The Day Has Come

Well, I knew this day would come.  What day?  The day when Mia realized that we did not have as much money as one of her friends.  I know it's not a big deal really, but it just makes me sad.  She pointed out yesterday that Chloe was "luckier than us because she has a three story house and a fire place."  She got hysterical crying thinking about how much better her Christmas would be if we could sit around the fireplace drinking hot cocoa in our two or three story house.  She had just spent several hours with Chloe and they had hot cocoa.  I asked her if they drank it in front of the fire and discovered that Chloe isn't allowed to take food or drink into the room with the fire.  So really, all this envy was for naught.  Nevertheless, I could not convince her that although having a fire place and a larger house would be cool, they would not add happiness to her life or value to her Christmas experience.  She spent most of our half hour ride home from Chloe's house with her hat pulled down over her eyes and her hands over her ears so that she wouldn't have to hear the offensive Christmas music that would surely only remind her of how disappointing her Christmas would be without a two or three story house with a fireplace and hot cocoa to drink in front of it.  At home Shelby tried to talk some sense into her and all she kept saying was that she was so much happier last Christmas and it was because she wasn't so sad.  That was it.  She had no further explanation.  It was an endless loop. "well why was last year so much better?"

"because I wasn't so sad."

"well, why are you so sad?"

"because last Christmas was so much better because I wasn't so sad."

Right.  Huh?

Anyway,  we finally calmed her down and the only thing we could come up with was that her friends at school make her feel bad a lot.  That was about her only complaint.  Aside from saying she was "dumb and rude all the time"  which obviously she is not, but maybe these stupid kids at her school at making her think that.  I don't know.  I don't know if the issue was really that Chloe had more stuff than her - including a really cute dress that when we looked it up online was $58 with a $65 jacket - or if it was all the sugar she had with Chloe that had her head spinning, or if it is this school she is in making her think she is less amazing than we all know her to actually be or what.  She was fine today and hopefully will have a blessed and amazing Christmas spent with loving family and friends who can help her remember the meaning of Christmas and not all the stuff that comes along with it.   

Little Miss Santa Clause

It is done.  The ebay auction ended - without too much action I might add.  Gaga, Hillary and Adrienne bid basically and no one else as far as I could tell even looked at it.  I was really hoping that someone we didn't know would bid on it because a) they wanted the stuff and/or b) they wanted to help realize a sweet little girls dream, but alas, we were left with our friends and family.  Thank you and I'm sorry it was left to you dear friends and family!  The winning bidder was Adrienne Hirst with a nice big $40!  Thanks Adrienne!  Combine that with the ten dollars Mia rounded up in her room and I threw in an extra 10 to help her out at the store and she had a pretty decent stash of cash. 

Just after school we headed up to the mall to get her and Lennon's picture with Santa Clause.  I asked her in the car what she was going to ask him for and she thought for a minute and said "I really don't want anything except a cross necklace and to be with my family."  How could he say no to that?  Unfortunately I designated the cross necklace to someone else, so she won't be getting that from Santa, so we'll have to find a good way to explain that one.  Pictures went pretty well.  Not really a smile from Lennon, but he wasn't screaming either.  After that we went shopping!

Mia did a great job.  She had several ideas of what she wanted to get.  She had mentioned shoes, blankets, hats and gloves and toys.  In the end she purchased a little block toy set from Fisher Price, some cute little pink flats, Disney Princess snow boots, fuzzy warm house slippers, a sweet little touch and feel book, a set of matching hat, gloves and scarf and a nice warm pink fleece blanket called "the softest microfleece blanket"  so we thought it must be pretty soft.  :)  I pretty much let her lead the way with what she bought.  I advised as little as possible directing her away from $30 shoes and toward the just as nice but less expensive shoes.  Other than that she chose and paid for everything she wanted.  She even carried her money around with her and went up to the counter herself and checked out.  She was so cute!  I'm super proud of her.  She said at breakfast that she hopes when she grows up she will have a little girl that is sweet like her.  I think she probably will. 

The awesomest teeny carousel we've found yet.  Lennon did not want to get off.  They rode twice and then he had to be ripped crying from the steering wheel of the little train.

