Gold Medal

Life is full of choices. That's the biggest understatement ever written.
Today, I had to choose. Should I drop the pack of very breakable light bulbs or should I catch my 19 month old who is precariously dangling from the seat of the grocery cart.
Thank goodness for sturdy cardboard packaging.
Again later in the day; should I chase the toddler across the grocery store parking lot or should I pick up the pile of papers I dropped that are flying in 20 different directions?
Thank goodness for the help of kind, stooping, strangers.
I don't even know if I'd call it a choice because in all cases, I opt for the child. But there's this one half second of hesitation where my brain is trying to process all scenarios and see if I can actually do everything AT ONCE.
As amazing as I am, there are just gonna be some broken bulbs and some lost papers.
At 19 months, my daughter has me completely convinced that toddlers should be included in the Olympics. There could be events such as the "100 Meter, Dress the Toddler Dash." We play this every single morning in my house. She runs, I chase, she throws her clothes on the floor, I swoop it up for the save, she pulls out her bow, I put it back in. I think it's a brilliant game. And the winner is the person who gets their toddler downstairs, in the car, diaper bag packed, child fed and fully clothed, in the original outfit they were given,....in the least amount of time. You Win!
However, if your more of an endurance athlete, you could always do the Lowe's Marathon Obstacle Course run. Those long isles are just calling the toddler to run. And those mini humans will challenge you with their dexterity as they weave in and out of the huge pallets of insulation with 6 inches of room between each towering bail. You'll meet your match in the squeeze department. While you run from one side of the bail to the other, your toddler is winding in and out like a dog show champion.
The worst thing about those toddlers is that they have no fear and will scale a pile of 4x8 plywood faster than you can blink. Did someone put grips on that stack that I can't see?!?!
It would be entertaining....toddlers in the Olympics.
In the meantime, Addison and I will continue our training.

Are we 2 yet?

There's no doubt whatsoever that Addison is heading towards her terrible two's. This morning she threw herself on the floor no less than 5 times while I tried to get her ready for "school." She is very definite about what she wants and does not want to do these days. For instance, she DOES want to run into the bathroom and pull out all her tub toys. She DOES NOT want to put on a diaper on any other semblance of clothing. She DOES want to swing the gate at the top of the stairs and bang it against the wall as many times as she possibly can. She DOES NOT want her hair brushed. She DOES want to free climb into her cradle that is supposed to house only toys these days. She DOES NOT want to get out once inside.

It is quite difficult for us to come to an understanding some days that include both parties being happy. Fortunately for me, I'm bigger. However she is gaining speed, so I can bet that it's only a matter of time when speed will overcome size.

After a relatively aggravating morning of getting Addison ready, I managed to corral her into the car. She was crying. I was short. There had even been a hand pop involved.

I reversed the car in the driveway and stopped short of the fence. I turned around and there was my munchkin. She held up the hand that I popped and said "ouw".

"I know, I'm sorry. Mommy loves you so much. I need to not get so aggravated."

As if she understood every word, she blew me a forgiving kiss.

I blew one back. She smiled a big smile.

We were happy once again.

Addison - Portraits by Alison - Powered by Phanfare

Addison - Portraits by Alison - Powered by Phanfare

18 months photos

Here are some wonderful moments captured by photographer Alison Williams.

This is my absolute favorite! You'd never know from looking at these photos that she was really not in the greatest of moods when we were photographing. That's a good photographer!

You can view more of her work on her website at http://www.portraitsbyalison.phanfare.com/

Beach Time, First Time

My friend Tamra and I were fortunate to spend a few days at Hilton Head together last week. Our first destination...the actual beach. Addison HATED the beach for the 1st 45 minutes. Luckily, she gave it a chance and really had a great time...as did we.

Sister

My dear sister has had a very bad run of things lately. She went in on March 15th for back surgery. One week later, they had to go back in for infection and to readjust some of the screws. It was then that they discovered she had MRSA, a very hard to kill infection that requires at least 6 weeks of IV antibiotic treatment. Two days ago, her fever spiked again and the doctor, for the third time, opened up her back to clean out infection. It is not fair. It is not fair. It is not fair. My poor sister only wanted to be able to walk without pain. She merely wanted to be able to bend over and pick up the laundry basket without wailing. She wanted to be able to travel to Augusta to see her family without ending her journey in tears. It's not fair that she has had such a terrible time.
I worry for her daily. I call every day to track her progress in hopes that one day I'll call and she'll be chipper and happy and pain free.
So tonight, I'm thinking of my sister, whom I love immeasurably. And I wish for the annihilation of infection and everything yellow and green in the body that spikes a fever.
Get well very soon, my dear Sandra. I love you.

I hope I remember

There are so many things that I try and file away in the storage cabinets of my brain. Some of those include the fact that at 18 months old - my girl is a whopper of a toddler at 29 lbs wearing a size 6 shoe. And like Doug and squirrels in the movie "Up," she is easily distracted by one of two things, her "toe" and "dog". I hope I can remember how she tells me that she wants to get down sounding something like, "birdown". Or the way she points out to me the most minuscule detail of something as she says, "See!" At 18 months she is a bread-a-holic and a huge fan of balls...and balloons, which she calls ball. But after a year and a half of life, we still have our special moment every evening when we go "nigh nigh" ..... which is similar to "nah nah" for banana, but can be deciphered based on what time of day it is. Baths are a favorite time and she'd really rather go "nigh nigh" in her crib than in mommy's lap, much to my dismay. Her Independence often leads her to little breakdowns of shear aggravation because I didn't hand her the entire cookie, or I didn't let her hold the fork, or she wanted the grape, not the pineapple. She can't say it yet, but if she could, she'd just bust out with an "I can do it myself!"
With her pitter patter becoming more and more steady by the day, I can only imagine where she'll e in the next 6 months. It's still so wild that last year this time, she was barely able to sit up.