In Her Own Words

Elianna has always had a rather extensive vocabulary for her age, but as fun as it is to hear her blurt something entirely age-inappropriate, my favorites are still the words she pronounces wrong. Yes, you read that right. I think it's cute, I don't correct her, and I glare at anyone who does. As cute as they are, and as hard as it is for me to admit she won't be talking this way in a few years (we hope), I know in time we forget these kinds of things, so I am going to record some of them. Naturally, when I go to write them, my mind goes blank, so I'll have to update this post as I think of more. Translations are in parentheses.

One Day... This is how she begins ANY story that she is "reading" to you. Even if it's an ad paper fom Target, she'll pick it up, tilt her head and say, "One day..."

Wubby-dams (rubberbands) I about died laughing when she came up to me and said, as serious as can be, "Mom, I need to comb Todd's hair. I need a comb and some wubby-dams.

Lay! (Yay!) This is another carry-over from when she was younger. She used to substitute "l" for "y" but for the most part she doesn't do that anymore. Although occasionally she asks to play in the back "lard."

Shhh, Mommy, Todd has a hegg-ache. (headache)

My pants are falling down. I need to put on my seat belt. (I had mentioned to Chad that I needed to get her a belt, since her pants keep slipping down. She looks like a little plumber.)

Pee-Yew! I need to take a bathtub!

I want to go on a pick-a-nip! (A picnic)

Mmmm, I like to eat wubby-olies! (ravioli)

I need to packiness (practice) the piano.

Ew, I don't like baby kosh (squash)! (She calls ALL baby food "baby kosh," since that used to be all Selah would eat.)

Here, hold my God. (She calls her Sunday School papers/crafts her "God" and hands them to me when she leaves class with this directive.)

Is me are! (An extremely grammatically incorrect way of saying, "Here I am!")

It's pobby in my poo woom. (Probably in my playroom.) I don't know why she says "playroom" like that. I think it's just the way she's always said it, so she figures, "Why change now?!"

Is he teeny like my Selah? (Any time she sees or hears us talk about a baby, she asks that.) Actually, I think it's adorable the way she always refers to Selah as "my Selah." Especially in public, if anyone dares to go near her she'll yell, "No touching my Selah! Don't look at my Selah! Stop laughing on my Selah!"

Can I go outside with my booh (bare) feet?

If I notice a new scrape or bruise and ask her, "Where did you get that?" She'll shrug, look thoughtful, and say, "Pobby at Wommet (Wal-mart)." At first, I thought this meant she actually hurt herself at Wal-mart, but then after getting this answer too many times I realized she just thinks if you "get" something... you probably got it at Wal-mart.

Now this next one requires some explanation or you will think I'm just being obscene. Elianna began yelling, "Oh, shoot!" every time something ticked her off. Which is pretty frequently. I got "the look" from Chad every time she said this, since I am the one who first blurted this out in front of her. Anyway, I tried offering some alternatives. We were watching a movie from her expanding Shirley Temple collection, and I noticed that Shirley says "Oh, my!" in an endearing way. It looks cute and feminine, so I suggested, "Oh, my!" to Elianna the next time something happened. She yelled, "Oh my shoot!" I then suggested, "Oh, my goodness!" Elianna replied (loudly), "Oh shoot my goo-ness!" So Chad gets the bright idea to try something off the wall, and he yells (loudly), "Holy Guacamole!" Her face lit up, and she has yelled that ever since. There is a BIG problem with this. If you'll recall from an earlier post, my daughter, for some time now, has pronounced her "w" sound as a "f." Although she obviously talks much better than she did back then, she still likes to go for a falk (walk) and complains when she doesn't font (want) to do something. So, you guessed it, "Holy Guacamole" becomes "Holy Fockalamoley!" It must has been the shocked reaction on our faces, or the gales of laughter from everyone who hears this horrid word from the mouth of my innocent babe; one or the other has made this her new exclamation of choice. Frequently. Suddenly, "Shoot" doesn't sound so bad.

