Fun with family

Duane and Dani went to Garrison Saturday for the buffalo feed - I stayed home because I'm sick... again!! They had a great time with the rest of the family.

Oh boy, don't they look like angels? They're practicing their "We didn't do it" faces for the teenage years.

Sitting in the teddy bear chair with her best friend, blankie!

Looks like someone got to go sledding!!!

Dani must've had a great time because she's still talking about everyone and can't wait to see them all again.

Last night we got to see Grammy, Papa, Amma and Afi too. Amma spent the evening with us while the rest went to the basketball game. When Dani woke up this morning she said, "Wanna go see Amma?" She was pretty upset to learn that they didn't spend the night.

nursery rhymes

Dani is enjoying her nursery rhyme book lately. The last one she says is Ring Around the Rosie, in case you didn't get that. I was reading it for her the other night and got quite disturbed at one. Take a read:

Goosey Goosey Gander where shall I wander, Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber. There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers, I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.

WHAT?????!!!

Goofball

This is how Danica's been waking us up in the morning:
In her most sing-songy voice she yells, "Moooommmyyyy, it's meeeeeee, Danicaaaaaaa, waiting for you to come get meeeeeeee!!"
And now everything's become a web site with her. When she wants to watch a certain cartoon she asks, "Wanna watch sem street dot org slash kids?" "PBS kids dot org slash kids?"

Peek-a-boo

A fan favorite at bedtime... next I'll try to get the Barnyard Dance on video.

A good workout

At first I thought they were just "puttin out the vibe," but after I realized they were stretching, I figured it was a Kodak moment.

Stretching out her "hammie" just like Daddy.

A nice thigh stretch.

Feel the burn!

One more!

Daddy's teaching her how to show off her guns (muscles for you older folk).

I'm not so sure she understands... but she's definitely got the face down!

The puppy pound

We puppysat for some friends on Friday and Emma was not thrilled about it.

She spent a lot of time hiding behind Mommy's legs.

Ace Ventura - pet detective

(and yes, that's a different dog - we puppysat for a different dog on Saturday)

The Pritchard genetics strike again

Well, I just made my first call to the poison control center. I knew having that number posted would be handy some day!
Danica found our hand sanitizer up on her dresser and was having a sweet old time with it. I asked her if she ate some and she said yes, so I smelled her breath and she smelled suspiciously sanitized. I remember getting an e-mail a few months back about this very thing. It said to get rid of all hand sanitizer in the house because kids eat it (cuz it smells good) and the alcohol in it can get them drunk or worse. Guess I didn't listen too well, cuz we didn't get rid of it.
Not to worry though. The nice lady told me what to do - give her a sugary drink and a snack and watch for signs of drunkenness. ???? Drunkenness??? I knew this day would happen... she is my child after all, but so soon?
It's been over an hour, and not a slurred word has been spoken, not a tumble, not a trip, and she hasn't asked for a cigarette. So I think we're in the clear.

Building safely

Safety first!

"Hmmm, let's build something!"

Sweet baby Brenna!

Learning

Watching a little person learn new things is so fun.
Danica has such a thirst for knowledge, and I'm amazed at her 'study skills.' She often will ask, "What's this?" I tell her what it is and she repeats it a few times, like, "It's a post-it, it's a post-it." Then she teaches someone else what it is (the best learning technique for anyone). She'll go show Emma and say, "Look, it's a post-it!"
I'm happy to think that maybe she's got her Grammy's smarts and hopefully will keep up her good study habits as well.

FYI

As Danica is enjoying her snack of bluedablewwies (did ya get it?), I'll share a bit of knowledge that I gained today. Just like with people, if dogs have the hiccups, scaring them gets rid of it. The dog will most likely be really ticked off and want to eat your face, but it won't have the hiccups anymore!

Older, but not always wiser

It's 9:30 pm, and Danica has duped us once again.
Scene: Me in the bathroom, Duane in the living room, Danica in bed
We hear, "MOMMY! Got poops Mommy! MOMMY? Got poops?"
Slight concern from all parties since there has been considerable (and very unpleasant) diarhea the past few days.
Duane was in there before I got there. Lights on, Dani fully awake, diaper and wipes ready, jammies coming off. No poops! She got us.
Operation Never Sleep Again is in full swing with Danica as the evil 2-year-old mastermind.

