Refund

So, I am getting Caleigh ready for school and she is letting me pull her hair up into a ponytail. She's looking at me in the mirror and asks,

"Mom, can I do the refund?"

My mind is swirling at this point.  Have I recently purchased something that has a refund offer with it?  Did she see the massive $5.00 refund check I got in the mail from Bed Bath & Beyond and want it for herself?  Do I have something that I was supposed to take back to the store for a refund that I have forgotten about?  

When I don't immediately answer her, she asks me again. 

I tell her that I am not sure what she means.  She gets upset with me and angrily says

"The refund thing!  Can I do the refund thing?"

I am still clueless!  

Seeing her frustration with me, I try to coax out of her what she is talking about without making her more upset.  Sometimes that is not an easy task. I didn't want her going to school in a bad mood. That's not a good way to start a school day!  

"What kind of refund" I prodded,

"THE REFUND FROM MY SCHOOL," she growls at me!!

The lightbulb in my head goes on and I realize she wants to know if I am going to let her participate in the "FUNDRAISER" for her school!  

HA! At least she had part of the word right!  

First Day Vocabulary

After Caleigh's first day of school, she had a few questions for me.  They were as follows.

"What is a student?"

"What does tardy mean?"

"What is an absence?"

"What is attendance?"


I guess she listened at school but I don't think she did much understanding since she didn't know the meaning of any of these words!

About God

The following conversation took place on our car ride home from a swim day at Granny's house.

Caleigh: Do you know that God is pushing our car right now?

Me:  He is?

Caleigh:  Yeah he controls everything.

Me:  Yes, he does.  So I guess he is pushing us.

Caleigh:  I know how God does everything.

Me: Oh, you do?  You know how he makes the sun rise?

Caleigh:  Uh, yeah!  He gets out his flashlight!

Me:  Well, what about the moon?

Caleigh:  He gets a crescent and puts it in front for the flashlight!

Me:  Ohhhhhh.  What about the waves in the ocean?

Caleigh: He pushes the water, duh!

Me: Ok then, how does he make the wind?

Caleigh takes a deep breath and blows out as hard as she can.

Caleigh:  Like that!!!!

And that was that!  How do you argue with that incredible logic!?  LOL!

Jesus Price

Caleigh has been working on her songs for her preschool graduation program for over two months now.

It is so sweet to hear her little voice singing sweet praise songs.  I don't think anything can melt my heart faster than hearing her sing in her sweet sing-song way.

While she sings so cute, sometimes some of the words get misinterpreted.  Thus, "Jesus Christ = Jesus Price" and "Christ our Lord = Price our Lord" and "Suit up for Christ= Suit up for Price."

She's been making an effort to remember to change "Price" to "Christ" but I think it is so much more precious when she sings full heartedly and it comes out as "Price".

So proud of my solo-singing preschooler!

OMG!

O-M-G! 

Saying these three letters as an exaggerated expression is Caleigh's new "word".  

It seems to have become her standard response to anything exciting, scary, funny, sad, and any other situation you can think of.

OMG!  

 

Hosel

Caleigh has seen many commercials on tv advertising hotel stays.

She likes the idea of spending the night in other places so she told Chad and I that she REALLY wants to stay in a HOSEL this summer.

"Love Nothing More"

To wake Caleigh up for school each morning, I usually crawl into bed with her and cuddle for a few minutes until she realizes I'm there and she starts to wake up.  Since she no longer sleeps in the bed with Chad and I, this short morning snuggle time is the only real time she lets me get close to her for any given amount of time. 

The other morning, I went into the room and found her in a sideways sleeping position with no covers on her.  Since she only likes to sleep in t-shirts, she was ice cold.  I crawled into the bed and she sleepily asked me to get her warm. 

I replied,"I would love nothing more."

Then she said something that ABSOLUTELY MELTED my heart.

"I love nothing more than my awesome mom." 

And back off to dreamland she went for 10 more minutes of silent snuggles with me.  I think I was just as in love with my daughter in this moment as I was the first time I laid eyes on her! 

I hope I remember this morning for the rest of my life.

(And remind myself of it when she's 15 and telling me what an "awful mom" I am!)

The Diamond Room

Caleigh was spending some time with Nonnie when Nonnie asked her about the birdfeeder that she and Caleigh had made for Chad this past Christmas. 