Sad News

I just wanted to share that Rosa de Escobar (affectionately referred to as Tia Rosa), one of the founders of Los Pisingos, has passed away. Los Pisingos is the adoption house in Bogota, Colombia where Elianna spent the first three months of her life and received excellent care. We are told Tia Rosa was at her office working the same day, and passed away suddenly that night. Chad and I were blessed to have been presented with Elianna in Tia Rosa's beautiful home, so we were able to meet her and spend time with her personally. These homes in Colombia are privately run and funded, so we are so grateful for the families who made the sacrifice and began Los Pisingos so many years ago. It is through their tireless and dedicated efforts that our beautiful daughter came to be so loved and cared for until she was able to join our family.

Here are some photos of the day we met Tia Rosa, one of the happiest days of our lives! It was July 18, 2005, the day we were presented with our precious daughter Elianna Victoria.

Our First Family Photo

Tia Rosa is on the left, talking with our representative Isabel R.

This is the second (and last) time we met with Tia Rosa, when we went back to Los Pisingos for a tour. She also sat with us and told us Elianna's social history, and we have a video recording of that which will be a priceless gift for Elianna.

There is no way we can thank you for the gift you have given us. Through your efforts many children throughout all these years have been united with their forever families! As one of these indescribably happy families, we say thank you, and good-bye, Tia Rosa...

Sunday School Picnic

I took Elianna to her very first Sunday School Picnic last weekend, and she had such a good time. It was ALL she talked about for the two weeks preceding it, so we were all fortunate that it lived up to her expectations. The play structure at the park they chose was just HUGE, and then we all stuffed our face with the typical picnic fare of grilled hot dogs, baked beans, mac & cheese, pasta salad, brownies, rice krispie treats, and downed hot chocolates. (It was a bit chilly, but still comfortable.)

It was also a good chance for me to meet some of the other mommies in the church, since we have only been going to this church about a month now. It's always hard adjusting to a new church, but it was a decision we felt would be best in the long run for our family. We had really grown to love the church we were attending, but unfortunately there were no other younger families there! So far, we have really been impressed with this church. Elianna just loves it - between having her own class (in our last church the nursery went all the way up to age 4, so Elianna had started giving me a hard time. She doesn't like to be with the "babies," and she thinks she is quite the Miss Thang now that she is in a big girl class of her own.) and also the new friends she has made. (With all the younger families there are a lot more younger children!)

Elianna's teachers, Grandma Linda and Grandma Theresa

Group Photo (although I'm not in this one, since I wanted to get a pic with my camera...)

My Little Cutie!

The Three Stooges. These are the two girls Elianna gets along with the best, although she is especially close to Lilly (the one in the middle in the cream sweater). In the second picture they are making "pancakes" with the sand.

Showing off her new pedaling skills

After pedaling to her heart's content, she decided to just hitch a ride and let someone else do the work...

Elianna and Lilly decided to try to climb the tree.

Pics from the zoo...

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I didn't take many pictures, since we had to take turns carrying Selah. Here are a few, though:

Four generations, counting me as I take the picture...


There were hundreds of butterflies. Someone said it is their time to migrate. Not sure if that's true, but there were a lot of them everywhere.

Visiting the conservatory. (These gardens were just amazing, I wish I could/would have taken more pictures.)


My poor sick little princess. (In her highly fashionable attire.)

I just fell in love with this little orangutan. He kept imitating everything his mom did, and it was so cute I had to take a video.

Urban Toddler

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We did eventually make it to Urban Toddler, and Selah had as much fun as Elianna!

Elianna loves fire trucks, so it was no surprise that she loved "driving" in this one.

Selah had the "Infant Park" to herself most of the time, except when Elianna sneaked in... Selah loved climbing around on everything, and she carried the toys in her mouth like a puppy.

Elianna played chauffer...

Elianna's two favorite pastimes - music and shopping. (Hmmm, she sounds a lot like her Mommy!)

Pictures from "Camping with Tornadoes"

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We went out to the beach once the road was cleared of debris from the storm, but it was pretty late by the time we got there. (That didn't stop Elianna, of course.) At least we had the beach to ourselves!





Elianna insisted on "helping" them take down the gazebo.


