Kiss My Grits!

Kiss My Grits!!

Move over duck egg congee, Molly prefers grits! She is now a southerner!

Yesterday, while taking a break from pushing Molly in a box around the house and making vroom vroom noises (while she squealed in delight), I made grits for Molly. She ate the whole bowl! I think she devoured it even faster than the duck egg congee that she loved while we were in China and that I have not given her since (after all, where would I find duck eggs!)

Molly had a good weekend and had her 1st sleepover with her friend, Jordan. I picked up Jordan at daycare, after picking up Molly and took them both to my house. We had pizza – great slumber party food and I got both girls to bed by 8:30pm. Pretty proud of myself for that accomplishment! The next morning my friend, Jacie, stopped by to help me play with the girls. Jordan was a little weary of Jacie because Jacie committed the terrible sin of trying to wipe her face! Heaven forbid, the face wipe! But she soon warmed up and both girls enjoyed Jacie’s visit – as did I, since it was nice to have the much appreciated help (with 2 toddlers going in different directions). Jacie and her husband are waiting for their baby from China and it is so wonderful to see them play with Molly. They will be great parents! After naps (2 ½ hours – again, proud of that accomplishment), the girls played in Molly’s room for awhile. Jordan wanted to wear Molly’s shoes. Then Molly saw Jordan in shoes and needed a pair. I put Molly in a pair of squeaky shoes. Well, Jordan decided the first shoes weren’t good enough and insisted on a pair of squeaky shoes too! Then both girls enjoyed running around the house squeaky very loudly. They seemed to be playing some kind of follow the leader game – one falls, the other falls, one runs, the other runs, etc. Jordan’s mom came at about 6:30 and I think Molly was quite upset that she wasn’t going home with them. The next morning, Molly wanted to go into “Jordan’s room” to wake her up. She looked quite upset when Jordan wasn’t sleeping in there!

Poor little Scout, my younger cat, did not enjoy Jordan’s visit as much as Molly and I did. After not peeing on my carpet for 2 months (thank you Xanax), the stress of another baby was too much for Scout and I was greeted with a nice puddle on the carpet. I’ve upped her Xanax and will remember to up it again BEFORE bringing another baby in the house. Scout should calm down once she realizes that Jordan is not staying anymore. I guess I will keep it a secret that I am considering adopting a second – that might push Scout over the edge!

Pictures: 1st one is Molly and Jordan having breakfast – it was difficult to get them both seated! 2nd one I call monkey see (Jordan laid back first) the 3rd one I call monkey do (Molly had to copy)

Nature vs Nurture

Is Molly a product of Nature or Nurture? The answer – both!

Nature (born that way)

Tall – she is in the 92% for height, I’m probably in the 10% (if I stand on my tippy toes)
Stubborn – must be hereditary because I’m not stubborn and I’ll argue with anyone who says I am!
Smart – way smarter than I am, she actually sang “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” the other day and I could clearly understand each word. Floored me while I was walking around Walmart to my 19 month old girl singing!
Love of Barney – not sure where this came from, I never loved a giant purple dinosaur!
Flirt! I am a flirting disaster, but Molly is so good at it! She walks up to men and just stands there smiling at them until they pay attention and tell her how cute she is. Then she giggles and walks away…

Nurture (influenced by me or her environment)
Shoe obsession – she loves shoes: her own, mine, strangers, etc. - doesn’t matter, if there is a shoe in sight she wants it! Sound familiar?
Likes to be center of attention. If you are not paying attention to her, she will find a way to draw attention – usually uses cuteness, but has been known to yell loudly! Fortunately, her cuteness works; mine, well, not so much anymore.
Love of cats – she loves her kitties who despise her. Fortunately, she has found a friend in Andy, my friends Jacie and Brian’s big beautiful black cat. If Andy is every missing, Jacie and Brian, look to see if Molly has him hidden under her shirt and is trying to steal him!
Fascination with The Wiggles – I think Australian men are hot too!
Milk fiend – I love milk, especially with chocolate. Molly loves milk too – her first word, after Barney or The Wiggles, when we get home each afternoon is “milk.” She then takes my arm drags me to the kitchen points at the refrigerator, the walks over and tries to open it (groaning loudly for effect) and says “milk.” When she is 2/3 finished with her milk, she begins the process of getting more milk by bringing me the sippy cup, pointing to the kitchen and demanding “milk.” If I don’t get up immediately, the begins to tug on my arm, clothing, hair, etc to make me get up!

About the picture above. One was taken about a minute before the other. The first one I call “You Are Getting Very Sleepy…” and the second I call “Out For The Count.”

Bangs or No Bangs

Molly refuses to let me put her hair up in ponytail holders or barrettes! So about 2 months ago, I had to cut her hair and give her bangs, but I really want to grow out the bangs. Yes, I know we are in the midst of a war and my big dilemma is her bangs (very petty in comparison, I know), but she is the center of my world! Well her hair has grown again and needs to be cut or I need to fight her on the bang issue. Every once in awhile I win the battle and get ponytails in her hair (then I have to take a ton of pictures to commemorate the moment – see example above!) I guess it will be bangs for awhile longer – I’m learning to pick my battles! I don’t win them all anymore.

More news, Barney has invaded my home. A couple of months ago, Molly was not the least bit interested in Barney, now he kicks Elmo’s butt! Her first word every morning is not “mommy” (although I do get a great big smile) – it’s Barney! She is obsessed with the giant purple dinosaur! But, in the car though, The Wiggles rule! As soon as we get in the car, she begins “The Wiggles Chant” – whereby she chants “webbles, webbles” over and over again. Heaven forbid we listen to something other than The Wiggles - then all I hear is whinning! I’m convinced we have heard The Wiggles so many times that Molly is going to develop an Australian accent! The Wiggles are coming to Dallas this month and I couldn’t get tickets (except in the nosebleed section). I’m actually very disappointed – it’s a good thing that Molly is not old enough to know her Mommy messed up and didn’t look for tickets soon enough!

Finally, Molly had me in stitches tonight! She already knew how to spin around in a circle, but tonight she discovered how to spin and spin and spin around – to the point of getting dizzy and falling over. She thought that was hysterical! She watched The Wiggles Live DVD and every time they played a song she liked (she likes ALL the songs), she spun around and around. Occasionally she would put her hands and head on the ground, signaling that she was ready to do a somersault - my signal to run over and help her before she attempted it on her own! I spent the evening trying to make sure she didn’t fall into something and hurt herself. Then she discovered that she could walk backwards. She started in the family room and walked backwards through the kitchen and into the dining room. Then she ran forwards and threw herself into my arms. Again, laughing hysterically. She sure does amuse herself!!

I also included a picture of the poor tormented cats. They were able to catch a quick snooze together before Hurricane Molly entered the room! Peajoe is the orange tabby and Scout is the grey tabby. Poor Peajoe is getting his teeth cleaned tomorrow. I’ll be a worried cat mom until it is all over!

1st Molly pictures

Since it took me 9 months to figure out how to post pictures on this blog, I thought I would take you back to the original photos I saw of Molly. The top on is her little passport size photo - this is the first picture I saw of Molly! She didn't look Chinese to me, she looked like my brother! The 2nd picture I received about 2 weeks after the referral - she was about 7 months old in the second photo. I received 4 updated photos of her - she looked like a little boy and absolutely huge in one of the photos, but I thought she was beautiful!