The subtle dance moves of a princess Cran

The misfortunes of a Cran

Maddie's misfortunes continue.

She had an awesome day today with her cousins, Guy and Ella. These two little women just adore all of their cousins. They were pumped to see Donovan and Ella today, and the four of them play so well together as usual. Maddie and Donovan were quite exhausted from not napping, but still had quite the eventful day decorating a brownie fruit pizza, giving the Veggie Tales some hair-do's with Maddie's Play Doh barber shop kit, playing outside, and playing "customer/seller" with Maddie's princess cash register and a few pretend items to purchase. They're all too funny.

Maddie and Faith were playing before bedtime tonight, and they were playing with the princesses that Uncle Matt got Maddie for Christmas this past year: Prince Eric, Ariel, Cinderella, and Prince Charming. Maddie asked me to put a pink dress on Ariel, and when I tried to, Ariel's head popped off of her body. Oh man. She seemed numb about it until she decided to go ahead and throw Ariel away in the trash, and that's when it started:

"Ariel... I'm so sorry you died. Momma killed you... Oh, man!!!!!!! I can't believe this. Ariel is DEAD..." And, the crying turned into sobs. She then picked up Prince Eric and took him to her bed while crying and crying and crying. She put him next to her in bed and started sobbing, "Prince Eric doesn't have a princess anymore... Poor Prince Eric. Poor Ariel. I can't believe Ariel is dead. Mommmmmma!!!"

I couldn't help but silently laugh. She was beyond tired, and literally passed out within seconds of her 6:45pm bedtime. Obviously the lack of nap helped send her over the edge in to the deep abyss of grief for her poor lost princess, Ariel. But, it was still too darn cute.

Princess Aurora

Crannie has now decided that we shall be calling her 'Aurora' "until Tuuuuesday." That is a quote straight out of Cran's mouth. She's too funny.

Last week we had a minor mishap here at home. Dan accidentally stepped on Maddie's crown and broke it. After trying to haphazardly put the crown back together with some tape, Dan finally gave up and we had to tell Maddie that her beloved crown was now broken. We stopped at Nene's yesterday to drop off her van and good ol' Nene had a brand, spanking new crown for Maddie. This one has blue jewels AND comes with earrings that also have blue jewels. Needless to say, Maddie has not taken them off at all. She immediately went to the bathroom mirror to look at herself, and kept saying how beautiful the new jewelry is. Last night she decided that she would sleep with a pink polka dot dress (because it's "pink like Aurora") and of course her crown and earrings. She looked adorable.

She didn't want to change out of that dress today, and wore it all day. She rode her stick horse all morning calling it "Mirette" and saying she was Aurora and that she wouldn't be answering to Maddie until Tuesday. She was doing this hilarious dance this afternoon in her swimsuit and crown and singing about what a wonderful sister Beebster is and how lucky she is as a princess to have such a nice sister. Haha. She wore her crown and bracelet to the pool today too, and took her wand. I forgot to get the stroller out of the trunk today, so we all walked up there including little Beebster. Everybody that saw her laughed and told Maddie she was such a beautiful princess.

She got the new Ariel movie today, and she and I watched it this afternoon. It's actually really cute, and she loved it.

She had quite the day yesterday at Hershey. She cried this morning because she wanted to go back again today. She's a lucky girl though, and it was so awesome to see her face the entire day yesterday. She's just one of those kiddos that has the best expressions and her whole face lights up when she gets so excited. She truly appreciates every little thing in life, and I just love her so much for that. She told Dan and I about 100 times yesterday that she was so happy and having the best day.

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In Cran mishap news...

Her latest clumsy adventure was the evening when she fell into the toilet bowl. I was cleaning up Faith after dinner, and Maddie had gone to the bathroom. I heard "Mommmmmmma!" I went to check it out, and Maddie had fallen IN to the toilet bowl and was crying and holding on to her Beanie baby cat, Bumble, for dear life. It was the funniest thing ever. I don't think she appreciated the fact that I took a few minutes out of rescuing her to take some humiliating pictures. Haha. She told me afterwards, "see Momma.. I told you a million times... I still need my toilet seat (the one that I insist on not using because she really doesn't need it, but Dan insists that she does) because my pompas (aka butt) are too small!" Hahaha.

Ballet should be interesting considering our Crannie's prone to clumsiness! 

Social 3-year old

Maddie doesn't cease to amaze me in so many aspects of her personality.

She went from being a painfully shy 2 - 2 1/2 year old a year ago, to completely coming out of her 'shell' and becoming our social little Cran. She lives for friendships. She thrives on conversation and wants to talk about everything and anything. She has an enormous desire to meet new people, and new friends. She loves anybody. She wants to say "hello" to every other child she ever meets. I think she wishes that every person she meets could be her best friend. 

Though she has met many snooty kids and many 'bullies,' she's also met a handful of wonderful friends recently that she truly appreciates. After playing with Kayla and Chloe at the pool on Saturday, Maddie has been asking non-stop when her friends can come play. I finally worked up the nerve to stop by at their apartment yesterday on our way to the pool and get their phone number from their mom and asked if today would work. Fortunately, it did. 

