Wow...

So much has happened since my last post.

There are things that you talk about on a blog, and things that you don't. There are things that I will be able to share publicly one day, but for now, the details will have to remain unknown. This July, I made the very difficult decision to remove myself and my daughters from an abusive situation. The last few months have been a challenge, a roller coaster. They have been some of the happiest and most stressful and most angry times of my life. I have never felt more free, more capable, more determined, or more overwhelmed. I have never had more hope for the future.

With a new life comes a new blog! It feels weird to continue tacking posts of my new life onto a blog from a past that seems so far away emotionally. So come on over to Happy Place and check out our new life! It's deliciously pink...

Ariel's Birthday Party

Yeah, it was two months ago, but wouldn't you rather see the pictures now than never?

Interview with Ellie

A few fabulous ladies, like Rae Ann and Juli, have done this interview with their little girls, and I thought I'd see what Ariel's answers would be...

1. What is something I always say to you?
"I don't know. Can you tell me? Ummm... that you love me."

2. What makes me happy?
"love"

3. What makes me sad?
"not coming here" (like when she doesn't come when I call her)

4. How do I make you laugh?
"scream and play and run"

5. What do you think I was like as a child?
"You had a collar." (referring to the big collar that attaches to the Daisy Kingdom dress that I wore as as girl, which she has been using for dress-up)

6. How old am I?
"Twenty-four, I mean twenty-free."

7. How tall am I?
"Big as tall!"

8. What is my favorite thing to do?
"Playdough."

9. What do I do when you're not around?
"Try to knock on the door." (no idea what she's talking about)

11. What am I really good at?
"Good at playing playdough with and cleaning up playdough."

12. What am I not really good at?
"I don't know what you're not good at."

13. What is my job?
"To yell at me." (yes, it sounds awful, but this is because whenever she yells at Felicity, I tell her, "Hey, that's not your job! It's my job and Daddy's job!")

14. What is my favorite kind of food?
"I don't know! Mmmmm... Mac-a-monie and cheese."

15. What makes you proud of me?
"I don't know!"

16. What makes me proud of you?
"Clean up the playdough."

18. What do you and I do together?
"Fingerpaints."

19. How are we the same?
"Me... two... one! two!" (pointing at each of us)

20. How are we different?
"I don't know ever!"

21. How do you know that I love you?
"Love me tight!"

22. Where is my favorite place to go?
"At the store."



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Can I show you something amazing?

When Ariel was a toddler, I started recording every word she could say, along with how she said it. I stopped on the day she turned 18 months. Here's her list:

Cookie: “coo-kee”
Hot
Banana: “mee-mee”
Movie: “moo-ee”
Potty: “pah-ee”
Ariel: “Ah-I”
Pee (her “girly parts”)
Felicity: “Fiffy” “Fissy” “Foofy”
Chair: “tee”
Clip: “pip”
Water: “waa-oh”
Bubble
Me
On (used when asking to turn the fan on)
Horsey: “Hee”
Cereal: “see-io”
Radio: “ee-oh”
Baby: “bay-bay” or “beeps”
Clothes: “kos” or “kwos”
Goal
Clock: “cock”
Cracker: “cack”
Uh-oh
No
Book: “gook”
Up (may mean up or down)
Down (ditto)
Hat
Cat
More: “muh” or “mo”
Shirt
Thanks: “dinks!”
This “dis”
That “dat”
Door
Pillow “pio”
Walk (may mean walk or rock)
Duck
Car
Daddy: “dat”
Mommy: “muh” or “mum” or “mom”
Grandpa: “pa”
Mine: “my-moh”
Phone: “boo”
Computer: “cup”
Cup: “ccccup”
Boob
Eye
Ear: “eee” or “eee-ee”
Nose: “no”
Mole: “mo” (also means nipple)
Hair: “haaay” (sometimes sounds like “ear”)
Knee
Flower: “fwow-oh”
Juice
Hi
Bye
Shoe
Dolly: “dawww-y”
Berry: “bay-ee”
All Gone: “aa-ah!”
Brush: “shoosh”
Bush: “shush”
Pool: “poo”
Toe
Cheese
Bite: “baps” or “bite”
Wall: “wa”
Two
Three: “fee”
The End: “Dee-ee”
Car
Treat: “teet”
Elmo: “mee-mo”

Animal Sounds:
Monkey: sniffing
Goat: uh-uh-uh while shaking head as if having a seizure
Dog: barks or says “ooh ooh” (soft oo)
Kitty: meow (almost perfect imitation of a cat)
Cow: Mmmm
Duck: Kack kack kack
Bird: teet teet teet
Lion: Rawr
Fish: smooches

Non-Animal Sounds:
Volcano: explosion sound
Grape: squishing sound

Ariel at 18 months

Then there's Foof. I realized the other day that I haven't been doing this, so I've spent yesterday and today making a list of everything she says. She will be 19 months on the 9th, so she's not much older than Ariel was. Here's her list:

