Kids say (or do) the darndest (or most impressive) things!

How’s that for a title?!?  I have posts rolling around in my head for Chloe Mae turning 3, an update on Devon and all of his new developments, general family stuff…but I want to take my time writing them and I don’t seem to have enough of that lately!

So here are a few cute kid stories for now, before I forget 🙂

• Devon took a long nap and we were running a few minutes late getting ready to go to MissK’s for the day.  I asked Chloe if she could get me a pair of socks for Devon and she replied, “Yes Mommy. I certainly can.”  She makes me laugh daily due to the tone or inflection of her voice when she says something fairly ordinary.
• I was trying to get Devon down for a nap a few mornings ago, but I knew from the start it was a little iffy.  After some fussing, I went in to try to calm him down, then he fussed some more.  So I gave up, went to his room, turned off his white noise and opened his curtain and said, “Alright then, fella. I give up!”  As soon as I started opening the curtain and talking, he stopped fussing, grabbed his pacifier and put it back in his mouth.  He was smiling by the time I made it the 5 feet across the room to him.  He had won and he knew it!
• For as long as we’ve been allowing Chloe to take books to bed with her at night, the magic number has been 3.  There was no rhyme or reason to the 3-book limit, but that’s what we decided.  Being in her big girl bed with no pacifier the last few nights has caused our bedtime rituals to be a little wonky.  Tuesday night, Chloe already had 3 books in her bed and wanted the 2 we had just read in her bed as well.  I told her she needed to just pick 3 and she responded, “But Mommmmyy, I want these 3 and those 2. I want 5 books in my bed tonight!”  I ignored the whining and decided she had just completed simple arithmetic, so I let her have 5 books for the night 🙂

Our Big Girl *sniffle, tear*

We decided to dive in head first and make the switch to a big girl bed and get rid of the pacifier all at once.  We played it up all week and Chloe Mae was pretty pumped.  We told her that the Pacifier Fairy would come get her paci’s and leave her a special present for her bed.

Chloe’s big girl bed, prior to dinner.

The note Chloe had me write for the “Paci Fairy.”

Look what the Paci Fairy left! It’s a “RaTangled” blanket!

Excited to sleep in her big girl bed!

She was so excited that she asked to go to sleep early.  She fell asleep with no issues.  She slept just fine over night.  At about 5:45 she woke up crying, but I went in and told her it was still time to sleep and tucked her back in.  I don’t know if she went back to sleep, but she was at least quiet for a while longer.

I was worried that nap time wouldn’t happen, but she did great.  She woke up a little sad again without the pacifier to help ease her awake, but she was okay as soon as I got her out of her bed.  That’s right.  She’s still waiting for us to get her out of bed.  I’m not planning on telling her she can get out herself just yet 🙂

I’m crossing my fingers that we continue to have good luck, but the firsts were a success!

My Favorite Bleach

I actually hate bleach. I prefer to stick with more natural, less toxic cleaners when possible.  Every now and then, when there’s a stubborn stain that just won’t come out of a white shirt or when the diapers start to look really dingy, I briefly consdider getting some bleach.  Until my good friend appears:

 

Chloe ate spaghetti for lunch the other day at MissK’s while wearing her “C” shirt and I’m pretty sure that her friend gave her a big spaghetti hug when they were done eating, because the front AND back of the shirt were completely covered in spaghetti sauce.  I pretreated it with a stain stick and threw it in the wash.  The stain didn’t come out though, so in to an Oxi-Clean soak it went for the next couple hours.  Then I washed it with the diapers – about 2.5 hours of cleaning time with pre-soaks and extra rinses.  Still there.

As a ‘last ditch’ effort to save the shirt, I put it out on the clothesline for the day.  When the shirt came in at the end of the day, there was no sign of a spaghetti hug.  So the shirt lives on to be worn again by my cute girl and I was reminded, yet again, of my love for the sun!

Our First Camping Adventure

Straight from the March for Babies on Saturday morning, we headed to the campsite at Saylorville.  My mom and Steve had headed out Friday night, so the campsite was all set up.

Later in the afternoon, the rest of the family arrived for some dinner and playtime. Chloe headed off to the playground with Nanna and Julia.

Much playing and giggling commenced.

The park was a lot of fun.

And some hard work.

Chloe is less adventurous than her cousin, but she definitely kept her eye on Julia and got a little more brave as the night went on.

Then Chloe Mae sang and danced her way back to the campsite.

On Sunday morning, we walked down to the lake.  I told Chloe to take her shoes off and roll up her pants so she could put her feet in the water.  I’m not sure she’s ever obeyed that quickly before 🙂

She was a little unsure at first.

Before long though, she was in hands and feet, splashing, throwing rocks and digging in her heels when we told her it was time to leave.

Lest we forget, Devon was around too 🙂  He watched the girls at the park and reminded me where food should go.

Dinner wasn’t ready quickly enough for our chunky boy though, so he resorted to eating my shoulder.

He was a bit perplexed by the sleeping arrangements.

Thankfully, we all got some sleep.  Then Devon worked in some reading by the fire on Sunday morning.

He also made funny faces.  Not camping specific, but cute none-the-less.

Although Devon didn’t get in the water, he and DaddyMort were still soaked (with drool) by the time we left.

Isn’t he adorable?!?

The Countdown Is On!

These days, we do a lot of talking about “how many sleeps” until events with Chloe Mae.  There are a few things coming up that she’s especially excited about – the walk to help babies, camping, her birthday, her parties and a wedding – and I was confusing myself talking about the length of time until each of the events.  So on Saturday, while the other 3 were at the library, I made this:

It’s a calendar of events for the next few weeks.  Chloe got home right as I was finishing the squares, so she helped me decorate all the special days and we added an “N” for Nanna days and a “K” and MissK days.  Then she helped me pick out a picture to print, I laminated it and glued on a piece of a free magnet from the phone book.  I stuck it all up on the fridge and now Chloe can see how long it is until the next exciting event!

She still doesn’t really understand how long it is until anything, but at least now we have something visual for her (and us) to refer to!

March of Dimes Online Auction

Faithful blog readers – it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for!  Last week I mentioned that we’d be having an online auction to beneift the March of Dimes.  The time has come for the auction to start! 

Simply click here to be directed to the online auction.  The bidding will continue until next Monday, May 7, at 10PM.  Then I’ll email the winners with directions on how to make your payment and recieve your goods.

Many of the items have been donated by Ames area businesses, but even if you’re not in the Ames area, check it out.  There are several auction items that aren’t Ames-specific.  There’s even a night’s stay at Gateway Hotel and Conference Center, so all my out of town friends and family should bid on that.  The lucky winner can come visit us:-)