A Day in the Life of Taryn

Where walking around an empty lot...
Picking weeds...

Turns into a Broadway musical.

I swear, this girl thinks she lives in the Sound of Music...

Hopefully she does not inherit my family's singing skills.

Taryn the Super Catholic!

We are Catholic. Taryn and I go to church most Sundays. She has a few books of Bible stories and will sometimes pray before she goes to bed. These prayers usually start off with her praying for my mom's dog Akilla and ends with Taryn praying for random things that she sees in the room. I definitely wouldn't consider Lee or I a parent that is forcing religion on our toddler by any means...

Yet, Taryn is IN LOVE with everything religious. She loves going to church. She genuflects when she walks in the church pew. She dips her finger in the holy water and attempts the sign of the cross. She attempts to say the Lord's Prayer (and gets about 1/4 of the words right!) and has been asking for a crucifix necklace for her 3rd birthday. She loves to shake everyone's hand, but thinks that "Peace be with you," is "Pleased to meet you." (You gotta admit, that does make more sense.) It is baffling, but adorable to watch her develop this interest of her own.

* (This one was posted on Facebook.)
On the way to Superbowl Village...
Taryn: Where are we going?
Lee: Somewhere fun!
Taryn: Church?

* Upon entering the completely quiet Oxford church for Ash Wednesday services. Taryn points up at the crucifix hanging above the altar. "Look mommy! It's Jesus!"

* After leaving the Oxford church...
Lauren: Did you like that church Taryn?
Taryn: Yes, that church special. That church special like my dress.

* I was eating a piece of peanut butter bread the other day. I ate all 4 corners first. Taryn gasped and pointed at it. "Look mommy, it's like Jesus." (It was in the shape of a cross.)

* The other day Taryn was unhappily going to bed. Lee was home momentarily from work, but she knew that he would be leaving.
Taryn: Mommy, I cry when daddy leaves. I gonna cry. Mommy, let's pray. Let's pray, then I not cry when daddy leaves.

Father Daughter Dance

Please, just freeze time right now while THIS is the only father-daughter dance going on!

Chuck-E-Cheese Please!

A few weeks ago we went to ChuckECheese for my cousin Maya's birthday party. Somehow I managed to not get any pics of the birthday girl. My bad... She just turned 12, so she spent most the time doing some different type of activities than Taryn!

"I like him, just don't let him get any closer. Also, I am ready to dive for my mommy."

Two of the things that Taryn liked the best... This "ride" that was like a 3D mini-movie where the chairs rattled and moved. And the driving game. She wanted to do everything herself, so Lee and I had to be stealth about the fact that we had to push the gas pedal... She was pretty much the worst driver ever, bouncing off each side of the racetrack. However, during one of her races she managed to accidentally drive into a shortcut that allowed her to win the race!

At the end of the day, we had 100 tickets and Taryn was dying for a mini-gumball machine that was 300 tickets. Fortunately, Taryn has a Grandma who doesn't know the word NO. Grandma paid cash for a gumball machine.

Open Gym!

The place that Taryn' takes gymnastics during the summer has open gym on Saturdays. This is also known as wear-your-toddler-out-so-she-naps strategy number 1! It costs $4 and is worth every penny if it is nap inducing! There is a pit full of foam blocks that you can jump in, climb around or rope swing into. Now that is exhausting. I got stuck in there for awhile. Phew, it's a workout!

There are trampolines and bars and balance beams and basketball hoops and balls and pretty much anything a kid could want to play with. The only thing that would make this better is if Taryn had friends there that she knew. Hopefully we will be meeting up with her cousin Cora there in the next few weeks. That could make this absolutely perfect!

Can't wait for winter to be over so it gets a little easier to work my girl out!!!

Super-Indy!

Since I will probably never make it to a Superbowl game, I wanted to go check out the festivities around Indianapolis. In retrospect, we should have gone earlier in the week, but with work and the drive, we ended up waiting until Friday night. We started out trying to pay $20 for parking, but the lot was full. Then we drove 3 blocks and found free parking!! Lucky thing #1!

Though you can't tell who is in this SUV, the answer is Adam Sandler! Whoa!

The area wasn't too bad when we first got there at about 5pm, but it just got progressively worse as the evening went on. At the end we couldn't get the stroller through and folded it up and carried it. We finally headed to Circle Center Mall and got a bite to eat in the food court. People were eating on the floor, but we got lucky and a guy offered us his table because Lee was wearing a Purdue shirt! Lucky again!

It was cool to see the city all spiffed up for the Superbowl. We even managed to run into some friends, which, given the crowds was nothing short of a miracle. Though I think we walked about 7 miles and it was crowded, it was worth the trip!

And the butter on the bread is that the Patriots lost!

Goddaughter

Sonia and Wyatt have asked us to be Ella Lynn's Godparents! We got to hang with the little lady a couple weeks ago. Taryn was enthralled, of course. She loves babies. But, she a bit uneasy about how much crying was going on! (Her baby dolls are much quieter.)

Paging Dr. Taryn

Taryn loves playing doctor because of the "Dr. Daisy" episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She got a doctor kit for Christmas. It came complete with a cell phone AND a beeper. It took me a really long time to try to explain to Taryn what a beeper is. Ah, the things you miss when you weren't alive in the 1990's!

Halloween in January

My mom came out to babysit and brought her dog Akilla.

This inspired Taryn to dig up her Akilla costume from Halloween.

And pose with Akilla for some pictures. (Thank goodness Akilla is a patient dog.)

Brrrrr...

When we finally got some snow, we got Taryn bundled up in her snow gear and took her out to FINALLY use her brand new sled.

Items she was dressed in: snow boots, snow pants, winter coat, hat, scarf, gloves.

Time it took to dress the whole family: 15 minutes

Things that pissed her off outside: the snow was in her eyes, it was cold, she couldn't pull mommy on the sled, she didn't want to pull her baby doll on the sled, she wasn't able to shovel the driveway with me.

Tantrums thrown in the snow: ~5 (it's sometimes hard to tell when one ends and another begins)

Total time spent outside: 20 minutes. Yes, 5 longer than it took to get dressed.