Quick Blog

One picture is of the kids hugging! Willingly!!! ... another, with the 2 bananas, is what Diella did when she said, "Look! My backpack!" haha! ... and the other is her riding the ride when mommy took her on our date! One picture is of the craft we made on our date... the other craft is just one we did one day for fun!

The video is the kids giving me "smurbs" on the belly... and also hugging the belly... as well as Diella talking to the baby inside!

So... the date... Diella had been behaving really well for like 5 days straight! I was so proud of her! So I took her on a date, just mommy & Diella! We went to DQ for a dilly bar, to the store to go on that ride, hehe... and also made a craft together! It was great!

I also forgot to mention in my blog yesterday about how we're learning what time it is. We really only use it for naptime and bedtime. She'll sometimes tell me the numbers on the (digital) clock at random times too.... but she knows that naptime is at "one, three, zero," so we watch the clock when its close, so that I can SHOW her its time for nap. And that bedtime is at "nine, three, zero," ... but the funny thing is, if its like a minute passed, and we missed it, and I show her the clock, but it says 9:31, she'll tell me, "but its not nine three zero," and of course its hard to explain, but I just tell her that its PAST 9-3-0! so we're PAST bedtime, we better go, quick! hehe... its a somewhat difficult, but still fun concept we're learning!

Today Diella said something about Jesus in her heart... I remembered that my mom says she sat my brother and I down when we were two, to talk about asking Him into our hearts. So because of this, and also her comment the other day about God being "our man"... It sounds like Diella might be ready to start to understand this a little.... so I think when daddy comes tonight, we're gonna do that!

Dora!

Diella was Dora for Halloween! and she LOVED it!!!

"Kids say the darndest things" right? Well this could not be more true about our little first born! One day during lunch, she asked me something (I don't remember what), and I replied, "I cant now honey, I'm makin lunch".. and she says (for who knows what reason), "with your hands or with your butt?"

Another very random, I-have-no-clue-why or where it came from- thing she said was, "my heart cant stay in my chest. I don't want it to stay in there." Yea… no clue?

She asked one day while we were driving, "how do cars move?" What a cool question for a 3 year old! And of course, that was a fun one to try to explain, hehe.

One night she was getting her jammies on, and she was doing some of it, and I was helping with some of it. Now, she's been dressing herself for well over a year now, but I was just throwing out some necessary Words of Affirmation for her and I said, "you're such a good dresser." and she replied, "you're such a good jammier." (not that I'm good at putting jammies on myself, but I think cuz I was helping her with her jammies)… and I just thought that was so great, that she returned the compliment!

One of my Favorite things I've heard her say recently was during one of the tv shows she watches. She said, "I wish I could jump into the TV and dance." Awesome!!! How I wish she could do it too!

She says some clever things as she interacts with her brother as well. Like the other days she said, "Ethan, that's fake crying, stop it." haha , oh my! He really was just whining too, it wasn't a real cry. Though it wasn't the nicest thing for her to say, it WAS pretty funny. Also she said last night, as we were all playing as a family, "Ethan, you're cracking me up!" I laughed so hard!!!

She often tries to correct Ethan. She wants to be the boss, and be in charge, and have things her way. We've been working hard with her to teach her that she's not the boss, and when its ok to talk a certain way and when its not… but last night, this was sort of amazing. Ethan had just gotten a little spankin on the butt for touching the computer after he had been told twice, not to. So a moment later, he's sitting in the rocking chair, and Diella pulls up another chair in front of that one and began to have a talk with him about why he got in trouble. (this is how we handle things with her, generally… sit down, and half a talk about it.)… and she explains to him "you're not supposed to touch the computer, thats why you got a spankin, ok?" Her voice was so calm and compassionate. Even though it wasn't her job to "parent" him, it seemed as though she was helping, and it was adorable as jake and i watched her try to make Ethan understand the situation. It made me feel as though she's definitely learning the things I tell her.

Speaking of talking through things…. another thing we do (when she's in trouble from doing something she had repeatedly been warned not to do), is sometimes she gets sent to her room. And if when we go to talk about it, she cant remember why she's in trouble, then we have her sit and think about what she's done. So one day, she was on her bed, "thinking about things," and as I walked into her room, I heard her praying! The prayer didn't make a whole lot of sense really, but I could hear her heart… she was praying about what she did wrong! It was amazing!

