I Swear…

Far too much apparently.  We’re pretty much over the yucks, but now we have Olympic Fever, so I’m still kind of lacking in the whole motivation to blog department, but this happened last night so I figured I would share.

Soapfi is in the midst of another round of “I can do it”, this time with the added caveat of “all myself”. So it has generated many a frustrating moment for her. Last night she was attempting to put the plastic shoes back on her Calliou doll and was having a rough go of it – they aren’t super hard plastic, but they are still a pain in the azz even for Mommy & Daddy to get on and off his feet, which are the size of the great white north.

After about 90 seconds of frustration she hurls the shoes and the doll across the room, mutters FUDGE (only just like in The Christmas Story she didn’t really say fudge, but instead let slip the mother of all swear words), and buries her head in the carpet and begins to cry.

Of course I’m one of those uncouth parents caught between laughing hysterically because at 2.25 years old she is already only swearing at situationally appropriate times, and with a great deal of panache, being mortified because she might do this in public and it will reflect badly on me & Daddy, and then being indignant that people get so riled up about words they have made taboo because sometimes you just need a good bout of swearing to let it all out.

In the end we let it go without comment, dealt with the frustration and the shoes, and are desperately trying to watch our own potty mouths.

The Yucks

Our household has got ’em.

On the bright side, at least this time it’s just a garden variety viral infection of the throat and hasn’t gone straight to poor Soapfi’s ears like it has in the past.

But we’re all still sick & miserable, and since all the grossness that goes along with the yucks is adequately self descriptive I’ll leave the details to your own imagination, upholding my promise never to go overboard with the sharing of bodily functions etc.

Hopefully I’ll have the energy and motivation to post a cheerful pic tomorrow, and I’ll see you all on the flip side, crossing my fingers for the end of the week!

Giddy-up!

As Soapfi continues to grow, she inches up on those minimum height requirement charts and more fun activities are open to her when we go places. We were delighted to find out she was big enough to go on her very first pony ride while we were at the Skagit Valley Highland Games. It was the best $4 we had spent all day – she was ecstatic.

We had been concerned it would turn into one of those things that sounded better in concept than in execution. That she would be excited right up until she actually got on the pony, and then it would morph into one of her “it’s scary” episodes. But she remained enthusiastic the entire time, from waiting in line for her turn, clear up until it was time to wave goodbye to the pony.

Early on she was concentrating fiercely on keeping her grip on the saddle horn, but by the fourth or fifth time around she was feeling brave enough to practice her parade wave!

The only downside to the experience has been for Mommy, as I am now the de facto pony around the house, and she likes to go for rides… a lot!

Knights That Go Tee-hee-hee

The Kingdom of An Tir had best watch out – I present future SCA Baroness of Aquaterra – Mz Soapfi!

Over the weekend on our way home from the sprint car races (Which apparently made a bigger positive impression that we realized (or thought possible considering the bump to her noggin). We have been told that all Soapfi wanted to talk about Monday at playschool was getting to see the cars go fast – this conversation was accompanied by visual and sound effects that included (but was not limited to) running in circles really fast and making “vroom vroom” sounds.) we stopped off at the Skagit Valley Highland Games for all of ninety minutes.

The original plan was to keep our five year streak of getting T-shirts unbroken, and for Daddy to get his haggis fix. Lucky for us, it morphed into watching Soapfi have a blast being a kid, starting with the tried and true game of “dress up and pretend”.

It was a hard fought battle, but in the end neither the grass nor Daddy could defeat the mighty arm of Mz Soapfi!

Wordless Wednesday by Art of Subtlety – Smile Big

Crash and Burn

Things looked promising when we arrived. Soapfi was delighted to see her good pal Penzilla again, and seemed to be quasi interested in the actual races. She wasn’t as bothered by the noise as we had anticipated so the ear protection didn’t stay on her head all that long. It appeared that fun would be had by all……

Then there was a crash & burn in turn three – only a few races into the evening and poor Soapfi fell trying to sit on one of the benches in the stands and smacked the back of her head against it – all bets were off trying to calm her down. No permanent damage or blood, but not exactly the outing we’d hoped for.

Daddy & Soapfi headed back to the hotel pretty soon after the fall, and not wanting to completely waste our entry fee, Daddy was kind enough to suggest that I stay and catch a ride back to the hotel with Penzilla & family. We stayed for a few more races, a few black flags (which is apparently a big deal – I can’t say I’m all that up to date on my dirt track racing rules and regulations!), and one crash that completely tore off the top foil and sent the crash cage azz over tea kettle across turn one.

