philosophers, irons, football, and dumpsters

I found another old scrap of paper with a Meredith story/quotes from last fall, or maybe even summer! Plus I've got the more recent ones to share.

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We have 4 magnetic finger puppets on our fridge. They were a baby shower gift for Meredith long ago, and she learned their names soon after she started talking: "Kant" "Nietzsche" "Hegel" and "Plato". My friend clearly had education in mind with these odd little toys.

One day I heard Meredith groan, "Oh, Kant!".
I asked what he did wrong (it was clear he was at fault for something given her tone).
"He's puttin' crackers all over him." She then showed me Kant, with bits of Cheez-Its crumbs down his little vest. I laughed.

Not much later, I heard, "Oh, Nietzsche!"
What now?
"He dumped the crackers all over the floor!"

This one was clearly not our philosopher friend's fault, so I had to end the fun, but it was sure hilarious.

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More recently, Meredith wondered aloud about irons.

Meredith: "What do irons do? They don't have mouths to sing or hands to play the guitar."
Mommy: "So what do they do?"
Meredith: "I don't know. I guess they just live in the closet."

She seems to know exactly what our iron does (and that is, indeed, ALL it does).

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Yesterday Meredith was wearing her favorite Gator outfit. She told me she was Tebow -- I don't even know how she remembers his name, given how little she was when he played for us, not to mention how tangential football is to our lives. But there you have it. We decided to go play outside, and she shouted with great excitement:

"I'm gonna run and pretend that my hands are footballs!"

So THAT was Timmy's secret. Football hands.

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Finally, Meredith is very interested in dumpsters right now (and terrified of garbage trucks - go figure). We were on a walk and, at the back of a church parking lot near our path, there was a small dumpster. She wanted to go see it (thankfully it was empty!). When we walked over to it, I'm quite sure that she put together a pair of sentences that no one has ever said before. Ever.

"Hi, dumpster! Would you like me to dance for you?"

She proceeded to rock out for the dumpster.

The next time we visited it, she had a song in her head that I was not familiar with. It involves the phrase "Alive again" over and over, and I could only guess that it was some Sunday School or preschool song she had learned about Jesus. However, that day, it was modified for the circumstances. It went (with a very definite tune and rhythm, repeated for the two "verses"):

"Alive again!
Alive again!
The dumpster is alive again!

The dumpster is
alive again!
The dumpster is alive again!"

And so on. At home, she sings it with the accompaniment of her ukelele.

The next week at Sunday School the teacher helpfully mentioned to me that this week they were talking about understanding the concept of "alive", because they were studying the little girl that Jesus raised from the dead. I could just picture them asking the kids to give examples of things that are alive and Meredith helpfully answering: "Dumpsters!"

Some old gems from Meredith

I have saved a few Meredith quotes on little scraps of paper...these are all from the fall. I'll have a spring set next time. Enjoy!

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Meredith was saying that something was "dangerous" and I asked about it.

Mommy: What is dangerous?
Meredith: "The burning bush is coming to get us!" Moses said.

Later she told me more about the burning bush, which (if you aren't familiar with it) was a sign that God gave Moses to get his attention. It was burning but was not consumed. Meredith's version is just slightly modified:

"Did the burning bush burn up? NO!..."

I beam with pride, then...

"...It burned DOWN!"

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Meredith had a sentiment I certainly shared back in September:

"I want to have some wintertime!"

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The idea of cause and effect worked backward for a while for Meredith. If you asked her why someone wore a helmet, she said it was because they hurt their head. She also got germs on her hand because she washed them. I have since confirmed that she now understands how helmets work, and she is justly mortified when she sees someone on a motorcycle without one!

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Last one for today...this is from November. I must have been blowing her nose on a day she was wearing a Gator shirt.

"Only Gator players have snotties in their nose! That's what Gator players DO!"

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More later, but hope you got a giggle.

Happy Birthday, Lucas!

No, I haven't forgotten about this blog. It's just that I have these two small children who keep me VERY busy. I'm going to try to post short things, more often, instead of trying to compose longer updates.

Today's post will just be photos from today's very successful photo shoot at JCPenney, in honor of Lucas's birthday (which was on Tuesday). He is wearing my absolute favorite outfit. We had trouble getting big smiles, but as it is he still looks adorable -- even if a bit melancholy in some shots. Hard to believe he is already a year old! Hope you enjoy seeing what a big boy he is, and how much he and his sister love each other :)


(He stood for at least 7 or 8 seconds while she took his picture - a new record for him!)




This boy is going to be a heartbreaker. Look at those eyes!

Meredith patiently waited for her opportunity to join in the pictures, and we got a couple of cute shots of the two of them.






And since I was there with them, the photographer thought we might like one with all three of us. I didn't order this one (I'll wait for one when we have Rob there too) but I figured I could let you all see what I look like with my two kids hanging on me!

Hope you enjoy the pictures, and I will be posting some fun musings from Meredith in my next post. I've been saving them up and plan to deliver them in delectable bite-sized portions...