Christmas in July

Another flashback...

This is a video of Grace from 2009, when she was 3.  She started to sing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," but forgot the lyrics...

(What a look!  That's still her puzzled look at 6 years old.)

So she started over again:

Whoa...I didn't know that Santa drove slaves, did you?

Grace reciting the Lord's Prayer

I've already posted this video before, but you get to see it again.  :)  This is, in my opinion, the best one!

The video was recorded in October 2009, when Grace was 3 years old.

Brown Bear, Lellow Duck, Puhpa Cat, and the rest of them

You know how kids will memorize a favorite book, often figuring out the words from the illustrations on the pages?  Here is a video of Grace "reading" the children's book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" when she was three years old.

Now, if that isn't all kinds of cuteness, I don't know what is!

Out of reach

My oh, so tall 15 year old playing volleyball at a friend's pool last month:

Robert (15 years old) with his friend Dre.

Wordless Wednesday: Grace and Bono

Grace (6) was reading with our new puppy (hopefully, officially named Bono*) this morning... 

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom for Wordless Wednesday.

*Bono is the name Robert (15) had picked out for a puppy while we were still in the searching, searching, and more searching phase.  I say "hopefully" because I know this crew over here.  They are likely to change their minds three more times before the name sticks!  However, I think I upped the chances of the puppy's name being Bono when I mentioned that "Bono" means "good"...because he is a really good--and oh, so patient--dog.

Finding Nemo*

It has been a long process of trying to find a puppy I'm not allergic to.

A looooooong process.

But now...look who's here!

Josiah (10) giving the new puppy the first of many, many hugs.

Josiah was excited...absolutely ecstatic.  (So ecstatic that he had trouble unlocking the gate when Jason surprised him with bringing the puppy home today.)

Josiah (10) and Grace (6) waiting at the gate.  Josiah was so excited he fumbled with the combination lock for a few minutes.

Grace was excited, too, but she channeled some of her energy into showing the puppy different things, like how she can ride her bike. 

Grace riding her bike "for the puppy."

She also played "Silent Night" for him on Josiah's keyboard.  It's been quite a homecoming for the little guy.

This puppy has been adored, hugged, and snuggled with.

 

And now he's worn out.

*But he hasn't been named yet--his name isn't Nemo.  We're still, um, voting on a name for the puppy.  A few days ago, Josiah asked me what I thought about naming a puppy Nemo, and I told him I thought it would be appropriate since we've spent a lot of time trying to find him.  ;)

How is she like Josiah? Let me count the ways...

This post was a draft I found from early 2009, when Grace would have been 3 years old.

August 2007:  Grace (17 months old) and Josiah (5 years old)

April 2009:  Grace (3 years old) and Josiah (6 years old)

It is well established, I think, that Grace is a lot like Josiah. But in case you were wondering, here is a partial list of the more humorous or bizarre ways they are alike:

1. She will complain that she can't go to sleep "because my eyes hurt." (Josiah did this when he was about 4...Grace does not know this history, yet she repeats it.)
2. She is just as fearless as he is...which is not always a good thing, especially when she is following his lead.
3. She loves medicine and will make up ailments to try to get a dose. Josiah stuck to reality a little more, with some dramatization for effect (cough cough "I think I'm sick"); Grace will come up with strange conditions and doesn't bother masking her intent ("My cheek hurts, and I need medicine to make it feel better." [big grin]).
4. She will follow up many meals with, "You a good cook, Mommy!" and say things like, "You make the best French toast!"
5. She is genuinely a sweetheart. She wants to make you feel better when you are sad, either with hugs or with "It's gonna be OK," and she will (sometimes) apologize without even being prompted.
6. Grace and Josiah love peanut butter on a spoon, at any time of the day.
7. She will draw you into her imaginary world and then refuse to let you leave. Josiah became a mild-mannered "Cute Dog" who wanted to eat dry cereal from a bowl on the floor; Grace becomes a very insistent "Gan-ma" [Grandma] who wants to give you piggyback rides to take you from room to room. "Piggyback rides?!" you ask? Yes, piggyback rides. And she has the script for everything, too: "If you want a piggyback ride, you have to say, 'Gan-ma, would you give me a piggyback ride?'" (And then she will tell you that you want a piggyback ride.)  

Incidentally, Josiah had an imaginary friend named "Grandma" who lived in a hole in the ground with garage doors and a pet dinosaur.

February 2007:  Cute Dog/Josiah (4 years old) with Grace (11 months old).  Grace was bouncing from happiness because of Cute Dog.

And, oh, how they love dogs...

December 2007:  Grace (21 months old) and Louie