Petite princess

Little Dis

"Awww, Dis"

Dan and I crack up talking about how Faith refers to herself as "This-" or in Beebster language, "Dis." Maddie always asks and laughs about how she used to say her first words and phrases and all of that, so I can only imagine how hilarious Faith will think it is to know that she used to call herself 'Dis.'

I was getting dinner ready this evening, and I heard Dan in the living room saying "Beeeeeeebster!" Apparently she was trying to unwrap some of the presents that we had in a bag to take to Lancaster tomorrow. She came in to the kitchen with her head hung low, her arms hanging by her sides, and giving me 'stinky eyes' (which is what she does when she wants to avoid eye contact-- although, she also does this to be flirtatious!). It was quite a sight. She tells me with her head hung quite low and her eyes rolled up into her head: "Awwwww, Dis." As in, poor Dis got in trouble. I was dying of laughter. I still can't think of her standing there telling me "Awww Dis" over and over again in such a pitiful tone and standing in that manner with her stinky eyes without bursting out laughing.

My little Dis. She's too precious.

Future farmer

I am fairly confident that Faith would love to be a farmer when she grows up and thinks about her future career. This little woman is obsessed with boo's (cows), baa's (sheep), and every single other farm creature imaginable.

The funny thing is is that being a farmer was my lifetime goal as well up until about the age of 10 or so. I still remember speaking those words: "I want to be a farmer when I grow up." My Beebster is totally me!

I heard the funniest conversation between her and Cran this morning:

Beebster: (asking Maddie) "C'est Boo?" (Are you a cow?)

Cran: No, I'm not a cow!

Beebster: "C'est Baa?" (are you a sheep?)

Cran: "No, I'm not a sheep... silly goose."

Beebster: "C'est ruff?" (Are you a dog?)

Cran: "No, No, No! I'm a KID! I'm not a puppy."

Beebster: "C'est Dee?"

Cran: "Yes, Dis I am your Dee."

I could not stop laughing. In fact, I just heard nearly the exact same conversation right now from the bottom bunk before bedtime.

Zablo sleeps

The Beebster is such an awesome little sister. She totally fits the definition of an adoring little sister who thinks the absolute world of her Crannie.

She was in heaven today. She loves going to Maddie's dance class, and lately I've been letting her go in to the class at the very end when Ms. Dawn is giving out stickers to all the girls (literally the last 1-2 minutes). She is always dying for it to be the end of the class so that she can go. She's always so patient, and she plays really well on the steps with her enormous set-up of whatever figures, Pets, and Cars she decided to take on that given day. She also comes to me constantly to stand on my lap so she can see her Dee dancing.

Today we were invited in to watch them do 2 little dances. Faith was beside herself that she got to stand with me and watch. She went right up to Maddie and gave her a huge hug with her eyes closed (which is their trademark 'I love you' hug). Then she stood next to me and would tap her shoes on the ground too when they tapped. Ms. Dawn asked Faith if she was going to be her next student, and Faith goes "ESS!" I let her go in at the very end again, and it's always so funny because Faith sidles up very quietly and slyly so that the girls don't even realize she's even in there. Then, all of a sudden, you hear Maddie going "Hey, look! It's my Beebster! This is my little sister, Fafey!" This time Faith sat herself right down in the circle of girls and right next to Ms. Dawn and Cran. She got two stickers for her shirt and a small candycane like the big girls, so she was ecstatic. She gave Ms. Dawn and Melissa huge hugs along with Maddie. They were just too cute today.

Right now she is dressed as Pablo and asleep on the bottom bunk with her hero, her sissy. She insisted on wearing the Pablo costume for the last hour, and didn't want to take it off to go to sleep. So I asked her if she wanted to be Pablo for the night, and she smiled and said "Ess." She was grocery shopping earlier dressed like that. Picture it: a Pablo costume, pink sunglasses that she is constantly wearing, the Tweety purse on her shoulder, and purple high heels. Quite the sight. 

Littlest woman

Little Beebster seems to be practicing her 'T's constantly these days. I have no idea why, but she is constantly whispering and jabbering "Ttttttt, Tttttttt, Tttttt" throughout the day. She is also putting a lot of words together now and saying lots of phrases and short sentences. Of course, we understand- and have understood her since she started babbling- our Beebster language, but probably not everybody else does. She is now always asking me, "what that, Momma?" or "what this, Momma" or she wants to know WHERE everybody is: "Where Da Da?" "Where Dee?" She is calling Maddie "Dee" now consistently. Maddie is trying everything to get her to say M-A-DDie! It's now 'Dee' and 'Dis' because she also refers to herself consistently as 'Dis,' meaning 'this!' It makes me laugh so much.

She was so funny this weekend when Tia Rosa and Paul came to visit. She was so excited that I would just catch her staring at Steph with her trademark Ernie smile (straight line smile with baring no teeth!) and then she would giggle when Steph would notice. 

Beebster helped make snickerdoodles yesterday while her Prince Da-Da was away at the Monday Night Eagles game. She missed him like crazy. She called him a few times and kept asking him where he was. But, she had a good day with Momma and Dee and helped a lot making the cookies. She spent a good bit of today dressing up with Maddie's high heel dress shoes, sunglasses, and a Tweety purse and pretended to go shopping with her grocery cart. She had a blast too outside in the snow. Her obsession of today was to search for the "swamp creature" (Backyardigans) everywhere!

Beebster and her animals

Telling me her animal sounds.. my most favorites are the lizard and the "ruff" for a puppy!

Beebster and her prince

Da-da confusion

The other day at WalMart we were in the checkout line, and Faith noticed the flyer that is taped to all of the cashier lines. It is a flyer with a picture of this particular WalMart's store manager who happens to be a man probably in his late 60's or so and quite heavyset. It says something to the effect that he would be happy to help you with whatever you may need, and of course has his picture. Faith pointed to the man in the flyer and goes "Dis Da-da!!" and got so excited talking about her Da-da. I burst out laughing, the cashier lady burst out laughing, Maddie burst out laughing (and sounded a lot like Thumper when Bambi gets confused and calls everything 'Flower:' "No No No, that's not Da-da!"), and the man behind us in line couldn't stop laughing either. It was hilarious. I assured her that this was not Dan in the picture, and she smiled.