We were watching Evan Almighty today, and God's name is mentioned throughout the movie. Diella says to me, "God's our man, not theirs." … of course I said to her, "He's everyone's." …and even though I didn't like the fact that it sounded like she wasn't willing to "share God," I still thought it was adorable!

After I wake up Ethan from nap, sometimes he and I will go in together to wake up Diella as well. Sometimes he'll gently stroke her back or her hair, its the cutest thing EVER! And one day he didn't, and Diella said to him, "Ethan, pet me." HAHA!

I've said it before, how Diella sings EVERYTHING! One day she was even singing her "I Love You's" to me! If that's not enough to fill my love tank for a whole month, then I dunno what is!

She also will make up her own random words to the tunes of songs she already knows! I think this is the COOLEST thing! She'll just sing about whatever she's doing, and put it to a tune she knows! Like, as she's getting dressed, she'll sing, "if you're happy and you know it, get dressed!" Another random time in the car she was singing different phrases in this same song, "if you're happy and you know it"… and would add, for example, "take a bath." So then I helped a little, and began to sing, "if you're dirty and you know it, take a bath." She LOVED this! So we played around with a few different scenarios, and made it into a song! That was fun!

One episode of Dora, they were doing riddles. Well Diella and I like to give them to each other now. Simple ones of course, "what has floppy ears, and says woof woof?" etc…. and she will give them to me as well… but its so adorable, cuz you can see how she chooses things that she's looking at right at that moment. Like when we were taking a walk this morning, she wanted to do riddles… so she'd say, "whats green, and has leaves on it, and you're walking?" - grass. haha! Cute!

Diella often gives names to things. Like the duck & the chipmunk rides at Whitford park are Cootie & Cona, they always have been. I just think its interesting how she Makes Up the names, and doesn't really give them ACTUAL names (like ya know, names she already knows, like her friends Anthony or Cecily or Sophia, etc.). Well the names I've heard her make up recently are so strange! One is Huthe. And then she also had these 3 birds, named Thuck, Theek, and Thoke. HAHAHA!!!

Once in a while, Diella will say she's having a baby in her belly, but then she'll quickly reassure me, "but only for pretend." hehehe

So one day after watching Sid the Science Kid, I wanted to see if she really learned anything from that episode, cuz I really liked it. It was about eating from all the food groups, and why we cant have birthday cake for every meal, etc. So I casually asked her "what did you learn about on Sid the Science Kid today?" she said, "birthday cake." I said, "yup, and what did they say about it? not to…… " Diella replied, "only eat a little." and I said, "thats right! and how come?" … and Diella said to me, "cuz you always get pregnant." OH MY! I laughed so hard!!! I think maybe she was relating that to getting fat? I dunno! But that was the most hilarious thing!

Shower Drawing

This pic is what she drew on the shower wall! I LOVE IT!

Every single day Diella will ask who's coming over, or what we're doing later, etc. Like "who's coming over after my nap?" or "what are we doing when daddy comes home?" and thats cool I guess, she's a planner! But she'll even talk about the next 4 hours… like "so after dinner, we're gonna play, then get jammies on, then go to bed, then wake up, and eat breakfast… then what??" ah! sometimes I'm like, I dunno that far ahead yet! hehehee

Diella loves movies like Aladdin, Shrek, and Beauty & the Beast lately. There are a few things from those movies she's makes references to at times, which I think is co cool! Like at the end when Aladdin & Jasmine embrace each other, Diella said "look, they're back in true love!" How cool is that!!! And then the other day, I thought this was so awesome… she got a new fall jacket that's like corduroy with a hood sewn in, and she was asking about it, and we were talking about layers. So she said, "do you member when Shrek & Fiona said that?" She's referring to the scene in Shrek where he says "Ogres have layers." That was neat. Its like if there's something in a movie she doesn't understand, she doesn't ask about it, but then when she hears it in reference to something else, then it makes sense!

My mom had the kids & was taking them somewhere in our van a while ago. Well yea, she was backing out of the driveway & hit a tree, shattered the back windshield, cool. Well apparently Diella was bawling! Not scared, but she actually thought it was her fault! She kept saying sorry & that she had to tell mommy sorry that she did that! It was so sad that she felt to blame! We finally convinced her that it wasn't her fault, and even told her Ahna did it. Funny thing is, the following week, Ahna had the kids in our Equinox, and my mom said that when she put Diella in, she goes, "now Ahna, don't break the car with the tree this time." AAHAHA!

