Things Inside her Head

Our conversation from the other day:

Sophie: What's that thing called? A rattastrater?
Momma: Hmmm? A cash register?
Sophie: No. What's that word? A strater makes pictures.
Me: Oh. ILLUSTRATOR. (The morning's episode of Super Why introduced authors and illustrators.) A person who draws things is an illustrator. You're really good at drawing! When you're big, do you want to be an illustrator?
Sophie: No, Momma! (Hands on hips.) When I'm big I'm going to be a grown up.
Me: Well, sure. But you could also draw pictures for stories and be an illustrator. Or draw whatever's inside your head and be an artist. What's inside your head right now?
Sophie: A skeleton.
Me: See? You could draw a skeleton.
Sophie: No. That's what's in my head. And a brain. But I can open up my head and squeeze my brain and then out pops a piece of paper. Is that a good idea?

Fanksgiving Songfest

I love how Sophie says "fank the Loward" for giving us the "fings" we need. Hope you all had a Fantastic Fanksgiving.

Song #2: Happy Burpsgiving

And finally...a song that Momma made up to help Sophie with some things she sometimes struggles with at school. (Sometimes she wets her pants. Sometimes she won't eat her lunch. Sometimes she refused to take a nap.) So here's how it goes:

You gotta put your pee pee in the potty, Eat your lunch to help your body, Take a nap so you can rest, and That's how to make your day the best!

Kilroy was here.

Expecting turkey shots? We still gots punkins...

Turkey day has come and gone, and we're just now posting pictures from Halloween. Oh, well. We'll get caught up one of these days. Click on the first pic (or the link below) to jump to our picture pages from Halloween Pumpkin Bash Number 10!

A link to the party pics: http://www.frankandstacy.net/photos/october/

I Blinked

When I wasn't looking, my baby turned into a girl. A tall girl. (Pictured with her Papa -- discussing world events.)

I think the long hair really makes her look older. She told me she wanted "flat hair...like yours, Momma." I told you guys my stringy hair look was "in." And I love the hand in the pocket...big girls shove their hands in their pockets sometimes...that's how they roll.


My Silly Sophie is still there, under all that hair...
I blinked again, and my Dad is looking more and more like his father, C.D. (I think it's because they shaved off his beard and mustache at the hospital...suddenly I can see his face and I realize that I've seen that face before. And a third blink. My tiny boy with the dandelion hair turned into a roly-poly old man with a comb-over.
I think I'm going to stop blinking in an effort to slow down the spinning of the world.

Couch Taters

Jameson likes football -- to be more accurate, he likes watching football on t.v. Sophie never really watched television when she was a baby. Even if we had it turned on while she was in the room, she lost interest after a few seconds. Jameson LOVES it. He'll even lean over to look past you to see the television. And if football is on? Forget about it...he's totally into the game.

Here he is with his buddy, Jason, watching Sunday night football:

Maybe it's because he's the second child -- the t.v. is on more often because Sophie is watching her (very educational) shows. Or maybe it's because we're just more lax about having the t.v. on this time around. Sigh. Or maybe it's in his DNA -- guys like football. But don't worry...we are limiting his t.v. time. He's only allowed to watch play-off's.

Let's get the frog outta here!

The best thing she said this week. She was pretending to be a witch who had to rid our vehicle of a pesky amphibious nuisance, but her inflection was perfect and I laughed long and hard. I plan to use it in multiple and varied scenarios in the future.

Happy Halloween!

Her royal highness, THE PRINCESS, and her faithful sidekick, THE PEA:

You may have heard that the pea is irritating to the princess -- makes her black and blue all over. OUR pea is snuggly and happy, but may be a black-eyed pea before too long if the princess keeps playing "five little monkeys" on the same bed where he is napping.

So long, Summer

Quick! Before the seasons change...check out the Ditchdirt Beachtrip Photo Album. (We finally loaded them into Lightroom):

http://www.frankandstacy.net/photos/ditchbeach/

Jealous much?

