This is the face of a girl who is going to be somebody some day.

Mark my words, this child is going to be successful at whatever she sets her mind to. Already at two years old, she is independent, determined, and yet very much aware of how she affects other people. She can get our whole family laughing so hard we can’t breathe, just by doing one simple thing over and over. She can also get all of us to jump up and run to wherever she is, just by adjusting the pitch of her cry.

There’s a website that uses CafePress to make a t-shirt line they call GirlMogul. This is how they describe what a Girl Mogul is:

A GirlMogul is what’s inside you – what makes you, you, what inspires you. It’s a commitment to be being smart, independent, to having fun, to helping others, to dreaming and to building and growing those dreams.

When I look at my tiny little daughter, who holds the keys to the hearts of every member of our family, I know she is going to fit that description exactly some day. Is someone you know a GirlMogul? Smart, independent, determined to be successful, proud of who they are? Check out the GirlMogul Store for a line of t-shirts with slogans like “I Like Math” and “Computer Geek” and my favorite, the one I would love to get for Kaitlyn, “Future Leader of the Free World”:

It’s an amazing thing, bringing up a girl in today’s world. They have so many opportunities that our mothers and grandmothers could never have dreamed of, and that women of our generation have had to fight so hard for. If Kaitlyn as an adult is anything like Kaitlyn now, then look out world, because she has got places to go and things to do.

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Yesterday, Nathan complained of a headache in the morning, but I sent him to school anyway. After lunch, the secretary called to say he was in the office complaining of both a headache and a stomachache. I told her he probably just wanted to come home and play video games, and to have him rest in the office and stick it out for the rest of the day. At 3:30 he called and asked me to come pick him up because he didn’t feel well enough to walk the eighth of a mile home.

He was white as a sheet when I picked him up. We had to stop at the township library to get Ryan a book for a report, and I asked Nathan to wait with Kaitlyn in the children’s room. When I went to get them, Nathan had fallen asleep face down with his cheek on a puzzle piece. He asked if he could get some hot chocolate on the way home, that it would make his stomach feel better.

Now, I have been a mother for eleven years. I have dealt with everything from RSV to Roseola to Bronchiolitis. I know that when kids are sick, especially if they say their stomach hurts, it’s best to stick with clear, easy to digest liquidy things until they feel better. However, I must have forgotten that as I drove through the McDonald’s drive thru for hot chocolate and a juice box for Kaitlyn.

Nathan came home, drank the hot chocolate, and then promptly ran into the bathroom and threw it up. Oh yes, my instincts were just excellent on that one.

I sent him to bed and he went without protest, and slept for two and a half hours. The rest of us ate dinner, and just as we were finishing up, Nathan walked into the kitchen half-asleep, asking for help getting his lunchbox down. An alarm bell went off in my head, and I sent Chris for the thermometer. Sure enough, 101.9. Peachy. I settled Nathan on the couch with a glass of cool water to sip through a straw, and a cool washcloth. I know kids’ temperatures go up while they sleep, so I was relieved when we took his temp again an hour later and it was normal.

This morning, however, he was hot and pale again, so I kept him home from school. He’s been on the couch all day, we watched “The Game Plan” (funny movie, I’ll have a review soon), and all he has had is water and apple juice. My poor sick little man.

Oh, and Chris flew to Orlando today for a three-day work training session. Freaking Orlando! Before he left, he had to use the snowblower to clear ours and our neighbor’s driveways and sidewalks of the two inches of snow that fell overnight. I don’t know how warm it is in Orlando, but it has to be warmer than here. I’m just glad Nathan isn’t more sick since it’s just me with the three kids until Saturday night.

But does that mean that every time a kid complains of a headache, that they should stay home? No, not necessarily. And that’s the difficulty a parent faces where sick kids are concerned-how to know when they are “crying wolf” and when it is real. You just have to trust your instincts, sometimes they will be wrong, but most of the time they are probably right.

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She speaks in sentences, people. She turned two on November 18th, and she can now speak in sentences. And it’s kind of freaking me out! It’s like, one day all she could say was “hot” and “boot”, and then it was “apple, peez?”, and now it’s “have you seen my juice?” and “I’ll be careful with you” which she just said to me as she was brushing my hair. I’m just amazed, even though this is my third child, every time it’s just mind-boggling, how they grow and develop. And she sure is doing a bang-up job of it.

