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).

I don’t know how anyone is a kindergarten teacher. I really don’t understand why we don’t pay teachers $500,000 a year to put up with 23 kids in a room. I just can’t think of anything more difficult. Oh the stories that Hailey comes home with – fart jokes, giant messes, bee stings, glued fingers, etc. And, that’s just the stuff that I hear about! All in all it’s just exhausting.

So, here’s the all of the teachers out there. Congrats for making it through 100 days. In honor of your accomplishment, here’s a fun movie of the girls dancing…

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 actually have a homemade birthday cake sign hanging from our second floor balcony for her party (in 6 months). She also wanted to hang some signs from the mailbox, but I had to veto that. Of course, I say all of this, and I’ve already forgotten the theme for the party. Wait, now I remember…it’s a Rapunzel party (of course). I don’t know how I could have forgotten that since she also asked me if she could get a Rapunzel wig for her party the last time we went to the store (which I also vetoed because I’m the meanest Mom and the party is not for 6 months…did I mention that part??!?!?).

I complain about this, but you know I’m just a little bit of a planner too. So, it’s hard for me to judge in the case. I mean really, can you just imagine when this kid learns how to make spreadsheets? She’s going to have the whole party organized by the end of August the year before. That’s my good little planner!

Sophia: What happened, Mommy?

Me: Mommy wasn’t thinking and turned the wrong way.

Hailey: You must feel, not think.

Do you think that she watches too much Star Wars?

Anyway, for our last dinner together, she got the girls bathed and in their PJs. Then the three of them made breakfast for dinner (brinner) together. We all sat in our jammies and ate some bacon, eggs, pancakes, home fries, and biscuits. Delicious!

We were also joined by two of the girls stuffed animals who got a special invitation after there were too many place settings at the table. Seemed appropriate for brinner after all.

We also decided to let Fifi butter her own bread. That may have been a mistake given how much butter she decided to use (see below). Between her chronic butter eating and Hailey’s bacon obsession, they’ll both have clogged arteries by the age of seven.