Turkey

I've just been outsmarted by a toddler. She came up to me and said, "Got a poops Mommy, change a diapes?" So we went to change her diaper. She asked for a wipe (she loves to play with them... and 'clean' with them) and I proceeded to change her diaper. There was no poops!! She just wanted a wipe. In the words of Joe Pesci in Home Alone, "I think we been duped by a kindeegadena."

GEEZ!

Okay Universe, here's a question for you: Why is it that every time Duane goes out of town, Danica gets sick? Also, why is it that after she vomits EVERYWHERE in the living room and I clean it up well, it still smells like vomit in there the next day? (Sigh - not the good kind)

Decorating

Dani decided to redecorate the house while I was cooking dinner tonight. I didn't even notice a thing until I was all done. I went to get her for dinner and I notice that our kitchen rugs are in the hallway, the hallway rugs are in our bedroom, the basket of blankets in the living room are layed all over the house and the basket is upside down in front of the front door, the spare room pillows are thrown all over, her dirty clothes are now mixed in with her clean clothes (and her shoe) in her dresser drawers. Sheesh! The girl can get a lot done in 10 minutes!!

So thoughtful

Dani thought Emma was cold.

Beyonce Jr.

Love

Warm fuzzies!!!

Yesterday morning we went to my friend Mary's house to have a little playdate. She's got 2 boys, a 4 year old and a 22-month old. Holy smoke, boys are sure different than girls!! Danica had a GREAT time running and being rough with the boys. We only had about 5 or 6 times that she started screaming from the other room when she'd get pushed or punched or whatnot. Sheesh! Very wild, but it was a fun time for all.

We took her out to dinner with us last night - Duane was taking some of his employees out to a nice restaurant so we tagged along. Dani serenaded the whole place with her version of the abc's and a couple other random songs. Thank goodness there were other noisy kids there too or I would've been mortified!

Interesting conversations

Our conversation 5 minutes ago -
(Scene - in the bathroom, me putting on makeup and Dani standing inside her potty)
Dani - What you doing Mommy?
Me - I'm putting on makeup, honey.
Dani - What you doing Mommy?
Me - I'm putting on makeup.
Dani - What you doing Mommy?
Me - Putting on makeup!
Dani - Mommy? What you doing Mommy?
Me - I'M PUTTING ON MAKEUP!!!
Dani - What you doing Mommy?
Me - (Sigh) What's Mommy doing?
Dani - (long pause) - What's YOUR name?
Me - (longer pause) - What's my name??
Dani - Cat
Me - My name is cat?
Dani - Um, you cat, say meow.
Me - okay.

This morning we were driving home from the YMCA and drove past Pizza Hut. Dani points and says, "Wanna have pizza!" ????? We've never taken her to Pizza Hut and there's no picture of pizza or anything on the sign. How does she know these things??

Nips

Yesterday morning Danica got a little anatomy lesson that she's been putting to good use. Duane had his shirt off and pointed and asked, "what's that?" He said it's his nipples. So she walked around pointing to her chest and saying, "it's nipples." I'm sure the sunday school teachers got an earfull of that as well. This morning I was getting dressed and Dani looked at me and said, "It's just Mommy's nipples." Thanks Duane!

Daddy/daughter dance

Hockey stick

Singing

This is Dani's favorite song. Many days she wakes up from a nap singing her Elmo song... it's awfully cute to hear that coming through the monitor!

She shoots, she scores!!

Duane brought Dani a hockey stick back with him from Canada and she's been loving it. All day she's asking, "Where's da hockey stick?" She hits a ball with it and throws her stick up in the air like a regular hockey champ.

She had her first Sunday School work sent home with her today. We're so proud of her lovely coloring! I think she was probably more interested in the graham crackers and play-doh than she was in her lesson, but it's a start!!

Manners

What a polite girl I have.
All day it's "Kank you, Mommy!" "Bless you Mommy!" "Please Mommy!" "You welcome Mommy!"
There's something about children being polite that is very heart-warming. It's becoming a lost art with most children, and I'm so proud to say we're on the right track. Check back when she's a teenager.

Mini vaca

Here are a couple pictures of Dani playing with her new friend Naomi (daughter of Mommy's friend Lindsey). She found her big girl bed very interesting!! Especially with the Dora sheets!

