Happy Hallowe'en from Supergirl and a duck

Seriously, have you ever seen such CUTENESS in your life?

I think not.

Happy Hallowe'en!

She likes to talk

Like any proud parent, the things my kid says tickle me to no end. So I'm going to share them with you. Because it's my blog and I can.

I make a farty in my diaper - Said with a smile.

When Poppa wakes up in the morning he makes a farty - Yes. Yes he does.

I snuggle my beek... awwwwww - A "beek" is her blanket.

I need big-girl help - Sigh... me too.

I wake-up a nap! - Translation, "I'm awake... come and get me!"

Naked baby, naked baby! - What can I say, the girl loves to take her clothes off and run around yelling this.

I love Seven, she my friend - Seven is our dog.

My hair is crazy - Tru dat, I have no clue where she gets her wild mane from.

We take avião to Costco! - Avião means airplane in Portuguese. Costco is what she would call San Francisco when she got excited.

I am freaking out! - She didn't really use it in the right context, but it was cute, nonetheless.

It's freaking cold out! - I have no idea who would teach her such language...

Seven so stinking cute! - What can I say, she loves that dog.

I love you too - Not so weird, except that she says it to you first, before you say I love you to her.

I can't find my Poppa - She says this to me pretty much every morning when I get her up. She's basically saying she's sad that Poppa isn't there too.

I almost tired - I still don't know what she means by this, but she uses the word "almost" in front of a verb. As in "I almost hungry", or "I almost scared".

Those girls hungry... need food - I had to include this one, even at the risk of embarrassing myself. Apparently, sometimes I feel the need to watch completely trashy TV. And sometimes, that comes in the form of America's Next Top Model. Although, seriously... it's more about the head-shaking, are-these-people-for-real, comic-relief of it all. Elise happened to wander into the room one night, and before I could change the channel, spied a gaggle of skeletor-like girls wearing bathing suits. And that was her comment. I have one freaking astute kid, don't I?

You wish you could dance like this

How to make Joanne cry

I am not what you would call an overly emotional person. I just don't cry a lot. It could be due to the fact that I don't have tear ducts (kidding), or that my heart is three sizes too small; I just don't know. I think that growing up a tomboy with two brothers and a general disdain for all things girly stunted the growth of the part of the brain that deals with emotions.

That's not to say I can't cry... I do for the big stuff. You know, like when my first-born child made her way into the world. I'm not sure who was wailing louder; me or Elise. I mean, I may be emotionally constipated, but I'm not dead inside.

But there is one thing that gets me every time. And that thing is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. I don't know what it is, but as soon as I hear that ukulele, the pathway to my emotional neurons fire up and the water works start. You can blame it on the rain, you can blame it on the stars.

But I blame it on the ER episode where Mark Greene died. A little part of me died that day too.

When Fred and I went to Kauai in '06, guess what song was playing on the radio when we started our rental car? My first thought was, "groan... how cliche". My second though was, "Oh, crap, where's my kleenex?"

I had to tell Fred I was crying from the sheer happiness I was feeling about NOT being in Dallas.

Our Kroger also has it in heavy rotation on their in-store muzak . When I hear the opening notes, I make a run for the freezer and stick my head in until the song is over. Because nobody wants to see a grown woman stumbling through the grocery store; weeping over the mangoes. Fred thinks I'm checking out all the expiration dates on the milk.

But at least I'm not raising an emotionally constipated daughter. The other day I was feeding Elise her dinner, and I had my IPod on in the background. Before I could stop it, THAT song came on (yes... I downloaded it, but never listen to it. I'm saving it for when I get my big break in Hollywood and I have to do a crying scene).

So, of course the tears start and as I"m trying to stifle my sobs, Elise reaches up, gently pats my cheek and says, "awwww, Mãe sad."

Then she reaches up her arms, and asks, "ug?" (hug)

So what if I am dead inside? I have the sweetest daughter. EVER.

Elise-isms... this girl makes me laugh

We have a walking, talking, little girl on our hands, and she is a source of endless entertainment. I swear, you can't make up some of the stuff that comes out of her mouth. Here are just a few gems:

- I was singing the Eagles "Takin' it Easy" to her the other day while feeding her breakfast (not sure why; I'm not a huge Eagles fan, I just had it in my head for some reason), and when I got to the "oh oh oh oh we got it easy" part, she starts imitating my ohh, ohhs. And then she says, "train!" Apparently my singing sounds like a train whistle.

- When we would ask her what her name is, for some reason she would reply, "Anne... baby Anne." No idea why, but she's finally figured out her name is Elise.

- If I lie down, just for a second when I'm around her, she starts making snoring noises.

- She calls blackberries (the fruit, not the phone), "black-a-bees". Not particularly funny, but cute, nonetheless.

- She laughs when she farts and then says, "co-co" (Portuguese for poo). That's my girl!

- She pointed at my knee the other day and said, "elbow". Now, she knows what a knee is, and what an elbow is; plus she was laughing when she said it, so I think it was some sort of joke. I think she was calling me fat somehow.

- The other day I was in the kitchen making dinner when she announced she had made a "co-co". When I heard the portable changing pad being unfolded, I thought Fred was taking care of it. When I heard him laughing, I went into the other room and saw that she had taken the changing pad off the shelf, unfolded it and was laying down ready for us to take care of her business! I guess we're too slow!

- When she sees sports on TV, she yells, "go, go team!"

- I was shopping at Target the other day, and I had pulled a shirt off the shelf and was looking at it. Elise started yelling at the top of her lungs, "shirt, shirt, shirt!" Except when she says shirt, she doesn't pronounce the "R". So now it sounds like I have a little girl yelling expletives. Every time she saw a shirt, she would yell the word. Needless to say, I got out of the clothing department very quickly.

In retrospect, I'm sure those aren't interesting to anybody except those related to Elise by blood, but I had to get them down for posterity's sake.

Talk about completely missing the point

Elise has never really taken a pacifier. Oh, we tried at first, mostly in an attempt to get her to stop crying. But she let us know very quickly (and loudly) that we could not shut her up so easily. So all pacifiers were put away, except, it seems, this one. I'm still not sure where she found it (and if I should be concerned about where it's been), but she came out of her room today quite pleased with herself.


If you can't tell by this picture, she has the pacifier in backwards. So close, Elise. And yet... so far away.

Say it With Me...

Awwwwwwwww!

Yeah, She's Pretty Cute

I was laying in bed this morning, listening to Elise chattering away to herself in her crib. It was just about 8:00, so I thought I'd leave her since she sounded quite content. All is quiet for a few seconds, and then I hear VERY clearly, "Hello! Mãe!" (Mom in Portuguese)

And then, "Mãe? Mãe! Mãe! Mãe!" It was just so adorable I had to leap out of bed to go see her. What a great way to wake up in the morning.

By the way, she's feeling much better... hasn't had a fever in a few days and just has a bit of a runny nose and some congestion. We are well acquainted with the nose sucker these days!