Cuteness Overload

I told Cloe I was going to throw her away this morning. She said, "Put me in the trash, Papaw." This in one of the resulting pictures ..

Cort shakes

Cloe (if you read TJ's blog) is now in her terrible two's and repeating everything said to her in a two-year-old way. She is like a little mocking bird, which she will repeat if you call her one (see.)

She says all kinds of things in her own way, and as TJ says, sometimes when she does learn to say it correctly, it isn't really an improvement.

One of the recent things she tried to repeat and got it all mixed up was 'short cakes.' TJ called her short cakes and Cloe promptly repeated, "Cort Shakes."

When she was much younger, (if one could ever be much younger then two) she would get aggrevated and we would distract her by talking to her. She would dutifully listen and try to talk back. As she has gotten older (Gasp .. two) she has gotten better about the proper repeating. She still say "bass tootin" instead of 'Rasputin.'

Once, when she was aggrevated while we were going to church, she got stuck on saying 'mommy.' I said, 'Rasputin,' and she tried to repeat it. It became the last resort (or first laugh) when we were driving. I know that one day, she will be in kindergarten talking about Rasputin. I can't wait for that call from a worried kindergarten teacher.

Until then , "bass tooin cort shakes."

if you say, "Cloe, smile."

hindsight .. so perfect

Looking back, I would have made different decisions. I guess we could all say that.

Our Sunday morning rush .. er .. routine is that we leave home to go to church and pick Cloe up on the way. Non-regular readers, Cloe is our 21 month old granddaughter. She is one of six grandkids. She lives closest to us. She is Sierra's daughter. Again, regular readers will know that Sierra and Cloe lived with us for about 8 months until recently. (TJ says, as she passed by reading over my shoulder .. "None of our readers are regular. Just reading us makes them irregular.) Cloe always goes to church with us on Sunday. It is a good routine for a child to learn. We generally call Sierra when we get up and tell her to have Cloe ready. This rarely happens. Picking her up puts us behind schedule. We mostly make it to church on time, but without pre-service fellowship time.

We had this great idea. Here is where the hindsight comes in. We would keep Cloe on Saturday night. That way she would be up with us already, and we could get her dressed and out the door on time. Great plan or so we thought. We now know that neither of us are ready to slip back into parenting on any kind of full time basis, especially for a bright toddler like Cloe. She had us up until late, playing in our bed. Then, when She was settled and sleeping, I was going to get up and go to the restroom. We have a king size waterbed. So, I, in an effort to reduce any movement, used the sideboard to get up, rather than push on the mattress as I usually do. The sideboard broke loose from the foot and head boards. The mattress survived.

Now, it is after midnight, Cloe is awake again, and I am trying to screw the bed back together. It was useless at that point. There was much more work involved in fixing the bed than just a few screws and good night. TJ and Cloe stayed in the bed. I went to daughters room (she was spending night with a friend) and slept in her bed. I didn't sleep well. TJ didn't sleep well. She froze all night because I wasn't there to keep her warm. Cloe kicked her all night.

Hindsight says:

Do not offer to watch toddler granddaughter overnight until she is around 12 years old.

I know the bed incident wasnt Cloe's fault. It was just a crowning moment to an already otherwise busy night.

Today, after church, we broke down the bed, removed the water, and decided how we needed to proceed. It involves replacing some wood on the foundation and sturdying up some places. Perhaps it will involve scrapping a waterbed and buying a conventional bed. The Doctor already told TJ we need a FIRM bed for her back. He said a waveless mattress was fine if we wanted to keep the waterbed. We are exploring both options.

Daughter is spending night with a friend again, so her bed is available for us tonight. She told us we were not allowed to do the sex thing in her bed. If she isn't allowed, we aren't allowed. I don't know about all that, now.

Cloe meets a legend

bitter sweet

Today is a bitter sweet day. "S" moved into her own place yesterday. After living back with us for many months, she and Cloe have moved out. I admit that it is very difficult for two families to continuously peacefully exist in one household. There were moments of contention. We were not accustomed to the intrusions that having a 20 month old baby brings. "S" was not used to having to live within the parameters of her living here. She had limited freedoms to do as she pleased. So, yes, it was difficult.

That is not to say there were not advantages. "S" was a great help around here, especially after TJ surgery. Her help was invaluable. She cleaned, she did laundry, sometimes she even cooked supper when TJ just was not able to stand long enough to do it. We both appreciate her for all of that.

Then, there was the Cloe. It will be good to have my house back. It will be good to have peace and quiet. However, I will miss hearing Cloe 'escape' her moms eyes and sneaking her way upstairs. She would run into the sitting room with her arms extended, saying "Mommie, Mommie." Which was her way of seeking asylum from the Mommie that was on her way up the stair to recapture her. She would come up with her mom when she was allowed and she would purse those little lips and put the finger up and "shhhhh" so that she wouldn't wake up Mamaw (just in case she was sleeping.) I will miss the good night kisses. I will miss the fresh baby smell as she always visited right after her 'bafffff'. I will miss her running excitedly to my office chair anytime I was not in it, climbing into it, and looking for someone to 'weeeeee' her. She would spin around, saying "weeee", until she was glaze eyed and dizzy.

"S" and Cloe need their own space. They need their own place. "S" needs a place to be "S". Cloe needs a place to be Cloe.

So, last night was their first night at their new place. Cloe had her own 'wooom'.

Yes, it was sweet. It was a slightly bitter sweet.

growing