Mia with her booty

Night Terror Update

It seems there has been a switch in Mia's dream state activities.  While a week or so ago she was sitting up in bed or walking across the room screaming and crying out, she is now walking down the hall with sweet little messages for me.  She has not had a "night terror" or whatever they were in over a week, however she has on three or more occasions woken up and walked out into the living room - clearly still asleep - and given me something she had in bed with her or last night it was a singing teddy bear.  She opened her door, walked decidedly down the hall toward me and held out the bear as if I had ordered it.  I asked her what was going on and she sort of shrugged.  Then I asked if she was dreaming and she said "yes."  She told me she was dreaming about me and when I asked what about me she said "that you are the bestest mommy in the whole world."  Now, I don't know, but it seems clear to me that my change in attitude/behavior toward her is paying off.  I hate to think that I have that much power over her, and maybe I don't, but there has clearly been a weight lifted off of her and the only thing in her life that has changed is me.  She's such a sweetie pie.  

On a crappier note - I am soooo pissed at JC Penny!  I ordered this sweet little black pick up truck for Lennon over two weeks ago and they promised Christmas delivery and I just found out last night that I will not be receiving it by Christmas at all.  At the earliest we would get it by January 31!  How ridiculous is that!!!??  I am going to cancel my order with them and reorder it directly through Little Tykes.  I don't know what we will do about Christmas morning yet.  It was pretty much the only thing we got for him aside from a $5 Elmo movie.  I have had really bad luck with ordering stuff online.  I am also angry with Target, but I won't bore you completely with that story.  Lennon is taking such sweet naps the last couple days!  Go Lennon!!

One down

Here's Mia proudly showing off her missing tooth.  The new one is clearly visible already.  

I was just thinking about her losing this tooth and how her smile will look so different from now on as she loses more and more teeth and gets all her big girl teeth and I remember having this conversation with a co-worker back in Colorado when Mia was teeny and just about to get her first tooth.  She had a daughter the same age and she remarked that once they get their first tooth their little baby toothless grin is never the same.  My how time has flown since then.  I can't believe she was ever so little.  I wish I could freeze her and never let her get any older.  

A Little Magic and a Little Disturbing

First, the magic.

Mia finally lost her first tooth.  All her classmates and friends have lost several teeth by now, but Mia's have been clinging on until today.  Last night she bit into an ear of corn and it dislodged it for the most part, but she knew that if the tooth fell out at school she would get a special ring that opened up for tooth storage to wear for the rest of the day.  So, she waited it out and sure enough the tooth came out at school today.  I asked her to tell me what happened and this is the story I got.

"Well, I asked if I could go to the bathroom and I went to the bathroom.  And I pooped.  And I washed my hands and then I stuck my hand in there and wiggled it around and then I just twisted it and it came out."  

I was happy that she included the part about washing her hands.  :)

She was pretty excited and said she couldn't wait to go to sleep so that the Tooth Fairy could come.  Apparently Kendra aka Keke told her that one time the Tooth Fairy brought her a whole bag of toys.  I told her that was not usual and that she would probably get a quarter or a dollar or something.  It was pretty cute seeing how excited she was.  I was excited too cause it seems like we've been waiting on loose teeth forever now, but now that it's happened I'm a little sad.  It's just another reminder that my little baby girl really is growing up.  Tonight she said she didn't want to grow up and I of course told her that she didn't have to.  Yea!

Now, for the disturbing part.  A little recap of our bedtime conversation.

"Santiago in school, he said he has a friend who thinks I'm hot."

"What?"

"Santiago's friend said he thinks I'm hot."

"That doesn't make sense.  Are you food?"

a little giggle.  "No, it means like beautiful or pretty."  

I'm thinking "seriously?  at age 6?  this is starting already?  HOT?  is someone seriously using that word to describe my sweet little baby girl?"  But what I said was more like "well.  That's not really a kid word.  Next time why don't you tell him that doesn't make any sense and did he maybe mean that you were pretty.  and then say thank you."