Caleigh told her that they had hung the feeder on the back porch and that you can see the birds come to it when watching from our "diamond room." 

It really does make our "dining room" sound much more extravagant than it really is.

Cinderella

While at the Disney Store recently, we found an ADORABLE Fairy Godmother doll.  I told Caleigh she could have it and we proceeded to purchase it at the checkout counter.  Caleigh was very excited about her doll and was engaging in a conversation with our store associate.

He looks at Caleigh and asks her if she knows what happens to Cinderella at midnight.

"She looses her glass slipper and runs away from the prince," she tells the man.

He smiles and asks, "Do you know why?  What will happen to her?  What will happen to her coach?"

He gives her a second to answer and when she doesn't he prompts, "It turns into a.........pumpkin."

Caleigh says "Yep, it does and Cinderella has ugly clothes again."

"Yes," says the associate, "and do you know when Cinderella and Prince Charming get married?"

Without missing a beat Caleigh responds, "At the END!!!!!!"

The associate and I laugh so hard.  He tells her that he can't argue with that answer and that's the first time he's ever gotten that response!

Groundhog Day

Caleigh loves the children's cartoon, Max and Ruby.  They have a new episode this year about Groundhog's Day.  She has watched the episode over and over again since it first aired this week.  She is well versed on what is supposed to happen on Groundhog's Day.

On Thursday, I picked her up from school and she was talking about Groundhog's day.  I asked her if she remembered what happens on the day and this was her response.

"When the groundhog comes out of the hole, if he sees his shadow, then we have an early Spring.  If he doesn't see his shadow, then we have six more weeks of Christmas!"


Happy Groundhog's Day

Tomato Warning

Yesterday brought bad storms to the state of Georgia.  The heat wave (74 degrees in January) brought with it some atypical thunderstorms.  For most of the entire day, the state was under severe thunderstorm watches and warnings, wind advisories, and even tornado watches and warnings.  Parts of our state to the north actually had a tornado touch down causing substantial damages, injuries, and even a fatality.  To put it lightly, the weather was a bit extreme.

I love a good weather event.  I love thunderstorms.  I love snow showers.  I love soothing summer rains and even crazy hurricanes.  Weather makes me happy.  It makes Chad happy.  We love talking about weather and studying it.  I even took a weather and climate class in college as one of my electives because I enjoy it so much.

Caleigh, on the other hand, does not enjoy weather as much.  She is an asthmatic and slight weather changes can make her miserable.  She is frightened by thunder and lightening.  She sees rain as something that spoils any chances of outside play and any mention of severe weather of any kind and she demands to know if it is anywhere near where we currently are located.

Upon picking her up from school yesterday, she examines the sky and asked if the thunderstorms were gone yet.  I told her that they hadn't arrived yet.  My plan was to take her home and we would remain there for the rest of the day and ride out the storms together.  On the way home, the radio announced that a tornado watch was still in effect for our area and that some counties were under a tornado warning.

This was all it took to heighten all her senses and put her on high alert to every rolling cloud and rumble of thunder.  I did my best to lighten the situation for her and let her call my mom on the phone to tell her about picture day at school to try and transition her thoughts.  She stumbled over her words and very quickly told Granny that "you need to be ready because they might say we have a tomato warning at any minute."

I start laughing and ask Caleigh if tomatoes are going to start falling out of the sky?  She laughs and then gets mad at me and tells me that I knew what she meant.  She meant tornado!    

Speed Whemmet

Chad, Caleigh, and I were driving down the road and Caleigh asked Chad to drive faster.

He got a little tongue tied and said, "I'm going the speed whemmet, Caleigh."

Caleigh started laughing from the back seat and said "Really daddy?  Speed whemmet?  You talk like a three year old!"

We ALL got a good a laugh.

Humfrey

Each year since birth, Caleigh has taken a picture with one particular Christmas bear.  His name is Humfrey and he sings a song while his cheeks glow when you press his paw.  He is something we look forward to decorating with each and every year.  This year, I thought I would compile some of the pictures that Caleigh and Humfrey have taken together through the years.  While Humfrey stays ever the same, Caleigh has grown and changed by leaps and bounds!

Enjoy!

The Christmas Story

We have lots of Christmas books in our house.  We have stories about Santa, stories about cats and bears at Christmas time, stories about parades, and various books about the birth of Christ.  A few nights ago, I read Caleigh a book called "The Newborn King."  She's been read this book many times before.  She loves the illustations in it. 

