Miss PattyCake

Around our house, Miss PattyCake is the supreme celebrity.  My dear friend Carolynn introduced us to her at some point in the last couple of years, and we are in love.  All of us.  This sweet lady and her DVDs have helped me get many a meal finished or laundry load put away.  The girls adore her and are spellbound pretty much any time she's on.

A few months back, we were beyond thrilled to get to see our hero in concert with Mops and Pops.  (No, Mops and Pops weren't in concert... they just took us!)  While we waited to meet Miss PattyCake, Pops sneakily shopped the merch table and snagged all three girls a Miss PattyCake t-shirt.  (These have temporarily bought me a reprieve from making them MissPC dresses, glory be.)

The girls looooooove their shirts.  Like, they ask to wear them the second they come out of the dryer.  And honestly, they're usually asking me about it before I've even tackled their laundry for the week.  The other day, I noticed that Ruthie actually really loved her shirt, too!

After lunch, she fished hers out of her laundry basket and brought it to me, signing please.   It was dirty.  I said no.  I tossed it back in the basket.  And then, she brought it back to me.  And I tossed it back in the basket.  And then, she brought me her sister's shirt.  And then yesterday, Ruthie spies the shirt, folded, inside her laundry basket, and starts trying to pull it out through the holes.  She was absolutely beside herself when I put it on over her outfit.

Roo has also made the connection that the shirt is Miss PattyCake... so now, she thinks that every time she wears the shirt, she needs to watch as well.  She is so precious it's ridiculous. And right now, she just happens to be in her sister's shirt, which was hijacked out of the laundry basket...

Summering

Once upon a time, a certain mommy somehow neglected to put a waterproof mattress pad on her potty-training-daughter's bed, so after a particularly wet naptime, the mattress need some, ahem, airing out.  Sometime after suppertime, my super husband dragged the mattress back inside and I attached the pad and sheet while the mattress was laying in the kitchen.

And then Ruthie discovered the fun that is mattress-on-the-floor.  Of course, her sisters joined her pretty quickly, and we had a full-on jumping-on-the-bed party at 7:30pm.  No little monkeys bonked their heads in this party, and no mamas had to call the doctor.  But the giggles were good medicine for a tired Mama who'd had a really long day with a teething baby and a non-existent naptime.  And way fun for the kiddos.

We've also had an unbelievable amount of fun outside so far this summer.  I think that, prior to this year, I was a total sissy about the heat.  And really fearful about my kids getting too hot.  But I decided we were all going to put on our big girl britches and play outside... and it has been wonderful.

We've been hitting the pavement in my triple jogger every day around nine, so we all come home sweaty, stinky, and ready to hose ourselves off.  Saturday, Michael surprised us by taking a break from his yard work and tracking us down in the truck to shoot us with a super soaker.  It rocked my world.  It's a total jackpot when we find a neighbor who happens to be watering the sidewalk as well as their lawn... the kids flip out when we run through the sprinkler while strapped into their seats.  We look like a traveling circus.  If I had a dollar for every time a neighbor asked me if I really had three in there...

I honestly thought they would be major whiners and complainers about the heat, but once the temperature hit ninety I laid down the law that there would be absolutely no complaining about the heat.  None.  And y'all, they haven't complained.  It's been a good check for me as well; if I won't let them grumble about the mercury, I can't do it either.  It's my little three-child accountability group.

We've been staying cool with frozen treats (the favorite is banana pops, although they are unbelievably messy in the hands of Ruthie), tons of ice water, and the sprinkler.

 

The other day, I let the girls take over control of the hose after I finished watering... to say they loved it is an understatement.  I'm always amazed at what their precious, creative little minds come up with!  Phoebe engineered some sort of water spout involving the playhouse and pretended to be Rapunzel, and Nora filled a bucket and turned herself into Cinderella.  Ruthie ended up free of her clothes.  Oh, these are sweet days!

I am humbled to know that the Lord chose me to do this.  He is gracious and merciful, and abounding in love!

15 Months

Okay, I realize that month-day posts are really lame... and since I post about twice a month, that means it's super-lame over here... but I'm evidently too stubborn to give up the ghost.  And honestly, I really like being able to easily click around and see what these sweet babies were doing every month for their first two years of life.  So there.

Ruthie is, remarkably, fifteen months old.  And not a big sister.  It's very strange to me that I'm not big as a house with a baby brother or sister for her.  I'm so thankful that the Lord has given us a little margin between babies this go around.  For that reason, I think that she's really seeming like a baby still to me... and I love it.  Ruthie, stay small!

At fifteen months, Ruthie is...

• still a great sleeper.  Honestly, her sleep habits have been a blessing lately.  Sleeps twelve hours or so at night (I often have to wake her in the morning) and is taking a morning nap that lasts about forty-five minutes (I almost always have to wake her up from this one) and an afternoon nap that generally lasts anywhere between one-and-a-half and two-and-a-half hours.  I think she's wearing herself out in this heat!  [Okay, so I started this post this morning... and she proceeded to throw herself a good old fashioned hissy fit at her afternoon nap...]
• still holding strong at six teeth.  Seriously.  She's crabby and sort of on a hunger strike, so I keep thinking that we'll see three or four pop through... but nothing yet.
• a scrappy little girl who totally keeps up with her big sisters.  She now joins in the dancing in the kitchen, and will occasionally twirl on command.  She also loves to climb up on the sisters' bench at the table, and generally believes there's absolutely nothing that they can do that she can't do.  She's mastered climbing up our little playset and sliding down by herself.
• a lover of books, but they still have to be board books for her to enjoy them.  Unless it's a Carl book, and in that case, she'll read those over and over again.  Recently she's started saying "hush" when we read Goodnight Moon.  Precious!
• responding to yes or no questions and stating her opinion with great success.  She's going through a pretty frustrating period of wanting to communicate more... I have to keep reminding myself that she will grow out of this.  She's saying a few more words, though I can't think of them now.  She doesn't really love to play the repeating game yet, but she babbles a lot.  She also makes animal noises for cows, dogs, cats, and birds.
• starting to experience some separation anxiety, especially with Mama.  
• sort of not into eating right now.  I'm not sure if it's because she has bigger and better things to do or if she's just slowing down her appetite.  Perennial favorites are strawberries (the bigger the better), yogurt, cheese, veggie straws, raisins, hot dogs, and noodles.
• seems to be particularly interested in cars (loves this transportation book we have), and she loves to push this little scoot car around the house and yard.
• loves to play in her Mouse House (the pack and play) and will often say "yes" when we ask her if she wants to go... score!  Because she's done so awesome with this, I've neglected to blanket train her... but I'm pretty sure that's right around the corner.
• loves to wear hats and glasses, and to carry around purses. 
• loves to pretend play with her Mousie and baby dolls -- she'll give her dolls bottles, or she'll let Mousie taste food.  LOVE the adorable little eating noise she'll make!

...and that's about all my brain can handle right now.  Does anyone else feel that the heat is sucking the life out of you?  Or at least your brain cells?  At any rate, happy fifteen months, Roo!