Princess names

The princesses according to Faith:

Aurora- 'Arara'
Snow White- 'White'
Jasmine- 'Asmine'
Pocahontas- 'Pokeyhontas'
Mulan- 'Mooolan' (although it used to be 'Tattoo' for whatever reasons!)
Belle- 'Belle'
Cinderella- 'Cinderedda'
Ariel- either 'Riel' or 'I no say this' (as in, "I can't say this!")

Our girl also loves to whisper secrets in our ears all the time which are almost always "I love you Dad, I love you Mom" which is precious. Oh, and she also LOVES to be the one to say the prayers at dinnertime. I'm going to have to videotape it because it is priceless. She has her eyes closed and mumbles things that NOBODY can make out and then says "AMEN" as loud as she can!

Gotta love a girl named Beebster!

Student Beebster

My Beebster just loves to learn new things all the time.

She's really picking up on her number and letter recognition, counting to 20, learning to count by 10's to 100, and even writing her name almost perfectly and some other numbers and letters. Maddie was doing these things at 3 1/2, and I think that it helps a lot that Maddie loves to "teach" Faith things in the early mornings when they are awake and playing and at night when they sit together on the bottom bunk and chat. It's really cute, and Faith gets so proud of herself. She's funny too in that she loves the things that I come up with to help her remember things. I told her that 15 is smelly from not taking a shower, and she'll point to "him" on her number chart and say "oh 15... you need a BATH!" She says 6 loves "eggscream" (as in ice cream), 16 is going to the beach, 17 has long hair, and all the 'teens' are the "big brothers" of the single digits.

I can tell that she wants to do things earlier because of wanting to do everything that her Maddie does. She has been wanting to know how to spell her name for awhile now, and actually can write it pretty well now.

3-year old

Faith went for her "official" 3-year check-up yesterday at the doctor.

She weighed 27 lbs and is 36 inches tall! Nene told me that I weighed 27 lbs also and I was 35 3/4 inches tall when I turned three, so my Beebster and I are pretty much one in the same. She's so small and adorable! She was so excited for everybody (aka Dan, Cran, her Beeba, and myself) to watch her, and she was so proud to do everything that the doctor told her. This doctor has been our doctor since Faith was a newborn, and knows Faith very well. She asked me if anybody that we've talked to ever voices concerns about her speech, and I told her that yes some people have asked us about it but we understand her and have understood her since she was not even a year old. The doctor wasn't worried at all, and our Flop is doing wonderfully!

She loves to tell us that she loves us a lot by saying, "I love you much!" It's so perfectly Beebster. She is the best 'medium' sister there could have ever been, and I admire it so much since I was just like Faith, being the 2nd of 3 girls. She is in love with both her big sister and her baby sister and tells them this all the time.

Faith's ONLY Guy

Faith is as steadfast as Maddie has always been about her one and ONLY boy friend.

Her beloved Guy. Aka, her cousin, Donovan.

Today she told me that she has a brother, and that it is Guy.

On the cusp of turning.... three!

Gotta keep up with my running journal of all things Beebster and everything that she loves:

She is soooooo fastidiously conscience about her hands being washed. I think I have definitely instilled in them my own OCD qualities of having to feel clean, but I think Faith also is fastidious about it all by herself. She is constantly asking to wash her hands, and even wants hand sanitizer. She's also hilarious when she uses wipes to clean herself. If she is sticky from something she has eaten, she will get one of Abrie's wipes and not only clean her face and her hands, but she will also stick it down the front of her shirt and wipe her throat and her chest. I have no idea where this came from, but it is absolutely hilarious to watch!

She is totally all about the toilet for pooping. I have not changed a poop diaper of Faith's in probably 3 weeks or so. But, pee on the other hand? It's hit or miss with that. She wants so desperately to wear princess underwear like her Dee, but is not quite there 100%. I am so proud of her no matter what, and I know she is so incredibly proud of herself as well.

She wants to be just like Dee. Man, she adores her big sis. She has been asking for months now to get her ears pierced like Maddie and like princesses. We are trying to stick to how we did everything with Maddie and her timeline, so I suppose 3 years old might be a good time for Faith to get her ears pierced IF she still wants to do it. We will see.

Abrie's head is a comfort to Faith. She just loves to sniff Abrie's head (she calls it 'ohhh, Fuzzy head' or 'ohhh, Lumpy head!') or rub it while she sits next to her Beeba. Those two are two peas in a pod. It makes me feel really good to know how much they adore each other also, since I know how much Faith will miss Maddie if/when she starts kindergarten next year.

She loves card games- and all games really- and anything craftsy. She loves drawing with Maddie, and they spend hours together coloring pictures in coloring books or on construction paper. Actually, Faith is getting really good at drawing.

I think Faith tells me about 30 times a day, "I love you, Momma" and I love it. I will never, ever grow tired of hearing that from my Beebster!

My little riot

My girl is a riot. A hoot.

Call it what you like, but my Beebster always makes me laugh. She is such a comedienne. It doesn't hurt either that she's just as clumsy as her big sissy (maybe even more), so she's always falling over or running into things which can be quite comical.

Today, she was following in Maddie's lead and pretending that princesses and princes were showing up unannounced at our front door. Maddie had already stated that Prince Edward had been to our house and had promptly been electrocuted (and, she called 9-1-1.. and, told the "responder" that we live on 422 West.. hahahaha!), and Faith was going down the stairs to welcome Aurora and Prince Phillip. I was nursing Abrie, and all I heard was Faith saying, "Oh, hi Aurora." And then I heard Faith pretending to be Aurora, "Oh, hi Fafe!" And, then I heard the sound of Faith skipping the last 2 or 3 steps, and landing hard on the floor. No big deal though, because just as I started to gasp and yell, "are you ok?!" I saw a little head pick herself up and wave to me, letting me know she was perfectly fine.

Another day in the life of my Flop!

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I can not for a second believe that my little girl will be three years old soon. I don't even want to think about it.

But, I do like thinking about her birthday "party" (nothing big) and how she has requested a Snow White theme. She's too funny.

Beebstin

We were out the other evening when the sun was setting, and the sky was a beautiful red that the girls had never seen before.

Faith looked up at us, and said, "Look! Tink do this! And Beck!"

She was telling us that TinkerBell and Beck (another fairy) and the fairies were responsible for changing the sky a different color, and it was so cute.

