Seven Quick Takes (Vol. 6)

1. My 15 month old is obsessed with hygiene. You can't even say the b-word (bath) without her running to the bathroom and attempting to pull her own clothes off. It goes further, though. She also wants me to clean her ears and will sit very still and let me. The same goes for her nose. If she has something bothering her in her nose, she will point to it and let me know something needs to be done. She has also become obsessed with getting her teeth brushed. Now at every diaper change, she will yell at me until I get her toothbrush and put some of the fluoride-free baby teeth cleaner stuff on it. I try to get away with just the toothbrush, but she doesn't ever go for that. I always lotion her up after bath and she will sit there on her cute, naked tushy and scratch at her lower back so that I know exactly where she needs the lotion. Bossy? Katie? Never!

2. My resolution is taking better care of myself and all that stuff that falls under that category. You know, healthier eating (which has to translate into weight loss, because I mostly eat crap), exercise, more sleep, even little stuff like shaving my legs more often and doing my nails. You have a baby and all of a sudden, they're the only ones who really looked groomed. I'd like to look like somebody who really loves me is taking care of me, too.

3. I am de-cluttering. We have stuff that we have not unpacked since we moved to this house almost two years ago. Obviously those things are entirely unnecessary to our existence. I intend to go to the basement and make a garage sale/Goodwill pile. (Who am I kidding? I always do Goodwill because I dislike the early morning effort a garage sale entails.)

4. I have figured out the huge appeal of Elmo for toddlers. They can say it! How many one year olds can say "Barney" or "Diego"? But they can all get something out that sounds like "MO" for that little red monster! Mine has gone Elmo crazy. It's the only thing on TV that she will sit down and watch with rapt attention. She has gotten a little too smart about it, too. She will bring me the remote and say "Elmo!" I can't remember my first being quite so tech savvy. Of course, she had no competition, so she didn't have to make her requests so forcefully known.

5. Speaking of what's on TV, we got Maddy, my three year old, a Choo Choo Soul dvd and cd for Christmas. We all love it and the music is so rockin' that my Maddy always dances around like a crazy fool every time.

6. My husband is bubble retarded. I mean, when it comes to blowing bubbles, for some reason, he's really bad at it. And it's not the fault of the bubble liquid because I can use the same stuff and get a bunch.


7. Maddy, my three year old, got a vanity table with a mirror for Christmas. After staring at herself for an unspecified amount of time, she came into the living room and announced that she had lost a tooth. Poor baby, we had to explain to her that she just has such a big gap between her front teeth that it looks like she's lost a tooth. (I actually had an eleven year old boy at church ask me if she'd lost a tooth already.) I think it's cute on her. She's got enough character to pull something like that off.

Check out the other quick takes at http://conversiondiary.com/.