A Couple More Things

Dear Abigail,
Mommy downloaded picture from her phone and realized I may have left out a few major things from "What's Been Going On" - a few of them are rather major things.  See, thank goodness for cameras and for your mommy always saying "Wait, let me get a picture!!!"
This isn't one of the major ones, but we saw our first turkeys of the fall on Wednesday!  We both were super excited and I think we counted 11.  At first we thought they were geese because we've been seeing, like, a million geese everyday, but we looked closely and saw that they were indeed turkeys.  And, yes, you are out of your car seat, but we are also turning in our neighborhood.  Shhh, don't tell but you got to ride the whole way home out of the car seat AND in the front seat!  All .25 miles.  You get super pumped about this and ask all the time "Are we super close so I can take my seat belt off?"

 So this past week at school, the fire truck (and men) came and showed you their fire truck.  You got to climb on it and even got a fire hat.  They also taught you what to do if you were ever in a fire.  "Crawl on the ground where you can get good air so you can breathe so you can't die."  That's what you tell me.  Yes, so you can't die.  So yeah, they taught you that fire can kill you, or well, I'm not sure that was their intention, but that's what you took away - that you should fear fire at all times, which includes bed time.  Yep, that's right.  We were doing SOOOOO good, so darn good with bed, and then fire week came along.  So you came home from school all happy as can be telling me all about this good air and about how you throw a stuff animal out the window if you are stuck somewhere and then the fire man will help you down and how you drop and roll if fire gets on you.  All very good things to know, and Mommy was quite impressed that you learned all this in one day.  Well... at dinner, you mentioned that you might be scared in your room because of fire. Mommy and Daddy didn't think much of it and just said that their was nothing to fear because you were safe because of the fire alarms.  Well, what a mistake... You went ballistic - like, seriously.  For some reason, you thought fire alarms STARTED fires, so when we went around the house pointing them all out to you, you completely flipped.  You were screaming and having a major panic attack saying you wanted to go outside and you couldn't stay inside.  I was trying to get you in the bath tub but you would NOT have that because of the alarm upstair in the hallway, so then we tried my bathroom but you found that alarm and just went C-R-A-Z-Y!  I literally had to hold you down and just wash your face and hands with a rag as you screamed, not to mention you ran outside MULTIPLE times and I had to drag you in kicking and screaming.  And don't think Mommy and Daddy didn't try to explain it to you.  We tried our hearts out to explain that they protected you, that everything was okay as long as they weren't making a loud noise.  But you weren't buying it.  You begged to sleep outside and even hid behind the outside furniture...

 I'm not exaggerating in the least bit.  You were scared to death to sleep in your room, even with me in the bed, even in MY bed with me.  Finally around 9 you were just getting exhausted and ended up falling asleep with Mommy in her bed, and I fell asleep, too!  Good gracious that was exhausting.  The next night wasn't much better but we didn't try to fight it too much and eventually you went to sleep in Mommy's bed, with Mommy laying beside you.  So then the next day at school I went to the teachers asking them what to do and they were rather nervous when responding - come to find out, they were going to talk about alarms AND have a practice fire drill that day at school!  I seriously thought I was going to have to pull you out of class.  Mimi begged me to, but the teachers assured me you'd be fine and that maybe that would help with the understanding of alarms. Well, I picked you up and sure enough that's all you talked about.  You seemed fine, though, and even drew a picture of fire.

Clearly, this fire wasn't going away... That night, Mimi had the idea that we could 'turn off' all the alarms, so Daddy went around and 'turned off' every alarm, even the things that aren't really alarms that you seem to think are alarms like the air conditioning thingy and the light switch thing.  (Once you are older, I will explain to you that we really didn't turn them off, but for now, you totally think they are all turned off! SHhhhhh!)

So the alarms were turned off and Mommy promised you we'd get a special treat if you slept in your bed all night.  At first I thought it was going to happen, just like good ole times, but you immediately came down stairs shaking saying you were so scared of the fire that was going to happen tonight.  SO, Mommy laid with you in the bed until you fell asleep.  Good news is you didn't come down stairs after that so Mommy DID reward you with a special treat!