Diella likes to give me pretend chocolate when I do something good, hehehe. Well sometimes when she "hands it to me", I just say thank you and pop it right into my mouth… and the first time this happened, she goes, "mommy! you ate the paper!" haha! Apparently it had a wrapper on it… so now I always try to remember to take the paper off first before I eat it, hahahah!

Last night Diella saw this guy in the parking lot, who had a mustache and a beard. She goes, "mom! that man has a mustache all over!" HAHA!

Diella has this new phrase, or question she asks me, "what are you possibly doing?" I think its a combination of maybe few different things i say, but its kinda funny, i think.

A few days ago I just had a cranky pregnant morning for no reason. And we were in the car, and Diella nicely said to Ethan "I don't wanna talk right now." and Jake said "wow, both you girls are irritated today." and then Diella said, "Ethan, are you irritated?" that made me laugh!

Oh man, so twice now Diella has said, "I'm gonna toot… ready?" HAHA, isn't that supposed to be what you hear out of a ten year old boy, not a 3 year old girl??? And no, she did NOT get that from me or Jake. Honestly.

Diella watched Dancing with the Stars the other night, and I told her that Ahna watches that show too, so she called her to tell that she saw it. Well Ahna asked her who she liked best. Diella said "I like the girl with the sparkly dress… and the guy who didn't have a shirt" (there was a guy, during the Rumba, who took off his shirt as part of the routine)… yea, well I'm hoping thats just the part that she remembered & stuck out in her brain, and not that she particularly LIKED! Sheesh.

Diella likes to sing the Hallelujah song from Shrek. Well, now Ethan sings it along with her! COOL! Its kind of like Hal-la, but still so cute!

Diella LOVES to call people on the phone. Its usually Ahna or daddy, but sometimes Grammie O, or my dad too. Right now, she's calling & talking to Colton! Fun!

Diella likes to go through all the animals and ask us what each of them eats. Well then randomly, daddy asked her, "what does Jesus eat?" … and Diella answered "fish and bread." THAT WAS AWESOME!

Video!

Diella & daddy have this fun thing they came up with! Down in the basement, there's this light, daddy will "introduce" Diella, open up the pretend curtain, and put the spotlight on her. Then she puts on a show, and takes a bow, then he'll close the curtain and turn the light off. Its adorable! and she LOVES it! Always wants to Go Put On A Show! Cute!!

The other day she bumped her mouth, and I only laughed cuz she cried, "now I cant chew!" haha! we weren't even eating at the time! ha!

I've noticed her lately doing something she just started (one of those things you don't actually TEACH them, but they must have seen you do it?)… she puts a chair right in front of the mirror, and moves her hands around like she's putting on makeup, and doing her hair, and getting dressed. Then she'll turn around, and strike a pose & say, "mommy, how do i look?" even while batting her little eyes, cute!!! … I posted a video where she's doing this, but she's far away, and its hard to hear… (I was also recording Ethan waking up daddy one morning).

Diella says dandelions smell like pineapple & yellow cake. Ha, cute!

Yesterday when Diella was in the bath, the water was draining, and she put her hand over the drain & her little eyes lit up! I was like "you feel that?" she goes, "a magnet!" lol, i thought that was awesome that she described it that way! … thats when we learned the word 'suction' hehe.

And…. the other day…. she was putting on her panties & they were Fruit of the Loom. Ya know how some of those have the "tag" like printed right on the garment? Well she looked at that (there were words, and a picture of fruit, ya know?)… and she goes "this says…. if you wanna wear panties, you gotta eat fruit first." HAHAHHAAAAA!!!! Priceless!!!

Move the Sun

Quite some time ago, we tried to teach Diella to use a computer, like for games and things… but for some reason the touch mouse pad concept was a bit much for her. Well, a few weeks ago, we tried again, and she's a pro! She loves to play games on Sesame Street site, and they're educational, yay!

Diella has been quoting movie lines! Woo Hoo! She has memorized some lines from Veggie Tales, Kung Fu Panda, Robots, Shark Tale, and the Fox and the Hound. We'll even play a little quiz game, I'll say a line & she'll tell me what movie its from. Cooooool.