Today she and Maddie got Christmas cards from Grammy with $1 included. They were both beside themselves with excitement that they  got a card (which they love receiving) and at the prospect of "money!" Faith showed it to Dan when he got home and pointed to George Washington and proudly stated that he was "Da Da!" We were all laughing so much.

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Have completely forgotten to mention Faith's love of bras whenever we are in stores. Neither one of them has ever been overly curious about anatomy or anything like that, but for some reason Faith is so drawn to bras whenever we are in Target or WalMart, etc. She runs up to all of the ones that are at her level and touches the pads and smiles. Maddie started cracking up today and asking Faith, "oh, do you like boobs?" Hahaha. 

Beebster ate all of her spaghetti at dinner tonight, and successfully earned her ice cream for dessert. She was so excited. She started calling Maddie "Dee" at dinner tonight, which I'm assuming is the last part of 'Maddie' which is much easier to say than the first part. She also calls herself 'Dis!'

'Gracias'

The Mexican kid's CD that Beebster just loves has shown itself in her new word, "Ga- sas" (gracias). Haha. She was sheepish today when I asked her to say it in front of Dan, but she kept saying it all day yesterday. And, the best part was in the middle of Friday night: Maddie came over to our room at about 6am, and I asked her where Faith was. I went to check in the bottom bunk and didn't find her there. I checked in Faith's room, and Beebster wasn't there either. She was nowhere to be found. I finally went and checked in the living room, and there I found a silhouette of a Beebster standing by the couch cross-legged and sniffing her blankie as though she was lost. I scooped her up, gave her a kiss, and she gave me a neck hug and goes "Ga-sas Momma!" Hahahaha. 

She had a wonderful day today. By wonderful, I mean tantrum-free. The girl is testing me like Maddie never did in her life. But, she was as sweet as could be today. She even pooped once in the toilet, and ate her dinner since it was her favorite: taco night. She got a lollipop for dessert from the Santa countdown calendar and was happy as could be. She and big sis played with Faith's shopping cart the rest of the night after baths, and she got a kick out of Dan and I being the cashiers. My little Floppy Disk!

2-year check-up

It just so happened that Faith's 2-year well visit turned into a sick visit today.

Right when I thought things were getting better, and my little women were feeling more themselves, Faith started with another fever this morning at about 6am. She was whimpering off and on from then until I finally had to wake her up at 9am. She would whimper with a fever, I would rub her stomach, and eventually the fever would break. She got out of bed feeling totally crummy. She doesn't want to eat anything, and the more I thought about it, she hasn't eaten a decent meal since her lunch at Sesame Place that I packed for them on Saturday. She seems interested in foods, but then doesn't want to eat them. And, it's all been bland stuff too. Bananas, toast, applesauce, plain crackers, jello, chicken noodle soup, etc. No luck though.

Anyway, my petite little 2-year old is a whopping 23 lbs and 32 1/2 inches tall. She's our LITTLE woman. They didn't give her her shots since she is not well at all, so we'll go back on the 18th for that. She is totally lethargic and out of it, but the doctor said that her ears, throat, and chest all look perfect. She said it's probably the stomach virus that hasn't completely left her system yet. And, Faith's still having very loose diarrhea (although in small quantities since she's only drinking, and not eating). Of course, right when we got home, both she and Cran threw up. Very frustrating. 

It's official

Little Beebster is now an escape artist.

I'm thankful it took this long. I knew it was inevitable, and I'm frankly surprised she never had tried it before now. She's been sleeping with Maddie now since September, so always had every opportunity to get up out of bed and wander out of their room. But, she only just tried it tonight.

And, when I say 'tried' I mean it's now been about 25 times. 25 times of hearing their door creak open. A handful of times hearing whispers through the crack of the door: "Momma?? Da-da? C'est Momma? C'est Da-da?" Requests for permission to come on out of their room. Another handful of times of hearing conversations between the Beebster and Da-da and realizing that she made it out to the living room without being detected and has now struck up a conversation with Dan. She's so cute that he doesn't even have the heart to send her back to her room. And, there have also been about 2-3 times so far where I just feel a presence. And, then I see this silhouette of a figure standing there at the corner of our bedroom and a blankie trailing on the floor. When I stand up to go quietly to sneak up on the little Beebster, I see a little mop of a hair-do and a huge smile. 

It's so funny that she's finally thought of trying the escape methods. 

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Little Flop is also in love with the CD that Pati brought them from Mexico. I'm assuming it is the little kid's voices singing the songs, but she is just enthralled with it. If I turn it off in the car or at home, she goes "MOMMA!" She just loves it. She spent the morning looking at pictures of their visit, and points at everyone and smiles and waves. When you ask her where each person is, she points them out right away. She had a blast with them all when they were here!

And now she's 2...

Bittersweet day for me. Nothing but a fun day for the Flop.

My little Beebster is now officially 2 years old. Dan and I held her for the very first time two years ago today. She made Maddie a big sister two years ago today. And, she stole our hearts with her first Beebster look those two years ago. I know she will continue to do so throughout her life.

We took her to Chuck E. Cheese on Friday for lunch. That made her day! The girl has only been there I think 4 times in her entire life (with 2 of those times being Maddie's 2nd birthday and 3rd birthday celebrations), and yet we can not drive by Chuck E. Cheese without her waving to his big logo on the restaurant and blowing him kisses. She had a blast, and big sis was quite appreciative that Faith's birthday gave us an excuse to take them there. On Friday night, we went to Lancaster to see everybody and Nene had a Mickey and Minnie cake for Faith. She LOVED the cake. She cracked me up the entire time we sang to her, because she clearly thought it was wonderful that we were singing to HER. She clapped the entire time we sang and smiled with so much pride. 

Yesterday we went to Kitchen Kettle Village with everybody. Dan and I had told her that we were going to see some farm animals at the petting farm, and immediately she started asking us if there would be Booo's and Baaa's. She was thrilled beyond words to hear that there would be sheep, and was so excited she could barely contain herself when she got to feed them and the little goat. She kept asking for cows, but was content enough to see them in the farm field as we drove through good ol' Lancaster. Then, she spent her night last night dancing up a storm at El Serrano. She was quite the hit, and is definitely going to be a dancer like her sis. 

