estrogen

You know you truly have a little girl when she is making tea wearing sunglasses and butterfly wings.

the jokes on us

That dreaded day has dawned. The day when your sweet innocent two year old drops her banana, and in a passionate moment of expressing her frustration at that insolent banana, you find out what curse word you use the most. There's no denying it, you know? No way to cover it up. It's a big condemning finger pointed RIGHT AT YOU.

Well, of all the words she could be using, it could be worse. Her current word of choice is "G*d!!" But there's just something about a two year old saying it that brings out its ugliness. What's funny is that in our wittiness we have been inserting, "Gosh!" every time she says it (which is a lot right now). Even our non-English speaking helper is saying, "Gosh!" now. But today, a new word emerged..."Sh*t!" So, somehow in our efforts to curb our tongues, we've unknowingly replaced one expression with another!

Oh well.

one more, please!

Please allow me to make one more post about my beautiful daughter. Yes, I do have other musical, spiritual, and cultural things at hand, but how can one resist! This is a picture of Ariel as a flower girl for the first time (just yesterday). Neither girl had ever done it before, and I somehow got to be the person willing them down the aisle in front of laughing and aaahhhing guests. After several attempts of showing them how to drop the flowers (and Ariel thinking she was supposed to dump the whole bucket right there on the grass!), I finally had them hold hands and pointed to the front saying, "walk there, walk there". Ariel led the way and Angenique quickly followed. They did good.




Notice the crackers in place of the flowers? Yes, the ceremony was at 7am and that would be her last minute breakfast. And, proof that I learned something in 8th grad Home Economics class, those straps would be my first attempt at sewing something by hand in 17 years!

oh, the beauty of being 2

Ariel and I having fun in front of the webcam this morning :)

Turtles and Ice Cream

Today was Ariel's 2nd birthday. It was filled with cake and ice cream, presents, and long talks on Skype with all of her lola's (Filipino for grandmothers). I read through her diary tonight. I started it when I was pregnant thinking that I would be one of those really cool moms someday that presented their daughter with a treasure of precious moments recorded over the years. A real "hallmark exclusive" in my make believe world :) It is amazing to watch her grow. Discover. Learn. And generally have a good attitude about it all. I've been thinking about how God must feel watching over us. How is heart must sing when I discover truth. Similar to my joy when, without my coaching, Ariel cocks her head to one side, smiles, and sweetly says, "Thank you!" when I've given her a piece of cheese or helped her with her shoes. It's hard to explain how the heart feels in these small moments. Most of the time I feel like I'm blundering my way through parenthood. I wish I had God's wisdom in teaching her things like He teaches me. I ask for it a lot. We'll see how He answers my prayer on the next season of parenthood...potty training! Ariel's big gift from us was a Turtle shaped potty. As soon as she unwrapped it, she sat on it with a huge smile and the whole room applauded. Tomorrow morning we'll see if she's as excited about riding the turtle as she was today :)

My Little Girl

Can I just say that I love my little girl? I am hiding in my office trying to produce chapters of academic ethnomusicological writings, and in the midst of deep thought I hear in the background, "Cheese? Cheese? Oh boy! Cheese!!" Amidst all the other hats I wear, I am also the mother of an almost 2 year old, and she is absolutely wonderful (most of the time!). She is currently into copycat-ing. This means that if Mommy is cooking, she must cook. If Mommy is sitting with her legs crossed, she must sit with her legs cross. If Mommy is wearing a blue scarf, well, the picture speaks for itself. The scary part is, what else is she copycat-ing from me? What mannerisms will she have for life? And the plague of every teenage girl, "You look just like your mother!" Of course, now I'm honored to be like my mother. Hopefully, she will be too.