 Your teaches (and Miss Kay, our neighbor and other teacher at your school) were all so proud of you for sleeping and told Mommy that baby steps was the key.  I agreed with them and for the most part that's what we are doing.  That was Thursday night, and Friday and Saturday night were the same - you  slept in your bed, but Mommy has to lay with you until you fall asleep.  Of course somehow you ended up in our bed Saturday night/Sunday morning, but neither Mommy nor Daddy heard you even sneak in much less crawl in your bed!  Sneaky thing!!  Sunday night Mimi came up and you needed to sleep with her, so we'll see how the rest of the week goes.  I don't think you are over the fire, but I do also think you are using it to your advantage at this point.  But what can I do?  For now, we'll take falling asleep in your bed even if I'm right beside you!  Ugh, next year we're going on vacation during fire week!
On Saturday, you had another great soccer game and scored 6 goals and Ellie scored her first goal!! Hooray!  After soccer, we rushed home and got cleaned up because we were off to see the princesses ice skating!  That's right, we were headed to Disney on Ice.  Now, if you recall, you and your BFF tried going exactly one year ago, right around the time your sister was born.  And, if you further recall, you and your BFF had to leave soon after arriving because you were scared of Mickey Mouse and his pals.  And, of course, since then, you have proven to us that this fear is NOT going away.  So you are wondering why in the world we would do this, huh?   Well, someone through Daddy's work gave him tickets in a box and the whole family could go (including Kate) and they were free and we thought, heck, let's give it a try.  We warned the other families that were joining us in the box about your major fear of MM, but Mommy was convinced that we would be far enough away that you wouldn't mind.  I talked it up as if we were going to a movie, except they'd be iee skating and I also talked more about the princesses that would be skating, versus the Mickey's and Minnie's of the group.  You seemed rather excited and didn't even  mention being scared so I had my hopes up.  It really worked out well with Daddy getting these tickets because we were able to park and go straight to the box, without you seeing really anything.  Of course, I had to hold you while walking to our box, but you were fine for the most part.  Once we got there though, you saw the rink and the lights and felt more comfortable not sitting in the seats, but standing up behind the counter in the box!  We'll take it!!!  You sat there for the whole first half and during intermission you saw your friend Rachel (from school) in the box right beside us, so that relaxed you a little and by the time the 2nd half started, you were much more comfortable and eventually made your way down to the actual seats, even if it were the last 20 minutes of the show!  Over all, you did enjoy watching it although you preferred a few more princesses.  Arial and Tinker bell were the only true princesses but the whole crew from Toy Story was there, so that was awesome!  You said you loved it and wanted to go back, but you still made it clear that you did not want to visit Disney World.  Boo.  Very Boo...

That's you being super brave!!

 That's you behind the counter, as far away as you could be, with still being able to see.

 And that's you and your sister, all cutesied up in your matching outfits!!

After the show, we went to Mexican (I know, on a Saturday!!) and then to bed.  On Sunday, we went to visit Daddy's friends who just had a baby and then we went to Cole's bouncing birthday party!  You had so much fun jumping in the bouncy houses, playing in the sand, swinging from the swing set, and painting your pumpkin!

And then to top it off, we headed home where Mimi and John Michael were waiting on us!!  We'll save that for another post, but the fun will NOT stop, huh!!!  LOVES YOU!  Please remember that you are always always always safe with Mommy and Daddy in the house and that your bed is just as safe as outside from any fire!!

What's Up You Ask...

Dear Abigail,

Man alive we've been super busy!  Every weekend and a lot of time during the week, too, we have had so much going on.  Thank goodness for cameras because otherwise I'm not sure I'd remember everything!  

Of course, I couldn't forget your sister's first ever birthday!!  You were super excited to give her card to her...

You (and Mommy!) were so proud.  It says "I love you - Abby" written all by yourself!! And you were also quite proud of the present you got her, which was a bit of a shock to Mom....

That Minnie Mouse was NOT supposed to be in that bag, nor in our Target shopping cart, but somehow it found it's way home and in Kate's birthday bag.  Hmmm... Sneaky thing you!  Here's what Mommy thought you were excited about giving her!  Her first baby doll, with a paci and all!  

