Today, while at IKEA, Gracen got to choose something special to buy with a little bit of birthday money she received in the mail. Her choice? Several items for her tickle trunk, including this lion hat and nose/mouth piece.
While wearing her new lion costume in the the checkout line…
Gracen: Grae Grae lion! ROAR! (giggles) Grae Grae trickin’ people.
♥
Today Gracen woke up and wanted me to tie a receiving blanket around her neck. Of course, Baby couldn’t be left out of the fun, so a small snuggly tied around her neck it was. I’m not sure what inspired this (maybe the graphic novels Papa’s been reading her while we all snuggle in bed in the mornings?), but today I spent my day with two mini superheroes. And there was no convincing either of them that capes are ‘at home things’ either… So off to the park we went, me and my two Supergirls.
I must admit, I’ve seen little girls dressed in princess costumes {and those “dancer”-esque clear plastic heels} at the grocery store and thought to myself ‘My kids won’t where dress-up clothes while out in public‘, but there I was at the park, with not one, but two in costume. I’m sure some of the other parents and nannies thought we were nuts. But then again, maybe they know just what it’s like…
Miss G did take her cape off while on the climbing apparatus and slides (safety first!), but you bet your bottom dollar she put it right back on again afterwards.
♥
Miss G has been very aware of the feelings of others (and characters in books) for a long while now. She wants nothing more than for everyone to be happy, and if she thinks you’re anything less, she’ll have a hug and kiss coming your way stat (they fix everything, right?)
Just recently, she’s begun expressing emotions and announcing their titles. Here are the ones she’s mastered so far.
“An-gee.”
“Sad.”
“Hap-PEEE!”
“Sur-pised.”
Love this little monkey.
♥
My little lady may insist on wearing a pretty little skirt, a white top, and glittery shoes to the playground, but that doesn’t stop her from getting down and dirty in the sandbox…
Delicious sand cone, anyone?
♥
Tonight, while preparing dinner, Gracen came into the kitchen and asked for apple treats (dried apple pear slices from our backyard tree) as a snack. Dinner was still a ways off, so I agreed and she retrieved the large ziploc bag of them from the cupboard. Now normally, I would take a few out and put them in a bowl for her, but since I was elbow deep in raw chicken (ew – the one thing I detest about cooking), I let her walk out with the entire bag. The house was quiet afterwards, and presumably my Little Miss had gone back to reading, this time while enjoying some dried fruit. I continued about my dinner making and a few more minutes later, Grae came into the kitchen, opened the garbage can, and placed the empty large ziploc bag inside and announced, “All done!” I was about to applaud her for remembering to put her garbage away, and then it hit me… It was a big bag filled with a massive amount of dried apples. There was no way she had polished them off in one sitting. So where were they then? Upon asking, she broke out into a fit of giggles and shouted “Clum!” (come). I followed her to her bedroom to find this…
Doesn’t she look concerned about the mess she’s made?! Ya, right. After a little chat about dumping food all over the floors, we agreed that we needed to get a bag so that she could pick them all up.
I left her in her room, with her bag and apple-covered carpet sneaking peeks {and photos} from the doorway every now and then. And you know what? The little monkey picked every single last apple up without any help or reminding.
Problem solved, I went back to my cooking and she went back to her playing…
Until I went to talk to her a few minutes later and couldn’t find her, that is. As a last resort, I opened our bedroom door, and guess who I found…
The little monkey back at it! She had opened our bedroom door (this is new – up until now, she just respected the fact that a door was closed and continued about her merry way), closed it behind her, climbed up onto our bed, and made herself comfy with Papa’s iPad. Goodness gracious!
Not to mention the fact that our day started out with her creating this smashing outfit for herself (pajama shirt, tights, sparkly shoes, and a swim hat at the time) and her announcing that she was ready to go for a bike ride.
Oh, and I can’t forget the fact that the day’s been littered with “buzz off’s”, a choice phrase that sounds strangely like her Grandma Charlotte, due to a fly being in the house.
Oh, the monkey business!
♥
Baby must be going through a growth spurt… She gobbled up all of Gracen’s apple slices this morning and all of Grae’s snap peas this evening!
♥
Headed out the door on our first Mama and Grae only States trip.
As we exited off of the highway and got onto the country-esque 8th Avenue…
Gracen: Grae Grae see horsey?
Mama: Maybe, Love. You’ll really have to watch out your windows to try to see a horsey.
