about the time that this smile…

stretched into an even bigger smile…

…i was done. over. heart burst. defib.

…and then she had to take it a step further (topper!)… she climbed into her rocking chair and mommied her doll…on her own.

held her…

kissed her…

fed her…

…all completely unprompted.

…and then she had to go and do it. that cock-her-head-to-the-side thing that gets me.

…and i was like…c’mon…are you trying to make me cry? because sometimes that’s all i can do watching her grow up before my eyes. and i swear…after the little tear and my smile and taking this picture…she leaned over and kissed my lips. no words…just quiet love in a little pink room…me and her.

speakin’ of kisses… oh, the kisses. numerous these days. smack on the lips.

she is the poster child of love. lainey love. i knew we chose that name for a reason!

these days, i can’t not just write and write and write about the love. seventeen months is so my favorite.

…enjoying the her things. ~k

…but not really because i got the idea somewhere else.

but still, i’ve been wanting to use that line in a title because it’s really cool and it’s from roald dahl’s “boy” which is an autobiographical novel for kids. i tried reading it aloud once for my fifth graders and realized, half into bad words and talk of weird naked stuff that, perhaps a teacher should read a book herself before reading it aloud. the bfg was perfectly childproof. …figured all his books would be.

on to the idea.

super cool get-your-toddler-to-eat-good-stuff-without-racking-your-brain-for-what-to-feed-them trick.

fill a muffin tray in the morning with colorful healthy stuff. throughout day, toddler whines for food: pull out muffin tray and let smorgasbord begin. toddler gets bored: put back in fridge. toddler whines again for food: pull it back out. you get the picture.

hello, profound.

and…have to brag here. look what my cubby’s goin’ for first! PEAS!!! loves ’em. eats ’em like jellybeans.

by the end of the day, the tray had dwindled to some measly pumpkin bread crumbs and ham rinds. and she was super stoked that she had a muffin tray all to herself with SIX different choices. babies love choices.

and the morning challenge of filling the tray is fun. or maybe i’ve been away from the real world so long that i forgot what fun is. still…it’s fun to me.

leaving with latest scrapbook pages. i’ll be seeing someone about my obsessive compulsive have-to-get-this-into-a-memory-book-before-i-get-behind anxiety. so far, it’s working for me because her second year book is just full of everything we’ve done, everything she is, everything we love about her…but i don’t want to set myself up for failure. (like if i have to white something out in her baby book because i messed up and freak out because the page looks messy…that’s not healthy, right?)

2 page spreads:

…enjoying the being-a-stay-at-home-mom-rocks-my-world things. ~k

(but not rubbing it in for my mommy friends who work! promise! love you and love what you do!)

p.s. if you’re in the naples area and interested in christmas family photos/custom christmas cards, book now…calendar filling up! email: kascryder@yahoo.com

if you think moms who talk a half hour about mundane things like what baby food brand to buy or the color of their kid’s poop, this post is going to annoy you. just stop reading now. don’t say i didn’t warn you. (but i promise, that’s the last time i’m going to say ‘poop’ on this blog. done. never again, and perhaps by the end of this post i will have decided to retract and backspace that one anyway.)

it’s a long post about a blanket, but for the sake of documenting the things that make my child who she is, it needs to be typed up and preserved in blogland. this darn puppy blanket is a huge part of her identity.

it all began with a frog. a frog blanket that was given to me as a shower gift that soon became her favorite blankie.

following the advice of all my mommy friends who said, “if they have a favorite blankie, make sure you buy two,” i decided to buy another one. problem was, it had no tag, no brand name and i had no idea where to get another one. so i googled every possible combination of frog/blankie/frog with blanket attached/frog with yellow piping blanket, etc. until i finally found the exact same frog. it’s a jaag plush and it comes in different versions. so, we decided to expand her collection to include not only a frog but a lamb and a bear.

so, now she had three favorite blankets.
…until her first birthday when, feeling extra sweet, we ordered one more…a puppy. a puppy that, unbeknownst to us would not only become her favorite (she doesn’t give a rat about bear, lamb or frog anymore) but would also be discontinued by the company and never created again.

lovely.

we realized this was a problem a few weeks ago when, at lainey’s designated naptime i began searching for puppy only to be told by brett that he sprayed oxyclean on the ear (she sucks on it) because it stunk and it was soaking in the laundry tub. a half hour of crying later, we gave in and let her stay up.

consequently, i set out to order another one. that’s when i found that jaag’s plush wrap n’ nap yellow lab is over…discontinued…dead. site after site…’no longer available.’ i thought it was a done deal until kelly made it her life’s mission to find that stupid dog and, if you know kelly, if she wants it, she’ll get it. (hello? four years, two invitros and a beautiful baby girl later? that’s what i’m talking about.) so, we now have two pups, but the new one still has some gettin’ dirty to do before the stench and ratty-tattyness is up to her standards.

enter exhibit a: old puppy

and b: new puppy

however, washings are still a problem. being that she chews on puppy’s ear (only the right one) all the time and it daily smells like things i won’t say, washings are becoming more frequent, and it’s like a scene from mission impossible when we decide to go through with it. there’s distraction, whispering, sneaking around, cover-ups, and then the whole issue of timing…puppy washings can only happen after first nap but before second nap or after second nap but before bedtime. half the time, it’s a failed mission and ends with her standing at the washer, crying anyway.

i swear, that puppy is alive to her and seeing us put that blanket in the washer causes trauma equivilent with a child watching oh, i don’t know…the family dog swirling around in a vortex of suds.

today, i tried but her rescue mission was successful and pups will have to go another dirty, stinky day.

p.s. knowing full well many think attachment to a lovie of this degree is a sure sign it needs to go, i stand by my belief that lovies are a beautiful thing, instilling security and friendship in little ones who need it. and, for the record…all babies need security and friendship.

oh, and the verdict is in: poop comment stands.

…enjoying the i-don’t-want-to-forget-one-little-thing things.