Explosion

Usually toddlers have a word explosion, Tori has had a sentence explosion and hasn't stopped talking since! Since about August, she talks non-stop and has gotten a lot better at using complete sentences and indicating what she wants. I got so used to her speech before, this explosion still surprised me with what she can communicate to you.

This has carried over into calling her Brother stupid on several occasions and getting in trouble. I think it also has caused more physical brawls as well. Christian wasn't able to understand everything she said, now that he does, he doesn't like it. I had to break up a pushing match next to the stairs the other night.

Unfortunately, this hasn't curbed Tori's crying over nothing. You tell her 'No' or that she can't do something, even nicely, its like her world has crumbled. I guess this is an important difference between girls and boys. Hopefully she'll grow out of it before kindergarten.

Grandpa Kitchen pants

"You might as well divorce me now," Huts said to me as he passed by the laundry room.

"Why?" I asked.

"Tori says I am old and I have on Grandpa kitchen pants."

I can't stop laughing. We don't know where she came up with that term, but she and Ollie sure like telling us that we are old. They are obsessed with age, telling everyone they are old.

Better

Tori has recovered I believe. She may not even have a cold anymore. She says she wants to go potty. We'll see. She refuses to go on her own. Stubborn girl. On another note., she is wearing a new shirt that says bring on the bling bling. She finds that funny, especially when I tell her what bling bling means. She does like bracelets, necklaces, fingernail polish and all that jazz, so maybe she is going to be more of a girl than we thought.

Not Quite

My father passed away about a month ago. We finally told the kids about it when we got my dad's truck. Up until that point, they had seen my dad once and Ollie had commented about how old and sick he was. Tori and Eli were with me on the day my dad passed away. Tori went to his room with me a couple of times and knew Grandpa was sick, Fortunately, when he passed away, Tori was at her grandma's and stayed there that night, Anyway, she and Ollie now know, and Ollie told me how sorry he was. He seems to get it. Tori, on the other hand, doesn't. She tells me that my dad is dead and I need to get a new one. I have tried to explain to her that it doesn't work that way, but she can't grasp that fact. It will be interesting to see what she thinks and says when we visit the farmhouse next weekend.

Grandpa's Truck

It has made its way to our house, and Tori loves riding in the little seat in the back and the front seat. Her dad took her around the block to see how well the truck drove. The only problem we're having is getting the door closed. Dale is gonna have t come over and fix that. Anyway, Tori plans to help her dad clean it this weekend. With any luck, the probate process has started and the title will make its way to us at some point.

Excitement

Christian and Tori are totally looking forward to this weekend. Tori talks about the wedding nonstop. She can't wait to stay in the hotel, put on her fancy dresses, dance the night away and sleep in her sleeping bag. She only has a few more days and they're off to Kansas City.

Cryer

Tori cries about every grievance. This week she decided that she didn't want to go back to the sitter's. She wanted to stay home with her Mama, but her Mama had to go back to work. Tori didn't like that idea, even though Eli would be going with her. On Thursday, she cried when we got to the sitter's house because she wanted to be at home. She sat in the sitter's lap for awhile and played with the other kids once she got over it. This morning she was ready to go to the sitters and didn't cry at all. She adjusts very well to change. Must be that daredevil spirit of hers.

Next up is the battle for the potty. We finally got her on the regular size toilet, but she still doesn't use it regularly. We even tried getting her interested in a Dora toilet seat, because in our house, Dora solves a lot of problems. This time Dora couldn't work her magic. Last week, she mentioned the Dora seat and wanting to sit on it. Guess Dora's magic is just delayed. Hopefully that speeds the process up, changing 2 sets of diapers regularly is not ideal.

Miss Talks-A-Lot

Since school has started Tori has become a chatter box. Most of the time its incoherent rambling and singing for her Mama all day long at home. The singing and talking has carried over to the trips she's taken in the last month. She's talked for longer than 5 hour stretches. Doesn't make it a quiet trip.

Recently she has begun to put multiple sentences together. She has gotten excited about going to her Aunt Lucy's wedding. So now she talks about "We go on a trip", "We stay in a hotel", "We are in wedding". These sentences have been repeated in that order several times. She'll have fun in the wedding and she likes her dress. I'm sure she won't stop talking about it until next year. She'll have plenty more to talk about in October as we are heading on another trip. She should be tired of traveling after that, but I wouldn't be surprised if the go-go girl is ready to go soon after.

