Recently one of our dogs had an “accident” in our house of the pooping nature. I am never happy when this happens and make a lot of grumbling, irritable sounds as I pull out the steam cleaner and clean up the mess. What really irks me is how the easy-to-clean linoleum floor, usually less than a foot away, is rarely the target. In the dogs’ defense, thankfully this type of accident in the house only occurs when we miss their signals that they want to go out, they are sick and cannot help it, or they are on the other side of a baby gate and were unable to pester us to let them go out.

Anyways, back to the recent poop episode. Adrianna spotted the mess and wanted to talk about it.

“Poop?”
“Yeah, the dogs pooped in the house.”
“Messh?”
“That’s right sweetie. Poop IS a mess.”

This same conversation is now prompted by various events even though the dogs haven’t had an accident since. Adrianna will see the steam cleaner and remember that I used it to clean the carpet afterwards. She also brings it up when I let the dogs outside to do their business or sometimes when I change her diaper.

Speaking of messes, a few weeks ago she was sick and threw up in her crib. She started crying, which prompted us to run into her room where I found her standing up. She then pointed at the barf in her crib and stated, “Messh.”

I am so thankful that she recognizes “messes” like these and mostly knows to avoid them. Hopefully there will be no more diaper disasters due to this growing awareness.

Our dogs ate the last of their food tonight. Petey runs out of his kitty food in a week or so. With all the recalls on pet food and the many pets who have died recently because of contaminated food, I am scared to go to the store and buy them more. But of course I have to (and will) buy them more. The list of recalled brands for dog food alone includes over fifty different brands, including Eukanuba and Iams which is what we usually purchase. They haven’t recalled the dry varieties for either of those brands yet, but I am still nervous about it. I love my pets and hate to think about how awful it would be to have something happen to them because of the food I give them.

While Adrianna still asks for us to play or sing Barbara Ann on a pretty regular basis, she has another favorite song now: Old MacDonald Had a Farm. And like Barbara Ann, she asks for it over and over again. She calls it “oo-wow-oo-wow-oo” which is her way of imitating “E-I-E-I-O.” She sometimes will sing “oo-wow-oo-wow-oo” as I sing the E-I-E-I-O’s. She will also make the animal sounds with me.

Speaking of farm animals, she has taken a liking to roosters. She loves the rooster on her wooden puzzle; it makes a rooster crow sound whenever the piece is put into place. She tries to imitate the sound by going, “ahh-ahhhh.” I really need to get it on video. She calls the rooster “chichin” (chicken).

Greg had a business trip to San Francisco this week. Adrianna and I dropped him off at the airport on Sunday afternoon. I explained to Adrianna that Daddy was going to go bye-bye on an airplane and then pointed out a couple airplanes taking off. So all week she and I have been talking about how Daddy went bye-bye. This same conversation played out in various ways many times each day.

“Bye-bye?”
“Yes, bye-bye.”
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, Daddy went bye-bye.”
“Tair-tane?”
“That’s right; Daddy went bye-bye on an airplane.”
“Daddy…bye-bye?”
“Uh-huh. Daddy went bye-bye.”
“Tair-tane?”
And on and on it went.

We both missed Greg very much and are so happy to have him back at home. Adrianna was a little overwhelmed when we first picked Greg up but after she relaxed she chattered happily the whole way home and gave Greg lots of cuddles and smiles. And I know I will sleep a lot easier tonight. I just feel more relaxed and safe when Greg is home.

I have been wanting to start praying with Adrianna before she goes to bed for a long time now. I wasn’t sure when would be a good time to start. Tonight I decided to give it a shot since I figure that she is old enough to follow simple directions now and even though she wouldn’t totally get what we were doing or why (yet), I thought that she would enjoy it nonetheless since she really likes being a big girl and imitating what I do.