Before we went home, Aunt Anne and Uncle Marcel took us out for ice cream at a farm near the campground. Elianna was thrilled to discover they had goats AND even a little corn dispenser where you could get a tablespoon or so of corn for 25 cents. Selah didn't care for the animals, but she is already addicted to ice cream. (Isn't it funny how you relax the rules for the second one? Elianna never even tasted ice cream, or any sweets for that matter, till she was a year old, and Selah has been chowing it since about 5 months old.)





This little guy found a hole in the fence and stuck his head out. Elianna thought this was so cool... until he started eating her shirt.

Pictures Comin' Up!

My darling hubby has offered to take care of the girls this evening so I can upload some pictures. It is tedious and time-consuming, especially when you put it off for a month as I have... but I will see how many I can post before the girl drive him totally insane. I'm not going to bother going back and editing each post to add pictures. I'll just make a new post with the pictures. This might bump some posts back, so if you haven't checked in a while you may have to click on the "older posts" link on the bottom to get caught up. (Yeah, Mom, I'm talking to you! Just teasing.) It doesn't help that I've had a few long-winded posts lately, so that takes up a lot of room. So, without further adieu, here come the photos!

P.S. In case you didn't already know, if you want to see a larger version of any picture, just click on it!

Missed Milestone... (Better late than never)

Ooops, I got so wrapped up in writing about the "Tornado incident" that I forgot to record the following milestones:

Elianna achieved a particularly important milestone on that camping trip- she finally learned to pedal her bike! She is still pretty sketchy sometimes, depending on the bike and the terrain, and she tends to ride backwards most of the time. But, nonetheless, she is officially pedaling! Large motor skills are not her strong suit, so I get all the more excited when she learns something new. When she first climbed the ladder and went down the slide of our play structure all by herself, I was dancing around and cheering like I was at the Olympics.

The other forgotten large motor development is: Selah has been taking a step or two here and there!!! She is good at pulling herself up, coasting on furniture, and standing alone, but walking more than a drunken stumble here and there is just not clicking yet. I forget what day she actually took her first few tentative steps, but it was a couple weeks ago... *sigh*

What are YOU laughing at?

Mom and I were standing in line at the store, and Elianna struck up a conversation with the lady in line behind us. (Typical behavior for her.) The lady found something she said amusing, and burst out laughing. Unfortunately, whatever Elianna was telling her was NOT supposed to be funny, and Elianna became quite indignant. My mom asked her why she was now giving the nice lady her "angry eyes" (those of you who have experienced this death glare know what I am talking about...), and Elianna said, "She's laughing on me!" The lady tried to stifle her laughter (as we all did) and she said, "I'm sorry, I won't laugh on you." She then gave Elianna a sweet smile. Elianna wasn't about to be placated. She replied, "Don't smile on me eithah (either)!" I gave her a stern talking-to about rudeness, but the lady was thankfully very good-natured. Elianna also got over it fairly quickly, and was chatting her up again before we finished checking out.

First MOPS Meeting

Today was my first time at a MOPS meeting, and I'm sure it will come as no surprise that there had to be an "incident" involved. It actually began the night before. I was cleaning the kitchen, and decided to put some tea on to boil for iced tea. Now, it was pretty late at night, I had been shopping and/or cleaning all day, and my mind was just as tired as the rest of me. Also, I have a habit of what I call "Rotational Cleaning Syndrome." It goes like this: I will take something from one room to another to put it away, then realize that before I can put it away, I need to clean something else, but before I can clean that I had better go throw the clothes in the dryer, but before I do that I'd better... and so it goes. If I'm lucky, I will actually end up at the original task, but more often than not it is long forgotten. Naturally, I put the tea on to boil, then was sucked into my Rotational Cleaning Syndrome. This episode left me sorting bins of clothes upstairs (how I got to sorting clothes from boiling tea? I have no idea.) and naturally I forgot about the tea. Until I smelled it. (I guess that should be a warning to me about the effectiveness of our smoke detectors...) I ran downstairs to find the tea boiled away and the tea bags charred and smoking in what happened to be my most expensive and favorite saucepan. Grrrrrrr. Chad was out late picking his mom up from the airport, so I put the pan out on the porch as kind of a "heads up" that the house was going to reek like smoke. To make matters worse, the smoldering damp tea leaves smell suspiciously similar to marijuana. (Only I can manage to do something idiotic enough to discover that little nugget of information.)

