At least they are still "dancers"...

My mom introduced Stella to Disney's The Little Mermaid when we visited this past August. In fact, I believe she made my father save an old tv/VCR combo just so that they could watch the old VHS tape together when she was old enough. "Enough" means that they still had to fast-forward through the Ursula song (because a creepy old octopus that sings in a minor key is still a bit much for a 3 year old), but overall, Stella was enthralled.

On our first trip to the local library here, Stella found the CD section that was stocked with tons of children's music - quite wonderful actually. She found the soundtrack to the Little Mermaid, and so we checked out, only to listen to the same 5 songs (sans Ursula's) on the way to school and the way home --- EVERY DAY. When we finally had to return the CD, Stella found a whole section of Disney CDs entitled "Songs and Stories" and found Cinderella - which of course, she labeled as "Look Mommy, the dancer from my nighttime diapers I used to wear!" These CDs (and we have since checked out Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and today, picked up Beauty and the Beast and Brave) have 4 songs from the film on them, and a female narrator that "tells" the story from the film, with snippets of the actual movie dialogue thrown in. They are basically story tapes, and conveniently, are about the length of our drive to school, give or take a few minutes.

I have now listened to Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White UMPTEEN times. I rather miss listening to NPR on the way to work in the morning... but as soon as I turn the key in the ignition, I hear from the back seat, "put on Sleeping Beauty Mommy." In one respect, I'm a bit over it. I was and continue to be always wary of the whole Disney Princess phenomenon, and the message that it sends to young girls. Look pretty and the first man you meet will end up being a handsome prince who wants to marry you, no matter what he has to do - battle evil witches, kiss you even though you look dead and have been living with a bunch of dwarves... even Cinderella, who has to put up with a evil stepmother, gets off because of some pretty awesome mice who unlock her attic door. Or, at least, according to Disney.

On the other hand, at 3 1/2, Stella (luckily) isn't really getting the whole "get the prince because you are beautiful" story line. And listening to the tapes over and over again has begun to increase her vocabulary. Yesterday, she told Steve she was going to "swiftly run" through the house. "Swiftly?" I asked. "Yes, swiftly." (I think that's from Sleeping Beauty). She even started a bit of literary analysis this week while listening to Snow White. "Mommy, the evil Queen is a lot like the mean stepmother in Sleeping Beauty." I'm not sure if she meant that the voices sound the same or that the characters are the same, but I'll content myself with the latter. She asked last week why the stepmother was not nice, and I explained about how stories like these needed an evil character or nothing interesting would happen (aka dramatic conflict). Because of these stories, she has also been asking questions like "what is killed?" and "how we die?" which are a bit harder to explain in her terminology, but I've been trying my best.

Another boon, because she has been enthralled with listening to these stories, I decided it was high time we started chapter books at bedtime. We haven't tackled it every night, but I'm happy to say we are half way through Charlotte's Web, and I couldn't be more pleased to move away from short picture books for the time being. Sniffle... she's growing up... sniffle... and at least for now, she still thinks the princesses are "dancers" so we'll keep that up.

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In other news, last night after I put her to bed, I put in the oven a tray of frozen cookies. (I make a full batch when I make the batter, and freeze half in little balls so that we can put a tray in when we're feeling like we need a cookie fix later in the month). After the cookies came out of the oven, I heard her tromping upstairs. Stella? Why are you still up? I had to pee, Mom. -- then she looks me straight in the eye and says in a sneaky lilt to her voice "I smell something yummy!" I had to hide my smile and told her it was a vanilla candle to cover up the fish smell from dinner. "Well, it smells like something else here in my room!"


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Why do I feel like such a supermom when I can take Stella and Louisa places by myself? It is because it feels so exhausting to do that, and when I can accomplish it successfully, I feel like I deserve a pat on the back. I know that's silly, but on Saturday while Steve was at a conference, I took them both to a farm (vegas has farms??) to pick apples (apple orchards? in vegas??) and pumpkins. Picture me. Stella holding my hand. Louisa in a hiking backpack. I have a bag with the camera and a lunch box, a pumpkin, and 8 pounds of apples. No wonder people were looking at me like they felt sorry for me. Of course, then I realized when I got back to the car that we do own a stroller. A good one in fact. One that could have easily navigated the rocky terrain. Idiot.

 Louisa is like, Mom, really? We own a stroller.

 Luckily, Stella was MORE than happy to pick a small pumpkin.

 Such a movie star look.

Pumpkin patch picture fail because of them facing into the direct Vegas sun.

So I redeemed myself when we got home. Headbands compliments of Grandmum and Grandpa. (And they even like wearing them!)

A very merry unbirthday

I think, if I were to look back over the blog posts from sometime in October of last year, I might find a posting about "where has my awesome daughter gone and who replaced her with Zool?" A friend calmly explained last year that 1/2 birthdays are the worst times for kids under five and not to worry - it will get better when she turns 3. Well, here we are again at another 1/2 birthday and Stella has turned in Zool.

Well, not exactly the monster from Ghostbusters but rather an opinionated little snot.
- Mommy, I am NOT eating that dinner. (pushes it away across the table to the point of almost knocking it off)
- Mommy, I don't like that shirt. I am not wearing it. Eewww.
Stella, please put your shoes on. "No." What did you say? "No no no no not ever ever ever for you ever again!!!"

Needless to say, Stella has recently learned about the "uncooperative chair." (We borrowed the phrase from the Kevin Henkes mouse books, and by god, if any of you know them, Stella is Lily. She is. No doubt.)

Steve and I find ourselves looking at her and saying "Excuse me? What did you say?" Somehow, in the course of 4 weeks, she has learned to talk back, but when we tell her that talking back to your parents isn't nice, she doesn't seem to understand the concept of "talking back" and then we have to go into the whole discussion of what that means and by then, the moment's past and she's off doing something else.

The other night, the 'no's" escalated so much that I finally say, Stella, if you can't do something for me, then I'm not going to do anything for you. I'm not going to make your Halloween mermaid costume. As soon as it came out of my mouth, I realized that maybe I had gone too far. Stella looked at me, with a bit of tears welling in her eyes and said "Mommy, you just broke my heart."

Thanks Stella. Way to make a Mommy feel awesome. Damn. She's going to be an actor, I just know it. I think we jinxed ourselves by naming her Stella.

A mom at an indoor playground last week assuaged my fears and told me, it's ok. The day he turned 4, everything got better. Really, the day he turned four. Okay, April 16, 2013 here we come.

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In other news, Louisa magically turned 6 months already. All in one week, she turned 6 months, got an ear infection, started "Stranger danger," started "I only want Mommy," and is teething. Oh, and she refuses to eat solid food. We've tried avocado, sweet potatoes, and carrots. Not interested in anything. Tonight I'm banking on peas, but I have a feeling I'll still be shot down.

Last week we went to Lake Mead for some semblance of "beach time" which we so desperately miss. I was sitting on a beach chair under the awning off the van hanging out with Lulu while Steve splashed in the water with Stella. Louisa was fascinated with my hat and kept trying to take it off my head. When she finally succeeded, she looked at me and laughed the biggest belly laugh ever, like "ha ha Mommy, I won!"

Et tu Louisa? Boy, are we in for it.