One day I said, "Diella I think you're funny," and she said "i'm not. I'm just serious."

Aw man, one day we were walking through Walmart, passing by the intimates section, and she said "look mom, there's panties, and socks, and…… whats those boobie things?" … huh, I told her bras. She said, Ya, Bras. Ha!

One day we were in the car, and you know the time of day when the sun in RIGHT in front of you, and the visor wont cover it, and you're blinded… well it was then.. and Diella was complaining that the sun was in her eyes, and I told her don't worry, we'll be turning soon. So a few minutes later, she complained again, with even more frustration. Well I was in the middle of a conversation with Jacob, and I got short with her & said, "What do you want me to do!!?? Move the sun!!??" … I should have seen it coming, but of course, did…. she said, "yes!" … and since then when this happens, she asks, "mom, can you move the sun please?" HAHAHAA!!

A few weeks ago, Diella was calling me in the middle of the night… I went to her, and she said, "I gotta go potty" … I was thrilled!! I mean, she hasnt had an accident for months now… but the fact that she's to the point where she can consciously prevent them, even that she was woken by having to go… I was so excited!

Every time we go to Aldi, Diella stands at the automatic doors, and says, "Open doors!" and they do. I crack up every time! Then when she's through the doors, she turns and also tells them to close. Ha! I wonder if she thinks it really works that way?

so the past few weeks for us have been NONstop!… well even before that, I've noticed we must just be a very on-the-go family… because every day now, Diella asks either "where we going today?" or "who we gonna see today?" … I think this is a good thing? I like them to go with the flow, for whatever we've got going that day, so I guess they're just getting used to all the running around!

oh man, just now we went for a walk… Diella picked up two little sticks and she was rubbing them together (I dunno how, but I knew exactly where she was goin with it)… and she said "this is just like Sid the Sloth!" …. thats what he does on Ice Age… and she goes, "make fire! make fire!" HAHAAAHAA!!

Well, Diella had kind of a big thing happen in her life. Unfortunately its not the best thing. She. Got. Grounded….. Diella, long ago, learned the lesson that when you're coloring or drawing, you ONLY draw on paper, nothing else. Well she had out some crayons the other day & drew on Ethan's rug, our bedroom door, and our hamper. Not good. So she was grounded from coloring or drawing. I'm hoping after being grounded, she's learned her lesson for good.

She's also gotten a bit bossy. She sometimes tries to tell Ethan what to do, and even mommy & daddy. Well, we've told her she's not the boss, and that mommy & daddy are. The other day I gave her a look… and she goes, "I'm not the boss right?"… well, she gets the point at least.

She has always sang Mary Had A Little Lamb like this "flinka white as snow"… it was one of those things I never wanted to correct, cuz its so cute… but I finally corrected her, and the she did this "mary had a little lamb, flinka white as snow… no wait, I gotta sing it Fleece Was White as snow" … corrected first time! Yea!

So she was riding the tricycle outside at Ahna's house once, and I was loading Ethan into the car. I said c'mon honey, and I look over & she's pushing the front wheel repeatedly over this one spot, and she goes, "just a minute, I'm making the bug dead" … I didn't even know she knew the word! But I was glad she didn't say K-I-L-L. Then she said "he's really dead." ha!

She said to me one day, "do you know why I have this line on my back?" (I think she was just talking about her spine)… "because God made me that way" … AWW!

Because of Diella's strong will, we are sure to outwardly praise her when she does well to obey. So the other day, she obeyed well, I praised her, and she said "I deserve a surprise!" … I just loved that she used the word Deserve! Cool!

Diella & Ethan, when the other is sleeping, they ask for each other. Its so cute! Ethan points to her room & says "Dit-da!" (sister) Aw!

Everyone was in town last week for Chris & Emily's wedding. Well the kids were playing, and Diella said to Colton, "you're beast, I'm beauty, lets dance" then she grabbed his hand & off they went! It was ADORABLE!!!

One day after Diella had watched Prince of Egypt, her prayer before bed was, "I pray for God that Moses feels all better" … Aww!!!

Every Day She's Funny

In these pictures… kids were into this whole holding hands phase… it was classic!!! … the picture with her wearing my sunglasses, I just thought was great! My little Diva! … and the one of her pointing to the ground, they were water marks, she said, “mom! A whale and Mickey Mouse!” LOOK at the spots! How great is her imagination!!!???