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Flop's recent things:

She is in love with 'Peter Pad.' (Peter Pan). She says that he is her true love. She even wanted to be Peter Pad for Trick-or-Treat.
She loves to calls us 'siddy goose poop' (as in silly goose poop). I have no idea where this came from, but I must admit it is absolutely hilarious when she whispers to me, "I love you, siddy goose poop Mom!"
She's been doing really well with numbers and letters, and is much better at recognizing them than Maddie at this age.
She's been doing awesome with the toilet, and I don't ever even bug her about it. I'm sure it won't last (and I'm not worried about that), but she didn't go once in her diaper today. I made a big fuss over her, and she was excited about it. She has requested a 'new Cinderedda' doll.
She loves playing 'CandyLand' with us.
I swear she idolizes her Dee more and more every day. It's precious. She copies and imitates everything that Maddie does, and Maddie- remarkably (I remember I HATED when Tia Rosa would copy me)- loves it. I think this is an underlying factor as to Faith's newfound desire to wear 'big girl' underpants like Maddie, and have her ears pierced like Maddie.
That being said, I swear Faith loves her baby sissy more and more everyday. She comes up with the funniest nicknames for Abrie, and one of the new ones (christened by Faith) is 'LumpyHead.' When she's sitting next to me while I nurse Abrie, she rubs Abrie's head with her hand and blankie out of comfort. It's really, really cute.

'N'= 'd'

Beebster's 'n's' are 'd's.' It's adorable.

'Green' is 'geeD.'

'Halloween' is 'HalloweeD.'

'one' is 'waD.'

She also now tells us she likes us when she wants to tell us that she loves us. We say, "I love you, Faith-y" and she responds, "I like you." 

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It's flooring me to think that Faith will be THREE next month. Absolutely ridiculous. She's supposed to be a baby. Not an almost three year old. She's telling us she wants her ears pierced too just like her Dee. She's looking through cookbooks to figure out what kind of cupcakes she wants.

She's been asking for her video from Momma, and I am worried about making her one this year. And, then turning around in January and making one for Maddie who will be FIVE. My girls are growing up before my eyes, and it's painful at times. 

In the meantime, I'm holding on to every little Beebster-ism. She's that precious.

On a good note

We FINALLY tracked down a DVD copy of 'Snow White.' Blockbuster didn't have it, and we've been looking for it for almost a year now. I finally requested it through the library's interlibrary loan, and after a few weeks, it finally came in and we've been watching it non-stop.

Thank goodness it is going to be re-released next month. Faith LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her 'White.' She ripped out a page from a magazine that advertised the re-release of the movie, and put it on the fridge. She's been cracking everyone up at the pool when she takes her dwarfs to the kiddie pool and lovingly refers to them as 'Heigh-Ho's.' I've heard from two mothers now that their little girls refer to the 7 dwarfs as "the heigh-ho's." Haha.

And, the names of her beloved Heigh-Ho's are:

She calls Dopey, Happy, and Doc by their names. She calls Sneezy "Ah-choo," Grumpy is "No Happy," Sleepy is-- she closes her eyes and pretends to be asleep, and Bashful is just "Dis Heigh-Ho."

A first for the girls, and it had to be Beebster!

Nene said it again today on the phone when I told her about Beebster's afternoon antics:

"Chiquita, pero picosa." 

Hence, the name of my blog!

I feel though that the phrase "preciosa, pero picosa" would more aptly describe my Flop. The girl is too cute for her own good. You get mad, and then you feel bad. Ha!

The lowdown on her 'afternoon antics:'

I had to admit today for the very first time ever that one of my lovely little girls actually bit. BIT! I still can't believe it. And, she didn't bite just anyone. She bit her own beloved older sister. Of course, the culprit was none other than yours truly, Beebster. Then again, with a nickname like "The Beebster/ The Flopper" you would think this wasn't her first time in this kind of trouble.

These two 'big' girls play incredibly well, so well that I have strangers ask me how I get them to play so nicely together. Of course, siblings have to have their feuds and lately they have their 5 minute spats that can be more than a little annoying. Maddie does what I remember I always used to do: she will be playing with something, and then leave it to go play with something else and of course claim it as hers when Beebster tries to play with it in the interim. The words "I was playing with that!" have become the dreaded words around here lately. Their spats are short lived, and they always go right back to playing beautifully within a few short minutes. But, today Faith decided to take it to the next level.

Maddie tried to re-claim the Mapletown Bus that they cart their ponies around in (they also have a Barbie Corvette and a Little People SUV, so Lord knows, we have enough vehicles to go around instead of argue over one in particular!) and Faith became irritated. I heard the beginnings of Faith's aggravation, but then it boiled over and before I could even say anything I heard Maddie say "Owwwww!" Oh yes, there were Faith's teeth indentations on Maddie's calf. No blood, but there was no denying Beebster's little teeth had been on Maddie. 

She immediately got a time-out withOUT blankie, and she was immediately remorseful. Poor Flop. I know I shouldn't say "poor Flop" since she was the biter, but I do feel bad for my girls because whenever they do something that hurts anyone's feelings, they immediately feel remorse. Faith went straight to her beloved Dee after her time-out (and a stern lecture and warning about biting and about NEVER, EVER doing it again) and wrapped her little Beebster arms around her and said, "I sawwwy, Dee. I love you, Dee" and cried. 

It's a good thing the girl is as precious as can be. 

The girl is a trip!

I love my Beebster.

She is a walking dictionary/thesaurus these days. She does NOT stop talking. Of course, she has never stopped talking, but she's repeating every single word anybody says now. And, she's extremely clear. She even calls herself "Fafe" now! It's more than a little sad to not hear her saying 'Dis' nearly as much anymore, and to hear her whisper 'Fafe' (or, sometimes 'Fife') when you ask her what her name is. My little Fafe!!!

It must be the age, but our Beebster is clumsy. I remember Maddie was so clumsy when she was two years old also. She was constantly tripping and falling over, and it was always so hard because I had to try hard not to laugh half of the time. I still remember clearly one day when I was nursing Faith, and Maddie was practicing her wind sprints as she often did but this time decided to wear her Ariel bike helmet. The girl came sprinting out of her room and ran straight into the sliding glass door in the living room. Thank the Lord, she was wearing a bike helmet!

Well, Faith is no exception to the 2-year old clumsiness phase. She demonstrated this the other morning at Giant in what was a deja vu incident of "Clean up on Aisle 6" from my childhood days! I remember going to Weis one night when I was about 12 years old with my dad and I leaned against the spaghetti jars and nearly all of them came crashing to the ground.  All you could hear for the next half hour or so over the intercom was, "Clean up on Aisle 6!" Well, Faith had her own incident like this, only this was Aisle 24. 

I was getting some butter, and Dan was with his three lovely ladies. I was far enough away from them that I could see them, but clearly Dan was the one in charge for the moment. Wouldn't you know Faith leaned up against all of the jelly and jam jars, and about 8 of them came crashing down to the ground. One of the jars was glass and splattered everywhere, but luckily most of them were the plastic Welch's ones. I just saw Dan bent down over the ground trying to clean up the evidence himself while telling Beebster and her Dee to stand next to the cart. It was the funniest sight. I just heard Faith keep saying, "Oh, I sawwy Daddy. Sawwy, Daddy." And, what did I do? I pretended I had no idea who they were!

