Buzz, Yoda, and Spiderman it is!

Maliana ~

What a fantabulous week, even if it got off to a bumpy start. Daddy called me Monday morning at work and said you wanted to talk to me. You got on the phone and very tearfully said, “I want you Mama”, with big elephant size tears dripping down your cheeks. Completely broke my heart. Then you had a rough day at school, just not feeling like yourself. Mondays are so hard sometimes!

Luckily, things started shaping up with a great time at speech, then I took you out to dinner at Frisch’s. We went there attempting to find Mickey Mouse (who had been standing by the side of the road waving earlier in the day). Mickey Mouse was long gone but we had a good (and cheap) dinner with a lot of laughs on the side. You cracked me up by being very concerned about our server (e.g. “Where’d Josh go?” and “Josh is going to take care of us”, etc), then you insisted on thanking him with ‘xie xie’ when he would bring us things.

yes, you’re in your jammies. have been all day, even at school.
it was definitely a rough Monday.

The week started shaping up and on Tuesday you had a fire drill at school (actually, somehow one of the infants pulled the alarm by accident), so you all headed outside. Luckily it was nice and warm. Your teacher, Ms. Nancy, has a foot injury right now and so has to wear an ortho-boot that slows her down. She was surprised (and touched) to see you, (all on your own), linger behind for her, grab her hand, and say, “I help you Ms. Nancy.” I was pleasantly surprised to hear that too. You are such a kind soul.

A while back I had ordered the Star Wars trilogy on DVD for us since you took a liking to the original Star Wars at Memaw and Papaw’s last time we were there. Well, our package came this week and we watched all three movies in the span of 2 days. You were GLUED to them, just like Daddy and I were when we were kids. No offense to Dora, but it was a nice reprieve to watch these classics instead of more Swiper, Boots, and Backpack. Your current favorites in the movie are Chewbacca and Yoda. Personally though, I was drawn to Princess Leia. This time around, it dawned on me what a true badass she really is in these movies. A super role model for you to have around…and no wonder I picked Princess Leia to be for Halloween multiple years when I was a kid!

Since your birthday is coming up, I took you to Target to pick out some new bedding for the special junior loft bed that we are ordering for you. We were going to surprise you, but then I decided I want you to be a part of the whole process so that maybe you’ll actually want to sleep in it all on your own. I’m definitely glad I took you with me because there is no way I could have come up with the eclectic menagerie of bedding that you did. Spiderman sheets and pillow cases, a Toy Story comforter, and sitting on top will be Yoda and Buzz Lightyear pillow people. I love your unique flair…your quirks are the best.

Yoda, Buzz Lightyear, and Spidey it is!

And then we were silly for a bit in the parking lot...never a dull moment with Mali!

hardcore Mali

hardcore Mommy

And of course, you LOVE your new pillow buddies more than I could have imagined you would. You brushed their teeth and got them ready for bed with you, however I think Buzz lost a little of his dignity that first night home…

he's wearing your owl jammies (size 12 months)
and they fit like a glove!

You took Buzz to school with you the next day and were so proud of him! Unfortunately though, Buzz kept you up all naptime (he must be some chatterbox!)

After I picked you up at school I began feeling really sick. Sick enough to throw up, so I was not "normal Mommy" that night. Thankfully, Daddy took you to Memaw and Papaw's for dinner and a visit. You ever so sweetly tucked me into bed before leaving, and also gave me some strangely detailed instructions about taking Abby outside. (I guess being sick doesn't excuse me from "potty duty" for Abby.)

I slept all night and drug myself to work the next day, but took a turn for the worse and so Lao Lao was able to pick you up at school for me while I came home and slept some more. It was a nice surprise for you and you immediately conned her into taking you on a "date" (which you love to request from all of us...after all, who can resist an almost 4 year old's offer of a date?) You have become very fond of Target lately...so you and Buzz took Lao Lao and had another adventure there.