So after we brushed her teeth with “pee-pace” we went into her room together and I told her that we were going to pray before going night-night. I got down on my knees by her crib and asked her to do the same. I was wondering if she really would do it. She did. Then I told her that we were going to close our eyes and pray to Jesus. I am not sure if she closed her eyes; she was more interested in watching me close mine. So I said a quick prayer thanking God for the nice day, for our dogs, and for Mommy, Daddy, and Adrianna. Then I said, “Amen.” She loudly echoed, “Amen!” a couple times.

The prayer was quick; probably the perfect timing for the short attention span of an almost-two year old because then the dogs came in and she became distracted and began crawling after them, trying to give Molly a hug. I scooped Adrianna up, gave her kisses, and put her into bed. Once she got her sippy cup, she laid down, cuddled her daddy bear and hasn’t made a peep since.

I look forward to more night-time prayers with my sweet little girl.

Yesterday we went to the Children’s Museum to check it out and to have a fun time together as a family. Adrianna seemed to really enjoy it. She probably could have played in this one little playhouse contentedly for hours. She was so intent on her play and so serious and particular about everything; it was fun to watch. I think it is funny how kids’ play tends to mimic what we adults view as chores, such as cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. Notice her serious expression in both of these pictures. Yet she was having so much fun that she didn’t want to be torn away from either place.

Our dogs think it is their “right” to sleep in our bed with us every night. As soon as I go upstairs to bed, they hop into bed and burrow under the covers. They are especially great as foot-warmers in the wintertime.

Adrianna has a toy bee that she really likes. She also likes when I “fly” the bee around making a buzzing sound and buzz it up into her neck or tummy just so I can hear her giggle. So it surprised me that she is scared of real bees when she sees one fly by. And not just bees, but flies too. Anything that makes a buzzing sound as it flies by. She will point out, “Bee!” while running to me and clinging to my leg. Such a girly girl. Except for her attraction to digging in the dirt with her hands.

Adrianna is also fascinated by ants. She enjoys when I sing The Ants Go Marching and usually chimes in “Ants. Ants.” when I sing it to her. But now she has discovered the real thing, and she points out every one she sees crawling on the ground. Sometimes when we are inside, she will point to the door and say, “Ants” which means she wants to go outside and look for ants. I am okay with that, as long as the ants stay outside.

I enjoy watching American Idol every week. My favorites this season (so far) are Chris Sligh, Melinda DooLittle and Blake Lewis. Chris is hilarious (and a fantastic singer), Melinda seems very sweet and has an amazing voice and Blake is unique and fun. But for the most part, I really enjoy almost all of the contestants right now.

Chris Sligh is a worship pastor and he has a free download available of a song he wrote called Communion Song. I recommend it. It would even be a great song to incorporate into a Communion Service at a church; you can order the sheet music at the link provided as well.

Thanks to Josh for the tip. (Josh and I both went to Camp Grace in high school)

This past weekend, we drove up to Wyoming to spend time with my family. We got word that both of my sisters were going so we figured it would be fun to go too. We had a lot of fun playing games (Taboo, Big Boggle), watching movies (part of Star Wars and also Click, which made me cry), and jumping on the trampoline.

Adrianna got to “jump” on the trampoline for the first time. She was pretty hesitant and hasn’t really figured out the whole jumping thing, but she was a lot of fun to watch.

Later that evening, us girls got on the trampoline and jumped while Greg and Dad did some stargazing.

One awesome thing about Wyoming is how bright and beautiful the stars are at night. When the weather is nice, Greg and I like to lay on the trampoline at night and just talk and look up at the stars.

On Sunday we went to the church I grew up in. I enjoy visiting this church because the people there are so loving and friendly. Adrianna was a little charmer and enjoyed flirting with all the people, showing off her teddy bear, and lifting up her skirt and showing off her diaper too.