We had lots of fun visiting Bottineau this week while Daddy was up in Canada. It was a nice relaxing visit with all the family. And of course I forgot my camera, so any pictures of our lovely time will have to come from Grammy or Amma.

HEY!

On our way home from K-mart tonight Dani was trying to tell us something and neither of us could figure it out, so we kinda ignored her. So she yelled, "HEY! I'm trying to say something!"

Duane got a new softball and glove for the spring... getting prepared!!
When we got home Dani went through the bags and pulled out the glove and said, "HEY! Look what I got!!" Then she wore it around the house on her head. Hmmm... maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty darn funny at the time!

Love love love!

My little angel is so sweet. She climbed up on my lap this morning asking for a hug. She hugged me really big, then pulled back to look at me and said, "I love you," then hugged some more. Sigh.
We all went out to Target this morning and then ate lunch at Applebee's. While getting ready to go, Duane was putting Dani's hat and mittens on her and she said to him, "Guess what, I love you!" Double sigh.

Grosser

Again I say, what you put out into the world comes right back at you. I talked about poop and puke, and that's what I got!!!!
I got sick last night too. I spent most of the night either in the bathroom or sprinting to the bathroom. I had an extremely horrible thing happen that I don't wish on any of you (well, maybe some of you). :) Imagine the worst possible thing that can happen to you while in the midst of this sickness... that's what happened to me. I ended up doing quite a bit of cleaning up and Duane was not exactly thrilled with the sounds and smells that were coming out of the bathroom.
The good news is that Danica is all better - no more throwing up for her. She does have some cold symptoms, but I think it's just from her tooth coming in. And I think I'm getting better also. Once Duane is home I'll try to eat something - that'll be the real test!!
On the bright side, I think being sick has made Danica much sweeter... if that's possible. She now ends EVERY sentence with the name of whoever she's talking to. It's all, "yes Mommy" and "no Mommy" and "okay Daddy" and even "yes Grammy" (on the phone). It's really quite sweet.

Gross

Well, it has been a very eventful 24 hours! Yesterday started out with some fun potty introductions. We learned all about the potty... one of us was very excited about it and the other didn't really give a rats ass. I had Dani sit on the potty (with water trickling for help) about every half hour. We'd read a few books and then do our check to see if anything happened. She ended up going potty 3 times yesterday! I was so proud of her!! She got an M&M each time... a little bribery and motivation never hurt anyone.

But then at about 4:00 I was in the living room and she was running around like a mad woman. I heard a very loud and disgusting splat coming from the kitchen - a very familiar sound to any mother. So I went in to find some very colorful and chunky vomit. MMMMM!!! I figured she just was being too wild and it was nothing. Ten minutes later she was on our bed and out came Niagra Falls streaming from her mouth. She covered our bed, clothes, floor, everything! It was about a full 2 minutes of vomit (I know you are enjoying this visual).

So she was officially sick. After that she vomitted every 20 minutes like clockwork and was very sad and sicky. It ended up being a very sleepless night for all of us. Duane slept on her floor so he could be there to quickly catch anything in a bucket, and so she didn't choke on her vomit. We both didn't trust my ability to wake up at the sound, so he nicely volunteered. It was a good thing too because by the time I got in there each time he was already catching it in the bucket... no changing sheets! None of us got any sleep anyway though. What a night!!!

Dani got sick a few times this morning and is now running around like a champ. Yes, I have enough experience to know that all kids think they're better before they're really better and there will probably be a bit more to clean up. But I guess that's what mothers are for, right? It can't always be sugar and spice and all things nice. Sometimes it's shit and puke. ;)

Okay Jaycie!!!!!!

Master manipulater already!

Danica said to me today, "Want some milk, sweety?" So cute. Later it was, "Where are you honey?" She must have caught on that this cuteness gets her what she wants, because before bed tonight it was the same, "want some milk sweety?"

Playing

Dani and her best friends.

Who needs legos when you have a lego box!!

Guilt anyone?

Why is it that Jill's friends and family leave comments on nearly every blog entry and mine leave none? Just a question for the cosmo's...

