Life with a dog

I love, love, love how much Audrey can now engage in conversation. She often wants to be the one talking at dinner, and tonight when I was trying to get her in her carseat, she stopped me to say, "Wait, I want to talk to you for a minute!" I told Audrey on the drive home that she and Eric would be taking Frisbee to the dog doctor on Friday. She was excited to let Eric know of this appt (he's the last to know about many things these days), but I was surprised that she also planned to talk to Fris about the upcoming appt.

Audrey and Frisbee have developed a special relationship. Frisbee was not very keen on this little girl initially. It took a while for her to adjust to a baby in the house, and then just when she thought she had Audrey figured out, Audrey started moving around. This took a lot of adjusting (for all of us, really). Audrey has been fascinated with Fris from a young age, but Fris could really care less. That is, until Audrey started eating table food. Especially meat. Fris started to see some benefit to befriending this little girl. Secretly though, it had been evident prior to this time that Fris had accepted Audrey into the pack.

Audrey's one and only "chore" at this time is to feed Fris. Audrey LOVES this job, and she takes it very seriously. She is not so keen though on Fris' poor manners - jumping up and down when she hears the food container, and waiting not so patiently for the scoop to hit her food bowl. She tries to be patient while Audrey carefully brings the scoop to the bowl. However, Audrey often drops a piece or two and insists on picking them up and putting them in the scoop prior to putting any food in Fris' bowl. Fris has to have the patience of a saint these days or the little redhead scolds her for not waiting properly.

When it was time to feed Fris tonight, Audrey headed to the food container, which peaked Fris' attention. Much to Fris' shagrin, Audrey realized she hadn't yet spoken to Fris about her upcoming appt. So, she holds Fris' face in her hands and very seriously says to the confused dog:

"Fris, I want to talk to you for a minute. You're going to the doggie doctor with me and daddy. Ok? And they're going to trim your nails and check your belly. Ok?"

Blank stare from the dog.

With prompting, Audrey fills the scoop with food but manages to spill most of the food on the floor. Fris is really quite beside herself about now as Audrey won't allow Fris to eat off the floor. So, Fris has to be guided outside while Audrey picks up the mess - ONE PIECE AT A TIME. Poor, poor dog. Audrey eventually got tired of picking up the mess (know that feeling!), and yells at Fris through the screen door: "Um, Fris you can clean up the rest!"

After everyone had a chance to finally eat dinner, and it was time for bed, Audrey and I were doing our nightly chat. I told Audrey about how much fun she would have this weekend seeing Grandma and Grandpa P, Aunt A, Uncle A, and cousins H and J. I tried to explain the concept of Easter egg hunting. I told her that the Easter bunny will be hiding eggs, and she will get to help find the eggs.

"Where does the bunny hide the eggs?"

"In the grass."

(Very serious look from the red head.)

"But there's poop in the grass!"

Life with a dog. Poor dog has no idea that round 2 will begin in June.

Audrey's prayer before eating roast beef and veggies for dinner tonight:

God bless the food we are about to eat.

Even the carrots.

Is it Opening Day yet?

Audrey was very much into say 'no' to everything Eric said tonight before dinner, but was in full agreement of my ideas. This typically starts by my asking her if she likes a certain baby girl name that I have in mind, which Eric is not so fond of (yet). She likes to agree with my baby names but shakes off any of Eric's name ideas. He asked her several different questions, and she said no to all of them. Including whether she likes the Cubs. Big smile from mom.

We were getting her ready for her bath tonight, and as is the case lately, she likes to do her own thing rather than get undressed. She finally had undressed all but her pants and pull-up. She decided to change her mind about the Cubs at that point.

"Go Cubs!"

She then mooned me.

I mentioned this to Grandma S the other day but decided it was blog-worthy...

Audrey has really been getting into the idea of baby P. She likes to rub my belly and ask for clarification of where baby P is at. Is baby P behind you? Is baby P here? Or here? It's of course a hard concept, but she seems to like to hear stories about her time inside me as well. She has even started walking with her belly out. Not sure I walk like that, but she seems to think so ("Walk like mommy!").

The other day, when I went to pick her up at school, she was sitting on a little bench, reading to one of the baby dolls. I found this quite endearing, and went to take a look at the book she was reading. She asked that she be allowed to finish the book before getting her coat on. She lovingly "read" the book to her baby, with her arm around the baby. She then informed me that she was going to put the baby away.

She then launched the baby across the room, the baby landing on its head. Albeit it did land in its rightful spot.

We have three months...three months.

Audrey and Eric go to the grocery store every Friday. It's part of their routine on "Audrey and Daddy Day". Audrey loves it, and anytime I go to the store with her, all the ladies up front seem to know her. This is the one place though that Audrey is so very shy. The ladies will talk with her but Audrey tends to clam up. She will ask me where so-and-so is at, and then if that person stops by to see her or happens to bag our groceries, Audrey stays mum.

This past Friday, Audrey and Eric were packing up the car to head home, when Audrey saw one of her friends from inside leaving for the day. From inside the car, Audrey yelled across the parking lot:

"I got prunes!"

Well, she does love her prunes!

Look what we've been up to...

We have been busy little bees the past few weeks. Work has been ridiculous, and Eric and I have both had after work commitments that have resulted in some busy days and nights. Eric did manage to get Audrey's new room painted on Monday (day 1 of his "Spring Break"), and her new furniture arrived on Friday. She was so excited to show me her grown up furniture when I arrived home from work. "They put it together like a puzzle, mommy!" she said as she showed me around her new room. She isn't yet sleeping in there since I have some decorating to do, not to mention finding some bedding. As she finished the tour of her new room, she pointed to her current room and said, "I took a good nap in that room, though!" It made me sad to hear her refer to her room as that room. I know it's time for her to transition. I just don't know that her mommy is ready for it. :(

Red cheeks

Eric won't fully appreciate this post, but I'm still chuckling about it, and don't want to forget it!

A sure sign that Audrey is tired is her beet-red cheeks. She doesn't like us to point this out to her though. She and I noticed a few days ago that her daddy gets similarly red cheeks, but from, well, a little whiskey!

I needed to phone Audrey's pediatrician the other day to schedule her next appt, which isn't until June. I knew the phone call would take a few minutes as it was going to be difficult to figure out a good time given this next appt coinciding with baby Pierson #2's arrival. Audrey so loves to talk on the phone that I tried to make the call while she was occupied in another room.

That lasted long enough for me to hear "Hello?" on the other end of the line.

Audrey showed good patience while I tried to iron out an appt date. I could tell she was trying to figure out who I talking to, so she could decide if she wanted to talk with them, too. Audrey so loves her pediatrician that I considered lying when she asked who I was talking to, but I didn't, telling her I was talking to Dr. M's nurse.

Audrey took a minute to soak this in, and looked quite pensive.

"Mommy, I want to talk to Dr. M's nurse."

"No, honey, I'm just making an appt for you. I'm not talking with Dr. M."

I can see the wheels turning. It's obvious that she has something she wants to say, so I lean over while she says very quietly, shaking her finger as she does when making a point:

"Mommy. Tell Dr. M that daddy's cheeks are red!"