She agreed with me and wondered why they would use that word to describe a pretty girl when it really only has one meaning - that being hot as in fire or a stove.  Then she wondered if maybe Santiago's friend could have been eighteen cause then he wouldn't really be a kid and he could use the word.  I just changed the subject.  She's a baby and babies are not "hot."  Oh, this world we live in.  Sometimes I want to give it a good slap.  :)

So, right now Mia is drifting off to sleep with hopes of waking up with money under her pillow for her very first lost tooth.  Sweet dreams Mia!  

Countdown

Lennon has only three pacifiers left.  He calls them "fa."  He has been known to wander the house saying, "faaaa,"  "faaaaa"  as he's looking for it.  We have decided that we will try to just be done with them when the final three are lost.  He uses them to go to sleep at nap and bedtime and often during the day to sooth himself.  He has been doing much better though.  He did great at the gym last week without it, so I think he can learn to manage.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm nervous though.  It's not like there's no going to the store to buy another one if he loses them and then goes insane, but he's old enough now and I don't really want to deal with a three year old with a paci attached to his face all the time.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Crazy Talk and More

Last night I went in to kiss Mia one more time before I headed off to bed.  I kissed her sweet little forehead and turn toward the door.  Just before I closed the door I heard her stir and still asleep say "That's crazy talk!"  I went back over to see if she would say anything else, but she just rolled over and kept right on dreaming I guess.

This evening, Lennon had gone to bed and Shelby, Mia and I were hanging out coloring in her Star Wars coloring book.  I mentioned to Shelby that I needed to come up with some kind of manger scene craft for Sunday School.  "What's a manger scene?" asked Mia.  "You know, like a nativity scene."  I said.  "We have three nativity scenes."  At which point she got up and went over to a shelf that did in fact have two nativity scenes and one dinosaur diorama that she made in school recently.  Shelby and I both sort of laughed.  "Which one of the dinosaurs is Jesus?"  I asked.  I thought she was joking, but as soon as those words came out of my mouth it was clear by her expression that she was not.  She suddenly turned pale and looked mortified.  She buried her face in a pillow crying hysterically.  "I, I...Well, no one ever told me Jesus had to be in one.  I didn't know that Jesus had to be in it."  She's crying so hard and obviously super embarrassed at this point.  Shelby and I can't help but laugh, but we are working really hard to stifle it so that she doesn't know we are laughing.  "Honey, what's the matter?"  "It's just no one told me Jesus had to be in it."  This comedy of her not knowing that Jesus had to be in a nativity scene was too much.  I got her to laugh by telling her some really embarrassing stuff that I had done.  Plus, Shelby had some of the most horrible sounding gas this evening.  I told her she need not be embarrassed in front of us about anything.  She is so cute.  And now, she knows the difference between a diorama and a nativity scene.  We sort of tried to think which of the dinosaurs would be which Bible character with her though.  Shelby said the pterodactyl should be an angel cause he was just sort of hanging in the air above the rest of the scene.  By the way - when she first came home with the diorama she was telling me what each dinosaur appeared to be saying and she concluded that the pterodactyl was saying "hey man, I'm chill.  I'm chill."  

Lastly,  earlier tonight, I was sitting in the living room on the phone with Hillary when Mia's door opened with a certain urgency.  I thought she was coming out to go to the restroom.  She walked straight down the hall toward me, eyes wide open.  I set the phone down.  "What's up honey?  Need to go potty?"  

"I.  I...I need...I need to....Um...I..."  She's rubbing her eyes, but I can tell she isn't awake.

"What's up honey?" 

"I need to...Um...I need to lick it again."

I laugh.  "what?  what do you need to lick?"

"The top of the candy cane.  I need to lick it again."

Now, I really laugh and pick her up to take her back to her room.  "Okay sweetie."

As I pick her up, she puts her head on my shoulder and hugs me tight.  "I love you so much Mommy."  I am really tickled now.  She is too funny.  If only all her night waking/sleep walking episodes were this comical.  She does seem to be doing better.  She hasn't had a tummy ache episode since Thanksgiving and no night terrors either.  I'm doing way way better on chilling out too.  I'm meeting with her teacher next week to discuss if there could be stress in the classroom or the playground that I'm unaware of.  