What does this have to do with MOPS? Only the fact that despite my best efforts, all of us smelled like we had spent the morning clam-baking like a bunch of potheads. That's always a good first impression to make at a Baptist church function. My mum-in-law was kind enough to say that we smelled more like a "wood stove" smoke than a "something you smoke in a pipe" smoke, so that was a relief.

Anyway, suspicious odor aside, we had a great time at MOPS. At first the teachers gave us a bit of hassle since they wanted to change the kids' class from 2-4-year-olds to 3-4-year-olds. Elianna overheard my arguing with them that I was NOT going to put her in the nursery with the babies, and promptly burst into tears. "I don't font to go in the noosey with the babies! I font to go in my class! You said I could go to my class!" (We had discussed going to MOPS at length before, and I had indeed told her she would be in a class, playing games and doing crafts. I had checked with the head honcho ahead of time and been assured this would be fine, so I was not backing down. Politely, of course.) Her emotional outburst wasn't helping my argument that she was emotionally and intellectually able to be with the 3 & 4-year-olds, but they finally relented. She ended up having a great time, as I had expected.

I got to meet lots of other mommies, and I really enjoyed it. (Not to mention, they put on a full breakfast every meeting and boy was it yummy!) We will be taking field trips, having pizza and game nights at the church, play dates, and all kinds of fun things. They also have child care for a "date night," and there is a drawing for a gift certificate for dinner and a movie with your honey. Sounds like fun - Chad still owes me an anniversary dinner!

Sandy Paws

Mom and I went shopping today, and Elianna headed straight for the toy department. She found a sand art kit that had been broken and spilled all over the shelf, and naturally she had to start playing in it. When I came over to see what she was doing, she held up her sandy little paws and said, "Look, Mom, I have ocean on my hands!"

Back to the Zoo!

We made a Four Generation trip to the zoo, with my mom and Grandma S. coming along! The weather was just perfect - not too hot and not too cold. Oh, and when we got there, we found out it was "Free Senior Day" so Grandma not only got in free but got a free muffin and coffee. Can't beat that! We got to see all the animals we missed when Chad and I took the girls, although Elianna was disappointed that the goats were not out. (The Children's Zoo section was temporarily closed, and they didn't say why or for how long...) That girl has an obsession with pygmy goats, so she was mad about that for a few minutes.

