at Kaden's request

Kaden and R haven't seen each other in almost two weeks, since they've moved away. Both of them seem to be experiencing some withdrawl, since she talks about him all the time and he is asking to see her pictures. So here are some pictures for Kaden. (Oh, and the rest of you, feel free to enjoy them, too!)

Several days ago she found an empty box upstairs in the guest room. She brought it downstairs and started climbing in and out of it. Then she started popping up and saying, "Jack-in-the-box!" So here's our own, live Jack-in-the-box in action.

When we were at Grandma's we went to get ice cream one night. She loves holding the cone on her own and eating it all (yes, she eats every last bite) by herself. Here she is with Grandma and Grandpa, enjoying her ice cream.

no news is....

...well, just no news!

I couldn't write 'no news is good news' because the news isn't particularly good around here (it's not really bad, either...just not particularly good). We've been dealing with lots and lots of fussing lately. Lots. She fusses when every little thing goes wrong. When she doesn't get her way. You name it. She fusses about it.

My husband said last night, "What happened to our easy, happy girl?"

She turned two. That's what happened.

Actually, it's taken several months past two for this to happen, but I'm guessing this is what they refer to when the call it "The Terrible Twos." She doesn't throw tantrums (I say while crossing my fingers....), so I'm thankful for that. It's really not "terrible," and I'd rather deal with fussiness than tantrums. But she's got to learn that the world doesn't revolve around her and not everything is always going to be exactly the way she wants it. And I guess those are hard lessons to learn for a little girl.

So it's not terrible, but it's not easy, either. It's tiring.

And I've been staying up way too late watching the Olympics at night, so I'm extra tired while dealing with it, too. I'm sure that makes it seem worse.

Then there are times that make me forget how tiring it is; like just before naptime today, for instance. She and her Daddy were playing outside (he was home for lunch). I was inside getting my lunch, my husband came in, and she was out by herself for a few minutes (in our fenced in backyard with my husband watching her out the window, lest you think we were neglecting our daughter!). I then went out to join her. She had been doing something at the back of the yard, turned the other way. When she saw me she smiled a big smile and walked over toward me with two sticks, one in each hand. She was moving one of them back and forth over the other one. I said, "Whatcha doing, kiddo?" And she said, in the happiest of voices, "Payin' da vi-yin!" (violin) It was the cutest thing, watching my happy girl in her own world, playing her vi-yin in the backyard on a sunny afternoon. I'd wished I'd had my video camera with me.

So no, the twos are not terrible. Sometimes they're terrific. Sometimes they're tiring. But never terrible.

independence

She's starting to become a little more independent these days, and telling me, "Seff, Mommy," when she's done something by herself (putting her shoes on herself, climbing up on Mommy's bed by herself, etc.).

She's also started playing more independently, just in the last week or two. She still says, "Mommy, pway?" and she wants me to go in the dining room (her play room) with her, but once she gets started on something I can leave and go do something else and she'll continue to play by herself, sometimes for quite awhile. Her favorite thing lately has been to use her strands of beads as spaghetti noodles, putting them in pots and pans and serving them to me. Or she'll put the beads in her tea cups and she'll have a "pahty." Today she started calling it a "Tea Pahty." In the bathtub last week at Grandma's house we had to have "bufday pahties." We had to sing happy birthday and she blew out pretend candles. She's just a party girl!

In other news, I've come down with something and I don't really know what it is. I have cold symptoms, but it's not really a cold. It feels more like the flu--I'm so tired and have been on the couch (watching the Olympics) most of today. But I don't have a fever, so maybe it's not that. It's strange. Hopefully no one else in my family will get it.

just some random pictures

These are various pictures I haven't gotten a chance to post.

Before Kaden left on Saturday R got to go say goodbye. Kaden was down at Jada and Jillian's house while his parents finished packing, so they all played a little while. We made them stop to pose for some pictures before R had to leave.