Then last night, I took Abrie for a walk and Dan stayed with his big girls while they were in the tub. We were sitting together last night before he left for work, and he started laughing about something he said Beebster said while she was in the tub. He told me she had spilled a big cup of water out of the tub after he had told her not to do that. He was cleaning it up and asking why she had done that, and he told me she looked at him and shrugs her shoulders saying "I cool, Daddy!"

Hahaha. 

She's medium

Beebster is not our 'middle' child. I hate the term 'middle child.' 

She is our MEDIUM girl. I like 'medium' much better than 'middle.'

And, Faith is the perfect medium daughter and sister. 

Beebster melts hearts. The girl is too darn adorable. She says the cutest things and looks at you with the most precious of faces. I love listening to the running dialogue between she and her beloved older sister, her Dee. Right now they are on the floor of our room looking at all of their Fairy chapter books from the library, and you just hear Faith keep saying "see this, Dee.. see this, Dee" (look at this, Maddie) because she is showing Maddie the pages of her book. I can hear Beebster saying "dis Beck, Dee?" (is this Beck, Dee?) and Maddie saying "No, that's Fawn" and now Maddie is explaining about the different talents of the fairies while Faith says "Ohhhhhhhh, Dee!" 

You can see that total admiration in Faith's eyes for her older sister. It's so neat.

And, then to see the relationship unfold between Faith and her baby sister is equally as amazing. Beebster is still a baby to me, and yet she's fast becoming a Dee to her Beeba Show. You can see that Abrie thinks of Faith what Faith thinks of Maddie. Faith loves her Beeba Show for the simplest reason: that Abrie is her baby sister, and she is perfect because of that. She loves to give her Show 'squishy cheeks' (and Faith laughs and laughs at how Abrie looks when she does this), she'll come running when it's time to read Abrie her books because she wants to sit right next to her and give her a head rub, and she's always on the floor on her stomach showing Abrie toys and playing right along with her.

I love my Beebster. And, I know her two sisters think she's the perfect 'medium' sister that they could ever imagine in their lives.

'White'

Faith LOVES Snow White.

She's always been a huge fan of the dwarfs, and now her most favorite princess is her beloved "White" as she calls her. She takes her "Happy," and her "Duhpey" and her "White" everywhere with her. In fact, today she left White at the train table at Barnes and Noble, and she was devastated. I had to call customer service there and make sure they held her for us until we went back in the afternoon.

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Beebster's been talking non-stop these days. She's always talked non-stop since before turning a year old, but it's making much more sense to other people beside ourselves now. It's adorable. Today she was telling us all about "Amu" (Shamu the killer whale) and about thunderstorms. 

Student Beebster

Beebster's been working on her first-ever workbooks!

She picked out her very first workbook the other day at the Dollar Store, and she loves it. She was circling things and x'ing out things today with her crayon and thought it was great. So, now I have two "students" since Faith rarely takes naps these days just like her Dee. They helped me make shrimp corn chowder this afternoon, and then each worked on their "studies!" 

Her vocab has exploded overnight recently. It's so cute to hear her talk, and I swear Maddie is still her best interpreter ever. In the few instances that I don't know what Faith is telling me, Maddie always knows. I remember Maddie's voice being so darn cute, and Faith's is precious. It will be interesting to see what Abrie talks like when she's older!

Beebster at the lake

A girl, her hat, and a ruff

Went to Gymboree last week in hopes of finding a hat for Abrie to keep her shaded from the sun. Achieved my goal, and found the Breezy a hat for $1.49. Needless to say, Beebster found herself a hat that she couldn't live without. Considering it was on sale for $.99 (despite being 12-18 months.. and yet it fits her just fine!), we told her she could have it. She does not take the thing off of her head. She has even been going to sleep with it on at night, and I've opened my eyes in the night lately to find her hovering over me and gesturing that she needs her hat back on her head when it fell off in the middle of the night. Ha!

Besides the hat, Faith-y Q. also has a new love in the form of a brown little puppy, or "ruff" as she calls them. It's 'Doughy,' cousin Guy's beloved puppy from when he was little. Maddie asked to borrow him when we saw them last week, and he happily obliged. She loves him. But, now Faith loves 'Doughy' as well and says 'Doughy' all the time. She took him with her today on our walk in the backpack on wheels that Nene gave her. It was quite a sight. She feeds Doughy and puts him to sleep on their bottom bunk. And, tonight she went ahead and put herself and Doughy to sleep in our bed: she always has to sleep on Dan's side, and tucked Doughy in to bed on my side. It's quite hilarious.

I love my Beebster Blobster.

Sophia Petrillo

I like to refer to Faith sometimes as Sophia Petrillo. 'Sophia Petrillo' of "Golden Girls" fame. 

The girl carries a little purse with her whenever we run errands. She carries it high up on her shoulder, and it looks hilarious. She took this little black, Victoria's Secret handbag with her today to the 4th of July parade. She carried her Ernie doll in it.

This evening before bed, she and her Dee were hilarious playing that they were two girls having a birthday party and a pinata. Maddie's name was 'Susan' and Faith was given the name of 'Emily' (got the names from the American Girl 'Molly' books that they've been reading). They wouldn't answer to anything other than Susan and Emily. Even after Maddie decided her name was now Maddie again, Faith insisted that SHE was Emily: "Dis no Dis, Dis..." "oh, Faith are you Emily?" "ESS!"

Well, Sophia Petrillo/Emily emerged from their bedroom at about 8pm or so with a smile on her face and a sweet "Yi, Momma!" (Hi, Momma). I had seen her with the Tweety purse when they went to bed, but didn't think much of it. The sneaky smile on her face though combined with the unmistakable smell of nail polish made me think there was trouble! I was right. She had decided to go ahead and paint her fingernails and toenails all by herself. It didn't look TOO bad considering she did it all by herself, but she also painted her legs and arms with the green and yellow nail polish. Luckily, it wasn't on the comforter. When I told her never to paint her nails again without asking, she looked at me with the sweetest face and goes "Why, Mommy?"

She finally did go to sleep in our bed with two big baskets of Easter eggs she found in our closet.

She's too darn precious.

Flopper's vocab.

I've always tried to jot down Maddie and Faith's expanding vocabulary so that I never forget how they used to refer to certain things at a young age. I've failed to do that lately with things that Faith has been saying for a while now, and I don't want to forget:

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She has a family of monkeys that she loves to play with these days, and she refers to monkeys as "ooo ooo aaah aaah's." The dad monkey is "daddy ooo ooo aaah aahh," the mom monkey is "momma oooo oooo aaah aaah," and the baby monkey is "beeba show ooo oooo aaah aaah." It's a mouthful to say!