You two got all dressed up and we headed out.

Where to, you ask, well where does Kate love??? Goofballs!!! Okay, okay, not Kate, but you and Ellie do, and, well, Kate does love it a little bit! 

There have been more soccer games going on, all of which your team wins, all of which you score a lot of goals!  Hooray!  I mean, good job, but winning isn't everything.  It sure does feel nice though!

Of course, sometimes you incorporate your gymnastics in with soccer...

With nothing but grace, of course.  And we love some tunnel at the end of a ball game!

Somewhere in these past couple of weeks, you went home with Mimi and spent a night with Clara Lee.  You guys had a ton of fun, but the one thing that was the mostest fun to you was getting to ride in a booster seat.  Apparently, your car seat got left in Mimi's car, so all Ash-ash had was a booster seat and boy, oh, boy, you thought you (and Ash-ash) were something special!  You, still weeks later, tell me all the time that "I got to ride in a booster seat at Ash-ash's house! Ha ha ha ha ha!"  And then I remind you that "ha, ha..." is disrespectful and then you say "Hey Mom, you know what I got to do at Ash-ash's house?" and I act like I have no clue and you tell me with the biggest smile on your face!

You also went to some of Ash-ash's friends house to watch the UT football game, which means you got to play with a bunch of little girls, particularly one little girl who has none other than a chihuahua!  Ahhhh!! I can't escape them!!

There was some fishin' going on during this visit, or what appears to be some 'gettin dirty' going on based on these pictures!!!

Oh, and we had your sister's first ever birthday party, too!!! You and your cuz's clean up pretty nicely, huh!!  It was a sweet, fancy first birthday party and you three had a blast, as usual.

And your pretty little sister decided to start officially walking at said birthday party!!!!

Also, at some point, we made a trip (or two...) to Cece's!  You were super excited about giving Kate some of your chocolate, which she did so happily!

Oh, and yeah, so you are in dance now!  Particularly, ballet.  You LOVE it and are excited to put on your whole get up, and you look so adorable in it, too!

Ahhhh yes! So you and Mommy had a special little trip to Cookeville a couple of weeks ago.  Your cousin Alexis was on homecoming court and so we HAD to go see her!  I kept telling you that we were going to see a lot of pretty princesses, all dressed up in ball gowns and you were SUPER excited!!

Here's you and Alexis, two super pretty girls!

After the homecoming, we went to dinner with Aunt Amy and Aunt Jill (and Alexis).  I'm glad we were able to go and you still talk about your princess, Alexis!
Oh, so the weekend of Kate's party, Mammaw and Pawpaw came up and stayed for the weekend, so on Sunday morning we all went to Cracker Barrel, and guess what they had???! A chihuahua!!! Mammaw was sweet enough to buy you your very own puppy and it even yaps like a chihuahua - hooray!  At least you have accepted that this is as good as it's going to get with you and getting a chihuahua!

And it's been really nice weather, so we've gone on bike rides...

Or well, short bike rides.  You get lazy. Quick. So Daddy has to carry the bike back...

Oh, and this day was kind of sad... I took you AND Kate to your 4 year and 1 year check up, respectively.  Well, I didn't realize that BOTH of you would get 5 shots each. Yes, 5.  You were smart, too, and asked Dr. Lee immediately if you were getting any shots.  He was able distract you for a total of 1 minutes until you decided to just hide in the window until I literally pulled you out to hold you down on the table.  Sad day... Very sad day...

BUT good news is we went straight from the doctor to Mimi's house!! You and Kate were getting your pictures taken in Covington AND we were celebrating Mimi's birthday!!  And, of course, you had a little visit from your dear goofball, Clara Lee!

And, again, we've been enjoying this beautiful weather!!! (and getting ready for Halloween!)

 

We've also had a couple play dates.  Cole and Chloe came over one afternoon and we met Anna and Jacob at Chick-fil-a on a rainy day!  And, of course, we've had a couple dinners at Ellie's house and a couple times Ellie's been at our house.  She came over to watch a football game and we went to her house to watch a football game and then decided to just chill all day and eat dinner!  Lots and lots and lots of hanging out with the friends, lately!  That's what's been up!!!  Loves you!