Georgine Gems - Stop Laughing. Stop It. STOP IT!

We had one of "those" parenting moments tonight at dinner - when Olivia said something so hilarious that it made both of us crack up.
Brief back story.  I went to the grocery store.  While I was gone, Olivia and Scott started to watch Tangled.  At some point, she fell asleep.  I came home while Tangled was still on and she was still asleep.  After doing whatever it was that I had to do in the kitchen (unpacking groceries, etc.), Scott started dinner, and I sat down to watch the rest of Tangled with a still-sleeping Olivia.  As the movie ended, she woke up and was PISSED (I'm not sure why or at what).  As she sobbed in my arms, she peed.  All over me.  Super fun.
So anyway, she was mad, she peed herself, and, as luck would have it, she was hungry.  The Perfect Storm.
I figured the best bet was to get something - anything - in that belly of hers in order to bring that blood sugar back up to tolerable levels and to make her behavior also tolerable.  So I gave her a handful of Goldfish and some water (at her request).  After she had those, she was much more pleasant.
But here's the thing - Scott and I were also trying to eat dinner (which was so hot that both of us were dying for ice cream in order to try to stave off heartburn or worse), so when she asked for chocolate chips, I agreed in order to keep dinner pleasant.
That's when things went off the tracks.

O: "More chocolate chips?"
Me: "No.  You had enough."
O: "But I want chocolate chips!"
Me: "You've had enough.  If you're still hungry, you can have something good for you."
O: "I want chocolate chips!"
Scott: "If you eat something else, we'll all have ice cream in a few minutes."
Me: "It has to be something --" (totally cut off by HRH here)
O: "Chocolate chips are something!"
(We burst into laughter here; she bursts into tears)
Scott: "You're funny!"
O: "No, I'm not!  I'm just crying!"
(Cue further laughter)

At that point, we knew that ice cream was necessary, so we told Olivia that if she had a "go food," she could have some ice cream with us.  The "go food" she chose was apricots and Craisins, which she ate willingly until a bowl of vanilla was plunked down in front of her.  I'm still pretty sure we were happier to have it than she was tonight.

Georgine Gems - Too Stinkin' Smart

I have taught Olivia all of the colors in German (except black - she just cannot or will not say schwarz), and she is learning them in Spanish at school (same goes for numbers, by the way - she can count to ten in three languages).
I've also been really trying to get her interested in helping me cook, as I am hoping she will want to actually eat some of what she makes at some point soon (so far, that's not happening), especially because I have really been making a push to use all of the veggies that we get each week through our CSA.
Tonight, I planned to make a Portuguese kale soup called caldo verde.  So, on the way home, I asked Olivia if she wanted to help me.

Me: Do you want to help me make soup?
O: Yeah!  What kind of soup you make?
Me: We're going to make caldo verde.
(pause)
O: Is it going to be green?
Me: Well, we're putting something in it that's green, but I don't think it's all green.

Did you catch that?  She heard the name, caldo VERDE, and then asked if it was going to be GREEN.
OK, OK, so I'm pretty excited, probably more than you are, but then again, I did give birth to this little genius.  I just love, though, seeing and hearing her make such fantastic connections that are higher on Bloom's Taxonomy than just "verde means green."

Tale as Old as Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime...

My mother reminded me the other day that my first motion picture outing was to The Muppet Movie, which is probably why I love the song "The Rainbow Connection" so much.
I had actually thought about taking Olivia to see the new installment, The Muppets, when it came out last year, but once I read that Frank Oz wasn't thrilled with it, I had too many mixed feelings for me to be comfortable with that being Olivia' s First Movie at the Theatre.
Thankfully, Disney has decided that it doesn't have to stick with its usual re-releasing films "from the vault, but only for a limited time" plan; it's going 3D.
So of course when I saw the commercial for Beauty and the Beast in 3D, I went from "Really?  They're bringing this back to the theatre?" to "I am SO taking Olivia to that" in the 45 seconds that the commercial was on.  Belle is, after all, her favorite princess (I like to think it's the yellow dress, but you know I have a thing for yellow).
Well, the day finally came.
Olivia got totally into it.

• She asked to wear her Belle dress (duh - I was totally planning for that to happen anyway).
• She asked me to give her "Belle hair" (just like on Halloween).
• She said that her "pretty party shoes" (black Mary Janes) were what she needed to wear.
• She decided to take her two "little Belles" (tiny princess dolls with dresses made of a rubbery plastic that kind of makes my skin crawl).
• We backed "big Belle" (Barbie size) in her backpack, just in case.

Since we went on Sunday morning, we managed to have a mostly-empty theatre.  I'm guessing that most people were in the post-church-lunch portion of their day, but I'm not complaining - it was nice, and let's be honest; no one goes to a film like that expecting all those kids to actually be quiet during the whole thing.

Waiting to get the tickets with Daddy

Which is good, because Olivia sang all the words to all the songs.
It might have been the Powerade that we let her have (the kids' popcorn pack came with a drink, but heaven forbid we ask for water or juice instead of soda...).
It might have been the three Dots that I allowed her to have (she asked for Momma's fruit snacks).
I'm not really sure what it was, but she had to pee once during the movie (she actually said she had to go again, but I called her bluff), and at one point, going up and down the stairs was WAY more interesting than the film, but for the most part, she enjoyed it.

Like most moviegoers, she ate/drank the bulk of her snack
BEFORE the previews even began.

