Oh, how I'd like to type a nice long post and tell you all numerous anecdotes of cute things Veronica has done lately. But I'm exhausted. I've been fighting a bad cold for a week. I've been busy at work. Veronica is pretty much over her cold, but not before losing her appetite for a week and making me nervous as hell about it. (She's so thin already. I actually took her to the pediatrician. She's only 22.2 lbs but he says she's fine.) Veronica is also becoming more resolute in her wants and her dislikes, so when she wants to only drink juice, only eat Cheerios, run around naked all the time, and sleep in every morning, well, it becomes a problem. Jason has just started a new job and is adjusting. Part of the adjustment? Getting to bed early. I said I'd help, and me staying up late to type on the computer isn't helping any. G'night, and I'll hopefully be able to say more soon.

Happy New Year! And just like last year, Veronica is sick again. I'm wondering if the change in schedule and sleeping doesn't just wear her down and make her a bit more susceptable to catching a cold.

I decided to mark this occasion by pointing out some unusual things she does:

1. The mittens.

She frequently asks us to put her mittens on her while she's in the house. We originally just thought it was kind of cute, one of those things that makes a toddler inexplicably happy, until Jason noticed that she only wants them on when she's playing with her toy kitchen. We think she thinks of them as oven mitts. This is too adorable for words.

2. The bupples, bunt, and Bumbob

There are three words that seem to have no meaning to anyone but us. They're also the three words that have almost no resemblance to the words Veronica actually means to say. "Bupples" refer to both bubbles (understandable) and apples (and that one is the head-scratcher.) "Bunt" and "bundt" do not refer to a baseball hit nor to a shape of cake; rather, they refer to her blanket. We constantly call it a blanket and that's what she comes back with. And Bumbob? Well, he is known to the rest of the world as "Spongebob." And Patrick from the Spongebob cartoon is also called "Bumbob." These all make us smile every time we hear them.

3. The mommy.

Veronica calls Jason "daddy", Pita "kitty", and so on and so forth. Not me. I'm not just "Mommy." I'm "The Mommy." Why I have a definite article before my name is beyond me. This morning Jason got up with her to allow me to sleep in, and I heard her ask, "The Mommy here?" Jason said yes, she's sleeping. Veronica then exclaimed "The Mommy here!", ran to the bedroom door, and started rattling it. Jason let her in, and she ran to the bed and joyfully announced "The Mommy HERE!" I never call myself that, no one else does, but for some reason, that's my name. Huh.

Well, off I go, after Jason, Veronica and I spent some time with Susan, Heather, and Susan's brother James on New Years Day. Happy New Year, and here's to another year full of more wonderful surprises. :-)