my amazing daughter

things are truly crazy, so i don't get to post often. ok. but i had to mention a couple of shining moments that have happened recently.

last night, we were enjoying some soup and saltines. one cracker had fallen out of the package near nissa, but about a foot away from the top edge of her placemat, so out of her reach (and mine too). after she dutifully consumed all the saltines i had allocated (she'd eat the whole sleeve if i let her) she eyed the one last cracker out of reach. since she had already declared being done with her soup, i had moved her bowl, leaving her placemat open. she picked up the close edge, slid it along the table under the distant cracker and pulled it in like a skilled fisherman. at that point, i couldn't argue against another cracker- she had earned it.

speaking of fisherman, my little gal does love to fish. we did some fishing up at camp this year and she pulled in some nice sunfish! she'd get distracted easily, but still had fun reeling them in and saying hello to the fish. she also enjoyed the live bait (worms) we used and we had to curb her becoming too fond of any one worm. it's never good to befriend the bait.

we've started watching movies as a nighttime family activity and it's been a hoot. a while back we watched labyrinth and nissa was concerned if the big sister was going to save the baby. we watched kung fu panda and she called herself a tiger and did kung fu (which she called tai chi, thanks to grandpa armin) all night and the next day. we watched tangled and nissa was determined to grow long hair (magic hair seemed optional, though, thank goodness). we watched monsters vs aliens and she was susan for the rest of the night, with super strength! mind you this was the first time she'd seen any of these movies and was identifying with characters after one viewing. she has an imagination, for certain, and a decent memory too!

the memory skill was very apparent recently. the other night i washed 2 potatoes for making mashed potatoes, left them on the counter. nissa comes up and takes one and proceeds to sing "hot potato hot potato, like at sarah's house!" the wiggles strike again! it's been a few weeks since we've watched the wiggles video at sarah's house. . . but apparently that doesn't matter.

in other news, baby #2 is coming right along. a few weeks back we found out #2 is a girl. i didn't see anything specifically female, but we also didn't see anything specifically male, so in theory, it could go either way. i think it only took adam the car ride home from the ultrasound to declare that we needed to move; we'll have to try for a boy on #3 and our house can't hold 5. oh, i can only worry about so much at a time. nissa's been very excited about being a big sister. she will even take time on occasion to rest her hand on my belly to feel the baby move. last night we tried this and the baby was moving and nissa declared that she liked candace' music, since we were watching P&F at the time. nissa will give the baby kisses, be more cautious around me and even talk about the baby. it's reassuring, but i know the true test will be arrival.