I made her a 'sleepover' cake for today, her actual 2nd birthday. I made it for Crannie when she turned 1, and although it's very simple, it's also very cute. Faith just loved it. There were vanilla wafers for each of our heads, and she wanted me to constantly show her the cake so that she could point out Dan, myself, Crannie, and herself. I took her to the playground after she woke up from her nap, and it was a really nice hour just the two of us. Of course she was asking for "Da Da?" and "da da?" (her Crannie) the entire time we were gone and was so excited to see them when we got home. She had 'Booo' and 'Baaa' sit on her high chair with her while she we sang to her again, and fed them some of her cake as well. 

We got her a little shopping cart for her birthday gift which she absolutely loves. It came with cereal boxes and she thought this was great. She's been "shopping" with her doll all day. Now, we'll keep our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates for a nice day at Sesame on Saturday.

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I really could not have ever asked for a sweeter little girl for my Beebster. She's my best friend just like her big sis, and her personality never ceases to amaze me. She has done me a huge favor by staying so little that it still does not feel right that I actually have a 2-year old now in my Faith. She doesn't feel 2 years old. I am sure that it will sink in to me at some point soon, and I know I will be sad that she is no longer a 1-year old. I remember always thinking when she was a baby- and especially feeding her at night just the two of us when I held her all by myself- that I had to freeze these moments with her so little because I knew how quickly they grow up before your eyes. She has done just that. She has grown so quickly into my beautiful little lady. But, I have loved every minute of these past two years and I can only imagine how much her personality will continue to develop over the years. So, I know I can't be sad when I have so much to look forward to with our precious Faith. 

Le Beebster parle un peu du francais

Our Beebster now speaks a smidge of French.

Actually, she's been doing this for quite awhile now. She was looking at a picture on the fridge today that Maddie drew of the 4 of us, and when pointing to each of us she'll alternate between "isss Momma/ C'est Momma" (it's Momma), "issss Da-Da/ C'est Da-da" (it's Da-Da), "isss Da-Da/ C'est Da-Da" (it's Maddie.. she switches between calling her Da-Da and Momma) and "isss dis/ C'est dis" (she refers to herself as "dis" or "this" hahaha) and pointing to us all the while. My little French speaker.

She has been playing non-stop with her three little farm animals of the Littlest Pet Shop. She got them a long time ago, but has a new love and appreciation for farm animals. She walks around calling for "Boooo" (the cow.. as in "Moooo") and "Baa" (what she calls the sheep). The pig sound is too tricky for her to make, so she just holds the pig in her hand and calls him 'dis.' She sets them up really nicely and has to get them their foods. She and Maddie have been quite busy playing with their Pets lately.

Aside from walking around with her farm animal pets all the time recently, the Flop has also been clinging to the Playmobil parents. There is the Playmobil dad and the Playmobil mom from the dollhouse that she just loves.  She calls them each 'Momma' and 'Da-da.' She took those two and the farm animals to bed with her tonight, and she came to show Dan and I what she had in her hands saying: "Dis Boo... Dis Baa.. Dis Momma.. Dis Da-da." 

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Beebster had quite the day yesterday. She got to see all of her cousins all in one day. We took advantage of Guy and Ella being in Lancaster, and went over to see them in the afternoon. Beebster was beside herself when we asked her if she wanted to go see Guy and Baby Cuz at Nene's house. When she is truly excited at the notion of an idea, she will jump off the ground and a few inches into the air. She jumped about 4 inches above the ground yesterday when she heard we would be seeing her cousins! She just adores them. And, to top it off, she got to see baby Tyler at dinner last night too. She and Tyler held hands and she was fascinated with his teething toys. Seeing all of her cousins in one day = quite the day for the little Beebster!

Her name is "Esss"

Yesterday afternoon we went to the playground and stayed for almost 2 hours. The little women were having a blast.

While we were there, a little girl about 7 or 8 years old started talking to the Cran and the Beebster. She was sweet and especially loved Faith. I felt a little bad for Maddie because the girl wanted mainly to play with Faith, but I thought it was great that miss Faith-y had a playmate for once. Of course, she was completely oblivious but still had a great time.

Long story short, the little girl thought Faith's name was "Ess." She would keep asking Faith if she wanted to slide with her, or walk with her, etc and Faith would respond in her trademark "Essss!" So, within a few minutes Dan and I heard the little girl calling for "Ess" and asking Maddie, "can Esss and I go in front of you on the slide?" 

Oh, my little Esss!

Sly lil' bandit

Crannie has been calling little Beebster a "bandit" for months now because she loves to run off with stuff and then laughs about it. Maddie always laughs about her sissy, the bandit, and miss Faith earned the recognition of being a true bandit today.

We took the little women to WalMart this afternoon to browse the crafts section again. Maddie's been insistent lately that she is going to be the teacher who teaches Faith all sorts of new words. She has gotten Faith to say "beads" ("beeeees"), "I like beads," "choo choo" ("shoe shoe") and I have had to get her to stay away from harder words like "flashlight" and "I love you, Maddie" that she tries to teach her little Flop. 

Anyway, Faith and Maddie were racing towards the crafts section hand-in-hand with Faith yelling, "I like beeeees!" (I like beads). They were showing Dan the sets that they want for Christmas, and of course Faith somehow manages to drop this big case of beads on the ground. It proceeds to break open and hundreds upon hundred of beads fall out onto the floor. We quickly filtered away from the crafts section to the Christmas section, and hung our heads hoping nobody saw what had happened.

A few moments later, I notice that Beebster continues to say "I like beeees" at the top of her lungs and all with this sly little grin on her face. I asked her if she thought it was funny that she had dropped all of those beads back there, and she goes "bea-d-s, bea-d-s, bea-d-s!" and points to her sweatshirt pockets. I find, low and behold, three little beads in her pocket that she apparently swiped while we were trying to make a quick getaway. Dan, Maddie, and I all could not stop laughing! 

She is our precious little bandit;)

She's a gas

Floppy's been so darn gaseous lately!

It's hilarious. The girl sounds like the rotors of a helicopter or something. She and her Da-da are one in the same. Maddie and I are constantly laughing because she will go about her business like nothing ever even happened. This has been a classic Beebster sign of cutting teeth ever since she was little. She's now cutting her back molars, and on top of having her hands in her mouth a lot and drooling, she also has gas. Go figure. Luckily, she hasn't had that horrible diarrhea that often accompanies her teething.

