Depictions

The other day when Faith was sick, Dan went to Giant for some freeze pops for our poor little Beebster. He came home with a Princess magazine that caught his eye that he figured would put a smile on our little women's faces. He was very right. They loved it. It just so happened too that it had Jasmine on the cover, so it made Maddie's day. There was also a poster inside that they both helped hang on their wall. 

Inside of the magazine, there was a place where you could draw yourself with your favorite princess and then number your favorite princesses in order. They were both on their stomachs on the living room floor numbering their favorite princesses. Maddie would go first with a choice, then ask Faith and Faith would point and say "Ess!" Anyway, Maddie took it upon herself to draw the depiction for the 'princess and me' portrait. She ended up drawing what she said are herself, Jasmine, and her Beebster all holding hands and in a row. It was too sweet. Faith keeps pointing to that picture (now on the fridge) every day.

Also, the other day Maddie was working on her math workbook. There were two pages that were about big, bigger, biggest and small, smaller, smallest. She had to draw at the bottom of each page something or someone smaller than herself, and something or someone bigger than herself. She drew Beebster for someone smaller, and she drew a little friend from the complex named Kayla for someone bigger. Those drawings are always priceless.

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Maddie was one of only 6 girls at dance class today. She was- and is-, by far, the most enthusiastic of all of the girls there. She has moments where she says she doesn't quite feel like going to dance class, and we have missed twice because clearly we're not going to force her to go. But, 99% of the time, she is so extremely excited about seeing Ms. Dawn and enthused about their helper teacher, Ms. Melissa. It's really neat. They've started learning their two dances for their show in May, and Maddie is the only one that sings at the top of her lungs and gets excited about it all. Their costumes are precious, and Dan and I are so excited to see our Crannie on stage in May!

Spontaneous singing

Crannie caught on camera while she takes her "rest time".. ironically, she was singing the song from the Disney show that she still remembers quite well

My sweetheart

My sweet girl was so excited to go the library today to check out some new books. She was thrilled to find her Disney cookbook that she constantly is borrowing from the library, plus a bunch of Disney books and a Princess movie featuring none other than Jasmine. She went to the librarian with her Beebster and when the librarian looked at the cookbook and asked Maddie if she likes to cook, Maddie jumped on that opportunity to talk about cooking:

"Oh, I LOVE cooking. I help my mother all the time. (with a huge smile and her head tilted to the side with her hands folded together). I help my mother crack the eggs, and it's so much fun. One day, I will help clean up the mess afterwards."

Hahaha. My favorite parts were the cleaning up the mess part, and the fact that she was referring to me as her 'mother.' She's too funny!

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Last night in the tub she started singing the 'Thankfulness" from a Veggie Tales episode that they haven't seen in months. She had her own words to it, and I couldn't help but smile at my sweet Crannie:

"I thank God for my family.. for my mom and my dad. For my Beebster and her pompas (hahaha), and for my trip to DisneyWorld. I love my trips to Sesame and to my favorite beach hotel. I thank God all the time."

Crannie-ism's

Maddie told me the following today:

"Momma, why didn't we go to Animal Kingdom when we were in Disney?"

- well, Cran, because it costs a lot of money to go to each park

"well, you know (with a tilt of her head), we could've used my quarters. Let's make sure to take quarters next time, ok?"

Then we were talking about the rollercoaster in Happy Harbor at SeaWorld today with Dan. It was a little kiddie rollercoaster that we wanted to take them on, but they kindly had declined. Maddie told us,

"well, I'll ride it with you guys when I'm 64 years old."

We just laughed!

4 year check-up

Cran made me one proud Momma today, as usual. 

She had her 4-year check-up today, and this is an appointment that she actually has been looking forward to and even remembered the date. I think she has been so set on trying to prove that she can be brave when she gets her shots. 

She brought her beloved Genie figure with her (she says that Genie is her most favorite character from Disney movies because he is the funniest) because she said that between Beebster and the Genie, she would be brave. Ironically, she forgot the Genie out in the waiting room when we were called back, and we nearly lost him if it weren't for a nice man that told us he had given it to the receptionist. Thank goodness!

Cran went with the nurse to get measured and weighed and all, and Beebster kept asking "Momma, where Dee?" Maddie did a hearing and vision test today for the first time, and came back in all smiles telling me proudly that she had read all of her letters and saw the pictures that were on the screen, and that she had heard all of the beeps. She weighs 36 lbs now and is 39 1/2 inches tall; in the 50th percentile for both. I was glad to hear she was back up to 36 lbs because she had lost so much weight in December with that horrible stomach virus, that she had been down to 33 lbs. 

