three and a half

Julia came home with a paper on Friday that listed "All About Me" ... here are her answers as recorded then.
My favorite food: chicken and carrots
My pets: no
My favorite color: pink
My hobby: Playing with my baby dolls
My birthday: caterpillar day

Here are a few more I asked her today.
Favorite tv show: Octonauts
Favorite fruit: watermelon
Favorite sandwich: peanut butter and jelly
Favorite book: Elmo Loves You
Favorite night night toy: bunny
Favorite song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
Favorite blessing: The Appleseed
Favorite dessert: popsicles

quotable quotes

"The monster is tinkling!" while the dishwasher runs.
"Daddy is holding onto his coffee cup so it doesn't spill, so the ants don't walk in it and get their feet sticky."
"Sometimes lima beans are slippery."
"Here I am toys!!! I'm ready to play with you!" upon returning home from school, the moment she got in the door.
"I bet Buzz (lightyear) is too grownup for the baby hospital... he is at his office."
And.... after finding my knitting in her ball pit and asking,"Julia, where is my knitting needle?"- "in Daddy's pocket." - totally unbeknownst to him. 
And... in response to my question, "Are you talking silly?"... "No, I'm talking English."

And one from me- "Listening to Peter's Larry the cable guy imitation while he reads a Cars book to Julia like he is Mater, that is worth the price of admission."

growing up

Julia is growing up on us more and more everyday.  Our latest thing is giving up the pacifier.  I know it is way past the time we should have done that, but we just couldn't bear even thinking about doing it with moving in the last two years.  We talked about it for awhile, and finally told her about the beach fairy, who would give us a trip to the beach if she stopped using the pacifier.  So finally we decided the big day had arrived, and she was a trooper the first night.  She had the most pitiful look on her face after she put the pacis in the shoebox to leave for the beach fairy.  Her little chin trembled, but she didn't take them back out.  We rocked her to sleep, and she slept all night.  The next night was a little harder, but not bad at all really.  Afternoons have been really hard - with cranky pants for sure, but today she actually ended up asleep. 
Lois, the beach fairy, left Julia a cute note with pictures of the house where we will stay, and a calendar to count down the days until we leave.  Last night, she also left another note for Julia turning in another paci she had found, and a surprise, a kite from Mommy and Daddy to use at the beach.

A little more about three-year-old Julia.  She enjoys helping make her peanut butter and jelly sandwich for school.  Pears are her favorite fruit - she usually has some for lunch.  She still calls m&m's, 'inna-mens.'  She is 36 1/4" tall (45th percentile) and weighs 32 pounds (75th percentile).  She has been potty-trained since just before school started for her in August.  She loves pink, "I luuuuuuu-huve pink!"  She has been begging to go to the beach since before Christmas.  She likes to sing and make up words.  She loves to read all the time, especially her Disney Pixar books and Five Little Monkey books. She is opinionated and not afraid to get upset about it and show it, but really does not like it when Mommy or Daddy get upset or sad (Daddy, can you be happy now?  Mommy, I'll get this and you will not be upset?).  Her hair is losing some of its curls everytime we have it cut.   She still enjoys lots of pretend, especially relating to the baby dolls.  She is also learning a lot about letter sounds.  "T starts with tape. Tuh! Tuh!  B starts with boat! Buh!"She loves going to school and church and playing in the 'Sunday School' on Sunday and Wednesday nights. She loves playing with her friends, especially Charlotte and Patrick.

Santa's Village

We had a great time visiting Santa's Village in Huntsville with Grammie and Poppy again this year.  When I told Julia we were going just before we left Birmningham, I was listing off the things we had done there last year, like see the elves' toy workshop and dancing with the the penguins and snowman.  She said, "and I can go see the candy cane garden!"  I did not remember any candy cane garden, but of course, when we got to Santa's Village, there was one.  She remembered it over a year later, even though I don't have any pictures of it from last year for her to have seen since then, and we haven't talked about it at all.

She enjoyed the mascot-type characters - this year we saw a soldier bear, a gingerbread boy, a snowman, and a penguin - but she would not touch them.  We wrote a letter to Santa that she gave to an elf to deliver to Santa, and we listened to a story read by Mrs. Claus.  Julia like her, so we got a picture of Julia with Mrs. Claus instead of waiting out the line for Santa, who Julia proclaimed herself to be scared of at the first mention of visiting Santa's Village.  We also visited the toy workshop and decorated a wreath ornament, went to the kitchen to decorate a gingerbread cookie, looked at the elves' areas including their wrapping centers and toy train, and saw real reindeer, some funny snow, and the candy cane gardens.

