Mama's Memories for M: I need an old priest and a young priest...

Maliana ~

Oh my! You have really gotten into the spirit of Halloween this year. No, not for the usual reasons you might guess…but rather because of the phase you are in right now. Just this weekend, you were throwing a fit (one of many) in the car, and Daddy suggested that it might be time we look for an exorcist. And honey, I just might have to agree.

I know when I wrapped up the last post, I was mentioning how it’s more important to highlight the good stuff, because that’s the stuff that really matters when it’s all said and done. That is true. However, Lao Lao suggested I include some of the other stuff, these struggles we’ve been having with you too…simply for the fact that you probably would never believe them if they weren’t documented somehow. (To be honest, some of them are pretty funny too).

I guess I should start by saying that you love to argue with us about everything. I think part of it is because you are listening to EVERYTHING, and the other part is that (through my research into your stages of development) you are developing a stronger identity and learning to assert yourself more. For example, you can argue or throw a fit about things like my not letting you carry Abby’s medicine in your pocket after we left the veterinarian’s office (somehow I just didn’t feel comfortable about letting my 3 year old use canine meds as a toy ~ call me crazy); my not buying you an Angry Bird at Build a Bear (which developed into a 3 ring circus with my marching you (kicking and screaming) to the nearest corner and letting you ‘work it out’ in a timeout right there in the mall and some older woman coming over and asking, “Is that your kid?”, and when I said yes, all she did was wink and give me a sympathetic smile before continuing on her way); your refusing to put your coat on in the middle of the freezing cold weather at the Halloween Celebration for 4th Fridays (until we pointed to a guy dressed as a zombie in a store window and told you he might come out and eat your brains if you didn’t put it back on); my refusing to go all the way back upstairs to get your silkie for you simply because you WANTED (not needed) me to get it for you and were enraged because I would not jump at your command (this time, Daddy got me out of my exasperated funk by pretending he was moseying around in spurs and chaps and saying “What we have right here is a Mexican standoff” in his best southern drawl); and of course the nightly fights about bedtime with you insisting that you are not tired (even though you are yawning and literally melting into the floor just like the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz after she had water dumped on her). You can even argue with me about completely random things, just for the sake of arguing, such as my telling Daddy, “Just open my Yahoo mail” to which you piped in, “You don’t have Yahoo mail, I have Yahoo mail” ~ huh?

Fortunately, through all of this, Daddy and I have kept our sense of humor (clinging desperately to it (and each other) as it’s the only thing keeping us sane). I know that this too shall pass…but boy is it going to be one hell of a ride! When it’s all said and done, you are going to have fine tuned one unbelievably strong personality ~ a force to be reckoned with for sure. Even random people will comment on what a big personality you have for such a little thing. Tell me about it!

So, whew. Boy do I feel better getting that off my chest! Now that that is out of the way, I’ll sum up the other stuff this week, to wrap this post on a positive note…since of course we had gobs of fun with you too.

Both speech therapy sessions went amazing this past week and a half. The last one we went to was great and you immediately began talking up a storm with Ms. Ashley. She was amazed at your progress and I am amazed because I really see it more clearly when I watch you with her. It’s pretty cool.

After speech one night, you and I sat and chatted over a big bowl of edamames, taking turns asking about each other’s days. You can be so cute when you do that ~ “How was your work, Mom?” Later that night, Daddy and I closed on the refinancing of our house and for some reason both you and Abby the dog decided it would be a good idea to crowd around or under the kitchen table as we signed paper after paper. All four of us, plus the refinance/notary lady, were crammed into one of the smallest spaces in our house. Go figure.

Touching back a little bit, I do have to say that you did show some really positive signs (in the midst of the craziness) this week too. During the incident involving my not letting you play with Abby’s medicine after we left the vet, I got frustrated and (after yelling, “I have had it!!!”), told you that you needed to apologize for swiping at me when I was trying to put you in your car seat. It was a quiet ride home (with me second-guessing how I should have better handled you the whole way), but once home you cuddled in my lap with your silkie and airplane blanket. After you had calmed down, you looked up at me and said, “I’m sorry Mommy”. Things are sinking in, slowly but surely.

Lao Lao picked you up from school one day (you love it when she does that) and took you to Build a Bear where you made a really cute blue bear with snowflakes on it, then found a Spiderman Halloween costume for him (of course Spiderman, what else?). It turned out really adorable and you were so excited to show it off.

naming your Build-A-Bear

Spidey outfit for your bear ~ of course!

