A Kitten and a Goose.

We have a new member of the family. Meet Tillie.

Yes, we have a kitten. I already love her but what the hell was I thinking!?

Tillie moved in just four days before all of the parties and the people and the everything and I think I was sleep-deprived and my omg-cute-kitty brain overruled my logical brain and now we have a kitten. I’m not sure how much I can blame Babystar. The oldest two kids have been begging for a kitten for YEARS. The husband has wanted more cats since our previous super awesome sibling cats passed away within a week of each other very early in my pregnancy. Well, ever since he got over their passing. They were really cool cats, and he already had them when we met. (RIP Lando and Possum.)

We live very close to the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, and we often stop in during our walks to say hello to the animals. And apparently it is Kitten Season. Babystar always liked the animals, but on the visit in question, she fell in HEAD OVER HEELS LOVE with a particular kitten. He was gray and white and his name was Frankenstein and he had a sister that was also available for adoption. She sat in front of his cage and talked to him and played with him for so long that I decided to adopt them both. When I asked about them, I found out that a couple was literally filling out the paperwork at that very moment to adopt them both. I saw them; they looked nice. Case closed, right?

Nope.

I made the mistake of texting pictures of Babystar and kitten to the fam. Whoops. The Teenager was up, showered, and at the park to meet us and plead her Kitten Case within the hour. So we stopped in again on the way home from the park for no reason other than to see if Babystar went to the same kitten.

Of course she did.


But Frankenstein already had a family, as I explained once to the ToddlerMonster and about fifty times to the TeenageMonster.

And then we met Tillie. She was in the cage next to Frankenstein, and her name was actually Lily. There were two identical cats listed on the picture, named Lily and Millie. But only one kitten was inside.

Someone had just adopted Millie and left Lily behind.

So of course we decided that the ToddlerMonster would make a fine kitty-sister for her, and we immediately adopted Lily and changed her name to Tillie. (Well, actually they were about to close so it was the next day right when the AWLA opened but immediately sounds so much better.)

Babystar was choosing a collar and toys for her and then running to show her (!!!) while I filled out the paperwork. It was adorable. And they really are like siblings. They fight over toys and attention and already love to play with each other.


But the kitten isn’t on Babystar’s tab. It was time for more cats. Or cat, singular, in this case. If anything, Babystar is the reason we didn’t get two.

Oh, and the Goose. We checked out a few story books at the library recently, and Babystar became enamored with one of them. Goose, by Laura Wall. She asked to read this book over and over and over and she can now ‘read’ it herself. I highly recommend this book, and we bought her a copy from Amazon for $7.20 (it’s still on sale!).


(No, that is not an affiliate link. I need to learn how to do that next-level blogging stuff. It’s just there because it is a cool book. If you buy it and you like it, feel free to mail me a quarter or whatever. Just kidding but for real could someone teach me how to make money blogging?)

RAISING BABYSTAR: $18,657.41

 

When Grandma Comes to Town.

Granny and Grampy (the in-laws) were in town last weekend and they wanted to take Babystar shopping for things that she NEEDS. I anticipated this because I am excellent at seeing the future and because they do this every time (AND because they kept reminding me) so I thought Stride Rite seemed the perfect destination.

Babystar got new Mary Janes because her current favorite shoes are about to not fit anymore (and I have no idea where to buy them). And she also got some fuzzy-inside, comfy winter boots because it gets cold here in Northern Virginia. So that was wonderful and very helpful. And Babystar even got a few stickers. Luckily, Stride Rite made sure she knew which stickers were appropriate for a little girl via the tried-and-true color coding system. And luckily my baby don’t give a fuuuuck. You already know we came home with Star Wars AND Sesame Street WHAAAAAAAAAT.

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Have you ever been to Tyson’s Corner Mall? If you live in or near Northern Virginia, the answer is probably yes. Do you know what store is right next door to Stride Rite? If you said the American Girl store, you win. Guess what you win? You get to give ME $100.

I have already gone on record about the American Girl store. But I’m not even mad. Here’s how it went down. Babystar raced into the red and pink wonderland so Grammy and I followed.

Babystar headed straight for the ‘babies’ like they were calling her name and singing her favorite songs and I’m not convinced that they weren’t. And of course the ‘babies’ are on REALLY LOW shelves, right? So here is Babystar manipulating Grammy into bringing a Bitty Baby home with us.

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So effective, right? I almost want to buy her one and I DEFINITELY DO NOT want to buy her one.

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Of course it worked. She even got an extra outfit because she said ‘kitty’ and pointed to an outfit with a cat on it. (Yes, she knows the word kitty and I am very proud but am I more proud of her vocabulary or her clear ability to control her world around her? I’m not sure yet.)

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She immediately has to show Grampy who is waiting on the bench outside because he is smart. And she is smart.

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And then be ALL CUTE about it. Jeez, ok, that little pose is worth $60, I guess. Suckers.

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And here I imagine her thinking, mama, give me the camera. This is none of your business.

The lovely, thoughtful,  well-meaning grandparents also bought her three pairs of maxaloones from etsy because I wanted her to have pants that will fit over her cloth diapers and hopefully last an entire season. I let Grammy pick (but I only showed her cute ones to choose from) and I’m excited for them to arrive in the mail!

RAISING BABYSTAR: $12,790.51