A few weeks ago we went to a birthday party. One of the presents was a John Deere vehicle. The kids took turns driving and riding it. Liam, the birthday boy (with red hair in the back seat) preferred riding and letting the girls drive him around!

A month or two ago we went to the zoo with Kaden and Allecia. This was taken then.

We're back home now. I drove back during R's nap. She did better sleeping in the car this time, so it was much more tolerable than the drive up on Monday (there was much crying on that trip, and very little on this one). We had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa, but it's also good to be home and see Daddy.

IKEA

So I experienced IKEA for the first time this morning. I've wanted to go forever, but the nearest one to me is a couple of hours away, and with a 2 year old, going to a store, let alone a store as big as IKEA, which is two hours away, is pretty much impossible.

But since we're at Grandma's, and she has an IKEA less than an hour away, and Grandma could help entertain said two year old in the store, we decided to try it.

We got there just after it opened, so it wasn't too crowded. We started in the kids department, since that's where the elevator opened when we got out, but it probably wasn't such a good idea. She had a great time there, but once we left that part it was pretty difficult to navigate the rest of the store with my quickly-tiring toddler. Grandma did a great job of entertaining her with soft, fuzzy things and playing chase for a little while.

But I was able to get some things I needed (and lots of things I didn't need....), like little plates, bowls, and cups for R (she had one plate at home, so I decided it was time to buy her some!) and some new cutting boards. The things I didn't need are mostly Christmas presents for R. It's never too early to start, right?

over the river and through the woods

....to Grandma's house we go!

R and I are leaving this afternoon to spend most of the week up at Grandma and Grandpa's. I'm looking forward to it, and I know they are, too. If R knew where we were going, she'd be going nuts right now with excitement, so I won't tell her until just before we leave. She doesn't quite get the "later" or "after awhile" concept just yet. If you tell her something's coming, she expects it RIGHT NOW.

In other news, remember the potential job I mentioned a month or so ago? It's not going to work out after all. But I'm actually pretty glad. In that month I've had a renewed joy for being at home with my little one and lots of things have come up that I wouldn't have been able to do if I was working. So although I know I would've enjoyed it, I'm also relieved that I'm not going to have to try to balance work and motherhood, at least not for this year. Motherhood is complicated enough for me at the moment!

Well, we have a play date this morning, so I'm off to that. Next post will be from Grandma's house!

big moves

Yesterday was one of the saddest of my life. As I've mentioned several times, my closest friend, Allecia, and her family, moved 3 1/2 hours away. We went with them so my husband could help unload the truck and I helped her clean and get her kitchen set up. In the morning I was crying while everyone else told them goodbye, even though I wasn't saying goodbye yet. Throughout the day I'd find myself with tears in my eyes just thinking about having to say goodbye. But then the moment came that I actually had to say goodbye. And it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

The ride home was tough....probably even tougher for my husband, who had to put up with me bursting into tears every half hour or so!

Then another big move took place this morning. Our little one moved up to Sunday School! She's no longer in the nursery....she's a big girl now! When we got there she saw play doh on the table and she was hooked. No clinging to my leg, no tears....just a smile and a delighted "Pway Doh!" was all we heard, as she walked in and got started.

I was really concerned about her sitting still and actually paying attention during the 5 minute lesson they do. You've probably read about my terrible library story time experiences (we don't go anymore....and if we do go again it will take a lot of convincing from someone to make me try it again!), so I was expecting the worst. When we went to pick her up she was full of smiles and said, "Have fun, Mommy!!" Well, at least that's one positive--she enjoyed it. I said, "Did they read you a story?" "Yeah," she said. I asked her what it was about, expecting no answer, or maybe something I couldn't comprehend, but she said, "Baby Moses!" And sure enough, when I looked at the newsletter they gave us when we left, it said they had learned about Baby Moses!! Wow! She actually had paid attention! I asked her, "Did you sit still and listen to the story?" She looked at me, put her finger up to her lips, and said, "Shhhhh."

