It’s Delicious!

We are at that point where we have to pay very close attention to the word that come out of our mouths. Lina is constantly learning new words and I thoroughly enjoy teaching her the really big ones. I love to hear her attempt to say words like hippopotamus and rhinoceros. Yesterday my sister was teaching her to say dramatic and drama queen. But perhaps my favorite word of Lina’s is one that she picked up on her own, delicious. She first said it when I asked how her dinner was, she made it much more comical on Tuesday though.

Our shipment from Gymboree arrived and delivered some adorable clothes. Including this awesome swimsuit for next summer.

As I was laying out her new clothes and removing the tags from them she grabbed the swimsuit and pretended to eat the ice cream. She would take an imaginary bite, fill her cheeks with a little air and pretended to chew it. Several bites later I asked her if it tasted good and she simply replied “It’s delicious!” before taking another imaginary bite.

The Fourth

As you know, I’m a big fan of the 4th of July celebrations, specifically the fireworks portion of the event. Last year Lina was so terrified of the big booms that she bawled her little eyes out. This year I had my fingers crossed for a less terrified child for our neighbors annual party. And then I discovered that we wouldn’t be able to attend the party after all.

So we decided to have our newest nephew and his parents over to eat some hot dogs, throw some Pop’s, light some sparklers and a few small fireworks. The incredible lack of rain we had leading up to the 4th made anything larger dangerous and I was pretty sure Lina still wouldn’t care for the loud noises.

Lina loved throwing Pop's with her Uncle Ben.

"I did it!"

For a moment, she thought I was going to let her light her own punk.

She enjoyed the colors of the smoke bombs.

The sparklers were a big hit.  She especially liked putting them in the bucket of water once they were done.



"Lina, say cheese!"



"Lina, look at me and say cheese."



"Look!"



Finally!  I got a smile and open eyes!



Perhaps her most favorite thing was helping Daddy drive the RC car.  It was definitely not the semi-loud, tiny finale box.



 I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!



Potty Talk

If Lina could go everywhere naked, she would pretty much be potty trained. Of course I haven’t tested this theory since I won’t let her go outside without her bottoms. I did let her go outside in a dress and underwear which ended with my porch being hosed off. If she wears her diaper, she uses it. She knows what it’s there for, and she takes advantage of the simplicity of it. If she tells us that she has to go potty while wearing a diaper, it’s usually to inform us that her diaper is already wet.

Lately she has gotten so good at holding it, that she goes as soon as I convince her to sit on the potty. It’s the convincing that is the hard part. It goes something like this:

Do you want to go sit on the potty?
(Ignores the question)
Lina, let’s go sit on the potty so you can fill it up and win a prize.
(More ignoring)
Lina, do you want a prize?
Yes!
Okay, you have to go potty in the potty. (Think about changing the name of one of the potty’s to avoid confusion)
(Silence)
Hey Lina. Why don’t you go sit on the potty and I’ll paint your toenails while you sit there.
Okay! (Climbs off my lap and runs to the potty).
Okay Lina, you stay there while I go get the nail polish.
Okay!
(I walk halfway down the hall) Potty music starts playing.
Did you go potty?
Yeah!
Yea Lina!
Yea Lina!
Okay, let’s get cleaned up and go pick out a prize! (toenails are forgotten)

Yellow

Lina has decided that everyone she loves is called Mimi, including Pop and Lola. While it’s technically a compliment if she calls you Mimi, I would still prefer to be called Mommy. So I’m trying to convince her that she should call everyone by their preferred name and only Grandma is Mimi.


Our conversation this afternoon went something like this:
Lina: Look Mimi.
Me: I’m Mommy
Lina: Mommy.
Me: Can you say, I love you Mommy?
Lina: Yellow!

A Conversation

As my sister was leaving for work Monday morning, she knelt down by Lina to get her good bye kiss and said “I love you Lina.”

Lina looked at her and replied, “I love Mimi.”

Fortunately it was too funny for my sisters feelings to truly be hurt.

Just Like Daddy

As much as I try to deny it, Elina is very much like her father. The other day Lina and Mason were playing and they both laughed a big ole’ belly laugh. Except for the pitch, it was the same exact laugh. She has his feet, his height, his dimples, his eyes and even his cowlick.

Not that long ago, she climbed up onto the foot rest at my parents house and started chugging her milk. My sister was sitting nearby on the floor and asked Lina for a kiss. Lina held up one finger as if to say just a minute and continued to chug her milk. When she stopped to take a breath, she gave her aunt a kiss and then resumed drinking. At least she has my sass.

Shopping With Lina, Again

Target had some really great high value coupons last week and I couldn’t resist the chance to stock up on some Birthday gifts for Lina. Saturday, after the egg hunt, the three of us went to Target and tried so very hard to stick to our list. There were three coupons that I felt I needed to use and a few others that I would consider using.

Coupon #1: 25% off a Disney movie. I’ve noticed that Disney is very proud of their movies, so anytime they are on sale, I try jump on it. But which movie should we pick? We finally decided on the original Toy Story since she loved Toy Story 3 when it was on Netflix. Except they didn’t have the Blu-Ray option. They only had a 3D, Blu-Ray, DVD bundle, which I wasn’t willing to spend the extra cash to get a 3D version which will never be used. I don’t have a 3D TV, nor to I see us getting one. Anyway, since Toy Story was out, we were back to square one. We finally narrowed it down to 3 movies, so I let Lina pick. I laid Tangled, Ratatouille and Up on the floor so she could pick one up. Instead she laid down on the floor, put her hands in her chin and looked at them more closely. Eventually she chose Tangled, which wasn’t a surprise, apparently while I was looking for Toy Story, Lina found Tangled and picked it up to give it a hug. We also grabbed Shrek since it was on sale for $8.

Coupon #2: 50% off a Disney Princess item. I had been debating between the Tiana doll and dress-up dress (she got the Rapunzel combo from Santa) and the princess dress up trunk. Lina walked into the aisle, looked up and saw the Tiana doll and dress, threw her hands out and gasped. The look on her face said “Oh my God! I can’t believe they have this! I love her!” Obviously that went into the cart. I really wish I had been recording that moment. I can only hope that she does it again when she unwraps it in August.

Coupon #3: 50% off a Fisher Price item. Do you know how hard it is to get a good deal on Little People? Last time I had to wait for it to be on sale and use 2 coupons to get half off. Anyway, I knew what I wanted, I just had to grab it. I wanted to get her the Little People Wheelies Stand ‘n Play Rampway. Something a little different than the rest of her Little People stuff but still just as awesome. Except for one little issue… they were all out. We debated the barn for a second and then I decided I would just buy it online. At half off, I could afford to pay a little for shipping. When we got home, I talked to my sister and she was pretty sure she saw one at the store that she went to. So I went back out on my own and got the very last Wheelie track.

In the end, we only added a few things to the list.  Shrek, Easter candy and Mason got a new lunch bag.  While my bank account does not think I was a successful shopper, I think I rocked it!