My mouth is moving... but are words coming out?

Grace has settled into the terrible twos very nicely over the last few days. It's rather annoying. Last night it was a 1.5 hour stand off to get her to eat one bite of baked beans, yes, the yummy kind with brown sugar in them...so she could eat the rest of her dinner.... no baked beans.... no dinner.
After I politely placed 3 beans in her mouth she reacted like someone was choking her and promptly puked the nastiest sour milk puke all over me and the table... AWESOME. So she got no dinner....
We had to put her in the bath tub to wash off the gross puke and she started to throw a fit. When grace throws a fit, she falls to her knees, rather dramatically, throws her forehead on the ground and her hands out in front of her. She tried this in the bath tub and almost drowned herself... that didn't help the fit, but hopefully she won't do it again.
This morning, I wasn't her favorite person either... she wanted daddy to fix her breakfast... "Well, Sugar Bean, your daddy ain't here..." was my reply. It took about an hour and a half to get her to eat the breakfast that mommy had fixed, after bribing her by telling her that she could watch a 'show' while she ate.
Then I couldn't get the show right..."No Pooh, No Manny etc..."
Then we had to battle to put on her clothes:
"Grace Ann, come here please, so mommy can change your diaper." I said in a cheerful voice...
No reply... she just looked at me, and continued on with what she was doing...
"Grace Ann, do you want to go to time out?"
"No, time out" she said rather adamantly
"OK, good choice, come here so I can change you please..."
She just looked at me with these "wha-cha gonna do about it" eyes

I mean, the child was in time out 4 times before 10 am. I had to threaten spanking and the whole shebang...

Finally after fighting over shoes, socks, what to pack for lunch, hair do, and just about everything else that came up, we got in the car...

Off to the park with emily, mac, elizabeth and annie... fun outing for both of us.

Grace throws tantrums all over the park I practically had to drag her kicking and screaming to go see the water, which she loves...She wanted me to carry her everywhere... that ain't happening...she threw rocks at some kids and spit out a half chewed piece of cheese in my hand... It was a rough day... Luckily my friends put up with us, and I had a pretty good time. I have this uncanny ability to tune out pretty much anything so Grace's tantrums were probably not as ear piercing to me. Luckily there were 5,000 kids at the park, so there was a lot of noise.

Will someone please call together a research project. I believe that in a child's second year of life, their ability to hear actually goes away...

This is just a warning to all who are babysitting this weekend while we are out of town... don't be afraid to use time out! And please remember, "no" IS an appropriate word to say to a 21 month old sometimes! (trust me on this one...:)

A scene from a movie

Nothing fantastic to share here, but something happened to me today that's never really happened to me before. I truly lived out a scene from a movie. Ok, picture this, the character has had a really bad day, or week, or month.... he/she decides to go out for a leisurely walk.....well, let me just tell the story...

Chris and Grace Ann are asleep upstairs... I decide to go for a walk to clear my head...It's the perfect temperature, and a little breezy...sunny..... very nice. About 5 minutes into the walk some clouds started to form... but not all around... just above my head. I am not kidding AT ALL! So the clouds got thicker and a little wider than my actual body, but mind you, there was crystal clear blue sky on either side of the street I was walking on... NO KIDDING.
The rain starts to fall....I think nothing of it because there is so much blue sky around me... but it falls harder, and harder... and literally the clouds extend all the way down the street that I am walking on, but on either side of me, clear as a bell. I decide to turn a corner and get off my regular route to get out of the rain... guess what? It followed me...It poured on me for the entire walk... my shoes are squirting water every time I step and I am dripping, mascara running all down my face. The golfers who are enjoying a round literally less than 300 yards away from me are in the bright sun. This is the epitome of my last few days.... Just thought it was funny... well, not really, but blog worthy none the less.
Haven't you seen this in a movie before...? I know I have.

What exactly is the meaning of Non-Toxic and Washable?

What exactly is the meaning of Non-Toxic and Washable??????
.....This is it...right?.....





What do the Burton girls do when it's rainy and dreary outside?

Nope, this wasn't an accident. We were coloring with markers, when I really got the urge to let Grace color all over herself.... Now I know, I know, I will probably pay for this later.... But I just thought it would be fun! And it was! This is one of those things I can remember from my childhood that I really wanted to do, but mom wasn't to keen on it. I can specifically remember thinking that when I had kids I would totally let them color on themselves if they wanted to.... So I guess I was just keeping a promise to myself... right?

