Fish tanks

Yesterday, we went to see Janie's doctor for a check-up. It's a good thing they have an awesome fish tank in that waiting room, because we were waiting for one or maybe five hours.

Oh, and did I mention that our appointment was at 11:45?

A toddler in a waiting room for an hour during lunch time. Heaven on earth.

She did remarkably well, considering. The previously mentioned fish tank proved to be this mama's best friend. Janie stood at the end of tank, keeping me appraised of everything she saw. "WOW! FISH! WOW! BUBBLES! WOW! FISH! WOW! WOW!"

Somewhere in the middle of our eternal wait, another little boy came over to the fish tank to see what all the fuss was about. He ended up at the other end of the tank. Janie kept peeking around from her side of the tank to see what he was up to, and they were soon involved in a very giggly game of peek-a-boo.

Words cannot express how adorable it was. And I admit, I was thinking very proud thoughts... "Oh, look at my girl! She's using actual words with someone that's not me or Rob. She's interacting with another child - a stranger. This is huge! I'm so proud of her!"

And then... the little boy decided (as little boys often do) to take it up a notch. Rather than peeking out with a smile and a laugh, he added in a loud lion's ROOOAARRR!

I'm sure his intentions were good. But oh the tears that little boy caused.

The game was over, effective immediately. We spend the rest of our seemingly never-ending waiting time snuggled up in a very uncomfortable plastic chair.

(To his credit, the little boy did come over to apologize for scaring Janie. I'm not sure that Janie appreciated it, but I did.)

Eventually, we saw the doctor, grabbed a quick lunch and had a nap. The trauma of the morning was forgotten and all was well in Janie's world.

That is, until Rob came home. He and I were chatting about our days, and I launched into a very enthusiastic re-telling of our waiting room highs and lows. Complete with a ROOAARRR!

Oh the tears this mama caused.

Thankfully, Rob was there to snuggle our tearful girl on the sofa, offering kind words and lots of marshmallows. And it wasn't long before all was well in Janie's world once again.

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Paparazzi

Children are paparazzi. They take your picture mentally when you don't want them to, when you don't look good, and show it back to you in their behavior.

- Jamie Lee Curtis, discussing motherhood and out-of-control celebs.

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Ballerina princess

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More ways to waste time on the web

Here are some cool sites I've recently discovered...

Goody blog - all sorts of parenting info, cute clothes and toys, gift ideas, movie reviews - pretty much everything all in one spot.

Cool Mom Picks - the moms who run this site find anything and everything that's cool for moms and kids and post about it here. My current favorite section is Paper Goods.

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Hugs

After church this morning, Janie and I made a quick stop at Safeway. As we wandered the aisles, she sat happily in the cart and kept up a running commentary - pointing out foods (TOAST! PEAS! APPLES!), flowers (RED! PINK! PURPLE!), and the seemingly never ending supply of balloons (POOH! BEARS! ELMO!).

And suddenly, she was quiet for a minute. I looked down to see if everything was okay. And there she was, looking right at me, with a smile and her arms out wide, saying "HUGS! HUGS!"

So we stopped right there, in the middle of the frozen food section, and I leaned into the cart so my sweet baby girl could wrap me up great big bear hug. My heart exploded, just a little bit. And I decided, right then and there, that of all the words Janie has added to her repertoire, 'hugs' is most definitely my favorite.

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Firsts

Over the last couple of days, we've experienced several firsts....

Sunday
Janie had her first scraped knee. Followed closely by a trip to Target for our first box of Care Bear band-aids.

Monday
Our first swim of the summer. And Janie wore her cute new bathing suit for the first time.



After trying it on early in the morning, she loved her cute-bathing-suit-self so much that she wore her bathing suit around the house all morning. She even wore it during speech therapy. Thankfully, I was able to get it off of her with no tears (hers or mine) while she was distracted with a speech therapy toy. But she was all too happy to put it back on after her nap for our big swim. Thanks Grandma for the cute new suit!

Tuesday
Lots of first words...

• Applesauce. Seriously, she said applesauce. All three syllables, and it was totally understandable.
• White polka dots. Because a girl needs to be able to discuss her new favorite fashion statement with accuracy.
• Pink power pill. This is our fun code name for the calcium supplement she takes every day.

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I heart cookie monster

This morning our family enjoyed the musical extravaganza...
Elmo Makes Music.

For details, please check out Rob's recap.

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