Case Life: we are still alive!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

we are still alive!

k so it has been way too long since the last time I posted anything. I dont know why. We haven't been terribly busy, and there are many things I'm sure would have been good posts, so we haven't been boring, either. I guess it's just because. But I thought I would just post something to let everyone know that we are still living and well. My hands are very cold so I am pushing a lot of wrong buttons. I just went and got Bailee from the bus stop and it takes a while to thaw out after I go outside. Oh here is a good story - I have to take Afton with me to get Bailee at the bus stop everytime now (unless she falls asleep first).. The bus stop is just outside and across a little road from our apartment building and so I got into the habit of just leaving Afton in our apartment while I ran and got Bai. I know that some of you may think right at the beginning that you would never do that (I was probably of the same idea before Bailee started riding the bus). For those of you who don't know Afton too well, she does not enjoy wearing clothes. She spends 95% of her time in the apartment with just her underwear on.. including sleeping. When it is time to go somewhere, it takes a very long time for her to be persuaded to get dressed, then a long time to figure out what she wants to wear, then a long time to get socks and shoes on. so after about a week or two of taking 30-45 minutes to get Afton ready just to walk a hundred feet to pick Bailee up and bring her into the apartment, I let Afton choose whether she would stay or come. I discussed with her every time she stayed that she needed to stay in the apartment no matter what and never open the door. It worked really well for a while until.. One day I must not have been clear enough. I went to get Bailee and she decided she wanted to go to a friend's apartment, so I was walking back and I saw this little blonde haired girl with a yellow dress and flip flops on standing in the middle of the sidewalk outside our building. This man who lives in a building next to us was trying to talk to her and find out where she belonged. After a second of looking, I realized that was MY blonde haired girl. I went up to her and the man asked if I knew her, and I mumbled something about her belonging to me. Poor little Afton was trying so hard to be brave that as soon as I picked her up she just melted down crying on my shoulder. She told me she went to our car looking for me and then the man approached her and told her to go to the office, and then I came. Well. that was enough of a wake up call to me that it is worth the time it takes to get her ready and bring her with me. There is my "short" post of the day. hopefully I will do more sooner rather than later, but who knows? I wanted to post some pics, but I'm not on the laptop where I can just plug the memory stick in and I don't have the cables for my camera to hook it up to the computer. soooo sorry!

2 comments:

Dave said...: What is encouraging is that she had her dress and flip-flops on!

Good story.

Dave; January 6, 2011 at 5:41 PM
Tricia said...: Why do kids love to be without clothes? It's the same story at our house! "I don't like pants!" is the comment I get everyday while trying to get dressed. Glad Afton made it out okay. Thank goodness for nice people:); January 7, 2011 at 7:10 PM