So what do we have to do after all this tattooing? Of course, get a bath and splash water all over the whole bathroom! Chris would totally not approve, probably of all the activities that took place this morning... but hey, he's not at home with a toddler 24-7...!

Some of the cute B&W picts from yesterday

Cheekwood

Throwing sticks into the water

Let's hold hands

Today we went to Cheekwood with our friends Mac and Emily. Every Tuesday and Saturday morning they have toddler art time. The kids were interested in the art for about 15 minutes... then it was off to the gardens to see the flowers and 'wawa.'
We got some great pictures, and they look especially good in black and white, but for some reason I can't seem to get them to upload that way... so these are the unedited picts.

Afterwards we went to CPA to catch up on the gossip (hehe) and eat lunch with Izze. Fun day! Email me if you want to see the really good pictures and I will try to send out the shutterfly link... I am sure there is a way I can post it, but I am not that internet savvy.

Graduation and the mystery diagnosis

HAPPY GRADUATION KRISTIN! My sister in law finally graduated from nursing school yesterday. How exciting! The whole family, sans Chris, went up to Knoxville for the ceremony. Grace did well in the car on the way up there, especially for being woken up at 6:30am... But Izze and I were in the back seat with her, and she had 'gracie TV' (DVD Player) so she was all set. We met Kristin's family up there and then traveled over to the ole' Alma Mater... UT... Ahhh, the memories.....
The actual ceremony was pretty normal, as graduation ceremonies go. Grace lasted all of about 3 minutes in the seats, so she and I roamed the bowels of Thomson Bowling Arena for an hour or so. We watched Pat Summitt age year by year in pictures... riveting....

At one point, Grace decided she wanted to see Papa, so she ran over to the black curtain, swung it open and YELLED.... PAPAAAAAA.... Yup, it echoed through the whole arena, awesome. Kristin did get an unexpected award, which was great....and she said that she didn't notice grace's yell....

Back to David and Kristin's we went after the ceremony was over... We ate good food and visited. Grace fell in love with Kristin's little brother... she has been calling him "Unky Pete." She ran circles around the house, played with the 2 Sallie's (2 dogs) and Rufus the cat. Keep in mind... NO NAP, and an early rise.... she is doing awesome, but the tides are about to turn....

All is well, dad decides that we need to leave about 5pm or so to get back for his early bedtime, of course. We pack up, change grace into her PJ's, get her 'nilk" ready, get in the car, back out of the driveway, and grace starts screaming... and screaming....and screaming....This goes on for about 30 minutes, until she completely conks out. I mean, the child was in some kind of altered state of mind, nothing consoled her, not slammy, not milk, NOTHING...Eventually she just gave out... head fell over, she couldn't cry anymore... she couldn't even suck her fingers, she was so tired.... All is well...QUIET....

Let me back up a few hours..... Right after graduation, I decide that I need a quick trip to the goodwill. So I entrust grace into the care of my dear mom, dad and grandmother for a quick 30 minutes....When I get back to the house... mom goes... "Look at Grace's head...." and low and behold, it looked like someone had taken a baseball bat, or golf club to the middle of her forehead.... She had a goose egg the size of a golf ball, literally....it was red and bruised looking... Ummmm....might I mention that Grace has hit her head a million times in her life and she has never had so much as the start of a goose egg! Luckily, since Kristin is a nurse now, she took a look and said she was fine....no concussion or permanent damage ensued....

Ok, back to the car ride: grace slept peacefully for about an hour and a half when suddenly she must have been awoken by Satan himself...We had to stop for gas in Lebanon and all hell broke loose. The crying started, and crying is kind of a mild word to describe what was going on in that car.... For the next 45 minutes, seriously, grace was out of her mind... thrashing around, screaming, probably foaming at the mouth.. who knows.... NOTHING would help, trust me, we tried everything....

My dad, who is patiently sitting in the front seat, driving the car, concludes that she must have a rare disease of the retina and that the setting sun is burning a hole right through her eyes.... Mom doesn't know what to think, and probably is secretly concluding that she has a laceration in her stomach or some type of internal injury.... and Poor JoJo (the great grandmother,) in the front seat is probably going back through her all her studies in health and nutrition at Vanderbilt 50 years ago to try and diagnose the problem. I just think that she is demon possessed....plain and simple, something else is inhabiting my child and taking over her body....
Dad then says this is the last time he'll ride in the car with Grace until she is 9, sans heavy sleeping medication... I am thinking the same thing....

