I think this one's going to be trouble...

Melissa had it right. Ban the word "whatever" in all its forms. Two nights ago, I said to Elisabeth, "you can have whatever you want" in relation to her choices for dinner. "But mommy, we can't say whatever." Doug explained, "well, you can say 'whatever' in certain circumstances, such as like what Mommy said - you can have whatever you want. That isn't a bad way to use 'whatever.'" End of conversation. Last night, she was actually frustrated with something and what came out? "UGH..... whatever you want." Impossible not to actually laugh.

I didn't think it possible that I'd have two social butterflies, but Charlotte is quite possibly more social than Elisabeth. We went to the zoo yesterday and she spent the entire time flailing her little arms and trying to get other kids' attention. Oh, and I'm not sure when you say a kid is actually crawling, but this morning she moved all 4 limbs in a crawling motion without falling on her face, so I think we're really close.

At the zoo yesterday, you'll be happy to know we avoided a repeat of the baby goat on Elisabeth's head incident. Elisabeth, however, went through the entire petting barn with her hands over her head, her eyes squinted, and saying, 'eeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnn.' Big whimp. Then when we got out of the petting barn she said, "mommy, why that goat fell on my head?" And I said, "he didn't mean to fall on your head, he just had all four of his little legs perched on that one little post and he lost his balance." E said, "he wasn't being careful?" And I laughed. And she said, and I quote, "well, you don't have to laugh." Poor little thing was traumatized by a baby goat losing its balance and landing on her head over a year ago, and mean mommy laughs about it.

They had about forty baby lambs there yesterday. I'm going to need a few lambs, they were about the cutest things you can imagine - all piled up on each other sleeping. Elisabeth was brave enough to "pet" one - she'd only pet a non-bleating one and then only if I was distracting its head so she could quickly tap its rump. At this zoo, they have a hay ride that you take around this Serengetti looking area and animals come up to the wagon to get patted on. They have two camels. Camels are the funniest looking creatures on earth and they make the greatest grumbling noises while moving their lips. They also scare the bejeezus out of Elisabeth. She clung to me like white on rice when those camels came and stuck their big heads next to ours. Charlotte on the other hand reached out for them.

When we left the zoo, Elisabeth said, "I wasn't scared, Mommy. And no goats felled on my head. They were being more careful."