Things She Says...

I love talking to Caris. So amusing and entertaining. At least to me... The things she comes up with constantly surprise me. Mainly because I want to remember this early stage of communicating and exploring language, a little recollection of some things she has said...I've tried to keep it as close to verbatim as possible...right down to the fact she calls us Mom and Dad the majority of the time. At least the bossy times...

'Mom, I need to brush your hair now.' (in a hurry I tell Caris we don't have time and need to go) she responds.....'Mom I need to brush your hair for just OOONNNNEEEEE minute' (emphatic one finger pointing). 'Turn around, Mom, we need to brush the other side'



(above picture, caris insists...) 'Mom can you tie my scarf like this? Just like Nancy Nancy scarf? I need my tutu and wings, too Mom! I look like Nancy Nancy!

'Dad, here we come! Mommy and Caris are walking outside together!' (she loves loves to say caris and -insert person- are doing something together)

'Dad! Dance with me! Mom! Dance with me! I need my Ariel, and the other princess. And my purplicious. Max! Dance with me! I need my scarf. And my wand. YAY!! All my friends are dancing with me!' (seriously, an almost nightly occurence is a commanded dance party with lil' C)

'Mom and Dad! Look at me. I dancing backwards (and so she does indeed turn and dance backwards) Now I'm dancing the other backwards!' (turns around and dances backwards in the opposite direction)


'Mom! Say good girl. Say good girl again. Say good girl Caris. Say good girl Caris again. Say good job Caris. Say good job Caris again.' (after EVERY time she goes potty)


(on seeing Daddy walk in the door wearing his scrubs after work) 'Dad, you work at the hospital? You fix people? Your clothes dirty Daddy! You need to change them.' (think we've had to explain why he can't hold her right away a few times? and then followed by...) 'Dad! Where's your shirt? It's somewhere else. Mom, Daddy needs his shirt! And shoes! Put your shirt on, Dad.'

'Okay. TWO books. Can we read that book again, Mom? First the Big Red Barn book THEN Flip Flop Fly! Last book.' (or some variation of this EVERY night. she would read books for hours if we let her)


'It's sunny outside, Mom! You need you sunglasses?' and 'It's raining! I get to wear my lady bug boots and my umbrella! Mom, where you boots?'

'Mom, where are you sparkle shoes? Oh. You not can wear sparkle shoes to work? Wear you sparkle shoes mom!' (after this discussion our morning routine has derived this little interaction...Caris loves to find my shoes when I am finishing our out-the-door routine) 'Mom, here are you work shoes! You wear these shoes to work, Mom? Not your sparkle shoes. Work shoes are too dirty for Caris to wear!'

'I eat crayons! NooOOoo (laughing). We don't eat crayons, we eat dinner!' (and other variations such as...) 'Mom, I eat my hair? NoOOooOOO!! I eat dinner! I eat people food!'

(Caris discovers her Daddy home asleep when she wakes up in the morning, this occurs only once or twice a month, and excitedly proceeds to try to wake up dad running on 4 hours average sleep) 'Dad! Wake up. Wake up Dad. (her persistence leads to Dad waking up and sitting on the side of the bed) NO dad. Put your feet on the floor and wake up, out of bed, Dad!'

'Mom! I can't do it. I'm too big! Help me please!' (Anything she doesn't want to wear/do or can't do she ascribes as too big. Usually she means the clothes are too small or she's too small to accomplish the task)

And Caris LOVES to have conversations with our puppy Max....she loves to have someone to boss around. Poor baby brother!


'Max! Look at my dress. You like my dress, Max?'

(we hear Caris outside whistling to Max) 'Daddy! Max is outside barking at people! No Max. No bark at people Max.' (she is always so direct and sweetly firm. It's funny!)

'Max! Help me! Come here Max! I need you to catch me!' (and enter a fairly decent attempt to whistle)


(Caris directs Max to the door and lets him out) 'Max, you go outside! No barking inside Max. You need to go outside now. No barking!'


