Life at Lothlorien

CC: "I got the most presents. I must have been very nice." A few minutes later: "Grandpa only got three presents. Oooh, he must have been very naughty!" (which Grandma agreed with -- Gpa didn't get many presents because he went out and bought whatever he wanted, so not much you could get him -- very naughty) CC: "I drew this Christmas tree. Do you know what the purple stuff is around it? It's the garlic." (Ah, the garland. I love the funny pronunciations they have -- Grandma is proud of how B is growing up, but still misses the year of the Crackernuts) Store clerk on December 23: "Is Santa going to come to your house?" CC: "No, he already came." Clerk: "What do you mean?" CC: "There's already a bunch of presents under our tree!" Me: "CC, you kept Gma's Cat in the Hat fingerpuppets!" CC: "Yeah, I'm tricky!"

I found a piece of paper on the cabinet. It had B's name, with a big circle around it and a slash through it. "CC, did you make this sign?" "Yes, I was going to put it up on my door because I was mad at B, but we had a discussion and he let me watch Scooby Doo, so I put it away." She picks up on things so quickly. She also has pretty good handwriting for a 5-year old.

B loves pancake puffs -- you know, they advertise the pan on TV. My DH often makes them on Saturday mornings and they are really good. He made them yesterday, then came and told me this story in amazement. B took a bite of the puff, chewed it slowly, then announced, "Dad, you forgot the nutmeg!" And you know what? He was right. Ahh, the gourmet tastes of a 7 year old.

There are good things to every thing a child learns, but there are also bad things. This is what I found on my shopping list today. "CC," I asked. "Did you write chocolate on my list?" "Yes," she replied. "I couldn't find any chocolate that I liked, so I want you to buy some at the store." "And how did you learn to spell chocolate?" "Oh, I just looked on my brother's paper." (He had been surveying us and graphing our favorite ice cream flavors. He is disappointed that more people don't like strawberry ice cream. Note his contribution to the list.) So, if you think it's a good think to teach children to write, just remember that it also enables them to add things to your grocery list.

B came running out. "CC swallowed a bouncy ball!" I checked on her and she seemed fine -- no choking. She was only a little remorseful (I think mostly at being caught doing something she knew she shouldn't. So, we decided to give her Ipecac and make her throw it up. We figured if we waited, we were looking at an ER trip, bowel obstruction, etc. Besides, throwing up is a good negative consequence for putting something in your mouth that you shouldn't. Of course, after we administered the Ipecac, we got more details. It was a ball that she had bitten in half a week earlier and she only swallowed about 1/4 of it. I had thrown away half, and other bits and pieces were in the floor in the bedroom. No cause for panic now, but still thinking that throwing up is a good consequence for her. She took the Ipecac and randomly would say that her stomach didn't feel good, but nothing happened. We got everyone ready for bed, read stories, etc. and were giving hugs and kisses goo...

CC's birthday was recently and it became apparent that she was well aware of her special status. One evening, B came running in, all distressed. "CC says if I don't let her pick what to watch on TV first in the morning, she's going to give all my stuff to Goodwill. Can she do that?" I can't believe he thought she might be able to follow through on that one.

Cece's question for the day: Mom, when you die, you go to heaven. If you die in heaven, do you come back as a baby?