I wonder if that's because the poor teachers had to tell her that over and over again as she ran wildly around the room???? I'd like to hope it was someone else's child and mine just saw them do that. Yeah, I'll continue to think that.

"jishush!"

Last night my sweet tooth got the better of me and I needed something sweet to eat. I baked a loaf of lemon poppy seed bread and a slice of it warm hit the spot.

Fast forward to a little bit ago--my daughter was eating lunch ("mac-cheese"--all one word--her favorite), and she saw me eating a piece of the bread. She didn't know quite what it was, but she knew she wanted a bite. "Bagel? Waffle? Toast?" she asked....whatever it was, she wanted it, so she tried about everything she knew. I said, "No, it's bread." So she asked for bread. I gave her a bite. She held it for a minute and then said, "Cake!" I told her yes, it was sort of like cake. So she took a bite.

"Mmmmm......jishush!" she declared.

"Delicious?" I asked.

"Yeah. Jishush, Mommy!"

friends

With Allecia moving, we've had more get togethers in the last few days than normal. It's been busy, but great fun.

Friday night was girls' night out with all of my best friends. It was the most fun I've had in a long time. We went out to dinner and then sat outside at the outdoor shopping center where we ate and talked for hours. We haven't gotten together like that in a long, long time. No kids to try and feed or entertain....no one to worry about but ourselves....it felt strangely, wonderfully freeing. And we couldn't believe it when we looked at our watches and it was 10:00!

So here we all are....Sara, Amanda, and Christa on the top row, and Allecia and me sitting down. Such good friends!

Saturday was Founder's Day in the community where both Allecia and Amanda live. Amanda invited us to come because they could bring guests. So we went and swam and ate dinner at their community pool. Last time R and I went she didn't want to have anything to do with the water. This time she loved it. Here she is splashing with her friends, Kaden, Jada, and Jillian (Jada and Jillian are Amanda's girls). Jada was born the week between Kaden and R, so they're all very close in age.

Then this morning R and I went to the church that our church planted about a year and a half ago--that's where Allecia and Amanda now go with their families, and they were doing a send off for Allecia and family, since this was their last Sunday in church. R was so excited to find out that she was going to Kaden and Jada's church to play today!

After church there was a potluck and the kids loved running around the lockers (they meet in a high school) and playing after lunch. Here they are taking a brief break: R, Kaden, Leah (Sara's daughter), Jillian, and Jada.

So it's been a fun, friend-filled few days. I don't want them to end....

And just because I think it's funny, here's a picture of you know who this morning. She was still in her PJs, but worked so hard to put her shoes on all by herself. I didn't have the heart to tell her they were on the wrong feet, because she was so proud of herself! And she thinks that half of this shape sorter toy is a bike helmet, so she puts it on and gets on her bike to ride around the house. What an imagination!

trauma and touch a truck

Let's start with the trauma....

I've been having an ongoing conflict with her hair lately. Last time we got it cut we decided to let it grow and just have her bangs cut. But in letting it grow, it's getting rather unruly and I've really wanted to put it up or at the very least put barettes in it to keep it off her face.

No, she'd have none of that.

She's always been really sensitive to having her ears checked (or even washed in the bathtub), her hair brushed, or anything that involves constricting her head for even a second, and makes sure the whole world knows just how much she dislikes it. In the doctor's office it takes every ounce of muscle I have to hold her down while she screams and tries to thrash so the doctor can look in her ears.

Yesterday I tried to put barettes in. Nope. She started crying and shaking her head from side to side. The barette fell out before I had a chance to clip it and I decided not to attempt it again. That's what I usually decide--that it's not worth the battle. There are other more important things I think are a little more worth the battle, so I try not to make a huge issue out of the more unimportant things.

