Whitney-isms and Baby Names

This morning I was able to rattle off a list of some of the funniest things Whitney has said lately....now? As I sit here with a blinking cursor prepared to type all these memories to life and into her history book,...I cant recall one thing.  Making a baby seems to be using up more and more brain cells lately.  Sigh...

Last week, Whitney started hiding behind me, sticking her head into the backs of my thighs when we would walk into her classroom.  She was totally happy and skipping from the car into the school and all the way to her classroom, but the second her toes hit the threshold of her classroom door, she suddenly became "shy".  No matter what I or her teachers did, Whitney was determined to be shy. Eventually she let me leave while she snuggled with Ms Kari who made her laugh and forget about being shy.  Since she was "soooo sad" to leave me that morning, you can imagine my complete surprise when she absolutely did NOT want to come home with me when I picked her up three short hours later.  Silly kid kicked, screamed, and even had legit tears running down her face (to match the ones welling up in my eyes, im sure.)  She pretended to be mad that I was leaving, and now she pretended that she was mad that she had to go home with me.  Awesome.

So after some tears from both of us and some kind-hearted reassurances from many of the other moms and teachers, we made our way home and ended up having a great weekend.  In an effort to psych Whitney up for drop-off on Monday, Eric and I started talking to her about school in the hours before I dropped her off. She said she was excited and couldnt wait to see her friends.  She guessed what songs she would sing in music class, and she wondered if a classmate still had a bandaid on his forehead. (he did.) At drop off, Whitney once again pretended to be shy, but was brought back to life when her teachers distracted her by asking what classroom job she would like for the day.  Days of the Week helper? Flag helper? Prayer leader? She decided on prayer leader and was happy. I left and all was right with her world.  Phew.

So this morning, I asked Whitney what job she would like for the day as we got dressed for school.  I asked if she wanted Prayer leader and she said no. How about Days of the Week helper? We'd been working on that at home, so I thought she might bite. No.  She decided loudly and proudly that she hoped to be the Flag helper today! I was excited that she was looking forward to helping at school and asked her, "Oh Flag Helper sounds like a fun job! When youre the Flag Helper do you say, 'I pledge...'"...and was completely blown away when our two year old proceeded to recite the entire Pledge of Allegiance right before my eyes.  Of course I made her repeat it on the phone for Daddy...and again for Mac.....and again for the camera:



In other Whitney news:

* Whitney is determined to name our baby "Felix". My mom showed Whitney an old picture of me holding my childhood cat, Felix, and Whitney asked what the cat's name was.  My mom told her, it has stuck in her lil brain, and now she absolutely wants this child to be named Felix Bass. Lucky for baby, big sisters do not get a say in naming decisions. :)

We will find out next week if we are having a Boy Bass or a Girl Bass, but we agreed on the names and are thrilled to be able to start calling the baby by it's name next week :)

A girl will be named Hilary Joy Bass or Hilary Kate Bass.
Hilary means "joy" and we knew we wanted a name with meaning. Baby name websites and books dont exactly support naming your child "Surprise Bass" or "Shock-of-a-Lifetime Bass", so we wanted something that was close, and we definitely felt JOY when we knew this baby was a keeper.  We both agree that Hilary Kate sounds better/flows better, but we like Joy as the middle name for now. It also sorta reminds me of "Jay", my brother's name, so it has a double meaning :)

A boy name was much more difficult to come up with. Neither one of us had any strong feelings towards any names in particular, though we agreed that anything ending in "-ton" or "-den" was out, as those sounds are super popular in elementary schools these days. Whitney's school seems to be filled with Aiden, Brayden, Caiden, Hayden, etc, and as a teacher I learned that the "-ton" ending is difficult to shout. (Ex: I was on the playground watching my group of second graders play after lunch.  A particularly daring gentleman started climbing to the top of the monkey bars, to sit on top of them. I was at the top of a hill and had to shout for him to stop climbing, and decided that shouting, "CLAYTON!" was sounding more like, "CLAYin" and not getting my point across.)
One would think that our last name would be fairly easy to coordinate with, as its just one syllable and doesnt have any funky sounds. Alas, many names lend themselves quite nicely to some rather unfortunate nicknames when paired with Bass. Try some. It can be funny and frustrating at the same time.
So, after a few nights of sleeping on it, we agreed that our baby boy's name will be:
Grady James Bass

Grady means "noble", is Irish (so it pleases my mom), and contains the letters of both our dad's names, Gary and Ray.  Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! I embroidered it on a teensy lil onesie last week and just KNEW that was his name.
James is my brother's name, our brother-in-law, Joe's middle name, and my father's middle name.  Tradition...meaning...and it doesnt sound like a swear or insult with our last name = Grady James Bass :)

No Felix Bass in this house. Sorry, Whitterbug.

Some other funnies from Whitney lately:

*Mommy, I fink I am goin to sit here and color. Would you wike to join me??!

*Das so SIWWY!! (silly) (She says this about 10 times a day and then bends at the waist and belly laughs.)