I have been having a mental block on my scrapbooking lately. Sometimes pages are just hard to put together or to come up with ideas on layout. I am still not completely crazy about this page, but at the same time I am just glad to have it completed (at least for now) because I have been staring at my computer and trying different things for several evenings straight now with no visible results prior to tonight. I think part of my problem is that I am now starting into scrapbooking Adrianna’s baby pictures, and for some reason I find that a bit intimidating. I want to get it right since these pictures are so special to me. And there are just so many pictures to choose from. How do I pick just a few? It is no wonder that I have a tendency to cram as many pictures onto a page as I can.

In looking at these pictures of my sweet little girl and remembering those first moments, I am really amazed at how quickly time has passed. She will be two years old in just over a month. My little baby. She has grown up so much.

The phone rang this afternoon and before I even realized what she was doing, Adrianna reached right up and grabbed it off of my desk, put it to her ear and answered, “Hehwo?” She would have kept talking had I not snapped back to reality and grabbed it from her. (Greg works from home and I was afraid it might be a coworker calling.)

Even though she has been chattering away for months on her toy cell phone, tv remote, or anything else that resembles a phone, I was still taken off guard when SHE answered the phone. I guess it surprised me because every time she ASKS to talk on the phone to whoever we may be chatting to, she becomes silent and just listens as soon as she is handed the phone. But not so this afternoon. She surprises me every day.

So we forgot the time change again this year. I showed up to church an hour late. Whoops. I should have remembered since our tivo’s time was all screwy last night (before the change even took place). So I guess I will lose my precious hour of sleep tonight instead. Which works out fantastic since I have to get up at 5:00 a.m. on weekdays. *sarcasm drips from my fingers as I type this*

Greg, Adrianna, and I spent the afternoon at the Denver Zoo. The weather is in the sixties, sunny and gorgeous, so most of Denver had the same great idea. I even ran into a coworker there. She sits in the cube next to mine.

Adrianna’s favorites today were the penguins and the geese. Although if you would ask her, she would tell you that penguins are geese. At least that is what she kept calling them as we watched them swimming.

Adrianna gets a better view of some birds on the ground in Bird World.

Greg and Adrianna in Bird World

Amber and Adrianna watch the birds

Various Zoo Animals we saw today

Adrianna says many words, but sometimes she says things that we don’t understand. So when she kept saying this afternoon, “I ba-ba-ba-ba” I didn’t think too much of it. Until Greg peaked his head over the balcony (he is upstairs working from home) and told me it was because she wanted to listen to Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys. I didn’t even know she had heard that song, but apparently she and Greg listened to it together last night when I was out with some friends having a girls’ night and she fell in love with it.

Sure enough, I turned on Barbara Ann and she was happy. In fact, we are still listening to it. I think we are on time #9. Each time the song ends and goes on to the next, Adrianna loudly says, “More ba-ba-ba-ba” or “I ba-ba-ba-ba.” (Anytime she says a sentence beginning in “I” she means “I want.”) So we keep listening to it. She has started saying the “ba-ba’s” along with the Beach Boys and is clapping along with the song.

And on to time #10. I asked her if we could listen to another song and she said, “No. Ba-ba-ba.”

You got me rocking and a rolling, rocking and a reeling, Adri-Ann(a).

I enjoy singing. I have been singing for as long as I can remember. My mom has tapes of me at three years old singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I didn’t have the words quite right, singing, “then one froggy Christmas eve,” but it had a lot of heart and wasn’t bad for a preschooler.

When Adrianna was born, I loved rocking her to sleep and singing to her. She seemed soothed by my voice.

Nowadays though, I have a little critic on my hands.

Some days my little critic is like Paula, happily smiling and dancing while I belt out The Bear Went Over the Mountain or The Ants Go Marching One by One. She will often ask me to “ting” again when the song is done, handing me a stuffed animal to dance with.

Other days, she is like Simon Cowell. Though she never criticizes me and tells me it was only an “average karaoke performance,” that I “belong on a cruise ship,” or that I am the worst singer she has ever heard, she still gets her point across by putting her hand across my mouth or saying, “Mommy!” in a tone of voice that conveys it all.