Some funny things Diella has said… we were in the car, driving home, Ethan was half asleep. Diella said “Ethan’s chillin.” Haha! … I have these pair of pajama pants that have a little hole in the back. Diella said, “you have a hole in your pants, fix it with a circle sticker.” LOL, how cool that she had her own way to fix it, heheh

She was eating fries at a restaurant we were at, and there were little packets of ketchup on a plate. We’d jus hand her one at a time, and she finally said, “Can I just have the whole plate?” lol! …I don’t remember why she said this one, but she goes, “Ethan’s in trouble, lets fly in the sky and save him!” … she likes to go into Ethan’s room when he wakes up in the morning or from his nap, and once he was whining a bit, she comforted her little brother, “don’t worry Ethan, mommy’s coming. Five minutes” Awww!

we brought our dog back from Virginia, and the kids have loved it! Her name is Blue. The other day Diella was bent down petting her on the head & she said, “you have beautiful eyes, Blue.” Aww! … lately she says all the time “alrighty” that makes me giggle. She also often says “nevermind.” It started one day when she said it for the first time & it made me laugh. So now she says it a lot, just to make me laugh. Like, “hey mom….. (long pause) nevermind.” Ha!

We were listening to the oldie, “Candy Girl” suga, oh honey honey, ya know? And Diella goes, “Hey, they’re talking about us!” haha …And one of the funniest thing she says… she says everyday. When she goes into Ethan’s room after his nap, she’ll call to me, “moooooom, we have a boy in heeeere.’” HAHA! It cracks me up! I told Jake about it, and he says when he goes in to get Ethan, he says “do we have a boy in here?” so Diella picked it up from that, funny girl!

One thing she says a lot lately that kind of makes me sad… whether we’re walkin through the store, or if she sees a commercial for a toy on tv or something, she often says “I wish I had that.” Now she doesn’t say it rude or demanding at all, very innocent actually. But I wonder where she picked that up? Did she hear someone say it, or does she really have that much WANT inside her heart? I think its ok for now, and I don’t really reply with a ‘no you cant’ or a ‘yes you can’ or anything, I jus kind of smile. But maybe this will cease?

I don’t think I’ve blogged it yet, but for at least a few months now, (definitely before she turned 3), Diella knows her address!!! Woo! “where do you live, Diella?” – “2513 Bird Drive.” Go girl! … she also recently has been consistently spelling her name correctly on command! These are great milestones in her life! Spelling name & knowing address!!!

She’s also getting good at learning the SOUNDS of letters! There are still a few harder ones that she hasn’t quite mastered, like G, H, Q, W, etc. But she loves when she gets em right!

She also is becoming quite the little artist! The other day she said she was gonna draw a face, and I watched in awe as she made the nearly perfect circle, then put the eyes, nose, and mouth all in relatively the rights spots! (I think Ahna works with her on this a little bit). Then only a few days later, she’s been adding hair, and ears I think… and even cheeks! (like dots where dimples would be, kinda). Its awesome! Oh, and we got these crayons you can color on the shower walls with, and Diella drew one big sideways oval, and then a smaller one on the side, touching it, and said “a turtle!” It was SO a turtle! Then one day she was jus doodling (but not really scribbling) and she drew a line up and down, with a horizontal like on top & bottom, and said “its an I!” It Was!!!

One day she was playing with this sheet of stickers before her nap, she was putting them on this folder I gave her. Then later, when I went in to get her up from nap, I saw that both her legs were covered in stickers! Ha! Why did I NOT grab the camera for that one???

Mia was telling me how Matthew says that Diella is very athletic. I don’t know why I never noticed it before… I mean, she was running by 14 months old, and she was jumping with 2 feet I THINK by 15 months? Maybe 18? … but anyway… I’ve finally been noticing how true that really is! Diella doest really like to ride IN the cart at the store anymore, she’d rather walk. Sometimes if she wants to hang on while I’m pushing, I tell her she has to do it in the front of the cart, where I am, so I don’t run over her. So she did that, then after a while I asked her to just walk some more. So she was walking by me, then as I’m pushing the cart, so IN motion, she runs & jumps and grabs ONTO the cart while its moving! One of those things where I probly should’ve told her that wasn’t a very smart idea, but it was pretty amazing to me! So now any time she does things like that, I always wanna call up Uncle Matt & make him proud!

