Frances at 21months, poor crock never had a chance

Toddler parenting has been very challenging lately. well, actually for the whole month of May! First she had a virus with a high fever, followed by teething...FOUR teeth at once, and then Frank was away for work- leaving me in fear of being an only parent for a week, after a very fussy cranky two weeks. Her new words are "Nooooo" and "MINE". Oh man, has she been testing her limits and boundaries with me lately causing me all sorts of grief and worry, only to wake up the next day super super sweet and full of hugs and kisses. Even though this month has been tough I have really embraced staying at home with her. My first month home was hard. I felt a little alone when Frank was at work or sleeping. But I don't feel that way anymore- which is good. She makes me smile and laugh and I am enjoying all this time we have together. Here are some of the things she does at 21 months that crack me up:

*She loves to help me wash dishes. She gets so excited when I am at the kitchen sink. She runs for her little pink stool and drags it over to the sink, climbs up and rinses the dishes I hand her and places them in the strainer. I always wash the recycling last and she knows to rinse those and put them in the recycling bin instead of the strainer. (I have to sneak in dish washing if I want it done in a timely manner!)

*Still my water baby. She takes showers and loves to go under water at swim class.

*No picky eater here. Loves all types of food. Frank was making dinner the other night and she asked for a bite. He handed her a piece of onion he was chopping. She ate it and said, "More...bowl" So Papa gave her a bowl of onions which she carried to the coffee table then dragged her stool over and set down and ate every last one.

*She loves it when I open the moon roof and roll down all the windows in the car. She laughs and screams in delight as her hair is whipped around by the wind. It is a beautiful sight.

*I absolutely love her silliness and sense of humor. It is hard to drive because when I look at her in the rear view mirror she makes silly faces, smiles, and blows kisses to me.

I can't believe it has almost been one year of all of us together as a family.

Papa, we miss you!

Little Baby Momma

Changing her Bear's diaper.

Pointing to her hurting teeth.

And super cute after sleeping.

You have my whole heart and I love you.

How do you remove pine tree sap?

Below are step by step illustrated instructions for removing a mess of pine tree sap from the back of your toddlers head.

STEP ONE: Take a large spoonful of peanut butter and apply to tree sap matted hair. (creamy works best)

STEP TWO: Hand PB spoon to toddler.(Warning: Do not skip this child pacifying step)

STEP THREE: Warm PB lathered hair with blow dryer. (Diffuser not necessary)

STEP FOUR: Comb hair with a fine toothed comb.

STEP FIVE: Rinse hair in warm water and shampoo as usual.

Tree sap gone!

Frances + 4 McPherson boys!

Nice Pajamas...

The McPherson boys: Devon (age 3), Aidan (5), and Austin (8)

Frances tackles Austin

Playing cars with the boys

I have had a very crazy week. Our house has been over run by three boys for the past five days, with two more to go. Our good friends are off cavorting in sunny Mexico enjoying their first real vacation with out kids. It felt really good to be able to do this for them and Frances loves the boys. Four kids is sooooo much work.

I was doing great at first, but am starting to tire. Today I took the kids to the park and noticed half way through playing that their youngest was wearing slippers! I ran out of PJ's for Frances, see the P-jamy 'get-up' above. So far I have remembered to feed everyone.

A full house has been so much fun. I want another...ONE. Family of four sounds nice. Frances is having an absolute ball with these little guys. I don't know what she will do when they go home. I will have to schedule a busy week to ease her back into her life as an only child.

smooshed daisies

Frances' new thing is picking daisies. I keep finding dried up little flowers throughout the house. It is hard to get anywhere on a walk, as she has to stop and pick daisies and dandelions. This is always followed by an, "uh-oh" as she drops one from her handful.

Frances runs...cooks...and washes dishes!

I am ending my first month as a Mom who no longer works another job for 40hrs. a week(Hate that other title. (SAHM)) I must confess I was a little worried I was going to he to ask for my job back! I was definitely missing people, and feeling successful at the end of a work day. But I am warming up to this challenge and enjoying all of our close time together. I definitely see myself working part time after the summer, even if just a few days a month.

Frances is wonderful. At 20months she is doing and saying a whole lot. She is running and climbing. Frank is enrolled with her in a parent-tot swim class. She smiles the whole time. Her language has really taken off. She says new words every day it seems, and is starting to link them in a sentence with prompts. We ordered half a dozen parenting books as she has discovered she is her own self and sometimes does not want her diaper changed...or wants a snack,"nak, nak, nak" right now. Toddler parenting is definitely a challenge. I miss what little bit of baby time I had, but am loving this little person emerging. I love her humor, dramatics, craziness and sweetness.

I love it all.