*She is currently HOOKED on Berenstain Bear books. We have read "The New Baby" book about 100 times in 3 days, and I finally convinced her to check out a few other Bear books before this mommy loses too many more brain cells.  She is easily able to recall details from all the books, and told me this morning:
"Mommy, I waked up wiff pains in my wegs (legs) and aches in my knees....juss wike Bwother Bear when he outgrew his widdle (little) bed! I sure am gwad Daddy builded me diss new bed so I can grow and grow juss like Bwother Bear! And da Baby (Felix?) can have my widdle bed!!"
We are working on words like "built" vs "builded" and "little" vs "widdle", but I was mostly impressed that she A) recalled all the details of Brother Bear's aches and pains, and B) properly used the word "outgrew". She's two. "Outgrew"??? LOVE how reading helps her vocabulary grow!

*Whitney loves to give Bailey his bone when we leave the house. She opens the garage door, calls "BAAI-WEEE!", and then tells him, "Im goin get you a nice, cold bone, Buddy. Kay? You be a good dog and we be WIIIGHT back!" So cute.  When we come home and Bailey happily greets us at the garage door, Whitney says, "Hi, Buddy! We missed you! awww, Bay..." :)

*Whitney loves to point out that my belly is going to get bigger and bigger and "den da baby is goin to come out! But not out your SHIRT! DAT would be SIWWY!" She knows that the baby is supposed to come out on May 1st ("Maaay fist!") and thankfully hasnt asked where it is going to come from. She knows WILL NOT be coming out of my shirt, but hasnt yet asked where it WILL come from.  Its only a matter of days before I fumble my way through that explanation.

*Tonight as we were getting Whitney dressed for bed, she was telling us that she is "Jane" (from "Return to Neverland", a recent favorite movie). She then sweetly turned to me and said, "Mommy, you are da QUEEN! Yes, you are da queen, okay Mommy?" Of course I said. "Oh that's great! Id LOVE to be the Queen!" and she quickly followed it with "Yes, you are da WICKED QUEEN....da Wicked Queen, Mommy."  awesome. Eric wondered out loud where she had heard that from and I explained that she does not, in fact, believe *I* am evil and wicked...she is referring to the Wicked Queen from Snow White. Not much better, but still. So, going along with her pretending game, Eric asked "If Mommy is the Wicked Queen, who am I?" and Whitney lovingly looked at her daddy and said, "You are Pwince Charming, Daddy!!"  Double whammy.

* Whitney continues to dress up in her Snow White costume every. single. day.  Ive washed it, half hoping it might fall apart so she could bid is farewell and move along to another costume. The thing is made of steel. Not even a rip in a seam.  She loves it though, and Daddy even lets her wear it to the store when he takes her.

*Whitney continues to get certain prayer request stuck on her brain. We have been praying for her friend Natalia's heart to be healed for months, and Whitney still asks "is 'Talia's heart still sick, Mommy? It will feew bettuh soon!"   She also continues to ask God to heal my Uncle Scott who is fighting cancer in Ohio, having several surgeries and going in and out of the hospital.  I am always amazed when she remembers to pray for people before we even remind her.  I think the most shocking prayer she has come up with so far was for our family friend, Mr. Hoeft.  Six weeks ago, Whitney overheard me telling Eric about Mr. H being hit by a car as he window shopped in Minnesota. He has been in the hospital having several surgeries and far away from friends and family, but is doing much better.  No doubt in part to Whitney's repeated prayers for him :) The night after I told Eric about the accident, we were asking Whitney who she wanted to pray for at bed time.  She said "We needa pway for Mac and Gwamps fwend. He was hit by a car while he was juss shoppin'!" She remembered such small details and knew that he would need our prayers for healing, and even now, six weeks later she mentions him in our prayers, reminding us that he was hit by a car while he was just window shopping one day.  Amazing.

*Im proud to say that Whitney has about 90% mastery of "Please" and "Thank you".  She knows when to say them and uses them without reminder 90% of the time.  It makes me really thrilled to hear her telling people "thank you" and "please" when they compliment her or offer her something or help her.  I know its not a big deal, but I just think its such an important thing for kids to know and Im glad she's picked it up early.

* Once again, Whitney got her vaccinations without even a wimper.  The nurse says she "loves to give Whitney her shots" because she never complains or even flinches.  Sometimes we wonder if she has pain receptors. haha.

In other Baby news, I lost two pounds at my last check-up...but Im fairly certain I found them.  I have been unpleasantly surprised by a few random gagging/puking incidents recently, as I thought those days were done, but it wasnt anything terrible or traumatizing.  I feel great and can absolutely understand that TLC show, "I Didnt Know I was Pregnant"! If I hadnt taken a test on a whim seven weeks ago, I would likely still have no idea I am pregnant.  My signs arent THAT obvious or overwhelming and since Im not showing yet, my clothes all fit the same.  I know I have a few girlfriends who are ompletely freaked out by that show on TLC....but I am here to tell you that it could absolutely happen, at least through 15 weeks of pregnancy....
I have had some round ligament pains that, as described by a girl online, "feel like someone took a knitting needle, warmed it over a camp fire, and then poked me in the uterus repeatedly...only pausing momentarily to reheat the needle."  But I sorta like feeling them because that means Baby is growing and stretching, so I'll take it. Ive had a bit of a sweet tooth lately, which is new since I dont usually like cookies and cupcakes that much. And Eric has been amaaaazing at providing and catering to pretty much every craving or taste Ive wanted recently.

No pictures this time....as we still continue to ignore the alerts and reminders on Eric's phone telling us to take a belly picture each week.  Whoops.  I only snapped a few pictures of Whitney this week, but the video should hold ya over til we get some more pics this weekend :)