Monday, July 26, 2010

Chloe has Officially Entered the "Terrible Two's"

After a few months of anticipation, she has finally hit the mark. It all started while taking a much needed trip to Walmart last week. I usually keep her in the cart, but when she asked nicely (consisting of bombarding me with “please” “up” and “out” in both word and sign) I gave in… big mistake #1. We were in the pet department so of course she wanted to look at the fish. She was ecstatic to be looking at them all by herself. Then it was time to leave.

Huge meltdown. She started throwing herself on the floor, so I scooped her up. Of course she would not go back in the cart now (she purposely tried to hit her head on it), so I was stuck walking in and out of aisles with a screaming, squirmy child.

“Chloe, if you want to see the fish you have to stop crying.” I tried to encourage her… she is usually pretty good with the whole delaying gratification thing.

“K” (followed by more screaming)

So, we finally had one more thing on our list. David got in line with the cart while we went to get some toddler food. Thankfully Chloe calmed down when she saw her favorite little snacks. After grabbing a few strange things, (I really don’t understand why she loves little turkey sticks floating in water) I realized that I could not carry her and the food, unless I was prepared to deal with the cleanup crew. I figured she’s big enough to walk, right… big mistake # 2.

So one arm full of breakables, and the other grasping a little hand, I set off. Not three steps later Chloe’s legs went limp. With me still holding her hand, Chloe suspended herself, arched her back, and spun herself around. It was almost graceful, like one of those Cirque du Soleil performers.

“Chloe, you need to stand up.”

She took a few steps, looked up, smiled and lifted her legs again. She laughed as she spun herself around for a good 15-20 seconds. This continued the entire length of the store. Part of me wanted to just drop everything, pick her up and march out of the store. Another part just wanted to give up and drag her to the front. But neither of those seemed like they would benefit my situation, so I just stopped and laughed.

What a stinker… She was doing this to not only amuse herself, but to give me a hard time too. Boy is she like her father. By the time we got to the front of the store, David was in the front of a huge line, waiting for me. He just smiled and shook his head. He knew.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Cloverdale Here We Come!

So after much thought and prayer, we have decided to move from the sanctuary of the Box Home to our own little home in Cloverdale (pictures to come soon.)  Although it is sad to have to leave the place where Chloe is loved more than I could have ever dreamed, we are excited to start this new little adventure.  

It is an older house, with a nice yard for Chloe (and Charley), a place to garden (and maybe even have a few chickens), a creek in the back (behind the fenced yard), the river a few blocks away for fishing, a laundry/mud room and my personal favorite... a sun room.  It's perfect for our family.  

We got the keys this evening and can't help but to think about how to place our furniture, what colors to paint the walls, and of course the issue of what to do with the sun room.  It could be a great little sitting room where we can share our morning coffee, chai and milk, or a playroom to keep Chloe busy while we do homework, or what I am leaning towards is a studio where David can do his artwork, I can do some crafty projects and Chloe can color to her hearts content.

Any thoughts?