A denim obsession

Is there a 12 step program for jeans? Lulu needs it desperately. She's always had a preference for pants despite having a closet full of dresses - 90% never worn and the remainder each worn about 10 minutes tops). For a long while, the preference was for any denim, but it soon became, "jean pants with pockets" and quickly moved to "my long jean pants." So, here's Lulu's heroin:



If she could wear this particular pair 24/7 she would. She's asked to shower with them on. She begs every morning to wear them and I've been letting her wear to school about twice a week, but the moment we get home, before I've had a chance to close the door, she's pulling off whatever she's wearing to put on her long jean pants.





I guess I was a bit of enabler getting them for her in the first place. She loved her denim and I bought a cute pair with appliques down one leg at Target. They were too big and she was so disappointed. A few days later I saw these similar ones and got them for her. They came with a belt (known to Lulu as "My seatbelt!") which made them even more enticing.

God only knows what's going to happen when she outgrows these. Most of her pants are 3Ts with some 4T and 5Ts in the mix, but these are just size 2T and she's pretty much filling them out, though there's still a little room in the waist, so I'm preparing myself for major withdrawal symptoms. (Just as an FYI, that little purple half sweater thing she's wearing isn't Lulu's, but rather her doll's size 12 month sweater - she begged to wear it out, but I DID draw the line there!)

Cute Stuff

My Lulu never ceases to amaze me with her insight. I had the blog up on the computer screen the other day and she saw the picture of herself on the pillow in the hotel room in China a few hours after I received her. To me, she looks mad in the photo.

From across the room I hear this pitiful, "awwwwwwwwww."

"What is it?" I ask.

"Let me see" she asks. She crawls up onto my lap and pulls the screen closer. "Oh, poor Lulu" she says empathetically.

"Was she sad?"

Lulu pulls the screen even closer and stares into her own little eyes, "No, not sad, I worried."

"Worried? About what?"

She turns around and taps my shoulder. "I not know this mama, Lulu WORRIED." Then she smiles, "I not worried no more! Lulu HAPPY!"

Hey kiddo, way to both break your mama's heart and make it swell all at the same time.

And this one...

Lulu's whining about some non-issue like her hair hurting or not being able to eat a hershey's kiss before bedtime and I smile at the passion she exhibits, which of course pisses her off royally. Her hands get firmly placed on hips and she marches to my mom who was here at the time and reports, "My Mama not listen to my sad!" Of course my mom laughs too, irritating her even more, so she huffed and puffed as she stomped into her room. Overall though, amazing to me that she can sort out the feelings/emotions of being sad for not being heard. Note to mama - try to listen to her sad...

And this one...

Yeah, I live in California, but the weather isn't particularly warm in this particular area, so Lulu hasn't seen many shorts since her arrival last November. She wore a pair a week or so ago and thought it was odd to have her legs sticking out like that. But she did like being cooler. So the other day when she was getting ready for school she put on a pair of jeans, but then looked down and said, "Mama, I wanna wear my short sleeved pants."

Memorial Day Weekend

Lulu had a great Memorial Day weekend. I'm not big celebrator of holidays (except for Christmas where I go hog wild) but I thought with three uninterupted days of Mama-Lulu time, I had better come up with some fun stuff to do. And the weather was beautiful!

On Saturday, I decided to take the big plunge and take Lulu to her first movie. She was very excited about going, even though she was a bit confused by my explanation of a big TV and lots of people in the dark. Over the Hedge was playing at 11 something in the morning and I thought it would be good to go early since I didn't know how she'd react to the whole thing. I got her a hotdog and I got a small bag of popcorn and a couple of drinks and we marched into the theater. She thought it was so cool that all the seats could be folded down that she did our whole row. Look Mama! she said with each seat she opened. Then I handed her her drink and she plopped it right into her cup holder like she'd done it a million times. Previews began and except for a little questioning about what happened to the lights, she started watching. She pulled the hotdog from the bun and chomped it down two-fistedly. There were a couple of "I scary, Mama" moments at the beginning where the bear is a little threatening, but she was fine to just hold my hand (thank you very much for the slobbery hot-dog hand). Later, she took the popcorn bag and started chomping down on that too. It's the first time for that too. So she sat through the whole movie and seemed to follow the plotline pretty well. Overall, it's like she was a seasoned movie goer.

On Sunday, we went down to visit cousin Brian, who is six. Now to say Lulu adores Brian is a huge understatement. They had a blast and a half. This is a pic of them after playing Brian's concocted game - Jungle Roof Ball - wherein players toss the ball up onto the roof and he who gets the most roof bounces before the ball hits the ground is the winner. The pic here is of the two of them during a JRB break.



On Monday, I took her to a local park created by Dennis the Menace creator Hank Ketchum. It's a grand old place with a hedge maze, cool play equipment (not as cool as when I was a kid and they had all kinds of really super-cool equipment that you could really get hurt on!) and even an old locamotive engine for kids to crawl around on. Fun stuff, but usually crowded, especially on a holiday weekend. She was there once before, soon after she arrived from China, but this was the first time where she really got to have fun. Let's just say she pretty much frolicked. What a happy camper she was! That is, until the point at which we had to go and I had to carry her out football style, screaming for more. As much as she seems so much older to so many people, she still has her totally three year old moments! Here's a pic of her before the meltdown...



So, throw in a few visits to Grandma and Grandpa's house where she could have the run of the house and all in all, a fun weekend for my girly.