The screaming and crying continued through the car switch and on to our house... where Chris has been home sick all day..... I take grace inside the house, kicking and screaming, hand her to Chris, without saying a word and leave the room...( I was thinking about leaving the state) I just needed some peace and quiet. She eventually calmed down and Chris played with her for a while and let me go to bed early. THANKS honey. Here are some pictures of our trip.

David, Grace and Rufus in their matching outfits, how cute!

Happy Baby...

Look how happy we were on the ride to Knoxville...!

The "Thoo"

Today we went to the zoo with our friends Mac and Emily. It was a BLAST! Grace liked the monkeys, they were really active...swinging on ropes, from trees, you name it... she didn't so much like the meerkats, the elephants were great, and the 'big cat' (cougar) was neat. All of the animals in Grace's mind say "ROAR" especially the zebras. She and Mac rode the Carousel which was fun. For some reason there were 50,000 people at the zoo today, so we didn't get to see everything and it was a little overwhelming, but we'll definitely go back... I'll just call and make sure that every dang school in Tennessee and the surrounding states WON'T be there. It was worth the trip though! Thanks Mac and Emily! Here are some pictures of our day!

Waiting for Macky

All ready to go!

We're in the elephant tent

Mac, Emily and Grace

Mama and Grace

It is apparently hilarious to put Slammy on your head...

SO Tired...

Let's just call it SCAT...

I find it funny and a little ironic that I am about to post this after such a 'spiritual' post. But I guess Jesus has a sense of humor also!

6:45am, that's when our day started. Anyone that knows me knows that I am not happy when that happens. Usually Grace likes to sleep until at LEAST 8:30-8:45, sometimes even 9am.... Not this morning..... GRRRR
We went to the park and ran a few errands. She started telling me she was tired at around 10am....Ummm, sorry child, you are not going to take your nap at 10 just because you got up early! So I kept her awake as long as possible. (mean, I know) We finally got back to the house around lunchtime.

She was all wet because she dumped juice all over herself in the car, nice. So I stripped her down naked and let her run around the house. We got out the potty and read the potty book. Not that she is really interested at all in the potty....just thought we'd try.

I was getting her lunch ready when I hear "poopoo potty mama!" I'm thinking, awesome, she wants to sit on the potty! So I run into the bathroom to get the potty... which took all of about 5 seconds....

I've learned that A LOT can happen in 5 seconds....

I am running around the corner with the potty, get to the door of the dining room, and before my eyes is the biggest, greenest TURD you've ever seen.... Not only that, there are little green turd footprints all over the floor. Grace is screaming and hopping around the floor because she HATES to be dirty or have anything on her feet...The turd footprints are multiplying by the millisecond.

I have to admit, it took me another couple of seconds after the first turd sighting to actually figure out what I was supposed to do.

Yep, all within 5 seconds.....Amazing...

Needless to say, grace's new phrase is: "Ewwww, Gaaacie poopoo floor"

Bet you're happy I didn't post a picture with this one! :)

One tiny cloud

I love reading stories of faith. The story of Elijah in 1 Kings really hit me today. Praying with complete and utter confidence is often a foreign concept to me. I long for the ability to pray like this. I would love to say that I am a person that prays and truly leaves my praise, thanksgiving, and requests at the feet of Jesus. I think I have a long way to go.
Elijah amazes me, here's the story:
James 5:16-18 (NLV) " The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for the next 3 1/2 years. Then he prayed for rain, and down it poured. The grass turned green and the crops began to grow again."

Ok, so Elijah had prayed to God that there would be no water falling on the land, no rain, no dew, nothing... and God honored his request. Three and a half years later, Elijah tells Ahab "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain." (1 kings 18:41) Elijah then goes to the top of Mount Carmel, puts his face to the ground and earnestly prays for rain. Here's the first thing that hit me: Elijah told Ahab that rain was coming even before he prayed for it.... He was that confident that the Lord would answer his prayer.

Elijah then told his servant to go and look out over the sea. The servant came back and had seen nothing. Probably clear, blue sky as far as he could see. Again, Elijah told him to go look out over the sea.... again, he reported back that he'd seen nothing... 6 times, the servant saw nothing....6 times!

