Cute stuff I know I'm going to miss

Little R does and says so much cute stuff I know I'm going to miss when she gets older. That is, in between being a little terror  
Some of my favorites:
I want to hold it "just a little second" 
Mommy "take me a bath"
The way she says "girl", can't describe it phonetically but trust me, it's adorable
The way she sometimes leaves off the first syllables of words- member for remember, Cole for Nichole, mercial for commercial
How she runs around after a bath saying "look at my naked hiney"
The random things she focuses on-one day it's a plastic magnifying glass, the next a rubber band ball, the next her Gumby and Pokey
How she sings me a song when I'm sad
Her infatuation with garbage trucks and lizards
How she dances with such energy
And so much more.
My little R will be 3 next month. It doesn't seem possible my baby could already be that old.

More ocean theme activities

R and I have been doing a few projects relating to our ocean theme the past few days. We made a collage of ocean/beach themed pictures on painted posterboard. R painted and glued on pictures I cut out of magazines. We also made a collage of foam fish, crabs and whales(leftover from her 1st b-day party), seashells, and rolled up tissue papers and streamers for seaweed. R once again painted the paper, stuck on the stickers, seashells, and tissue paper. I put the glue down for her but she was definitely not happy about it. :) I got the idea for the mixed media collage (sound so fancy that way) from this blog-http://thelittletreasures.blogspot.com/2010/06/under-sea.html
We also assembled a crab from foam. Don't remember where I found the template but I traced it on to red foam, cut it out and let R put the pieces together and add wiggly eyes.
I like using a theme-it gives me the direction and at least a little bit of organization I need. Pictures coming soon.

Trip to Library and What my child is reading this week

Saturday was one of those hot, humid, miserable days so R and I went to the library. I decided to go ahead and take a stab at a theme for the next few weeks with our books and projects. I chose an ocean/beach theme since it is super easy to access hands on experiences with that here.
I checked out quite a few books while R played with Leggos and puzzles. This was the best she has acted in the library EVER. I was super impressed. Yay!!
On the way back to the car, R noticed a few baby toads. We stopped to look at them and of course she wanted to take one home. I compromised and walked to the retaining pond with her instead. OMG!!! There were hundreds of tiny little toads everywhere, some still with tails. There were a few tadpoles but it looked like most had already passed that stage.
Back to books, we are reading Sam at the Seaside, Abigail the Happy Whale, Scuba Bunnies and Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef this week. Over in the Ocean is my favorite. The artwork is amazing-all the pictures are of polymer clay and it combines our theme with counting and music. I looked the book up on Amazon and noticed there are more in the series Over in the Jungle and Over in the Arctic. These will be must reads for us too.

Really? You actually expect me to believe that??

Honesty and believability seem to be in short supply in my realm of clients lately. I currently work as a substance abuse counselor for a non-profit agency. The majority of my clients are court ordered (dependency, some criminal, some both) and a few are voluntary but encouraged to attend by DCF.

Some of the reasons I have heard for testing positive for various drugs
-I thought it was a tylenol
-The person I had/have sex with uses
-Rode in the car with someone who was using
-Brownies :)
-Drank coffee made with filter used for drug manufacturing (unknowingly of course)
-Thought it was just a rolled cigarette
-Cleaning the dresser, counter, etc in a hotel room that had a white powder on it
-Someone put it in my chapstick
-Oral sex
-Person conducting drug test put drug into urine
-Ate poppy seed muffins, buns
-Hemp Lotion
-Found a baggie with white powder in it and decided to taste it

Reasons for testing positive for alcohol
-I use a lot of hand sanitizer
-cough syrup
-ate something with wine/sherry in it
-had candy with liquer in it
-ate rum cake
-didn't know the energy drink had alcohol in it

FYI- laboratory alcohol tests have thresholds that allow for incidental alcohol ingestion

Explanation for drug charges
-My friend threw it in my purse
-I didn't know the 50 boxes of cold medicine were for making meth
-I grew it for a dealer friend, since I had a green house and he didn't
-They left all the manufacturing materials at my house when I wan't there
-Someone put it in my glove box
-I was keeping it for someone else
-A relative left the medication at my house because she is in the process of moving (in a ziploc)
-I rented a car that had drugs in it

One of the oddest stories I've heard
- I got burned when I knocked on a friend's door, he answered and immediately tossed a bottle of "shake and bake" at me and I missed 

Just thought I would share a little of what I hear on a daily basis. Sometimes it takes all I can manage to keep a straight face.