'Max you not eat Caris' food. You eat dog food! It's in there Max. I got it for you already! You not eat my dinner' (pretty obvious what was occurring that spurred this conversation)

Fashionista

Caris loves accessories. Girl would wear her bracelets and necklaces everyday if I would allow. So on weekends, one of her favorite things to do is to hit up the accessory shelf to adorn her outfits to her heart's content. She is very specific and opinionated. And to be quite honest, it all kind of works. I have no sense of style but it seems my lil' C may have inherited what I lack. For last weekend's trip to Target, Caris insisted on both bracelets, a flower headband, and a 'braid pony' to go along with the pink dress and purple sandals she picked out on her own. I mean, who doesn't need to be fancy for a trip to Tar-get.

Caris has lately been very interested in her 'rain boots, brella, and rain jacket' since she got caught in a rainstorm at the zoo and scored a new 'brella from Susie a few months ago. Unfortunately, despite the lingering humidity, we have not had rain in quite a while and my persuasion to only wear such items when raining had left her lacking. Anytime she heard thunder and the promise of rain, she talked incessantly about her 'ladybug boots and 'brella when it rains'. And so her persistence paid off as on a rushed, stressful school morning when Caris picked out her ladybug boots to wear and put them on ready to go out the door, I gave in. And wouldn't you know girl proudly wore her rain boots all day long.

She knows what she wants, our Caris, down to the detail. This morning, after picking out the outfit she wanted to wear and getting dressed, she insisted 'I want to wear my hair long today, Mom. No ponies for school' (our typical school fixtures are ponies of the one or two variety. and yes, that is exactly how she talks these days). Then she proceeded to go pick out and put on her nice sandals on her own accord and there was no convincing her not to wear these shoes to school. So off she was, long hair and shoes on the wrong feet. Proudly independent and dressed.

Not only is Caris opinionated on what she wears, but she has taken things one step further to decide what MOM should wear. If I happen to not be dressed for work prior to Caris waking up, she loves to come pick out my clothes. Just this morning she insisted I wear a top that I have gotten more compliments on.....

Funny girl.

And in a seemingly related note, as seen in her statement above, for some reason Caris has decided to call me 'MOM' most of the time. Not mommy, momma, or any other child endearment. But Mom. Seriously. As one of her teacher's said, Caris went straight from toddler stage to pre-teen. Sass for sure.

Hey June

You are almost half-way done. Where have you gone? And welcome to the blog. I'm not sure what has been so busy in our June, but it quickly came and has quickly progressed.

As has this belly. Whoa momma. We are in week 27 and my thoughts fluctuate between feeling like I am so huge and it is so hot to ONLY be 27 weeks and feeling like I can't believe I have ONLY 12 weeks to get everything ready (at home and work) for this little one to arrive. So I guess 27 weeks is a fine place to be in the middle of those feelings. Hopefully I can get my act and house together and hopefully my daily growing self can survive this 100 degree weather and oppressive humidity.

June, I so wish I could participate in your introduction to summer daily. With Popsicles and swimming pools and afternoon naps. Our lil' C loves the water and discovered on our March vacation that she can swim all on her own with the assistance of floaties. But instead you are chores and work and etc. with a random sprinkling of summer fun. One day, June, we will have a summer to spend together again.

May ended with celebrations mixed in with busy schedules. Another fine place to be mixed in between. March and April have long since passed, yet I still have hopes of documenting our vacation, birthday celebrations, Easter, and graduation. And hey, it's June. I'm not sure how we got here so quickly.

But the arrival of mid-June means a few steps closer to Garrett finishing this punishing general surgery intern year and most excitingly, a few steps closer to meeting our little boy. I can't wait. For both. So June, go ahead and move along. Bring your heat. We will visit the pool and play in sprinklers and enjoy your summer nights when we can.

Hey, June. Thanks for introducing Caris to sno-cones. They were clearly a hit.