*******

When she and Maddie play hide-and-seek and Faith is in charge of counting, Faith goes "awa awa awa.. where Dee be?" For some reason, she counts by saying "awa, awa, awa, awa, etc" and the way she asks where somebody is is "where ____ be?" It's funny though with the counting, because if she wants a certain number of something, she'll ask in "awa's" : "awa show, Momma?" (as in, one more show?) If she wants a few more minutes to play, for example, she'll ask for "awa, awa" (as in 2 more minutes, please?). Ha!

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She says "ess" for 'thank you,' so nobody ever knows that she is saying 'thank you' to them. They probably think she is not too polite, ha! She also says "eeee" for 'please.'

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Her most favorite color is "bluuuuee!" Her most favorite letter is 'O.' She LOVES singing the alphabet song, but doesn't say all of the letters correctly since some are hard for her to say still (F, R, L, X, W, etc). 

*****

I'm notorious for adding "doo dah" to every song that I make up throughout the day, and now Beebster sings "doo dah" all the time: "doo dah dayyyyyy, doo dah dayy!!" is all you hear!

*****

When she's thirsty, the Beebster sticks out her tongue and points inside her mouth. She stands there with a smile like a little puppy. What's funny is that Nene always tells me that I used to "talk" through gestures for a lot of things too, so much so that they thought I was deaf at times;) Faith will pull up her shirt and rub her stomach saying "dis, owwww" when she is hungry! It's hilarious deciphering the Beebster.

*****

My favorite Beebster saying lately is, "this is WOW, Momma!" She says this for everything that makes her happy. She kept saying that over and over again when we went cherry picking last week, and at Hershey the week before that. But, she is just like Maddie in that the simplest things make her so happy and she says it for any time she is having a blast! In fact, at the moment she is taking a nap with her Oooo Oooo Aaaah Aaaah (monkey) and a Sesame Place brochure that she insisted on sleeping with since "this is wow!"

Oh, my little Beebster Blobster.

Show-and-tell, version 2

Show-and-tell

Beebster's "funny" version of show-and-tell

Little Ramona Quimby

Beebster is Ramona Quimby. Ramona the Pest. 

Maddie and Faith have always reminded me of those awesome Beverly Cleary books of long ago-- the Beezus and Ramona books. Too bad there isn't a third sister to that duo! Dan and I were just laughing though about how pesty Faith can be with her beloved Dee at times!

She adores her Dee. She idolizes her Dee. And, at the same time, she loves to irritate her Dee. Maddie was ecstatic this afternoon because Faith came out to join her for 'quiet time' (since Faith's naptime was erased due to poop as usual). They were all excited and ready to play Littlest Pets. Within 20 minutes though Maddie was complaining that Faith was "being mean to me again!" and Faith kept getting in Maddie's face saying "Dee? Dee? Dee, happy?" because she wanted to see if Maddie was happy with her again. Hahaha.

At this very moment though, the little "pest" is sleeping. Sleeping with her fake, plastic, and quite yellow watch that she won at the garden party LAST Wednesday and STILL has not taken off of her wrist. Sleeping with her Bashful all wrapped up in a blanket next to her and tucked under her arm (she emerged from her room crying earlier because Bashful had become unwrapped from the blanket!). And, sleeping with her head on big Beezus' stomach. 

She may be a pest at times, but she just loves her Beezus. 

What can $6.99 buy you?

Beebster pulled off a totally Beebster-ish scandal today.

She's forever finding things at Giant when we go grocery shopping and asking us if she can buy it. It's usually Goldfish crackers or marshmallows, and sometimes we end up coming home and putting all of the groceries away to notice that she obviously put the item in the cart and we ended up buying it. Harmless though, as it's usually little things.

Today though I was going through the bags before lunchtime, and found a battery powered Ariel toothbrush. Immediately, I looked at Faith sitting there on the couch and laughed and laughed. The little scoundrel was looking at toothbrushes while Dan was picking out a toothpaste, and she was in awe of the battery powered princess ones because they had a big princess on them. She clearly must have dumped it into the cart when we weren't looking, and-voila!- is now the proud new owner of a sweet battery powered Ariel toothbrush (she is to share with with her Dee). Not even Dan or I have one of these things! I had Dan dig up the receipt from the trashcan to check how much this cost us, and it said $6.99. We thought of taking it back to the store, but let Faith open it because she kept saying "Oh, sowwwy Mommy, oh sowwwy, Daddy!" 

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It's funny to think that Faith is me when I was little. She is the 2nd of our three girls, as I was the middle one between Aunt Lisi and Tia Rosa. I refuse to use "middle girl" because there aren't any middle children in this family. I hate that term! Anyway, I remember how much I was irritated by my little sister, Tia Rosa. Haha. She used to idolize me and actually call me "Mom" and follow me around, and it drove me crazy.

Faith is so in love with her baby sister, and the love has not lessened one bit now that Abrie is 6 weeks old. In fact, it only grows deeper with each passing day it seems. Faith is the one that sits next to me while I feed Abrie and has to help me burp her. Faith is the one that tells us if she's crying, "Momma, Beeba... waaa... go, Beeba.. happy" (as in, Mother- Beeba is crying.. go get her to make her happy!). Faith is the one that loves to check her Beeba's diapers. Faith is awesome. She's a great little sister to her Dee who just lives for doing everything that Maddie does, and at the same time, she is the best big sister to her Beeba that Abrie could have ever dreamed of. She fits both roles equally well.

A thorn revisited

I was cracking up laughing at Maddie's dance class on Saturday at the mother of one of the little girls in the class. The little girl is just 5 days younger than Maddie (they are both the youngest) and is so petite. She reminds me of my Beebster: a small little thing that has the sweetest smile and acts so shy at times. Her mom describes her as a little pistol though, and she was saying "she hurts me!" I couldn't stop laughing at how much that expression reminds me of my little Flop. The girl hurts ME!

She's been a little thorn in our sides as of lately. This, of course, is mainly due to the fact that she (and Maddie) are still not on their normal sleep schedule, although they did make it until 7am this morning which was quite nice. Not to mention, Faith has failed to take a nap for 2 days in a row. This combination has made for a lethal dose of Beebster once the afternoon rolls around. She thoroughly embarrassed me this afternoon at the playground (of course, she decides to throw her fits when EVERYONE is watching) and yesterday morning at Target. Luckily nobody was at the garden that we visited this morning, because otherwise that would have also made for two thorough embarrassments in one day. Maddie called this morning "an amazing morning, and one of the best days of my life until Beebster ruined it for me!" Hahaha. She threw a fit when I wouldn't let her throw herself into a waterfall. She proceeded quickly then to throw herself down into a small mud puddle. It was quite nice!