The only bad part was not having spare batteries for the camera!
(Thank goodness we got the following pictures from Peter's phone)

 

 

 

 

 

stellar memory

This afternoon, when reading a Christmas book featuring the Disney cartoon Little Einsteins, Julia saw an ad in the back for other books and wanted me to tell her the titles. The one she most wanted to know about was "Galactic Goodnight." She said, "what is 'galactic'?" I said, "It's a word for galaxy, it's an adjective for galaxy. Do you remember what a galaxy is?" She said, "yeah," stuck her pointer finger up in the air, and told me "it's a group of stars." I just stared at her, and then said, "yep, you're right."

That's right. My two-year-old can give you a definition of the word 'galaxy.' You rock, Julia. Like one of the inner planets, not one of the gaseous outer ones.

Giggles

Julia's idea for 'up-cycling' the Happy Meal box.

Some things Julia says that make us giggle, that we know we won't hear much longer.
- bideo (instead of 'video')
- upside up and upside down
- fwheelies
- fings (instead of 'things')
- wake up me, Mommy (as she pretends to sleep and wants a kiss, like Daddy taught her as the way to wake up a princess)
- I am the Lord's army (instead of 'I'm in the Lord's army')
- My tongue is cold. See? (while eating ice cream)
- cheer for me Mommy and Daddy. Louder and louder!
- it's just my sizes!
- calling us and expecting us to call her not only train names (Thomas, Hiro, Spencer), but fairy tale names (Princess, Dragon, Knight) and Toy Story names (Buzz, Woody, Space Alien, Jessie)

Planets

Julia has learned the names of all the planets in our solar system. My favorite is hearing her say Saturn (Saturin). I think she would tell you her favorite is Mars, because that is where Goofy goes and where you find 'Martian Mickey' on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. This placemat is behind the times, and includes the "exo-planet" Pluto. We are glad most of the books we have don't have this issue.

what we sing at OUR church

Repetition, as they say, is the mother of learning, so it shouldn't be all that surprising when Julia starts rattling off church liturgy. Still, it's pretty funny. Particularly as she sports her Bama shirt, which would make her pastor Reid very proud. Maybe one day she'll stop being intimidated by how tall he is and finally tell him Roll Tide.

In raising a future church nerd, we've had various amusing incidents. Apparently, mom got to sing "the glory be song" throughout one afternoon while babysitting Julia, as well as throughout a lunch at McDonalds. Julia very plainly informed Nana that "we sing this at my church.

We also have a pretty good arsenal of blessings for meals - "the Appleseed song," Superman, and "God is Great," as well as occasionally breaking out the doxology. Julia will occasionally decide that when we start to pray at night, we should pray for some food, too. She particularly likes God is Great at that point.

In one amusing incident, apparently Julia decided mid-meal last week at Nana and Pa's that Pa had not sufficiently blessed the food. She made everyone hold hands again for another prayer. Yes, you read that right - Julia made a meal at the von Herrmann house come to a stop. Guess that's the power of the granddaughter.

Julia really loves Sunday School, which makes our lives a lot easier on Sundays. Having a room with a space theme certainly doesn't hurt, as our space-obsessed daughter enjoys identifying the planets and confusing her teachers, who wonder how a two and a half year old girl knows the difference between Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn.

Maw Maw memories

Julia, I hope you remember how much Maw Maw loved you. She was always happy to get to see you. Any other time, she was saying, "boy, I wished I could see that little booger!" She loved watching you grow and learn. When you were a baby and we lived in Cullman, lots of Wednesdays we had girls lunches with Grammy and Maw Maw at Cracker Barrel. It's really no wonder it's one of your favorite places to go and you know their logo at 2 1/2. You enjoyed going to Maw Maw's house and seeing the kitty cats run around her yard. Mommy remembers that Maw Maw cooked the best lima beans (we called them 'butter beans') you would ever eat, and could make cornbread without measuring anything with a measuring cup or spoon, and that she loved animals and seeing the leaves change in the fall. I always let you eat fruity mini marshmallows because Maw Maw always kept those for me when I was your size. We will all miss her, but try to remember to not be sad we can't see her now, but be glad she is not sick anymore.

Two and a half

So I totally missed doing a post for two and a half year old Julia. Before long she'll be 2 and 3/4...

Here are some funny things we've been hearing lately.

"H! O! Hole! D! Hole that line!"

"Chick-fil-a is closed today, Julia, it's Sunday." Julia's reply: "McDonald's is open."

We each have train names - she is Spencer, I'm Hiro, and Peter is Thomas. She calls us by these names and wants us to call her Spencer, at random times.

