Mornings when she wakes up early

In the mornings when she wakes up before I am out of bed, I tell her it isn't wake up time and to go back to bed.  If I am out of bed, and dressing for work then she is allowed to climb into my warm spot on the bed.  She usually wants hugs and kisses.  Make that always.   This morning I gave her a hug and kiss and she asked for "one of those hugs that seems to go on for almost forever"

Star Wars movie

Tatiana and Scotland saw the Star Wars movie yesterday.  Scotland saw it by himself on Friday, so this was his second time.  It was so packed Tatiana sat in his lap for the entire movie so that she could see.  They sat next to an old lady and Scotland said that was the perfect neighbor.   Tatiana was distressed by the people being mean in the movie.  She would whisper to Scotland when she didn't like something and the old lady wasn't disturbed.  Scotland asked why she liked the animated Star Wars that she watched.  She said that was a comic and that was OK.  At the end of the movie Scotland was chatting with the old lady and she said she wished Tatiana had been in her lap instead.  Scotland said he thought to himself, "You should have asked."  Apparently it is a long movie and Tatiana got heavy.

Last night we watched a Christmas TV special called ... something to do with flight.  It was a cute show.  She sat in my lap for part of it.  I enjoyed that.

In the evenings at 8pm I read some of the first Rush Revere book.  She usually colors then.  She seems to be enjoying it.

Six Flags Last Sunday

Tatiana and I went to Six Flags to ride the rides and see the Holiday In The Park decorations.  We had lots and lots of fun.  They opened two hours early at 2pm, but only with 4 rides open.  Two of those rides are the big ones that you have to be 4' tall.  One of the kid's rides wasn't open at first, which disappointed us.  So, she rode the one kid ride.  Until a little after 3pm when she got really bored, and we checked out the other ride, and it was open.  That was fun.

At 4pm when the rest of the park opened, we went to the Chaparrel cars.   She loves that.  There wasn't a line, so we rode it about 6 times.   We kept getting the yellow car.  In fact, I suspect that it was the same yellow car.  We decided that next time I am going to ride in the back.

Then we walked in a direction and rode every ride that she liked multiple times and then we moved on to the next ride.  There was rarely any line at all, so that was nice.  We had a large number of rides for a small amount of walking, which made mommy happy.

Around 5pm in the area we were walking, there was a stage sticking out from a building and outdoors.  There were dances there.  She was very interested.  In fact, we ended up sitting down on the floor and watching.  She was enchanted.  She sat down first, and I sat next to her.  Then she crawled into my lap.

She loved the Yosemite Sam ride to.  It is Six Flags version of Its a Small World. You can tell it often has long lines.  I suspect it is because it is cool there in the summer.  She really loved that ride.  We didn't repeat it though, because the entrance and exit were far apart and I had to use the restroom.

We rode the Shock Wave.  I thought it was lots of fun.  She was scared and said afterward she was never ever going to ride a big roller coaster again.  Hopefully she will change her mind.

Then somehow it was 7 pm and we were hungry.  So, we ate.  We'd spent the night before with Gram and Grandpa and ate Breakfast at the Elk's.  So, it took us awhile to get hungry again.  After we ate, we took the train 1.5 times around the park.   Then she did a couple of rides in the kiddie area, then it was 9pm and we were both exhausted.  I was glad we'd gotten really close parking.

On Tuesday, I'd asked her what her favorite part was and she said, "Being with you mommy!"  Then she gave me a hug.

 Gram Posting:

Tatiana said Everybody knows her name at ELKS.

Putting up the Nativity scene

Monday night we put up the Christmas tree and one box of ornaments.  After the tree was up we just sat there in the dark and looked at it.  There was one box of ornaments that wasn't in the attic so that was on the tree.  It included my absolute favorites.
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Tuesday night we put up the manger.  That way we didn't have to send Scotland to the attic.  That was lots of fun.  She decided she wanted to take them out the boxes.  I put the boxes on the credenza.   Then she decorated.  She asked where to put the angels so they wouldn't be seen.  I was confused,  Then she said, "You can't see angels".   I explained that angels can be seen if they want to be seen.  I showed her how Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the barn animals had to be inside.  But the rest could be wherever she wanted them.  I had to put the hanging angel up.  Then she arranged the other figurines how she wanted them.  I have a basket with stuff in it.  She put the sheep eating the stuff.  The goat was ahead of the sheep.

I told her she could play with the figurines as long as they stayed on the credenza.  She was confused about how she could play with them.  To demonstrate I picked up one on the outer edge, and had it ask the one in front "Have you been able to catch sight of baby Jesus yet?"   The answer was, "Not yet, it is a real crowd scene here."   Tatiana thought that was pretty funny.

