Tea Sets and Dress Up Clothes

We had another successful birthday party this past Sat. All the kids had a great time playing with all the toys in our "room of plastic," I mean our play room. Seriously, I am sitting here looking around while I type and wonder how many hundreds of dollars in plastic toys we have down here, but hey, the kids all enjoy them and I am not going to lie, I like playing with them too. I like playing animals with Tanner and also enjoy his new Batman playset he got for Christmas. I have always enjoyed playing with him and he has always been all boy when he plays. Now, however, I get the best of both worlds. I get the wild and crazy"get the bad guy" type play with Tanner and the sweet, dress up like a princess, play with princess barbies and have a tea party play with Sami.

This years birthday seemed to follow this same theme. She got dress up clothes, tea sets and princess barbies. Yes I said "tea sets." She got 3 different sets for her birthday (I truly thank everyone who got her one but do find it really funny she got so many). These 3 added to the 4 she got for Christmas now makes us have enough tea cups for the whole block. Such fun.

Oh and even though Tanner says, "I will play dress up with Sami if she REALLY wants me too" or "OK fine Sami, I will play tea party with you" or my favorite "OK Sami, if you really want me to play princess barbies with you (said when she is nowhere near them) I will" I know he really likes all the girly toys we now have.

Thanks again to everyone for making this birthday so special for her. I will never forget the delight in her eyes when all of us sang happy birthday to her and it would not have been the same without everyone here to help us celebrate.

How Can She Be 2?

Yesterday was Samantha's 2nd Birthday and as I put her to bed last night I thought to myself "How in the world is my baby girl two years old already?" It seems like just yesterday that I was in the hospital almost 3 weeks early getting ready to welcome her into the world. How did that little tiny baby turn into this little person with a personality and mind of her own so quickly?? Once just 6 pounds 15 ounces and now 27 pounds. Once just 20 inches long and now a little over 36 inches. Where does the time go?

It was a very good birthday for her and we spent the day with just the family. We got her a few gifts to open yesterday and the rest will be opened at her party that will be this Sat. She was so excited to open her gifts and she declared "I LOVE IT" after each one was torn open. She walked around the house singing "Happy Birthday to Sami" all day long and we took a family outing to get ice cream, which she very much enjoyed. I don't think I have ever seen such a little person eat so much ice cream and then get done and say "Would like more please." So cute.

After she fell asleep last night I sat and watched her for awhile and thought about how very lucky I am to be blessed with her presence each and every day. Yes at times she makes me want to scream, but what 2-year-old doesn't? She is such a joyful little girl and makes us all laugh on a daily basis. She radiates happiness and makes anyone who comes into contact with her smile. Her need to discover and learn is very strong and I love watching her mind grow. No matter how big she gets, she will always be that tiny baby I held that day in the hospital.

Are Dwarfs Real?

So this is my first attempt to blog and I figure I will dive right in with a little story that happened just last night. The brain of a child is so fascinating the way it just searches for new knowledge and the way it strives to figure out the world around it.

So last night I had a very interesting conversation with my 4 year old. Out of nowhere he asks me "Mommy, are Dwarfs real?" I paused for a second and I am sure gave him an odd look. Perhaps his question came from our recent trip to Disney and his first encounter with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but who really knows. The rest of the conversation went something like this.

ME: "Well yes they are buddy?"
HIM: "Well where do they live, in St. Louis?"
Now this threw me for a loop. St. Louis? Now where in the world would he get that?

ME: "I am sure some dwarfs live in St. Louis but there are dwarfs right here in Kansas City too.
HIM: "No Mommy, you are wrong. I have never seen any tiny villages here in Kansas City so they must live in St. Louis"
Now I really had to fight back the laughter with this comment. I can see the picture in his mind now. A little tiny village full of tiny people hustling about. He is right. He has never seen a tiny village here in Kansas City.

ME: "No dear. Dwarfs are just people who are small. They live in houses just like ours."
HIM: "Well I have never seen tiny houses in Kansas City either and that can't be right because they are too small to live in regular houses. How would they reach the top of the refrigerator or the tall cupboards?"
Very good question if you ask me? I am sure it is one that lots of people thought about before shows like Little People Big World and the Little Couple.

ME: "I promise that they live in regular houses. Dwarfs are just small people, like your little sisters size but they are adults not children."
Now I know this is not very accurate but I wanted him to get the idea.

HIM (fighting back the tears): "NO I don't want Sami to be a dwarf!!"
OK so after reassuring him that his sister was just a baby and not a dwarf and showing him some clips from the TLC programs I mentioned above, he looks up at me and says "Mommy, I have still never seen tiny houses in Kansas City. You take me to see them sometime OK?" and with that he walked away. Good thing he cannot for the life of him say the word "Dwarf" correctly, because I promise you sometime, someplace when I have long forgotten about this conversation, we will see a dwarf (which sounds something like wadoorf when he says it) and he will say "LOOK MOMMY, A DWARF IN KANSAS CITY" in his very loud Tanner voice and if everyone around knew what he said I would be mortified but instead I can smile and remember
our odd little conversation about the subject.