Summer stuff

At the beginning of the summer, Harry and Jack made a bucket list.  Most of the stuff on the list is adorable and doable with no effort: catch fireflies (CHECK--kind of a firefly massacre, but still, CHECK), jump in puddles (CHECK), have play dates with their besties (CHECK), climb the giant mound of dirt in the field behind us, the field that will soon be houses and roads (not yet, but we totally could anytime they ask).  Some of the items on the list, though, require effort on our part.  They have 3 zoos they want to visit (one down, two to go), a trip to see Abe Lincoln stuff in Springfield (and we can go to my parents' house-- another list item-- and hit up their zoo-- MULTI-TASKING), a visit to Legoland (which is great because sometime in the next 2 months, we need to get Dory another high chair because Cooper will be in his for awhile, so I need to go to IKEA which is right by Legoland-- such an efficient little bucket list).

Also on the list?  See every shitty kid movie ever made. Or that's what it feels like anyway.  We all saw Monsters University, which was adorable.  But from here on out, Ben and I are taking turns because holy shit these movies are not worth the price of a babysitter too.  Last night, I was up, and the three of us saw Despicable Me 2 which was the best of the remaining list.  Now we're staring down Turbo, Planes, and Smurfs 2.  Blergh.  (I did eat a giant box of Milk Duds and still stay well within my calories for the day, so there's that).

The minions loved it, BTW.  It took us awhile to exit the theater because Jack couldn't find his shoes (WTH was he doing without shoes in the first place?  WHO KNOWS)

Okay, seriously.  Apropos of nothing, let's talk nicknames.

Part of the way Ben got me to abandon my list of girl names (Violet!  Georgia!  Penelope! Clementine! Cecily!  Cecelia! Sally!  Betty!) was to woo me with the promise of Dottie, Dottie Lou, Dot, or Dolly, all of which I liked better than Dorothy.

We even had Dottie on her birth announcement.

But Dot, Dottie Lou, and Dottie never worked for us once she was born-- they were kind of cringe-worthy for me, actually.

I really love Dolly and think I could commit to that, but Ben is a total bait and switcher and has decided he doesn't like it at all, and when I call her Dolly, he calls her Dort, which is awful.  This makes me see red with rage because part of the reason I chose Dorothy (or agreed to it, anyway) was because of the cute nicknames which are now apparently OFF THE TABLE.

Jack started calling her Dory like the fish in the Nemo movie (and soon to be the star of Finding Dory which I am sure I will have to doze my way through for $75 soon enough), and you know what?  I think I love it.  And if not, there's always Dorth Vader, which would be a fantastic Halloween costume.

Dory, who can now roll both back to front and front to back:

Dolly, who is sweet and adorable like a little doll.  Get it?  DOLLY?  Like a doll?