It was so funny because when the nurse told Cran to get undressed down to her underwear for the doctor, Faith started ripping at her shirt and overalls and took off her shoes. She wanted to be just like her Maddie. And, then when they came in with the shots (it was MMR and Chicken pox today), Faith miraculously decided she also loved shots and pulled up her sleeves for them to prick her as well. She wants to be JUST like her Dee, it's so cute. Maddie impressed us all by focusing on a little puppy on the tiled wall and NOT crying whatsoever. I was so, so, so very proud. She told me afterwards that she was brave "like my friend, Alexa." It was too cute. She went out to the waiting room and upon finding the Genie, she told him she hadn't cried and she pretended to be his voice: "Oh, I'm so proud of you Maddie" and made him kiss her. 

That's my Crannie!

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Totally unrelated, but she was making Valentine's last week out of construction paper. She wanted to make one for her 'Fafey' and I told her I would help her spell Faith's name once I used the bathroom quick. I came back, and was totally surprised to see that she had spelled Faith's name 'FAF,' which, to her, is phonetically correct. I was so very proud!

The time of her life

My little Crannie misses her hotel in Orlando so very much. She tells us constantly that she wants to go back to Disney. That she wants to swim in the pool again. That she wants to feed the dolphins. That she wants to ride the carousels. Etc, etc, etc. 

Ever since we went to the beach last summer, she was always wishing to go back to "my beach hotel." She would constantly talk about the beach and that hotel. That has all changed. She is constantly talking about Florida and how much fun she had. If we are out when it gets dark now, she will look for the first star and whisper quietly and wish. I always ask her if she can tell me what she wished, and she tells me she wishes that "all of my friends could go back to Disney." She had a blast, and that's putting it lightly.

She misses her "Hankie" so very much. That was her one negative to her trip. I still can't believe our Maddie is without her beloved blankie. She has loved that blankie since she was 7 months old; she had always had it with her since she was a baby, but we first started noticing that she would get comfort out of sniffing it when she was 7 months old. I still remember taking her to Target at that age for her portraits, and the darn woman dropped the shutter button right on her head. Cran was hysterically crying, and the woman snapped a picture of her sitting there with the reddest, puffiest eyes and yet sniffing her blankie. We never ordered that picture, but I still remember it. She tells us all the time that her new blankie just doesn't smell like "Hankie." She's trying so hard to love her 'Jasmine' blankie though, but yet always wants to share Faith's and is always asking if the hotel has found it yet. Poor Maddie.

When we were at SeaWorld we got her and Faith some "worry stones." This is what Grampa always called the smooth, pretty rocks that you can find at all of the earth and nature stores. Well, she and Faith had a field day picking out the prettiest rocks. When I explained to her that you can rub one of the smooth rocks to try and release your worries, she thought this was wonderful. She has been doing this a lot.

Besides the blankie tragedy though, Maddie was in Disney heaven. On the day that she was disappointed about not getting to do the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, a woman outside of the store came up to her with a wand and asked her if she wanted "pixie dust" in her hair. Of course Maddie did, and the woman told her to make a wish while she put it in her hair. She did NOT want us to even remotely touch her hair after that, and she didn't want to wash her hair that night so that she could go to Magic Kingdom the next day with it still in her hair. She still hasn't told us what her wish was on that given day. 

The entire trip was pure magic for my little Crannie. It was as though she was living a fairytale straight out of a Disney movie, not only at Disney but also at SeaWorld and everything else that we did. It was nothing short of wonderful. 

Secrets

Cran is becoming famous these days for her secrets!

She is always telling us that she has a secret to tell us, and, to be honest, it cracks me up when she whispers something in my ear because it tickles! It's really cute.

She came into the kitchen today to tell me a secret while I was making dinner, and it was too sweet. She told me, (whispering of course) "Momma, you are the most beautiful girl in the world." She then went in to tell Dan a secret and he later told me that it was, "You are the most handsome prince in the whole world, and you are my prince." She thought it was great when Dan then whispered to her that she is his princess. Of course, she then went and told her Beebster a secret which was, "we'll go back to the farm show soon so you can see the Boo's and Baa's!" And, Faith just sat there with a huge glow on her face!