Girls and Clothes

So what is it with girls and clothes, anyways? I have a 4 1/2 year old son who has changed his clothes without being told just a handful of times, and those just in the past year or so. I guess I just didn't understand how different a daughter would be.

Okay, so I do have memories of my sister Anna, 11 years my junior, going through a phase of changing her clothes several times a day when she was somewhere between 3 and 5, I'd have to ask my mom exactly when. It was a humorous and cute, if not a little annoying at times, habit. But it didn't really affect me that much.

Now I have Marissa, 2 1/2 years old. Lately she has been surprising me with her clothes, or lack thereof. Sometimes it's just a change of pants. One day during naptime, when she was supposed to be asleep, I found her in Corban's room, wearing only panties (she had been wearing a pull-up and clothes), put on with one leg through the waist opening. Another day she was traipsing down the hallway just in panties, dress-up slippers, and her pink blanket draped around her shoulders like a shawl. But today really took the cake.

We had a busy day and a short time for naps before heading out for Corban's gymnastics. I had just gone downstairs for some water and came back up to hear some mysterious noises in her room. I opened the door to see her completely naked, playing with her dollhouse. What??? I can't figure out what got into her! Her jeans had been put in a drawer and her shirt and pull-up were on her bed. She had no explanation for why she had disrobed and was happy as a clam. Ridiculous. It's not like that kind of behavior is modeled around here.

Boys just don't do this sort of thing. At least, mine never has. Why do girls feel the compulsive need to change clothes or take them off altogether? At least it's only in the privacy of her own room during sleep times....thusfar, anyways.

MOPS

We had a really good message at MOPS today....and I wanted to jot down some notes here so I won't forget them! The speaker was the CEO of MOPS International, Elisa Morgan. Okay, so she wasn't exactly AT my group, we watched her message on DVD, but it was still her. While nothing she said was brand new information, it was so good to get a reminder of many of her points.
1. You are Loved. No matter where you are in your life or who you are, God loves you. Even when your house is a mess and you've yelled at your kids all day and dinner is burned, God loves you. That will never change. You cannot make Him stop loving you.
2. You are Chosen. God picked you to be the Mom of your children. He knew exactly who they would need as a mom and who you would need as children. He put you together.
3. You Matter. You have an influence on those around you, whether you see it or not. Your children are constantly watching you and learning from you, and even if your daily routine is mundane and repetitive and you feel like nothing worthwhile is accomplished, you DO matter, to your husband, your children, and to God.
4. You are Not Alone. Whatever life throws at you, the Holy Spirit is always with you. Whether you're starting out in motherhood or a 70 year old veteran grandmother, living in prosperity or need, you will not be forsaken by your heavenly Father. He will always be there for you.

Well, I wish I had gotten to actually take notes during the message, because I didn't capture nearly all that she conveyed here....but I was nursing and rocking a noisy, fussy Annika to sleep....so this is it.

Here's a photo of the girls on Sunday...because it's just not a good post without at least one picture!


Aren't they cute? Thanks for the gorgeous dresses, Grandma!

Kids' Conversation

Caution----Potty Talk ahead! Okay, consider yourself warned.

Yesterday as Marissa was using the bathroom and Corban lounged on the floor outside the door, the following conversation ensued.

Corban: "That was a toot...that's funny!" (giggles)
Marissa: "Toots are NOT funny, they're yucky." (furrowed eyebrows)
Corban: "No, they're funny!" (more giggles)
Marissa: "Okay, they're funny, but they're yucky too." (reluctant smile)

Baby stuff

Annika has cut her first tooth. Well, she actually cut it last week, but I'm just now getting around to writing about it. It's on the bottom, middle left. Didn't seem to cause her much pain, thankfully. Hopefully all her teeth will be that easy! Okay, so maybe I just shared this news to have an excuse to put up more pictures of her because I think she's so cute. What can I say?

Beautiful Day

We have not had grass in our backyard for 2 years....now, thanks to Grant's hard work in laying a compost/dirt mix, seeding a couple of times, and faithful watering, look at it now! We are so happy with it, we can hardly stand it. We haven't been able to play out back for awhile during the new grass stage....but today we threw all caution to the wind and went outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather.

Corban loves showing off how good he is on the rings.

Marissa is proud to give her dolly a good ride on the swing.


Annika's just happy to be here! She loves swinging!



And she most definitely does NOT love grass. This face happened just before she started to wail...nonstop.....until I picked her up. And I thought she'd like it.

It's Your Fault

It's funny how kids are seemingly blind at their own bad behavior but very observant of others'. I couldn't tell you how many times a day Corban and Marissa get into squabbles about sharing toys or get a stern talking to (if not worse) for being unkind/downright mean to each other. Yet somehow they rarely seem to acknowledge that they were in the wrong, or if they do, they complain that it's too hard to be nice.
Today, however, it was interesting to watch them at a playground nearby. There was a little girl, Abigail, probably a little older than Marissa, playing at a sand table with a plastic cup. A 4 year old boy Evan (who was MUCH smaller than Corban) who knew her was playing nearby, chatting with Corban. He approached Abigail and sweetly asked if he could use her cup to play when she was finished. She yelled "NO!" and pushed him vigorously away. This continued for a couple of minutes, with the occasional holler from Evan's mom several yards away for him to leave Abigail alone. Corban was continuing to play but stole glances over at the argument, while Marissa stopped all she was doing and stared. After awhile, Marissa piped up to Abigail in a soft voice, "Be nice, okay?" Abigail ignored her and kept shoving Evan away. After they finally moved away, Corban added, "She wasn't sharing, Mom. She wasn't being nice at all".
Well, whaddya know. My kids DO know what ugly behavior is, they just don't want to admit it when they are the offenders. Now that I think about it, that's not unlike most adults I know. It's much easier to criticize the mistakes of others than to admit our own. Hmmm...that's a good reminder to reflect on Matthew 7:2-4 (New King James Version):

2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?

Never a dull moment

So, if you saw an empty dogfood bag in your kitchen, what would you do with it? If you were 4 years old and your name was Corban, and you had just had a bath, you would definitely pick up the bag and turn it upside down on your head. Oh, then you'd discover that "empty" dogfood bags are never truly empty and the top of your head, as well as the floor in a 3-foot radius around you, was covered with crumbs. Of dogfood. Whoops. Maybe next time you'll know better.