Who is Your Best Friend?

This morning while listening to "that lady" and the "firefly" song (Frances England people - buy it!) Lily was singing along to her heart's content. Then, the song Best Friends came on.

Me: Lily, who is your best friend?

Lily (without missing a beat): Natalie.

heart turns to goo and chest swells with love

I know!

I know I'm a nut. A complaining nut. You don't have to tell me, or think it even! Trust me, I know. Howevah...hear me out.

Lily is so high maintenance it drives me to insanity. The last week has been particularly trying.

Bedtime: We finally converted her crib (yes, she was STILL in her crib) to the toddler bed about a month ago. Went like a dream for the first 2 weeks, now she has figured out that she can get out of bed at will. One night I rolled over and found her next to me. Egads! She scared the bejeezus out of me. I marched her back to bed very nicely. Another night she came in around 2 and I was too flippin' tired to take her back, so she stayed. These days the nights are all a big long blur. I get up for one kid or the other so often I lose track. Now, little Miss has taken to fighting us at bedtime. Up and down, up and down she goes. We are trying to be so consistent and not give in - but it's so exhausting!

Potty: (OMG she is going to be the oldest child to wear pull ups EVER.) Last night Natalie, Lily and I took a bath together. Afterwards Lily and Natalie were in their towels on my bed before I plopped them into their jammas. Lily opens her legs spread eagle looks down at her hoo-ha and lets the pee FLOW people. I was flabbergasted. SO ANGRY. I yanked her down off the bed and she thought it was soooo funny. I somehow, beyond belief, managed to keep my cool and ignore what just happened. Not 5 minutes later I had her in her diaper for bed (it creeps me out she's still in a diaper for bed - I'll admit it) and she calmly asked to go to the potty. WTF???????????????????????????????????????????????????? One minute she's spread eagle peeing on my bed, the next minute she asks all grown up to go to the potty. WTF??????????????

Scooter: Remember my sweet post about the scooter? She still likes it but boy does that thing cause her to melt down. The helmet is too loose, she can't steer, she can't make it go, it's going too fast, blah blah blah.

Shoes: I am such a shoe lover. That kid. If the shoe has the slightest issue (too tight, too big) or her socks have "lumpy bumps" she pitches a fit. Much to my dismay, after all the cute shoes I've gotten her, she lives in purple Crocs. They are the only shoes she never complains about. I even went online to find seamless socks, ordered them, put them on her and even THEY bug her.

Bathtime: From the first time I ever had her in the tub she gives me problems. The girl HATES having any water whatsoever on her face. I have never had a successful, pleasant hairwashing with her. There is ALWAYS crying involved.

What??: OK. She's also started to say "What??" all the time as if she can't hear you. I am on the verge of taking her to the doctor to have her hearing tested. All the time with the what-ing. I think she's just doing it to be a POOP, y'all.

I'm just tired of the infinite number of battles/issues we have.

And the next instant she is so charming it kills me. Driving along listening to the cd mentioned below, she chimes in with "Mommy, that's a violin." And darned if it was.

????

what have i done wrong with her? she's an emotional wreck. i've tried so hard.

The Best New CD

I love Frances England and she has a new CD out. One of the songs is a total goose pimpler. I listen to this cd even when Lily is not in the car.

You and Me

my other favorite is

Fast Train to Grandma's

Back to Reality

Today sucked big rotten eggs.

Fuh-neeeeeee

Today I bought Lily a pink scooter. It's foot powered with 3 little wheels instead of two, like the Razors. It's perfect for her and she ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN' LOVES IT. Being the superb mom that I am ;-) I also bought her a bitchin' helmet on sale for 9 bucks. It has butterflies and ladybugs and two sets of googly eyes - so cute.

I mentioned how she loves the scooter, right? Well, she LOVES THE HELMET EVEN MORE!! She would not take the helmet off for anything. I had to pry it off her head for bathtime. Her entire head was soaked to the core with sweat after having the helmet on for like 3 hours straight. Then, after her bath she demanded to put it back on for stories before bed. There I was reading away with Lily strapped into her helmet. Hilarious. I suggested it might not be that comfortable for sleeping so she agreed to take it off.

This is one of the funniest, cutest memories I have of my Bean to date. I'm so glad she loves the scooter and the helmet. There's no feeling like watching your little one be so joyful about something so simple.

It was a good day.

Glimpses

Yesterday afternoon I picked up Lily from her preschool at 3 p.m. She proceeded to be the most wonderful little girl ev-ah for the duration of the day. Cooperative, cheerful, funny, pleasant, cooperative, cooperative, did I mention cooperative? And I freakin' love how she says asparagus - sparekins. She ate a great dinner, took a lovely bath, brushed her teeth - all without so much as a grunt of disobedience. I'm not saying I want a little mini-me who does exactly like I tell her and yes ma'ams me. But cooperation, sweet cooperation is nice every once in a while.

This leaves me to wonder why on some days (very few days) things go like clockwork and my child is so pleasant? On most days it is a day-long struggle of wills between the two of us. Everything is a battle (albeit a small battle). Why can I catch glimpses of such an easygoing kid, but the majority of the time she's a pistol? What am I doing wrong, or right on the respective days?

Cuz I'd like to adopt the Lily that came home from school with me yesterday.