And the best story of all… Diella & I say our prayers together every night before bed. I say a line, she repeats it, pretty much the same prayer every night, but always with a few changes, according to whats currently going on in our lives, or that day… but one day she said she wanted to pray (like without my help, so of course I was all for that, go ahead!)… and after the first few routine things we always mention, she then prayed, “and I pray for all the things, and for everyone, and thank you for Jesus, amen.” !!!!

In the videos- 1. Diella singing the theme from Wonder Pets, its my favorite thing she sings!

2. a commercial jingle you should recognize!

3. singin & playin guitar!

4. hilarious sound she came up with, neither daddy nor I can even do it!

Lil Miss Personality

Here is an random, but entertaining story Diella told me one day in the car. “Do you member when I was a bigger girl in the city? do you know what my name was? Aria. And the other Aria turned into me. And I saw a barn. And do you know who was there? Uncle Matt & Aunt Mia. yea, they were. And I saw a big giant, and I was afraid of him, it was uncle matt, the giant.” There was more to it that I don’t remember. But I just love her imagination!

This wouldn’t have been TOO long of a blog if it hadn’t been for this next story…

Last night, Diella had a brush burn on her knee. She was in the bath, and it stung a little. She slowly escalated to freak out mode, not wanting me to wash it, or dry it, or touch it, and she made it clear she did NOT want medicine & a bandaid on it. I was so proud of myself for how calm I remained as I tried to explain that I could make it all better and that she just needed to TRUST mommy, and believe that I could help her. It was pushing maybe 15 minutes of me trying to convince her. I had to fight my anger So badly, cuz I was getting very frustrated inside. So daddy came up to help for a bit, and for some reason she takes his word for it (and not mine, sniff*), so we were able to finish the bath. Then when we were getting dressed, we went through the entire cycle all over again with the bandaid… her freaking out, me calmly explaining that I can help & that it wont hurt, etc. I also kept telling her, “please cooperate, I don’t want to get mad, I’m just trying to help” and also reminding her, “you need to trust mommy.” So after ANOTHER ten minutes probly, unfortunately, I lost my temper. Then my hormones set in. I’m cryin, Jake comes up again, I dismiss myself to the next room, and I’m BAWLING. I go back in to again calmly explain things to Diella with daddy… and she sees how upset I am… I cant stop sobbing, I’m crying through my words (all hormones… I cant control it, lol)… Diella apologizes, I further explain how I need her to believe mommy when she says she’s helping… and she apologizes again & hugs & kisses all over me, and offers me a blanket & wraps it around my back, aw!… so then daddy says, “I have a good idea, I’m gonna go downstairs and fix all of us some milk & cookies, lets give mommy a minute… I’m about to cry too.” So he scoops up Ethan, and heads down & says C’mon Diella. So she walks out the door, and comes right back in and says, “remember, I’m really sorry.” I of course smile through my tears & tell her its alright & that I forgive her. So this is of course making me cry more, lol. So she walks out, and immediately comes back in and says “lemmie give you another hug & a kiss.” She does that, then gives me “a friend” too (this is what we call her stuffed animals). I can see that she’s fighting back tears. We hug… she goes to walk out of the room, comes back in & again says, “remember, I’m really sorry.” She did this quite a few times… it was like she REALLY wanted me to understand how bad she felt. I could really feel her sincerity, and I’m smiling & crying more, ah! It was quite a night of emotion! And now she’s learning to TRUST mommy!


Well, Little Miss Personality has said some hilarious things, and some well, funny but full-of-attitude things. Like one day she & Ethan were playing in my room, and I don’t remember what happened, but apparently Diella thought it wasn’t fair or something, because she (please imagine this as I describe it) stared at me, dropped the book she had in her hand, and also dropped open her mouth, and in monotone, said “I don’t believe this.” Very Hollywood, it was.

This same day, she said something to Ethan that was Not cool. Well, he’s learned a bit of attitude from his Drama Queen sister. And he did the “EH!” sound & stomped his foot (thanks Diella for teaching him that)… and she says to him, “Don’t stomp your feet! That’s what I do!” …. Oh my!!!

