Fun!

I love this picture of Aria! Not just bc to me, she is the cutest lil' girl on Earth ;-) but, bc it shows her face when she is as happy as she can be! I want her to smile like that all day ;-) Making her happy is fun ;-) She is actually being pushed on the swing by daddy, and smiling at Daddy and Uncle Chris here. Emily took the pic. I was away changing a poopy diaper. haha! The night this picture was taken, we went to see fireworks. Aria AND Chanson loved them! I knew Aria would (although, she said she was scared a few times, but then never took her eyes from the sky). I thought Chanson would either be scared or would be oblivious. I was wrong! He watched with BIG eyes the whole time. He loved it! That was fun. I love the 4th of July and I love fireworks!!!

OK so I have a lot to write, so, hopefully you'll stay with me ;-) Who knows how long it will take for me to write this bc Aria decided not to take a nap today (except 20 mins in the car). UGH! She just took off her dress bc it was "wet" (it isn't) and needs a new dancing dress. She is waiting for me at the stairs as I type this. She would wear 50 different dancing dresses a day if she could, I think

I'm surprised she used the "my dress is wet" excuse. Usually it's "the bugs ate it" or "the bugs got it" not sure where this came from, but she says it at least 5 times a day. Probably more. It's not always an excuse, just a statement. Most times, it makes no sense. She said the other day that Lauren had a birthday party, but no cake. I asked why, and she said "cuz the bugs got it". Lauren did in fact have a birthday, but she did have cake, and there were no bugs on it ;-) When I was putting her to bed the other night, she said "the bugs eat mamas eyes?" I said no, the bugs won't. She asked if they'd eat daddy's eyes? baby's eyes? It's really strange. I don't know where she gets it from, but she brings it up almost every night before bed. I hope she doesn't have nightmares or something. I've tried to ask her, but haven't come up with anything yet.

I have to say that Matthew and I are really thankful to have such a sweet girl. She is just a really good kid, and has been so easy to discipline. She definitely has her moments, and needs to be corrected sometimes, but, she just responds really well to it. She doesn't ever throw fits or tantrums. Even the other day when she went to the doctor, and got a dum dum. She LOVES suckers. She started eating it, but I had to take it away while we drive (the top ends up coming off bc she chews it off somehow) and I was afraid she'd cry bc she was enjoying it so much. I just told her I had to take it while we drove and I'd give it back. She said "ok! here you go" and handed it over. She still loves time outs. Seriously she really likes them, still. But, they are effective, so I just keep it up. It always goes like this, though. I say "Aria, if you do that one more time, you are going into time out" and then she says "OK Aria in time out" and goes into time out. Weird... The doctor asked how discipline was going and I told her this. She'd never heard of a kid liking time outs before.

Oh speaking of her doc appt. She is:

26 lbs

33.75 inches tall

Both are 50%. So, now Aria and Chanson are 50% in both height and weight.

Anyway... here are some daily funnies

Aria was looking at her arms in the car, and noticed there was hair on them. She said "mama! I have whiskers! Look!"

We were walking to our car in the parking lot, and Aria spotted a pink car. She was insistent that we get into the pink car to drive home. I tried to tell her we had to drive our own car. I think it would be nice, however, to be able to pick whichever car I wanted to drive home in ;-) (although I do heart my VW!)

As I was putting her to bed, she said "mama, Aria go to the moon." I guess she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up.

Aria makes up songs ALL the time. I'll find her just sitting there singing about whatever it is she is doing at the moment, or she will start singing in the grocery store, etc. She's made up songs about Uncle Chris and Emily, even. She also wants me to make up songs. Matthew, Aria and I were in the car the other day and she asked us to "sing a song about little boy, and drinking water in the shower?" she said. I thought she wanted two different songs, but she corrected me when I did that by repeating her instruction again. Eventually I got it. What she meant by "sing a song about little boy", is Mary Had a Little Lamb. She sings it "Mary had a little boy, little boy". But, she wanted me to add the part about drinking water in the shower... (which she was just doing earlier that day... drinking the water in the shower and singing about it in the shower.) AND she wanted all 3 of us to sing it all together.

Speaking of singing... when she goes to bed, we have a routine. Brush teeth, read books on rocking chair, and the cuddle time (while sitting in rocking chair), then crib. During cuddle time, she sometimes wants me to sing. I usually sing "I love Aria" to the Frère Jacques melody (with an added syllable). At the same time I sang I love Aria, she started singing with me, saying "I love mama". I thought that was sweet!

