First Play

A local high was doing a musical production of The Little Mermaid, so I figured it was the perfect time to introduce Corinne to the world of fine arts. 

A friend and I double dated, me with Corinne, and she with her 4 year old daughter. We went to ihop for a fine dining experience first, then off to the play. I bought tickets online the week prior and reserved front center. I was hoping that the "in your face" action of being in the front row would help keep her entertained for 90 minutes. 

Unfortunately, the seats were the automatically folding ones, which means if Corinne sat back, the seat bottom would flip up and eat her. So she either had to sit on the edge or I had to hold down the edge for her. 

She did pretty well. After 75 minutes, her attention was waning so she happily went through my purse. That took just long enough for the play to finish. Success! 

She really liked clapping. She has that part down pat (pun intended).

Ownership

Corinne has recently become obsessed with the idea of ownership. 

As I'm folding laundry, she'll narrate who is the owner of each item of clothing. 

"Da"

"Ma"

"Eh-an"

It's funny when I'm emptying the dishwasher and she'll tell me who is the owner. Apparently M owns all the plastic cups and mugs. I own all the spatulas and a few plates. Evan owns all the sippy cups. Well, most. Corinne can't say her own name yet, but she very recently learned the word "mine". 

Now, I hear "mine mine mine MINE MINE waaaahhhhhh" multiple times a day. Because what's hers is hers and what is mine or M's or Evan's is also hers, if she feels like it. 

I've been having Evan sit in Corinne's high chair recently for meals, as he doesn't throw as much food for some reason in that chair. So I've been feeding Corinne at the coffee table or regular table. She's totally on board with that idea (food AND freedom?!?) until she sees Evan being placed in her high chair. 

"Mine mine MINE (insert tantrum)"

Santa is going to start scouting used kids' stuff places for a booster seat. I think it's time she starts sitting at the normal table. Then we can get rid of a high chair!

Who stinks?

While playing outside, I detected a not-so-fresh aroma. I asked "Which one of you stinks?"

Then Corinne sniffed Evan's butt and provided me with an answer:

Upon closer inspection, I realized she's a lying liar who lies. It was her. Her third dirty diaper of the day (!) Trying to pass it off on her little brother. Sneaky. 

She must get that skill from her father who tries to pass off his farts onto other people. 

Shopping trip

We've tried the kiddie cart before and it was a fail. But perhaps a corner has been turned. She actually did pretty well with it. No strangers' ankles or glass pasta sauce bottles were harmed in the process.

Then we went for a walk around the mall, and every flower had to be sniffed.

She was enamored by huge boobies:

And the fountain just begged to be splashed in. 

Sometimes my genius knows no bounds

Evan is on a "I'll feed myself" kick as of late. Fine for most food, except pouches, as he tends to squeeze the ever loving eff out of them which results in pouch guts decorating my floor, him, and usually the cat.

I had an epiphany last night: pouch in a bottle! It doesn't work for my "fill your own pouches" due to the wide top, but for the store bought ones, it works well!

Stuff the pouch into a bottle, screw on a collar, and voila: no mess pouch

14m

Evan has added "car" to his vocabulary. I don't know if he knows what it is, but when we ask him to say car, he says it. He will take a toy car, move it around and make the "vroom" sound. One guess of who he got that from. He'll also take a play phone, hold it up to his ear and say a word that sounds similar to "hello". Both he and Corinne do that. Which is funny because we don't have phones that we hold up to our ear and talk into.

Considering Corinne says it 62,192 times a day: "Dad? Shoes? Car? Dad? Shoes? Car?" I'm not surprised Evan picked up "car" from her. Next will be "shoes" to add to his "Da?" Sound. 

He likes to point at stuff and say "Da?" All.The.Time. Including at 4a. I will think I finally got him back down and then he pops up and says "Da?"

He dances on command, asks to be picked up by putting his hands in the air and saying "up?", gives high fives, "phones home" via E.T., waves and nods his head "yes" to every question posed. Before throwing food off the side of his tray, he'll shake his head "no" while he does it, because that's obviously the chain of events. It's interesting having a child who is developmentally on track in regards to language. Each time he does one of these things, I'm convinced that he's too young to and therefore must be the next Einstein. 

He has stood by himself a handful of times, but he really just prefers to be picked up, so any attempts to stand him up or finger walk with him end in failure as he'll fold like origami back down and ask "up?" I'd be surprised if he was walking by Christmas. He just doesn't have the drive. Being carried and crawling are plenty for him. 

Pedicure

Corinne got her first "home pedicure" today. First, we lotioned her feet (which she loved), then I cut her toenails (she wasn't a fan of this step), and lastly, applied some nail polish. 

At first I applied a barely there pink color to see how she would do and if she understood the "no touching until it's dry" concept. She totally got it, so then I put on another later of a darker pink. 

She's quite proud of her new toes.