Adios ("Ah-dose!" She loves to yell this when people leave)
Airplane
All clean
All gone
Apple
Ariel (I-yel)
Baby
Babydoll
Ball
Balloon
Banana ("ba-ma")
Bath
Bear
Big girl
Birdie
Blanket ("banket")
Blue
Boca (Spanish for mouth)
Boo
Boob
Book
Bowl
Brush
Bubbles
Butt
Button
Bye-bye
Car
Ceiling
Cereal ("See-yull")
Chair
Cheese
Chocolate (Chock-it)
Coat
Coldee
Colors
Come
Cookie
Cow
Cough
Cracker
Cup
Cute
Da-da
Daddy
Dammit
Diaper ("diapee")
Did it!
Doggie
Dolly
Dora
Down
Duck
Ears
Eat it
Elephant ("effant")
Elmo
Ew
Eyes
Fast
Favorite
Felicity
Fish
Fit (as in, someone is throwing a fit –or she wants to throw one)
Fix it
Fondant
Food
Foofy
Foot
Fork
Garbage
Glasses
Go (used to cheer herself on when riding her horsey)
Goat
Grandma ("Gamma")
Grandpa ("Gappa")
Grass
Green
Gross
Hair
Happy
Hat
Heavy
Help
Hi
Hold you
Horsey
Hot
Hug
Hurray
Hurt
I don’t know
Icky
Jacket
Juice
Kiss
Kitchen
Kitty (Kee)
Kitty-Cat (Kee-Kat)
Lap
Laugh
Light
Like it
Luna
Macaroni ("roni")
Mama
Markers
Market (as in “this little piggy went to market”)
Matt
Meow
Milk
Moo
Moon
More
Mouth (mouff)
Movie
My turn
Nap
Nemo
Nigh-night
No
No-no
Nope (mope)
Nose
Nummy
Oink
Ojos (Spanish for eyes)
Okay ("tay")
Old treat (o-teet – the treats that Ariel used to get for going potty)
On
Open it
Other (O)
Ovaltine (o-teen)
Ow
Painting
Pajamas (jamas)
Panties
Pants
Paper
Peaches
Pelo (Spanish for hair)
Phone
Pie (how she said "up high" until recently)
Piece
Pig
Pillow
Pink
Plate (“pate”)
Please (peese)
Pocket (used to ask to play ring-around-the-rosey)
Poke
Pooh
Poopy
Popcorn
Potty
Pretty
Purple
Puzzle
Quack
Ribbit (croaky “ibbit!”)
Sad
See
See ya
Set (as in, “set… go!”)
Shake it
Sheep
Shirt
Shoe
Silly ("see")
Sit
Slide
Soap ("soup")
Sock
Sorry
Spank
Spin
Spoon (“poon”)
Stuck
Table
Tap (as in, tapping her toothbrush)
Teddy
Teeth
Thank you
This (used only in reference to Chapstick)
Three ("fee")
Tickle
Timeout
Toby
Toes
Too
Toothbrush ("pooh-buhsh")
Touch
Tough (often said after a fall, as in “I’m tough!”!)
Towel ("Tow-woh")
Toy (toe-way)
Truck
Tummy
Turtle
Tweet (teet)
Uh-uh
Up
Up High
Wet
Whee
Window
Windy
Woof
Work
Yes
Yogurt
Yucky
Zip it

Felicity at 18 months

Is that not insane?

A Touching Moment

My childhood best friend had a bridal shower on Saturday, and Ariel came with me. It wasn't really a child-friendly event (a lingerie shower), but she begged to go ("I want to be late for Miss Katie, too!"), so I called to see if it was okay and threw her in the car last-minute. She made the hour-long drive so much more enjoyable, and I kept telling her how glad I was that she was with me.

After the shower (which she spent eating a lunch of cookies), we swung by a local Taco Bell for some "real food" (kind of), then headed home.



That night, as I put her to bed, I stroked her hair softly, gazed into her eyes, and said with my most adoring mama voice, "Ariel, I'm glad you're my girl. You know that? I'm so glad you're my girl."

As I walked toward the door, Ariel scrambled to her feet and dashed to the near corner of her crib.

"Mommy?"

"Yeah?"

"I... I'm glad..." You could see her searching for how to say what she was feeling. "I'm glad I came with you to Miss Katie."

"Aww. I'm glad you came with me, too."

"And I'm glad... I'm glad I came with you to Taco Bell."

"Me, too, sweetie. I'm glad too. Goodnight."

Comparisons

If you were constantly discovering new foods, how would you describe them?

Ariel told us last night that her oven roasted turkey tasted like apples.

The burritos we had for lunch - stuffed with leftover ham hock and black bean soup, cooked down to a thick, savory sauce - smelled like flowers.

Tonight's French toast tasted like ice cream.


I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Kids are for Laughing

A few weeks ago, Ariel woke up and hurried to the breakfast table, where she found leftover cornbread.

Ariel: Mmmm! Yummy cornbread! It's yummy!

Me: It is yummy!

Ariel: Mmmm, yummy! [suddenly serious] W-we eat cornbread with our mouths, an-and not with our bottoms.

I honestly have no idea where that came from.

****************************************

Ariel and I were sitting in the big armchair, and I was squeezing her tightly. Realizing that a lot of my weight was on her, I readjusted.

Ariel: Where are you going, Mommy?

Me: I'm not going anywhere. I'm just trying not to squish you. Are you squished?

Ariel: No! I'm not playdough!