Gracie is Funny

Ask her, she'll tell you - she's funny. Here's some of the more recent ones...

1. She was watching So You Think You Can Dance and first she yells "whoa look at that skirt" (it was flapper-esque)then when she started dancing Grace yelled "Dance Girlie, shake those hips!"

2. Grace drools when she sleeps, now if she wakes up and there's a wet spot she'll say "Ooops...I dripped"

3. I asked Grace if she wanted to dance..."Do your happy feet" I said to which she replied "My feet aren't happy they are stinky"

4. Grace started Moo-ing when I changed her poop after nap. "Why are you moo-ing Grace" "Because it stinks like cows"

5. Grace likes to ride the carousel at the mall and the lady asked Grace if she liked horses: "Yes I do but Mom doesn't; she's kind of a scaredy horse"

The World Through Her Eyes

I know Grace is smart. She's constantly picking up on things and adding new material to her ever growing bag of tricks and yet I had somehow allowed myself to believe she would only pick up the good. Now I'm not so naive to think that her yelling at driver's in traffic is not directly related to my own behavior nor can I blame anyone but myself for her yelling fucking idiot (that was the last time either of us said it) but I did think that she was only repeating these things and that the real internalization of stuff was still on the road ahead...how wrong I was...

The first glint of this was the other night while I was on the phone with Dallan. His company tends to delay the basics of truck maintenance and as a result we are separated for much longer than even we've become accustomed to. I was frustrated (it's been over two weeks since we've last seen him) and I was getting louder, not at him but the situation. Grace started to immediately say I'm sorry mommy, I'm sorry. For what I asked. Because you yelled at daddy... How can I explain to this precious little thing that just because I'm yelling at daddy I'm not yelling at daddy. She never sees us fight (probably because she never really sees us together) and this is really rocking her world, any heightened tone leads her to apologize quickly and it breaks my heart.

Then today Grace caught me crying when she woke up from nap. I wiped the tears quickly away and tried to pretend nothing was wrong. From Grace's mouth: "I need to cry too 'cause you can't alone."

How wonderfully in tune she is and yet I had wished she wouldn't know heartache or sadness. Unfortunately, this too seems to have come to Grace sooner than it normally does and I know it is only the beginning in this category, but how thankful I am that she says what's she's thinking. Hopefully as time goes on this too will continue and this beautiful gift will continue to embody the name she carries.

Learning Our Colors

For Father's Day, Grace, Auntie Moe and I took Grandpa to a River Cats baseball game. Grace and I weren't able to make it until the fourth inning so we were only there about two hours, but my sunburn would lead you to believe I had been sunbathing for a week...

Fast forward to Tuesday...When I picked Grace up from "school" Miss Melanie said to me "Wow, did you get sunburned!" Grace piped in and said "yeah, mommy is PINK and I got BROWN!" Ummm...we exchange glances and I thought quickly about how to handle this milestone in our multi-racial family..."Grace you were always brown..." "Oh" she said, "then I got BLACK!" I just smiled.

She is accurate about 75% of the time when it comes to her colors, the one time she always is right is the color white, though for Grace it is the color "milk", as in "I want to wear my milk shorts" or "those clouds are milk" or "mommy you are milk". Indeed baby I am...

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

Ms. G went to his first baseball game today and she was more into the game than half the people dotted across the lawn seats...She couldn't get enough of everything she saw and she kept screaming "BAAAASSSSEEEBALL mommy". A few weeks back we went camping and Grace picked up a bat and ball and actually managed to hit a few. Surprisingly she can pitch that ball too...More interesting is how she can do it with either her left or right hand...

Today my dad said that maybe I should look into t-ball for her. I didn't know she was paying attention but she jumped right in and said "I'm gonna be a star!"

I'm anticipating many a summer day at a baseball diamond... :)

Catching Up

It is always astounding to me how fast time flies and how the moments seem to be elusively slipping through our fingers. Not updating this is in no way an indication of Grace's lack of all-together-way-too-cuteness but rather a telling tale of her mother trying to hold it all together and keep up...

For those of you that get to experience Grace in all her vibrant living, you know there is absolutely nothing baby left about this remarkable little girl. We've reflected a lot the last month about the joy of bringing her home two years ago. We've also reflected on how a mere three years ago, parenting seemed such a far off adventure. And now, well we can't function without her smiles (and tiffs of tissy) and laughter (and screaming), her independence (translate stubbornness) and cuddly (nee clingy)nature. Here's some highlights from the past little bit...

