Lotta Laughs

Two-year-olds and their accidental humor.  Keeps me entertained much of the day.

The other morning, I'd given Lotta some Cheerios in a small bowl that she had then proceeded to dump all over the floor.  When I saw the mess, I requested that Lotta put the bowl in the kitchen rather than on the floor.  She looked at me and stated, "Me no like Cheerios".  Then suddenly, the dumped bowl of Cheerios was not a mess, but rather, a statement.

Lotta and Ben like playing baby dragon right now which entails Ben being a baby Dragon and Lotta taking care of said baby Dragon.  As they were playing in the tub, Lotta suddenly said, "Ben likes me most of the time."  Which seemed actually pretty astute.

The other morning, I came downstairs with a band-aide on my hand.  Lotta looked at me, inquiring what had happened.  I explained that I had an owe-y and just needed a band-aide to protect it.  Lotta looked at me seriously and said, "That bad."

Our bathroom has had some ceiling issues.  As in at one point, rain was pouring into our bathroom from the roof, much to Ben's delight.  Well, we thought we'd finally corrected the problem when a stain started appearing on the ceiling again.  When Thom went to touch it, he accidentally left a hole.  Although the problem has been corrected, the hole remains.  Now every time we are exploring around the house, if Lotta sees something that is broken, she assumes "Daddy did it.  That make me mad."

Outrageously Courageous

[caption id="attachment_5112" align="alignright" width="300"] Thanksgiving Dinner at a restaurant![/caption]

I have had a few people question my sanity of having another child.  Typically another, mom, who in a moment of exasperation cannot imagine how or why I would want to have another child.  Of course there will be learning curve, there always is.  The last time I had a newborn in the house, and three children, one of those children was dying.  There were things I handled and did then that I cannot imagine how in retrospect.  I suppose there is a part of me that feels if I could do THAT then having another baby and a 2-year-old and an 8-year-old will be a breeze in comparison.  I mean I could utilize that experience to bring me down, to destroy me in some irreparable way, or I could allow that time to define me, to build me up, to let me know that I have strength I never could have imagined before experiencing a newborn and death together, hand in hand.  I am not saying that at times this missing-ness doesn't bring me to my knees, what I am saying is I will not let this grief define who I am.  I will experience it, brush myself off, and I know Ellie would want me to allow the experience to strengthen rather than weaken me.  But truly, I cannot think of anything better than a newborn to add our our already fantastically amazing family.  Let's go on this roller coaster ride again!