Zoe and Finn

Bruce is out of town, and so things were a bit off and the kids seemed to me to be acting up a bit last night...Zoe was teasing Finn, making him cry... at some point we finally went outside, Finn found a shovel and clocked Zoe on the head with it.. then while she was sitting down crying, he threw successive fistfuls of dirt at her, making her cry more.. as I was interceding, he threw it at me too.

They both missed Daddy quite a bit, Zoe especially when I was disciplining her. Finn right before he layed down for sleep.

This morning they were more together and less against one another, playing around and with one another.

let the ants have the bubble gum

Zoe came home with Dad with a mouth full of bubble gum.. some minutes later she asked for her bag of chips from lunch.. I gave it to her but tried to explain that she'd have to take the gum out and throw it away. She said that she keep chewing until it was gone. I tried to explain how it doesn't work that way. After some time, she really wanted to eat the chips... I gave her a tissue and told her to throw her gum away. She said, "No, I want to give it to the ants [outside]. They will take it away." [insert mom arguing here] and she opened the door and spit the gum out.

I wish I was married

last night as I was getting Zoe to bed, after reading "Princess and the frog", Zoe closed her eyes and said, "I wish I was married... I'll wish on a star... I wish, I wish, I wish with all my might I was married.... .. that was a good wish".

Princess and the Frog

"Princess and the Frog" is Zoe's new favorite movie.. even more than "Little Mermaid". She has watched until we all have it memorized.

At dinner one night, I had been talking to Bruce about how we needed to maybe do a prayer thing at dinner that Nana had mentioned, but I haven't been able to find something non-religious...

as if Zoe heard me, after 20 minutes of finally getting her to the table, she said:

"like daddy always says, Good food and Good TImes brings people together"...

it is a line from the movie...

it is now our dinner time prayer.

to the limit

Zoe has recently been pushing me to the limit.. Thursday she was so whiny... "Are we going to Tricia's"... "Don't leave".... "Don't leave me at Preschool..." that is all before we left the house... at preschool she was the same, don't leave, finally Frances (her teacher) had to take her aside an said she could make a card for Daddy when he picked her up. She made us both one... Finn at preschool fell and got hurt.. its not Finn safe... I was just exhausted and it was 10:30am.

This weekend she ran across the street without us.. always running ahead... Then she came home from our visit to Liam's house to get a stuffy (her favorite o' the month is Simba), and when Daddy went in the house, she ran back down the street on her own. Much to say, Daddy took her back home and she got a time out in her room.. I came home about 15 minutes later and she was still crying.

Today, after we had spent the morning swimming, having fun as a family, she came home and at some point grabbed the cherrios ziplock bag and ran to our room where Finn was sleeping and dumped them on her head and all over the floor.. the good news is she didn't use the whole bag and really she was quiet about it. But I was so mad... I couldn't give her a timeout in her room, I tried the kitchen.. she kept laughing at me.. finally I just locked her out on the deck.

oh, and did I mention nearly pushing her brother off the new slide?

This week I've vowed for more mommy-daughter time.. maybe its a competition thing.. but it is definitely also a 3 year old thing. Defining boundaries.

I'm also vowing to look into Supper Nanny discipline.

remembered quotes

Bruce and I were also remembering:

"I need to play with a boy"

"Play with Finneas"

"No I mean a real boy. One who talks"

Then at some point I remember her telling me:

I wish I had an brother

oh?

yeah.

what would he look like?

blond like me

how tall would he be?

this tall holding her had over her head

what would you call him?

Tyler [her best friends older brother... which was who she was describing]

quotes of the day

[on the way to daycare, Ana is her friend at daycare]

"Ana has the power to make trouble"

(which is a parallel to a phrase often used on "SuperWhy" but that never ends in "trouble" but instead words like "read" or "spell")

"the talking mice told me..."

[Cinderella III]

[on the way to diner]

"Are we going home? I need my royal sleep"

Oooh.. your a princess, can I be a princess too?

Z: "Oooh.. you are a princess, can I be a princess too?"

[Zoe gets dressed in a skirt too.]

Z: "Now we are both princesses. You are the flower princess and I am the XX."

(Where XX is I can't remember what she said...!)

(Summary: I wore a flowered skirt today)

competition for snuggling

The newest challenge with Zoe is getting enough snuggling in and she calls me on it... it is her way of keeping my attention and not wanting Finn to be on her action. The worst is at bed time when she howls the loudest and longest... it sounds like true pain. Its hard after adjusting to full time vacation mom, to having to share and have separate spaces and time for each of them.

Zoe the princess

Zoe is the cutest princess ever.. she wears her cinderella costume everywhere.. to bed last night, to breakfast at Pluto's this morning, with the crown hair barret we bought yesterday and her ballet shoes. When she gets a complement (from Anna, or a stranger), she curtseys.., yes, the whole arms out with the dress, dip and twist of head and shy smile... so cute it hurts!