Mariah Jeanne

When putting Mariah to bed I usually pick one of an assortment of nicknames to call her as she climbs up in her bed. One night after calling her "little miss", she looked up at me and said, "no, mom it's missy durl (girl)". And now that is the only nickname I can call her while she is climbing into her bed. I can call her "baby love" while we are snuggling, but not while she is climbing into bed. I can call her "sweetness" while I am bathing her, but not while she is climbing into bed. You get the picture.

Last Saturday it was raining cats and dogs here. But that didn't stop Mariah and I from trudging through the farmer's market to pick out the most perfect pumpkins. In fact, Mariah loved the rain so much that she had to stay outside for a while when we got home.

After waking up, I often ask Mariah what she dreamed about. Every time without fail she says "Jesus". It really warms my heart and I have no doubt that that is what she is actually dreaming about.

I signed Mariah and Chet up for a mommy and me music class that just ended last week. Mariah has taken on some of the traits of Ms. Anna her music teacher. While we are dancing to a song she begins to tell me what exactly I should be doing. All in the sweetest voice possible. "Wave your arms like this! Walk like a cat! Spin around". She is going to be a wonderful mother some day.

The other day when I went to pick Mariah up from nursery I caught her in the act of tattling on one of her friends to the teacher. Later I was telling Tanner about this and Mariah must have been listening because she joined in the conversation saying, "I say, no no Dillon!" "He climb on table". I then talked to her about how it is best to let the teachers take care of that. I have a feeling we will be having those types of conversations often.

Mariah was beginning to take things from Chet and that was causing a lot of discord/screaming in the home. I sat Mariah down and taught her about the attention span of a just-barely 1 year old. Now whenever Chet has something that she decides she wants, she says to me, "when he get bored, then I can have it." It has brought back just a smidge of peace to the home.

Whenever anyone gets an "owie" she shows great concern and says, "I kiss it better". Even if I complained about a mosquito bite she would run over and smooch the bite.

I bought a little blow up pool at the grocery store on clearance a while ago. I didn't think we would get to use it this summer but then we had a few more surprisingly warm days. Mariah was so excited about her pool. It was great watching her sit in it and gasp because of the cold, stand up, and then do it all over again. She still talks about it. It's the simple things for a toddler.

It's always fun to see what comes out of this girls mouth. She is such a joy. I think we'll keep her around.

I love this shot! And I love my little "missy durl!"