The gaseous girl is totally into crafts now too like her big sissy. With the weather being so unpredictable these past few days, it has made it easy to get into craftsy stuff. Faith loves all of it. They've been collecting leaves and then glueing them to construction paper and putting glitter over them with glue. Faith loves shaking the glitter. She is funny how proud she gets at her accomplishments. Today, I took them to WalMart to look at the crafts section. They are both in love with beads, but they said they would ask Santa for them. They found these 40 cents plaster figures, and we got some paints for them. It's so cheap, and they have a blast. They each painted two little figures, and Faith proudly took them to her bookcase when they had finished drying. 

Aside from being gaseous and artsy these days, she is 2 1/2 weeks shy of turning 2. It's crazy to think about that, and I try and tell myself not to dwell on it otherwise I get emotional. I decided to make her a video for her birthday, and it's crazy to see how quickly they grow up in 2 short years. It seems like it was just Thanksgiving of '06 and I was holding our little Beebster for the very first time. She loved her video. She LOVES seeing pictures of herself when she was little, and of course recognizes all of "her" songs.

I'm still trying to decide on what kind of cake to make for her 2nd birthday, or what kind of cake to order. We never go too crazy over birthdays, but that's only because we'd go into a huge debt trying to go crazy over their birthdays. I LOVE their birthdays. I love celebrating, and I am sad to see my little Faith-y turning 2, and yet excited all at the same time. We've decided to take her (weather permitting of course) to Sesame Place on the 29th, and she is incredibly excited to go. She does her most enthusiastic "essss's" when you ask her if she is ready to go to Sesame! She starts jumping up and down and clapping. 

Scare

Beebster scared the crap out of me today. Or, as Maddie would say, she scared the "cap" out of me.

We went to the playground in the afternoon and there was nobody there. So, Maddie and Faith were in heaven chasing after each other and running from the smaller playground to the bigger playground. Faith started running after Maddie on the paved path to the bigger playground, and of course tripped and fell flat as a pancake. Her face took the fall. To be more exact, her nose and "musbeard" (as Donovan would say) took the brunt of the fall. I ran to pick her up since it looked pretty bad, and she was hysterical. When Beebster gets hysterical she does not scream with a voice, but instead screams silently if that makes any sense. There was complete silence and I knew she was building up the biggest Beebster screech ever.

Rather than letting out that biggest Beebster screech, she instead fainted. Her eyes rolled into the very back of her head while I held her, and I panicked. I tossed her to Dan and she was completely limp with her eyes rolled into the back of her head for about 10 seconds. They were the longest 10 seconds of our lives. She finally came to and started crying and crying and crying. It took her a good while to calm down and be our Beebster again. She clung to Dan and then cried for "Momma" and I held her forever.

Trivial stuff compared to what other people go through with their kids hurting themselves much worse, but yet still such a scare for both Dan and I. I hope I never have to experience that again. Her little nose is so red and swollen, and also bruised. It looks like she's got a mustache because of the scrape above her lip. It definitely looked better though by the time she went to bed, and I am so grateful that she's a happy little Beebster again.

'Peepin' in the potty'

Beebster LOVES this little doll that they sell these days that sits on the toilet and says little phrases like "Peepin' in the potty." She presses the button on this little doll about 30-40 times if we're at a store that sells these dolls. Well, little Beebster pooped in the toilet again on Sunday. Total fluke, but pooped nonetheless. She definitely has developed some correlation between feeling wet or having pooped, and knowing that that means an instinct to go to the bathroom. She'll grab her diaper and say "Momma, ess" and wants changed right away, and usually likes to sit on the toilet and then flush. It just so happened that on Sunday she did this after having peed, and then pooped while she sat on the toilet. I think it will be a gradual process with the little Beebster for sure, but I'm still proud of her for feeling the urge to start the process.

She had quite the weekend. On Saturday we went out to Donovan and Ella's pumpkin farm. Faith and Maddie had a blast. They love rides, and Faith insisted on not sitting in Maddie's lap for the tractor ride. She did great, and waved to us. She went in the cornstalk tunnel with Aunt Lisi, Donovan, and Maddie and then got to jump in the big bounce. This was by far her most favorite part. Not to mention the little woman got to see tons of dairy cows with calves, goats, donkeys, llamas, and sheep. The littlest woman LOVES farm animals. She shouts "boooooo" to the cows when she sees them (her 'moooo!') and "baaaa" to the sheep. Of course she waved "Bah" to the entire farm when we left and kissed everything goodbye.

On Sunday we went to Lancaster for Gampa's birthday party. We stopped to see Grammy, and Faith finally pet Chloe (who she loves and yet fears at the same time). Faith has been pointing Nene, Gampa, and Grammy out in pictures for a few months now and says "Nene." She loves going over there. 

And, tonight she was quite the character as usual for bedtime. We heard some play cell phones going off about 10 minutes after Dan had tucked them into bed. I went in to find Maddie on the floor with her chante (pillow) and a blanket and Faith sitting by the bins playing figures and opening and closing their Disney cell phones. She has now started doing what Maddie used to do at this age when she knew she was doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing, and quick hit the floor as fast as she could and pretended to be asleep. It's hilarious. I got her a little pillow and put her next to Maddie on the floor, and told them 'goodnight' again. Thirty minutes later, and Dan and I hear some chattering again. We peeked through the crack of the door and saw Maddie passed out sleeping on the floor, and Faith playing with Mickey and friends and setting them up in the dollhouse. 

I love my little character!

Cute little 'thorn'

Littlest woman was a thorn in my side today. Hahaha.

Two things went wrong today according to Beebster: 1) blankie had to be washed, and 2) Da-da was not here.

