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.  :)