Kayla and Chloe came over today just for about 45 minutes in the afternoon. They are 10 years old and 6 years old, and yet incredibly sweet and nice to Maddie. They play with Maddie because they truly enjoy playing with Maddie, and not because they feel obligated to since she's so much younger than them. Actually, it's extremely funny to watch  Maddie with the older girls. She just loves them.

They played with all the 'Pets' for quite some time, and also set up the cottage in Maddie's room. They were very busy. Meanwhile, I sat in our bedroom just laughing under my breath at how cute Maddie is. When they first went in to Maddie's room, Maddie whipped out her harmonica and started belting out a tune. She goes, "that's my music that I like to play before we start playing. Ok, we can start playing guys!" She does NOT stop talking. She kept saying things like

"ohhhh... Chloe, your shirt is beautiful. Where did you get it?"

"ohhh.. Chloe, I like your eyes. They're beautiful."

"wow, Kaila. Your hair is so beautiful."

"do you guys like my shorts? Do you guys like my shirt? I wish it had Aurora on it (she was wearing her princesses shirt) because she is my favorite princess."

"isn't our home so nice? My momma likes it very clean for you guys." (haha).

"What do you guys call your Momma? I call my Momma, 'Momma.' I love her" (that one brought the biggest smile to my face as I sat there eavesdropping!)

"My Daddy is very silly" (when Dan was taunting Maddie about the 'Stinkus Brothers' (aka The Jonas Brothers))

"I have a pet guinea pig. He's name is Gordon. He likes to poop in his cage a lot. He's so silly."

Actually, Maddie also did something totally unlike herself when the girls had to leave. She cried very softly. She gets very embarrassed when she cries, especially in front of other people. But, she was very sad when they had to go. 

It's just so nice to have met some very nice friends that Maddie truly loves. Not only that, the friends she has met are all sweethearts just like my Cran. I hope that the day she does start school that she's able to meet nice friends just like she has met this summer. It makes all the difference now that I realize she's growing up (slowly.... SLOWLY!) and wanting to form her own friendships. I know she'll always be my best friend, and I'll always be hers but it will be that much more comforting to know one day when I play a lesser role in her life that she can make good friends.

Crannie

Old Spice?

Cran never fails to give me a good laugh, the best quality in a best friend!

Dan got a sample of some Old Spice deodorant the other day when he got his lovely Madden '09, and Maddie for some reason has taken a liking to it. I have a feeling it's her fetish with smells. She's always loved lotions, chapsticks, body sprays, etc. Anything that smells nice. Well now lately if I notice she has disappeared for a little while, I've been finding her applying Old Spice deodorant to her underarms. It's been like smelling an older man all the time.. and yet it's just my Cran. She always has the funniest little grin on her face too when I catch her putting on more deodorant. She tells me that it smells too good not to use. Hahaha. 

She and I kept busy this afternoon making cookie bars. This was something new we hadn't tried, and she had a lot of fun making them. Not to mention, it was also a good day because she found her crown that she's been looking for for 3 days now. She LOVES her crown. Once again, she wore it up to the pool today. 

My little Old Spice wearing princess.

Leave it to Crannie

We've been reading one of her very old Mother Goose books lately at night. Since there are so many pages and so many short stories/poems, I let her choose about 10 or so. I told her it was time for bed after reading, and she asks for "one more Momma, the one with the little boy that loves sour candy." I had no idea what she was talking about, and she says "Mommmmma... it's the little boy with the green shirt. He loves sour candy." She leafed through every single page from back to front until she came to the page about Jack Dandy (who, for the record, indeed is wearing a green shirt).

Handy- spandy, Jacky dandy,

Loves plum cake and sugar candy,

He bought some at the grocer's shop,

And pleased away went hop, hop, hop.

Totally my Crannie to single out and remember a poem about a little boy who loves candy. The picture is hilarious too because it's a little boy holding tons of "sweets" (as Maddie would call them) with a huge smile on his face. Reminds me of Cran.

We were the only losers at the pool today. I say losers, but really I mean it was great. It was incredibly breezy though and really not even all that warm, so there wasn't a soul there today. It was great because they had everything to themselves. Maddie's been doing some great jumps now in to the baby pool and always loves to practice her swims in the big pool. It was weird today because the lifeguard- who we've seen the entire summer- asked me out of the blue how old Maddie was. When I told him 3, he told me that he has a little girl who is 4 and that she and his wife are somewhere in Europe either in Serbia, Yugoslavia, or Italy. I don't know what he meant by 'somewhere' but he said that he works here in the summers and doesn't see them from May until September. I felt so bad. I've finally now realized why he always seems so touched when Maddie and Faith wave 'hi' and 'bye' to him and when Maddie asks him how he's doing and sings made-up songs in the big pool. He told me that she reminds him so much of his daughter. It was really sweet. All the while Maddie was singing yet another made-up song with lyrics that included stuff about princesses, Sesame Place, candy, the HersheyPark theme song, and guns. And, while Maddie was doing her laps Faith was running back and forth doing her cute face and break-it-down dance.