First thing's first: blankie. After lunch Faith was sitting on blankie looking at some DisneyWorld brochures with Maddie. They were sitting and talking together about the White Rabbit and that you can have a tea party with Alice, the Mad Hatter, and gang in DisneyWorld. Maddie was showing Beebster all the pools that they have there. All was well, and they were lost in conversation while I quick cleaned up the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher. A minute or so later, I notice that there is a lovely brown stain on blankie. Faith's poop had leaked through her diaper while she was sitting there and landed on poor, beloved blankie. Maddie of course starts screaming "Emergency!" and goes directly to the closet to get me a towel. Faith was amused until she realized that I meant what I had said about washing blankie. This was right before naptime, and she knew she wouldn't get to sleep with him. Poor Beebster. After her story, I tried giving her a different blankie but of course that wouldn't do. She cried and cried while I read Maddie her book (and of course Maddie chose a long Frances book today, go figure). I went to get Faith after Maddie's book, and put her in our bed. She conked out within a few minutes. But, of course woke up early after only napping about 45 minutes since she didn't have blankie to sniff while sleeping.

Besides the blankie problem, Beebster is also Da-da obsessed these days. I know it's just a phase that will pass, and obviously she loves her Momma too (her new saying is "Ehhh, Momma!" when she wants to show me something and it's adorable because it sounds Jamaican) but it made for some frustrating moments while we were walking this afternoon. They're both basically fully recovered from their colds, but their noses run while they're active and doing stuff, especially outside. I have to stop every few minutes to wipe Faith's nose especially. It can be slightly embarrassing when we're in public outside and she starts with her trademark Beebster screech followed by the "I want Da-da" while I try to wipe her nose. Along with that, she wanted to push her doll stroller again this afternoon, but after that walk at a slug's pace this morning, I thought better and left it at home. That started the "I want Da-da" again. I don't know if it's so much that she wants Dan, as much as she just gets irritated and takes it out on me. Haha. Anyway, she got to sit in a timeout for about 40 seconds while we were playing at the steps. I don't even remember why she sat there, but she did. And after the 40 seconds I asked her (as usual) "are you going to behave?" and she gave me the biggest bear hug ever with her Beebster smile (and runny nose) saying "Esss!" 

Beebster was a thorn in my side for some of the day today, but what a precious little thorn she is!

Just call her Dan, Jr.

The Beebster is totally Dan's.

Dan's day off, and all Faith wanted was her Da-da. I think it's great, although there are moments where I do get a little sad that she runs to him for everything and then I am the "cruel Momma!" But, for the most part I think it's wonderful. You hear "I want Da-da" probably about 100 times a day. Not to mention, she really is a lot like him too. She has been waving to her carseat lately when she gets out going "awww.. BAH!" to it when we shut the door of the car. Dan said he remembers doing the exact same thing too when he was little. Craziness.

Miss Faith definitely has had a growth spurt within the past month. Not only is her shoe size now between a 4 and a 5 (only about 7 weeks ago she was still fitting her size 2's), but the 12-month pants that we bought her for the fall/winter are just right.. which means, that they will only last this year if I can even get them to last that long. I always like getting stuff big enough so that it lasts more than a year, but I figured we were OK getting 12-month pants since the 6-9 month pants were still big enough around her waist just a few short months ago. Luckily, we did get some 18-month stuff so she'll be OK. It's just crazy to see my little Beebster growing so much these days.

She and Maddie are fixated on "Alice in Wonderland" these days. It's awesome. That was always my favorite Disney when I was little for some reason, and although I thought they might think it was a little boring, they LOVE it just as much as I did. Faith loves the part when Alice cries when she can't fit through the door and goes "awww" and always tilts her head to the side.

And, tonight for bedtime the little Beebster picked a Sesame Street book and took it to Dan saying "I want to read this." Jarbled Beebster language of course, but "I want to read this" nonetheless. It was awesome!

Toilet learning on a whim

I think Beebster is going through a phase.

For the past 2 days, she has consistently come to me saying "Momma, esss" and pointing to her diaper and then towards the bathroom. This has meant that she has pooped or peed, and I think she is relating this to going to the bathroom like Maddie. Twice today she had peed in her diaper, and then peed in the toilet after sitting up there. And, yesterday she pooped in her diaper but then wanted to go sit on the toilet and pooped in there too. She looks SO small on the big toilet, and her little toosh can almost fit through the Sesame toilet seat. Maddie and I clapped big time for her when she peed those two times this morning, and she went and woke up Dan telling him "Da Da, ess!" She was quite proud.

I am 99.99% positive that this is just a phase that she is going through where she is wanting to be just like her big sissy, her hero. She desperately wishes she could climb up on the bench like Maddie does to get up to the toilet without help, but has nearly fallen each time she has tried this.

I am certainly not going to promote or push this whole toilet thing right now with Faith, but I'll definitely think it's wonderful if she wants to keep trying. I'm sure it helps that she always goes to the bathroom with Maddie when Maddie goes, and therefore has plenty of firsthand knowledge of all things related to the toilet, etc. It's funny because now Maddie is the one that sprints with Faith when Faith says she needs to go, and Maddie stands next to her as Beebster's cheerleader. They're quite the team.

22 months old

Miss Faith-y turned 22 months old this Tuesday.

It is deja vu in so many aspects. I keep telling Dan that it's crazy to think that when Maddie was this age, she would be a big sister to her Beebster in another 12 days. 

Now, Faith is at that age that I seem to remember specifically well with Maddie. I remember right before Faith was born, Maddie had started to want to walk almost the entire length of our daily walks all by herself. Faith has been doing this for two weeks now. She barely ever sits in the stroller now, although I take it with me just in case. She LOVES picking up acorns, "cherries," rocks, etc.  We collect everything and bring it back here to paint them or color them with whatever we happen to have- markers, glitter paints, glitter and glue, etc. Maddie used to love that too at this age. 

I don't remember Maddie being so incredibly attached to Dan though. She's always been Dan's little Cran and considers him to be her prince (when she and Beebster were looking for Dan on TV this past Sunday during the Eagles game, Maddie kept saying "oh, Momma.. where is the prince of my dreams?!"), but I don't remember this funny stage of complete and utter fascination the way that Faith does with her Da-da. She LOVES him. She breathes him. They are the best of friends. I think it's awesome. Dan went to the Eagles game on Sunday, and Faith walked around with his car keys the entire day. She did not put them down. She took them to bed with her. She got incredibly angry when Cole tried to snatch them from her twice that day-- which, she definitely is not as submissive as Maddie about stuff, but she usually doesn't put up that much of a fight either. While Maddie played with Cole, Kayla, and Chloe that afternoon, Faith sat in the grass with her Da-da's car keys. I asked her constantly if she wanted to play with everyone, and she would just shake her head and say "Da Da" and hold on to the keys. It was precious. Needless to say, she was one happy little Beebster when she saw him on Monday morning!

