Like Father Like Daughter.

Ashley's favorite book recently has been Peter Rabbit. Tonight, when mentioning Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter Rabbit, we asked her who her favorite was. I fully expected her to say Peter. He's naughty after all, and she has a little bit of that in herself. She can be a little bit mischievious at times. Nope, it wasn't Peter. Cottontail maybe? Nope. Ah, it must have been Flopsy or Mopsy. They have such cute names. That has to be it. Nope. She said, Momma, I don't like Peter. I like him....Mr. McGregor. I see Mike grin. Yes, that's her favorite...Mr. McGregor who chases Peter everywhere with a hoe in his hand. Yes, Ashley is hoping that just once, Mr. McGregor catches Peter and puts him in a pie. This doesn't really surprise me considering who her daddy is. He once ranted for 10 minutes explaining that Robin Hood was not a hero but a thug. I can't wait to read Hansel and Gretel. I can hear both of them now fully justifying the story....They broke in to her house after all. She made Daddy proud. I'm sure he will somehow convince her to root for Tom in the Tom vs. Jerry saga also.

Mystery Solved.

For weeks now, Ashley has insisted on wearing panty hose and a T-shirt. That's right...panty hose and a T-shirt. It has been a struggle to keep my tone even while I explain for the 80th time that we must cover our bottoms when in public. I would finally get her in a dress but the second we would return home, off it would come. I also had conversations with her teacher every day because Ashley would ask her to remove the dress. I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on. I was starting to worry about her future as a stripper or exhibitionist or goodness knows what. Well, last night the mystery was solved. She was putting on a bandaid and said with attitude "Dora has on hose and is not wearing a dress". What? I looked at the bandaid. Ah...the lovely Dora. I should have known. Ashley's amiga was wearing a leotard. I explained what a leotard is and when it would be appropriate. She wants one for her birthday and luckily, she dressed appropriately this morning without complaint.

Growing Taller.

Ashley has just reached the height where she can switch the lightswitch on and off. Sometimes, if she comes at it at a bad angle, she can't quite reach it. This happened recently one night and just as I was about to help her - "Stand with you feet together and legs straight" or "Try again", she looked at me and shrugged and said "No green beans". I realized immediately what she meant and had to hide my laughter. She had been watching a PBS show called "Caillou" and had heard that eating vegetables would help you grow big and strong. That night, at dinner, she had said "No thank you" when I offered her green beans. She assumed that since she had not eaten them, that was the reason why she could not reach the lightswitch. She has not said "No thank you" to a vegetable since that night and has hit a growth spurt. I am going to milk this one for all it's worth :).

Good Parenting.

I can remembering seeing a photo of my brother when he was a toddler drinking from a puddle. I love that picture but then I thought to question how the picture came to be. Shouldn't my parents have told Clay not to drink from the puddle? Instead, they said 'Do it again now that I have the camera ready'. Of course I thought I would do things differently. The other day, I saw Ashley giving Drew his first taste of popsicle. She licked it and then gave some to him and then took it back. Yes, a part of me thought 'Gross...germs' but the part that thought 'How cute, they're sharing' won out and I ran to grab the camera. Man, I am good at this parenting stuff :).

You know you are a big deal when...

Ashley and I have this ritual at bedtime. When I tuck her in bed, I ask her who she is going to think about while she is going to sleep and who she will dream about. Her responses range from Mommy and Daddy to Drew to Caillou (PBS show) to Arthur (another PBS show). Well, her answer since Christmas has been "Aunt B". This is my Aunt Becky who lives in Texas (but was in Covington with us for Christmas). You know you are a big deal when you consistently make this list :).

Christmas

We had a good Christmas in Covington with the Turners. Ashley and Drew enjoyed playing with all of their cousins (Holden, Allie, Hopkins, Ashford, and Nathan) and they loved seeing Uncle Clay. Ashley's highlight was her Dora umbrella. I enjoyed visiting with all my Turner cousins on Christmas Eve. Ashley loved making gingerbread houses with Kim and reindeer food with Liz. Paul Roy brought Santa by the house. Adrian and his new wife Lori were there and I was excited to catch up with Wesley.

We went to visit Uncle Glenn and Aunt Cindy Hensley out in Garland. We had to postpone a visit to my cousin Kim Wright (on the Hensley side) due to illness in her family. Instead, we crashed a party at Nicole and Jan Wade Hensley's house. We got to catch up with lots of cousins. I was so excited to get my cousin Michele's email address...of course now I am having trouble finding it but I'm sure it will turn up.