At dinner tonight she asked me to say the prayers first, and then decided to say her own:

Thank you Lord for my great girl friends. Thank you for my Beebster who is very sneaky. What a happy war. (hahahaha). 

Friends day

Nene sent a card today that opened and sang the theme song to "Friends" which was an instant hit for dancing with the Cran and the B. Very fitting with the whole "Friends" theme, because Maddie had a blast today with her girl friends.

Isabelle and Cassy came to play today. I was telling their mom that it's so ironic and only my luck that we finally get around to talking more, and they've moved out of the townhouse that's right next to our apartments. We've been talking now for almost 2 years; I first ran in to them when little Beebster was only 3 months old. She was the only person that I would talk to on a slightly consistent basis, and I always thought it was cool that she also was a stay-at-home mom with my same values raising two little girls. Now they've moved though, and now is when Maddie, Faith, Isabelle, and Cassy have really started talking more and become more attached. Ironic, or just plain cruel?

Either way, today was a great day for my little women. Isabelle and Cassy came over for lunch and they all played wonderfully. On Tuesday we had decided that today would work well. Maddie cried that morning because she wanted them to come play that same day. She asked yesterday morning if they'd be coming, and was ecstatic to see them come today. She was in absolute heaven. It's one of the coolest things in the world to see Maddie now at the age where she thrives on good friends and friendships. She lives for meeting new friends, and really values all of her friends. Nice friends. Luckily, Isabelle who is 7 is exactly like Cran. She's such a sweetheart. The two of them played incredibly well together. They were in Maddie's room with her door shut inventing stuff to play. They were in our room sitting at the computer with a little cash register pretending to sell stuff. Maddie was the customer and Isabelle was selling Cran library books. Maddie had an old Disney bag filled with stuff that she had "bought." They were restaurant entrepreneurs seating Beebster and Cassy at the little table in the kitchen, all the while giggling non-stop. They were musicians playing on their keyboards.

It makes me laugh how very similar the 4 little ladies are. Cassy and Faith are just as similar a pair as Isabelle and Maddie. The little sisters are charismatic little ladies with the spunkiest personalities, and yet as sweet as can be. So funny!

I took the Cran and the B. out to play in the back after the girls had left, and Maddie kept telling me all about the fun she had had. At one point, Isabelle told Cran to go behind the cottage with her because she had a secret to tell her. The next thing I know, I was changing Faith's diaper in our room and Maddie comes up to me and tells me "Momma, she's daddy (yes, she still does the pronoun mixing up thing, which I think is adorable!) is named WOBUT." It took me a few seconds to realize that the secret Isabelle wanted to tell Maddie was that her dad's name is Robert. Isabelle talks with the cutest little lisp, and her 'r's' are 'w's.' I laughed so hard at the fact that Maddie had shared her first secret with a little girl friend, and that this was what it was about. So sweet and innocent.

Great day for my little girl who just loves new friends.

Ballerina

Looks like little Crannie will be our ballerina starting in September!

We had thought of putting her in a summer soccer league, but she had told us flat out that she wanted to do "ballerina." Unfortunately, there hadn't been any dance classes this summer that would have worked with Dan's schedule, so we figured we'd wait and see what the times for the classes for the '08-'09 year would be like. There's a 3-year old class that will work well with us, and it will be every Saturday starting September 8th until the big recital at the end of May or early June. Needless to say, Maddie is SUPER, SUPER excited. Her face was priceless this morning when we asked her if she'd still want to do ballet class. She goes, "oh yes, Momma! I will have more girl friends. Watch this.." and goes on to do some spins. Haha.

I can not deny the fact that I am so excited about Crannie doing ballet!

1. I'm so happy that this is something SHE wants to do (and has insisted she's wanted to do now for months) rather than us testing different things to see what she may or may not like.
2. I'm so happy for that her that she'll (hopefully) be able to meet some great friends. She is an extremely social, happy little girl and thinks the world of anyone who will talk to her or play with her. Yesterday at the pool she was in the baby pool with two girls surrounding her. They were 10 and 6. She is 3 and was leading the conversation! I heard her saying "oh, you both have beautiful blue eyes. That's like Ariel and Beebster. I have beautiful brown eyes like Aurora.." Haha. It was quite a sight to see Crannie surrounded by such older little girls. She was in heaven.
3. I am so excited to see Crannie in her ballet stuff and get her little ballet shoes! I was telling Dan about the recital that they do at the end of the year (he has no knowledge whatsoever of ballet!) and he thought it was the coolest thing in the world to know that she'll be in a show and that he, Faith, and I will get to wave to her and see her dance! That was always my most favorite part of doing ballet all those years-- the big show in June.
4. I think it will be so cool for Beebster to see her big sissy at dance class. I think Faith will get such a kick out of it, and I know how proud Maddie will be to show Faith what she learns.