Bailee-isms

12/20/08 We were at the annual Case Christmas party. Grandma Betty and Grandpa Dwayne were nice enough to buy us Sizzler lunch and then had a program at their home. Before I tell the story, I need to clarify that Grandma Betty is from England and still has her accent - which I love! Bailee wanted to ride in Grandma Betty and Grandpa Dwayne's car from Sizzler but we told her no since her car seat was already in ours. Bailee: "I just want to go with them because I love them so much." Grandma Sue : " I know, and they love you, too." Bailee: "But Grandma Betty says it weiood" (wierd without the "r" sound)
11/10/08 We were "puppy sitting" for Dave and Sue overnight so they could spend a night in Midway. Part of Bailee's bedtime routine is that she gets to have "snuggle-wuggles" right before bed every night. Snuggle wuggles started as being a Backyardigans show but has evolved to being a choice between playing make believe with toys, a show, or something else she really wants to do before bed. Well this particular night I gave her the choice between Dragon Tales or going to the store with me and she chose the show. When it was over and I said it was time to brush teeth and go to bed, she started to cry and throw one of her tantrums. She said she wanted to go to the store with me, I then reminded her that she chose the show over going to the store. She replied very seriously that when she chose the show, she was just teasing me. Very smart response.. it didn't fly and she was not a happy girl going to bed that night
11/12/08 We were driving home from Dave and Sue's and Bailee said "What does 'age' mean?" Dan and I weren't quite sure what she said, so we asked her to repeat it and she did. We still weren't sure if she said "H" or "age." Usually she can explain what she is saying by thinking of another word or saying it in a sentence. We asked her to say it in a sentence or tell us when and how she heard it. She stammered a little, then said "You know, like my feet are big." Dan and I tried very hard not to laugh and she finally said "Like I am a big girl." So then I said.. "Okay, you mean 'age'. That is like how old you are, so your age would be 3. When someone asks you what your age is, you would say 3." So Dan said "Yeah. It is like someone asking you how old you are. What are you going to say when someone asks you what your age is?" and Bailee said, "That I am a big girl!" Maybe you had to be there or it was pretty late, but it was very funny.
Grandma Sue bought a doctors kit for the grandkids. It came with a couple of cards that showed what to do with the "tools" - kind of like directions. When we were cleaning up all the parts to it, Bai couldn't find the cards and she was saying over and over.. "where are the indirections? " I think she was mixing up the words "instructions" and "directions." It is very cute that her vocabulary is growing so fast that she just has a ton of information to sort through. I am biased, but I definitely think she is a smartie!
Bailee was trying to get Dan to fill up her aqua-doodle pen with water so she could color on her mat, but apparently Dan wasn't jumping on the task. He continued to get ready for work and gather his things when Bailee said very demandingly "Dad, when you are all done with this world stuff, will you please fill this up with water?!" It definitely got his attention and he filled it up with water and she went on her way.
Bailee was talking with her cousin, Aliyah, and her grandma Packer about places they have been and things they have seen. My mom brought up that Aliyah was in a whale's mouth at Storybook land and Bai was in a shark's mouth in Disneyworld. They were laughing about that and my mom said, "Weren't you scared in the mouth?" and Bailee looked at my mom with her index finger pointed at her and said, " Remember grandma, those things are just PRETEND!" My mom thought it was very cute how Bailee was trying to comfort her on the scary pretend things that are out there.
Bailee is pretty much a vegetarian and refuses to eat meat - except for chicken nuggets and taco soup). In colorado, they took out a lunchable jr. and she wouldn't eat the meat. Well, someone told her that the meat would make her jump higher. She had a couple bites of the meat and walked away. Sue asked "Did you like it?" and Bai said "yeah, I am going to see if I can jump higher now, though." She jumped and everyone cheered - Maybe she will continue to eat meat and end up in the olympics!
Bailee was riding home from a dinner in the back seat of papa Dave and grandma Sue's car. Her uncle Andy was sitting next to her talking to her when the sun came shining into the car all of a sudden and her grandparents both burst into song "Here Comes the Sun, do do do do.." Uncle Andy then whispered to Bai "Grandma and Grandpa are getting old." and bailee replied, "Grandma's not old, but Papa is."
Being the great English buff that he is, Bailee's uncle Jason was trying to enhance Bailee's vocabulary by teaching her some new words. One of the words was "plump." He told her about having a nice, big, juicy, plump apple. Then he went on to explain that it meant "big." Bailee then was able to catch on and said, "Like you, uncle Jason?"
When Bailee says prayers, she really lets Heavenly Father into her heart. She has said things like, "please bless that I can watch a movie tomorrow. Please bless that I can get tinkerbell makeup at the store. Please bless I can sleep the whole night in my bed. Please bless we will grow up healthy and go to heaven."
Bai was helping grandma Sue wrap some baptism gifts and asked her what they were for. Sue said that they were for her primary kids who were going to be baptized and when Bailee turned 8, she would also be baptized. Bai looked at grandma like she was out in the night and said " Oh, no, grandma, I am going to be a doctor when I grow up!"
We were leaving grandma Sue and papa Dave's so Bai went and hugged grandma and said "I love you, grandma." Dan told her to go and tell grandpa the same thing so she went and hugged grandpa and said " Papa, I love grandma."
Bailee thought her pee would be pink after she drank her strawberry milk. After I told her it would still be yellow or clear, she still had her hopes up. When we got home, she ran to the bathroom to go potty and we heard her disappointed voice come from the bathroom saying "Yep, it's still yellow."