This is one of Nia’s favorite books.
Tags: 4 years old, reading
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Momma Did It
16 Mar
I don’t know why I continue to attempt to cut Nia’s bangs. I had been doing ok – the past few trims were successful – I had cut the bangs just enough so they were out of her eyes but not enough for anyone to say “Whoa! Did Nia get her hands on the scissors?!?!” This time though I’m sorry to say I failed but I still mostly blame the scissors…
The last time I massacred her hair this badly she was still going to day care and when people would ask her about it she would just say, “Momma did it.”
Well sweets, I did it again but please know, to me, it doesn’t matter what your hair looks like – you will always be the most adorable little thing I’ve ever seen. Oh yeah – and I promise never to attempt to “trim” your bangs again.
When Parents (Want to) Sleep In
12 MarThis is what Andrew and I woke up to on Saturday morning:
We all heard Nate wake up – Nia was just quicker than lazy old mom and dad who decided we didn’t need to really rush in to him since he wasn’t screaming his head off. It turns out that that morning he probably wouldn’t scream his head off since Nia brought toy after toy to him, filling up his bed until mom and dad finally came in. We just had to know what was causing all that giggling.
Thank heavens for big sisters. Because of her, everyone woke up in a good mood.
Our Own Linus
9 Mar
It doesn’t matter what Nate is doing – whenever he sees his blanket he immediately puts his thumb in his mouth and reaches for it with his other hand. I can barely get it washed – in fact, this picture was taken right after he grabbed at a small part of it that was sticking out of the hamper. He knocked the hamper over and kept pulling until he finally had it in his grasp. All of that pulling must have worn him out because as soon as he had it he flopped over and plugged his mouth.
It’s so sweet how powerful and comforting a favorite thing, like a blanket or doll, can be and it seems it provides a feeling/memory that stays with you forever. I know I still miss my blankey (it was lost during one of my many visits to the hospital when I was little) and Andrew’s sister (I hope you don’t hate me after this) still is lucky enough to have a piece of her childhood blanket. Did you have something you cherished too? What happened to it?
Hello, my name is…
6 MarDucky? Quakers? Party Duck?
I thought it was a question that would get a simple answer. I asked Nia what she named this tiny toy duck – instead of hearing something obvious like “ducky” here’s what I was told…
“I Live on Land and He Lives in the Water.”
Me – “That’s right, but what’s his name?”
Her – “I just told you.”
Me – “You’re naming your duck ‘I Live on Land and He Lives in the Water?”
Her – “Uh-huh.”
Me laughing – “That’s a pretty long name don’t you think?”
Her – “No Well, we could call him Hat?”
Me – “Honey, whatever you want to name him is fine, I just thought “I Live on Land and He Lives in the Water” was a pretty long name to say.”
Her – “I could call him Cream.” (I think this was because I was putting lotion on her at the time.) “Or how ’bout “He likes to fish when he’s on land?”
I just love listening to her mind work. It’s so sweet and entertaining – and unpredictable. I just hope she’s not quite so original when it comes time to name her babies.
I’d Like to Thank…
5 MarThese are just a few of the random (sometimes ridiculous) things I’m thankful for on any given day:
- Paper Towels – I’ve used more in the past few months than I think I have in my entire life. I’m constantly washing my hands because of diaper changes (another thank you related to this one is coming up) or cleaning up spills (2 Cokes were sacrificed today alone) – if I didn’t have paper towels I would have a lot more laundry to do.
- Lotion – I can actually see my skin cracking on my hands – I never had dry hands before – I actually wondered why some people use so much lotion – now after tons of dishes and hand-washings (my own and Nia’s) I get it. I now have lotion stashed at every sink and where I sit each night. The smell of the one I use most often reminds me of my mom and makes me miss her even more.
- SpongeBob SquarePants – with all the cartoons Nia watches – this one is my savior because it is super funny. We both laugh at the craziness. I think I look forward to watching it more than Nia – it’s the only tv show I get to watch during the day and I don’t think I’d have it any other way right now – it cheers me up and gives Nia and I something to share – especially when she looks at me with a funny face and says “What’s SpongeBob doing Momma? He’s silly, huh?”
- Dogs – man do they make cleaning up after meals easy or what? I still sweep around Nate’s chair when I think Joe-Boy might have missed a few crumbs but for the most part he does the sweeping up me. The only downfall to this though is at night when he’s sitting at my feet relaxing – I can’t even describe the stinky dog-gas I have to endure. But hey, the floor is clean!
- The Library – I totally love story hour – the storyteller is really nice and the kids get to do crafts plus it’s so much fun for Nia and I to pick out a bunch of books to read every week and even more fun when I don’t have to pay for them! I do buy the ones we really love though like the one Monica told us about called Fancy Nancy – it is really cute and Nia loves it. It actually even made me cry! There’s just something about a library and bookstores in general that I love – even though I don’t get to read as much I’d like to – I just love getting lost in all the shelves of books and knowing that there are so many different stories out there waiting to be read…as for my story tonight – I thank you for reading and say “The End.”
