Tomorrow, Grandma and Papa Harry head to Paris, France to meet their newest granddaughter, Alexandra. Sophia was talking to Grandma on the phone today, and had a very funny conversation that went a little something like this.

Grandma: What are you making for dinner tonight, Sophia?

Sophia: Enchiladas. You coming to my house?

Grandma: No. I have to go meet baby Alexandra in France tomorrow.

Sophia: No. You come to my house. Yes. You come and eat dinner.

Grandma: Well, I’ll come to your house when I get back from France.

Sophia: Ok. You come to my house. You have enchiladas.

Sometimes I’m just not sure how much of all this she’s really understanding. Oh well. She didn’t seem surprised when she got home and Grandma wasn’t there.

Luckily, I was able to get her an appointment at the doctor at 2:45, but Luke said she was fine all morning. I even considered canceling it until she started telling him at lunch that there was chocolate in her ear. He thought that she was putting her lunch into her ear (they were eating chili), but no, it wasn’t chocolate or chili. It was blood. Her eardrum had ruptured.

A few hours later the doctor confirmed – two infected ears and a ruptured drum. What the heck?!?!? No fever. No other symptoms and suddenly she has a ruptured ear drum??? Seems kind of crazy. I guess we’re just going to have to keep a close eye on her because I don’t think it’s ever going to be really obvious when she’s sick.

I guess we’ll have a nice relaxing weekend of recovery.

Right before I took this video she explained to me that Daddy and Mommy were crazy, but Hailey is a big girl. It was so cute that I had to try to get it on tape.

Unfortunately, Sophia’s favorite phrase is “I want.” That girl is constantly whining “I want this” “I want that.” Even when I know I’m going to give her what she wants, the whole transaction takes forever because I’m constantly having to reminder that we can’t ask for things by saying “I want.” I’m wondering how long it’s going to take her to realize that she never gets what she wants, only what she “please may I have’s.”

Another great phrase is “what’d you say?” This one she likes to use even if she has heard you. It’s especially effective when she heard you, but didn’t want to hear you.

“What you doing?” is used quite frequently when I am engaged in something that she would like to interrupt. Sometimes that’s chores, other times it’s something that I might enjoy doing without her, like going to the bathroom

Movie time favorites include “what he doing?” (regardless of the gender of the character) and “what happened?” These phrases must be repeated at least 15-20 times in a row even if you attempt to explain it.

Ride home from school phrases that I hear everyday (well mostly everyday when she’s been good) include “I no hit no one. I no bite no one. I no push no one.” Sometimes I also get a long and involved story about someone who did her some type of wrong at school, but that’s a little unpredictable.

And last but not least is the phrase “I gonna pee pee on myself.” This one she uses when she is tricking you into taking her to the bathroom even though she just went 3 minutes ago. It’s particularly useful to her in restaurants when she’s tired of sitting at the table and wants to just run around a little.

Of course, all of these are said with her little Sophia lisp and her adorable Sophia voice. So, I love them even when they are being used to manipulate me (which is almost always).

Today, however, was a new day. It was a day filled with all the promise of a binky-free future. So, before the football games started, we grabbed an envelope, filled it with all of the binkies, and put it in the mailbox.

Then, we piled in the car and headed to Toys R Us where Sophia was allowed to choose any toy (excluding battery powered cars which I claimed were classified as vehicles, not toys). Luckily, that distinction worked or the Binky Fairy would be broke right now.

I actually wish that I had taken some video in Toy R Us because it was really quite hysterical. Unfortunately, I don’t really know how to explain it. If you’re ever trapped in a toy store with a two-year-old, you’ll find out what I mean. Let’s just say that there was a point where she was just running around the store like a complete lunatic.

About halfway through the store, I finally came up with a system whereby she could carry around one toy until she found something she liked better. The last toy she ended up with would be the one she got. That was the best system I could come up with, so feel free to use it if you ever make the unwise mistake of offering to buy your kids “anything” at the store.

