symbol for American culture. Our lavish, overly consuming, super-sizing, wasteful society. I am not bashing our country. I love the U.S. I feel blessed to live here. But, honestly, it is in times like this that I feel disgusted. And embarrassed to live in a society that is so wasteful. Do we really need (literally) 4,000 different choices of colors and patterns of boys 5T shorts? I mean, seriously.

Over the years I have become much more aware of things that are toxic to our health. In our house, we eat Organic, we don't use chemicals in the home, my baby wears brown (bleach-free diapers), etc. And all of those are good things. But I am becoming much more aware of how too much STUFF can also be toxic to our health. It's over-whelming the amount of things we accumulate. In the last year, I have really been trying to stop consuming soooo much. To use what we have. To donate instead of throw. And to just plain stop buying so much stuff.

Since my trip to the Mall, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It's really bothering me. Wondering how our society can truly continue on this pattern of using up resources, manufacturing, consuming, wasting, throwing, filling land-fills. I wonder what it will do to our air, our soil. I wonder how it will affect my kids. My grand kids. I don't have any answer, and I don't have any nice way to wrap up this post. As I said, I've been "consumed.... with consumption."

Always kiss me goodnight...

Since Mike had a late night flight last night, he had promised the kids before he left that although they wouldn't see him when he got home, he would make sure to come kiss them goodnight while they slept.

So as we were getting ready for bed, Grace was explaining to Alex how she was going to try really hard to keep her eyes open and stay awake so that she could see Daddy. Because, as she explained, "I really want to see him because I love him so, so, so, so much. More than anything in the world.... EVEN more than chocolate!" she declared with the most serious tone!

Yes- a girl after my own heart. When we start talking about chocolate as a measure of love- let me tell you- that is some serious stuff around here. We most certainly love our chocolate!

Isn't it ironic?

When my son was just 6 months old, I ran across (what I thought to be) the cutest bedding set at Pottery Barn. Even though he was in a crib, I loved it so much I decided to just buy it at the time and hang on to it for a couple years until he was in a big boy bed.

I bought the whole
"theme." The quilt, the shams, the matching pillow... the matching drapes!

Little did I know, less than a year after I "invested" in this cute DOGGIE bedding set, my little boy would be diagnosed with significant allergies to cats. AND DOGS!





Nevertheless, his room is still adorned with Doggies here...




Doggies there...



And doggies everywhere!

Isn't it ironic??

P.S. In case you are wondering... yes, we DO have a REAL dog in the house, too. We used to have a cat, too. I tried really hard to get rid of our dog. Too difficult! We got rid of the cat first, and THANK GOD, it majorly solved the problem. The cat dander was far more bothersome than the dog dander. Alex occassionally sneezes, but for the most part he is unbothered. Our dog is a small little girl, and fortunately stays off all furniture and out of his bedroom.

This is our real dog, Maddy.

And the truth comes out...

First of all- HI! I was gone a few days! Out of town- but now I'm back.

This morning when Grace and I were sitting down doing scripture devotions we were learning the verse "Quench not the Spirit" Thessalonians 5:19. We were discussing the meaning of that verse and ways that we can ask the Holy Spirit for help.

As the conversation progressed, I asked her to be what I thought was a very obvious question.

Me: "So - when we need help from the Holy Spirit, how can we ask?"
(looking for the answer, of course, "Pray")

Grace: "I don't know"

Me: "Okay, well what does Mommy do every, every, every single night before bed."
(again, looking for the answer, "Pray!")

Grace: "Oh!! You clean up!"

Hmmm. Not the answer I was looking for- but, indeed, a very accurate response at that. But it certainly made me laugh to think THAT was the most obvious answer she could think of!

Become Aware...

April is Autism Awareness month.

This beautiful face you see below is just one face of Autism.



There are many, many more.

Though I cannot take credit for creating that precious, handsome face- I am blessed to be his Auntie, nonetheless.

Autism is the fastest growing developmental disorder in the world, with an annual increase of 10% each year.

Autism affects a child's ability to communicate in typical ways with other people.