Of course, with me involved, there had to be some kind of mishap... and there was. We arrived at the zoo, and we were trying to fit a van-load of supplies into the double stroller. I put Elianna into the stroller, then went back to help my mom finish unloading. Elianna calls out from the stroller, "I dropped my food." I had no idea what food I had given her, and figured if she dropped it in the parking lot...oh well! She called me again, "Mom, I dropped my food!" I walked around towards her and asked, "What food?" She says, "The food I spit out. My apples and oatmeal." Apples and oatmeal? That was what she'd had... for breakfast. Yep, by "spit out" she meant "threw up" and there it was, soaking the front of all her clothes including the only jacket I had brought for her. We went to the restroom and I stripped her down and changed her clothes. Now, the previous few weeks had been sweltering hot, so the extra clothes were shorts and a tank top. Now it was 60 degrees out. Just my luck that fall would arrive so suddenly and at such an inconvenient time. I scrubbed her jacket in the sink and my mom held it under the hand dryer for what seemed like an eternity trying to dry it out. Well, it finally dried somewhat, but it had that disgusting, stomach-turning smell of something you have recently rinsed vomit out of. Gross! On top of that, the stroller was still covered in chunks, slime, and an amazing assortment of nastiness that I couldn't believe had all come from one bowl of oatmeal. I went to the gift shop, and asked if there was somewhere I could hose out the stroller. I explained the situation, and despite looking a little green they were sympathetic. We brainstormed a way to clean the stroller, then the manager got an idea. She pulled the stroller around the back of the store, then got out a carpet cleaner with an upholstery attachment. She then proceeded to clean out the entire front seat of the stroller!!!! Can you believe that!??! It's so nice to see that there are still such caring, helpful people in the world. She was wearing gloves, but I still tried to stop her from picking out the partially digested apple pieces, "You know, I can do this. You don't have to clean up after my sick child!" She just waved me off and assured me that she had three kids (all boys) and a little barf never killed anyone. I thanked her profusely, then set out to find something in the gift shop warmer than a tank top and less costly than a Versace evening gown. A helpful mom (whose own mother had accompanied them and was enjoying her muffin, coffee and a nice visit with my grandma through the whole ordeal) informed me that jammies were on clearance. I soon discovered they were flimsy, thin jammies marked down to the "bargain" price of $18. Ouch. I finally found a sweatshirt from last Christmas marked $6, so I pulled that over her head and we were back in business. Elianna was quite the trooper. She did NOT want to go home, and although she was a bit tired and spacey, she still really enjoyed her trip. When she got tired, she crawled in the remaining seat of the stroller and zonked out for a long nap. (We all took turns carrying Selah, who thought that was a dandy arrangement.) Of course, as if Elianna didn't look bad enough in her dorky 2006 Christmas sweatshirt, when I took her potty she lost her balance and sort of rocked back. This threw off her aim and she soaked her panties and shorts. By now I was out of clothes, so she ran around the rest of the trip wearing nothing but her tank top and the big sweatshirt. (It got warmer with the sun out, thank goodness.) After this, whenever any of us would stop for a potty break, Elianna would yell after us, "Careful, Nanna (or whoever was going)! Don't pee on your clothes!"
I have been terrible about uploading pictures, and the longer I put it off the bigger job it turns into... I have a lot to catch up on, though, and I will work on it when I get the chance. We have been out and about a lot, and the house has been more of a stop-off point where we run in, empty out our bags, grab more stuff, then run out. So you can imagine, I am desperately behind on housework (my most un-favorite pastime, as you all know). Until I get our house no longer declared an disaster zone, first things first. There will be more pictures, though, eventually...

The Locked Door Caper

I have to confess: I had my first real Mommy Meltdown.

It all began when I went into Elianna's room to change Selah's stinky diaper. It was nasty, let me assure you, so I was concentrating pretty hard. I had started to get dressed, since we were meeting Grandma for an outing that day, but the diaper had taken priority. So I was wearing my PJ top with no bra, and a long denim skirt. (Yes, there is a reason for sharing these icky details.) Okay, so that's the set-up. I am dressed in a very odd manner, trying to hold my daughter (who is doing an alligator death roll on the changing table) still enough to avoid her flinging baby poo all over the place. Then Elianna runs in and slams the door shut. She plays around in the room, running around and making all kinds of racket. Normally, I don't mind her energy level, but for now I asked her, "Honey, Mommy is really busy right now, why don't you go play out in the living room." She didn't stop running, "I can't. The door is stuck."

"What do you mean, stuck? Why can't you open it?"

"Because I locked it."

By now I had Selah clean enough to get her down and walk over to the door as calmly as possible. Yep, she had locked it. From the outside. All three of us were trapped in her room! AARGH! So, I did the calm rational, mature thing. I hollered. "Why did you lock the door?!? How am I supposed to open it? Blah, Blah, Blah! " (That's all she hears, I'm sure...)

Elianna rolls her eyes and looks at me like I'm an idiot. "Pull on it weeeely hard! It's just stuck!"

