Three times the size

As a child, I loved all those magic toys. Anything that would allow me to perform was good in my book.

When Zoe and I went to Michael's to get painting supplies, I saw these on their $1 aisle.

I couldn't pass them up.

I got a couple glasses of warm water. I knew Zoe would be amazed at the little pill turning into a sponge farm animal. Quite honestly, who wouldn't be amazed. A capsule the size of a multi-vitamin being able to contain a foam animal. It's like the 8th wonder of the world. You know, right after the Taj Mahal and self-cleaning mini-blinds. Actually I'm not sure it can compare to self-cleaning mini-blinds because if someone would invent that they would deserve a Nobel Peace Prize and most of my admiration. If you've never had to clean mini blinds consider yourself the luckiest person ever.

We put the capsules in the water and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I know it's supposed to be amazing and all, but a 2 year old does not have enough attention to wait the 5 minutes it takes for a horse to suddenly appear.

Quite frankly, neither do I. I helped them along and we got a goat, rooster, sheep and something that resembled a horse that hadn't had a drink in about a million years.

He just looks sad about being the green horse in a capsule.

His life purpose was to make a 2 year old "nay" in excitement.

He should be proud, she won't even do that for me.

Summer Art Class

This week I decided Zoe and I needed an art project. We went to Michael's to get some supplies and came home to create.

I think our walls will never look better!

We're a family of congratulators

Not only is Zoe now "bumping the rock" she also freely gives high 5's.

Last night I was emptying the dishwasher and she insisted on helping. She would pull out a dish, ask to be put on the counter and would put the dish away. She was so proud of herself putting all the cups, plates, bottles and sippy cups in the right places.

When the dishwasher was finally empty she goes, "good job mommy" and puts her hand up for a high 5.

She cracks me up.

It's like the biker school for toddlers

Zoe is finally at the age where she is repeating the words you say. If you catch her on a good day, she'll even say the words you ask her to say. N has way more fun with this than I do.

Here was the conversation on the way to church:

N: Zoe can you say please?
Z: Please!
N: Can you say geewilackers?
Z: No.
N: Can you say cool beans?
Z: Cool beans, cool beans, cool beans, cool beans

It's her new favorite saying.

That is until daddy mad a fist and asked her to "bump the rock." Now they fist pound as a way of hello.

I'm sure Michael Phelps acted the same way at 2

Saturday was our first swimming lesson. Last year Zoe loved it so much she never wanted to get out of the water. We spent extra time jumping in, playing with a noodle and singing Do You Know the Popcorn Man.

To say I was excited about this year is putting it lightly.

We got in the water, met some of the other kids and our teacher who is named after a character in the Sound of Music. If that's not a girl destined to be a toddler swim class teacher, I don't know what is. It only elevated my hopes of this year's swim lesson to be the year Zoe realized her potential in the water and cemented her a future as an Olympian.

Sometimes I'm known to be dramatic.

Apparently so is Zoe.

The first song of If You're Happy and You Know it was a bust. She cried, wiggled and did whatever she could to free herself from the torture of being in the water and being forced to sing.

Liesl (see, total Sound of Music name) caught on that it was time to do something interactive, so she brought out balls. The kids were to throw them and then mock swim to them as their parents basically maneuvered them through the water. This distracted Zoe for all of 2.5 minutes. Which is the entire amount of time that she enjoyed the class.

She wanted nothing to do with jumping in, nothing to do with London Bridge, the noodles, nothing. It was basically 20 minutes of wailing and gnashing of teeth. She wanted out of my arms, out of the pool and out of this class like 20 minutes ago.

With only 2.5 minutes left in class, we went to get our towels. That's when she decided she wanted back in the pool.

We were by the entry into the pool that is gradual, so toddlers can actually walk in without being in 3 feet of water immediately. This gave Zoe a sense of being much bigger than she was. She wanted to walk to her class. Alone.

She made it to where the water was touching her bottom lip before I pulled her out. The sense of being too short and drowning are foreign to her. After all, we're always telling her what a big girl she is. I guess that means when you're not quite 3 feet, you can still stand, above water, in 3.5 feet of water.

She was beyond mad at me. It took an additional 45 minutes after class for her to calm down.

We only have 5 more days until all those parents in the class can go home and say, "gee Brianna you did so good, not like that other little girl in the ladybug swimsuit." At least we did accomplish something during our 2.5 minutes of swim lessons.

The cannonball that never was

Yesterday I went home from work early to spend some time with N and Zoe. I had grand ideas to spend time at the pool. It's less than 1/2 a mile up the road and it is full of good times.

As I got home, I had N put a swimmer and suit on Zoe, I ran into the bedroom to get ready, packed a bag and we were ready.

With the extreme temps we've been having all I've wanted to do was sit in water somewhere. I've been looking forward to our pool trip for a full week.

As we turned into the parking lot, it was empty. The sign on the fence said "open daily from 10:30-5:30." Yet the metal door to the entrance was closed.

We went home and I called.

"Are you open today?"
"Not for open swim."

Honestly. It's like 94 degrees outside, I actually put on a swimsuit and they're closed.

To say I was disappointed is putting it mildly. I think I'm hormonal because I actually cried a little bit.

Fortunately swim lessons start tomorrow for Zoe, so I'll at least get to be in the water. Even though it's indoors.

Dinner a la flambé

It’s a good thing Zoe is the next Rachael Ray because her mother has some serious problems in the kitchen. Last night I had a strange desire to cook a nice meal for Zoe and myself. Typically during the week we do easy since it’s just the two of us and I’m okay with cereal for dinner. I decided yesterday that we needed some ham, au gratin potatoes for me, mashed potatoes for Zoe, asparagus for me and green beans for Zoe. This meal would be at least a 5 pot meal, which is exactly 4 pots more than I like washing.

We rushed home, she played Mr. Potato Head and I got started. I put some water on the boil for the potatoes and got to work on Zoe’s potatoes.

After about 4 minutes I noticed that the water I had put on the stove still wasn’t appearing to be getting hot.

Then I discovered why.

I turned on the wrong burner. The one that was getting hot was cooking my burner cover. My stainless steel, holds up to anything burner cover.

In my panic I turned off the burner, grabbed some hot pads and lifted the scorched burner cover off. That’s when I saw the spark of a small fire.

Fortunately it was only a spark. I dropped the burner cover in the sink and got the water running to cool it.

That’s when I noticed my cloth hot pad also seemed to be smoking or igniting. I threw it into the sink too.

The house is filling with smoke, Zoe’s running to the door and asking, “mom okay? Okay mom?” I’m running around the kitchen trying to make sure the stove isn’t sparking anymore, the sink is keeping the hot pad and the burner cover from doing anything else and waving my arms around to keep the fire alarms from going off.

Just typing this makes my heart race again.

Fortunately no damage was done to the stove. A little elbow grease took care of any marks. The hot pad and burner cover didn’t survive. At least our house did and so did dinner.