Friday, March 18, 2011

Funny Stories from this Winter...

I haven’t posted in a long time; I guess the long dull winter hasn’t created any memorable experiences to share.

Liv is growing up quickly… a little too quickly at times. Her personality is a mix of mommy and daddy which is quite a scary combination that does account for some funny situations.
Here are a few funny stories that I can remember over the past few months:

Livvy Eats Healthy – At school Liv is learning all about healthy eating and it’s been both good and bad for us all. First, she takes it very seriously. When she eats something healthy she makes a point to mention it to almost everyone but when she eats something unhealthy, she has this guilt that doesn’t let mommy rest! For instance, one day when Liv was spending the day with Grandma and cousin Immanuel, they decided to go to Mc Donald’s for lunch. Now most of the time this would be an exciting and special treat but since Liv is learning to eat healthy, things get all spun around. She instantly tells Grandma that this lunch is NOT healthy and refuses to eat until Grandma offers the option of cucumbers alongside the chicken mcnuggets. Good thinking Grandma… now we all know what to do.


Ordering Food – Every time daddy is making his list of food for the grocery store, she also gives him a list – a bagel, salami, snowflakes (a.k.a - corn flakes), steak, etc. Her lists get very long but she never forgets an item. For example – one day daddy bought everything, came home and then told Liv what he got her. He rambles off at least 10 items she ordered and then says – “oh and guess what? I got you your favorite, peaches!” She’s been waiting for them to come into the store all winter. She’s excited for a second and then asks “but what about my salami?”… she never forgets.


Raisins – For the past week, as we came closer to St. Patrick’s day (or “Patrick’s day” to Liv), we’ve been talking about the Irish Soda Bread that she is going to have in class. All week she’s been saying that she’s going to take out the raisins because she doesn’t like them. I of course try to encourage her to try them and say “Mommy and the baby love raisins!” So she says.. “I’ll save them for you, mommy”. I thought nothing of it until today. I get a call from one of her teachers and she’s laughing on the phone. She had to call and tell me this cute story… Olivia just went up to one of her teachers with her hands cupped like she was holding something very fragile. She said “Mr. Steve, can you save these?” Mr. Steve, now pretty afraid of what he was about to find in her hands, peers in to see about 10 raisins in her hands. Apparently one of the teachers brought in Irish Soda Bread again today since it was a big hit with the children during yesterday’s celebration. Well, Liv ate the bread like all the other children and picked out each and every raisin to save for mommy. When Mr. Steve asked her “why do you want to save these?” she says “Mommy likes these and the baby really, really needs them.” Well now the 10 raisins are in a napkin labeled “Olivia’s Mommy”. I really hope none of them were on the floor or anything because of course I’m going to have to eat them right away!


Somebody Else’s Car – When we went on vacation this winter, we rented a car. Olivia doesn't really understand the idea of a rental car. She kept asking if we're going to drive "Somebody else's car" today and asking when we're going to give it back. I think she thinks we stole it!

Matching Clothes – The other day on the ride home Liv explains to me that she wore Cassie’s leggings for dance class instead of her own. It took me a while to get the full story out of her but apparently the pink body suit I gave her and black tights “did not match” so she literally took the other girls leggings “because the pink pants matched my outfit” and had the teacher put them on her. I asked her a few times if she just traded with Cassie but she didn’t remember. So the next day when the teacher sent out an email asking everyone to label their child’s clothing, I just had to inquire. Well, what happened is that all the girls had pink or white tights and the teacher put Liv in Cassie’s pink tights accidentally. Then, when the teachers were searching all around for Cassie’s tights, Liv said nothing. When they came back from dance class Liv told her teacher “I have Cassie’s tights on”. The teacher asked her “why didn’t you tell me?” she said, “Because I didn’t”. Well… she’s already stealing people’s clothes in the name of fashion… this is scary. I promised the teacher that we would label the clothes AND I would get Liv’s approval before packing her bag in the future.

Stuck in the Bathroom – Now you often hear stories of children locking themselves in the bathroom, but what about parents being locked in by their children? We have a bathroom/boiler room that is accessible from both the outside and the inside of the house. So that we can keep the door open to the outside when workers or the utility guy needs access to that room, we have a lock on both sides of the door. One morning, Liv was playing with daddy before school and I was getting ready. She was talking to him through the bathroom door and said “goodbye daddy”. We left the house, drove part of the way to work/school when my phone rang. It was J at home. I pick up and he says “can you come back home and let me out of the bathroom”. As I turn the car around I ask Liv, “did you lock daddy in the bathroom?” She laughs and says “I locked him in because he wasn’t ready to come out.” Good thing Daddy had his phone with him or he would have been stuck venturing outside in the freezing cold to find help.


That Funny Guy - The ride home from school produces very interesting conversations. On St. Patty's day, Liv was telling me about her day; dance class, swimming, etc. Then she starts talking about this "funny guy". She does something her Nonna always does and starts the story in the middle... so she has me guessing what the heck she's talking about. "So mommy, the funny guy, he was so sneaky. He left sprinkles on the floor and they got stuck on my feet. That wasn't a good idea mommy. Mr. Steve used the towel to get them off. It was so funny!" I'm clueless at this point. I ask her who this funny guy was but it takes about 10 minutes of telling me about the sparkles and sprinkles to give me a clue. "He left strings all over the classroom and sprinkles and sparkles on the floor. He made a mess everywhere! and he left his hat on the chair." hmm.. mischief... st. patty's day... oh! A Leprechaun!! "Was the funny guy really small?" "Yes mommy, he was this big... mommy look." I do a quick glance back as I'm driving down the highway to see her pointer finger and thumb separated by about 2 inches... ah ha... a Leprechaun. "Was he a Leprechaun." "Yea! That's what he was. He was such a funny little guy he even turned our jello green! He did it all when we were napping and the kindergardeners were in the hallway. He's so sneaky!"

The end...

Well, I’m sure there are other funny stories that occurred this winter. I’ll post them when they come to mind.
-S