June 2008 Archives
I went in the bathroom last night to check on the girls who had started brushing their teeth. Josie called out, "I'm done!" as soon as I walked in.
Did you use mouthwash? (for some reason, she keeps trying to avoid it lately)
Yessssss. {tilting her head down and avoiding my eyes}
Are you sure?
Uh-huh. {still avoiding eye contact}
Josie, are you lying to Mommy?
No. {still won't look at me}
At this point I start talking about how it's not good to lie, when Maddie interrupts:
Excuse me Mom.
Yes?
I have to tell you something. It's not true, but I have to tell you anyway.
Okay. What's up?
Um, Josie did use mouthwash. I saw her. You have to believe, Mama. She did!
You saw her?
Um, no, not really, but she could have! You don't know, Mama. She could have used it when I wasn't looking! It's possible!
At this point Josie chimes in, "It's possible!"
So young, and they're already working in cahoots with one another.
If you're interested, here are the other proofs from the recent portrait session with the girls.
We'd like to introduce the newest member of our family...
Daisy (or Daisy Mae, or Daisy Lou, or Daisy Duke, or Daisy Duck, depending on which member of the family you ask.)
Daisy is a 7 week old Border Collie/St. Bernard mix. She was part of a litter of puppies and their mother that were going to be euthanized at a local shelter. A member of a local rescue group heard about it and was able to get there an hour before and take them home with her. This weekend we saw them at Petsmart where she was trying to get each of the puppies adopted.
We knew we were going to get a puppy after we got back from Jamaica. And we knew we wanted a fairly large dog, so the fact that she's part St. Bernard isn't much of an issue for us. I mean, you can look at her and tell that for a 7 week old puppy, she's pretty big already. St. Bernards are really gentle and good with kids, so it seems like a perfect mix. The girls and I were at Petsmart on Sunday when we saw the puppies. I intended only on holding and playing with them (yeah, right.) I held a couple of the siblings and they were adorable, but as soon as I picked up Daisy she nuzzled into my neck and fell asleep! She even snored. Almost every person in the store that day all said, "Awwww" at the same time. :) Well, I was hooked after that. The girls loved her as well. So we called Bill and had him meet us to check her out. He liked her as well, so we submitted our application. This particular rescue organization requires a home check before adopting out their dogs, so we were scheduled to get the home check on Monday night.
Yesterday around 4:30 the woman called to say that she was on her way to come for the house check and she was bringing Daisy with her. She said she felt confident already that we'd be a good family, so she was just bringing her along instead of waiting. Well, we didn't think that we'd get Daisy so soon, so we were really unprepared. Bill had to run out last night to buy her some puppy food and some chew toys. The woman told us a little about Daisy and her litter. Apparently, Daisy is the most laid-back of all the puppies. It's proven to be true so far. She loves to be held, but also loves to play. That's a good sign for a little girl that's probably going to be pretty big. Laid-back is good.
This organization, Animals Deserve Better, charges an adoption fee, which is really a donation to cover their expenses. In return, we already have Daisy's spaying, shots, and treatments for the next year scheduled and paid for by their vet. They'll contact us when the time comes around for her to have an appointment. After the first year, we'll then start taking her to our own vet where we take Mallory and Astrid. (Our experience with him when Sindri was sick really reinforced how much we like him and will continue to use him for all our pets.)
The girls absolutely love her. I think they scared her a little at first last night with how much they wanted to play and be around her. She loved the excitement, though. She's done really well at being house-broken so far, with only a few accidents. In fact, this morning she has gone straight to the door a couple of times when she needed to go out. I don't expect to have this conquered already, but she's not doing bad so far.
An added plus to all of this is that we got Daisy on my birthday. I am so lucky and blessed to have a husband and kids that ensure that each of my birthdays every year get better and better. How could I not be excited about getting older?
Until now, we've been letting Maddie grow her hair long because she has begged us to. She said she wanted to look like a princess. I said no problem as long as she let me -- or her -- brush it every morning and keep it out of her eyes.
Well, she came home from my mom's house last week and that night asked if she could get her hair cut short. She insisted she wanted it as short as Daddy's. I said we should start with chin-length first.
I wondered why the sudden change of mind until I talked to my mom and she told me about how Maddie kept complaining her neck was too hot from her hair, but she didn't want to wear a ponytail. She loves the fact now that she doesn't have to wear it pulled back at all, unless she wants to put about a million bows in it. (It's all or nothing with her.) I have to admit it does seem to fit her spunky personality better.
Maddie is OBSESSED with all things Asian lately. I'm not sure what started it -- not Mulan since we saw that ages ago and it didn't affect her much -- but whatever it was made a huge impact on her.
In the past few weeks she has told us that she wants to go to China. She wants us to get some "chapsticks" so she can eat dinner with them. She told me tonight that she's going to grow up and live in China in a China house, but that I can come visit her and I can even use her DVD player in the car so I can watch a movie because China is very, very far away and it takes a long time to drive there. After her bath, she asked for some tape. I asked why and was told that she wants to tape her eyes so she can look like a "China girl."
As if this weren't enough, tonight at bedtime she asked me to remind her the "Starlight, star bright..." poem. She repeated it and then whispered her wish. I leaned in close to hear her say, "I wish, I wish I could live in China."
At dinner last night, I was talking to Maddie about manners and acting nicely. I told her that when she eventually goes to school, there might be some other kids who misbehave, but that she should work on being a very good girl.
Do you want to be a bad girl or a good girl?
I don't know. We'll see.
{shocked} Don't you want to be a good girl?
{shrugs} I'm just not sure. We'll see when it happens.
Okay, then. Even she knows it's sometimes more fun to be bad.
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Today I took the girls to the American Girl Cafe again for a mommy/daughter lunch. On the way there, we were talking about it when Maddie said,
Mom, when we get home, can we go to American Girl dot com?
Um, sure. We can see what kind of games they have. First we'll go play at the park before we go home.
Okay, then we should also check out The Park dot com.
Even 4 year-olds know that there's a dot com for just about everything these days.