We went to cousin's house again on Wednesday, which is always a blast for Maddie and Faith. She is so funny about waiting right by the window at 11pm (after I've woken them up to get them ready to go) looking for Da-da and his car lights. I've never seen her run so fast like she does when I announce that it is indeed Da-da's car. Dan was telling me in the car that night that he'll always remember and cling to these moments as his little women's best friend at this age, just in case they don't want to be around as much later on in the good ol' teenage years!

The story of a little chipmunk

Beebster cracks me up.

She was so upset to not see the chipmunk today on our walk. By chipmunk, I mean a DEAD chipmunk. A dead chipmunk that had flies and ants on its head just yesterday.

When we went for our walk yesterday, we came across a little dead chipmunk laying by the sidewalk. Poor little guy (or 'fella' as Maddie and I say). Of course, I told Faith that he was sleeping. She kept crouching next to the little thing saying "awwww" with her little hands on her knees and her head cocked to the side. I had to warn her not to get too close to the poor, little fella'. Before we started walking away, she goes "Bah!" and blows the dead chipmunk a kiss. It was so darn funny. We walked a little bit, and then in her Beebster language asked me if she could go back to the chipmunk. She enthusiastically responded "ESSS!" when I asked her if she wanted to go blow him another kiss. She ran as fast as her little Beebster legs could carry her, crouched beside the little guy's carcass, and blew him another kiss before saying "Bah!" 

That was Dan's favorite Beebster story of yesterday when he called for his daily updates of what the girls had been up to for the day. We both thought it was hilarious, and totally Beebster!

****

She has watched a few more clips of other Disney's recently. She loves "101 Dalmations" and now realizes that her one pajama shirt has a dalmation on it! She loves seeing the puppy when she wears the shirt. She loves Tod and Copper in "Fox and the Hound 2," and saw a little bit of "Bug's Life" and "Lilo and Stitch." My girls and I will have the time of our lives when we finally get to DisneyWorld one of these days. 

little Beebster

Leave it to a Beebster

We went to the big Spirit Halloween store today just to look around at costumes. Maddie is super excited about picking a Halloween costume, and Faith loves roaming around big warehouse stores so this was right up her alley. It was basically as though we had access to a free haunted house because of all the decorations that they had set up, including the large ones. Faith was making Dan and I laugh so much. Maddie was intrigued by all the "spooky" stuff, but would then run around in a circle acting goofy and saying "oh my gosh, this is too creepy." Beebster, on the other hand, absolutely LOVED the creepy head bowls that say funny things and have blood dripping out of their mouths. She stood there with her mouth opened in awe just listening to everything that they would say. She didn't even move an inch. Then, after they would be done saying what they had to say, she would say "Bah" ('bye') to them and blow them a kiss! Haha. Dan thought this was hilarious, and I had to agree. She also loved the big cauldron pots that had mist coming out of them (she wanted to put her hand IN them!) and kept giving kisses to all of the pumpkins. Halloween just might prove to be Beebster's special holiday!

My little woman is pointing out all of her colors these days. She's been pointing out her colors for awhile now- probably a few months- when you give her certain things that have limited choices. For example, if she's playing with her cookie toy that has red, blue, yellow, and green cookies, she always knows which color is which when you ask her. But, lately I've noticed that she finds objects of certain colors when you ask her in random places. When we're on a walk, I'll ask her if she sees a blue car and she'll look forever until she can find one. She starts pointing and going "DIS!" It's so cute. She also loves to pretend to count. Whenever we give her a bunch of something (like grapes or cars or whatever) she points to each individual thing and counts in her Beebster language. I hope I never forget what the Beebster language (and the Crandall language for that matter) sound like!

She went to sleep with her new beloved book: "Where's God When I'm S-s-scared?" It's a little Goldenbook that she loves with one of her favorites from Veggie Tales fame, Junior Asparagus. She's now obsessed with two pages in the book that show a big slime monster and what appears to be a corn flake monster. She'll sit there and repeatedly point to the monsters asking us "diss? diss?" prompting us to tell her it's either the slime monster or the corn flake monster. Then she pretends to hide her eyes as though she's scared, but peeks out to smile. She's so funny!

"I want Da Da"

It may have been jarbled and spoken in the language of the Beebster (which sounds like a mixture of Maddie's old Cantonese/Crandall-nese and a hint of Russian), but there's no mistaking that my Faith-y said "I want Da Da" last night while crying. She's going through that "I don't like water poured over my head in the bathtub" stage that Maddie also went through at this age as well. Her baths lately have been lightning fast. And, she was crying yesterday when I got her out of the tub to towel her dry. In between crying, she would say "I want Da Da!" I called Dan right away, and he was so excited of course. It's definitely not in my head either because Lis heard Faith say it this afternoon as well. It might not be completely clear, but she definitely says it. Oh, the Beebster and her Da Da. They're inseparable, those two!

My little Beebster is 21 months old now, and the 2-year birthday seems to be approaching quicker than I would like of course. I'm trying my hardest to take it all in stride though, but I can't deny my natural inklings to want to keep them both my babies forever and ever and ever. On the upside though, there is the cool thought of having a birthday party for our baby this year. We're hoping to do something slightly 'bigger' this year for our littlest woman. We're definitely not over-the-top people, but Dan and I were both actually toying with the notion of doing something for Faith in October while the weather is still somewhat cooperative. It'd be extra nice to be able to do something outdoors. We've thought of maybe going to one of the orchards around here during pumpkin picking season so that they can pick their own pumpkins and then paint them. And, of course, have fun just running around and drinking apple cider, etc. All of the fun "fall" things. My little women were born in the cold PA months, and I hate that they miss out on fun outdoorsy-type birthday festivities. So, hopefully we're able to think of something fun for my soon-to-be (and, sooner-than-I-would-like-to-be) 2-year old!