I am working from home today.  I was inside getting lunch when Tatiana and JJ came in to play.  Tatiana told JJ that they could play with the nativity set.   They started out playing, and that quickly devolved into them playing animals.  They are playing in the backyard now.

First Camping Trip

Tatiana had her first camping trip last weekend.  It was lots of fun.  I took off Friday afternoon so we could setup while it was light, and I could pack without hurrying.  I was also worried some of our equipment wouldn't work, so I wanted time to run to Walmart.  Scotland had done most of the packing already.  All I needed to do was to pack what I needed.  So, we left at 1 pm, a half hour earlier than Scotland had thought we would.  We had a nice drive and we stopped in Commerce at an Italian place called Luigi's.  The food was really excellent.  Tatiana thought it was funny that the decorations included a giant decorative spoon and fork.  The spoon was near our booth.  As we were leaving Tatiana said she wanted a closer look at the Fork.  Scotland thought she said Fort, so he went down with her and started to talk about the painting of an Italian ruin.  But, no, she wanted to look at the fork.

When we got to the campgrounds they said that we could put our tent up anyplace so Scotland picked a really really nice spot.  Tracy tried to point out some places in the middle of everyone.  Scotland wanted a site a little farther away from everyone.  I am glad.  When I went to the restroom in the middle of the night, I heard LOTS of giggling.   It was quiet where we were.  We had a really pretty view of the lake.  We were about 100 feet away from the nearest shelter which was how far away we could be and let Scotland use his sleep machine.   Looking at the view, it reminded me of the first location for the trailer.  The remote place.    We were setting up and an older girl named Tabitha asked if Tatiana could play.   She is a nice girl.  They ran off.  Then I saw that Tabitha was carrying Tatiana piggy-back.  Other girls often like to carry her around.

That was mostly how the camping was.  Tatiana played played played.  Saturday morning the kids went on a hike with some adults.  They'd set up a Treasure Trove, which was enough lollipops for all the kids.  Saturday morning Scotland taught the kids Orienteering.  That is with a compass where you just spell out the degrees.  I don't quite understand.  I was sleeping.

She was sad when it was time to go.  But, there wasn't anyone to play with since everyone else was leaving too.  These camping trips are probably the closest Tatiana can get to my Leach Lake experience.  So, it made me happy to see her run around and have fun.

Tooth Fairy

The tooth fairy came last night.  I should probably back up a bit.  Tatiana went to the kid's dentist yesterday to have the extra tooth and the front tooth that it was crowding out pulled.  They couldn't just take the extra tooth because there are important nerves in that middle area.  So they took the front tooth and then took out the extra one from the same hole.

The dentist had lots of bells and whistles.  Tatiana wore noise cancelling headsets and she had a screen over her head she could watch.  She picked a movie about Butterfly Barbies.  Tatiana didn't cry or fuss once.  What she remembers is that she watched the entire movie about Butterfly Barbies.

She brought her two teeth home in a tiny pink plastic treasure chest.  We asked if she wanted to leave both teeth or just one last night.  She wanted to leave one last night and one tonight.  The tooth was put in an envelope and she sealed it. Then it was clipped to the lamp.  We told her that was because the bed was filled with pillows and stuffies and blankets, so the tooth fairy wouldn't be able to find the tooth.  She fell asleep with me, then Scotland swapped out the tooth envelope with one with 5 quarters, and he'd added a little red mark where supposedly the tooth had been.

This morning I was in bed and I heard our bedroom door close.  Then I heard scampering feet.  She scampered a lot.  I'd actually forgotten about the tooth fairy.  When Tatiana heard me get up she came in all excited and told me the tooth fairy came.  It was like Christmas morning to her.  She showed me her envelope with the quarters.

I had to get dressed for work and she wanted to climb into my spot in bed.  I gave them both a hug and kiss.  I was climbing in the car when she was at the front door wanting another hug.  

Tatiana shouted I love Grandpa

Gram posted this:
We were worried about Susie because she was not on Skype & did not answer work phone.
So Grandpa left a voice mail message .
Tatiana shouted I love Grandpa when she heard his voice


 Robert Erichsrud: Tell her that Grandpa loves her more.

