Holes, Tails, Tears, and TROUBLE

I have a little girl that is obsessed with climbing into and on top of things. Any little hole that is anywhere, I find her down it. Any little ledge, I find her on it. Any little basket, I find her in it. Peyton never climbed out of his crib and we finally ended up just moving him to a big boy bed when he was three. I used to think it was because I was such a good mom, but I've realized, as I have with most everything else, that that is probably not the case. He just wasn't a CLIMBER!! Ellie is...and I'm just waiting for the day when she launches herself out of her crib at the age of one. Anyway, here are a few of her FAVORITE places around our house.

One of my friends has a little girl that is about 7 years old whose hair is always done perfectly and beautifully. I aksed her a couple months after Ellie was born how she does it and how she gets her little girl to hold still while she does it. She said, "well, I think you just have to start from Day 1 doing their hair and then they don't really know any different. If you don't start right from the beginning, I think they have a hard time all of the sudden being expected to hold still." AAAAAHHH!! Ellie was already 2 months old and she hardly had any hair anyway! I was way past "Day 1." I thought I was going to have problems with her for the rest of my life (not that it really matters all that much if they even get their hair done when they are little). I started from that day trying to do her hair. I got teased a little bit about the tiny clips...people asking if I glued them in, but guess what...I did pigtails (sort of) in her hair today and she even kind of held still while I did it. So cute!!

Peyton started his first day of preschool today. So sad to have him gone for a couple of hours...so happy to have him gone for a couple of hours. I talked to my mom this morning after he left. I was feeling a little emotional and she said I better get used to it. Motherhood is full of feeling opposite feelings. You don't want them to grow up, but you do want them to grow up. You don't want to send them to kindergarten, but you're so happy when they go to kindergarten. You don't want them to go on a mission, but you do want them to go desperately. You want them to get married, but you don't want them to get married. Anyway, I'm so happy that he is in preschool, but I'm so sad that he is old enough to go to preschool.

Lastly, I have a tendency to say dumb things a lot...i.e. "Holy smokes" or "Oh my gosh." Peyton used to say these same things sometimes, and it was a little bit funny. Well, in the last day or two, he has suddenly combined the two and says "Holy gosh" about EVERYTHING. He sees a bird on a tree, "holy gosh mom, there's a bird on that tree...holy gosh, that hurt...holy gosh, I had so much fun at preschool." I feel so mortified every time he says it...it just seems little irreverent, but the more I draw attention to it, the more he says it!! I'm trying to plant other statements in his head like "WOOHOO Peyton, there is a bird in that tree...HOT DOG, I love to eat ice cream...ZIPPADEEDOODAH, what a great day!", but he hasn't quite picked up on those yet.