A Bad Mothering Moment

Dear Miss T,

Yesterday, I made a bad decision as a mother. JT found a bottle of brown nail polish in the bathroom cupboard. She was thrilled about it. I tried to trade it away from her with her toothbrush, but she was pretty insistent on keeping the nail polish. I thought to myself, "She can't get it open, she can't choke on it, she's loving carrying it around, so why not let her keep holding it?" So I did.

Big Mistake.

After about an hour of holding/playing/holding-some-more with the bottle of nail polish, she followed me into the kitchen. The kitchen has nice big tiles as the flooring. She slipped (as she often still does) when changing floor surfaces from wood to tile and fell, catching herself with her hands. Except one hand was clutching the nail polish bottle. Yes. You guessed it. It shattered.

She started screaming and I stood in shock for about 1.5 seconds. My brain was going nuts as fast as possible trying to figure out what the best way would be to even begin to clean this up. We're talking nail polish here. NAIL POLISH! Not water soluble. Even though it seemed like not the best idea, it was the only idea I had, so I scooped her up hurriedly and shoved her hands under the sink. She screamed all the more, and as you can guess, the nail polish didn't really come off at all. Instead, with her flailing hands it was also getting all over my shirt, her new PJ's, and the kitchen sink. Somehow I gathered the presence of mind to strip her and take a picture. Seriously can't quite remember all that was going on.

New PJ's. Ruined. :( But she will still wear them. For a long long time.
Not pictured here: paint on tile, paint on my shirt, paint on my hands, paint on the faucet and in the sink, paint on bins sitting near site of the accident.

For the rest of the day she looked like she was trying to have some brown skin. Can you see it all the way past her wrist on her forearm there?

Pretty much it ruined my morning. Not so much because my nail polish was gone, or the new PJ's were ruined, but because this was a dumb accident that could have been easily avoided if I hadn't had a bad mothering moment and talked my way out of taking the nail polish away from her. I had to run to the store to get some acetone so I could clean the floor and sink. I tried to blot out the stain on the PJ's, but to no avail. What a stressful and disappointing morning. But hey--at least I can say I won't let that bad mothering moment happen again! Right?

Love, Brown-painted hands Kk

Japan is in da House!

Konnichiwa Miss T-

Wish you were here in P-town so you could be here with our Japan in da house! 

Yesterday we picked up Ryo-kun, who will be with us for one week. He is polite, shy, and totally adorable for a 14-year old exchange student. 

We took a few pictures using the timer, but didn't realize the setting was set to 5-picture mode. We got a few more snapshots than we intended, but hopefully it was good practice for Ryo-kun...right? By the end of his stay we will have him taking funny pictures with us--just watch!

He came bearing gifts:

 Does this fabric remind you of Japan? So beautiful. And he folded the origami crane himself, and gave us a book so we could learn how too!

 

And what do you think of this lovely fan? I just love the feel these oriental fans give to a room when they are a part of the decor.

I will have to keep you posted on our adventures this next week. Pretty much this is the perfect distraction to get me nearly through til I have this baby!

Ja mata!

Kk

Like Mother, Like Son?

Tonight as we drove to soccer, Cub yelled out, "Mom! A WASH-CAR!"  

I looked over and saw a carwash station.  

I chuckled to myself because it reminded me of what I always said at home: mow-lawner

My Dad and brothers always teased me for mixing up that up when they were talking about mowing the lawn.  

It makes me happy that Cub mixes up words they I do did.  Hopefully he will straighten it out someday, but for now I find it adorable.

-Miss T

PS - Here is a joke from Cub

Cub: "Knock, Knock"

Me: "Who's there?"

Cub: "Banana"

Me: "Banana who?"

Cub: "Don't cry, it's just an orange."  Then hysterical laughter!

Apple Eating

Dear Baby J,

I guess I won't be calling you Baby J anymore. Nope. Not anymore. Not when you can eat an apple like a grown up!!

