Slices of Life, Vol IV

(What is Slices of Life? Go here to find out.)

*When Daphne doesn't want to do what we say, she likes to run as fast as she can to her bedroom and slam her door shut. I kind of thought we had a few years before that would start.

*I have some Silly Putty that I keep in the diaper bag for Daphne to play with in the car or when we're shopping. For some reason she has a really hard time remembering what it's called so she usually calls it 'wedgie.' It is not uncommon to hear her to ask, "Mama, can I play with the wedgie?"

*Christian will not nap during the day and I have no idea what to do about it. We are struggling.

*The other day Daphne asked if we could sing one of her favorite songs. She asked, "can we sing 'Angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains?'" I liked that she recited half the song just to ask if we could sing it.

*Continuing with the Christmas music theme, she also often asks if we'll sing about the shepherds seeing the angels and then going to see baby Jesus. We don't know what song she's referring to and she always seems happy when we make something up. I think she just wants there to be a song about the shepherds. Aside from baby Jesus, they seem to be her favorite of the nativity people.

*Christian lunges his body toward me when he sees me and someone else is holding him. It's nice to know he likes me.

*The other night before bed Daphne asked if we could pray for Daddy's trainee. David is an official coach at work now and takes out new hires to help them learn the ropes of the job. He is assigned his current (and first) trainee for the next couple of months. I guess Daphne is listening in on all conversations more intently than we realize, since we have never sat her down and discussed the fact that Daddy has a trainee at work.

*Daphne is big on the "I'll go this way, you go that way" game. If we're heading to her bedroom, we most certainly cannot go the same route together. She has to go "this way" and I have to go "that way." If I try to go the same way as she is going, someone throws a big fit. (Not me.)

*I taught Daphne a little game: I squeeze her hand 3 times and it means 'I love Daphne.' It's like a little hand squeezing code where I'm supposed to be able to squeeze her hand 3 times and she knows what it means without me having to say any words. I taught it to her by holding her hand and first squeezing 3 times and counting 1-2-3 with each squeeze, and then squeezing 3 more times while saying "I love Daphne." She sort of gets it; she squeezes my hand a bunch and says "1-2-3, I love mommy." Sometimes now she'll stop what she's doing, squeeze my hand while saying "1-2-3, I love mommy," then go on with what she was doing. It's the sweetest.