So proud of herself

Carys learned how to clap yesterday. She tentatively put her hands together, grinned, and then tried again. She was so proud of herself, and she kept practicing her new trick all day long. Yay for Carys!

You know you don't get out much alone when...

...you catch yourself singing "Five green and speckled frogs" in the car by yourself.

Watch out for that sister monster

Ashlinn is currently hiding in a Costco-sized diaper box "so that sister doesn't get me." You've got to watch out for little sisters!

I have some weird children

Weird child #1: Ashlinn has started calling me and everyone else "honey" lately. At first it was cute, but now it is driving me crazy. She mostly says it when she's trying to tell me why she can't do whatever I've told her to do. "Honey, I can't pick up my toys; I have my milk in my hands."

Weird child #2: Carys has developed an addiction to baby wipes. The moment she sees one, she grabs it and stuffs it in her mouth and starts sucking the soap out of it. Disgusting, I know. If you don't let her have (a clean) one when you're changing her, she cries, flips herself around to her tummy, and starts to open the box of wipes herself. I have to sneak them out so she can't see me getting into the box. I did try to give her a wet washcloth instead, but it didn't have the same deliciously soapy taste, so she wouldn't take it....

She understands plurals already?

"Bottoms up," I told Ashlinn as I was putting a new diaper on her.

"No, not bottoms up," she said.

"No?" I asked.

"No, just one bottom, Mommy," she said.

Tired? Distracted? Losing it?

I felt pretty proud of myself this morning. I packaged up our federal and state taxes as well as our estimated taxes for the first quarter of this year, and I took them all to the post office and sent them off via certified mail. I then went to Wal-Mart to finish up buying my mom's birthday present, and then I went to Costco to buy milk. I did all of this with two kids in tow (okay, so I brought my brother along too, which helped a lot with the kids), and I made it back in time to get lunch together and put the kids down for a nap. I thought I'd accomplished a lot.

Then I realized that I didn't send our W-2 and 1099 forms with the tax returns.... So, I guess I'll need to send those off again tomorrow. Do I include a note saying that it's a duplicate return but with the proper forms attached too? Should I tell them I'm a sleep-deprived mom?

As if that wasn't enough, this evening my daughter said she wanted more milk and then pointed to the table and said, "I want some of that milk." What milk? Oh yes, the milk I'd bought at Costco 6 hours before and had never put into the refrigerator after getting home.

A child's sense of time

"When SisterBelle gets bigger, she can sleep in my bed," Ashlinn told me. "And when I get littler, I can sleep in SisterBelle's bed."

Blaming sister already

"You're a lollygagger," my husband told Ashlinn this evening. "Can you say lollygagger?"

"No," Ashlinn responded. "We don't say wally-gagger."

"We don't, huh? Well, you are a lollygagger."

"No, I'm not a wally-gagger," Ashlinn insisted. "Sister is a wally-gagger."

Sounding out words

I told Ashlinn that something was dangerous yesterday.

"Dang," she said.

"No, not dang." I said. "Dan-gerous," I sounded it out for her.

"Ah, it's a dang and a dress," she said.

Umm, sure.