Mommy

She's finally calling me Mommy. Wow, it's taken two years to hear it. Mama was nice, but Mommy is so much better.... Now, of course, I hear it about a thousand times a day (I think she just must like saying it because often she'll just say it over and over and over...."Mooooooommmmyyyyyy....Moooooooommmmmmyyyyyy..." and on and on. But I love hearing it.

One of her favorite things to say, though, lately, is "Hi" to every single person (or inanimate object) she sees. And not just once....she says it over and over and over until you just want to bury your head in the sand because the other person really doesn't want to say hi one more time to a little girl who they've already said hi to fifteen times! Often she'll do this when we're out playing in the yard, so it's neighborhood kids who are walking by and she's telling them hi. Of course, once you reach a certain age it's not "cool" to say hi to people, especially two year old little girls, so lots of the teens will ignore her and keep right on walking. But she just keeps on saying hi. Poor, innocent little thing. One of these days her sweet little friendly bubble will be burst as she realizes that not everyone thinks she's as fabulous and ridiculously cute as her Mommy, Daddy, and grandparents do!!!

This morning I took part in another market research panel (every so often they call and I fit the profile and I join a panel to discuss something and get paid a ridiculous amount of money for a very small portion of my time). This time, though, instead of sitting at a table with a panel while interested businesses watched behind a two way mirror, we were at a table in front of a live audience while people asked us questions about what we're looking for in a cable company. It looked and felt very much like a press conference, with myself and about 7 other customers, up in front, and about 100 cable business executives, sitting in the audience. Not in my comfort zone in the least....but at least I was compensated well, and I really only had to answer a few questions, since lots of the questions didn't apply to me (we have a very basic cable and high speed internet bundle, and lots of their questions were about all of the extra stuff we don't have).

My mom was here keeping me company for a few days while my husband was gone on business, so she was able to babysit, which worked out perfectly. My little one and I had lots of fun with Grandma, and the weather was beautiful for her visit. Yesterday the two of them played while I worked upstairs cleaning and organizing all morning. It was so nice to get something accomplished and not have to worry about my little one running around getting into things or needing me. I told her if she came more often my house would be a lot cleaner! But it was hard to make myself go up and do it....I would've much rather have played with the two of them! But now that it's done and I have a clean, organized room and bathroom, I'm glad I did. Now if I could only do that in EVERY room!