Quite fittingly then, Beebster's most famous word these days is "sowwy." (Sorry). It seems she is apologizing to someone in our family every hour on the hour. I even overheard the two big girls in their room earlier when they were goofing around before bedtime, and Maddie told Faith "ok, my eyes are tired now" and Faith goes "oh... sowwy, Dee!" The Beebster is lucky she's so darn cute and has the cutest language and voice, because it makes it that much easier to just take a deep breath and put everything in perspective!

******

On the subject of Maddie's dance class from earlier, Faith is seriously going to have to dance next year for sure. They keep talking about how to put Faith in the dances for the big show in 2 more weekends. They even had the owner come in on Saturday to watch how well Faith dances with them. She insists on standing next to her Dee in the line (they practice their dances every week) and does ALL the moves and watches Ms. Dawn the entire time. She is hilarious, and so adorable. I have to video tape it next weekend in case she doesn't star in the show. Maddie and Faith LOVE their dance class, and it's another great bonding thing for the both of them to do together. 

I have also completely failed to mention that Faith is in love with the Matchbox 20 song "How Far We've Come." She calls it "See, Go" and asks for it constantly in the car. We would listen to it all the time when I was pregnant with Abrie, and it's incredible how soothing the song is for the little Breezer now! They both will say "See, Go!" if Abrie is crying, and miraculously she stops every single time. Faith loves that darn song though and it's so funny to hear her sing it.

Funny new words, and new role

Beebster is such a little comedienne.

She has SO many new words in her vocabulary these days, and they keep growing with each day. Her new word is SOWWY ("sorry!"). It's absolutely adorable to hear her say 'sorry' to Maddie or us if she thinks she did something that deserves an apology. She also says 'Huhhhhh?!" now whenever she wants to pretend she didn't hear what you just asked her to do. For example, I wanted them to get ready this morning so we could go out for a little while and I told Faith to go get her sandals. She was busy playing with her Dee, and just goes "Huhhhh?!" It's too funny. Dan is constantly asking her to say this over and over again-- well, that and her robot voice!

*******

This big sister business is a piece of cake for Faith-y Q. It's crazy how well she has adjusted. The only times she has cried at all have been two nights when Maddie fell asleep well before Faith did, and then she was crying for "Momma! [and] Beeba!" I assume it's clearly due to the fact that Faith has a constant companion in her Dee to keep her busy and the focus off of Faith's new role as a big sister, but I also think it is largely due in part to her fascination with babies ever since she was little. Maddie was never so interested in babies the way Faith has always been. She has always just adored her Ella (the other Beeba!) and Tyler, and has always been so good with all babies. This has carried over with miss Abrie. Faith gets so happy when Beeba wakes up in the mornings, and is always wanting to hold her. She is constantly wanting to check Abrie to see if she pooped, and then wants to carry the diapers to the trash for me. It's great.

Beebster's robot voice

Robot voice

Faith's robot voice is on pointe these days! Dan and I get SUCH a kick out of it, and I finally got it on video today when she was playing with Dan. It is absolutely hilarious and so darn adorable, and her words of choice to say in this robot voice are: "I won't gooooooo, Moooooooommmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaa!" She made Dan's friend and his wife die laughing on Saturday with this voice and her stinky eyes. Not to mention, her Ella has had quite an impact on her lately and now she likes to do 'smoky eyes' and 'precious eyes.' It's so funny!

Right now little Beebster is reading the story of 'Goldilocks' and re-creating the Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear's voices. It's quite funny. She'll be an extremely entertaining big sister! In fact today she watched a little bit of Maddie's 'science lesson' with her (which consisted of "Blue Planet" today) and kept telling the doctor and nurse at baby sissy's appointment this afternoon all about male elephant seals and how bloody they get when they fight. And then when we returned from our appointment, she was putting her doll in the baby carseat and dragging it around everywhere. 

Our little Flop!

A girl and her states

Beebster's been talking in the most robotic voice lately when she doesn't agree with something that Dan or I tell her. It's quite hilarious actually. For example, she was trying to sneak out of her room after Maddie had gone to bed tonight. I took her back to their bunks and told her to go to sleep, and she responded with a voice that sounds like slow motion/robotic talk: "No, Mommmmmmmmmmmma.... Nooooooooo Mommmmmmmma!" Then she stood there with her hands crossed saying "Eeee" for 'please' to come out again. I swear I have to really concentrate on not laughing half the time with my precious little Flop because she can be so darn funny.

She was in absolute heaven this weekend at Nene and Bop Bop's house. She has been asking non-stop for them, and for 'Guy,' 'Beeba,' and 'Tia' (the only other names that she can pronounce-- Donovan, Ella, and Tia Rosa). She absolutely adores her cousins. She keeps asking, "where Nene? where Bop Bop? where Guy? where Beeba?" It's so funny.

******

My Faith-y made me quite proud this afternoon at the playground. We took them to Reiffton school park (which they love, Maddie asks for "Reiffton park" and Faith asks for "blue" because it's blue) this afternoon. They happen to have a big U.S.A. map on the pavement and they love running on it. I'm always showing them states that have an importance to us (of course Maddie will ask about all 50, but I try not to inundate her with too many names): Pennsylvania for where we live and where Faith was born, Louisiana for where Maddie was born, Florida for DisneyWorld, Delaware for our beach hotel, Maryland for Baltimore, Maine for where Momma and Daddy were married, Alaska for where the polar bears live, Texas for where we visited our friends, and Hawaii for where Lilo and Stitch live. Anyway, I asked them both if they knew where Florida was, and wouldn't you know.. Faith went and stood on Florida! Then I asked them if they knew where Pennsylvania was, and Faith went and stood right on it. Dan and I were clapping like crazy! 

They also have the alphabet (which Maddie loves doing and we always do it at the end of our visit to this playground) and a few other cool things including a clock. I told them to stand on the number for how old they are, and Maddie went and stood on '4.' Faith held out her 2 fingers to tell me she is 2 years old, and then went and stood on the '2!'

My sweet robotic-sounding-family-loving-state-knowing little Beebster!

Underwear Flopper

I should take a picture of the following, but I don't want to rile up my Beebster more than what she already is at past 1opm....

Dan left for work, and I brought up my basket of laundry to fold and put it on our bed. I went into the kitchen to unload the dishwasher (which I'm trying to make a habit, rather than waiting until the next morning..) and the next thing I know I see Beebster standing there wearing a pair of my underwear halfway around her neck and also halfway up her thigh saying "Yi, Momma! Where Gak?" (Translation: Hi, Momma. Where's my Gak?- that sticky stuff that sticks on walls that she got from the quarter machines at Giant the other day). Apparently the little Beebster woke up and came into our bedroom, but didn't find me. So, she helped herself to a pair of my underwear from the clean laundry (she loves sorting through laundry with me) and went ahead and wore it before coming to look for me. I could not help but burst out laughing. She's too funny.