Tatiana liking black cat shirt present

Susie shared:
As I got out of my car at home, Tatiana opened the front door and said. "I love you Mommy"
 Then I got the mail, which included a package and a couple of envelopes
Tatiana came out again and offered to carry the mail for me.  And my keys.
She is so sweet

Then when we got inside I told her to see who the package was for, because I'd seen it said Tatiana on it.
She was excited.
She needed help opening it.  It was one of those sturdy plastic bags glued down in multiple places.
She thought it was super cute
Then she read that it said Glow in the Dark and she wanted to see it glow
 It didn't glow much at all
Then I said, "Do you know who this is from? Tatiana said, "I know"
 I said "Who?"
 She said, "Gram and Grandpa"
 I said, "How do you know that?"
 She said, "Because it is super cute"

Tatiana singing

Scotland called me today while he was with Tatiana.  I could hear Tatiana singing in the background.  It made me happy.

Admirer

I've missed a bunch of interesting things lately, but I didn't want to miss this.  It was so darn cute.

A boy on Tatiana's soccer team has decided he is in love with Tatiana.  The boy's name is Braiden.   I think.   Braiden's brother announced that Braiden was in love with Tatiana as we got to practice.  I'd wondered if maybe the brother was teasing Braiden or maybe it was the brother that really liked Tatiana.   But, then Tatiana sat on the end of the bench and another boy sat next to her and Scotland pointed out that Braiden was disappointed.  Then later the kids shifted around on the bench and Braiden got to sit next to Tatiana and he was so happy.   He had this cute happy, glowy, shy smile when he took the spot next to her.  Then when we were leaving, he presented Tatiana with a single tiny wildflower.  Tatiana said thank you very nicely and continued with us to the car.  She wanted it kept safe while she was buckled in, but she forgot about it during the ride.

eta:  After the brother announced that Braiden loved Tatiana I told her, "He won't be the last"  She said, "I know"

Apple Pie Pockets

Tatiana and I made apple pie pockets the other day.  they turned out pretty good.

It was  just pie crust and comstock filling with sugar on top

Tatiana  did most of the work.

 Gram Post:

When Grandpa and Tatiana met Susie at her workplace . Parking lot was crowded . He pulled into handicapped parking spot. She said that you cannot park there. He showed her handicapped placard. She said that Grandpa was so smart.

Jewelry Chest

We had a good evening last night.  I'd been sick when we moved in, so a lot of stuff wasn't settled in as it should have been.  Most of my jewelry was still in the cardboard box it was moved in.  I gave her the right side of the necklace hanging section.  Mine are a little crowded now.  But, I want her to learn taking care of her nice stuff.  I gave her all the watches in there.  I'll never wear them, and she likes to spin the little buttons.  I also gave her some of my nice stuff that I'll never wear.  The ring that Terri had given me as a child fits her really nicely.

While we were doing that, Scotland was working in the attic getting it ready for me to store stuff up there.  I am so eager for that.

She has started to take swimming lessons in Greenville.  Scotland seems really pleased with the lessons and what other stuff they have out there.  It is an outdoor pool, and they cancelled the lessons because of the rain.  So, they got J.J. and took him to Kid Mania.  There were lots of kids there because of the rain.  They played played played played.  About every 15 minutes one of them would go to Scotland and ask where the other one was.  Scotland would point, and then they'd meet up.  Tatiana had on a hot pink tutu that made it really easy to spot her.  I get to take her to swimming classes on Saturday.  That is the makeup day.

Morris the cat

We have been extremely pleased with Morris the cat.  When bedtime routine starts he knows to go to her bedroom and he will be waiting on her bed.   But, something amazed me last night.  When I left after cuddle time, Tatiana was using Morris as a pillow and he liked it.     That a little girl would want to use a cat as a pillow, totally not surprising.  That the cat might tolerate it, a little surprising.  But that cat was purring extremely loudly.

Cute comments from Tatiana:

1)Tatiana explained in great detail about how Romba vacuum works.
2) She loves to play with old costume jewelry. One time she put 1 earring on one ear right side up.
Other ear she put 1 earring upside down.
3)When we saw a commercial about Oxyclean = she went into a lengthy description. She said that "Oxyclean cleans everything!"
4 ) Tatiana likes our Moose/ELK tree decoration on our front tree. In fact = if we are takimg a photo in front yard = she likes posing by that tree .

I worked from home yesterday.  Just as I was heading to the office, Tatiana crawled into the big bed.  I helped her get settled in.  She always says "I need an arm".  She wants to use one of our arms as a pillow.  Then she said "Why are all these pillows here?"  I had to chuckle.  She was crawling into my place in the bed.

Later they came out to the office to give me a hug.  She was wearing her adorable red ladybug raincoat.  They ran errands then and went to a play place.

They didn't get home until dinner time.  She wanted to play with JJ, but I don't want her to spend all her time doing that.  So, I drew with her a little.

