Another Parent Blog...

I read an article recently about the worst kind of bloggers. Among the list were "parent bloggers," who were described as parents who felt the need to incessantly blog cute stories about their babies/toddlers/children/teenagers. I hesitated to write this post, fearing that I might be one of these parent bloggers. Then, after about ten seconds of reflection, I realized that I am most definitely one of those bloggers, but that if you're still out there reading this, cute stories must not offend you too much. However, if you ARE offended/bored/disgruntled by reading about Ana and Emma, then you should probably move your mouse to the right hand corner of the screen and click that little X. Cuteness, begone!

For those of you who are still reading, just a few stories...

- Ana was talking about babies in tummies the other day. This is an obsession of sorts with her. She loves telling me that, "I was in YOUR tummy, Mommy, and you said, 'Come out, come out, Anabear!,' and I came out and I was a baby and you were so happy and I drank a bottle." (And she's right. More or less.) On this particular day, though, she was more interested in who had a baby in their tummy now, and after a series of confusing statements from her, Wes said, "Ana, are babies in girls' tummies or boys' tummies?" She didn't seem to understand his question, so I asked her, "If we had another baby in our family, would the baby be in Mommy's tummy or Papi's tummy?" She didn't even hesitate before responding, "In Papi's tummy!" As soon as it's possible for that to happen, I will be delighted to announce to you all that my husband is expecting our third child.

- Emma has gotten into her own "I do it myself" stage practically overnight. Instead of actually saying, "I do it myself," though, she points and yells, "EMMY FAULK!" The other night at a church potluck meal, I was quite mortified when a senior adult offered to help her into her chair, and she started screaming, "EMMY FAULK! EMMY FAULK!," which meant "I do it myself." It didn't sound like that, though. Em hasn't quite gotten the "L" sound yet, so Faulk sounds... well, not good.

- Ana told us one night on the way to church that she had decided to be Emma's conscience. Wes tried to tell her in about a thousand different ways that Jesus was Emma's conscience until finally Ana was in tears, pleading, "PLEASE, Emmy! I'll be your conscience!" Em's response? "Nope." Smart girl.

- We're getting ready for "The Princess and the Frog" movie. I've been showing the girls pictures of Princess Tiana, letting them watch the trailers on the computer, and talking about how we'll get to meet the characters at WDW. Ana is super pleased that this princess has a name that sounds like hers. So much like hers, in fact, that I think Em thinks that the new princess is actually named Ana. Now, whenever I mention Princess Tiana, Em gets all defensive and yells, "Princess Emmy, too!" Hear that, Disney Imagineers? We expect to see a Princess Emmy within the year!

- Speaking of princesses, both girls have recently become interested in "Poca-hummus." Every time they say her name, Wes says, "Mmmm... Poca-hummus," no doubt thinking of zatar, jibneh, tabuleh and -- yes -- hummus. How exciting would it be if Pocahontas's story was set in Lebanon and was all about Middle Eastern cuisine? Wes would never tire of watching a movie like that with the girls.

- We've been reading bits and pieces of the Christmas story to the girls before dinner every night. I'm never quite sure what Emma is comprehending from the story, but I always get an earful from Ana. We asked her the other night, "Why are people happy at Christmas?" She answered, "Because they like the Baby Jesus." Then, after a pause, as though we needed clarification, "He was asleep in the animal's food bowl." Well, technically, the manger was a trough for animal food, but I'm fairly certain that this answer means that Ana has a mental image of Jesus curled up in a ceramic, dog-print bowl exactly like the one BC uses.

And with that, I should probably go get them up from their naps. Hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving holiday!