Lainey turned 3 last Saturday (while we were on vacation and thus the reason for the late posting).  In honor of her 3rd year I thought I’d share some of her likes, dislikes and just plain Laineyness.

Likes: Big dogs, Silky blankets, Dancing, Swimming, Purses, Play Cell Phones, Lakyn

Dislikes: Little yippie dogs (they freak her out), Bad Smells (she has the nose of a pregnant woman and will call you out if you have bad breath), Loud Noises (she’s tough physically but very much a ‘chicken little’ when she hears a loud noise, but she likes her music LOUD), Monsters (as far as she is concerned, they exist)

Laineyisms: TV is pronounced WeeVee, Grandma is pronounced Gair-mond, Blanket is Manklet

Laineyness: She loves the library… that’s my girl.  Recently we went to see a music program at the New Albany branch and in one of the dances the kids were told to pretend to be a washing machine, pop like popcorn and wear their binoculars.  So -of course- Lainey can’t say binoculars and that’s the only part of the song that she wants to do. So at random moments – usually in public – Lainey will put her fingers in circles over her eyes (like binoculars) and yell “Come on Mommy, do the BIG KNOCKERS dance!”  Nice.

And lastly, she can’t say music, so she calls it “magic” and isn’t that the truth?  Music is Magic!  I believe music has magical qualities: it can instantly change your mood, take you somewhere you haven’t been in awhile, make you believe you can sing (this is dangerous) and mostly it can just lift your spirits.

So in honor of Lainey Bird, here is her favorite song (and it hasn’t changed since she was 9 months old).  Jump Around by House of Pain.  Enjoy!

 The neighborhood gang went bowling yesterday and it was the first time for 3 of the kids… Lainey, Jared and Chase… obviously since Lainey is 2, Jared is 18 months old and Chase is only 2 months old.  Lainey loved the fact that it was something she could do it in her socks (they do not make shoes small enough for her).  But she didn’t love it when Lakyn had to retrieve her bowling ball because she hadn’t pushed it hard enough down the lane.  We went to Gahanna Lanes where I assume that all employees are required to go through customer service training that includes: Ignoring the customer 101, Screwing up Drink Orders the easy way and – my favorite – How to Overcharge Everyone.  

 Grandma Dedi got Lainey an indoor/outdoor pop-up playhouse that is the size of an apartment!   We put it up in our family room (temporarily) just to see if she’d like it and found out that all 3 of our Great Danes liked it as much as Lainey.  It’s so big that it has 2 rooms and comes with furniture.  It also has an opening for us to attach Lainey’s crawl- thru tunnel, but we couldn’t even get it in our family room if we attached the tunnel (and our family room is pretty big), so we’ll have to wait until we put it outside in the Spring to add that piece.  Here is a picture of Vedo (our tallest Dane) in the playhouse with Lainey this morning as she had her morning coffee (actually warm milk, but she doesn’t know).  Keep in mind that Vedo is only 3.5 inches shorter than the World’s Tallest Dog and he has plenty of room in there.  The second picture is before we let Vedo inside and he kept peeking in at us through the window.  He looked like Dogzilla stalking us.  

 ”Clark, the little lights aren’t twinkling.”  Well, the Griswold’s had yet another fun-filled Christmas this year starting with Lainey (our 2-year-old) permanently knocking out power to half of our Christmas tree and ending the evening by throwing up all over herself, Jay and her carseat.   There were some good times in between though…. like when  Lakyn presented her cousin, Coulton, with his secret Santa gift.  She really wanted to get him something that 

 he would love so she got Jim Tressel (Head Coach for the  Ohio State Football team, for anyone living under a rock) to sign a photo “To Coulton, Go Bucks! Sincerely Jim Tressel.”  She also got Coulton an OSU baseball jersey that has actually been worn in a 2007 game (yes it was washed first) and a football that records the distance of throws.  Sam (Coulton’s big sis) is going to try 