The 3D glasses were actually the most confusing for her.  When we got them, I told her that they were special sunglasses we had to wear to see the movie.
But, you see, sunglasses are only worn when we are outside.  The SECOND we come inside, she'll take off those shades and jab them into my stomach if I'm not paying attention and have my hands ready to receive Her Royal Highness's castoffs.  So for a while, Olivia kept trying to take them off, but I think she finally realized that without them, the screen was fuzzy.
How was the movie?  Well, my only other 3D experience was Captain EO many, many... MANY years ago at Disneyland, so I don't really have a lot to which to compare it.  However, I think that Disney did a good job, although from the previews, I think that Finding Nemo will be the film I really will want to see in 3D.  But as far as Olivia goes, she's perfectly happy to watch most movies in the playroom/office with all the comforts of home.
Like mother, like daughter.

There's No Swiping on Christmas

It's an established fact that Olivia loves Dora the Explorer.  Which makes the fact that OnDemand had "Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure" just that much more painful.

I hear the song Nochebuena in my nightmares.

Thankfully, the show's reign on the TV is fast coming to an end.

Even more thankfully, Olivia went ALL of Christmas day without watching it.

Maybe it was the eight bazillion gifts she received from Santa, Nana, Papa, Ya-Ya, Grandma, and Mommy & Daddy that distracted her.

RRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIP!  This is fun! 

Santa brought all the Tinkerbell fairies.

Don't I get a present?

The Man in Red also brought a Tinkerbell art set....

...and a Sparky Pillow Pet, which Zooey clearly wanted.

Papa and Ya-Ya sent a Plasma car, which went perfectly
with her new princess bike helmet!

This ginormous princess castle, which is currently home to
Belle, Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella, and Tiana, was what Olivia
came downstairs to after her "nap," courtesy Nana and Grandma.

I'm pretty sure Her Royal Highness is still on stimulation overload.  Yesterday, she refused to nap.  She agreed to lay down in her bed for a little while, but that was short-lived. When it came to bedtime, though, she was anything but amenable to going to sleep; she cried and screamed and used almost every delaying tactic possible, including having some night terrors around 2AM (note - they are called night terrors because they are TERRIFYING to the parents who wake up to their three-year-old screaming bloody murder), which resulted in the wetting of the bed and subsequent bedclothes change.

I'm so glad Christmas only happens once a year.  I'd be even happier if I could hibernate for a few weeks now.

Georgine Gems - The Third One's for Dancing

OK, OK, we're trying to play down the boobs thing, but this one was hilarious.

O: I have boobs when I get older?
Me: Yes.  When you're much older?
O: How many boobs I have?
Me: Two.  (to myself) Because three would be weird.
O (who overheard me, clearly): I don't WANT three! (sad face)

Thank goodness!!!!!

Olivia's Christmas Countdown

So, this year, Olivia totally gets Christmas.  In a big way.  Last year she certainly enjoyed looking at the tree and getting presents, but she GETS IT.  She gets that Santa will bring her presents, as long as she is "sweet" and not naughty ("Momma, I'm sweet!" - saying it makes it true).  She gets that the tree is supposed to be decorated (she "helped" the other day, and then when she went to Nana's this weekend, I swung into action).  She has been smacked in the face with some serious Christmas spirit.
Her favorite part, thus far?  Definitely the advent calendar, or, in our house, the Christmas Counter Downer (thanks, Elmo's Christmas Countdown, for the joy you have brought Olivia for the past 13 months).
So.... just for future reference, the best day to obtain one's advent calendar is NOT the day before the advent calendar starts.  Apparently, all the "good ones" are gone at that point.  Duly noted.
I didn't even know where to get an advent calendar, and my mom had suggested World Market.  So before picking Olivia up from school, I headed out to the nearest one and searched.  And searched.  And searched.  And finally asked someone if they had any advent calendars.
They had one kind left:

This picture doesn't do it justice - this advent calendar is nearly as tall as Olivia is.  All 3'2" of her.
However, you might imagine my delight that the calendar is from Germany (Lübeck, to be specific), and the ingredients on the label were in German (I mean, they had the English overset, but the original packaging is all in German) - that means good stuff: marzipan.
If you aren't familiar with marzipan, its a concoction of almonds and honey or sugar.  It's very popular in German pastries, especially at Christmas time.  It's delicious (I think), but it can be overwhelming, so I only like it in small doses.
Like the amount that might come in an advent calendar.
Olivia likes it too.

At first I was a bit surprised that she dug into the candy so well, but then I reminded myself that she's never met a candy that she didn't like.
Thankfully, the candies are so big (like larger than a half dollar on most occasions), Olivia is pretty generous and generally offers me a bite.  There have been two instances on which there were two candies behind the doors, and I was able to reserve an entire one for myself (she was fine with that - she still got an entire piece of candy).
Now that we are 11 days in, Olivia has finally acquiesced to opening only one box per day.  This afternoon, when she woke from her nap and we opened Box #11, she turned to me and said, "Momma, I open Box #12 tomorrow?"
Hopefully her little head won't explode with excitement when she realizes that on Day #25 she gets to open more than a tiny little box.

Georgine Gems - Sorry, the Answer We Were Looking for Was "Chest Hair"

Olivia is fascinated with anatomy.  OK, she's fascinated with breasts ("boobs").  Thankfully, I've been able to keep her away from my own private stock ever since we got her the Tinkerbell doll for her birthday.  Now if she wants to see a reasonable facsimile of mammaries, she can just pull down Tink's dress.
Which she does a lot.
Anyway, she noticed that Daddy does not, in fact, have boobs.  She's noted that he has chest hair instead.  That hasn't stopped me from trying to get back at him from telling her that the stuffed skunk I got for her was named Allison (for the record, its name is Stinky).
Clearly my young Padawan is learning:

O: Mommies have boobs.
Me: That's right.  Mommies have boobs.  Do daddies have boobs?
O: No.
Me: What do they have?
O: Moobs.

I think my work here is done.