Settling in

So it has been a week and Faith is settling in quite nicely here at Andma and Pa Pa's house. It has been a challenge keeping her in her bed since she has moved to a big girl bed. I think I stopped counting at 6 times up on Thursday. It is nice to have so many people to care for her. She has started to love dancing. Friday morning I had music playing on the t.v and was dancing to it. She raised her arms and circled them around like the Wheels on the Bus and said, "mommy, up, dance." However she didn't want to dance by herself. She wanted to dance with me holding her. "Mommy hold her" she would say. So we danced, twirled and dipped around the front room. Then she wanted to dance on my feet which we do occasionally. Then we went to all out jumping and singing. Singing.. that is a story in itself. Let's say her favorite song is "See See my playmate." We know it in sign language and she loves it. "The color song" is another one she loves to sing and sign. It is amazing to see her change every morning when she wakes up. Another new day with new things to learn and do. It is wonderful to be at home again with her.

A morning of tears

Today Bud headed back to Motown to work. Back to an empty apartment with an air mattress, a t.v., and a playstation. I hope he can move to our final destination sooner than last time. I think Faith understands where he went and what he is doing. We split apart not 3 months ago for the same reason. As I kissed him goodbye and our family hugged the tears rolled. I looked in the back and Faith is crying too. She loves her daddy. She loves it how he throws her in the air and catches her. She loves running and jumping into his arms. She loves it how daddy plays. Why is it that we always get rough obstacles in life? Some people just glide through life with everything being given to them. When will life become stable and constant? I don't know. All I know is that I am grateful for a family who loves us so much and willing to take us in for a few months so life can work itself out.

Who goes potty?

With the move back to the midwest all complete Faith has settled in quite comfortably into her new bedroom. She loves being a big girl and sleeping in a big girl bed. Despite the power struggles that go along with this age, we are all doing well and adjusting quickly. One of her favorite things to do nowadays is let her toys do what she is doing. Today Barbie went potty. Faith took her skirt off of her and checked out her bottom and said potty. After I heard it for the 10th time I decided to ask her if Barbie needed to go. She said yes and took her into the bathroom, sat her on the toilet, "ssssss" she says, and wiped her. "All done, yeeeaaahhh!!" When the little amout of toilet paper wasn't enough she asked for more. I thought she was all done but oh no, Barbie had to flush too she said. She then took Barbie to the kitties and explained to them what Barbie had just done in the bathroom. Oh how exciting life is for a two year old. Not only do I get hands clapped nowadays for going potty, so do all the toys and animals.

Love you

Yes, all those times that we've told Faith that we love her and all those times that we signed it to her and she signed back have finally paid off. Last night she said, "love you daddy" to Bud. Tonight she told me that she loved me as I kissed her gently on her head as she dozed off to sleep. It is times like tonight that I want to remember forever. I know we forget as we get older. Hopefully as I write in her journal tonight and read it to her in 5 years, we'll look back at how sweet a little girl she is. I just want to tell her again so I can hear her say it again. Love you all.

Time is a tickin'

The days are counted and Faith knows where she is going. Not only does she know the state she is moving to she knows who's house she is moving to and that she is getting a big girl bed. She is all excited about packing and unpacking boxes. As I try to get stuff together I find myself trying to be very patient with a two year old who is just as eager as I am to leave this town. Today was a fun day. As I emptied her dresser today she poked her head in to find out what I was doing. This is typical. I can rarely do anything without her checking on me. I told her I was packing her clothes away for the move. As I left the room I heard her getting into something and as I looked in on her she had a box and was packing her clothes. She then picked up her box and carried it to the front door only to tell me that she was leaving for IL. I think that I am feeding her imagination to some degree. I had to find a way to get her mind off of the IL ordeal so we got a box and pretended it was a car. She took her keys and I made an ignition switch. She turned the keys and made a vroom sound. We took a trip to the library (her room) and then to the store to buy groceries (her closet). We scanned her food and books with a lint hair roller and made a beep sound upon scanning. She loaded them up into her car and we scooted to the kitchen to put them away. She called out "Ready" when she was ready for me to come back and get her. It is fun to pretend.

She can fly

Everything flies nowadays including Faith. Lamby flies through the air, the cup flies, balls, remotes, books, basically everything that is not supposed to fly, flies. However the funniest flight through mid air is Faith. She has started this jumping and spread eagle fall onto Bud and I. As we are lying down on the bed she'll stand up, take a running start, and then jump into the air and crash onto our bodies. It doesn't matter if we are ready or not. Here she comes. Today she was fearless. That is the only word I can think of. As she climbed her clothes basket and I lay next to her, she decided that she would take off in flight from the basket to my arms. She must have flown over and over again for what seemed 15 minutes. What is funny is that I remember Grace about this age flying off of the big bed and landing on her belly on the air mattress. I remember just like yesterday. She cackled and squealed with such delight. Faith decided also to participate during preschool gymnastics at school on Wednesday. She crab walked, bear walked, jumped and even somersaulted with them. However after she somersaulted on the hard gym floor she decided that wasn't such a bright idea and stopped the tumbling. She is my little tumble bear.

Is there an echo in here?

So the time has come when we have to be aware of what we all say. I try my best to not say words that I don't want Faith to repeat. However there are times that it just slips. For instance I tell Abby to be quiet and that she's not eating right now. Faith says, "Abby no eat" and points her finger at her. You have to understand our cat. Since she part Siamese she cries and cries until someone pays attention to her. So Abby wanted to eat the other evening too and was crying non stop. Steve told her to shut up. Yeah, it was too late. The words had come out and then came out of Faith's lips too. I had to explain that wasn't a nice thing to say. So she repeated it again with the Abby first. "Abby... shut up." I remember when Grace was little and she said that her mommy and daddy's unkind words were driving words and used only in the car. I guess that would be good advice when Bud is driving. Man o man. Even "crap" has slipped and then I hear my little echo behind me. We are really good about watching what we say but sometimes things slip and it's those times that she just happens to be listening.

First haircut

It has been a long time coming but Faith got her beautiful hair cut today. Although not much it was quite traumatic for the little one. She understood she was getting her hair cut because she seen me get mine cut a few weeks back. She was scared to sit in the chair booster. She pushed away and then pushed the lady away when she tried to put the smock on her. Her little arms clung to my neck. I couldn't pry her off. She ended up sitting on my lap and I was the one with the smock on. Fruit snacks are wonderful bribes.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. Let the year begin with a bang; on the xylophone that is. I decided to use my gift card to the book store today to find some interesting things for Faith and I. My joy is seeing her happy. She is happy to get new books and even more excited to read them. I think Frosty the Snowman was read 5 times the first day. I found a really neat book that had the words to songs and then the notes were colored in with the corresponding colors. Hence you play the xylophone on the bottom of the book according to the colors on the song above. However what caught Faith's attention tonight and left her in awe was a story about a little girl and her tutu. Faith has a tutu I made for her for Halloween and her favorite character Zoe loves a tutu. She has my blood in her for sure. She has started dancing and twirling to a rhythm over the last few days. She takes her arms and shakes them above her head, rolls her head in circles, twirls around, jumps and crosses her feet, and then jumps into the splits. Then stands up to do a somersault. Let us not forget the finale; the log roll across the dining room. Yeahhh! she says. I have to give credit to the Ellen show for parts of her dance moves and MTV for a dance show they have on. I know I'm terrible.