1 out of every 150 children born in the United States today will have Autism. In some states, the number of children currently enrolled in Public schools with Autism is much higher. My state, Minnesota, ranks #1 with 1 in every 81 children in MN public schools having Autism.

Autism is 4 times more likely to affect boys than girls.

We should not fear these statistics, we should learn from them. We need to let it affect us, even if one of our own children does not have Autism. We need to reach out to people we know- or maybe even people we don't know - and find out how we can help. Maybe the biggest way we can help is as simple as learning more about the disorder and becoming educated. Education is power... maybe power to alter the growing epidemic.

Although Autism is a disorder that can be so frustrating in limiting communication between autistic and non-autistic people, I'll tell you what it is not.

It does NOT have the ability to limit love.
Though Autistic children may not say I love you with words or give hugs, they show love in many other ways that are just as meaningful. Sometimes with a simple smile. Sometimes by humming extra excitedly when you greet them.

It is NOT a disorder that limits intelligence.
Although Autistic children may at times exhibit behaviors that to the typical world seem odd or eccentric, it does not have any bearing on their mental facilities. Because one child enjoys spinning around in circles or clapping his hands over and over again does not mean that his intelligence is limited. It simply means that spinning around is something that he enjoys.

It does NOT mean every Autistic child thinks like "Rain Man."
On the flip side of the "un-intelligence" myth- it also does it mean every autistic child is a savant and can multiply 4 billion times 2 trillion in 3 seconds. Autistic children are similar to typical children in that they are ALL DIFFERENT. Some are brilliant, some are average, some might be below average. But Autism does NOT inhibit their ability to think and reason and wonder and calculate and ponder.

It is not a disorder that inhibits hearing.
There is no need to shout or talk louder to Autistic children. They might not answer your question, but rest assured they can hear you just fine. Let's stop talking about them like they are not standing 2 feet away. They can hear and understand just fine.

It is NOT a disorder that disconnects them from "our world" and puts them in a "world of their own."
This is perhaps my least favorite misconception because I fear it may have the greatest impact on how we treat autistic individuals and how WE limit the interaction and connection we could otherwise be engaging them in. While it is true that autistic children SENSE the world differently than we do- they are not in a world of their own. And when we ignore them, or talk about them as if they are not there, we foster this misconception. We live in the same world, but they experience senses at such an extraordinarily heightened level, it may, at times seem like we are in different worlds. But, maybe, in some ways, we are the ones missing out because we have no idea what it is like to experience a particular sound the way that they might. Or to smell something as they would. Or touch something and have it elicit a million different sensations.

It is NOT a disorder that limits emotion.
Children with Autism feel emotion's just the same as the rest of us. They feel happiness, anger, concern, humor, fear, joy, sadness, love, excitement... all of it. They don't always express it in a way that a non-Autistic person might choose to express it- but they feel it all, just the same. Just because he doesn't laugh at your joke doesn't mean he didn't hear you, or didn't "get it." Or- maybe he didn't think it was funny, and that's why he didn't laugh. With Autism, supercifial facades don't exist like they do in the "typical" world.

Most important, this is not a disorder that inhibits hope.
I cannot pretend to know what it is like to have a child with autism. To struggle to connect with my child and to be challenged, not only "every day"- but every single moment of every single day. But I do know this. I can help by becoming educated. I can know what Autism is and what Autism is not. I can ask questions and learn more and find out ways that I can communicate with my nephew. I can find simple ways to help. Simple ways are better than no help at all.

There is hope. There is information. There are things that can be done.
http://www.autismspeaks.org/

http://www.generationrescue.org/

Please offer encouragement to someone you might already know, or someone you may someday soon meet who has a child with Autism. Find ways to help... start by learning more and passing it along. Knowledge is power and power = change.

Morning brew...

Upon seeing me brew my morning pot of coffee....

Alex: (With a concerned look on his face) "Mom! You can't drink coffee every morning! You need to drink other things, too, like water, or beer - or orange juice or something."

I found that to be very funny considering the fact that I don't even drink beer! Oh, what a different Mom I'd be if I woke up and drank my morning mug of beer instead of coffee!

She's old enough...

.... sighhhhh

For these...

My big girl!