So here I am, yanking and rattling the door as hard as I could, trying to pull the hinge pins out (an impossibility considering they had been painted over about 57 times since the late 1960's), growling all the while, "It's not stuck, you locked it! It doesn't matter if I pull WEEEEELY hard, it's not going to open!" She opened her mouth to give some more advice, and I cut her off, "You know, just don't talk to me right now. Mommy is very angry with you." I know, I know, I'm a mean mommy. All I could think of was that we were already late, our oxygen level was dangerously low due to the fumes from the toxic diaper, and I had no idea how to get out the door. I finally had to accept that I was NOT getting out the door. The only other escape route was... the window. Now, they say that truth is stranger than fiction, and that is the story of my life. You see, her window overlooks my garden, which you would ASSUME meant a fairly nice place to drop if you had to climb out the window. Unfortunately, a few weeks earlier I had noticed a strange vine growing out the middle of my variegated hosta, directly under her window. I hadn't pulled it out, not wanting to disturb my hosta, so it had spread up the side of the house and in a neat patch around the hosta. Right outside the window. The strange intruder? Poison ivy, which I happen to be severely allergic to. So, I have to try to get out the window without actually touching the side of the house under the window, or landing on the ground under the window. My only option is to try to reach my deck railing (Which is a couple feet away from the window) and climb directly from the window sill to the railing. In a skirt. And in a PJ top I don't care to share with my neighbors. I poke my head out and make sure no one is looking. Elianna gets nervous, "Mommy, are you leaving us in here?" I resist the urge to tell her, "Yep, I'm leaving and you can live in there and think about what you've done..." Instead, I explain that I have to try to climb onto the deck, go back into the house, and unlock the door. She starts badgering me with a barrage of questions, and again, my meltdown continues, "DON'T TALK TO ME I AM STILL ANGRY WITH YOU!!!!!" She backs off, and I proceed with my stunt work. I hike myself up onto the window sill, then stick a leg out and hook it onto the railing. So, I am straddling my house, one leg in the window, and one leg over my deck railing, in a skirt, and I think, "Great, now what!?" I keep a sharp eye out for my neighbor, who fortunately never came out. I finally manage to drag myself out the window and collapse on the deck without touching the poison ivy. (Which is still growing there quite happily, I might add.) I stomp around to my porch, and suddenly I remember, I don't usually unlock my door in the morning! I realize that if I didn't, I am locked out of my house, and my daughters are locked in their room. Yes, that means I will have to climb back INTO a different window to get back in my house. I run over and with some kind of primal roar I jerk on my back door, which was unlocked. (Maybe it unlocked itself in mortal dread at my approach, but for some reason, it was unlocked already!) I stomp back to Elianna's room and open the door. She yells, "Hooray! Mommy fixed the door!" I just kept up my rather loud lecture on the dangers of playing with the locks, my allergies to poison ivy, and many other topics that she was completely disinterested in. I felt really bad later, since I am not a "yeller" and felt bad that I had thrown such a fit. I went to Elianna later and apologized for being so loud, and she kept asking me, "Mommy, are you still angee with me? Mommy, be happy, don't be angee!" I hugged her and assured her I wasn't angry anymore, but at the same time, don't EVER touch the locks again. Oh, and just to be safe, I'm sticking the key on the doorjamb.

P.S. We did eventually make it to Grandma's for our outing to Urban Toddler, and I took some cute pictures. When I get them uploaded, I'll post about our trip. So, yes, this story does have a happy ending.

When I get Big, cont.

Now there's a new one: Elianna told me the other day, "When I get big, I'm going to fly! I fly HIGH up in the sky like the birds." I told her, "What makes you think you will be able to fly when you're bigger? People don't fly, even grown-up people." She just shrugged. "Because I don't have my wings yet. When I get big and my wings grow, I can fly." So I asked her, "Well, then why doesn't mommy fly? I'm all grown up, and I can't fly." She looked me up and down and said, "You're still not big enough!"

Not to get all cheesy on you, but wouldn't be nice if we could hold on to hope like that? Whatever it is we wish for, no matter how crazy it sounds, we just asume that sooner or later it will come to us. Even growing wings so we can fly! Although in all honesty, I truly hope I'm done growing. I do NOT want to grow any larger in any physical capacity.

When I Get Big...

That has been Elianna's answer to everything. Whenever she is not allowed to do something, or if she doesn't WANT to do something, she'll say, "Mommy, when I get big, I will_____________ ." She has filled in the blank with everything from "drink coffee" to "pick up sissy" to "drive the car to church" to "wear mommy's clothes." Yeah, right on that last one. I can just see her when she is about 15, and I am yelling at her for what she is wearing. I'll just tell her, "Hey, you said when you got older you would wear my clothes! So now you have to dress like me." Not likely, but a good idea anyway.