Until this morning. I decided to battle. I don't know what got into me. A full nights' sleep, maybe? (I haven't had many good ones lately, so after sleeping really well last night I guess I felt inviogorated!) I decided to take the plunge and try pigtails again.

She was watching TV, which I thought may distract her enough. She immediately started shaking her head and telling me "no ponytails." I said yes, that we were going to do ponytails and she needed to sit still. I sat on the floor behind her and wrapped my leg around her to hold her down. She actually held her head fairly still, which was a miracle in itself, as she continued to cry huge crocodile tears and said, "All done ponytails." I got them both in with lots of tears, but without too much trouble and told her how pretty she looked, as she continued to cry and try to pull at them, unsuccessfully. I said, "Let's go look at them in the mirror!" So she went over to the full length mirror in my room and though she continued to cry and say, "All done, ponytails," she also was laughing and touching them, obviously pleased with herself. She kept shaking her head to feel them touching the side of her face and neck and laughing. Off and on the rest of the morning she'd do that, say, "Ponytails," and sometimes, "All done ponytails," but then smile, like she was enjoying them.

Mission complete....and only a small amount of trauma. Here are the results....you can see her semi-smiles mixed with tears.

I think I am just going to have to do it for awhile, putting up with the tears, until she gets used to it.

Okay, so on to Touch a Truck.

For those of you not familiar with Touch a Truck, it's done in lots of communities, where they bring all kinds of vehicles to one spot and kids get to get inside them, touch them, pretend to drive them, and so forth. I saw it advertised a few months ago and planned to go, and I invited Kaden and Allecia to come with us, because Kaden is crazy for trucks and big vehicles. It was extremely crowded with tons of moms and strollers and kids of all ages. There were horns honking everywhere (kids sitting in the drivers seats, just laying on the horns!) and long lines to get into the various vehicles, but I think our little ones had a great time. We mostly just walked around and looked at all of them up close, since the lines were pretty long, but a few of the shorter ones we decided to stop and get in. R wouldn't get in by herself for awhile--she clung to me every time I tried to put her in. So I got in with her when we came to the mail truck, one of her favorites. She also really wanted to get in the school bus (she looooooooves seeing school busses on our street or whenever we're out and about), so we waited in line for that one.

Here she is with Kaden on a couple, too.

Afterwards we went to another park to hang out and eat a snack.

It's a great park with a sand pit area, a little train to climb on, and a couple of different play ground areas.

It was a fun morning. Kaden and family will be moving a week from tomorrow, so we're trying to squeeze in as many of these opportunities as we can. It's so sad to think that they won't be growing up together anymore (not to mention my own sadness at losing my best friend, but I don't want to discuss that...), but hopefully if we take enough pictures and keep showing them to the two of them, when we're able to get together they'll still remember each other.

her hat

For some reason, the last couple of days she's been wanting to wear this hat all the time. She never likes to keep hats on, but this one seems to interest her.

Today I decided to take some pictures, just because.

Here she is gracefully trying to get on her bike.

And after successfully getting on her bike.

mommy pay

Every day, many times a day, I hear, "Mommy, pay? Mommy, pay?" She's actually asking me to go play with her in the dining room (aka R's toy room). Sometimes I go, sometimes I don't because I'm busy doing something else. This morning she asked while I was reading the paper. I was almost done and was going to go "pay" with her in a few minutes, which is what I told her.

Then she came over, gently put her hand on my arm, and quietly said, "Mommy, pay, peeese?"

We've been working so hard to get her to say please when she asks for something. She's finally starting to remember on her own sometimes and say it. So how could I resist when she not only came over and asked me so gently and sweetly, but also said please, all on her own!?!

So we "payed."

ochidama

Did you know that "Ochidama" had a farm? I'm listening to her sing it right now, and that's how his name sounds when it comes out...."Ochidama had a fahm....." My husband is getting her ready for bed and he just said, "Is he Japanese? I thought he was Irish with a name like MacDonald!?" I couldn't stop laughing.