“Have you seen my blankets?”

“Mama, Elvis barking” (still no “k” sound, so it sounds like bar-ting)

She’s been trying to sing “Jingle Bells”, but it comes out “Deendle Bells, Deendle Bells”. We all think it’s adorable.

She’s also singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, except she starts with “how I wonder what you are”, which sounds like “how I wonner ut oo ah”. We know what she means.

And the phone! She loves to talk on the phone! She picked up my cell phone yesterday and started punching buttons, and called my Dad’s house! My Stepmother called back worried because the caller ID said it was us but no one was saying anything.

She loves to do dishes so much that she will grab a kitchen chair and drag it over to the sink, no matter whose house we are in. She sits on the floor while Chris folds laundry and holds up each piece of clothing, identifying who it belongs to-”this Ryan’s shirt”, “this Nah-Nah’s pants”.

Oh yes, and I don’t want to forget, this is the month that she decided she wants to “do it mySELF”. And she has started declaring things to be hers, although she doesn’t say MY cup, she says “MINE” cup, etc. It’s cute, for now.

She’s getting so big! *sniff* Even though two year olds can be incredibly frustrating, stubborn, and emotional, they are also soaking up information so fast it’s blinding. Every day I hear her say something new, watch her try something for the first time. And no matter how many times I’ve seen it before, it’s still awesome to watch.

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GoGoShopper.com is a great resource for online coupon codes. I found a list of Target coupons for savings like ten percent off an entire order, free shipping for spending $50.00 on Handbags, Fragrances, Jewelry, Apparel, or Shoes, cashmere and leather gloves on sale for $24.99, and more. The site provides the most up-to-date online coupons and deals available at major department stores like Kohls, Macys, Target and Wal-Mart, as well as online sites like Drugstore.com and even GoDaddy.com. Looking through the list, I think every store I have ever shopped at ever has coupons listed.

It’s so much more convenient to shop online, too. I used to love going to the Mall at Christmas time, I’m one of those people who actually likes crowds of holiday shoppers, everyone in a good mood, having fun spending their money. I love the special store displays, the decorated trees and the twinkling lights, but what I don’t like is dealing with a toddler who has an attention span of about five minutes. She isn’t one of those kids who is content to just sit back in their stroller and watch, no, she has to get out and walk or RUN, which makes shopping in a crowded Mall pretty difficult. So there will be a lot more online shopping for me this year!

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Lead paint. More lead paint. Pieces that can break off and cause choking if swallowed. And now, the latest-Aqua Dots are coated in a chemical that when swallowed, metabolize into GHB, the DATE RAPE DRUG. Two children have already gone into temporary comas from swallowing the Dots.

Sweet jumping jesus, what CAN we buy kids for Christmas? I took the boys to Toys ‘R Us today. They both had very good reports at their Parent-Teacher Conferences, especially Nathan, and I agreed that there would be a small “reward” for that. We spent close to two hours browsing the shelves at Overly Commercialized Plastic Shelves of Crap ‘R’ Us, and I felt myself getting more and more disappointed and demoralized every time we turned a new corner.

Kaitlyn loves Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go, but I can not justify spending $39.99 on Diego’s Talking Treehouse Playset, which will more than likely either have A. tiny pieces that she could theoretically choke on even though she NEVER puts toys in her mouth, or B. Contain Lead Paint or some other hazard, only we won’t know about it until January when the recall lists come out.

I found myself browsing the “educational” toy aisle, where Melissa & Doug and Imaginarium live, and they might be my only hope. I bought Kaitlyn the Imaginarium Wooden City Blocks Set, with painted blocks that combine to make houses and buildings, plus wooden cars, and a cardboard puzzle play mat. She has it all spread out in our hallway, stacking the blocks up and letting them fall, using the cars like people to jump from building to building.

Of course, by buying it for her now, I just eliminated one Christmas present possibility. I’m just going to tell everyone, Imaginarium, Melissa & Doug, Brio. Oh, Brio! They have the cutest wooden magnet building toys, and one set that makes a really cute dog.

The boys, however, are going to be harder to shop for. They are beyond the building blocks stage, but Ryan wants a Lego set that makes a Star Wars ship, and Nathan wants a Lego Bionicle. Other than that, I’m thinking books. And clothes. Preferably not made in China out of lead paint and date rape chemicals. Christ on a cracker, what is happening to our society?

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