We also left before the end of the races, which enabled us to have some fun trying to extricate our car from the parking lot.  The raceway parks everybody four deep in the middle of a field so if you’re not lucky enough to park at the beginning or end of the line (which was the case for Daddy & Soapfi), you have to be a bit creative if you want to leave early.

Thankfully the folk who go to these races on a regular basis appear to be of the trusting sort.  The car between us and the exit roadway had been left unlocked, allowing us to jump in, release the parking brake, push them back out of the way, get our car out, and then push them back into place – so thank you whomever you are, because the four of us really didn’t want to have to lift and carry your car out of the way, even if it was a small sporty thing!

On the upside – we stopped by the Skagit Valley Highland Games on the way home the next day and had some fun that made up for everything , but more about that tomorrow!

Feeling Robotic

Eight down, still three to go (for now). I’m in full out Robot Hat making mode! Toddler size, adult size, heck I even knitted a newborn sized one – I was worried it would be too small since it fit Soapfi’s Calliou doll so well, but the people who bought it loved it, so yeah me!

Overhauled my listings to make it easier for people to choose the size they want – apparently I had way to much faith in people following the directions and I need to force them to tell me how big to make their hat.  I had originally just done the one listing to save on the listing fee, but the extra buck twenty to put up six extra listings will pay for itself 10 times over in not having to worry that people who are ignoring my (MULTIPLE) emails about what size they need will give me crappy feedback for taking too long to make and ship their hats! (Again with me and my first world problems!)

Looking forward to the weekend – Soapfi & I will be helping Gramma with her garage sale, then we’re going up to the Skagit Speedway for “Rolling Thunder Big Rigs, Sportsman Sprint Showdown And Outlaw Hornets“. It will be interesting to see if Soapfi gets into it or finds it too loud and scary.  If nothing else we’ll probably manage to at least get a picture of her in big azz headphone/earmuff/hearing protector “thingies”!

In the mean time, you know you want one of these sweet adult robot hats!

Wordless Wednesday by Art of Subtlety – Raspberry & Chives

How We Roll

Last night Soapfi unrolled the wall hanging I had won at Nerdtacular – it was a Scott Johnson comic of Captain America sitting on the Hulk’s shoulders. She gave Captain America a hug and asked what the picture was, so I started explaining about cartoons and comics and that you could get them at comic book stores.

Soapfi began asking to go for a car ride to the comic book shop.  Luckily our local shop was only 10 blocks away and open for another half hour, so we went for a quick trip.  She picked out two comics – Peanuts (can’t argue with a classic!) and Sleepy Time Crime from DC Super Pets which is specifically for the shorties. She had fun looking at all the toys and games in the shop too.  She got VERY excited about Spiderman and went “oooohhh dragon” when she saw a Darth Maul bust figurine.

She was ecstatic when she saw the Zombie Dice game and carried it all over the store – I like to think it was the red, yellow, and green dice that got her excited and not the zombie on the cup!!

Our only hiccup was when mommy put her foot down that we didn’t need yet another stuffed animal, although she looked super cute giving plushie green lantern the squeeze hug of death!

By the end of the trip we managed to leave with two books and a dice game. She “read” the Peanuts book on the way home, and couldn’t wait to “play” Zombie dice – Soapfi rules as follows:

1. Shake the cup up really well
2. Fling dice all over the floor
3. Carry them around in your shirt
4. Line dice up and count them
5. Re-arrange them by color
6. Stack them in the cup lid
7. Bake in play kitchen oven

Then repeat #4 through #6 indefinitely – or until something else shiny becomes distracting!

The Gatekeeper

Still crocheting like a mad woman, but feeling much more caught up, only two hats to go, but I have to wait for purchasers to get back to me on what size they want, so at least I have a slight respite – so I’m using the time to make some more progress on my proof of concept World of Warcraft shadow knit Thrall baby blanket (but what I really want to do is try my hand at Entrelac knitting!).

But the best part – Soapfi is home!!!  And she was happy to see me and gave me some of the best & biggest hugs ever. We spent Sunday playing out in the yard where she decided that dirt really needs to be swept, and that brooms make excellent gates.

She wanted to play gatekeeper for what seemed like hours, shouting “No Daddy, you stay there” and then changing her mind and demanding he come inside as she lifted up the broom for him.

Half a tube of sunscreen later we had spent a wonderful day outside and managed to even do a little weeding and yard maintenance – although Soapfi did think the lawn mower was much too loud and scary – of course I think it was just a ploy to get to ride on Mommy’s shoulders which is her second most favorite thing to do behind OMG SWINGS!

It’s wonderful to have them home safe!