"Dunh-dunh-dunh, duuuuuunh... Dunh-dunh-dunh, duuuuuunh (Beethoven's Fifth symphony)" with "Oh, no, the forte giant!" (featured in an episode of 'Little Einsteins')

"Are we going to our favorite, favorite castle?" while on the way home

"Are we there yet?" I want to know who told her this. We heard it before we even got to Clanton on our way to the beach.

"I need to watch 'Goofy on Mars' (or 'Space Captain Donald,' or 'the adventure to all the planets,' which are different Mickey episodes)." She loves anything space-related. Her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse rocket from Uncle is a favorite toy. She begs to wear her Buzz Lightyear shirt. She has also chosen Buzz Lightyear for her Halloween costume, only because he is an astronaut - she only seen about 15 minutes of the movie. She loves to watch the space-related Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes, and the rocket on Little Einsteins, and use her solar system placemat.

"I am the Lord's army," when singing "I'm in the Lord's army"

"all the mommies of the world" with the tune of "Jesus loves the Little Children"

"Look what I see!" as we come around the corner down the street near our house with inflatable Halloween decorations.

trains, a merry-go-round, and a purple octopus

We went to to Foley during our beach trip. We saw the train museum there, which had an awesome model train setup. (Note to self: It's only open a few days a week for a few hours). Julia kept looking for and watching Thomas that they had put in it for the little ones. She also enjoyed the small train the had outside and the life-size one, too. It got her to say "choo-choo!"

We ate lunch at Lambert's - which miraculously was not crowded. Then we shopped at the outlet mall, where somehow the most money we spent was two rides on this merry-go-round (In the video, you can hear her say, 'Ta-ta! Ciao!"). On the way back to the condo, we stopped at The Purple Octopus - per Julia's multiple requests - and had a snack.

Pensacola and Naval Air Museum

a

We drove from the Orange Beach/Perdido Key area condo to Pensacola and Gulf Breeze on Sunday. Julia enjoyed seeing all the helicopters and planes at the Naval Air Museum. Her favorite part, other than eating astronaut ice cream, may have been seeing the space exhibits with models of rockets, astronaut uniforms and the Skylab II capsule. She now asks almost everyday to wear her Blue Angels t-shirt . The 'Julia Way' sign is near the house where my grandparents lived in Gulf Breeze.

Parsonage #3

Parsonage #3 for the von Herrmann family. We joke that it is the size of parsonage #1 with #2 sitting on top of it. It has two of my favorite elements that I've always wanted in a house - a front porch swing and a two car garage. I almost cried when I saw those from the street during the 'drive-by' (Methodist clergy-family speak for stalking your new house in person). I think we will also enjoy the deck (I really like the furniture for it I found at Bed Bath & Beyond) and having a playroom for Julia (the 'snack bar' did not make the picture).





It seems unbelievable that this is Julia's third home and she's not even two and a half yet.

Thank goodness we've got a good gate up over the stairs now, and Julia is able to maneuver well on the stairs. And just in case any of my pastor wife friends want to think about getting jealous, (you are more than allowed - this was the senior pastor parsonage until recently, and I am still in shock most days myself), here are two things we are learning to deal with here - the backyard that is all wilderness and not at all flat, including the end of the driveway being about 15' off the ground (at least we have lots of indoor play room for our 2-year-old, and a nice front porch), and some original 70's stylings in the house, like this bath flooring. But these two things to live with do mean lots of beautiful trees to look at and a spacious home, so I'm not complaining!

Oh, and I feel like I'm at camp with all the beautiful trees, but also because of all my mosquito bites! I've got to manage that one better. Especially by finding / unpacking the benadryl cream.

back to the everyday

It's been strange getting back to a sense of the everyday, ordinary after the storms last week. We got power back so quickly that it seemed unreal to go back to everyday life knowing so many people could not - including our family and friends further north in North Alabama who had no power for almost a week, those with or without storm damage. And it really hit home the day after the storm when I went to Publix and asked the cashier how her family weathered the storms, and she said that someone she knew had died.

Julia immensely enjoyed seeing Uncle Todd while he visited while there was no power at his home or office.We all wish we had the energy that she has when he's around and she bounces off the walls with excitement.

Thought I would share a few more funnies this week that I left out last time.