Gracen: See moo?
Mama: I don’t know if we’ll see a cow, Grae. We’re almost at the border crossing now.
Gracen: Horsey, noooo. Moo, noooo. Grae Grae see baby llama? Yaaaaaah. See baby llama, pleasch, Mama??
Mama: (giggling) Sweetie, I don’t think we’re going to see a horse, cow, or baby llama today. We’ll be sure to stop and see the llamas when we go back to Manmaw’s this weekend, okay?
As we waited in line at the border crossing…
Gracen: (getting antsy while strapped into her carseat without the car moving)
Mama: Don’t worry, Grae. We just have to talk to the man at the booth and then we’ll be on our way again. (Not sure why I assumed it would be a male border crossing guard, but I did.)
Gracen: See man?
Mama: Yes, Lovey. We need to see the man to show him our passports.
Gracen: Man black man?
Mama: Hmm… I don’t know what colour the man will be, Grae.
Gracen: Papa man?
Mama: Yes, Papa is a man.
Gracen: Papa orange-y man!
As we were heading into the washroom area in Target and a large, moustached, motorbiking looking man was exiting…
Gracen: (pointing very obviously at the man) BIG MAN PEE PEE?
Never a dull moment with this little lady…
♥
Photo taken with Instagram. Find me under jkossowan.
Somehow a quick fan stop at Home Depot became a morning at IKEA. Oopsies! I blame it on Grae… Clearly she’s the one that loves the place. ☺
moving in // lounging
bed tester // “blankie, Mama?”
no hands // soup taster
hiding // new fabric
convinced Mama to buy restaurant food // first ever white flour pancake
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Taken with Instagram. Find me under jkossowan.
Literally covered head to toe.
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Tonight, just before bedtime…
Mama: Okay, Lovey. Our minute is up. It’s time to get ready for bed.
Grae: No sank-oo, Mama. No sank-oo, sleep. More play, pleeaasch, Mama. Okay?
Well at least she’s polite.
♥
What a monkey. Grae snuck off tonight and the house was quiet for several minutes. I knew she was in her room, so I just let her be. Proud as a peacock, this is how she reappeared.
♥
At random times throughout the day (with a little punch of enthusiasm in her voice and the tiniest of smirks upon her face):
“Booyah, Papa!”
♥
Gracen: (standing 5 feet away while pretending to rub hands together) Dry, dry, dry, Mama? Hands dry, dry, dry?
Mama: Are you hands wet, Grae?
Gracen: (slowly nodding while shaking her head) Dirty.
Mama: Your hands are dirty? Do you mean ‘wash, wash, wash’?
Gracen: (nodding, cautiously shows hand with thumb and pointer all covered in orange-ish guck, worried look on her face) Mama happy? Mama happy?
Mama: (puzzled and running through the laundry list of things that could be the source of the guck)
Gracen: (now nodding purposefully and looking as though she’s trying to convince me of the fact that I am indeed feeling happy) Happy Mama?
Mama: (stern mommy voice in play) What did you get into, Lulu?
Gracen: Nooooo. Mama happy!
Mama: Show Mama what you were touching.
Gracen: (puts head down and reluctantly walks to the kitchen)
Mama: (quickly surveying the scene) What were you touching, Grae?
Gracen: (slowly raises arm and points to counter with the fruit bowl on it)
Mama: (sees the step stool pulled up to the counter and a very ripe mango with a giant finger poke hole in it)
Gracen: (cocks head to the side and stretches on a forced little smile) Mama happy?
♥
Without thinking, I put some apple slices and grapes on Gracen’s plate next to her hot cereal this morning. Harmless, right? Well, the moment I set it down in front of her, she started jamming the two together while announcing, “Apple – car! Apple – car! Apple – car, pleasche, Mamaaaaa!” I should’ve known… They are one of her all-time favourite snacks after all. So out came a piece of spaghetti, and in no time the little lady had a fleet of cars to zoom around her plate. Of course, she drove each one for a few seconds and then promptly disassembled them. Then it was on to feeding Num (a.k.a. a tiny Hello Kitty figurine that she carries around everywhere). Breakfast as usual with our little monkey.
Gracen: (pulling at the seat of her pants) Owah!
Mama: Grae, is your bum hurting?
Gracen: No-oh! Grae Grae bum hap-peeeeeey!
♥
And on a completely different note, the winner of the 100 followers giveaway can be seen here.