Anyway, she traded through several quiet and peaceful toys – Cars figures, cooking utensils, Toy Story characters – before she finally settled on musical instruments. What??!? Seriously?!?! Yeah, she’s going to make us pay big time for losing the binkies. And so we spent the day listening to all types of variations of Baby Baby Oh played on a plastic drum, a tone-deaf trumpet, and a guitar with four untuned strings.

She actually napped fine without her binky. Now, she’s been in bed for about 30 minutes without a peep. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that she doesn’t come marching downstairs at 2am.

We’ve been threatening to take her binkies for a long long time. We’ve been working up to the day that the Binky Fairy will come to take them away to give them to the babies who need them (as if Sophia has any sense of charity in her body at this age). Sometime’s she’s ok with this idea, but most times she’s not. Tonight the conversation went like this:

Luke: Sophia, it’s almost Christmas, and I think that the Binky Fairy is going to come to take your binkies away.
Sophia: To give them to the babies?
Luke: Yes.
Sophia: No. I don’t want to.
Hailey: If you give them to the babies, then you’ll be like a community helper.
Luke: Something like that.
Sophia: I not a community helper.

So, she has no binky tonight, but we’re letting her sister sleep in her room with her. I’m sitting on the couch about 10 feet from the door to their room, and I can hear them whisper in a screaming voice (if you can imagine what that sounds like). I’m hoping that maybe she will just forget about the binky because they are too busy keeping each other awake. Wait. Somehow I don’t think this is working out in my favor either.

Anyway, one of the things that he said when he got home was “this day can’t get any worse.” I didn’t think anything of it at the time because it’s a standard colloquialism. However, the next few days, Hailey started using that phrase in both real and make believe situations. It was kind of cute.

Then, I had the gas thing happen on Wednesday, and I thought to myself “this week can’t get any worse.” The gas was restored on Thursday after they had to send two separate guys to the house.

I thought I was in the clear Thursday night when I slept in our warm house, except that at 2am Sophia came downstairs with a tummy ache. She was writhing in pain. I thought she was going to throw up so I laid her down in the bathroom. She was all curled up on some towels with a giant blanket on her. I made myself a bed on the other side of the toilet so that I could rub her back. That’s where we stayed for about and hour and half. Her head on one side of the toilet and my head on the other side of the toilet. It was really quite sweet, although totally uncomfortable!

Anyway, I don’t think that she was sick. I think that she was constipated. We hadn’t eaten as well as we normally due because of all of the craziness in the days before. Of course, she hated the prune juice I tried to give her. Now, it’s 9:30pm, and I’m totally ready for bed. I just can’t help thinking “this week can’t get any worse.”

I know it’s strange because when you think of Sophia, it’s easy to think of her crying or fighting with her sister. But, man, can that girl give some hugs. She gives great big bear hugs where you think that she’s never going to let you go (and sometime she doesn’t). They are just awesome. Well, except when they come at 5am and are accompanied by cold little toes and whining for milk.

Me: Sophia, don’t put your dirty hands on the window.
Sophia’s Thought: You didn’t say anything about putting my sticky mouth on the window.

Me: You cannot chew gum.
Sophia’s Thought: Ok. I won’t chew it, I’ll just swallow 5-6 pieces when you aren’t looking.

Me: Don’t hit your sister.
Sophia’s Thought: Alright, I’ll just tackle her.

Me: Don’t drink bath water. That’s nasty.
Sophia’s Thought: I’ll just put it in my mouth, and them spit it out.

Me: Sophia, do not get up in the middle of the night.
Sophia’s Thought: No problem. I’ll get up at 3am. That’s technically early morning.

My favorite part of the long weekend though was Sophia’s confusion between Grandma and Grandpa. Actually, it wasn’t so much confusion as a complete failure to acknowledge that those are two different words. So, even though we only had two grandPA’s here, she would inadvertently call them Grandma at random times.

In fact, as Grandpa Pete was getting out of the car for the last time to get on the train to the airport, she called him Grandpa from the backseat. He mumbled to me “Well, at least I’m finally Grandpa.” She then yelled, “Bye, Grandma.” At least she’s got great comedic timing!