1. Coming home the other night, the windows were rolled down and a man on a motorcycle pulls up. He revs the engine for no reason and Grace shakes her head, hunches her shoulders, throws up her hands and says "that's just ridikalis..."

2. Grace has been pushing boundaries and when I say "Can you listen please" without missing a beat, Grace will say "I can but I won't"

3. When Grace has to apologize after a time out she will say first "sorry I had a freakout"

4. At night when she prays, she has a unique way of thanking Heavenly Father for similar things to our family prayers: I will say thank you for our home and our full bellies, Grace says thank you for tall walls and yummy fruit woops (regardless of what food it is she ate...)

5. Grace knows her full name, Grace Sofia Wivingston just like mommies is Mommy Kirsten Grace's mommy Wivingston.

6. Grace wants to be a mommy. Yes you read that right; she doesn't just want us to have another baby she wants one of her own. Luckily she promised to be a bride and wife first...

7. Ask her, she has Bieber fever (daddy might too...)

8. Finally we can comb through her hair without neighbors suspecting we are murdering her...to get through it she gives herself a pep talk: "It's no big deal. I'm a big girl. It's gonna be over soon"

9. "Guess what," Grace says, "you are my favorite"...no baby, you are...

10. Enjoy the many faces of Grace....

Dare I Say....

Ms. G might actually be potty trained! We had number one down but somehow she just couldn't (or wouldn't) go number two. Then I called it a turd and magically that has solved the problem...

So in case you're wondering, going poop on the potty isn't good enough but losing a turd is...

Whatever she calls it, we're glad she's doing it!

Lets Makeup...

Last night I went to an Arbonne party with some of the ladies from school. It was fun and they were great for allowing me to bring Ms. G to the party and then to indulge her crazy singing (ba-ba black sheep), her cookie crumbs and constant bathroom trips. By the time we had gotten to the part about makeup, she was fixated and asked the demonstrator if she could play with some "akeup". I figured since it was all natural she would be okay... Okay however is an inexact term. She was better than okay at working the mirror and eye shadow applicator. She was a pro at displaying her handy work. Too bad it was more of a "costume" look rather than everyday wear....She was thrilled and I was amused and here it is for your viewing pleasure:

Things are better in threes....

It has been awhile but that doesn't mean Ms. G isn't up to something, just means mom is behind in recording. So with no further adieu here's the top three...

1. Grace is actually doing good in nursery in our new ward. She even learned a new song that she sings so loud you can hear her as you come down the hallway. "Ring around the rosy...asses, asses, asses...we all fall down." Yeah she sings it just like that and then she laughs so hard it makes you forget she's cussing and at church no less...

2. Someone we love very much is about to have a baby. When I told Ms. G she said "yay now I can have one too!" Umm, not really kiddo...So I told her she could have one when she was a wife to which she replied, "well then make me a wife!"

And my personal favorite and the one that lets me know we must be doing something right....

We were looking at all the pictures in Grace's room. We have a framed picture of her and her birth mother Linda when Grace is about two months old. So the conversation unfolds like this:
Ms. G: Who's that?
Me: Your mommy.
Ms. G: Nope, YOU my mommy.
Me: Okay, that's Linda holding you.
Ms. G: Kiss Linda mommy

And then we both did because lets be real, we wouldn't have been there without her.

New Favorite

Grace has a new favorite topping for her ice cream: Marsh Mennlows. She loves 'em and we love hearing her ask for them!

By Myself...

Blatant warning here: Grace is going to the bathroom in the video. It isn't vulgar or anything but if hearing/seeing others use the restroom is not not your style don't watch, but I promise it's funny....

On other notes, Ms. G has taken to saying some pretty funny things of late, they are:
1. If you ask her to share something she will say "but of course"
2. Apparently she's SCCCAAAARRRRED of everything. I'm scared that she sounds like a rapper for Atlanta when she says it.
3. When she goes outside she's looking for a few things: turkeys, bunnies, birds and poop. Good thing too because poop she says "stinks like crap".
4. When I leave for school she says "bye bye mommy, I might be good!"

Enjoy the video and our little love bug!

At one point I start laughing after Grace says something, you can't make out what it is, but she said she's "making bubbles"; she's amazed that when the urine combines with the toilet water you get such a reaction. It makes me laugh every time....