Right now she is sitting in our bed trying to sneak peeks at "Greta on the Wire" while humming the "Robin Hood" parade song and still has my underwear on her as clothes. Only now, they are around her arms like a shirt. I've now decided I can't pass on a picture, and the Flopper is always more than just slightly photogenic when she's not supposed to be awake in the first place!

I love my sweet little comedienne.

The girl needs to dance!

Dancing 'fancy' to the end of "Beauty and the Beast"

Stick-throwing, with plans

My Beebster is obsessed with throwing sticks (not to mention.. rocks, flowers, pine cones, anything she can get her hands on basically..) into the creek. She LOVES going down to the creek to throw sticks. We went down this afternoon, and Dan and I were laughing because we truly think we might not last this spring/summer without her falling into the (shallow) water at some point before the season is finished. She loves to see what she threw as it floats down the current. 

If it's not sticks and throwing things into the creek, she is also obsessive about bugs. I think she may be a future farmer with a speciality in entomology as well. She calls all bugs "bees" and hovers by the well-known spots along the creek where bugs happen to be in swarms. She'll put up her two fingers that she wants '2 more minutes' to "I want to see bees, Momma." She asks her Dee to come with her, and it's funny because Maddie will go but not too close and then she'll come back to us sprinting. Maddie is NOT a bug girl. Faith, on the other hand, gets a little too close for my own comfort. I am not a bug person either! All this of course while she continues to ask every day to go back to see "boos, baas" at the Pennsylvania farm show!

*****

Yesterday Faith declared that she is 'Michael' while watching "Mary Poppins." Maddie gets such a kick out of Faith when she says that she is Michael or Brother Bear or any other 'boyish' character. Faith is also earning the nickname here lately of 'Stitch.' She gets on a kick where she likes to destroy things, and Maddie will ask her "why do you destroy everything you touch?" (like Lilo asks Stitch). They were playing cars with their train tracks today, and Faith will be playing so nicely and then out of nowhere, just destroy their whole set-up. Maddie will then say that she is Lilo and that Faith is her puppy (Stitch) that she must teach. Quite funny!

Best ever little sis

Beebster simply adores her Dee. It's really neat how much she thinks of her big sis, with the love and adoration being reciprocated fully. The Dee and the Dis are a unit.

Dan and I are seriously going to have to consider having Faith take dance classes next fall. She just LOVES going to Maddie's dance classes, and is constantly begging to go stand in her corner of their room to watch her Dee. She really does so well though, and plays on the steps week in and week out without fail. The mothers tell me all the time how well she plays there with her figures, her cars, her pets, and her ponies. She always takes a book or two as well. But, she asks about a dozen times every week to sniff her blankie and "I see Dee! Where Dee, Momma?" and sits on my lap intently watching their class. 

Since about Christmas or so, she's been going in with the girls at the end of class to line up for a sticker. Ms. Dawn and Miss Melissa are really good about giving her a sticker, and they're always very sweet to my Beebster. It's really nice of them because it means so much to my little Faith-y to get to be like Maddie and be with her big sis and all the rest of the big girls. You see her entire face light up when I finally give her the green light to go ahead and either stand in the back corner to watch (which she does very well) or I let her go ahead with Ms. Dawn if they invite her in for the exercises and gymnastics portion of the end of each class. Last week she got to do the trampoline with the rest of the girls, and today she got to do the crab walk and the bunny hop on the mats with the rest of them. She listens so very well (except for twice when she wanted to inch her way a little too close to the mats) and sits Indian style in line with the rest of the girls. It's adorable. She would sit there cross-legged so nicely, and then come sprinting out to me saying "Momma, Dis!! (meaning, I'm doing it, Momma!) while jumping up and down and clapping. She did this about 6 times, and the other mothers were cracking up laughing. She was SO proud.

I remember when she first started standing in the back of the classroom to watch, a lot of the little girls would raise their hand during class and go "Uhhhh.. Ms. Dawn! There's a strange kid in the back of the classroom!" and it was so funny. Now, Faith has girls lined up wanting to sit next to her and Maddie. I'm assuming they think she's cute. There was one little girl there today who hasn't gone in awhile who did ask what Beebster was doing in the classroom, and to that Maddie quickly responded, "oh, that's my sister. That's my Fafe. Come on, Beebster!" It's really so funny.

Faith gets so excited these days too when they invite us in to watch the girls practice their tap and ballet routines. She even starts imitating the dance steps and dance moves, and does quite well actually. She waves enthusiastically to her Dee and always goes up to Maddie and hugs her at the end. She happened to be wearing a strawberry shirt today and the song for their tap dance is something about a "strawberry patch with Sally." Ms. Dawn noticed Faith dancing to the music with her strawberry shirt and said that they might have to bring Faith up on stage at the end of that number to blow kisses to everyone. Hahaha. That'd be hilarious! And, what cracks me up is that Faith would totally do it without hesitation. She would love it!

******

Faith's been talking and talking non-stop since a little over a year, and she's adding many new words and phrases to her vocab every day now. She's always talked in her own Beebster language, but now people other than myself, Dan, and Maddie are understanding her also. Her new word is 'Guy' for her beloved big boy cousin, Donovan. She started saying 'guide' the other day (in the "Give a little Whistle" song of 'Pinocchio') and then she quickly realized that 'Guy' is also very easy to say. Now, she's got a 'Guy' in all of her Cars set-up's. 

Our brother bear

My second child has been nothing but precious lately.

She's always precious, but she's been so funny and affectionate these days. Not overly feisty! Haha. She awoke last night at roughly 3:31am or so with a belly ache and telling me she had 'booped.' She sure had, which she never does in the middle of the night. This then set her off for about 2 hours I think chatting and talking about how much she loves 'Arara, Belle' ("I love Arara, Belle") and attempting her best to get her Dee to wake up with her, to no avail of course. 

*****

Faith likes to label herself as 'Brother Bear' from the Berenstain Bears whenever they read those books. Dee is always Sister Bear, and she is always Brother. It's quite amusing and makes us laugh. We've been borrowing books constantly (and videos and soundtracks) from the library these days, and they are quite into the Berenstain Bears mysteries with the Bear Scouts. Faith LOVES 'Dr. Wise Old Owl' and calls for "hoot, hoot" whenever she sees him! 

