Highlights from day 1 without Daddy

I took Ben to the airport at 4:30 this morning. Evelyn and Jill came along and were both a little bewildered to be up so early. And they didn't stay asleep once we got home at 6 am. I was a little sad about that, but what can you do?Evelyn was pretty ticked off that Daddy went on an airplane without her. They keep asking where he is, and I tell them Kentucky. They try to repeat it, but it comes out as 'te-to-de.' These are the highlights of the day:

Question and Answer session between Evelyn and herself:

"What Saunie's name? Saunie. What Jilly's name? Jill one. What O-lyn's name? O-lyn two. What Daddy's name? Daddy Ben. " We've been teaching Evelyn these questions, what's so-and-so's name, how old are they, in case she was ever lost. The last one was the only question she got right, but someone could put the pieces together hopefully. What made me smile was when I asked Evelyn what her name was again, and she said, "I not O-lyn. My name Lulan." I think she means Mulan.

Face-painting

I was fixing my hair and not paying attention to what two little girls were doing. Evelyn found my color stick, a purplish-pink tube of sparkley stuff and held it while Jilly stuck her little finger down the center of it, making all the make-up squish out the sides. They both then proceeded to smear it all over their faces, exclaiming, "I pretty! I pretty!" Pretty messy is what it was. Then Jilly ate my chapstick. And then Evelyn opened a container of lavender body butter, and they both started digging out clumps of it, the stuff is pretty thick, and tried to smooth it on their skin. The whole time Jilly was saying, "pretty. pretty." You'd think a person (mainly me) would learn.

Brownies

We made brownies because Jilly was asking for cookies and chocolate this afternoon. I went over to check on the baking process, and without a word from me, Jilly said, "Check the brownies. I want up." It was the most complete sentencing I've heard from her yet.

Potty-training

I haven't had to change a messy Jill diaper for almost a week now. She only wears one at night and when we're out and about for extended periods of time. I'm so proud of her. She loves to sit on the toilet, and her and Evelyn actually started fighting about who was going to sit on it first at one point today. Now I just need to convince Evelyn that pooping in diapers is a lot worse than the toilet. I was talking to her about it, and she flatly told me, "I don't wanna poop in toilet," and walked away. End of that discussion.

Child-proof caps

Why do some containers say they are child-proof, when an 18 month old can open it? Jilly got a hold of a bottle of baby oil, with a supposedly child-proof cap. I was on the phone, turned around, and saw her dribbling the oil all over the cushion of my rocking glider. I guess it will always smell nice now. Any suggestions for getting the oil out?

Work party

It was the GASP party at Daddy's office (I can't remember what the acronym stands for, but it's for all the Spanish/Portuguese students). It was a lot of good food, and Ev and Jill were able to play the office chair game where I push them up and down the halls, and down the ramps in an office chair. Then Evelyn gets off and spins Jilly around in the chair forever. I haven't seen any signs of motion sickness out of her yet. Another little girl about Evelyn's age joined the game and sat in the chair with Jilly. Jilly started pointing to the little girl's nose and said, "Booger. Ewwww." (There were no boogers). Then she would point at her own nose and say the same thing. The little girl just looked at her like she had no idea what Jilly was talking about. I told Jill to stop it, but she did it a few more times anyway. Ev and Jill both had snotty colds this week, so Jill apparently learned about boogers.
The sad part about the party is that the girls expected to see Daddy there and were sad when we left without him. They did get to see Cody though, a good friend of Ben's and fellow student. Cody is like Jill and Ev's uncle. They love him. He's moving out of the country in a few weeks, and we'll all miss him. I'm glad I can go to a party at Ben's work and feel comfortable enough with all his friends to be there without him. Ben won the following awards:
(They are submitted by the grad students)
Most likely to be a farmer
Most likely to tell a ghost story (his Master's thesis is about ghosts, among other things)
Most likely to turn into a rabbit (he eats fresh fruits and veggies for lunch everyday)
First student to present a theatrical framework on Lacan (a theorist I believe)
Loudest and funniest student (a 3-way tie)
Most likely to change your computer desktop background when you're not there (he did this a few weeks ago to a fellow grad student, and while everyone else thought it was funny, she DID NOT.
Most likely to offend somebody (this is in reference to a student he had this semester, that whenever something didn't suit their political fancy, they would walk out of class, mid-discussion. So there are stories of 'the walk-out student' whom he repeatedly offended without meaning to).

Sorry some of these are inside jokes, but they are now forever recorded in our family history. I'm compiling my past posts into a book (through blurb.com) so I don't have as much info on the blog. It's going to be cool, I'm really excited to put it together.

*It's Thursday, and I've been working on my book for the past few hours. It's easy, and so fun. I could get addicted to making books. It's a lot easier and faster than scrapbooking in my opinion.