Playing the Piano

Last night as we were wrapping up dinner I said to Dallan and Grace, "I have to go do some homework" to which Grace replied, "Me too". Needless to say we were curious so I asked her what kind of homework she had to do and she said "I need to study my piano book. It's important."

I'm really not sure where she comes up with this stuff but I'm thrilled if she wants to play the piano....

Sicko

I'm totally sick. I knew it would happen since the move is this week and I have five papers due and even though I've been taking care of myself I still woke up sick this morning. When I came home from class (I have a 3 hour break) all I wanted to do was sleep on the couch. Ms. G sat with me the entire time and rubbed my head. She said "was wrong mama. is okay. i make you feel better". Any time I would cough or shift she would too and say "is okay, is okay. I here."

So glad she is!

Spanking and a Tattoo

We are trying, amidst everything, to clean as we go during this move. In the spirit of this I needed to vacuum the other night but as soon as I plugged the stupid thing in, it smelled like burning rubber. Luckily Dallan was home and he got right on it. Trouble was, Grace wanted to help too. He must've told her a ten times to stop putting her hand in the socket but she wouldn't listen. He told her again that if she did it she'd get a spank...well you can see where this is going....It isn't funny or cute that she was misbehaving it was the fact that as soon as Dallan turned around, she spanked him and said, "no hitting daddy. its bad"

Truth from the babes mouth....

On Saturday, I had to work so Ms. G spent the day with Auntie Moe and Cam. Somewhere in there, she got a fake tattoo ( a tattoon if you ask her). It's a teddy bear. With a chain saw. Big enough to cover the better part of her lower leg. And she is dang proud of it. She wanted to take a picture to show daddy but now it's game for everyone to see....





And a few shots just because she's cute!

Bedtime Cuddles

Since we're moving we've eliminated everything from upstairs, which means Grace is in bed with us (save your opinions for someone who cares...). Last night as we were thisclose to sleep, Grace sat straight up and yelled at Dallan to turn the light off (she gets it backwards when she is flustered). Once he did, she looked at him, wrapped herself around his head and while stroking his face said, "is okay, I'm here Daddy, I'm here" all while rocking back and forth. When we kissed her and giggled she started laughing too and laid down. Then we kissed one another and she said "guys, guys GUYS that's disgusting"...

The rocking made me think of this amazing shot (thanks again N'tima!):





This morning while getting ready for school she couldn't decide what shoes to wear. Literally a ten minute process. I was proud. Dallan was annoyed. He said she simply had too many options to choose from. I verbally agreed but inside, inside I was screaming "She LOVES shoes! YEEEEESSSS!!!!"

She ended up with these ones:

What Did You Say

It's Grace's new dictum and while we understand her perfectly well she slurs it together like she's from the streets of Brooklyn and it comes out more like whad u say mommy?

It's often accompanied by this look:



What can I say, she is just too cute!

It's O'Clock

Ms. G spent this past weekend with Auntie Bop and Janielle while Auntie Moe and I experienced our first Sundance Film Festival. I picked her up this morning and got the best hug ever, amidst giggles and kisses. It was what heaven will be like; I'm sure of it! It was the first time she slept away from home and while we were nervous, she acted like an old traveling pro - charming the pants off of everyone.

Her highlights:

1. Thanks to her mimicking Auntie Geo (Janielle) she now puts her hand up and says "wait, wait a minute"

2. When she was at Granny and Grandpa's the lights went out and she stood up and yelled, "oh liiiigggghhhhttttssss"

3. It's been officially decided: she watches Happy Feet and Lilo and Stitch too much: she's quoting the WHOLE thing!

4. When you ask what time it is, she looks at her wrist and says "it's o'clock". I asked her where she learned this: "daddy looks watch. I look at daddy".

Collective sigh....

And So It Begins...

I know January is almost over and as such I'm a little behind on this goal, but if the joy is in the doing that I'm happy to be typing away.....

Grace is something else. Anyone who has met her has fallen for her; she casts this little magical web over people that entrances and entices. She's also growing up way too fast for mommy's liking!

I wanted to track her; her likes and dislikes. Her good days and bad. At year's end I want to combine it all and make her a book; a year captured in her favorite form. Everyone told us how fast she'd grow and while we believed these to be true statements, I'm astounded by the presence of a girl, not my baby. As she's taken to saying these days, "I'm not a baby but lets make a baby."

Here's hoping life doesn't derail me in this endeavor!