Today is going to be a busy day for her.  They are taking JJ to the zoo.  It will be nice for Tatiana to have someone to show off the animals to and run around with.  Kids are free on our family membership.  Then she has tumbling class and then dance class.  She will probably be tired and cranky this evening.

Weekend update

Friday evening we spent as a family.  Normal evening.  We ate dinner.  Scotland is teaching her to ask to be excused from the dinner table.  It is adorable.  Scotland went to the Plano house after she was to bed.  Since Tatiana wanted me to read lots and lots of books, we decided he could leave before the daddy cuddle time.  That was a mistake.

Saturday was a Mommy and Tatiana day.  We went to Sam Moon to buy a hair extension bun for her dance recital.  That was lots of fun.  I got one just like hers.  I figure that I will wear it to her dance recital too.  We also bought some sparkly hair doo-dads.  It was lots of fun, and she had lots of women cooing over her.

Then we got her fairy photo.  While he was looking up her name I saw Tatiana's photo on their slide show.  I didn't get to see much of it because by the time I registered it was Tatiana, it had gone onto the next photo.  So, Tatiana and I waited the 7 minutes while it cycled around again.  It was from the first photo shoot.  It had her kissing a frog.  I am going to see if we can buy a no-frills version of that photo.  It is so darn cute!  

Then we went by the Plano house and saw Daddy and he loaded up the car with stuff to take home.

Sunday morning we went to the Methodist church.  I'd really hoped we'd like that, but we didn't.  There were only 3 kids under 13 at the Sunday School.  So, we are going to try the other church on the list, and hope that they aren't woo-woo like we think they are.   We'll probably end up going back to the first church.

I was super tired so I laid down when we got back.  I couldn't sleep until she went to play with JJ.  Then I slept for 4 hours.  She plays so cute with JJ.  I went to get her at 6:30 when she'd been playing for 6 hours, and they wanted to come play with Morris.  But, neither of them had eaten dinner.  So we told them they could play with Morris another day.

Tatiana read "When you give a pig a party" to me.

Lately the bedtime book routine is that Tatiana reads Scotland two BOB-type books.  Then, Scotland reads her a chapter from a chapter book.  The current one is about a cat that was got as a mouser and he doesn't want to hunt mice.  So he colludes with the mice to pretend to hunt them.  Then I give her the shot.  Then I read her a bible story.  Then I read her 3 picture books, and if she reads me one book, I will read her a fourth book.  The books she's been reading to me has been the Usbourne read together books, where I read the small font words, and she reads the big font words.  But, we couldn't find any of the those yesterday.   She was looking for the Go, Dog, Go book to read to me, when Scotland saw the Give the Pig a Party book and asked if she thought she could read that.  She said, "Yes, if Mommy helps me when I need help, and she always does."  

So, she read that book to me.  It was pretty wonderful.  Also, since we got Morris, he is between us when we read.

Tabby eating bacon

Yesterday we were in the living room and Tatiana was in the blue chair with Tabby in her lap.  Scotland handed Tatiana a piece of bacon. I think she fed most of it to Tabby.  I asked if Tabby ate most of it and she said that they "both got the exact same amount."   They both seemed to really enjoy the bacon.  

Last couple of bedtimes, Tatiana hasn't asked for Daddy cuddle time after Mommy cuddletime.  She is content to cuddle with Tabby on her bed.  Our little girl is growing up.

April 8th. See Tatiana after visit to Gram and Grandpa

Tatiana got back yesterday afternoon from visiting Gram and Grandpa.  She has tumbling at 4 pm and dance at 6 pm.  Scotland took Tatiana to the park by the library and asked me to get her at 5:45 pm for ballet.  When I pulled into the parking lot near the park I saw her running, but she was running away.  She looked so adorable and having fun that I decided to park at the dance studio and walk over.  It turns out that she was running TO me, but she was running around the creek.  She'd been crushed when I drove away.  When I walked up, she ran straight to me with her arms out.  It was really wonderful.  Then we walked to the studio and played until the dance class started.  She is the belle of the play floor at the dance studio.  I think it is that she has such joy in her play.  I mentioned that to Scotland.  He said he saw the same thing.  The tumbling girls are all much older than her.  He could tell that they really really wanted to play with Tatiana but that they thought they were too old.  Which is sad since I think the oldest is 8.  The dance class had 3 kids sign up just this last week, and one was trying it out.  So, the class is big now.  She is so cute in the dance class.

Then we got home and she wanted to play with JJ.  So, I walked over and watched them play.  Then we came home and just had time to eat and then bedtime.  I think back to her running to me with her arms open.

Blowing Bubbles

Gram posted this:

Tatiana loved to blow bubbles here . In fact every time that she hears word "Humongous" = she remembers that is what I call super big bubbles .