- Julia has stopped saying 'seven' as 'seh-dee' - which is great, but is also sad.
- "On your maht, get six. GO!"
- Julia notices shapes of things in her food. Things aren't just 'triangles' or 'circles,' though, a pile of macaroni and cheese or a piece of bread may be a tiara or a skateboard. And this makes her excited.
- Julia enjoyed watching the royal wedding. She said 'the pwincess is HI-ding' while the veil covered her face, and 'there's the queen!' 'there's the PWINcess!' and 'there they go!' over and over (almost no matter who was on the screen). At one point though during a choir song she said 'stop singing at the door!' repeatedly and very insistently.
- 'Po-sanna!' (Hosanna) as she waves the huge foam palm branch she brought home from preschool just before Palm Sunday.
- Helidopter! I see/hear a helidopter!
- Water 'mountain' (fountain)
- She's still saying 'nilk' for milk.
- Daddy, sit my wap. Mommy, sit my wap. (I want to sit in your lap.)
- One, two, three, ZERO!
- Muse-kick
- Pad-a-pillar

I'll add more things here as I remember them - I know there are more - Julia has us in stitches regularly. We are thankful that Julia brings much laughter to our lives, especially in times of stress.

friday funnies

Julia is of course still saying and doing even more things that make us laugh, so let's document some here.

Julia's imagination has been growing exponentially this month. I once heard her talk to Minnie and Mickey mouse just out of thin air while we were riding down the road. Tonight she decided to talk to her big pink nubby Teddy Bear. "Teddy Bear, blah blah blah blah. Teddy bear wants a hug (*hugs bear*). Teddy Bear wants a kiss. (*mwa*)."

She loves to look at herself in the mirror and look at pictures or watch videos of herself (in albums or on the blog). She often requests specific pictures or videos, such as "jump in puddles," "look at pictures kitty cat" (Halloween), " "look at pictures ball pit," or "watch bideo." When she sees the still shot of some, she remembers what it is, even unrelated to objects in the picture -e.g., she said "watch piggy toes" when she saw the still shot of the video of her saying "piggy toes."

Some funny Julia sayings:

"On a mountain" - Julia says this when she wants us to get one of her Little People toys off the top of the armoire in the living room. e.g., "Noah's ark on a mountain!" she'll say as she points to it.

"Ouch! (*slams fist down*) That hurt u." - She says this when her feelings are hurt, if we say no about something or tell her to do something she doesn't want to do."

"Call, Amanda" - Julia knows all our phone ringtones. She hears mine ring and says "call, Amanda," unless it's Peter's ringtone and she says "Daddy!" She knows what Peter's cell phone ringing sounds like, and she thinks every time we talk on the landline that it is Grammie.

"Pinkawishous book" - Pinkalicious is her new favorite book. It's been living in the car and she reads it there, asking for it regularly.

"Take me home!" - She says this randomly, not really getting the meaning and/or just liking to say it. It is from Pinkalicious.

"Shulyeeah Whances" - Julia will tell you her names now if you ask, and can say her first and last together repeating you, but when asked her name it's "Shulyeeah Whances."

"Move on back! Move on back!" - her favorite verse to quote completely randomly from one of her favorite songs, "The Wheels on the Bus." Oddly (maybe thankfully), she never sings the beginning of the verse or the ending when she sings this line and hasn't done this in public.

"Hey, guys! What's up?" - If Julia doesn't think we're paying enough attention to her, she will occasionally run up to us or in between us and try to enter the conversation with this question.

"Yeah . . . exactly!" - Occasionally, Julia will express enthusiastic agreement with whatever we are saying, even when we think she's not paying attention and assume she doesn't understand. She once said this after I said "some people don't have the sense God gave a jelly bean."

"Washa wady parts" - Julia repeats what she heard Peter tell her he was having to do when he changed her dirty diaper, "Julia, I've got to wash your lady parts." She sometimes says this randomly, and sometimes as "Daddy washa wady parts," much to Peter's chagrin.

"Loves ME!!!!" - said in response to anyone saying the word "God...." Sometimes followed by a complete rendition of "Jesus Loves Me." She learned about God loving her and the song too at preschool.

Spring Break 2011 - Huntsville Botanical Gardens

We had a fun morning visiting the Huntsville Botanical Gardens during the Huntsville leg of our spring break trip. We visited there last October during Fall Break, but this time we got to see some other area of the gardens - like the nature center with the turtle and snake terrarium, more of the children's garden, and some renovated treehouses. This year's treehouse exhibit opens April 1, so we saw some but not all of them. Julia will enjoy going back this summer when they have the treehouses 'with a splash' part open. On this trip she especially enjoyed riding in the wagon (I think you have to get there early to get a wagon), the sand pit, the ducks, a slide, the train she saw before, and carrying around a sweet gum ball.

We had a great break - Julia enjoyed seeing Grammie and Poppy and Uncle Todd, and even taking a trip to Cullman with us and seeing MawMaw.