What's his name?

Kylie is obsessed with names right now. She'll hold up one of her Little People and say, "What's his name?" When she's through with the people, we move on to her farm animals, her zoo animals, her sea animals, any of her cars that have faces and always it's the same questions, "What's his name?" "What's her name?"

My favorite is when she says, "That's not her name" and has me guess again. "Uh Amy? Barbara? Charlie? Frances? And each time, it's "That's not her name."

And don't even think of not answering, because she'll keep asking "What's her name?" over and over until my brain leaks out my nose.

She's a crafty, patient, incessant little kiddo.

Hats and cupcakes

I enjoyed reading your comments on yesterday's post. Thanks for sharing with me!

I love the quick satisfaction of knitting a hat in one day. I finished this one last night for Kylie and she was kind enough to wear it for a bit while we were at the park today.






Of course, after a bit she threw it off and went running through the woods away from it like some wild wood elf.


She ran until she wore herself out....


and sat for a while


before deciding to play in the sandbox


and then return to the playground. I love this picture. Kylie is about 2 feet off the ground. I asked her what she was doing and she replied "Hangin'" with a isn't-it-obvious look on her face.


No sweetheart. This is hangin'


Last night we celebrated my birthday with some gorgeous and delicious cupcakes that Karen brought home.


Oh how I love watching Kylie eat a cupcake.


We all started laughing. And then the sugar high hit us and we really got crazy. Icing was flying around and the three of us got so tickled I thought we were going to puke or pass out. I was laughing too hard to hold the camera steady.


I love my girls. They delight me.

Nipples and daddies and more--oh my!

Did the title catch your attention?

Today, as I was getting dressed after Kylie's swim class, Kylie announced to the changing room, "Mommy, I see your nipples!" Ah yes, a toddler will say anything. In that flash of laughter/embarrassment, I remembered when Kylie first learned that word. She had been playing with the moles on my face as I gave her her bath. As I was drying her off, she touched her nipples and asked, "Are these my moles Mommy?" And I had that moment of decision. Would I do the easy thing and say "Yes those are your moles" or would I be honest? I chose honest and told her that those were her nipples. And a part of me knew that one day soon I would hear that word spoken very loudly by my daughter. Today was that day.

We had another one of those moments just this weekend. Kylie was playing and started saying, "Momma, Mommy, Daddy" over and over. My eyes met with Karen's and we had that instant of silent communication of "Well, she's heard that word-probably at Sesame Street or in one of her books or classes. Is this starting already? Do we ignore it or address it or what?"

Kylie was doing that thing where she repeats something over and over in the hopes that you will repeat it too. She was saying, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" over and over. So I looked at her and smiled and said, "Daddy." She smiled back and said "Daddy" to me. I said it back to her and she said it back to me. She was looking at me a little expectantly so I asked her, "Where is Daddy, Kylie?" and she replied very quickly, "Outer space". Good answer kiddo.

Which brings me to a recent question asked by long-time reader Bethany on this post:

I think Kylie is a beautiful, well-rounded, lucky little girl to have such loving mommies as she does...I dont want to insult you here, and if it's not my business, just say! But did you know her "dad" (donor)? If you didn't, does it ever drive you crazy when you look at her and see a look that doesn't look like you? Do you wonder things about him? If you do know him, does he see pictures? In either scenario, what a wonderful child he helped produce! Again, I am just curious as a long-time reader and Kylie fan!

Thanks for your question Bethany--it is a good one! We don't know Kylie's biological father; we used sperm from an anonymous donor through a respected lab/facility. It's funny. I don't think of him as "father". I think of him as "biological father". When I speak of him, I usually run the word together so it sounds like biologicalfather. I guess because the word father has an emotional meaning to me because of my wonderful relationship with my father. I think of our donor as DNA; no more and no less. And about the only time I think of him is on Father's Day when I send up a prayer of thanks to him. I even created this scrapbook page about him.

I think of Kylie as her own unique person. Every once in a while, I'll glance at her and think, "Oh, with that expression, she sort of looks like me". Occasionally, I'll see my grandmother in a gesture. But mostly, I just see HER. Not a reflection of anyone else.

I am absolutely fascinated with Kylie. It's a dichotomy to hold the thought that she is heart of my heart and blood of my blood and to also hold the thought that she is her own unique soul that simply passed through me. And that it is my job to get to know her and to be the best mother and strongest support possible for her. I truly look at her with eyes of wonder each day.

