Shower Time

When most people take a shower, they are alone, enjoying the quiet, relishing the warm spray, possibly planning out their day or maybe unwinding from it. Well, I am not most people. When I take a shower it is like a three-ring circus. Those ten minutes are virtually the only time (except nap time and bed time) that my children are unsupervised. I have my shower down to a science, and I am rarely in there for longer than ten minutes, but BOY, the heck that can break loose in ten minutes never fails to amaze me.

First, Bailey comes in with a toy, which she starts banging on the shower glass. Once I get her to stop doing that, she plays peekaboo with me by looking in the door, then looking in the panel right next to the door. (Mind you, this is all clear glass so it's not like she can hide behind anything.) She leaves and Dioji comes bounding in. He likes to check things out. He usually sits guarding the door for a few seconds, and then he's off again. Next is Emmy. "Mommy, can I take a shower with you? PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?" Me: "No, you are already dressed and I am almost done." (Leaves, pouting. Sometimes manages some crocodile tears.) Then comes the really fun part. Now everyone is out of the bathroom, and I can't see them, but I can hear them. And what do I hear? Thump. THUMP. THUMP THUMP. "WAAAAAAAAA!" Never fails. Every day. I yell, "WHAT'S GOING ON OUT THERE?" Emily yells back, "NOTHING" (which she pronounces "nuh-fing"). Bailey comes back in, crying. I say, "What happened?" Bailey doesn't really talk yet so she just cries some more. Then she leaves. Emily and Dioji run back in. Emily has Dioji's toy. She starts bopping him on the head with it. He jumps up and grabs it, and she runs out, dragging him behind her. Bailey comes back in. She's happy again. I turn off the water. She starts trying to pry the shower door open. I open it, and she gets so excited like she hasn't seen me for a week. I'm wrapping my towel around myself and she's practically jumping up and down, arms raised, yelling, "Up, up, up!"

Nine minutes have passed since I turned on the water and got into the shower. It's no wonder I am exhausted! :)

Princesses

I bought the girls' Halloween costumes today. Emily has been telling me she wants to be a "cowboy girl" for a few weeks, so I got her a cowgirl costume, but she refuses to wear it because it is itchy. We've been dealing with that issue for a while; last Halloween I bought her a Snow White dress and she freaked out when I put it on her ("It hurts! It hurts!"). For the longest time after that she wouldn't even look at a princess dress. I got her a beautiful pink one for her birthday, but it's only within the past month that she'd even try that one on! So, I wasn't really shocked when she didn't like the cowgirl costume. While we were shopping, she chose several costumes but each time, I'd open the package, show her the costume, and say, "Are you going to wear this?" Her response: "No." This morning she tells me she wants to be Cinderella, but I am not buying a Cinderella dress unless she tries it on in the store. she does have some princess costumes that came in a trunk and she'll wear those because they are all "satin," but because they are designed to fit a wide range of kids they don't really fit her all that well. They are totally open in the back and just tie together (that is what she is wearing above).

Bailey, however, has no issues with princess dresses. She went CRAZY over a Snow White dress so I went ahead and got it, figuring if she wouldn't wear it, I could always return it. Well, she LOVED it. She paraded all around the house, twirling and lifting the edge of her skirt just like any good princess would do! And when Daddy got home from work, she CURTSIED. Hah! This morning as I was eating breakfast, she went into her room, got her gown, and brought it to me! She was even trying to take off her shirt so I would put it on her! So cute!

Reading

A few mornings ago I was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking my coffee and reading a magazine while the girls played together in the living room. I heard them both talking (well, Bailey was babbling) at the same time, so I went over to check it out. This is what I saw:


They were both "reading" to themselves. SO cute!! Bailey's book of choice was Once Upon a Potty, and Emily's was David Gets in Trouble.

Bailey!

Bailey is getting to be more and more fun every day. She is finally at that point where she can play with Emily (kind of) unsupervised. They are actually having a tea party right now, and aside from the table being pulled back and forth between them, they are doing really well! Emily is "cooking" and she keeps sending Bailey off to get her ingredients, which Bailey happily does. It's so cute!

Bailey is also rapidly expanding her vocabulary, or at least her understanding. Lately it's been body parts, like if you ask her where her nose is or whatever, she points to it. But my favorite is her belly. If you say, "Bailey, where is your belly?" she tickles herself! It is so cute and so funny!! She also likes to get everyone else's belly, and watch out if you have any exposed skin because she's apt to do a raspberry on it, then giggle hysterically. You can't help but laugh along.

She discovered an old photo of Mommy and Dadddy that I keep on Daddy's nightstand. It's a tiny picture, maybe 3" by 2", in a tiny frame. Well, she LOVES that picture. She ADORES it. Every day, and I mean EVERY day, she goes into my room, gets the picture, and carries it around, all the while pointing at it and yelling, "Dada! Dada!" She also likes our family picture that I have as the desktop background on our pc--she loves to point at that and yell "Dada!" as well. I try to get her to say "Mama" when she sees my picture, but I'm Dada, too. It's funny, she can say Mama, but I don't know that she ever CALLS me that.

Last night my poor baby Bailey was sick with a stomach bug that I recently had, so I was up with her from 1 until 3:30 am. She seemed to perk up a bit but I didn't want to put her back to bed until I was fairly certain the vomiting was over. So, we sat in the living room and watched this totally strange show on Noggin called "Oobi." Man do they have some weird things on at 1:30 am. But she was totally captivated, and when I turned off the tv, she kept going "Ahhhh!" and pointing at it. Then (now this is the child who is sick, remember) she goes around behind my back and yells, "UH-OH" because she wants to play "Where is Bailey?" Stinker!! I love her, love her, love her!!