What a funny little girl.  Talk about crazy talk.  She must have been psychic.  :)

Some Funny Pics

Lennon loves Shelby's deodorant and gets quite upset when we take it from him.  If we would let him, he would cover himself with it and then eat the whole stick.  What a weirdo.  

Mia made a "snowman"  out of her coat, my boots, scarf and hat and her gloves

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

TO 

GRANDADDY AND KELSEY!!!

WE LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH!

Feeling Sad

Our kitty, Angel, who is 8 1/2 years old was just diagnosed with diabetes.  His blood sugar was 530 in the office and it should be between 65-135.  He is also down to 14 lbs.  The last time we weighed him he was well over 20.  The vet said she could feel all the bones in his spine.  For treatment we can give him insulin injections that will be at least $50 per month plus a special diabetic formula cat food that is $25 per 6 lb bag.  I just spent $200 at the vet to find this out and get his rabies vaccination and now Lennon is in bed crying because he fell asleep on the way home from the vet and it screwed up his nap routine.  Plus, it's yucky and gloomy and rainy and freezing outside.  Send smiles my direction.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Despite the fact that Shelby left for New York today for Dusty's event tomorrow afternoon, the kids and I ended up having a really nice afternoon/evening.  After dropping Shelby off in the city we went to do a little Christmas shopping and to pick up some prized I had promised her sunday school class for learning a Bible verse with sign language.  Back at home Mia and I made some cookies and Lennon was really interested in what we were doing, so I let him pull a chair up along with Mia and he just watched as she measured and poured and mixed everything together.  While I was making dinner Mia put on The Grinch and she watched it while Lennon sort of watched it off and on in between begging me to hold him (which I couldn't because I was making dinner.)  Lennon decided he wanted to go to bed a bit earlier than he has been and I decided that that would work out nicely because Mia and I had planned to do a little Christmas craft together tonight and that would give us a little more time alone.  Oh yeah, and Lennon used the toilet again today!  So, after he was down I finished the movie with Mia and then we cut the cookies into shapes, put Christmas sprinkles on them and baked them.  While they were baking, she made sparkly Christmas tree cards.  When the cookies were done we put them on a plate and each of us got a glass of milk and we sat down by the tree to read some Christmas books.  She then wanted to fall asleep in my bed, which we sometimes let her do, and since Shelby won't even be home tonight I let her (thinking I would probably let her sleep there all night so that I won't be all alone.)  While I was laying down with her telling her goodnight she sort of tucked her feet in between my knees to warm them up.  "My feet are freezing."  She said.  "I bet there really is a child out there shivering in the cold tonight."  "Yeah."  I said.  "But we couldn't know where she is could we?"  "Probably not."  I said.  "If you saw me on the street you would pick me up, wouldn't you."  "Of course."  I said.  "I am thankful that I have a family."  She said.  Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep with me laying there thinking, "are there other little six year old girls out there that are this sweet?  Is it normal for a little girl to be thinking so much about other children out there who may be suffering?"  I don't know.   But I am thankful that I have such a wonderful daughter.  

Proper Poop Disposal

Lennon has been showing some minor interest in the potty as of late and so we have been humoring him every once in a while, with no results expected of course.  Just now he got up from lunch asked to go to the bathroom and sit on the toilet and he actually pooped in the toilet.  He was very proud of himself and he wanted to just keep sitting there trying some more.  Then when I had to put a diaper back on him he protested and pointed to the bathroom.  I told him he still had to wear diapers unless he was putting all his poop and all his pee into the toilet.  (I'm sure he fully understood that! :) )  I'm not going to get ahead of myself.  I doubt if this is going to be a regular thing by any means, but it is still cool that he did it and he wanted to do it.  We'll see where this goes.  Keep your fingers crossed.  

A Southern Thanksgiving

We had such an awesome time in Nashville this Thanksgiving.  Every other year all the Francis boys and their families head over to Tennessee for a relaxing weekend of food, football and good company.  

It has become a tradition for the kids to help Granmommy make the pull apart bread for Thanksgiving dinner.  They love doing anything in the kitchen.  Especially rolling balls of bread dough into balls and seeing who can make the teeny tiniest balls ever.