And in addition to being Japanese, he also has the following animals on his farm, according to my daughter's singing:

-turtle
-giraffe
-lion
-penguin

along with the usual:

-duck
-dog
-cow
-horse

They must have some strange farms over in Japan.

In other news, she just heard the story of "The Three Little Pigs" for the first time tonight. She sat for the whole thing and afterwards laughed and laughed while going around the house saying, "Huffffff, Puffffff, BLOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!"

And I almost forgot....her new phrase of the day, "I non't know." Which she says only when she really does know and would rather have me tell her.

orange cake

Yesterday we went to a birthday party for the son of some good friends of ours. There were lots of friends, lots of kids, and lots of fun. I was too busy during most of the party, supervising my little one in the kiddie pool, so I didn't get many pictures. But I was able to grab it during the cake eating portion of the party. The kids had their choice of chocolate cupcakes with orange icing or white cupcakes with blue icing. R told Daddy she wanted "Orange Cake," so he grabbed her one with orange icing. She went to town.

Of course, after she ate all of the icing and a couple of tiny bites of cake she then decided she'd like to try "Blue Cake," but Mommy and Daddy wouldn't agree to that one.

(Note--despite the bib, she still ended up with orange icing all over her clean white shirt. Never fails!)

make 'em laugh

It's always something new to make us laugh around here. Here are her latest phrases and antics....

*I went in to get her up this morning. As soon as I turned the light on she said, "Watch dis!" (she's never said that before, to my knowledge). She then proceeded to get on her tummy and pretend to swim on her mattress. Several times this morning she said, "Watch dis, Mommy!" and then did something that she thought was pretty great.

*Her favorite thing to do the last few days is to start jumping around and saying, "I dancin' Mommy! I dancin'! She's been dancing for year or more but she's just now, out of nowhere, started telling me that she's doing it.

*Whenever she's done doing something (pretending she's swimming, dancing, or some other humorous stunt) she now says, "Ta Da!" The women in the nursery said they taught her that. Why, I don't know, but it's pretty funny.

*I had an ice cream bar earlier tonight. She took the stick when I was done, stuck her tongue out, put the stick on it, said, "Ahhhhhhhh," and then said, "Doctah!"

*She sings to herself all the time. Her favorites are "Old MacDonald," (complete with animal noises), "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and the "ABC" song. She gets about 1/3 of the words close to correct and mumbles the rest, but it's pretty funny to listen to. She'll just burst into song in the backseat of the car, in bed as she's going to sleep, in the bathtub, or just about anywhere. One of these days I need to get some video of her singing. I'm a little worried about her inability to sing on key....as a music major in college, it's important to me! (But I'll still adore her if she doesn't develop that skill!)


*She's been counting to 10 for awhile now....but she doesn't understand the concept of counting--she just has the numbers memorized. If she's counting three things she'll still count all the way to 10. Anyway, in just the last few days she's started going past 10. Here's what it sounds like: "One, Two, Fwee, Four, Five, Six, Seden, Eight, Nine, TEEEENNNNN!!, Eh-den, Tewve, Firteen, Firteen, Firteen, Firteen....." you get the idea. (She gets very excited about 10, as you can see, and then goes on.)

She's quite the little clown.

my little ladybug

Back in February or March she was obsessed with ladybugs. I decided to have a ladybug birthday party for her and bought her a ladybug dress to wear at the party. I learned my lesson that two year old obsessions tend to come and go quickly. By the time her birthday rolled around she was no longer into ladybugs so much as she was Pooh, so we had a Pooh party.

But I still had this ladybug dress...

It was sleeveless, and it hasn't actually been hot enough on a Sunday for her to wear it to church until just recently. So she finally wore it for the first time.

She was so excited to see the ladybugs on it and immediately went to get her ladybug wings and antennae!

She then buzzed all around the kitchen, just as cute as she could be (If you watch the video clip, please ignore the bag of garbage that hadn't made its way out to the garbage can yet!).

they once were lost but now are found!