Dearest colleagues,

I catch you staring, and I know you must be admiring my look. I realize that I was wearing jeans today and that it is NOT spirit day. I've got spirit, yes I do. But did you notice the subtle details of my ensemble? Like the new hole I poked into my belt with a kitchen knife because I don't have time to shop for new jeans (or a belt) that would actually fit my in-between post-pregnancy body? Did you love the oversized sweater that I threw on at the last minute when I realized it was in the '40's this morning? I didn't even notice that stain on the sleeve until I was in the car and halfway to Sophie's school. Nice touch. Would you, too, like to achieve "stringy" when styling your hair? My trick is showering without actually getting my hair wet (because after packing lunches and bottles and pulling napping materials out of the dryer because of the "incident" yesterday that required us to re-wash everything, I just didn't have any time left this morning to dry my hair). And the coup-de-gras? My scent: the faint smell of sour milk lingering in my clothing after driving all over town this morning with a forgotten bottle that has apparently rolled under a seat. I half-heartedly searched for it when I got home today, but I didn't want to disturb Jameson's snoozefest.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, people.

The Obligatory PPP

(Pumpkin Patch Photoshoot)

Things we did at Sweetberry Farms: romped around in piles of pumpkins, ate pumpin ice cream, got lost in a cornfield maze, shared a burger and a hot dog, drank strawberry lemonade, used a haybale as a changing table, petted goats, took a hayride, picked a cupful of zinnias for a dollar, milked a fake cow, got sunburned.

Things we COULD have done, but didn't: paint a pumpkin, stuff a scarecrow, eat a sausage-on-a-stick, ride a pony. There's always next year...

Here, kitty kitty. And kitty. And sheep. And shark.

We went to a community gathering at Sophie's school Friday night. Costumes were encouraged, but since Momma relied on the world wide web instead of her new sewing machine to supply the demanded princess dress, I wasn't sure we would have her costume in time. It actually DID arrive on our doorstep Friday afternoon, but rather than having the (hideously tacky) dress muddied up on the school playground before it's really Halloween, I picked up a little orange-striped, black-cat t-shirt at Target and slapped some whiskers on her face for the school gathering. She had a grand time meowing and swinging and decorating cookies (hence the green lips in the photo below):


Of course, when you shop at Target, you can't expect an award for originality. Sophie LOVED the idea that there was a "nuther kitty" on the playground and didn't even balk at the fact that the nuther one had cute ears and a tail while Sophie did not.

Sophie adores her new friend Berkeley. We ran into his family at an Obama Mamas picnic, too, and he was so sweet to Soph, grabbing her hand and leading her around. It makes me proud to see her shun the superheroes, power rangers, hulks, and pirate crowd for the warm and wooly type:

And here's a shot of my boyfriend...short, dark, and fat. Too fat to fit into his sister's first Halloween costume, in fact. Good thing his pea costume arrived in the mail this week!
Stay tuned for pictures of the PRINCESS and the PEA!

Mutt and Jeff

We had well-child checks today, and both the childs are well. She is tall (90th percentile) and relatively skinny (60th percentile). He is the opposite --> 90th percentile for weight and 60th for length. And did I mention that he has a fat crease in the middle of his forearm that makes me smile, smile, smile? And that the rolls around his neck beg for bites? I sure do love that fat little man and his tall drink of water sister.

She Remembers Things

Crazy things. Here's a conversation we had Thursday morning. I tried sooo hard not to lead her or push her for any answers, but I was fascinated. Sorry it's a long post -- it was an existential morning.

I sang a song to Sophie while I put on her shoes, and then I said, "My mom used to sing that to me. Nana Jane."
Sophie: Where does Nana Jane live?
Me: Well, she used to live in Fort Worth, with Papa Joel. Now she lives in heaven.
Sophie: I used to live in heaven.
Me: Yep, I bet you did.
Sophie: Yep.
Me: What was it like? In heaven?
S: Mostly it was like sleeping on a big bed.
Me: Oh. What else?
S: They carried me around everywhere, like this (and she does a little dance). Remember?
Me: No, I don't remember that.
S: They carried me around like this (dance dance dance) and then put me in a bassinet.
Me: Were you a baby?
S: No. I was really old. Really, really old.
Me: And they put you in a bassinet?!?
S: Yeah...I got bigger and bigger and bigger and then I was littler and littler and littler and they put me in a bassinet and I was a baby again.
Me: Wow. I didn't know that.
S: But then Jameson didn't have a big sister any more. But now he does again!

I pondered this for a while, wondering about reincarnation and whether or not Sophie is ALWAYS Jameson's sister, regardless of heaven/earth living status.

Me: What else did you do when you lived in heaven?
S: Hmmm. (Thinks for a second.) Mostly we singed.

Through Rose-Colored Glasses