*****

The Beebster is totally my child in many ways-- a mini-me. I think she definitely has my personality. But, she is totally Dan's child in a lot of other ways. The girl loves any chance to get her mitts (Maddie loves when I say that!) on the XBOX controller and loves any chance to press the buttons on it. She'll stand at the video game console thing at Target with Dan forever just to press the buttons on whatever controller they happen to have. She'll even run to it when she sees it! Not to mention, the girl is quite gaseous. It's hilarious when we're eating dinner and holding a conversation and Maddie, Dan, or I will ask her something and she'll let start a series of funny gas noises. She seems too petite and precious to be able to make those types of sounds, but that's the Beebster in her!

******

She's been making me so proud and happy with her vegetable eating lately. She's got a thing for salads and celery with bleu cheese. She LOVES it. She ate celery with bleu cheese every single day this week for lunch and likes it as an "appeteaser" to her dinner. Last night we had broccoli and I didn't even put it on her plate since I didn't really feel like seeing it just sit there. She asked me, "what this, Momma" about the broccoli on my plate, and picked it up and ate it. I couldn't believe my eyes. She kept showing it to us in her mouth, and I figured it was going to come right back out, but she swallowed all of it and really seemed to like it! Considering this girl hasn't eaten many vegetables since she was roughly short of a year (she used to be my vegetable lover!), I have been very proud of my Beebster's new found love for some select vegetables. 

Little 'Ruff' with a bee sting

Little Beebster's been absolutely precious lately.

She put herself in a time-out today for taking something from Maddie, but other than that she has been a lovely little Beebster. Haha. 

The other day she went the entire day saying she was a "Ruff" (a puppy) and not "Dis." She kept barking and standing next to Maddie as if Maddie were walking her. It was quite the sight. Today we went down to the creek in the afternoon, and after picking some flowers with Maddie, Faith was insistent that she had been stung by a bee in her eye. She kept holding her left eye shut with her hand and going "Da Da, awww Dis.. a bee... Momma, awwww Dis, a bee.... Dee, awww Dis.... a bee!" We couldn't stop laughing, not even Maddie. Then Maddie started asking her stuff like "oh really, was it a red bee with purple spots or a purple bee with red spots?" (like in the 'Berenstain Bears and the Truth') and kept laughing at Faith's answers of "Ess!" and her "whopper."

Beebster's also got 4 cars that she takes with her everywhere these days. She has named Flo as 'Momma,' Dinoco Chick Hicks as 'Da Da,' baby Sally as 'Dee,' and Dinoco McQueen as 'Dis.' It's quite funny, and she's sleeping with the 4 of them as I type.

Faith saw Maddie in her nightgown tonight, and wanted to wear a nightgown too. She doesn't own one though since I'm always worried she'd pull off her diaper since of course they don't have bottoms, but Maddie noticed how much Faith wanted one and told her she could borrow her blue nightgown. Faith was THRILLED. They hugged and Maddie goes, "I just love you so much" and of course Beebster responded with an "Ess!" She looks precious in her big nightgown and they were running around chasing each other. I put a pair of bloomers on underneath just in case she decided in the middle of the night to try and pull off her diaper!

Beebster with her fake donut

Great things come in small packages

It's taken Faith until now (2 years and almost 4 months) to say the word "No." And, I think it's so darn adorable when she says it.

She was saying "Ess" (her 'yes') since about 16 months old and she's always uttered a grunting noise and a head shake to say 'No.' But, it was only the other night- after we'd gotten back from a day with cousins- that she actually said 'No.' She was sneaking out of her room as usual, and I told her "Beeeeeeeeebster.... get back to your room.." and she stood there and emphatically told me, "NO, Momma!" I was floored since this was the first time she said it (I never get tired of firsts) and asked her to say it again and again. It's so darn cute the way she says it.

So, Maddie and I have been having so much fun hearing her say 'No' that we've been coming up with "hypothetical situations" for her. (Hearing Maddie say, 'hypothetical situations' is quite hilarious in itself). We were walking the other day and we'd ask her stuff in the format of a Karen Katz manners book: "Beebster.. if Momma says 'Jump off the cliff, what would you say?'... if Momma says 'Eat your dessert before your dinner, what would you say?' if Momma says 'Cross the street without looking, what would you say?'" And, to these, she kept responding, "No, Momma!" or "No, Dee!" It's too cute. 

It's funny because people are always commenting to me that Faith doesn't talk, and that their kids have been talking since they were a lot younger than Faith. It's annoying, but I could care less. Maddie was the same way, and both she and Faith DO talk and WE understand what they say. Faith carries conversations and talks constantly, and her family that loves her so much understand everything she says. In fact, Maddie oftentimes is the translator for her little sis when other kids can't understand her. It's really sweet. It's not only us though, because people that take the time to listen to her understand what she's saying as well. It was neat the other day we were at Donovan's because Grampa, Nene, and Aunt Lisi all understood everything Faith was saying. 

*****

I realized that I've never mentioned how Faith loves to be hypnotized. She's very sensitive to touch, and has always loved to be "hypnotized" since she was a little baby-- 4 or 5 months old. She's totally in a zone and gets transfixed when you give her a back rub or a belly rub. She'll literally put her arm in the air and wants you to rub her arm underneath. Or, she'll put her foot in the air so you can get underneath her leg. It's so funny because it's an easy way to calm her down if she's full of beans. In the last picture, Maddie was hypnotizing Faith by rubbing her foot. Faith sits very still, and just loves it!

She's also my salad afficionado. She loves salad with bleu cheese dressing-- she'll even eat the cucumbers!

"It's a Small World"

My sweet little Beebins singing "It's a Small World" in the car on the way back from Donovan's house.

"I booped!"

I love this of Beebster after she pooped on the toilet. She gets so proud!

Arara and Beau

Beebster is so mesmerized these days by her princesses. Her very favorites are her Arara (Aurora), her Beau (Belle), and her Snow White (a name she can't say, so she just says 'Dis'). She just loves them.

She's been so proud of the princess sweatshirt that has now been passed down to her from her Dee. She doesn't mind the fact that it is slightly stained and the stains won't come out in the laundry. She LOVES this sweatshirt. After her nap today we told them to get ready to go to the playground. Faith asks constantly to wear her 'Arara Beau' (meaning her sweatshirt) and I told her she could wear it today since there was a little bit of a breeze. She started jumping up and down and clapping and then ran as fast as her little legs could carry her to her room. She came out to the living room about 3 minutes later with her 'Arara Beau' sweatshirt tucked up inside her one arm, a pair of Maddie's Arara socks (that are a little big on Faith nonetheless), and her brown 'fancy' shoes even though I had her pink sneakers already out in the living room. It was absolutely precious how excited she was!