This didn't discourage Elijah at all, he continued praying, earnestly and like the prayer had already been answered. I mean, I know that by the 2nd or 3rd time, I would have decided that God wasn't ready, maybe this wasn't his will, or maybe I'd misunderstood.... But Elijah was not phased, his faith did not fail...

The seventh time the servant looked out over the sea, he came back and reported: "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising over the sea." (1Kings 18:44) Imagine what that must have looked like. Elijah's servant is standing on top of a mountain looking over the sea.... a cloud the size of a man's hand! Seriously?! That must have looked like a speck from his point of view....

Elijah's response was this: "Go and tell Ahab, Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you." (1Kings 18:44b)

At that moment, Elijah knew that God had answered his prayer. He prayed without ceasing, he prayed earnestly until his prayer was answered, and he prayed with complete confidence that rain was coming no matter what the circumstances alluded to.

I can't imagine what the servant was thinking when Elijah responded this way... I would have thought he was crazy... a tiny speck of a cloud, and we needed to hurry so the rain wouldn't stop us from getting down the mountain?

How fitting that the cloud was described as being 'as small as a man's hand'.... ONE man's hand was lifted in earnest prayer, and it literally changed the fate of a nation. Crops would grow, people could drink, their lives were saved...

I want to be like Elijah...How can I pray like that? How can I have faith like that? Some days it seems impossible....So I will try to remember Elijah, one man's hand lifted in prayer, and the one tiny cloud...

Three little blondies all in a row...

Three little blondies all in a row...

Today we had a great morning. We met some of our friends Annie, Elizabeth, Mac and Emily at the Franklin library for story time. We also ran into some friends from church, which was FUN! After lots of stories and singing, we went to the park near the library for some fun in the sun. Emily, the best nanny in the whole world, is always prepared with snacks, toys, bubbles, and anything else the kids may want. So we are never lacking for things to do when Emily is near. We had a great time with "Macky and Lillabeth" (in grace's words...)

Like father like daughter...

Let's go play golfDaddy teaching grace to swing with 2 hands

Walking to the hole

HAPPY

Grace can hit it!

Having fun with daddy

Since Chris is playing in a golf tournament tomorrow, he had to come home and practice a few shots. Grace loves to go to the course with him. Tonight was no different. She had her own club and ball, and wanted to hit it. So she and daddy played together. It was the most fun. She's actually pretty talented, she is able to hit the ball and hold Slammy in the other hand.
That's more than I can say...I can barely hit the ball in general. It's a little embarrassing.
We are hoping daddy brings home some great prizes tomorrow...keep your fingers crossed.

PT and Lunch!

Well, today we went to physical therapy, and grace did really well. She loves the therapist, but usually doesn't like her during our sessions. But today we started off with a BANG, she ran up to Sandra and gave her a BIG hug... how sweet.

Anyways, we went to pick up a 2nd pair of special straight-last shoes and these were too small! The first pair, WAY to big and the second pair, WAY to small....what gives?... so we have to order another pair and have them ground down and made especially for her feet. Hopefully we'll have them in a week or so. (once we get them, I'll post pictures, they are cute)

Today we did a lot of video taping. We video grace's feet as she is doing things like squatting, standing, walking, running, walking across soft surfaces etc... The main reason for this is documentation. Sandra wants to see what she is doing before, during and after her special shoes, braces etc... whatever device we happen to be trying. We will see what is working best or if something actually may be detrimental to her gait.

Today she chased bubbles, 'played' connect-4, played with 'lowee' (lotion) and tried out about 5 different pairs of shoes. All in all, it was a great therapy session.

Grace is doing very well, her right foot still slightly turns inward basically just at the forefoot, not at the ankle. Her ankles seem to be stronger and they don't collapse hardly at all anymore, which is great. Hopefully the straight-last shoes will be just enough support to keep her foot from turning in.
(basically straight-last shoes don't have a left nor right)

After therapy we returned a couple of things and then met Izzy for lunch. What fun. Panera is always a good choice in my opinion, but Grace LOVES the black bean soup and 'dips' (baked lays). We sat outside under a 'brella' and enjoyed the nice spring day! We had the most fun, and it was very relaxing! It's amazing what a simple lunch with mom can do for your heart. Thanks Izze!

Grace is now sleeping soundly and I am enjoying the weather and some peace and quiet. Delicious!