They've been missing for over a month. I looked everywhere for them, and was so frustrated that I couldn't find them. She's asked for them at least once a day and always got sad when I told her I didn't know where they were.

So today she was playing with her aquadoodle and dropped the water pen to the side of her play house. I kept hearing "Mommy, ge' it? Mommy, ge' it?" so I went to see what she wanted me to get. She said, "Cayon," (crayon--what she calls all pens and pencils!), so I knew what was missing.

I pulled the house away from the wall. As I moved the house I heard something move behind the other wall of the house. I got the water pen and went around to the other side to see what had fallen.

Lo and behold, what did I find but the missing beads!

She was SO excited! And I was so relieved to finally know what had happened to them. She put them all on one by one right away and ran around the house shouting, "beads! beads!" Then she took them off and put them on Mommy one by one. I was a little less thrilled in my response to having them on, but enjoyed her enthusiasm!

model material?

This picture is from our vacation. My husband thinks she looks like she's trying to pose like a model. I just like the picture.

Anyway, I ran across it while I was loading some pictures to a photo site and remembered that I'd been wanting to post it.

an eventful week

Monday: took R to play with Kaden while I taught my scrapbook class (next week is the last week for that--I'll be glad when it's done, but I'm also glad I did it). Picked R up and stayed for lunch to catch up with Allecia, who had been out of town. We don't have many opportunities left because she's moving in just a few weeks. But I'm not letting myself think of that until it happens, so let's move on to Tuesday before I start to tear up. (Spent the afternoon in the pool in the backyard, by the way)

Tuesday: went to school (where I used to teach) and talked to my former principal about a job opportunity she presented me with a few weeks ago. She needed to know the next day whether I was interested. Spent the day deciding "what I want to do with my life" (at least for the next year anyway). Agonizing, because it meant leaving my little girl with someone else every morning. Morning is prime time with her, since she naps in the afternoon. I realized later in the day that maybe I could do it in the afternoons instead. Presented her with the idea, and received an email that night that we could probably make it work! So if we can work it all out, I'll be returning to school part time in the fall, working in the library in the afternoons while R is sleeping. Now I'm in the market for a nearby babysitter who can come stay with her while she's napping so she doesn't have to nap somewhere else. Spent the afternoon going to Michael's to get more supplies for my scrapbook class.

Wednesday: took R to play again with Kaden while I taught my class. Spent the afternoon in the pool in the backyard.

Thursday: went to Bible study where I "made a new friend" (I told Allecia it sounds like I'm in elementary school, saying that!) and hopefully some connections for babysitters (she said she may know some people in my area). Picked R up from the nursery, where they told me she was "an angel." Always what you want to hear about your child! I'm glad other people don't see her at home some afternoons.....

Late in the afternoon, when my husband got home from work I left to go do another of the market research things I get called about from time to time. This one was about diapers. I had to stick my hands in a black box and feel a diaper I couldn't see, then feel another one, and tell which was softer. I got paid $50 to do that. Took a couple of minutes. Then they asked me to stay (they only asked a few people....don't know why they chose me--do I look like a diaper expert? ) and do an interview. They stuck a video camera on me (I asked if they were going to sell it and they said no) and handed me a big stack of diapers. I could see them this time. They had me rank them in order of softness, and then asked me questions about why I chose the ones I did, what made one diaper softer than another, and so forth. They asked me to describe how it was soft. I seriously couldn't think of one adjective for the word soft! Have I been talking to a two year old that long that I've lost my vocabulary? I felt like an idiot. Anyway, it took another 10 minutes, maybe, and they gave me another $50. Gosh, I'll do that any day if they pay me $100 to touch (clean) diapers!