But, I will confess to a little white lie that I tell pretty frequently with regards to her DNA. Kylie gets compliments on her curly hair. And sometimes the person complimenting Kylie will ask me, "Does she get that curly hair from you?" For a while, I would say, "No" because I have straight hair. And then the person would ask, "From her father?" And I would sigh a deep sigh and depending on my mood answer, "Yes" or "I don't know" or "Maybe" which would lead to more questions. So my little white lie is that when the grocery clerk or Starbucks barista asks me if Kylie gets her curly hair from me, I smile and say "Yes."

It's sort of like when someone asks you "How are you today?". And instead of saying, "Well I'm embarrassed because my daughter yelled nipples really loud and my feet hurt and I'm really thirsty", I simply say, "Fine, how are you?"

Anyway Bethany, I hope this answers your question. Feel free to ask any other questions and thanks for being a great reader and commenter.

Lastly, for those of you who stopped by to see a picture of Kylie, I'll share this one that I shot today. She was looking at the water in our birdbath and these cool blue sparkles passed over her face.


And here is a recent scrapbook page:

Ballerina

Our Divine Miss Kylie was a ballerina for Halloween.


A special thanks to Aunt Amy for cousin Emily's ballerina outfit and to Nanna for sending it to us. Her crown was a special touch from me because I know how much my girl loves her bling.


Kylie loved her outfit. She kept twirling around in pirouettes.


We went to our nearby shopping center and trick-or-treated at about 10 stores. Kylie saw lots of kids and adults all dressed up in costumes and she got a good amount of candy.


The moment we got in the car, Kylie wanted to know which of her treats were chocolate and she ate, for the first time, a small pack of M&M's. Then we were off to Burke Lake Park where Kylie got to ride a carousel with Momma.




While I waited for our turn to ride the Ghost Train.


There was a short wait but they made it entertaining with dancing.


Soon it was our time to ride.


Kylie got to ride her first train. We went over a bridge, through a tunnel and saw lots of entertaining characters like Mother Goose, Winnie the Pooh, the Scooby Doo gang, and some ghosts and monsters.




It was a wonderful Halloween!


It started raining in the early evening. I don't know if it was the rain or the fact that the folks around here either go to shopping malls (like we did) or their churches or something but we only had six trick-or-treaters at the house. So now, I get to figure out what to do with four bags full of skittles.

What Kylie is reading- Week of Oct 26

I have just four books to share with you for this week.


Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae
My blog friend Soupy recommended this book to me and I'm so glad she did. It's a delightful story about a giraffe who thinks he can't dance and is teased at the annual jungle dance. But a cricket helps the giraffe find his song and his dance.


Keeping with the dancing theme, we read Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson. This is a fun story about a hippo who loves to dance but really shakes the jungle. Her animals friends encourage her to try other things such as knitting and singing. But it's not until she finds water ballet that Hilda finds a way to express herself that doesn't also disturb the jungle. I liked all the various dance costumes Hilda wears. My favorite is the 70's costume.


From our own bookshelf we read Bear of My Heart by Joanne Ryder. Its singsong prose makes for a nice story before naptime. It's sweet but not too sweet.


Kylie's favorite book of the week was Hairy Maclary Scattercat by Lynley Dodd. It's about a dog named Hairy who likes to joyfully chase Slinky Malinki's cat friends. It's fun to read some parts of the story slow and other parts fast. Kylie especially likes it when cat Scarface Claw doesn't run from Hairy but chases him all the way home. Why, just today she looked at me and said, "Scarface Claw" with her serious look and then ran away laughing.

I hope you've read some good books this week too. I'll leave you with this picture of Kylie eating an apple taken on our backporch. Stay tuned for Halloween pictures!

Fish in the leaves

We found a new activity for Kylie's pool toys. Kylie tosses her plastic fish and mermaids into the big pile of leaves that I sweep off the deck


And then she jumps in to find them.


She swims with the fish.


And practices coming up for air.


But then magically, it's no longer the ocean or a pool with fish and mermaids. It's just a wonderful pile of leaves. Leaves to hug...


and to throw


and to enjoy.


Have a great weekend everyone!

At the table

My darling Kylie eats like a bird. She eats healthily-lots of fruits and vegetables. But she eats so little. And in my desire to see her eat, I've formed some bad habits. Well, it's time to break them. So I resolve to no longer:

Say "Eat, eat, eat" in a vehement and/or pleading voice at every meal.

Load her fork and hold it to her mouth for her (even though this works and she'll take a bite).

Say any derivative of, "If you eat two more bites of meat/veggies, you can have dessert".

Whew. Such bad habits. It's time to get over them. I'll just keep reminding myself that she won't starve.

Parenting....the most rewarding and the most challenging thing I've ever done.


Makes me want to go back here.