When we finished reading it, I tucked her in bed.  She said her prayers and then we started discussing the story we had just read.  We do this most every night with all of her books since I have read that asking questions about the story afterwards helps with story comprehension. 

So, we were talking about the story when she says, "You know who else was there?"

"Who?" I asked.

"Nonnie was there!" she said.

"Nonnie was there when Jesus was born?" I asked her almost laughing.

"NO, silly!" she tells me. "Nonnie wasn't there when He was born, she was there when He was alive."

"That was a long, long time ago.  Nonnie was not there." I gently told her.

"Oh yes she was!  She showed me the pictures and I saw her there!" she told me.

This is where I lost it and couldn't help laughing.  Caleigh, of course, got mad at me for laughing and told me that I would have to see the pictures myself! 

Christmas Tuba

Our town hangs Christmas lights from the telephone poles during the holiday season. While driving home the other night, Caleigh noticed that they had been hung.

She starts calling out what she sees.
"There's a snowflake, an angel, a present, a snowman, and a Christmas tuba!"

A CHRISTMAS TUBA?????

No Caleigh, that's a French horn, but good guess!

Her response when corrected?

"I still think it's a tuba!"

Long live the Christmas Tuba!

Political Parties

While watching the news this morning waiting for the weather report to come on, a report on the election was airing. Caleigh was paying close attention.

At the end of the segment, a vote sign with two voting booths appeared. One booth with a red curtain and elephant and the other with a blue curtain and donkey.

She studies the picture and asks "What is the elephant one?"

"It represents the Republican party," I tell her.

She quickly replies, "I like that one because it sounds like Publix and I like Publix."

Haha! Oh the mind of a four year old!

Under Instruction

The McDonald's near our house has been undergoing some renovations.  We stopped at the Zaxby's across the street from it the other day and the intercom in the drive thru wasn't working.  The sign on the intercom stated that due to the construction across the street, all orders would be taken at the drive thru window. 

We were just stopping for something to drink but ended up stuck for a while due to the slow ordering process.  Caleigh was wanting to know why the system wasn't working and I explained to her it was because of the "construction" that was going on across the street.

From our spot in the drive thru line, we could see bulldozers, bobcats, construction cones, dumpsters, and men in yellow hard hats working away.

Yesterday as we passed that same McDonalds on our way to the library, Caleigh looks over at it and asks me "Is that place still under instruction?" 

Chuckling under my breath, I replied, "Let's hope so!"

To which she stated, " I hope NOT!  I hope they are done so Zaxby's can have their drive thru back!"

Johnny Seedapple

Caleigh celebrated Johnny Appleseed day at her school.  They made hats that looked like pots to wear on their heads, watched a video about Johnny Appleseed, ate apples, drank apple juice boxes, and colored a sheet of apples.  She came home wearing her hat and telling me all the things that she learned about "Johnny Seedapple!" 

Impressed

According to the dictionary:

 impress: verb to affect deeply or strongly in mind or feelings; influence in opinion

I told Caleigh that I was really impressed with the way she played her soccer game.  She asked me what impressed meant and without having a dictionary handy I tried to explain the meaning of the word to her. 

Later that day, I fixed Caleigh some lunch. 

When I handed it to her, she looked at me and said, "Thanks mom, I'm really impressed." 

I couldn't help but laugh and she was bewildered as to why I was laughing at her "compliment."

She cracks me up!

"Peace"

Caleigh watched an old home video of herself from when she was about 14 months old.  It is a video in which she is repeatedly telling me " I love you."  The video melts my heart.  I love seeing it. 

At the end of the video, Chad tells her to tell the camera bye-bye.  Instead of saying bye-bye, she looks at the camera and very clearly says, "PEACE" and laughs. 

Chad had taught our neighbor boys to say this and Caleigh obviously thought it would be cute if she did too. 

Now, she says it ALL THE TIME and she adds to it the holding up of the two fingers in a peace sign.

Today, as I drop her off at preschool, she gets out of the car, with a peace sign on her shirt, and turns and flashes me the peace sign with her fingers and shouts "Peace, love you momma" as she takes the teachers hand and disappers into the building,  I can see and hear the teachers all around her laughing.

I drive away laughing and wonder what my crazy child is going to come up with next!