Clever Chloe

I am working on getting pictures ready from Thanksgiving and also sharing all of our Christmas preparations that have been going on.... but in the meantime, enjoy some of these clever little words from our cute little Chloe Bug.

If you are saying something that Chloe doesn't want to hear, she will pretend to not be able to hear you. "What? What? I can't hear you. Talk louder." uh-huh.

Chloe also really enjoys both Dora and Diego and has taken to speaking Spanish around the house at random. When stuck on her rocking horse in need of help: Ayudame! Ayudame!  When I handed her her milk tonight: Thank you, Thank you! Gracias, Gracias! When greeting strangers at random: Hola! At least she uses them all correctly. Maybe she will turn out to be bilingual. And then I can write a book about the benefits of TV for toddlers and get rich. Or maybe not.

Chloe will often run through the house screaming my name as if she is on fire (which drives me crazy because it immediatley makes my adrenaline start pumping and my blood pressure shoot up). So, when I say, "What on Earth is the matter with you?" She will often say, I want you to speak to me. or Answer me right now.

When "talking" on the phone to Grammy during one of her 200 imaginary conversations leading up to Thanksgiving she put her hand on her hip and said, "Well, I just have a little problem. Listen to my problem now."

When Chloe doesn't want you talking whether it be because she wants to be heard or because she doesn't like what you are saying she will often put her finger over your lips and say, "Shhh! You have to be really, really quiet right now." and if that doesn't work she will say, "Hush! Don't say that word to me!"

The other day Chloe told me to "Keep my eye out for a monster." Matthew told her he would keep his eye out, too. She then told him, "You can't keep your eye out, Mommy's keeping her eye out. You keep yours in!"

Chloe still has her paci. I have been looking for motivation to get her to willingly give it up, but so far she's not biting. "Santa", a.k.a. Poppy, called Evan on the phone and told him to leave his paci by the fireplace and that he would give him a present in return. It worked like a charm. Chloe's not interested.

When Evan lost his tooth and the tooth fairy visited, she was very interested so I told her that if she put her paci under her pillow a paci fairy would visit and take her paci away and leave her money or a present, whatever she wanted. She clutched her paci to her chest and gave me a mean look and said, "No!" The next day, I said something about Tinkerbelle being a fairy and she again clutched her paci to her chest and furrowed her brow and said, "I don't like fairies!" Whoops.

I told her that her paci was hurting her teeth and she said, "Well, it doesn't really hurt that bad."

I told her that big girls didn't need pacis and she said, "Well, big girls need pacis when they are crying. Waaaah!"

We told her that her Uncle Ray needed her paci for the baby calves. Nope, that one didn't even cause her to pause. Those calves will be just fine, thank you.

When I took her to the doctor to get her flu shot I said, "Let me have that paci" as we got out of the car. She willingly handed it over and then said, "So, the dr. won't take it away from me, right?"  Ahh, so she knows she is too big. What I didn't tell her was the real reason I wanted it was so I wouldn't get fussed at by the doctor because yes, I too know she is too big.

On a side note she did not cry at all, not one tear, when she got her flu shot. Thank the Lord for small miracles!

We are also having no luck whatsoever with potty training. This just baffles me because Evan was so easy and Chloe is so much more independent than he was. Why won't she just go in the potty? It seems like she just doesn't know when it's coming. After she has peed or pooped she will come running, screaming "I need to go to the potty!" But, alas, she has already gone. Every. Single. Time. I mean, we occasionally manage to get her to the potty before it happens out of sheer luck, but there are also times that she gets right off the potty after doing nothing and proceeds to go pee in her pants. I don't know. We have given up again, for now. I am waiting for more signs. But in the meantime she does have the spill down. Everytime we change a diaper or messy pants, she will say, "Yuck! That's gross! I need to go pee pee or poop in the potty and then you won't have to change my yucky diaper and I can wear big girl panties!" She then claps with glee.

Chloe has also learned to escape from her room. So, bedtime takes quite a bit longer. I put her to bed, tell her goodnight, go downstairs and as soon as my feet hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs, I hear her little feet running down the hall. (Which by the way is one of the most wonderful sounds I hear every day right now.) When she gets to me, I will say, "What are you doing out of bed?" and she will hold her little arms out and say, "I just want one more huggy hug." Now, tell me. How can you be mad after that? You just can't. And that, my friends, is why we are in trouble. Big, bad trouble. Oh, my.

Last, but not least. While Evan was doing his homework tonight and Chloe was coloring with markers, Evan said "Where is the daggone black?" Chloe immediately held up a black marker and said, "Here is the daggone black, Bubba! Mommy, is this the daggone black?" Well, I'm not sure if that is the daggone black or the cotton-pickin' black, but it is black. I know that for sure.

Just Horsin' Around!

Christmas has come early! After all those years of begging for a horse when I was little, finally, there are two real, live horses at my parents' house. Ones that will let you get near them without biting or kicking you. Ones that do not have to be "broken" to be ridden. Yes, poor Stoney was shipped off to another home and now Bo and C.D. occupy the pasture. The kids are so excited! And really, whose kidding? So am I! I can't wait for us to be able to really ride (we are just waiting on a another saddle and bridles). And hopefully, I won't kill myself on them:)

Evan on Bo

Chloe is on C.D.  I have a death grip on her because C.D. has not been ridden in quite a while.



C.D. was very well-behaved with Chloe, but took off as soon as she got off.



P.S. I have added several posts today, so keep scrolling down to see all the other new ones. You might even have to click on "Older Posts" at the bottom.

L is for Lincoln

Last week we went to watch Evan's Thanksgiving program. Let me just say, it was the cutest thing I've ever seen! I had to laugh when I saw Evan's speaking part:

L is for Lincoln
The president who said,
"Mrs. Hale, it's official
we all will break bread!"

Because Evan still struggles saying his L's. And I had just spoken to my friend, Amanda, a speech pathologist to find out what she thought about it. Oh well, we worked with him and he did fine. I loved his outfit, though! He was hilarious!

Waiting for the show to begin!

The paparazzi had nothing on these parents! As soon as the kids had marched in, they descended upon the stage and aisle. I would think it had to be a little overwhelming on both the kids and teachers, but they handled it great!

I loved the program, they did such a wonderful job. We have been so fortunate to have had such a wonderful kindergarten experience so far. We are so thankful for a good school and good teachers.

And now I have "Following the Leader" permanently in my head... "Tee dee, Tee da! Tee deedle dee dum dee da!"

Where is Tom Turkey?

Evan had to help Tom Turkey hide from the farmer on Thanksgiving day, so of course he decided to disguise him as Indiana Jones!

Dollywood!

We decided to spend Veteran's Day at Dollywood since we had a day off from school. The weather was great and we had a wonderful time, but it was CROWDED! I'm not sure I've ever been there when it was that crowded.

First time by himself!

This trip really got us into the Christmas spirit. We hope to go back before the season is over!

Happy Birthday Brady and Tanner!

A few weeks ago we celebrated Brady's 5th and Tanner's 1st birthday! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. We are so fortunate that we can live far away and still be as close today as we were when we first met.