Future Star...

Chloe got her very own basketball goal for Easter! I was a little concerned as last week I tried to get her to play basketball outside with a full size ball, but all she was interested in doing was playing soccer. But with her new goal, she shows that she's a complete natural!

First time's a charm!

And she tries again....
And again....
And again....making it each time!
See....she's showing me how it's done!
Well, that's enough of that. I can't spend all night trying to teach you to play.

Every super star needs a break every once awhile...no more cameras!

And lest you all think that was making this all up, I told the little super star that we needed to get video to show off her skills. So here it is. Enjoy! :)

So I stuck Chloe on a scale today...looks like she's right at 22.5lbs! We'll see how accurate that is...

This first picture is of Chloe playing right before bed. If you notice, she has this habit of taking one sock off and leaving the other on. It's an everyday thing.

Chloe playing on her slide. Note the one sock....

I went ahead and let her have ketchup at home. Here she is enjoying some french fries and a nice veggie burger.

Look how good she is using a fork!

Well, that didn't last too long. Notice she's starting to get ketchup on her face....

Do you guys know what fun dip is? You know the candy stick that you lick and then stick into powdered candy and then suck it off the stick? Well, ketchup and french fries are Chloe's fun dip. She basically uses the french fries to eat ketchup!


By the end, ketchup is everywhere. I especially love the hair!

It seems like there is not enough time in the day for me to accomplish everything that i want to. I feel like I'm constantly doing the same every day chores (laundry, dishes (no dishwasher), bills, picking up after Chloe) every single day. Then after all those things are done, I have to decide what I'm going to do next. There really is so much that I want to fit in, like actually CLEANING instead of picking up, organizing, dusting, exercising, watching TV, email, studying, resting, sleeping, etc. But I have to make a choice, and honestly, usually I'm so exhausted that I don't end up doing anything productive.

To help myself out, there are certain things that I will or won't do to save time and messes/work. For example, I'll only keep so many things in Chloe's reach, that way she can't make as much of a mess. Or I'll line anything that I cook on with aluminum foil to save time cleaning it later. I don't really let Chloe feed herself unless its something that is relatively non-messy. Never do I let her use ketchup by herself, for example.

However, we were having dinner at my last night, when she insisted on giving her ketchup and letting her eat on her own. And this is why I don't let her have it on her own :) :

Where has time gone???

It seems like forever since I've blogged! Things have been quite hectic around here, it hasn't been due to a lack of excitement!

First, let me start by saying that I think Chloe is perfect. But I have to admit, she's got some habits that absolutely drive me nuts.

-This is something that I really don't know what to do about. It's the only thing that I can't just laugh off. Chloe gets hysterical when she's in a car seat in a car with me. It's not your typical cry-for-a-few-minutes-then-I'm-ok. She will cry the WHOLE time. I mean SCREAM. So we only go anywhere when be absolutely have to as it drives me crazy. Actually having to go somewhere with her stresses me out. I actually plan my days around figuring out how I can do the the least amount of driving as possible. The result is that we spend very little time away from the house. Which sucks because it's nice to be able to get out sometimes. But I'm hoping that in time this will pass.

-Chloe doesn't like for me to move. It instantly makes her cry. At first I was going to say that she doesn't like for me to leave the room, or her line of sight, but really that's not even accurate. A lot of times I can't even move from a sitting to standing position without her starting to cry. Now if she notices that I'm not going anywhere, she'll stop crying after a few seconds. But still. I hate that she gets so sad so easily.

**********************************************

You know how every mom has that "mean voice"? You know, the one where you KNOW you are in trouble? Or even the mom look where you don't even have to say anything? Well, I don't think I have either.

Today I kind of lost my patience with Chloe. She keeps banging on the keys to the lap top and I try everything to get her to stop. Nothing. She's on my lap and refuses to get done, but still wants to bang the keys. So finally I just close it. She starts SCREAMING. So I try to put her down, and she just screams louder. So finally I just yell at her (really I just said it loud, I didn't actually scream):

Chloe! It's about time that you learned that you can't have everything you want! When I tell you no, I mean no!

I even had a pretty mean look on my face, I think. Her response? Well, it shuts her up for a second. She just stares at me with this blank look on her face, then instantly starts laughing. And clapping her hands. Then she screams and starts laughing. She totally doesn't take me seriously....

**********************************************

I feel like Chloe's is having this transition into a toddler. I mean, she's been going through that transition for awhile now, but I've just been noticing little things.

I've blogged before about Chloe refusing to call me mama. She calls me dada. I know that she can say mama because I hear her sometimes when she wakes up in the middle of the night. But I'll be like, can you say mama? She just looks at me, smiles and says dada. If I show her a picture of me and ask her who it is, she says dada.

Saturday we were in the car on the way home from the store. Chloe had been crying in her carseat like usual. Towards the end, she was so ready for a nap. She was kind of whimpering and zoning out, but with eyes completely open. When we pull into the garage, I get in to the back seat to get her out. The moments she sees me, we have the following conversation/exchange:

Chloe: (Obviously tired and in a zone) Mamaaa.....

Me: (Smiling, sort of cutting her off) Did you just say mama????

Chloe: (Instantly her mouth drops and this look of shock comes across her face. Then she starts screaming.) DADA DADA DADA DADA!

She's doing it on purpose! So then later I ask her who I am, and she looks at me with this devilish smile on her face....Dada!!!!

She's really into doing things that make people laugh. She's really stepped this up in the past week. She'll do something, show you, then want you to laugh with her. Here's something new that she's picked up that she thinks is the funniest thing in the world. She does this every time she eats now and it just cracks herself up!