Six Suckers and Sister Eggs

The missionaries stopped by one day while Jake was at scouts.  Since there are 3 elders they were able to come in and share a message with me.  Instead they sat at the table and watched my one man circus that is my new life.  Babies crying, Scarlett running around passing out dum dums from the big sucker bag I gave her to share with them, me trying to carry a conversation, my face bright red from exertion   Exhausting.  I could tell they wanted to help but just had no idea how.  Finally the babies fell asleep swaddled in their carseats and we had a few quiet minutes.  As they were leaving they were like - "let us know if there is anything we can do."  Too bad all I need is a nap.  After they left and I put the girls to bed I was picking up the living room.  Next to Scarlett's chair I found a bunch of sucker wrappers and not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 6 sucker sticks!  She realized I was distracted and capitalized on my weak moment!  I bet she didn't even lick them but crunched them down as fast as she could!  Little stinker!

Since we've been back from Utah Scarlett has had some major separation anxiety.  She doesn't want to leave my sight.  Not ever.  She won't even go to the store with Jake.  On a show it asked "do you want to build a sandcastle?" Normally she would tell the TV "yes."  But instead she said "No, I want to stay home!"  Another show: "Want to come in the Mickey Mouse clubhouse?" "No, I want to go to mom's house."  She has told me several times "I miss my dad" or even "Mom, I miss you."  She's been super clingy and wants to sit on the nursing pillow when I feed the babies (we are a hot mess).  And occasionally she has kissed the walls in our kitchen and said "I love Scarlett's house."

At first I was getting really frustrated by all of this, but then my mom pointed out what it's been like from Scarlett's point of view.  We left our house for a month without warning, her dad was missing for two of those weeks, then all the fun people we were with just disappeared when we went home.  I feel a lot more sympathetic toward her now.  I realize now that even though we had a lot of fun on vacation, it's been a lot to handle for a 2 year old who doesn't quite understand what's going on.

Part of this new phase is she will cry hysterically in nursery.  The leaders bring her to find us because she's being so disruptive.  So one of us will have to sit in the room with her, or even in the hallway with her on our lap.  It's frustrating.  If you have any ideas of how to snap her back into her happy-go-lucky extrovert self - I'm all ears!

Scarlett's Sayings

• "Mom you getting bigger."  Hmmmm.... I haven't grown vertically since eighth grade. What is she talking about? I think I am offended...
• "How's it do?" Means how does it work?
• "Sister eggs" Means Easter eggs
• "You a silly goosey"
• "I need hee-elp"
• "I do it all by seelf"

I saw Scarlett had cleaned Mac and cheese off the floor.  I asked her if she did it so I could tell her great job: "Scarlett, did you clean the floor?"  "Yep, I ate it!"  Ummmm.... I guess that's one way to clean.

Scarlett seems to be getting hurt a lot lately (bumps and scrapes).  I think that she went through a growth spurt and hasn't calibrated to her new center of gravity yet.  Hopefully...

Food Storage

We were talking to our neighbors one night when we were out on a family walk.  They have a dog, Boomer, that Scarlett wanted to pet so bad but was too scared.  But during our conversation she would build courage and get a little closer to the dog.  By the end she even gave the dog a hug!  I was so proud of her. 

When we're in the shower she likes to paint with the shaving cream on the walls.  I draw shapes on her palm and she uses them like stencils.  She enjoys it and it all washes down the drain at the end.  My kind of painting!

Scarlett's new night time song is one I made up.  It's very complex and I'm probably going to get nominated for a Tony.  It goes like this: The sun goes to sleep, the trees go to sleep, the stars go to sleep, the leaves go to sleep, the cars go to sleep, the bed goes to sleep, the babies go to sleep, the ... goes to sleep.....  She calls out whatever and they go to sleep.  Sometimes she goes on and on and on - everything in our house has to go to sleep.  It's funny to hear what she thinks about: the lights, the street, the swings, the birds, the moon, the food, the fridge, the spoons, the toys, the bears, etc.

One day she found an empty toilet paper roll on the floor that had a little left on it. "Mommy, it's wearing jammies!  It matches mommy."  I guess I dress like a paper towel roll.

The other day she came into the living room with a toy from upstairs.  I thought I had locked the gate so I went to check.  It was still locked.  I asked her "did you go upstairs?"  "yes"  "Can you show me how?"  She then proceeded to show me how she can unlock our safety gates.  Uh oh.  The funny part is she always locks it when she comes downstairs.  I guess she doesn't realize it was locked for her in the first place.  Oh well, it's a good habit for her to have when the babies get mobile.