What did you say? There's a monkey at the hospital?

Maliana ~

Well, I began the week with some very sage advice from you honey. You woke up on Tuesday morning early, and hung out with me while I got ready for work. As I was finishing up in the bathroom, you looked at me in all seriousness and said, “Mommy, don’t pee in your pants, at work.” My dear that was probably the best advice I received all day and I am happy to report that Tuesday was a success…no soggy pants for me! Ha ha.

And while you started the day with such wisdom…it had crumbled (hysterically) by evening. You, Daddy and I had gone out for dinner and to run some errands when you saw a policeman in the restaurant. He was waiting outside the bathrooms and as we came out, you did your usual “Hi policeman!” (you love those men in uniform), but the situation got a little touchy when you took it a bit further and innocently went for his gun, asking “What’s that?” He jumped a little bit and I thought you were going to get tazed (well, not really). He was a good sport though.

You were so silly acting that night, as we walked out to the car Daddy asked you if we could test your urine and you said “Yep!”. Then when I said, “Mali, you’re so fun!” you grinned and nodded, saying “Yeah…thank you!” Ha ha.

When I picked you up from school one day, I walked in and was surprised to see you leading a game of Simon Says for your whole class. Your teachers said you just started doing it all on your own, out of the blue…and nearly all the kids were paying attention and playing. It was pretty cool to see you in that capacity, with the kids so receptive to you. You really are a natural leader.

Later that same day we had a visit from Audrey Ayi and we all went to eat at Red Robin. Of course, as soon as our food hit the table you had to go to the bathroom (your usual stunt). As we finished up washing our hands, Bruno Mars’s song, “Just the Way You Are” came on and you exclaimed, “That’s my song! Let’s dance!” So you grabbed my hands and we started dancing and jumping around the bathroom. Well, just at that moment this little old lady walked in, but instead of following my natural instinct to be mortified, I asked her if she wanted to join our ‘dance party’…and she said yes! The three of us shook our booties between the sinks and the stalls. You thought it was great (I think the little old lady did too), and even kept on dancing all the way to the table. It was one of the ridiculously delicious moments that you get to have when you have kids…and I’m so lucky that you are the kind of kid crazy enough to do it too! Just like I said to you the other night…you are so fun!

The fun continued as you, Audrey and I stopped at Old Navy on the way home. You tried on a couple of Halloween costumes they had there and decided you particularly loved the monkey. You “ooh ooh ooh aah aah’ed” around the store, refusing to take it off. It was so funny! None of the shoppers expected to encounter a monkey while quietly shopping, and it was funny to watch their expressions change when they saw you. Audrey Ayi just couldn’t let you leave without the costume so she went ahead and bought it for you, which was really nice of her. Now, I think the monkey has officially booted Buzz Lightyear out of first place in costume choices this Halloween. We’ll see, come October 31st.

who's hungry for a hamburger?

surprising shoppers from your monkey cage (aka the clothing racks)

We got to see Wai Gong and Memaw Lisa quite a bit this week. They brought over cake for Daddy and I’s birthdays one night and we all had dinner together.

make a wish!

The next visit wasn’t under such good circumstances, but we made it fun nonetheless. Wai Gong had shoulder replacement surgery and so we went to visit him at the hospital. You wore the monkey costume that you just got so not only did you brighten Wai Gong’s day, but you surprised everyone on that wing of the surgery center. After all, how often do you run into a 3 ft tall monkey at the hospital?

The weekend was nice. Aunt Lindsey had invited us to meet her and some friends at a pumpkin patch. It was a little cold and very windy, but we had fun anyway and you were so excited to see your Aunt Lindsey.

Aunt Lindsey was the last one on our wagon to find her pumpkin...
you went to go check on her and bring her back to the tractor.

You spent one on one time with Daddy this weekend too. While I was running on Saturday morning, Daddy said you woke up and shot straight up in bed, with an urgent request of “Daddy, can we sing ‘Wheels on the Bus’?” He was a bit surprised but of course agreed. (What in the world brought that on first thing in the morning? Ha ha). You and he also went to McDonald’s (drive-through of course with Daddy in a robe and slippers, you in your jammies, both of you with major bed-head) on Sunday morning, and then later you went to the auto parts store together. Evidently, you wanted to wear your soccer shorts and shirt paired with sparkly silver squeaky shoes. The guys at the store thought it was pretty funny and one of them was really nice about your inquisitiveness while he checked Daddy’s car, showing you everything he was doing. I love that you are so curious about things. Your questions get exhausting sometimes, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

the auto parts guy showing you how his auto code reader works

We saw Joe, Tina, Sam and Erin this weekend too. It was Erin’s birthday so we went over to visit them and while the grown-ups sat around chatting and laughing, you ran off with the kids. Every so often, you’d swing through and grab my legs for a quick squeeze, then you were off again. It’s so nice that all of you get along so well. I love to see you having fun. By the end of the night, Erin and Sam were getting tucked in and we were about to leave. You snuggled in with Erin, listening to her bedtime stories from Aunt Tina and then when I came up to get you, begged me to spend the night there. It is so cute to see you so comfortable there. I am so thankful that you have so many loving people in your life.

Twice this weekend, I pointed out Halloween decorations to you saying, “Ooh! Spooky!”, with your reply being “Mom, it’s not scary. It’s just Halloween!” Wow! Aren’t we the brave little thing? And also this weekend I have been finding more and more corn in the washer and dryer from all of the pumpkin patches we have been to this year. Those corn pits may be fun, but seriously…how much corn can one preschooler hide in their clothes? Geesh!

Sunday was a more low key day. We actually took a family nap together, getting some much needed rest after being so busy all the time. I love how you cuddle up into my neck as you sleep, (even if it is one of the reasons I am seeing a chiropractor this coming Tuesday. Ha ha.) Daddy took you to your soccer practice in the afternoon. I stayed home and ran some errands. It was really hard for me to not go, but we wanted to see if we could lower the ‘cling factor’ with my not being there. Daddy got out there and really coaxed you to keep going, getting out on the field and giving you the extra help you needed. I am so glad he finally got to make it to a practice. He said you needed your silkie for half of the drills, but he didn’t care as long as you were participating. You did much better this time. I don’t think we’ll stick with this particular program in the spring, but we’ll make the best of it right now though.

We wrapped up the weekend by visiting Wai Gong and Memaw Lisa on Sunday afternoon/evening for the Brown’s game and some pizza. Wai Gong is finally home from the hospital and while he is very sore, he seems to be doing well. No monkey costume for this visit, but definitely much monkey behavior. Uncle Blaize came home from gymnastics later and so you were happy to get to see him before we left.

even though Wai Gong was feeling pretty sore...you brought a smile to his face

As you three sat on the couch together, Wai Gong turned to me and said, “Doesn’t get much better than this.” Nope, it sure doesn’t.

Love,
Mama