Pico DiPaolo

If so, it is very small because our pediatrician couldn’t discern for sure.  He said, “there is swelling and there could be a fracture there.”  Yes, Joelle fell climbing into her closet.  Poppy has rectified the situation, at least for Joelle, by installing an open and shut baby gate.  However, Elise has already made it inside the citadel because Joelle can’t really open and shut it properly. 

Yep, two visits to the doctor today.  Obviously I would rather not see an x-ray of Joelle’s arm, but it was really sweet to see that she does still have some pretty tiny bones.  She looks so big, but she’s still little, too.  It was so neat to see the bones of her hand and wrist.  I guess I may be getting to see more since we have to now go see an orthopedic specialist.  Cross your fingers that Jojo doesn’t really have a fracture! 

I’ve said before that there is nothin’ cuter then a kid with a balloon.  Well, there is a close second to this:  a kid with a lollipop.  Particularly when that kid is as tiny as tiny and it’s her first lolli.  After her shots and well visit (80% weight, 90% height and a whopping 100% head circumference, for those who care), the receptionist asked if she could have a lollipop.  I hesitated for an instant, not, because it was a sugary waste as the receptionist who quickly chimed in that it was “sugar free” assumed, but because of the sticky mess.  I hate stickiness.  Anyway, I did concede because little girl had just suffered through an hour and 15 minute visit, knowing that the shots were coming at the end.  While we waited for the doctor (who was dealing with an emergency, a child having a seizure), she kept insisting that I put on her shoes and then she would go to the door and blow kisses (her way of saying, “bye-bye.”) 

Where was I?  Oh, lollipop.  So, Elise gets this purple little lollipop and looks at it in great awe.  “What do I do with this?”  She tried “brushing her hair with it.”  (before you say, “ew,” note that it had not been licked yet.)  She tried a few more things with it and then, as with everything else, it inevitably ended up in her mouth.  Her eyes immediatly brightened up and she tried to chomp down.  I heard her teeth grating against it.  Her tiny fist was clutched tightly around her treasure and she happily sucked all the way to the car.  Everyone commented on how cute it was. 

Very quiet in the car, I assumed she was still happily involved with her lolli, but I turned around to see her conked out, still clutching her lolli tightly. 

Elise got to open a belated birthday giftie yesterday at my friend Alli’s house.  It was a cute maracas set and Elise loved them.  I had opened them during her nap and they were waiting for her when she woke up.  She found them and clutched them to her tummy, knowing that it was time to leave to pick up Joelle.

I inwardly reflected that it hadn’t been good timing to open them and give them to her then (not liking to haul stuff to the car and back), but realized that I was in for a fight if I tried to take them away and concided defeat.  As soon as she was buckled in and I was in the driver’s seat, she felt it was safe to shake them and play. 

We got to the school and she immediately clutched them back to her body.  Recognizing the same determination in her face as I had just seen at the house, I knew that I would be allowing her to also cart them into the school.  I thought she was so in love with them, she couldn’t bear to be parted.  However, I discovered I was wrong when Joelle came tearing out of her class room.

Immediately, Joelle spotted the maracas and said, “oh, what do we have here?”  I promptly said, “Those are Elise’s new maracas.  You may play with them in a bit after she’s not busy with them.”  I could have saved my breath because Elise smiled and handed them to Joelle.  She had wanted to bring them with just to show her big sister she had snagged a new toy for them. 

Recently, I had the idea to start Joelle with chapter books.  She has conquered all the picture books and I decided it would be fun to start reading a chapter a night to her.  Chris and I kind of miss reading to her.  At first, she was very hesitant.  Actually, she said, “no, momma, I don’t want to read that.”  (to Freckle Juice)  I checked it out anyway.  That night, we did read to her the first four chapters.  She loved it and begged for more.  We instructed her on the discipline of reading and why books were split in chapters anyway.  She took the book with her to bed and finished it.  I asked her what happened and she did know exactly what had happened, so I guess she is reading it.  She also read the other two books I had checked out from the library.

Last night, we had a lovely dinner with Honey, Grandpa, Uncle Danny, Aunt Noonie and Stobie.  After we all ate, we took a pitstop at the Half Price Book Store.  We really do have a lot of reading fans in our family.  Anyway, Aunt Noonie bought her an abbreviated version of the Secret Garden (Honey bought her a couple of Ramona books that Joelle will read next).  We read two chapters before bed.  At one point, the author describes the house that Mary is moving to by saying that there are, “100 rooms.”  Joelle smiled and said, “we could have 21 rooms of me!”  I thought that was very cute. 

By the way, she has almost finished the book (she’s on page 172).  So much for getting the chapter books so that we could still read to her! 

Additional note, Joelle can now read these blogs and did just read this one.  She said, “it is not two Ramona books.  (attitude laced in her words.)  One is about Socks.  Remember, the cat is writing it?”

A couple of days ago, I decided it was time for Lis to start wearing real shoes.  As much as we’ve loved her pedipeds and loved saying pedipeds every time we put them on her, it’s time for her to get used to real shoes.  Now that she’s clamboring all over the jungle gyms at the park, she needs real soles to help keep her from sliding on the bridges and equipment. 

I brought out a pair of adorable sandals I had bought last year.  Elise was delighted.  Do all girls inherently carry a “shoe gene?”  She kicked her little feet when I sat her in my lap to get her shoes on.  I put them on her bouncing feet and she hopped up.  Her smile was HUGE as she marched around with these new little weights on her feet.  She said, “shussh.” 

At 14 months, she also already likes to put her tiny baby feet in Chris or my shoes and if I say, “where are your shoes, Elise?”  She knows to go grab her shoes and bring them to me.  She’s always excited that she gets to go wherever it is we’re going.  She knows getting her shoes means that she’s getting to go, too!

One day on the way to school, Joelle asks, “mommie, when will I get to be on TV?”  I said, “what do you mean?  Most people don’t ever get to be on TV.”  She had been fooled by two girls in her class who said that they had been on the Hannah Montana show.  I quickly set her straight and assured her they really hadn’t been on the show.  They were lying, our new concept to learn.  She believed me when that person’s “person of the week poster, highlighting all her big moments in her life” didn’t include a single picture of Hannah.  I asked Joelle, “wouldn’t they have one picture of Hannah if they’d actually been on the show?”  I saw her realize that she had been duped.

That story aside, Joelle really thinks she is going to be on TV one day.  Not just a fluke kinda thing, she thinks she is going to have a Joelle Montana type show.  A few days after her “when am I going to be on TV” question, she said, “mommie, when will I get to go on stage?”  I promptly replied, “oh, for your recital, baby.”  “No,” she replied, “when will I get to be on a big stage, singing like a rock star?”  I encouraged her to join the choir taking all the normal steps to singing stardom, but Joelle said, “no, I already can sing.  I’m ready now.”

Nana thinks I should encourage her, but the realist in me is a little bothered with letting her believe that there is truly a possibility that she could one day be a star.  Especially since she thinks she’s already too good for the choir!  For the time being, I did make her realize that she’s too young by reminding her that Mylie Cyrus is a teenager, but I don’t know how long that’ll keep our aspiring star satisfied.  I do hope she always maintains a glimmer of this self confidence!