How To Be An Effective Two-Year Old

1. Constantly try out how you feel about things. After repeating several times that you like strawberries, adamantly insist that you don't like strawberries.

2. Always be thirsty. If mommy is seated, ask her repeatedly for something to drink. When she gets up to make a drink for you, make sure you stand at her feet and whine until handed the drink. When she gives you your sippy cup, drop it in the floor and exclaim, "Me don't like _____ (insert beverage name here)." Wait until mommy sits down. Repeat.

3. Any parental request should be met with the reply, "Me don't want to," or "My tummy hurts me."

4. Always ask the busiest parent for attention. If mommy is cooking supper and daddy is watching t.v., demand that mommy drop whatever she is doing to help you.

5. Try out new flavors. If you are given an open cup ("big girl cup") at dinner, find out how pork chops taste when dipped in grape cool aid. Insist that you have butter or ketchup on everything.

6. Immediately tear apart any item of artwork that is glued, especially if your sister made it.

7. Be outrageously cute and extremely active at any function involving grandparents, aunts & uncles or other related adults. Refuse to recite or sing any previously learned material at such events.

8. Never trust Mommy & Daddy to give you a straight answer. If they tell you "no," or "wait," or "the popsicles have to freeze before you can have one," continue to ask repeatedly.

9. If Daddy is sick and trying to rest, go bounce on his bed until he feels better.

10. Be extremely cute at all times, especially when you are asleep.

Snapshot

Have you ever been somewhere, riding in the car, swimming, taking a walk, etc., and wished that right at that moment you could have your computer with you because it was right then that the perfect blog post came to mind? That happened to me about 5 times over the weekend.

I know I should post more often, but most of the time the problem is that I have too much to say and not that I'm suffering from a lack of things to say. I strive to make my posts somewhat coherent and I'm afraid lately if I wrote everyday, none of it would be.

But let's talk a little bit.

Last Friday night my mom & dad kept the kids for Lewis and I to have some alone time. We ended up going to one of the restaurants we used to frequent before we had kids. It was nice. Then we headed for Blockbuster, where we rented some movies and went home to sleep through them. Not a bad way to spend an evening.

Lewis helped my dad work on the carport he's building all day Saturday. He was sunburned and extremely tired when they stopped working. We came home to swim in the pool and enjoy a late supper.

During the night, Marley got sick. She threw up three or four times. I hate it when she's sick. I feel totally helpless. She got a lot better by mid-day Sunday though. We decided that we would take the kids to see Cars at the theater. Marley had been wanting her PaPaw to go with her to the movies, so we called him. Lewis claims that by talking his dad into going to a movie, Marley really accomplished something. My father-in-law is the biggest homebody you've ever seen. He never goes anywhere. To add to all that, he's a huge racing fan, so you know where he usually is on Sunday afternoon. But I guess granddaughters are more important than watching Jeff Gordon wreck. It's amazing what kind of leverage a three year old can sometimes have.

Riding in the car on the way to the movie, I was thinking how great it would be to be able to record that moment in my life and play it back for you here. It was not an extraordinary moment, but it was beautiful in a way. The girls were happy and excited. Lewis and I were enjoying the feeling you get when you are doing something special for your kids and happy with each other. It was just a good feeling and I wanted to share it.

So, sometimes if what I write seems ordinary, I just wanted you to know, I'm not doing this to change the world. I just want others to see all the wonderful things I see in my own life. The beauty, if you will, of just being a wife and mom and sister and daughter--the joy of leading an ordinary life.