Nugget Fifi and the fall of the Klingon Empire
Saturday night, we celebrated Pete's 10th anniversary of his 25th birthday. After an excrutiating dinner at a local oyster house the gang arrived at our abode for cake, presents, and stimulating conversation.

Sarah, who had party-hardied at the restaurant with her friend Logan, was pooped and wanted to hit the sack as soon as we got home. I tucked her in and sat down to read her a story. She pointed to her door and said "Nugget Fifi story, Mommy." Huh? "Nugget Fifi." It took me a moment, but I realized what she was saying. I went to the kitchen, looked at Phillip and said, "Sarah wants Uncle Fifi to read her a story." Of course, Phillip gave me an evil look - hehe ;)

After doing a marvelous job at reading her to sleep, Phillip returned and we proceeded to watch Pete open his presents. Phillip and Stef got him a really cool coffee mug and shot glass from Las Vegas at the Hilton where all the Star Trek stuff is. The coffee mug has the Federation logo on it and is a really funky travelling mug. The shot glass is of Klingon design - a porcelain cup and a metal stand with three legs meant to represent the Klingon symbol. It promptly broke upon inspection - never can trust that Klingon engineering.

Monday, Memorial Day, Sarah found the remains of the shot glass stand and decided it would be the perfect receptacle for her butterfly hair clips. Now, this container will not stand up because it only has two legs at that moment, but this does not deter our young ward. She brought it and the hair clips to me while I was sitting on the bed, asked to be picked up, and immediately squashed the metal underneath her - snap! Ooops. There goes another one of its legs. Seeing the weakness of this symbol of the mighty Klingon Empire, she begins to grunt and grind her teeth while bending the third and last leg - snap! Uh oh! "Look Mommy! I broke it! I breaking it!" she announced with a very proud smile. I wonder what Worf would think.

Daddy's Birthday
Today is Daddy's birthday. Sarah told him "happy birfday" this morning and promptly ran into the kitchen repeating "birfday" while looking for cake. Aunt Stef would be proud. :) Sadly, there was none to be found. But we'll have cake this weekend.

Will the real Mommy please stand up?
Sometimes, Sarah will pretend that she is Mommy. For example, this morning she managed to reach one of the numerous Chap Sticks I have stashed around the house, opened it up, applied a very generous amount to her lips, and said to me, "I'm Mommy." Or if she is playing with the nifty kitchen set Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike gave her on her birthday, she will cook up some dinner, bring it to me and again announce that she is Mommy. At this point I will ask her to fix me some juice or tell her I want a cookie (just as she would). "Okay, Mommy," she says and gives me invisible snacks. I like to tease her and say, "No, I'm Mommy." She will laugh and say, "No *I'm* Mommy! You're Daddy."

Last night she sat at my desk and kept saying "purder." I had no idea what this new word was. "Purder, Mommy. Purder." She proceeded to type on the keyboard and pointed to the monitor. "Ohhh! Computer!" "Yes, Mommy! Purder!" I told her that was my computer. She shook her head. "No, my purder. That your purder," she corrected, pointing to my second computer. I had to laugh.

At the Movies
Yesterday, Sarah, her friend Lauren, Lauren's mom (my friend Steph), and I went to see Shrek 2 at the theater. It was a first for both and they did great! Sarah isn't quite big enough to keep the seat from folding back up so she sat in my lap most of the time. There was also the occasional loud comment from the peanut gallery (Look, Mommy, it's Shrek!) but all in all they were fantastic.

Big Girl
For the past two days (and hopefully today and beyond), Sarah has been using the potty regularly! She's staying dry and telling us when she needs to go! Hallelujah, there is a potty fairy! Such a big girl. *sniffle*

And now for something completely different....

Don't you just love how toddlers say certain words or they have certain meanings? For example, Sarah's pronunciation of "clap." I thought I'd share a small list of her words just in case you need a little interpretation.

