a bigger car.

We got a call earlier this week from my father-in-law. "The Pilot has landed," he said.

When the girls & I pulled up at Grandpa & Gran-D's house this evening, a perfectly polished, black Honda Pilot was parked in the garage. I mentioned to Emme, "Check out Grandpa's new ride." Emme says, "The big one? Whoa, that's a nice car!" The kid loves big cars. Big, "fancy" cars as she refers to them. DVD player, rear camera, plentiful seating, moon roof...the works. My car has na-da. 

Grandpa happily gave Emme a tour of his new set of wheels. She sat confidently in the front passenger seat as Grandpa showed her all the bells & whistles the automobile had to offer. Her grin stretched from ear to ear as she was granted permission to crawl over the generous console and into the roomy back seat. She told Grandpa he need a booster seat to take her for a spin. 

As we drove home Emme says to me, "Mom, we need a bigger car. Like, Grandpa's." I tell her it would be nice but explain bigger cars cost more money. Then my precious 3 1/2 year old girl says to me, "Then mom you need to go back to your store (I used to work in retail) and get some more money. Can you work on that, mom? Come on, mom, can you just figure it out?" 

I guess I need to explain about not putting the cart before the horse, next.

karate.

Emme's temper is quick & short. Lord knows where she picked that up from...yeah.

With dinner in the oven & Delaney conked out for a late afternoon snooze, Emme & I were stealing a little big girl/mommy time outside. The plan was to swing. Emme does the swinging, I push. But the little lady's ears detected the sound of the mailman's truck coming up our street. We headed out front. We grabbed the mail. Then she wanted to water the flowers.

I fetched our watering cans from the garage. My big, ugly, moss green, plastic can & Emme's hot pink, plastic elephant can (the trunk spouts water) were filled and lugged to the front of the house to water the potted plants. However, once I reached the front porch, I noticed Emme wasn't with me. She was standing in the driveway watering her feet. Here is where the afternoon gets ugly.

I proceed to water the pots, Emme now has an empty can. "Mommy! I don't have any more water!" Her bottom lip begins to shake in a perfect quiver (I swear she must practice this move) and some tears are squeezed out. In an attempt to avoid a public meltdown, I grab her can a begin to empty my can into hers. I hand it back and return to watering. "I don't have enough water! It's just a little bit! MOOOOMMMM!" As we make our way around back once more to refill the cans, I hear Delaney pipe up over the monitor.

The following is a blur as my big girl becomes possessed by a combination of Jackie Chan & Naomi Campbell...

I am in Delaney's room changing her diaper, Emme is running through the house, screeching. She doesn't want Delaney to be up yet. She is running from room to room, slamming doors, screaming, opening doors, kicking & punching into the air, "Hi-ya!"I ignore her. The show intensifies. She karate kicks & hops her way down the hall to her room. Another door slammed. I pop my head in and tell her she needs to calm her body down. She needs to stay in her room until she is calm to talk. She is pissed. More "Hi-yas!" and a "thump". A few more "thumps". Clay walks in the door and stops dead in his tracks. I am standing at the stove, calmly stirring some sauteing broccoli. Delaney is perched on my hip. Clay looks at me, bewildered. I shrug my shoulders and tell him to go change, dinner will be ready soon.

Emme must have heard Clay because her bedroom door cracks open and she "hi-ya's" her way to the kitchen. She stares Clay & I down. I smile at her. She throws a quarter at us and runs back to her room.

After everyone's plates are prepared, I head to Emme's room. Things have quieted down. Upon opening the door, I find her bed has been completely stripped. Ahh, the "thumps". Emme is standing in the middle of her tantrum aftermath. She looks at me with sad eyes, "I'm sorry I teared up my bed. I was really mad."

procrastination.

It's been over a week since my last post. Truth is, I've just been plain lazy...

Funny when nothing's on the calendar, your life seems to feel busier. Between finishing unfinished home improvements, a teething 9 1/2 month old, a moody 3 1/2 year old, and a very sick pooch I seriously had to look at the calendar each morning to remind my brain what day it was. So, forgive me, if the past couple of nights all I wanted to do was to sit on the couch and have a big ol' bowl of ice cream instead of pecking away at the keyboard.

A few Emme one liners for your enjoyment:

- Driving to get ice cream after dinner last weekend, "Mom, are we going to that place? What's it called? Oh yeah, Beauty Queen?" Of course she was referring to Dairy Queen, but we were humored.

-Watching the Great Muppet Caper, "Mom, see Miss Piggy? That lady got her necklace stolen and she thinks Miss Piggy is the 'beef"." I clarified that Miss Piggy was suspected to be the "thief". And come to think of it, wouldn't she be the "pork"? Ha ha. Yeah, I know, I'm not funny. Sorry.

- Sitting on the couch, wiggling back and forth, patting her crotch. I ask, "Emme, do you have to go potty?" She replies, "No." I ask, "Well, why are you patting your pee pee?" Emme answers with a dreamy smile, "Because I luuuuuvvvv it." Oh man. Power to you, sister, I guess.

- Tonight, in the car, going to pick up our pup from the vet. I point out a restaurant I think might be an easy place for Clay & I to steal some kid-free time and actually go on a date (last one was when I was 9 mos pregnant last August). Emme pipes up in the back seat, "Yeah, Mom & Dad, you guys really do need to have a date. You should just go and I will take care of Delaney and you should just go have a nice time!" Thanks, kiddo, for the vote of confidence. XO