You also fell in love with a Minnie Mouse backpack there too and since you began filling it up with your stuff and didn’t have any backpack of your own yet, Lao Lao bought this for you too (yes, Lao Lao does have ‘sucker’ tattooed on her forehead, ha ha). The next morning, you immediately began packing your new backpack for school and walked in there with such swag, hanging it up next to all of your friends’ backpacks. You were definitely feeling like hot stuff (and Daddy was just happy to have a pleasant and tear-free morning). You also had taken the Spiderman costume off your bear too…explaining to Daddy “My bear is too hot in his costume”. Ha ha.

We headed to Westerville for 4th Fridays with Lao Lao and enjoyed cheering on the runners for the Celebrity Ghost 5K (I’m totally running this next year!), you talked to and became obsessed with Lion L (the mascot for the Lions Club of Westerville), we stopped and listened to various musicians (with you especially liking the guys playing acoustic guitar and singing), went on a hayride through the streets of Uptown, and of course you flirted with every single cop you saw (boy, do you LOVE policemen!)

high five Lion L

watching the runners take their mark for the Celebrity Ghost 5K

horsedrawn hayride through uptown Westerville

warming up from the cold

chatting over cocoa

Saturday morning you begged to come running with me and got all suited up for the cool weather.

But not before enjoying some morning sun and being silly on the deck...

Saturday evening we went over to Joe and Tina’s to watch the OSU game and hang out. You played with the kids and we eventually got home around midnight. It’s always a late night with Joe and Tina, but our sides always hurt from laughing so much once we get home.

Sunday morning, out of the blue, you asked if we could go see Uncle Mark and Aunt Cindy. We just booked our flights to go to Austin in January the day before, so that’s probably why it was on your mind. But it’s cute that you are excited to go see them.

We had a nice lazy day on Sunday, much needed after all of the activities we’ve been running to all autumn. Inspired by watching those musicians on Friday night, you put on your own performance for Daddy (I had gone running again) and he was able to, stealthily, capture it on his phone. A long time ago you had picked out a plunger as the one ‘toy’ that you wanted at the dollar store when Audrey and I took you. Well, on Sunday this plunger became a free-standing microphone where you sat on a stool with your guitar and belted out tune after tune. It was so cute…all the way down to your little crooner face and tapping foot. You had all the mannerisms down pat. It’s pretty impressive for 3 years old!

Here's the link if you want to see yourself in action! (Not sure if YouTube does the best job, there's been a problem with getting it to play right...but hopefully the kinks will work themselves out. We've got it on Facebook too and of course we'll be saving the original for posterity).
http://youtu.be/gLVOhVodvN0

Sunday afternoon, we were going to try to go to Boo at the Zoo but we all felt pretty worn out. The events of the past few weeks had caught up with you (and me both) and we curled up on the couch where you slept on my chest right there in the warm afternoon sun like a couple of sleepy cats. There’s just something about napping on the couch in the sun that feels so good. We both felt like a million bucks when we woke up and while we slept, Daddy was awesome enough to go grocery shopping for us, to which you ran in and hugged his legs and said, “Thank you Daddy!” when he got home, (how many 3 year olds thank their dad for grocery shopping?!?) You’ve had case of the creepy crud with a nasty cough lately, so I think this nap was some good medicine for you.

Sunday night I was surprised, not by the initial tantrum about bedtime, but about how you began to cry a little differently after I turned off the lights. I turned the lights back on and I asked you what was wrong. You said you were scared because Halloween was coming up and you were afraid of ghosts. This is the first time that I’ve noticed you get scared over something like that. We talked some more and I offered to hold you and you curled up on my chest again (I’m going to hate it when you’re too big for that) and fell asleep as I tickled your back. I hope this isn’t the start of nightmares or being afraid of the dark, but if it is, I’m just glad that you’re still small enough to cuddle up on me.

Halloween day you had a party at school and when I came to get you, you were sitting down to have a snack and every kid in the class was dressed in costume. It was really cute. I got a little ‘Mommy guilt’ because I had to rush you off to speech therapy, but you seemed to be ok with it. I was hoping you’d keep your Buzz Lightyear costume on throughout speech therapy, but alas, you did not.

We ended up trick or treating on Halloween night (a Monday this year) at Wai Gong and Memaw Lisa’s house. Ggma was there too, and she and Daddy passed out candy while Memaw Lisa accompanied us on our quest for treats. You were a bit grumpy and clingy (Mondays are always exhausting for you), but you had fun and were ever so polite at each and every house, getting lots of compliments on your monkey costume. As we’d head away from one house and onto the next, you’d say, “I want more candy!” By the end you were a bit worn out and would say, “Thank You” first and “Trick or Treat” after they gave you some candy. But all in all, you did well. Pound for pound, you brought in quite a haul. You double-fisted once back at Wai Gong’s, tootsie roll in one hand and tootsie pop in the other. You fell into a ~~sugar coma~~ sound sleep before we got home and plopped right into bed.