Lovin' the outdoors!

Last night Chloe actually asked me to take her picture, rather than recoiling from the camera in horror. Maybe turning three will mark a change in her feelings toward picture taking. Mom, do you recognize her dress? She loves to wear it. Last night she wore it to bed. As you can see, she loves to accessorize.

At her well-child checkup today she was a little monster (scales and stethoscopes are SO scary), but the good news is that she's grown five and a half inches and four pounds since last August. Her hair is growing back beautifully since we eliminated her allergy foods from her diet. She's a pretty special girl, if I do say so myself!

Favorite pastime

The lawnmower is Tucker's absolute favorite toy. Even better, it doubles as a free babysitter. His thoughtful daddy is now leaving it out on the lawn all the time so Tucker has access to it whenever he's outside. If I need to go inside while Tucker's playing in the yard, I can pretty much guarantee that when I check on him out the window he'll be either on the lawnmower or very close to it. He's in seventh heaven and I'm able to get some work done!

Expressive phrases

I'm in the middle of proofreading a collection of three novels about a hillbilly woman from Kentucky who is a midwife and "healer" back in the 1870s. It's a fascinating story, one of the few fluffy romance novels I've done for this company that isn't too treacly. The author has a good grasp of the hillbilly's "language," and there are some pretty funny lines. My favorite, though, is one that I latched onto as soon as I saw it and laughed my head off over it. It's very satisfying to roll off your tongue. I drove Lindsay nuts with it last weekend when I kept saying it over and over. The midwife used this phrase to describe how a woman felt right after giving birth. The phrase is "catawamptiously chewed up." Isn't that hilarious?

Along about the first week of January, I'm going to be feeling pretty catawamptiously chewed up meself for the same reason as the woman in the book. Yep, number four is on the way! We're very excited, and the kids are ecstatic. Jed has his heart set on having a sister so we can have our own set of Pevensies (boy, girl, boy, girl) from Chronicles of Narnia. But he's okay with a boy too because that would mean another playmate to fight battles with. :-)

Life is good

Yesterday I overheard Chloe singing this song as she was playing: "My life is good! My life is good with my pretty shoes." Later it got scaled back down to just "my life is good," which tickled me pink to hear her say. At the grocery store she was still in singing mode and sang a song about a lady standing at the milk case: "Her shirt is blue, her pants are black, her hair is white." All this in a singsongy voice. I laughed my head off. Chloe is coming out with more funny things all the time. Sometimes she reminds me of her cousin Addie, whom her parents have nicknamed the Randomizer because of the hilariously random things she says out of the blue. (You can check out Darren and Sara's excellent blog at thebookbeast.blogspot.com.)

Thank you to all you dear people who commented on my recent blog and extended your sympathy. It was much appreciated. :-) So far we've managed to escape any more incidents as horrendous as the tick and dung dance, just more typical stuff like Tucker escaping from his crib repeatedly, and his propensity for stripping off his clothes and relieving himself on the carpet. Just typical toddler stuff.

Dad, you asked what the nurse told me to do about the tick. She discouraged using a flame (I couldn't anyway since it was on Tucker's head and covered by hair) but said to use a pair of tweezers and grab the tick close to its head and tug gently. I managed to do this and keep its head intact. Then per her instructions I washed the site with warm soapy water and put some antibiotic ointment on it. So, that was that. Now I'm supposed to watch for a bull's-eye rash, fever, and cold symptoms within the next few weeks that might indicate Lyme's disease.

Avalance Cowpoke, you're absolutely right--there isn't any other kind of tick than a nasty tick. The things are just plain vile.

Another birthday picture

Here is Chloe with the Angelina Ballerina doll and DVD she got for her birthday. I love her smile in this picture. Somehow it makes you forget all the mischief she loves to get into.

Never a dull moment

Life is never dull or predictable when you have kids. Today has proved that. The morning went fairly normally, though it did seem like the kids wanted to argue and negotiate about everything. That's not terribly unusual around here, though. Chloe and Jed are very strong-minded, strong-willed little individuals. Their phlegmatic mother has had to develop some spine to try to maintain some sense of control. :-)

Anyway, the excitement started this afternoon when I discovered a vile tick behind Tucker's left ear. Not having grown up with those nasty creatures in the West, I wasn't sure what to do with it. I tried removing it with tweezers, but its head was already embedded. Rubbing alcohol didn't seem to loosen it, so I put in a call to the doctor's office. They assured me the nurse would call back.

A little while later as I was visiting with someone I'd just met, whose visit turned out to be somewhat more demanding on my time and energy than I anticipated, I began to get suspicious about how quiet Chloe and Tucker were being, so I ran out front. There to my horror I discovered that Chloe had defecated on the driveway in front of the steps. Not only that, but she and Tucker were dancing in it and wiping it on each other! ARGH!!! This marks the third time she has done this in the past week, though never actually wallowing in it. She knows perfectly well how to relieve herself in the toilet, so I have no idea why she insists on continuing this nasty habit. After spraying her down with a cold hose and revoking her outdoor privileges for the rest of the day, I'm hoping I got through to her that going stink on the driveway is not socially acceptable behavior.

Thankfully Evan had come home a little early and was able to take care of the driveway. I will never understand the toddler psyche. Of course our middle-aged male neighbor had to be walking by our house as this drama was unfolding--Chloe there half naked dancing in her dung while I nearly holler in exasperation: "Chloe, why do you do it?!" Who knows what he thinks of the pastor's family! (He doesn't go to our church so he doesn't know us well and could be forming all sorts of opinions about our family.) Cherilyn and her kids came by a minute later just to say hi after getting their mail. Dear Cherilyn said, "You poor thing!" and that was extremely comforting! At least I know she's been there--if not with a situation like this, at least other situations where her kids have done wild and crazy things that don't mean you're a bad mom. :-)

Well, I got the kiddos washed up, all the while lecturing Chloe on the purpose of indoor plumbing (waste of time, I'm sure). She did say several times that she knows now to do it in the house. We'll see.

The nurse called back and told me what to do. So, Tucker's tick-less, thank God. I didn't even want to pick up the poor child, that thing grossed me out so much. We'll keep an eye out for signs of Lyme's disease, but I'm not worried.

For now things are under control. Maybe with only two more hours till bedtime we'll be able to escape more escapades. . . .

Lovin' the outdoors

Birthday Girl

Chloe turned three last Sunday! In the afternoon we had lots of friends over to help her celebrate. Here she is modeling her gift from Grandma. She has brought so much sunshine to our lives!