A strange thing that happened... I was driving to a music shop, and turned the wrong way. I knew that I turned the wrong way, but didn't say anything about it. Aria was in the backseat, and as I turned the wrong way, she said "Going the wrong way, mom". How on Earth did she know that? It was strange. Then I u-turned, and I asked her if I was going the right way now, and she said Yes.

She thinks it's funny when you throw her stuffed animals in the air and they fall down. She thinks it's hilarious sometimes. Always has. Now, she takes her stuffed animals, throws them in the air, and when they fall, she gets a very concerned look on her face and says "awww, the bear bonked his head" or "awwwww, meow meow hurt the foot" and she cuddles them to make it all better... and then throws them again. She also has a lego Elmo you can put together and take apart. She likes to take off his legs and arms and laughs as she does it. She wants me to take off his legs and arms, and just laughs and laughs as I do it. Should I be concerned??

I love the way she says certain words... my fave is definitely Oakie (Cookie). I love it when she sings "C is for Oakie". That cracks me up! Some of my other faves are "bobalies" for batteries and how she says California cal-eeee-for-neeee-a. My dad gave her snickerdoodle cookies, and she thought they were "Mr. Noodle" cookies, and kept calling them that.

She is still ending most questions with "right, mom?" She's started lately to end statements with "I think" She says it "I theeeeenk" like she is Speedy Gonzales. An example of this... I've been testing other types of milk to see if she likes it, now that she is 2 and doesn't need whole milk. I drink soy milk, so sometimes I'll ask if she wants to take a drink of mama's milk, and she tries the soy milk. She USED to like it. Well, lately her reaction to soy, rice, or almond milk in her sippy cup has been ..."ewwww. Different one! Mama's milk, I theeeeenk. It's dirty, I theeenk. Mom, it's old, I theeeenk. Aria's milk please?" and she'd repeat these over and over. I think I got the point! :-)

She was counting the other day, and it went like this... "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,14,16,17,twelveteen. YAY! Aria did it!" Hmmm... She doesn't always say twelveteen, but she ALways skips 13. She's like an elevator.

Aria got to play a real violin the other day. I almost started to bawl it was so darn cute! I CANNOT wait to get her one! The violin is a 1/32 size. It's like a Christmas ornament. She held it up really well, too! She is already doing "mississippi hotdog" with her bow, too ;-)

Another thing she keeps doing is having little convos with herself, but it sounds like she is talking to someone... like this "Aria go sit on the couch? Yes? OK? Ok! Aria will" She does this a lot, not sure why.

She likes to preted to make me food and then bring it to me to taste. The other day she made me "stir fry" I thought that was interesting... usually she makes me oakies. Today she put her Dora figures in a crib, put a lid on it, and stuck it in her play oven. Again... should I be concerned?? :-) Do I see a little of Uncle Adam coming out in her? OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few days ago, out of the blue, she asked me to paint her fingernails, put ponies in her hair AND wear her sunglasses. I've never tried (or asked or suggested) to paint her fingernails, but I'm sure she just wanted me to bc I'd painted her toenails for her birthday. The ponies and sunglasses though.. I've tried and tried to get her to wear either, and gave up long ago. Now SHE wants to wear them! Her ponytails are funny, though. They end up little puffs. Aria says she wants BIG ponies.

Aria is calling me MOM almost always now. Where did Mama and Mommy go? I think it sounds so grown up when she says it. Daddy is often Dad, but he still is Daddy a lot of the time.

She also loves to wear flip flops, which I think is just about the cutest thing ever!

Chanson... no funny stories for him, but, he sure thinks life in general is funny! He just has this irresistable smile! His eyes really sparkle when he smiles or laughs, too. What a happy boy! He's doing great with his routine. It's the same as it's always been, only stretched out to every 4 hours for the last few weeks or so. He's THREE months old TODAY! Still sleeping well, for the most part. I definitely cannot complain. He is just a really good baby! He likes to play airplane. We hold him up high, parallel to the ground, and move him around like an airplane. He keeps his body straight as can be. He likes to stand up, too. If you put him in a sitting position, he'll straighten his legs most times and stand (of course, we're holding him around his waist). He's just a little love!!!

Aria still loves him! We went to a baseball game on Sunday, and left Chanson with Mina. Aria was sooo sad he didn't come with. She cried and wanted the baby to come with. Here I was feeling guilty we hadn't had any JUST Aria time (Sunday was the 1st time she was away from Chanson since he came home from hospital).

OHHH this is really long!!