Sad Girl

Tori wants to go to school with Big brother Ollie. So much so that she cried when he got on the bus and she couldn't. She tried to see Ollie through the bus window, but he was too short to be seen. Once home she went with Daddy to run some errands while Ollie was in school. Today she slept through the bus pick-up, so no tears were shed. She hopefully doesn't say much about Ollie being gone.

This week, Tori will be going to a school all her own. Mama's Potty Training School. At least as much as Eli will allow. Tori is as bad as her brother was when it comes to potty training. She wants no part of it. I'm guessing for her 4th birthday, Tori is going to get a present of sitting on the potty until she learns to use it just like her brother. If only we could get her trained before then.

In other Tori news, she's up to 32 lbs and it feels like 10 more than the 2 she's actually gained. She seems a lot heavier than she is and hopefully its muscle.

Little Miss Daredevil

Tori has always been a daredevil. This weekend at Uncle Travis' was just more proof of that. She loves the water as everyone knows, at Uncle Travis' she had to swam twice and wanted to go for more. The first time she got cold and her lips turned a little blue so she had to get out despite her protesting. After she warmed up she went back in the pool for her Daredevil activities.

It started when Uncle Dale brought out the water wings. She put them on and was ready to go. Once she figured out that she could float with them on without being held, she didn't want to be touched. She wanted to float. She would try to swim, put her face in the water for a long time and then came the greatest feat.

In her swimming class, she learned to jump off the side into my arms. This past weekend she jumped off the diving board! She was ready to go. I was a little leary because she doesn't jump out far. Uncle Dale ensured she didn't hit the board, while her Daddy caught her. She loved every jump. 5 times she went off the board before I had to call it quits. She didn't cry over it and was ready to play in the shallow end again. We aren't going to have a pool for a long time with this daredevil around.

Whiny

I don't know what has gotten into Tori, but man has she been whiny lately. She is either tired or she senses that her new brother is almost here and she is jealous. She sat in the timeout chair again and again last night after throwing fits over nothing. Bad girl!

Telephone Chatter

It doesn't matter who calls, Tori must talk to them. She will follow you around, pleading to talk, until she gets to talk. Luckily, Huts and I don't spend a lot of time on the phone. Usually I have to call one of the grandmas or Aunt Annie after I get off the phone with someone Tori cannot talk to so Tori can talk to them. She just loves talking to Grandma Marie or Bickie or My Annie. She can't wait to see her grandmas soon.

Too Much

We had a busy weekend. It started on Friday night when I pulled weeds, while Huts mowed the lawn and the kids played. It was extremely hot out, so as soon as I was done, Ollie and Tori came in and got a bath. Saturday morning, we went to the farmer's market, where Ollie got a mini cherry pie and Tori got a blueberry muffin. Ollie managed to eat his pie without a fork. After that, Tori went swimming, while Ollie and I played in the park outside. We got hot quick and stole some money from Dad's wallet for some lemonade. Ollie drank all 32 ounces. After that, we went downtown where the kids played for half an hour around a statue. We grabbed lunch and went to paint pottery. That was quite the affair. Ollie painted a dragon and a castle box, while Tori painted a cat. We pick up their creations this Saturday. They should be quite the masterpieces. Tori got very creative with her cat. We spent the rest of the day at home. When Sunday rolled around, we took the kids to Sommer Park for Pioneer Days. Everything went ok until the end. The two were hot and exhausted and got crabby at the vintage baseball game. Huts ended up carrying Tori to the car, while Ollie and I traipsed behind. They drank their juice in the car and got a bath as soon as we got home to cool off. Tori missed her nap and went to bed at 8:30. Ollie followed right after. Whew! We pushed them over the edge with all of the fun!

New Babysitter

Last night we took the kids to a potential babysitter for Ollie while school is in session. Her name is Jessica and she has two young sons. Ollie played with the older one, while Tori played with the 1-year-old. It was nice to see that she could be nice to a younger toddler. She played with him and they were quite the pair. Now, if only she will be that way with Eli. We're expecting jealousy and regression, but maybe not. Maybe she'll be the big sister after all.

Tomorrow she finally gets to paint pottery. She has been begging me for weeks to go paint. After she eats lunch tomorrow, we are going over. Ollie has decided to paint something too. This should be interesting. I can't wait to see what they pick out and how well they paint it. Old clothes for sure.