1. Sometimes Alaina spills her water, like every little kid. Only she no longer tells me about it; she simply takes it upon herself to clean it up. Sounds like a great arrangement, except for the fact that her go-to means of cleaning up spills is toilet paper. I get it: it is within her reach. But toilet paper is the worst thing to use to clean up a spill. It creates a bigger mess. I'm trying to tell her to just tell me so I can get her a towel. I suppose I'll just have to put a few towels within her reach, and teach her where those are.
2. In a related story, for the first time in their little lives, Alaina and her friend Avery were naughty together. I was watching the younger two Gillett girls while their mom was teaching piano lessons this past Monday, and things were going great. I had finally turned on The Aristocats, so Macy, Joya and I were enjoying that movie, while Alaina and Avery got bored and wandered off. They just went into the dining room, where Alaina's coloring table is, so it was fine. I heard them giggling and shrieking and having a grand old time, and that was fine too. After awhile I finally got up to go check on them, only to find them standing on chairs at the dining room table. I had forgotten that I had given them all small paper cups of water for their snack. Well, the water cups were empty, and all across the table was water, clumps of wet toilet paper and all the salt and pepper from my salt and pepper shakers. There was a good amount of salt and pepper on the carpet too. I immediately put a stop to that, scolded the girls and banished them to the living room to watch the rest of the movie while I cleaned up the mess. Of course Alaina immediately started crying when she saw me (funny how she was giggling before I came in, but the minute I entered the room she knew she was in trouble.) Right then Lee got home, and Alaina tearfully told him, "Daddy, I made a mistake!" It was the first time little Thelma and Louise had been naughty at my house. Not too big a deal, but one for the books, that's for sure.
3. Joya now has four teeth, her middle bottom and her middle top. I forgot how big the top middle teeth are; hers are probably halfway grown in, and it has almost erased the baby look of her face. Babies seem to become kids when they have their teeth. Mothers all over like to proudly point out how early their babies get teeth, but I'm not so sure it's a good thing. It's just one huge sign that your baby isn't going to be a baby forever.
4. Wednesday we had our first snow of the season. It actually was my favorite kind of snow: snow falling all day, sticking to the grass and trees but melting on the roads. I wish it would snow like that all the time. Anyway, it was the first time that Alaina got to get dressed up in snow gear and go outside to play. She, of course, loved it. And was horribly sad when it was time to come in. I sent her outside with her daddy, who spent most of the time lobbing snowballs at her. She would shriek and giggle every time she got hit. So. Cute. I would have taken more pictures, but my camera battery decided to peter out.
5. The sight of all the colored trees makes me happy. It seemed to take awhile, but finally all the trees that turn red are bright red. For some reason, though, as we're driving around, Alaina always says, "Ooo, yellow trees? Remember what Grandad says? He doesn't like the yellow ones!" Is that true, Grandad? Because she's said it more than once, so you must have said it to her. :)
Have a great weekend, and get out there and read The Hunger Games!