Reading Greeting Card

She got a card from  Gram & Grandpa yesterday.
 She was able to read what they wrote!

Grocery Cart & Merry-Go- Round

Scotland said they went to the grocery store yesterday and he didn't have to touch the cart.  He just told her left and right.


 At the grovery store near us they have one of the little rides like a tiny merry go-round.  If she is really really good I'll put $0.50 in and let her go around.  I tell her if she is only somewhat good she can sit on it for a bit without it going around.  Or if she isn't good at all she can't get on it at all.  So far, the last two things have never happened.  It is an old ride.  All the new ones we see are $1, so this is the only one I'll pay for.

Tatiana has really been enjoying "building"lately.  Scotland has been cleaning out under the RV roof.  He'd kept all the little pieces of wood from cutting.  The collection makes really neat building blocks.  She builds houses with them in the driveway, and then has us look at them.  They are pretty neat.  There are some circles from a hole cutter and those are the mommy and daddy.

Sugar cookies and tumbling class

Tatiana and I used cookie cutters to make sugar cookies.  She really really wanted to use the Easter sugar cookies her Gram and Grandpa sent home.  I made the dough the other day and then put it in the fridge.  I don't know where my roller is so I used a trick I found online.  Put the dough between sheets of parchment paper and then mush with your hands until the thinness you want.  Then put in the fridge.

So when Tatiana started we got to go straight to using the cookie cutters.  At first we had trouble with the cookies sticking.  But then Scotland told me a trick that they used in the Walmart bakery.  We peeled one of the papers off.  Laid it on the table and put a little floor on top.  Then put the dough on the flour, and then peeled the top paper off.  It worked really well.  Eventually we fell into teamwork where she pushed the cookie cutter into the dough, and then she'd had it to me, and I'd push the dough onto the cookie sheet.  She made sure that we made plenty of each shape.  She also ate lots of the dough.

When the oven dinged I started to cook them.  They cooked really fast, so they got a little more brown than I'd have liked.  But they still tasted good.  Then Tatiana got up on her helper tower and decorated the cookies.  I'd let her pick out one of those containers that either had sprinkles or colored sugar.  She picked the colorful sugar.  She'd put a little of this color and a little of that color on one cookie.  So, they mostly ended up multi-colored.  She also dumped the sugar off of a few to "do them again"  I tried to explain that we had lots and lots of cookies.

I put the cooled cookies in a corning pan and the cookies made a mound in the middle of the pan because there were many of them.  There was also a sheet of cookies on the counter that had been too warm.  When I woke up the mound had turned into a hole, so I guess Scotland really really liked them.  They do taste good.

----------------

Earlier in the day, JJ came over to play.  First they played in the backyard, and then they came in.  He saw the legos and wanted to build with them.  Tatiana had lots of fun, and Scotland said she ran around a lot.  Then at 4pm she had a trial run of a the tumbling class.  She really liked that.  I met them there, and then we went home for a bit while she relaxed.  Then we went back to the studio for the dance class.  It was Parents watch day so Scotland got to watch the tumbling class, and I got to watch the dance class.  Scotland stayed home and worked on the insulation during dance class.

Made tater Tot Casserole

Oh, big news.  She made tator tot casserole
 She didn't do that good of job of mushing the meat down.  She is like mommy and doesn't want to touch it. But everything else she did
We added cheese and ate a lot of it in the process.
 She went with the random method for tator tot placement.


PS: note from Gram
Susie made Tater Tot Casserole when she was 4 years old also.

Crossing the street

Tatiana demonstrated something adorable yesterday that Scotland had taught her.  She demonstrated crossing the street.  She was so serious is was adorable!   She stopped about a foot away from the street and looked both ways and said, "Oh, no! We can't cross now.  A car is coming!"  Then when we crossed it was "Hurry, hurry, we have to get across".  

She went to play with J.J.   There was an older boy that was pushing them around in this toy dump truck.  She had such joy in her face.  It was big enough for the two of them to sit up front.  Tatiana liked to steer.  He seemed sort of ...scatterbrained is the best word I can think of.  The older boy would tell him to do something and J.J. wouldn't notice for a long time.  But, he seems like a nice kid.  I guess being younger he is still at the playing in parallel stage than playing together stage.

Then we watched Monsters University and she sat in my lap the entire time.  I really really enjoyed that.

Hugs & Kisses

This morning Tatiana climbed into our bed just as I was getting dressed.  She asked for 5 hugs and kisses.  Then she said, "No, I want ten hugs and kisses.  Five plus five is ten."