Introducing Lila -

Yesterday Aubree made a new friend. Her name is Lila and, according to Aubree, she really likes "accessories."

Aubree and Lila played all afternoon. Last night I went to the cannery and got home after the kids had gone to bed. Mark informed me that we had a guest sleeping on our bedroom floor.
Aubree had very carefully put Lila to sleep and had made it clear she intended to play with her the next morning, "DON'T put Lila away!" This morning they did indeed "play." Lila followed Aubree all around the house and proved to be a very agreeable companion. Bryce was a little put out that Aubree took over his object of obsession, but was happy enough that at least the vacuum cleaner was out.

While I'm blogging, I might as well relate the other funny, interesting, and terrible recent events:
* A while ago I sent Aubree to get a bib out out the closet in her room. As she ran off I cautioned, "don't throw all the bibs on the ground!" "I won't!" she cheerfully responded. When I next found my way into her room I was dismayed to find a pile of bibs on the ground. Frustrated, I called, "Aubree! I told you not to throw all the bibs on the ground!" "Mom," she explained, "I didn't throw them on the ground, I set them so carefully!"
* The other day Aubree came up to me and asked, "Mom, what's a 'commander-in-chief'?" ?!? Where in the world did she hear that title? I asked her and all she said was, "I was just thinking, 'the commander-in-chief said "Kill the King."'" Strange. And in case you're wondering, she never watches the news or any regular TV, so she didn't hear it there.
* Aubree has reached a stage where she notices peculiarities in appearance and dress and is not shy about pointing them out. Here's one recent example: We were standing in line to check out at the library and in front of us was a heavily tattooed and pierced young man. "Mom!" Aubree called, sticking out her index finger, "look at HIM!" When the young man turned around, Aubree jumped behind my legs, leaving me to smile and apologize. I wasn't too embarrassed, though, because with that extreme of an appearance, he was kind of asking for attention.
* Aubree's been sooo sweet lately. One evening I had to leave to go to a church meeting. I hadn't been gone long when Mark called to inform me that Aubree was listing off all the things she loved about me, such as: "she makes food for me," and "she takes care of me," and "she teaches me," and "she's kind to me" and on and on. TOTALLY made my week! Just a few days later, she asked me, "Mom, how do you know so much?" I answered that it was because I'm old. "You're not old!" she scoffed, "you don't have any white hairs!" I laughed, then asked, "what about Daddy? Is he old?" She answered, "oh yes! He has LOTS!"
* Unfortunately, my Bryce story for the day isn't nearly so sweet. We were invited to a friends house for an "end of summer" party on Tuesday. When we arrived, the host's baby (just 3 months old) was lying on the ground. Bryce immediately gravitated towards him. Initially he was smiling and patting the baby, but a few seconds later the baby started to SCREAM. Upon examination, we found slobber and teeth marks on his CHEEK! Bryce bit him, hard! Ugh! I was mortified. When we left a few hours later, the mark was still there. I reasoned that Bryce was probably trying to give him a kiss, because occasionally when he kisses my cheeks he bites a little - but never hard. I redirected him towards slightly bigger kids, specifically a big 2 year old boy. The next thing I knew, Bryce was lying on top of this boy and the boy was SCREAMING. Yep, you guessed it. Bryce bit him too, on his back and so hard it drew blood! AAuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Needless to say, he spent the rest of the time at the party in my arms and I didn't let him get close to any other kids. Bryce is supposed to start nursery in 6 weeks. I will NOT send him if he's going to be biting other kids. Excuse the pun, but we've really got to nip this in the bud. Anyone deal with a biter? How did you handle it (without spanking, flicking, or biting back, preferably)?
* On a totally different note, our backyard has been a hub of activity the last week and a half. The power company is replacing an old wooden power pole, with a new (huge) concrete one. This is just an example of what we've been watching from our screen doors (Bryce seems to enjoy watching the big equipment, but shows a special fondness for the little Bobcat forklift/tractor thing):
Here's a picture that shows the new pole. Notice anything missing from this part of our yard? Oh yes, our garden. Due to a mis-communication, the workers thought they were doing us a favor and razed our raised beds and were halfway through carting away our precious compost when I got home and stopped them. Grrrrrr!
Here's what our backyard looks like as of today:
Yeah, not pretty. On a positive note, the "restoration crew" is set to arrive tomorrow. I've been told they will re-sod all the areas of dead grass (which is extra great because, truth be told, most of that area was more weed than grass and we'd been meaning to re-sod it anyway). They will also be filling the area along the back fence with mature hibiscus bushes (my favorite flower!). Today they stopped by to ask my preference of color. So, except for the garden problem ("grrrr" again), this might end up working in our favor!