Keeping It Together

As most are aware I have a habit of laughing at inappropriate times- call it a coping mechanism, quirk or perhaps hysterical turrets- but it runs in the family.  My mother, sister and I cannot make it through a drive-thru window together and definitely need to be separated at church.  There are certainly far worse conditions than the inability to control one’s laughter; however I have recently discovered that uncontrollable laughter and parental discipline are no laughing matter.

As we approach the three and half year mark with Lila I think we may have missed the “terrible twos” (unless I just blocked them out) and are making up for it with the “defiant threes.”   Full of attitude and moxie our little girl seems to find triumph in drawing lines in the sand- new ones every day. The wardrobe line has become one of our most challenging. We are currently in the refusal to wear tights, leggings, socks and jeans, as they have all been deemed too tight, and would prefer to wear a flowered “princess” sundress at all times stage.   This closet crossroads creates manic mornings of begging Lila to “help mommy out” and just when I think I am gaining the upper hand- she does it- squinches up her face, crosses her arms and then erupts into a full foot stomp rant of how her pants are hurting her “bussy” or her toes are “not right” in her socks- and I am really so frustrated and late and there it is- I laugh- I really don’t want to and it makes it worse because Lila’s response is, “mommy, that’s not funny!!” And that’s the funniest part.  So I bite my lip.

 

The Dress

I am beginning to think that I often revert to laughter with our daughter because she is a funny little girl- full of imaginative play- including the “delivery” of her baby from beneath her shirt and elaborate musical serenades conducted from the toilet - she is a performer.  We went to our church holiday fair last week and while Lila was terrified of Santa she had no fear of the goofy magician complete with his real snake – so fearless that she raised her hand high and succeeded in getting herself called up on stage to assist.  Whether it be the magician at the fair, the owner of the local store or new friends at a party- Lila just dives right in with her “nice to meet ya” forward march. 

Boil water

 

 



A Little Magic

More Magic

We have become the proud parents of a spitfire - and now are job becomes to control her fire- and to fan the flame enough to keep it glowing bright. 

 

 

What’s new:
Lila is 37.5 inches and 29.5lbs. We are in full-princess mode- Disney’s Sophia the First rules our house. Doc McStuffins is not far behind- not sure why Disney hasn’t figured out the princess/doctor character yet. Lila is in the young pre-school at Palisades – they are up to the letter “E” and number 4 and Lila has a composition book with weekly homework. They took their first field trip to a local farm/orchard last month and are headed to Disney on Ice this week. Lila has begun to take a computer class at school and continues to enjoy gymnastics at the Little Gym.

Drama of the season: Lila’s made bead necklaces at school- their teacher instructed the class not to put the beads up their nose- of course our ever-curious daughter couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Which led to an interesting evening at Urgent Care ending with Daddy blowing the bead out of hysterical Lila’s nose (thank you Google for the tip).