Audrey's naming

One of my first posts was about Audrey naming her baby "Butterfly Charlie." I love the way Audrey names toys. She does so with a snap judgement that sticks, regardless of its appropriateness. I thought I would share some of my favorites with you, along with her explanation.
#1. "Shampoo Girl" While this little toy may look like Jane from Disney's Tarzan movie, she is in fact Shampoo Girl, and her umbrella/valise combo is actually a reserve of shampoo which she dispenses to any other toy in need.
#2. "Fire" the armadillo. Audrey's explanation, "His name is Fire because when I throw him up in the air and he lands on the ground, he puts out fire.

#3. "Beerman" the bartender from the Cantina scene in Star Wars. We have an abundance of action figures from this scene due to an bulk EBay purchase for Lili's fifth birthday. This is actually one that makes sense.

#4. "Poconut" the lhasa apso. "His name is Poconut because it says so right here on this little tag." (In actuality the tag reads: SURFACE WASHABLE ALL NEW MATERIALS CONTENTS POLYESTER FIBER PLASTIC PELLETS MADE IN CHINA)

#5. "Yucky Man" Yucky Man came with a doctor's kit the Burches gave the kids. You insert different informational cards into a slot in the back and different organs light up. When I asked why his name was Yucky Man I got a very long and detailed story about how a tiny plastic duck had screamed when she saw him for the first time and the other toys had to explain to her that he wasn't scary, he was really nice, he had just tragically lost half of his skin and his arms...so he was therefore "Yucky Man."

#6 "Kona" Uncle Dan and Aunt Erika have a huge, sweet, furry Bernese Mountain Dog named Kona that Audrey has always adored. For some reason, with all the stuffed animal dogs we have she has chosen this hard plastic green caterpillar to represent him.

The real Kona looks something like this, in case you were wondering...

Look Mom!

Something I planted is still alive! And flowering! (because we got a drip system put in the front) It actually smells really nice and reminds me of the star jasmine that is all over the Due Santi Campus in June..a little skinny cousin of that jasmine, anyway...

Crawling across the room

Audrey's song

I overheard Audrey singing this while she was playing with her toys. It is set to the tune of the chorus of the Veggietales theme song:

I am Supergirl
I'm so awesome
I will save you
Just to let you know!

Funny Quotes

There were a lot of these birds of paradise flowers in Justin's neighborhood. One day walking home from the beach, Lili told me that she and Audrey like to pretend that they are "Angry birds coming to attack us."

Audrey, Kateri and I had a fifteen minute drive home today and Kateri cried the whole way. When a few choruses of "Baby Mine" did nothing to assuage her tears, Audrey said, "I think she's crying cause she forgot I loved her."

Audrey also has the habit of quietly whispering to Kateri (usually in the morning when she climbs in bed with us to squeeze and pet her squirming baby sister) "I'm always there for you, Kateri, I'm always there for you." I don't know where she got that phrase, but I love it.

Oh, and just to offset the sweet remarks above, Audrey was just playing doctor with Kateri as her patient. After inspecting Kateri's hand with the orange otoscope-type-thingy she looks at me, shakes her head and says, "Her hand doesn't look that great probably because you drank a lot of coffee when she was in your tummy." I totally drank decaf, just to let you know!!!!

Baby Einstein

We decided to leave CA at 8:30pm so that the kids would sleep, which in theory was a great idea...Kateri must have missed the memo. She did pretty well, but the first couple of hours were a little tricky. Anyway, I decided to try this old Baby Einstein DVD we had and in about 0.5 seconds her expression went from something like this:























to something like this:

and she watched it silently for almost half an hour, which in a seven month old's life is practically forever! There even seemed to be times when she started to turn her face away, but couldn't tear her eyes off the screen. It makes me wonder about the methods of research the Baby Einstein people used. I can't help but picture rooms of babies strapped into high chairs in some futuristic, dystopian, Brave New World type scene, staring like zombies at images of puppets and brightly colored balls while technicians in white coats jot down notes on a clipboard. It kind of creeps me out. But I did enjoy that half hour of peace, so thanks, Baby Einstein, I think.

The beach

We love the beach. No matter how long we stay, it is always too soon to leave for the kids...So here's a little snippet of our day...Lili and Audrey frolicking and Luke preparing for the drive home. Kateri was passed out, too.