After that I met a friend for coffee (a decaf mint mocha frappachino, to be exact). Decaf was because it was evening and I had been up since 2 AM the night before, unable to sleep. When I got home I took a tylenol PM before bed. I was exhausted and wanted to stay asleep as long as possible. Well, staying asleep means GETTING to sleep first. I couldn't. I was up until after 1 AM. I finally went to sleep and then at five this morning I heard some weird vehicle going up and down the streets of our neighborhood. I thought they were cleaning our streets--that's what it sounded like. Brian thought they were spraying for mosquitos. I don't know, but whatever it was, it was LOUD and was interrupting my few short hours of sleep, so I was frustrated.

Friday: went to a MOMS club event at a house across the street. It's nice not to have to drive somewhere to meet people! There are four people in my neighborhood in the club and they were all there, along with three or four other moms from neighborhoods nearby. I enjoyed it, and R enjoyed having new toys to play with.

So there you have it. My week in a nutshell. The highlight (and most unexpected) being the job possibility for the fall. I wasn't really looking to go back to work, but I'm looking forward to it, if it works out. It's strange to me--My whole life I thought I wanted to be a stay at home mom, but now that I've done it for two years, I'm realizing that maybe it's just not for me. It's definitely lots harder than I thought it would be. I don't want to change things a lot, but a few hours a week out of the house will be nice, I think. Especially because I won't miss much of her awake time. If I was missing every morning with her, I don't think I could do it. I'll keep you updated with how things progress.

the fountains

The outdoor shopping place near us has fountains where kids often play in the summer. My daughter has looked longingly at them several times, but we've never gone with that in mind and weren't prepared for her to get all wet.

Yesterday it was a hot day, so we decided to get her ready for the water and head over to let her experience playing in the fountains.

She was so excited to see them, but scared to death when it actually came to getting up close to them. One of us had to go with her (which meant I got pretty wet, which I wasn't prepared to do!) and hold her over the water for quite awhile. She finally got brave enough to stand in close proximity. Mostly she just enjoyed watching the other kids have fun and jumping up and down with the water. Next time maybe I'll be more prepared to get wet and take her in there with me until she'd be more willing to try it on her own.

"simmum"

We got her a new pool today. It's bigger than I would've liked, but my husband chose this one.

We got it set up during her nap. When she woke up she saw me holding her swim diaper and she said, "simmum?"

I said, "Would you like to go swimming?"

"Okay," she said. "Gammaw house?" That's where she remembered swimming, was last weekend at her house while we were gone.

"No, look out the window!" and I opened the blinds so she could see in the backyard.

"Pool!" she said. "Big pool!"

I couldn't get her ready fast enough. She was so excited.

She loved sitting on the side, kicking.

She tried to get her baseball tee into the pool, but it floated. Instead she set it outside and decided to hit the ball from inside.

happy 4th

In the year of the bicentennial, I was 2 years old. In honor of July 4th that year my grandma made me a special outfit.



Here's my little one wearing the very same outfit. It's not even 70 here today, so it's too cold to wear it, but I just put it on her this morning to take some pictures. My husband says, "Where's the part that covers her up?" I told him that's what the strategic placement of the points of the star are for.... But I know he's glad it's too cold for her to wear it more than 5 minutes for pictures!



Maybe one of these days I'll get the picture of me in the outfit from my mom and scan it in so I can post it for you to compare. Just picture my little one with a little longer, little blonder hair, and that's what I looked like in it!

meanwhile....

...back at Grandma's house....

Here's what our little girl was doing while we were busy in Chicago.

Swimming

Using the hose

Using the hose to fill up the back of the car (and then getting in to "swim!")

Playing with Mommy's old Raggedy Ann doll (Grandma told her it used to be Mommy's, so she started calling it "Mommy").

Playing Super Bunny, climbing up in the high chair over and over (and over and over, according to Grandma)

Playing at the park

They went out for pizza, chicken, and ice cream. Seriously. Heaven for my two year old.

corn

Her first ever corn on the cob....

First she finished up Daddy's ear,

And then she got one of her own.