One more snooty thing she said, I’ll share, and then I’ll get onto the sweet things that have come out of her mouth lately, hehe. Yesterday I was braiding her hair, and she did say something snooty, but it wasn’t really in a mean tone. It was just as though she was informing me. She said “every time you pull my hair, I freak out.” LOL! And then she also said, “if you do it again, I’ll get cranky.” And again, it wasn’t said in a mean way… so it did strike me as pretty funny.

The other day, she replied to my question (whatever that was), “Yes indeed!” I thought that was adorable! … she has also asked, when appropriate, “do you forgive me?” which I think is So sweet!

When we take a walk around our block, here on Bird Drive, there’s this big dark tree we pass. One day she says “that’s a chocolate tree!” (I think that was on Dora once). And now she says it every time we pass it, “the chocolate tree!”

Once she was watching her favorite YouTube clip, ‘the Princess and the Elephant’ with Elmo & Natalie Portman. To watch it over again, once it stops, you just press the space bar. And I think you can do the same for pausing & unpausing it. Well one day as she was watching, she calls me, “mommy!” I came over to answer her call. She paused it and said, “I love you.” I giggled and said I love you too. Then she unpaused it. And then paused it again, turned to me and said, “I really love you.” Then unpaused it, and went about her way. Lol, that was great!!!

You know Diella dresses herself every morning, choosing her own outfits from her bottom drawer. Well one day when she got dressed, she also brought out a shirt & pants of Ethan’s for him to wear. I thought that was the sweetest thing! And whether or not it matched, and whether or not that’s what I wanted him to wear that day, that’s what I put on him!

I’ve blogged before how she memorized that one page to her strawberry book, verbatim, and recited it to me one day when we had that book out. Well since then, as we’ve read that book together, she is now memorizing pretty much the first line on every page, and then sorta repeats the same last 3 lines after that. But she looks at whats on the page, and remembered the rhyme that goes with it, and so almost has the whole book memorized!

Lately Diella asks me when we’re driving, to put on music in the car. I think that’s cool. She’ll also ask me to turn it up or down, and to go past a song if she doesn’t like it, lol. She also likes to hold Ethan’s hand! They did it on our walk the other day too! They both love to hold hands! …. Sometimes. Hehe.

A little while back, I showed Diella how to do the sign for I Love You (not 3 separate signs for “I” and “love” and “you”), but I Love You on one hand- thumb, pointer finger, and pinky finger up, the other two fingers down. She tried to do it, but couldn’t. Then a few days later, she suddenly goes, “mom! I can do it!” and I went to her, and she WAS doing it! Its so cute! Then a friend of ours had on a shirt the other day with a hand making that sign on it. We were all casually sitting around, and I watched the little light above Diella’s head go on! She goes, “mom! That means I love you!” it was cool!

I’ve also blogged before how she sings everything! She’s made up her own words to melodies of songs. And now she pretty much just sings her thoughts, like when she’s playing alone… she’ll sing every song she knows, and even make up a song from whatever is on her mind! Like…. Hm… if we’re going somewhere, she’ll sing about it, or she’ll sing about who’s coming over, or what she’s had to eat, anything she can think of!

Diella knows how to say Happy Birthday, in Spanish, with perfect pronunciation! She got a singing Dora card for her birthday that sings it, “Feliz Cumpleanos!” and we had to practice it a few times, but she says it wonderfully!

Which reminds me, I haven’t blogged since before her birthday! Well it was great! She had friends over, we all ate and went on the swings a little. We got her a sprinkler, but no one played in it… sad. She opened her presents & everyone played with em! Like the bubble wand, some dress up clothes, a puzzle, and the bakery set from Grandad & Mamaw! She did great singing Happy Birthday, blowing out the candles, and of course eating the cake! Oh and she stopped everyone to pray over the meal! My little angel!

And the biggest news! We got Diella ready, shortly before her birthday, that we were gonna try to stop wearing pull ups at night. The first night it worked! The second, third, and fourth nights, she woke up wet. We tried a few different things like waking her in the middle of the night to pee, tried waking her just a few minutes before she usually wakes up in the morning to pee, those all had varying results. We’ve always taken her pee RIGHT before bed, but for some reason now its working really well! We just make sure we concentrate on getting it ALL out before we’re done. She’s now been dry 6 mornings in a row, with no pull ups! Woo Hoo!