Cool, not cute

Michael said something to Rachel like, "come sit next to me cutie."

She responded with, "I don't want to be cute anymore. I want to be coool"

PeePee Power

Rachel decided that she wanted to wear underware one day in late January. Her potty training developed on a pretty good path. A couple of accidents along the way. When I was pretty sure that we could make it 25 minutes from work to home or home to work, I stopped putting the "traveling diaper" on. She was very good to tell me, "Mommy, I have to go peepee." The problem was that I wasn't sure how much control she had and how much time she'd given me to get her to a toilet.

I would find myself frantically calculating how much longer to the nearest gas station; did I know anyone along the route that would be home for a potty stop? Should I chance that she could hold it to our final destination?

A couple of times we stopped at a Stewart's gas station on the corner. After a couple of true stops, I noticed that her "I have to go peepees" would suddenly pop up when we were in sight of the Stewarts. Not wanting to be the parent who made her daughter pee in the car because I didn't trust her. We always stopped, rushed in, took off the snowsuit (yeah, winter) only to find out, "no peepee, mommy."

After one of these stops, I came out of the station to find my Pastor getting gas. He asked what we were doing (or something to that effect). I said, without really thinking it through very well, "Rachel was testing her PeePee Power."

Ah, what a parent will do when they hear the words, "I have to go PeePee!"

Sympathy

When Rachel doesn't feel like she's getting what she wants, and crying isn't working, she'll whine for someone else who I can only guess that she thinks will help her get what she wants.

Examples:
At Mary's she'll cry, "I want Mommy."
At home she'll cry, "I want Mary."
And when all else fails, she cry, "I want Santa."

2nd Tooth Lost (12/31/2008)

We went to see "Bed Time Stories" with a good friend. About 15 minutes before the end of the movie, Michael leaned over and said, "My tooth really hurts." The bottom middle one had been loose for a while. (not as long as the first, though) I said we'd pull it out when we got home.

About 5 minutes before the end of the movie, he leans over and says urgently, "I pulled out my tooth and dropped it." Oh, no. I told him not to move, that the movie was almost over and the lights would come on. We'd look for it then.

So, the movie ended. It was really good. The lights come back on, but not all the way. My friend is holding her cell phone with the light on down under his seat for me to see. I squatted down and was gingerly patting the floor (EWWWW) trying to feel the tooth. There were a lot of things that looked like a tooth. Each that I picked up ended up being a fragmented piece of popcorn. (EWWWWW)

After I'd given a pretty good effort to find my son's tooth. I was preparing the words of disappointment when I saw on his shirt, THE TOOTH! It stuck right to his shirt! PHEW!!!

What a mother will do for her kids: feel around on the movie theater floor for a tooth in the almost dark.

1st Hair Cut (12/31/2008)

Because I'm awful with cutting hair on a moving target, I finally brought Rachel to the hair salon to get a real trim. Her hair is super curly and it was thin in spots (older baby hair) and short and thicker in spots which must have been new growth. She did wonderfully and loved it. Now when her hair gets in her face she says, "I need a hair cut at the lady's."

Long Time

So many funny sayings have gone by and so many milestones have been passed since I last sat down to blog anything. I'll try to remember the best ones (the ones that I thought in my head, "I have to capture this somewhere.")