Finally official...

Ok, since she's finally announced it, I feel safe echoing that my sister, Nancy, is prego! After some struggles and sadness, she and Will are gonna be parents! They're due on my birthday (that's March 31st, in case you want to send me a present later!). :)

She's through her first trimester now, which makes us all very happy!!! And if you want to see a bunch of cute pictures of her little peanut, check out Nancy's blog here.

Congratulations, Nancy and Will!!!

Be sure to fill Hannah in on the news. She will be SOOOO excited! Especially since I keep refusing to have a baby sister for her to play with. Perhaps we need to review the process... First, I need to meet a guy...

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...

Look what happened at school today.

Check out the new grill!

I'm growing up!!! Yay!!!

(And Mommy is panicking just a little... It all starts with losing the front teeth. Training bras and "the facts of life" can't be far behind... Egad!)

More Hannahisms

Ok - The other night, during a mutual bout with insomnia, I vetoed the Disney channel in favor of the Discovery channel. So I was watching a show about dinosaurs - I think it was the Dinosaur Mummy show (really cool, by the way!). In an effort to assuage any potential fears about dinosaurs, I reminded Hannah that the video of dinosaurs was just a drawing, because dinosaurs are extinct now. She replied (rather quickly), "Oh I know. Because of all that rain."

Me (stifling a laugh and a smile): What rain?
Hannah (matter-of-factly): All that rain. It turned into mud.
Me: (stunned pause - Where is she getting this from???)
Hannah: It flooded and so they all drowned.
Me: (still paused)
Hannah: Plus, it was just time for the dinosaurs to die. People were coming alive (later specified by Hannah as "getting born by Heavenly Father & Jesus"), and they didn't want the dinosaurs around. [insert an implied "you know..."] ... so the babies could live.
Me: (waking from my proud stupor, and reaching for a pen and paper to document this moment) Oh. Well that's good they weren't there anymore then.
Hannah: Yep.

Later, still in the throws of this recent insomnia (did I mention that I need a massage???), we watched a second dinosaur show (Dinosaurs: Return to Life - watch a portion here) about the possibility of cloning dinosaurs through the genetic manipulation of chicken eggs, etc. Part of this show also included more CGI videos of "typical" dinosaur life (since we were there and know what that was like, obviously). One such video depicted 2 or 3 dinosaurs as scavengers, eating a larger dead dino. Again I explained that these videos were basically drawings of what we think it was like during the time of the dinosaurs. After watching for a moment Hannah asked, "Why are they eating the blood of each other?"

Me (trying to make scavenging sound less horrible): They're just eating the meat. Because they're hungry... It's just meat.
Hannah (after a second to ponder that): Wait! Am I made of meat?
Me: Yes. We all are.
Hannah (decidedly): Well I hope they don't make the dinosaurs again then.

True. Who doesn't remember Jurassic Park? That didn't exactly end well, now did it...

Hannah-isms

"Big-year-old" - I think this is anyone over the age of 5, but not quite a grown-up.
Usage: "Babysitting a big-year-old is a lot different than watching a baby." (see below)

Another awesome Hannah statement came about last night. The good ones seem to happen when Hannah should be sleeping, but isn't. So, again, Hannah was having trouble sleeping, this time due to some anxiety about something that happened several months ago. We were talking through it (again) and I must have said something about learning more as we get older, because Hannah's much more memorable response was, "But I'm 6 now. I don't need to learn anything else. (sniffing and wiping more tears) I already know about digits and consonants and vowels..." I tried to control my expression, and confessed that I'm 30 and I still have tons to learn. She whirled to look at me, mouth agape, with purely innocent shock and unbelief on her face. It was adorable! I did my best not to laugh out loud, but I fell a bit short of the mark. So I proceeded to teach her the Socratic truth (or was it Aristotle?) that the more we learn, the more we realize how much we don't know yet. I'm pretty sure she got it.

Then, this morning Hannah started talking about Auntie Nancy, quite out of the blue. Let me preface this moment by saying that Auntie Nancy watches Hannah on Tuesdays while I go to class. Not always a happy day for Hannah, because Mommy is gone till after bedtime, so I told Hannah several weeks ago that one of the reasons why Nancy likes watching her is that it's good practice for whenever Nancy and Will have kids of their own. So this morning, while we're driving to daycare, Hannah says, "You know, Mommy... if Nancy wants to babysit, then she should find someone that needs to be watched every day. Because it's really different than watching a kid just one day. Cuz if she has her own kids then she'll have to have control every day, not just on Tuesdays. Plus, watching a big-year-old is different than having a little baby. And when she has kids, they'll be babies at first. Well, I guess she gets to watch babies sometimes, too... but maybe she should find a baby that she can watch every day...." These are the times when I sit back, don't comment, and just listen to her pontificate. It's generally quite interesting, albeit longwinded. Luckily we pulled up to her daycare just a few minutes later, so the "discussion" had to be cut short. I said something like, "I'm sure Nancy will do just fine, but that's nice that you're thinking of her." Something to indicate that I'd been listening and to show my encouragement for compassionate concern, and then promptly end the conversation so that she can go to her classroom and I can head to work.

Good times... and enlightening, as always.

Word of the day

Anuptaphobia: Fear of staying single.

Not a debilitating fear, but it's there... in the background. I'm fairly certain that I do not suffer alone, though, so that's comforting.

A precious moment

Tonight, while she was filling up her water bottle (when she should have been sleeping still), Hannah called to me and said quite matter-of-factly, "Mommy, you're pretty."

I replied with a sincere thank you.

She went on, "I mean, even just in your garmies... you're beautiful."
(Not true, but a sweet sentiment, and appreciated nonetheless.)

I said, "Well, thank you, sweetie."

Then she added, "Technically, it's because you're wearing your face."



No response. Just a smile and a warm fuzzy... Sometimes I'm not sure that I deserve her. I might be the luckiest Mom ever! :)