 to rig the drawing next year to get Lakyn as her secret Santa.  Lakyn even got a big hug from Coulton… check out how far apart they are in the picture  The picture is a little out of focus but there was no way they were hugging twice for the sake of a photograph.  My nephew Carson gave us a few laughs when he tried on his camouflage Under Armour… everytime he got near the Christmas tree we’d stupidly say “Where’s Carson? We can’t see him.”  Aren’t we hilarious?  Karley got a new camera that Lainey decided she needed to try it out by 

sneaking a picture of Claire.  (Notice that Lainey holds the camera backwards because she is left-handed.)  And since Jay is in charge of taking our traditional Mother/Daughter picture, we always have to use a stand-in while I line the picture up and then Jay comes up and snaps it   (once we  get into place).   This year Coulton volunteered to help.  (In case you’re wondering, that is a Hannah Montana wig that Karley got from Santa.)  All in all in was another wonderful holiday season for the Griswolds… even though the tree made us crazy and we were cleaning up puke the entire week of Christmas. 

Merry Christmas to all…

Look how optimistic my girls are as they prepare for Santa’s visit tonight.  Won’t they be disappointed when they get coal?  :)  Kidding, of course… well at least I think so… no one really knows what Santa’s got in that big bag. 

Lakyn and Lainey got their picture taken with Santa today and as we assumed, Lainey is still very leery of the big man.  We went over to the Worthington Mall so that Lakyn wasn’t see by any of her Middle School friends while sitting on Santa’s lap (and there are no lines there).

Lainey’s favorite person in the world is Lainey.  Here she is watching herself in my laptop webcam. 

Today a package arrived in the mail for Lakyn and Lainey from their Grandma Dedi that will add a new tradition to our family Christmas.  She got the girls the “Elf on the Shelf” set.  If you haven’t seen this, you are missing out.  It is such a genius idea!   It is a little pixie-like elf and a big hardbound book with a story about the elf.    Here is an excerpt from the creator’s website.  

This charming tradition began for our family when my children were very small. Plagued by their desire to know how Santa really knew who had been naughty or nice, I searched through the Christmas decorations for a plausible explanation. Nestled among them was the answer; a small elf doll from my own childhood. With that discovery, the idea for the elf tradition was born.At our home the elf would arrive around the holidays, usually at Thanksgiving. His sole responsibility was to watch my children’s behavior and report it to “Santa” each night. The next morning after the children awoke, they discovered the elf had returned from the “North Pole” (with some parental assistance) and was hiding in a different place. My children would race each other out of bed to try and be the first to spy him in his new position.Over the years the tradition was perfected and rules were even introduced. For example, to better preserve his mystique the children were not allowed to touch him; however, they were allowed to talk to him. For obvious reasons, he was not allowed to reply. Eventually, my children even gave him a name – officially adopting him into the family.Unwittingly, the tradition provided an added benefit: it helped the children to better control themselves. All it took was a gentle reminder that the “elf was watching” for errant behavior to be modified.I never dreamed this simple tradition would lead to so many Christmas memories for our entire family. It is my earnest desire that The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition will bring as much joy to your family as it has to mine.                        Make it your own, 

So Lakyn named our elf “Buddy” and added his ‘adoption’ information into the book.   (If you are wondering, yes he is named after Will Farrell’s character in the movie ‘Elf.’)  Then we placed Buddy into the wreath on our mantle to keep an eye out for naughty behavior.   Because Lainey is only 2  we are going to wait for the ‘hide and seek’ portion of the tradition until she is older.  For now, she likes him just where he is… in fact, she waved to him and said “night Buddy” before going to bed tonight.

Just a quick post to show how well Lainey Bird is healing after getting her stitches out last Friday.  (Pardon the cellphone picture, the scar is above her left eye.) By the way, we have the toughest kid the pediatrician has seen.  Lainey didn’t even notice the stitches being pulled out, she just kept talking and eating her puffs… go figure.