Big Monkey!

Every single day, the same question is asked.  "We go see big monkey today?" And 9 times out of 10, she gets her way.  It's just so hard to say no to something so simple in life that gives her so much joy.  

Meet Big Monkey (well... ape, but she's 2... give her a break).  

This big inflatable ape resides in various places in our area, moving from one tire company to another.  We are given the task to find where he has gone or fight the inevitable tears that come from his absence.  Sometimes, we simply can't find him. When that happens, we're lucky enough to have a back up plan: 

Big Red Dinosaur.

Experiments

A few months ago our water was turned off to repair our sink.  When it was turned back on, the water brought up some dirt from the pipes and sputtered out some air along with it.  Each sink and shower had a few seconds of loud noises and dirty water, which would change the course of baths, showers, and hand washing forever.  Each time we turned on a sink or bath, Lilli ran screaming from the room in terror.

It took a LOT of convincing to take baths, wash hands and finally take showers.  After what seemed like years, we got back to normal.  No more cups at the sink to wash hands, no more bath only fights, no more bribery of new bath toys, paints and various other desperate attempts to get back our regular scheduled hygiene routines (see giant mixing bowl, plastic cups, and lots of bubble baths).

Recently, after a shower and a few curious questions about the differences between showers and baths, I decided to try and explain things a little better.  With the help of some sandwich bags, building block cups, spoons and straws we filled up said giant mixing bowl in the sink and set out to explore.

First, I filled two sandwich bags with water and sealed them tight.  The first, we poked holes in and the second we cut a big hole in the corner.  We talked about how the water comes from the same place but just comes out differently because of the holes.

Next, we broke out some of her IKEA building cups, some of which have lots of holes, others just one. Same lesson, different methods.

Then, ice. We learned about how the ice melts, it makes the water colder, and it's very hard to catch as it floats on the water.

Finally, I took the floating conversations as an opportunity to talk about floating and sinking.  How come the metal spoon floats and the plastic one doesn't? Why does the water bottle float empty and sink when it's full?  What about quarters? And this straw? What about anything else within reaching distance?!

I nearly had to drag  her away from the sink, she had so much fun.  While it was messy, two full towels of clean up, she learned a lot in what took only a few extra minutes to explain. Totally worth it.

Lilli's Mix CD

One of the things we had hoped for our child, when she was just as small as a finger tip growing in my belly, is that she would be into music.  Being that Dave is a musician, he had hoped for "a screamer" and/or "a drummer" when she was barely the size of a pencil eraser. When she was born, we listened to whatever music we had always listened to. Of course, the foul language didn't really matter, if anything it helped her develop grunts into sounds.  Then she started learning to talk, repeating constantly, and of course coming into her own taste in music.  Luckily for me, she wasn't being exposed to the screaming hard core music Dave enjoys as much as my own.  She was home with me, being force fed some indie rock and "Carrie" music.  Strawberry flavored, melodic and mostly cheerful music from all genres. With no surprise, she liked all kinds of music, even the screaming kinds... Her favorites by far (perhaps by just being constantly exposed to it) were not the ABC's, Old MacDonald, or gag Raffi... It was a variety of ska, regge, indie, and even unfortunately some kids songs (but not your normal variety of annoying, pull your hair out, buy ear plugs, and zone out kind). She liked the Chromeo, Postmarks, Jimmy Eat World, Weezer, and  Reel Big Fish kind.

I like to make new mixes every few months, she picks her favorite songs and demands all others be skipped.  After a while of having to change my CD's back and forth to get the songs she wanted to listen to, and after my CD player started to decline such requests, I made her very own Lilli Mix.  It's one of my favorite mixes.

Three Little Birds (B Version), Bob Marley, B is for Bob

Snoop Dog, Baby, Reel Big Fish, Turn The Radio Off

I am a Paleontologist, They Might Be Giants

5 Years Time, Noah And The Whale

Sugar Daddy, The Hot Toddies

Hot Dog!, They Might Be Giants

1 2 3 Apple Tree, Herman Dune

Technicolor, Nurses

Hello Bonjour, Michael Franti and Spearhead

Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Rainbow, Jack Johnson

Sharing Song, Jack Johnson

Jurasic Finish First, Jurasic 5

The Lion Sleeps Tonight, George David Weiss

Lollipop, Julius Edward Dixon

The Monster Song, Psapp

When The Sun Rose Up This Morning, Herman Dune

Make My Day, Waldeck

Island In The Sun, Weezer

Troublemaker, Weezer

My kid rocks.

Mother's Day

I want to remember this Mother's Day. 

I don't want to remember the two boxes of tissues Lilli's leaky nose went through. Not the three days without sleep or the three nights of screaming fits that tested both Dave and my patience.  I don't want to remember the moment when Lilli dropped to the floor of the store, after showing signs of improvement, regressing back to a sick mess in 3.6 seconds. Or the sprint to the check out line to get her home to hold her down one more time to put saline drops in her nose before the sad and short lived nap.  

I want to remember tucking her into bed Sunday night, and in her groggiest stuffy nosed voice, Lilli saying "Happy Mudders Day, Mommy."  I want to remember the long day of frequently interrupted, but much needed, naps where all three of us (4 if you count Taz) snuggled on the floor and couch in the living room.  I want to remember the next day when Lilli came into our room, curled up on top of me and told me she loved snuggling with me.  

I want to remember that no matter how this one day of the year turns out, it doesn't even begin to equal the love I feel for my child every second of every day. That one day isn't comparable to the appreciation or under appreciation a child has for their mother and all they have done for them on this or any other day (something I don't think I could have appreciated fully until becoming a mother for myself).  No matter what wonderful gifts are received on this one day, they won't make any of the other days (and long long nights) any more or less trying slow cookers excluded cause those things rock.  The gift of this amazing journey is more than I  could have ever ask for from my child (and wonderful husband who tries so hard to make both of us happy all of the time).  

Happy Mother's Day.