how do you solve a problem like maria?

recently i told you about my new found love for native plants.  in my front garden bed, i am seeing some serious blooms.  this brings me great delight because, as i've told you, my california gardening adventure has been met with lackluster success.  my three favorites at the moment are my sticky monkey flowers.  i chose three of these plants because i felt like they added an anchor of consistency to the center of the bed and would add a nice focal point of continual summer blooms.  

my girls have drawn a very different conclusion.  they have decided that my sticky monkey flowers represent them.  they firmly believe that i have planted three to represent my three little monkeys.  and i guess this isn't very far off.  

these plants are just as predictable as my three little monkeys.  

the first plant was my early bloomer.  one day it was just a baby and the next day it was sprouting beautiful blooms.  just like my e.  

the middle one is full of life, very much like my d.

and the third little monkey is a lot like my p.  growing up faster than her sisters, having these unpredictable blooming spells and always reaching up.

all of these little bloomers are very special and unique.  with my e, everything has been met with new momma's eyes.  each accomplishment has been a first for her and a first for me to observe.  i watch her with wonder and with awe.  what will she do next?  she is creative and funny, smart and thoughtful.  she has a deeply inquisitive mind and a playful spirit.

my d is always meeting me with kind words and with illuminated eyes.  her life is a joy bubble.  every once in a while it deflates, but then it fills itself back up again with even more joy.  she is smiles and giggles and a constant ray of insight and delight.

and then there is my p.  my birdie, the baby...  who is less and less a baby with each passing day.

my littlest monkey, similar to the one in the garden, is thriving.  i feel a little guilty though.  while i took a huge blogging hiatus over the past two years- blogging intermittently, some of her stories have been neglected.  i've been thinking about it a lot this past week and feeling like there are these little moments that i just don't want to forget.  and even now, months after they have taken place, the minutia of each story is starting to slip.  i like the minutia.

and so today, a few little random snippets about pops from over the past year.

if you have given my popsie a stuffed animal, doll or anything else that can be named in the past year, chances are she named it shanena.  i don't know why.  i don't even know where she heard that name in the first place.  but at our house over the past twelve months, we have acquired an entire bin of "shanenas".  every time, it is the same thing.  shanena the doll, shanena the cat, shanena the monkey...  and it has gone on and on.  until one day it didn't.  this week she came into the possession of a blue rabbit.  i asked her what she might like to name it (mostly as a courtesy question because i was pretty certain that i knew the answer).  her reply...  bluey.  i asked her why she wasn't naming it shanena.  she told me she didn't know and then she skipped off into the other room.

when our little popcorn was one she began a food strike.  she gave up veggies and fruit.  completely.  no veggies.  no fruit.  not in any form what-so-ever.  and this one is stubborn.  i should have known that this battle was coming about a year ago.  she was sitting at the table eating her lunch.  the only veggies that i could get this one to eat were those gerber veggie puffs that look like cheese puffs.  she had a little pile of them left on her plate and was asking to be excused.  i told her she needed to finish the veggie puffs and went back to the task of cleaning up.  a few minutes later i looked over at her and saw her lift up the edge of her plate and push a few puffs beneath it.  she then leaned in and whispered, "you guys hide right here."

at that moment she looked up to discover that momma had seen the whole thing.  even though she was caught red handed she giggled her little head off.  and i joined right in with her...  because it was too funny not to.

i wish i could say that this situation has improved over the last year, but it just isn't so.  her currently list of acceptable veggies is broccoli and cucumber (preferably in the form of a pickle).  that doesn't even count as a veggie, does it?  and the current list of fruits is empty.  nothing.  nada.  zilch.

here's to hoping that veggie vitamins are doing their job!

my peanut is a singer.  when she is playing all by her lonesome she can be found singing the words to her play.  normal words- put to song.  today she was singing a song about a baby that didn't get to go to school on thursdays and this is sad and she has to take a nap and she hates naps and she wants to go to school where delaney goes but she can't because she is little and little girls have to take naps...  fa la la la la.  if my keyboard had a music note symbol, i would insert it here.

she sings about brushing her teeth and cleaning her room, playing with her sisters and eating lunch.  if she does it, she sings about it.

and it is delish.  it annoys the h*** out of her sisters, but it melts this momma's heart.

and then there is the topic of getting dressed.  oy.  this might just simply put me in the grave.  when e was little, i would put out an outfit and she would put it on.  and then we would go about our day.  it was simple, adorable and fun to dress a little girl.  d was a different story.  i have not been picking out her clothing for quite some time.  she has dressed herself multiple times a day since she was two.  but she is rocking the fashion skill.

p...  well...  she is a bit more like punky brewster.  she rocks pink skirts with red shirts and green tights. she rocks yellow skirts with a turtle neck layered with a tank top...  she rocks...  you get the picture.  there is little rhyme or reason to what this monkey chooses to wear on a daily basis.  but you can bet your bottom dollar that if it isn't "poppy approved" she is NOT going to wear it.  it is absurd.  it is challenging.  it is downright offensive.

some days i fight it.  occasionally i win.  most of the time, i just let her be her.  oh- and you can bet that on any given day my pops is rockin' her uggs.  she wears them with everything.  95 degrees?  no problem.  she loves them and she is going to wear them...  well, until she decides that she won't.

and for all the challenges that my pop star presents me with on a daily basis...  she matches them with compliments.  really.  today, while helping her on the potty, she told me i was beautiful.  yesterday, while helping her clean her room, she told me she loved me SO much.  last week, out of the blue, she thanked me for taking her to church.

she is love.  she is delight.  she is gracious.  she is unique.  she is determined.  she is pops.

and i wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.  penelope- you rock my world on any given day, but man, you make this world a rockin' place.