***

The girl loves COWS! It's been within the past month and a half or so that she's truly developed her love of cows. We went to Chick Fil-A for the first time yesterday and, on top of them having a really awesome children's play area, they also had cows hanging from the ceiling. The manager there was so sweet and nice, and he saw that Faith kept waving to the cows and blowing them kisses. He entered her in a contest to win one of the cows. Haha. She'd probably be in heaven with a big stuffed Chick-Fil-A cow in her crib! I can just imagine it. We might have to take the little lady to a quality Lancaster dairy farm at some point in her future!! She'd probably be beside herself to see actual cows.

Beebster

The many names of a Beebster

Nicknames are important, and unique, in our family.

Miss Faith-y earned quite the unique nickname. Maddie used to call her "Bee" when she'd be trying to say 'baby.' That later turned into "Bee-yah." Then, it progressively turned into "Bee-yah Sheck" because she'd be trying to say "check Bee's diaper." At 8 months of age, Nene turned the "Bee" into "Beebster" by saying it out of the blue one day while swimming with both Maddie and Faith. Maddie immediately loved the name, and it has stuck obviously.

I love Faith's nickname! We always ask Maddie why Faith is named Beebster, and Maddie responds: "Because she BEEPS a lot." Faith also answers to Flopper (I have no idea why I came up with this) and we say it's because she FLOPS a lot. Haha. Of course, both 'Beebster' and 'Flopper' have abbreviated versions too. Just like Madison with 'Crandall' and 'Trigger' and all of their abbreviations.

 The Beebster name is a unique name for my unique little lady. I can tell she's going to be a determined little girl one day, and someone who will excel in anything and everything that she attempts. I think her tenacity- or sheer stubbornness if you want to be exact- will be a great attribute to her later in life. I'll look forward to what my little Beebster will one day achieve. I have always admired that about Faith- she has a true will to tackle whatever comes her way. No fear at all. Of course, sometimes that can either a) scare me to death when she wants to do stuff like 'big' kids do or b) frustrate me, but, nonetheless, I think it's great.

Little woman had a no-nap day. You wouldn't have known it though because, except for a minor meltdown at the pool after scraping both of her knees yet again, she had a great afternoon. She's currently all about "The Aristocats" and loves watching segments of it that involve Marie, Toulouse, and Berlioz the kittens. Maddie thinks it's wonderful that her little sissy is becoming so interested in her Disney collection. The two of them get back from the pool and go straight to Maddie's DVD rack to try and decide which animal Disney to watch that evening while I get dinner ready. For the most part, Maddie's response to whatever Faith chooses is usually "oh, that's a good one. Good thinking, Beebster."

I'm also convinced that Faith is now saying "I want this" in babbled Beebster language. In fact, I know that is what she is saying. She's been saying that now since about Tuesday, and really there's no mistaking it. Her language is the cutest ever. I love listening to her Beebster language, because she talks exactly the way Maddie used to. I know Faith will also have a language explosion just as Maddie did right before turning 2, and so I am really enjoying this time while she speaks in her own language. She's going to be a talker just like big sissy; there's no doubt about that. 

Funny inevitability

It's now official!

Beebster is borrowing and swapping clothes from her 6-month old baby cousin, miss Ella. Never thought I'd see the day that it would turn into borrowing/swapping clothes from Ella rather than the other way around! Nene had gotten them each some cute outfits that she gave them at Donovan's party on Sunday, and we ended up trading a few things. Lis gave me two 6-9 month outfits since she knew the pants wouldn't fit Ella's waist, and I in turn gave her a 12-month outfit that would fit Ella a little better. Wouldn't you know that the outfits Lis figured wouldn't fit Ella's waist, fit my Beebster like a charm. 6-9 month outfits. On my 20-month-old Beebster Blobster.

I also think Beebster called Maddie 'Gouga' today! Haha.

I love my little girl!

Disneys and Roloffs

Making progress with the introduction of Disneys to my little Beebster friend. Maddie seems to know that any of the Disneys with animals will be good starters for her little sissy, and chose "Lady and the Tramp" on Thursday. Faith LOVES it. She starts doing her teenage screech when she sees Lady as a puppy or Jock and Trusty. She goes "awwwww" when she sees the part of the dogs howling and crying in the pound.

Completely forgot to even mention (block out 'mean' stuff I suppose) that the other day at the fair someone asked me if she was "like a Roloff." 'Roloff' as in the Roloff family on TLC. The family that has dwarfism in their genes. I had taken Beebster to jump in the big bouncy- thing while Dan and Maddie were on the whirly things. Perhaps it was her outfit that day (which, I will admit, I still like the one piece outfits since they still fit her for the most part.. the ones with the snaps which some people think are not for 20-month old kiddos at this age anymore.. I beg to differ, and what's the point in making them grow up faster anyway?...) but while she was jumping, someone asked me how old she was. Typical. I always think it's funny everyone's reaction when they hear her age and then can't believe that she's about 6 months older than what they had originally thought she was. But, there was a woman behind me that goes "awww.. she's like a Roloff?" First time I've ever heard THAT. I kindly told her no and got Faith out of the bouncy thing. That kind of stuff doesn't really offend me, but I still don't quite understand the tackiness of some people. Oh well! She's my little Beebster!

They don't make them any cuter

Beebster's going through a cute chef stage.

She is on her play food kick these days. Tonight, for example, she took two play brownies and a plate with her to her crib. She's always been pulled to Donovan's little play kitchen as if she and the kitchen had magnets, and could play with that thing forever. Making coffee, stirring things, banging on pots and pans, etc etc. Perhaps this will be something that we'll have to look in to for next Christmas (although we really don't have room, and the cottage really does fine with its little oven which they continue to use all the time). Anyway, these past few weeks she roots through the bin with the play food. She always picks out the two pieces of bread, the corn on the cob, and sometimes a bottle of juice that belongs to their dolls. She brings those things over to the little table in the kitchen and 'sets the table.' She gets the cutest smile on her face, and climbs in to the little chair. She sits there and pretends to eat her meal.

Today she fished a fork out of the dishwasher while I had the door opened. She pretended to give herself fork fulls of stuff and then would go "mmmm mmmm" and then try to feed me. Every mother thinks their child is precious, and I am clearly biased, but I think she is darling when she does this.

Bambi and Cars

Completely failed to mention Faith's infatuation with 'Bambi.'