Decisions

What a great job I have!!!!
I heard a sweet voice at 3:00, so I peeked in her room and sure enough she was awake. She saw her baby doll on the floor and said, "Baby fall? Put baby in crib?" So I gave her the baby and she softly kissed her on the lips and said, "Oooohhh, baby." She gave her a big hug and tucked her into the covers. So sweet. I asked if she wanted to come out and play. She said, "No, wanna stay in da crib?" I asked if she likes her crib. She got all lovey, cozy, cuddly and cooed, "Yeah, love da crib. Oooohh."
When she did finally want to come out she asked for some milk. So here's how our conversation went:
Me: You want some milk?
D: Want some juice?
Me: You want some juice?
D: Want some milk?
Me: Do you want milk or juice?
D: Milk-a-juice-a-milk-a-juice?
Me: Which do you want?
D: Want some milk?
Me: You want milk?
D: Want some juice?
Me: Milk or juice?!?!
D: Milk-a-juice-a-milk-a-juice?
Me: GRRRRR!!!!!
She got juice... now she's asking for milk.

No poops!

Well, I am really enjoying going to the YMCA every morning. Not just for the exercising, but because Danica poops every day in the daycare. I haven't changed a poop in days!! WOO-HOO!!!
A side note: I think I have a fairly severe addiction to puppy chow and may need an intervention. Exercising means no calories for that day count, right?

Fun with the kids

Well, I'm no longer wanted... kind of.
We went to the YMCA this morning for the first time. Dani stayed in the WAY OVERCROWDED daycare room. After an hour and 40 minutes I went back to get her thinking she'd be overjoyed and run to see me. I walked in and she yelled, "NO!" And took off running to the opposite end of the room, climbed up on some giant foam blocks and shooed me away. What a kill to the ego! I thought that wasn't supposed to happen until the pre-teen years?!! Oh, well. At least she had a great time and can't wait to go back... it'll keep me going every day!

A look back

I can't put my arms down!!!!

That is one full lap!

Yummmmm.

The first day she realized she could get to her books. And the first day I actually got a few minutes to myself. Milestones for both of us!

Baby burrito!

Pregnant and uncomfortable with a puppy on my shoulders the whole trip!

Our Dallas friends... miss you!!!

Look how little they were!!!!

Emma pouting on the stairs in our Dallas house.

Who is this? Doesn't even look like Danica now. Did someone switch me kids?

Averie... always the caring big cousin!!

Real life again

Oh, back to regular life. Duane is back to work again today and we're all so sad about it. What a great time we had with him home for this week!! It's been a long time since we've gotten so much family time!
We had a lovely balanced weekend - just enough laziness, just enough work, and just enough play. Yesterday we tried out a new church that we both really enjoyed. Danica had a fantastic time in the daycare. She found herself a little plastic football, so that's all she needed to have a good time. The only bummer of the morning was when I found out the daycare lady put her on a big girl potty. Shouldn't that be something the mommy and daddy get to experience - the first time on a potty? Oh well, we'll get the second time I guess.
Yesterday afternoon we got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa. Danica had soooo much fun with them. She was very sad to see them go!
Those moments help me know for sure that we made the right decision to move back to this frozen tundra!! :)

WARNING - gag worthy

If you gag easily, this post is not for you - stop reading right now.
For the rest of you, you'll just be glad you weren't in our house to witness what just happened. Dani was in our bedroom watching Barney before her naptime. She came out to the living room where Duane and I were watching t.v. I asked if she was ready to read some stories and take a snooze. She said, "okay." So I turn to look at her and she put her hands out for me to look at. "What the...??? Is that...??? OH MY GOD!!!!!!!" Yup, it was poop all mushed up in her hands. Oh, the horror!!!! She must have reached down her diaper (a favorite pasttime of hers) and grabbed a little nugget. There's no telling how many experiments she did with that poop back in our bedroom, because it was ALL over her hands. We cleaned her up and got her to bed, and now it's time to check the house to make sure there's no more poop laying around anywhere. And yes, the potty training is going to start very soon.

Happy New Years!!!

"Fixin" stuff. Always the safety girl with her hardhat on!

Grammy and Papa came to stay with us for New Years. A fun time was had by all!

Papa being a pretty good sport about this.

"Huh?"

Dani got her first real pair of sunglasses today (yes, in January). She won't take them off.

Seriously, she won't take them off.

Watching movies with them on.

Having her bedtime snack with them on.

She wanted to take a bath with them on, but I drew the line there.

We had a lovely visit Grammy and Papa, thanks for coming!! And THANKS for the homemade cookies! :)