Bish (fish), scrudder (stroller), yipe (wipe), bess you (bless you), sippers (slippers), soop (bathing suit), cayrt (carrot), ayeg (egg), yesyee (Leslie), ganpa (Grandpa), p-butter (peanut butter -- she can say peanut and she can say butter... just not together, heh), ross (rhinocerous), jaff (giraffe), effent (elephant), yion (lion), nose (she needs a tissue), up (down), down (up), yeddow (yellow), lub (love), sticks (fish sticks), and one more... mommydaddy or daddymommy (when she gets a flustered talking to both of us).

Potty Mouth?
Sarah poopied in the potty yesterday! Hooray! She and I were in her room playing when she made a funny face and said, "Mommy, I pooped." I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty to which she replied "yes." We zipped off to the bathroom, got her on the seat and she proceeded to do her business. What a big girl! Let's hope this continues!

This morning I was getting her some juice and she picked up a couple of scoops off the counter (scoops as in plastic scoops you scoop stuff with - duh). She started banging them together, looked up at me and said, "Look Mommy. Crap. I'm crapping." I gave her a look. What? She continued to bang them together. Ooooh! The light came on. "You're clapping." "Yes Mommy. Crap."

Peeeyew!!
I think I need to stow a gas mask in my car. Sarah wore tennis shoes without socks today. While walking to the car, she splashed around in some puddles left by the rain. Needless to say, she wanted to take her wet shoes off on the way home. I thought I was going to pass out! I never thought a little girl could have such stinky feet! And because it was raining, I couldn't roll down the window - sob.

Beach Trip
We went to Gulf Shores/Ft. Morgan for Mother's Day weekend - Sarah's first trip to the beach. I was afraid that she would be scared of the water, but she is true to her sign, Pisces the fish. We arrived Friday afternoon, headed straight to the beach and she ran straight to the water! No fear there! She called the water the "big bathtub" and the beach was the "sandbox." Saturday and Sunday she was a little wary of the water because the waves were bigger and scared her a little. The undertow was pretty strong, too, so we didn't get to far in.

She also loved the swimming pool at the condo! She met some new friends there, too - Mary Ashley & Coco.
Jumping into Daddy's arms in the pool was great fun!

We will definitely go back again!

Sleepwalking?
Around 10:45 last night I heard Sarah stirring in her room. I can see her door from our bed, and I watched her open it and softly say "Daddy." In my mind I'm thinking, "Go back to bed, go back to bed," but in reality I'm just waiting for her to come into our room. I wait, and wait... and wait? Hmmm. That's odd. I thought I heard her walking our way.

A few more minutes tick by and still we have not been visited by the toddler from across the hall. Not really wanting to get out of the bed (because I'm covered in cats and toasty warm), I shrugged off the blankets and tip-toed to her room. She has a night light next to her bed, but even though the weak light let me see much of her room, I didn't see her. I stepped into the room - no Sarah. Not hiding behind the door... not crouching next to her changing table... where was she?

So I went into the kitchen - nope. Not in the living room, or the bathroom... or the guest room. I peered down the stairs... it was pretty dark, but I *thought* I could see pink pajamas on the couch. Down the stairs I went and sure enough, there's Sarah lying on the couch in the dark. When she saw me she sat right up and says... well, I didn't understand what she said. I told her it was nite-nite time and picked her up. She replied, "no," but went willingly enough. Once back in her bed, I gave her another blanket (it was pretty chilly last night), made sure she had the toys she wanted, gave her a kiss and crawled back under the cats.

I can't say for sure if she was sleepwalking or just having a fit of insomnia. It was damn strange of her to go downstairs in the dark and lie on the couch, though. She typically comes into our room. Plus, she didn't take any toys, her juice, or turn on the TV. I was a sleepwalker when I was a kid. I'll have to ask my mom when I started my nocturnal roamings.

Hey! Another gray hair!