It is time to move on to JT I think. JT is for a girl who swipes apples off the counter without Mom noticing. JT is for a girl who has seven teeth and knows how to use (and brush) them. JT is for a walking, talking, cheerful little girl who I never gave permission to grow up so fast. 

Besides, your new sister will take on the baby role next, so we can pass the title on to her I guess. Three more weeks and you get the best gift of your life- a real live sister!! 

Love, your Mom

What a Celebration

Hi Miss T!

Now wasn't that a Celebration with a capital C this past weekend (ok...a few weekends ago...because I didn't finish this post when I started it)? The pictures speak for themselves:

Starting the tradition with the next generation!

 Seriously this was such a cool finish!!

 Long time friends! So good to reunite.

 Hurrah for feeling good at the finish line!

 The wisest finishers!

 ZUMBA!

 Fabulous prizes

 Love this shot. Just makes me want to get up and dance with you.

 And the young ones run and have fun too!

What a celebration!!

I just have to say- this is one event I LOVE to be at with my sister (you), and my young women sisters (from middle and high school), and my Sweet Liberty sisters (from high school), and my women relatives (aunts, grandma, cousins, in-laws etc). I feel so spoiled to love so many wonderful women. :) And to get a chance to celebrate with them.

So good to see you there. Can't wait to see you again next year.

Love, Kk

Gone All Day

Dear T Bear,

Congratulations on starting first grade!  I can't believe you are going to be gone all day.

The night before you started school, you came into our bed around 11pm due to a bad dream (or some "back-to-school" nerves).  I then tortured myself for an hour thinning back on the last 6 1/2 year of your life.

I remembered how you have had a smile that has lit up a room from the day you were born.  I remembered how you loved to held in my arms.  You have always loved to laugh.  You proved to be very clever and precocious from a very young age.  I have held you in my lap and read hundreds of books to you and you soaked everything up with excitement.

I wondered, "Have I loved you enough? Have I taught you enough?"  I know I am not a perfect mother to you.  We are both learning on this journey.

As you Dad gave you a special blessing the night before school, I was once again reminded that Heavenly Father loves you just as much as I do.  He wants you to pray to Him.  He will watch over you at school when I can not be there.  You were born with greatness inside of you.

I pray that first grade will be a fun year for you.  A year where you learn to be kind to others, work together, and love to learn.  I will miss you while you are gone.  But I know that for you, T Bear, you need this independence. You love growing and proving that you are a capable person.  I admire that about you.

I will gladly you send you off to school each day, but then anxiously wait until I can pick you up again.

With all the love in the world,

Love,
Mommy

Dog Food

 Dear Miss T,

If you chance to consider getting a dog while you still have little mouthy-babies around, consider yourself forewarned of this possibility:

I am having to be vigilant in making sure Baby J does not eat dog food. When she first started crawling she loved to head towards Nellie's dish...she knew I would come running! And when we would visit the dog upstairs (bowl pictured here), she could not get enough of a thrill sneaking around the corner, and then pausing and sitting and turning to see if I had caught her yet. She would hurry to grab some food and shove it in her mouth as I lunged at her. It just wasn't clear that dog food was not her food. As far as I know, she never fully ingested any. As far as I know.

At this point, she no longer tries to get it in her mouth (at least not immediately). She throws it! And she makes the "Neh Neh Neh" sound, which I am thinking is a pretty good effort to say "Nellie" because every time I take her away that is what I say "This food is for Nellie." So. There may be food in the floor and under some furniture, but none in her mouth. Nice.

But then, the other day I had handed a carrot stick to Baby J for her to gnaw on a little, and I look over to see this:

Clearly she doesn't realize that her food is not dog food. I am betting we could have a little problem here in the next few years where Nellie knows that a certain little someone will hand over food that she normally won't get anywhere else! At least I love it when Nellie cleans up under Baby J's high chair? Can't beat that.

Love, Kk