I have a feeling Buzz will be coming a LOT of places
with us in the future

Lao Lao also took you to visit her mother, your great grandmother, in the nursing home. On the way there, Lao Lao mentioned to you that she might need some help with her mother and you immediately launched into all kinds of "Call 9-1-1!" antics. Your sense of humor is so off-the-cuff and silly. Lao Lao also said that you were like a rock star at the nursing home. The residents were drawn to you like a magnet and I was pleased to hear that you were very polite with everyone. It seemed to brighten many of their days to see a cute and spunky little girl strutting through the halls. We probably need to take you on these visits more often.

I'm also delighted you got to see your great grandmother again. It's been difficult these past few years, (decades really), with my mom's mother. There is much too much detail to be able to go into in this blog right now, but trust me when I say that Lao Lao (and her brother Uncle Paul) have been through A LOT with her. I'm just glad to hear that your great grandmother may be getting a bit more stable in her life and that you can finally get to know her a bit.

By Saturday morning, I was feeling a bit better. Before I headed to an early dentist appointment, I already had to perform surgery on Buzz (as you lamented, "We just bought him!") while I ate breakfast. I'm happy to report that I now have sewing up stuffed creatures down to a science (after a lot of practice recently)...and 7 minutes later, Buzz Lightyear was good as new!

Saturday afternoon we headed to Chinese class and you learned a few more words and made some really great crafts to wrap up the Chinese New Year celebrations. You made a lantern, a picture frame, and a really cute placard with your name on it over a dragon made out of foam stickers and your handprints. It was nice to see and play with all of your Fu friends (and their parents).

not too shabby attempt at taking a group photo...
only one of you was adamant about not cooperating

We were hungry when we left and so went out with Mia and her family for some wings at BW3's. You and Mia were hilarious (as usual), giggling and holding hands and chittering away. There were two bathroom trips and it always amazes me how little modesty 3 year olds possess. But the good news is that your lack of modesty is helping Mia get this potty training thing down, so it all works in the end (no pun intended).

Our friend Jay came to meet us all at BW3's, since he lives so close, and you were excited to see him. This week you've been asking about him, saying, "I want to go to the gym and see my friend Jay." He was very sweet and spent time helping you win some candy in the claw game, thus securing his favored status in your mind, I'm sure.

Saturday night we went to Uncle Joe and Aunt Tina's and you played with Sam, Erin, and one of Sam's friends who was spending the night. The adults had lots of laughs upstairs (as always) and you kids went crazy downstairs. At one point, Joe went downstairs to check on you all and came back up and joked, saying, "It's like an Al Qaeda training camp down there". Evidently you guys were running around with some type of masks (tied shirts or something else) over your faces, and guns, looking for "bad guys". You made it upstairs later and began spying on all of us adults and we saw what Joe was talking about. In all honesty, it was cut but a bit creepy. We decided not to take pictures because we didn't want to run the risk of you all becoming the youngest people to be put on the "No Fly" list with TSA.

Sunday we headed off to the Bunk and Loft Factory to find you a big girl bed for your birthday. I think we found what we were looking for and you enjoyed testing out all of the displays.

On the way home you were very tired, but we kept you awake (so you'd take a good long nap later) by screaming in all the tunnels and under all the overpasses along the way...it worked like a charm!

We got your police motorcycle out for the first time since Christmas, since it was so sunny and unseasonably warm this afternoon You've got a bit of work to do with the throttle, but overall you did a good job on your first "hog". Ha ha.

Officer Mali's First Motorcycle Ride
http://youtu.be/hnCYND6xb9A

Sunday night was Superbowl night...but since none of us liked either of the teams, we decided to watch The Empire Strikes Back (again) while eating pizza with Memaw and Papaw and using our new family heirloom coffee table that they brought over to us. Papaw refinished it and it looks beautiful. This coffee table has been in the Wilkinson family for at least 50 years, so it's pretty cool that now we get to add our particular memories to those 50 years.

So, the past couple of weekends have not been nearly as hectic as the previous weekends...and I couldn't enjoy them more.

Love,
Mama