My Little “Big” Girl
3 MarIn these past few weeks I’ve caught glimpses of our little baby girl becoming a little big girl. It just seems like she’s growing up so quickly now and while I’m excited and anxious to see the person she’s going to become I’m also so sad and scared.
Part of my fear is that I wonder if I’m teaching her the right things. I’ve been trying to explain the Golden Rule to her because it’s what I’ve always tried to live by but now I’m worried I’m teaching her to be a push over and I’m afraid it will hurt her in the long run. She’s not even 4 yet and I can already tell she’s going to be a kindhearted and sensitive person – I just need to make sure she has the tough side too so she’ll be able to handle all the a-holes out there.
The other reason why I’m afraid is because I hope I can be a good parent to a pre-teen and teen. I know all of our parents had to go through it with us but when I think about how annoying some pre-teens/teens can be (I know I was!) I get a huge headache. I can’t even imagine how much I drove my mom crazy when I obsessed about the New Kids on the Block. I mean I was a FREAK about NKOTB and some days it was all I could talk about with anyone. It seems only fair that my daughter will do that to me – I just hope it’s a group that I like too!
Just so you understand how much she’s growing up I want to share a few things she can do now – it’s not to brag and say “look how smart my kid is” because frankly I’ve never raised a kid before so I don’t know if this is smart or just normal – I just wanted to let you know the kinds of “grown-up” things she’s doing now.
- She knows the words to music that Andrew and I listen to.
- She can read entire books based off of memorization even if you’ve only read it to her a few times. She even can pick out the picture in the book that matches the one on the cover.
- She can write her name and other letters of the alphabet.
- She says please without being coached (I started crying the other day when she said it to me without me asking for her to say it!)
- She makes her princesses and princes kiss!
- She’s getting to be a super sweet big sister. She helps me with Nate in a lot of ways like picking up his bottle for him when he drops it or by screaming his name to get him to stop fussing for a second (it startles him just enough to get him to realize he’s being unreasonable). Granted there are the times she pushes him or tries to sit on him but for the most part she’s been so loving and caring – even telling me when he’s doing something he’s not supposed to do. Tonight she even cuddled him as they watched television and then told me to “take a picture momma.”
- She goes potty all by herself – but tonight she didn’t quite make it there in time and instead of screaming for us to come help her in the bathroom she took care of it herself. She came out of the bathroom and told us with hand motions, “I went on the toilet seat and the floor but it’s ok because I cleaned it up – I got some paper and put it in the water and then wiped up the floor and the seat.” Me – “You used toilet water?” Her – “Uh-huh but it’s ok because it’s all clean now.”
Loving Brother
At least that last one proves we still have some time with our baby girl Nia – even if it means I have a mess to clean.
Feast or Famine
2 MarSo much has happened with the Valles fam this past week that it was too hard to sit down and write about at the time – now though the boy is taking a nap (and will probably wake up before I can finish this) so I will try and share everything as quickly (and interestingly) as I can.
Last Thursday – I get sick. Like real sick. Like can’t stand up or I’m going to throw up sick. Like did throw up while boy was playing with the toilet bowl brush with one hand and hitting me on the back with the other. I couldn’t function and wasn’t able to call in sick because Andrew was stuck in a meeting all day and couldn’t come home. It was a big challenge. Before, when I worked and got sick, I could call in and then Andrew would take the kids to day care – of course you know that’s not the case anymore so I was forced to try to stomach making them lunch and required to try and stay awake. By the end of the day I started feeling better but then Andrew started feeling sick and then (even worse) at 3 in the morning Nia wakes me up saying in a very sad voice “Momma, I threw up in my bed.” She stayed sick for the next 24 hours. I finally knew she was feeling better when she asked for “chicken, french fries and bananas” for dinner.
After the Sickiness
On Monday, we all loaded up (minus Joey who got to stay at a doggy-kennel-resort) and headed to Savannah. Andrew had to work there and I figured we all might as well go since we really didn’t have to be here by ourselves. Visiting Savannah was so wonderful and it made me remember why I loved it there so much. Of course the people we love, but also there’s just something about that town. I even missed that awful smell that is distinctly Savannah. We only stayed for a few days but they were such great days. The kids and I got to spend time with Aunt Ree, Uncle Marcus and Baby Ella – Ginger, Lee and Cami – Karen and Baby Andrew – Paul – I even went to see WSAV and Nia got to play with her old friends at her day care. It was awesome taking her there – the kids bombarded her and they fought over her all day saying “that’s MY Nia!” She was a little overwhelmed and played hard and it was just so sweet to see how much 3-year-olds can miss each other. Nia’s really good friend Avery started to cry when Nia had to leave – kind of like I did when I had to say goodbye to Ginger – proving there’s really no age limit on missing your buddy.
Before the Move
Just Visiting
Are You Zhazha? 
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