Granmommy bought a great Gingerbread House kit and Mia and Peyton had a blast decorating it Friday night.  Peyton kept looking back and forth from the box to the actual house to see if they were putting the pieces in the right places.  I only helped a little with the icing and they did a great job!  Saturday morning Dustin, LeNan, Peyton and Reagan left after breakfast to start their long car ride back to Texas.  We were sad to see them go, but happy that it would only be a few weeks before we would see them again. 

Later Saturday morning Mia, Granmommy and I went out to the movies.  There is this program called Kidtoons and on certain days they show kids movies for $3.00 per child and adults are free!  We saw Barbie in A Christmas Carol.  Mia was sooo excited to see a Barbie movie on the big screen.  This is a picture of her kissing her M & M's just before the movie.  The M& M's cost more than her ticket cost.  I know I am a nerd, but I love Barbie movies.  It was so cool to get to sit through one uninterrupted with Mia.  I cried a couple different times during the movie.  I know, I know.  

Much later, Saturday afternoon we got a chance to visit with Logan, Jennifer, little baby Campbell and some of their family as well over at their new house about half an hour from Granmommy and Grandaddy's house.  Initially Mia didn't want to go and be separated from the family, but after an hour of croquet and chases with Logan's younger brother Sean, she was ready to move in and never look back.  

After many tears and much sadness on Mia's part after departing her beloved Sean we headed over to Opryland Hotel.  It is so cool.  We love going there and seeing all the great Christmas decorations they put up each year.  We usually spend a lot more time there than we did this year, but because of our venture out to see Logan we didn't have a whole lot of time before we needed to get Lennon down for bed.  It was a great day though and he actually did really well considering how thrown off his schedule was all week.  

Sunday we got up and rushed out the door to go to Granmommy and Grandaddy's church.  Mia went to Sunday School and loved it of course.  Lennon did well in the nursery and Shelby, Kelsey, Bethany and I heard some of the best church music we had ever heard.  The band at the end played a song that would rival most pop music.  It was really good.  After church we had brunch at Mimi's.  Mia was excited that I let her order chocolate chip pancakes and Lennon ate half of what everyone else ordered.  That freakin' kid can put away some serious food!  

At the airport we asked to be on the standby list for an earlier connecting flight because the one we were scheduled on had us in DC for about three hours and not getting home until 7 45.  Well...they ended up having room for two seats on the earlier flight, so Shelby took Lennon and I stayed back with Mia to wait for our scheduled flight.  However - the earlier flight which was supposed to leave at 3 15, did not board until 5 and then sat on the runway for an additional 45 minutes before taking off.  Lennon slept the whole way for Shelby.  Poor baby was so exhausted from the long weekend.  At one point they announced that my and Mia's flight was delayed "indefinitely", but happily it arrived and we boarded by about 8 o'clock - just one half hour past when we thought we would be landing in Boston.  We walked through the door of our house just before 11 completely drained.  Mia slept most of the way home from the airport and while I waited for our bags and went straight into her bed and slept like a log.  

Now, several days later, I am soooo sooo tired.  This week has been so super long.  Traveling on Sunday was stressful enough and then Monday I wreck the car and spend the whole week dealing with that and credit card stuff and phone stuff and blah blah blah blah blah.  I need to go to sleep.  I think I will.

Like Being in The Sweetest Movie Ever

Sometimes life with Mia is like being in a scene from the sweetest movie ever.  This afternoon I had just finished talking with Shelby about how a person close to him at work had gotten laid off today.  She was a really nice girl that he had worked closely with for most of his time at CBT.  He was feeling really down and when I got off the phone so was I.  I turned to the sink to finish preparing dinner when Mia came dancing around the corner dressed in Christmas pj's and twirling and giggling with her giant nutcracker doll.  As she passed by me spinning and full of joy she shouted "Happy Christmas Mamma!"  At that moment it was abundantly clear that no matter what happens with the economy, no one can take away the things that are most important to us.  Our sweet children, their laughs, their dreams - our amazing family.  I asked her what she was so happy about and she just said "you just reminded me of Christmas because you were being so sweet to me."  I have no idea what I did to prompt her joy, but if I could pinpoint it I would do it constantly.  She is so awesome.  I truly do not deserve her.