She's now seen little bits and pieces of three Disneys: "Finding Nemo," "Bambi," and "Cars." I get so excited because I remember that Maddie herself was also 20 months old when we started introducing her slowly but surely to the wonderful world that is Disney. I have a strong inkling that Faith will be just like her Maddie and her Momma-- another great big Disney fan.

Beebster had a wonderful night on Friday night. It marked her first ever 'girl's night' with myself and Maddie. She had taken an awesome nap, and I thought it'd be fun to take her out to catch lightning bugs with Maddie too and then let her stay up til 8:30pm watching a movie. She loved it. Maddie chose "Cars" that night, and granted we don't even watch 20 minutes total of it, but Faith still loved it. I didn't even realize that of course she recognizes all of the characters since she's been playing with Maddie and their cars since the ripe old age of 5 months. So, she was pointing and screeching with delight at the sight of Mater! Haha. She thought the movie was great!

 And, she just loves "Bambi." I also failed to realize that we've been reading her her Thumper books now since she was a tiny baby as well. Her Thumper books have always been some of her most favorites since she was only a few months old. So, "Bambi" was a good choice to introduce to her because of Thumper. She laughs hysterically when she sees Faline chasing Bambi when they're little, and also the part where Bambi and Thumper are ice skating (which is also Maddie's favorite part). 

Best little sister

No doubt that Beebster would be awarded the 'best little sister' in our house. Not to mention, Cran would get 'best big sister.' Then again, they're the only little sister and big sister in our house, so I guess that goes without saying. But, even still, Faith truly is the definition of a little sister.

She just adores her Maddie. I've finally realized that Faith calls Maddie "Da Da" just like she calls Dan. I'm the only one that doesn't get that phrase for a name, and am either unnamed or sometimes am "Mommmma" (which is music to my ears). There's a baby doll that Nene got Faith for her 1st birthday that says "Da Da" when you squeeze her. The doll really sounds just like Faith. But, just recently, we've discovered that the doll is slightly freakish in nature. I accidentally stepped on one of her arms one night about a month or so ago, and the doll cried. Then, Maddie and I realized she would laugh if you stepped on her other arm. She is NOT supposed to do this, and I even checked the voicebox in the doll's stomach and the only sound it makes is "Da Da." Very odd. But, anyway, you have to step on her arms a very certain way to get the doll to make the crying or laughing sounds.

Faith always goes to Maddie when she wants the doll to cry or laugh. It's so cute. She comes to me and asks "Da Da?" and I send her in Maddie's direction since I've now deciphered that she means Dan with certain 'Da Da's' and Maddie with other 'Da Da's.' She walked over to Maddie this morning calling for her saying "Da Da! Da Da!" and her arms outstretched with her doll (who is naked). Maddie asked her what she needed and Faith goes "dis... dis." It's so funny when she wants Maddie for certain things and not me. And, she goes SPRINTING whenever Maddie is pooping and calls for Beebster. Faith LOVES going in there, and she's typically the comedy relief for Maddie. Faith will get the step stool and do stuff to entertain Maddie, or I'll hear Maddie asking Faith to look for certain bath toys in the cabinet and there goes Faith to see if she can grant big sister's request. So cute.

Today on the way home from the pool, Faith was sitting in the stroller laughing HYSTERICALLY at Maddie ripping leaves off of the bushes and throwing them in the street. Little things like that seem so much bigger in a little sister's eyes!

The other cute thing that Faith's been doing lately relates to her bond with her blankie. They are both still blankie babies. I always knew when we received the green blanket that Trevor sent right before Faith was born, that that would be the blankie we would use to cover her as a newborn. We used a plaid one always to cover Maddie as a newborn, and by 6 months she was taking her blankie with her everywhere. Still to this day. By 4 months, Faith was so attached to that green blankie. She takes it everywhere and the only place 'he' is not allowed (blankies are boys here in this house for some reason) is the pool. Faith will stand at the top of the stairs and it's that bond between you and your child that I know with a look that she'll give me that she wants one more sniff of her blankie. I'll tell her 'Ok Beebster, go give him one more sniff and then we have to go' and she runs as fast as she can go to wherever he is laying and picks him up, sniffs him, and gives him a kiss. She says 'Bah...Bah' as in 'Bye, Bye.' She'll usually repeat this process about 3 times. 

'Tanner' resemblance

I've now been told for about the 30th time that Faith bears a striking resemblance to the Olsen twins. Just the other day on a walk, a woman stopped me and goes "oh my gosh, with that ponytail she looks just like the Olsen girls in the opening credits of 'Full House,' do you remember that show?" Haha. I laughed. A few people actually used to tell me the same thing about Maddie when she was around Faith's age, so it's kind of funny to know that they're compared to the same people.

Not only is the Beebster resembling a 'Tanner' but she's also quite tanner. She looks so cute with her tan lines this summer! I don't know though if it's because of all the sun or what, but she's got white splotches all up and down her legs. Only on her legs though. I called the doctor and they said not to really worry about it, that it could just be a pigmentation deal that just seems more apparent because now that her skin is darker than normal.

Disgusting Beebster moment

'Disgusting' and yet still baby book material!

The littlest woman is notorious in our family to poop in the bathtub every once in a while. Because of this I usually wait a few minutes after dinner before I put them in the tub since she has a knack for an after-dinner poop.

Anyway, yesterday was bath night. Maddie always strips down after dinner and runs to the tub, and then Faith is all excited to go running after her. I take off her diaper and always scream "small pompas" (and Maddie would be "medium pompas" (or 'pomps' for short haha)) and Faith starts laughing and running in her true cartoon- character style. They looked extra cute yesterday because they were standing there testing the water with their hands and you could see their white butts and super tan lines. I got the camera to take some classic butt shots. On the 3rd photo I was about to say  to myself (but out loud) 'hey, what's that brown wart on your butt, Beebster?' when I realized she was pooping. She pooped on the bath mat! Best part was, I inadvertently got a picture of it. I showed Dan today and we both laughed so much, and yet felt slightly nauseous. Haha. Poor Faith screeched because I screeched and Maddie screeched at the sight of poop on our bath mat.

The best part though.. I actually didn't mind cleaning and disinfecting a bath mat instead of the bathtub. Crazy how pooping on a bath mat can actually be a blessing. Classic Beebster!