******

I now know what Faith does to her Dee when Maddie falls asleep before she does. I happened to catch her in the act! These are always the nights that Faith ventures out of her room.. the nights that Maddie falls asleep quickly and leaves Beebster awake and wanting her best companion. It's really so funny, and reminds me of the endless nights I used to spend asking Steph and Lis "are you still awake" when we were little and shared a room because you don't want to be that last person still awake. You want company! Anyway, I found Faith flopped over on Maddie giving her kisses and lifting her shirt to rub her stomach and saying "Aww Dee! Come on, Dee!" She's the best little sister.

Bad guys don't get toys!

Faith-y calling Santa to tell him the 'bad guys' don't deserve toys!

'Floppy disk'

As I write, Maddie is reading a book to the Beebster in their bed. They just came out for the first time requesting their purses that were hanging on their doorknob. They have them full of "accessories" and then Maddie asked if she could go get Faith a book to read to her. She came out and said she chose one to teach to Faith, and you can hear Faith in there going "what this, Dee?" and Maddie is talking to her about "wispy clouds" and more. Haha. They're quite the pair.

My Faith-y went to the doctor yesterday. The fevers and throwing up only lasted a day and a half, but then she started with this cough on Saturday I think. She has coughing fits that remind me of the night that Donovan scared the crap out of me and had to go to the hospital. It turned out he had croup, and although Faith's cough doesn't sound like a seal or a barking dog, I worried that it could be that. I hate seeing her not be able to catch her breath. Not to mention, the fits last as long as an hour and a half like last night. The doctor said her lungs are perfectly clear though, and it will just go away on its own. Last night when she started coughing at about midnight and couldn't stop by 1am, I turned on a HOT shower and closed the door. I took her in then and it was like a sauna. This has worked like a charm to sit there for about 10 minutes and let the vapor open everything up for the poor girl. 

She's so precious these days being so inquisitive about everything. It makes me smile so much when you hear her little voice asking, "what this, Momma? What this, Da-da?" Or, she wants to know where we are going, "where dis go, Momma? where dis go, Da-da?" She is also always telling us where she would like to go, and it usually always ends with "Dis go.. boo, baa" as in she would like to go back to the farm show. That farm show had quite an impact on her little farmer life!  I love how the sentences and phrases start coming together, in their own unique way. She's been doing that since about 20 months, but it's getting more elaborate all the time. 

She's been in love with Aurora now for a month or more. It is so ironic to me that now Aurora is Faith's favorite princess just as she was Maddie's for a year and a half. She calls her her 'Arara' and wants to hear those songs all the time in the car. 

"I want Dee"

Poor Beebster was under the weather the past day and a half.

I have no idea where it came from, but she developed fevers overnight on Tuesday night and was throwing up here and there from Tuesday night into Wednesday. Luckily, that passed but the fevers still continued on through last night. They got as high as 102.1, and I hate seeing the thermometer reading that high. It makes me very uncomfortable, not to mention I hate feeling her burning up so much. Luckily, she seemed completely fine today and I am praying for an uneventful night tonight.

What is funny to me is that little Beebster cries for her 'Dee' when she is not feeling well. Last night she even wanted to sleep on the floor in our bedroom (not in our bed... VERY unlike Faith) and I guess it was because the floor felt cooler to her than in our flannel sheets. She kept crying and crying though saying, "I want Dee! I want Dee!" because she wanted Maddie to be on the floor with her. Whenever she would spike a fever she would start crying for her Dee. 

Beebster's heaven

A week of skinned knees and bruised legs did not phase my little Beebster. She had the best time ever while on vacation.

There were quite a few people at Disney that kept telling Dan and I that Maddie will remember her trip, but that Faith wouldn't have any recollection she'd ever even visited. They don't know our girls. They have the most phenomenal memories- definitely better than mine when I was little, and Dan always comments about the same thing. Then again, we make it a point that they have awesome memories to make it nearly impossible to forget. Faith has constantly been talking about everything she did (in her own Beebster language) in Florida since we've been back and in all smiles. Not to mention, she wants to watch the video that I made them over and over again. I'm quite happy to oblige considering all I want to do is go back myself as well!

It was so SO very nice to have Dan off for 5 consecutive days, and for them to have him all to themselves. They both just love that time with Dan, and he was in absolute heaven the entire time. That was another of the highlights, to just be able to be together the four of us and enjoy our time. She had such a blast just hanging out at the hotel, and was in love with that hotel. She absolutely loved riding the elevator and seeing the pool with its water fountain through the door. She and Maddie had the path from the elevator to our room memorized by the 2nd day we were there, and would run off racing and giggling ahead of us. She had so much fun in the pools and just playing with her Crannie and Momma and Daddy.

Beebster totally appreciated and loved SeaWorld. My little 2-year old was inches away from touching dolphins, and although her arms weren't long enough to pet them, she was closer than I have ever been to dolphins and she thought it was awesome. She loved the walruses and especially LOVED Happy Harbor with its rides. This girl LOVES carousel rides just like Maddie and could ride them forever. She had some of the most fun going down the big slides and the little slides in the sand pit where we would hang out for an hour at a time. And, she just loved the guys that would come around on stilts with their drums. She would start dancing in circles and clapping.

The night that we drove into Disney for the first time and passed those wonderful gates to get to Chef Mickeys, all I heard from the backseat from both Beebster and Cran was "wow!!" It was priceless. Her face the entire time we were there eating dinner with Mickey and crew was just classic as well. She's obsessed with characters, but has never left my side to be hugged and kissed by them. That totally changed with the Chef Mickey's experience. She was begging for them to come back to her! It was awesome though because they spent a considerable amount of time with each child, and they even got to see most of them twice or even three times that night. The experience was priceless. The whole night then Faith kept gesturing to her cheeks and saying, "Momma.. Ruff.. dis" as in Pluto had kissed her on the cheeks. 

Her first ever day at Magic Kingdom was something to never forget. She and Maddie are so funny together because they get excited for each other and if they saw a character that they knew the other loved they would jump up and down and tell each other to look. Faith loves, loves, loves rides and wanted to ride the Dumbo ride again and again. She also loved "It's a Small World" and the Mickey's Philharmagic show. We went over to Ariel's Grotto first thing in the morning after riding Dumbo, and Faith was beside herself with excitement at getting to meet Ariel. She always refers to herself as Ariel, and to Maddie as Melody (Ariel's daughter in "Little Mermaid 2"). She did her bashful smile where she hugs the characters with her eyes closed, just like big sis used to do at this fun age. She sang "Once Upon a Dream" to Aurora when they met her, kept patting Cinderella's dress, and wouldn't leave Belle's side after they got to meet her. She just loved the parade and especially seeing Dopey and Burt from 'Mary Poppins.' She was frantically looking for the rest of the Dwarfs (since she is obsessed with them!) and the chimney sweepers, and when the princesses came out on their floats, she asked "Momma, where Arara?" 

My little 2-year old Flopper was so happy during our entire visit, and that is something I will never forget. And, I know she won't either.