fall or winter?

Yesterday was definitely fall. Leaves are on the ground, it was cool, overcast, and it just felt fall-like all day. I was also getting a cold. You know fall's here if I have a cold. Today it's here full in full force.

But that's not what I wanted to write about.... I saw sidewalk chalk on clearance and wanted to replace Rachel's, since it's almost gone, so I got some yesterday while I was at the grocery. She was with me, so she knew all about it and couldn't wait to use it. As soon as we got home she asked to use it.

So here she is doing one of her favorite things, coloring--usually not a fall activity, but I'm sure she'll be trying to do it in the winter, too!

It took several shots to finally get her to stop and smile for the camera, but here's the result.

So this morning Fed Ex delivered this hat and mitten set I had ordered on clearance from LL Bean. She saw me open it and immediately wanted to wear it to "pway in snow!" I kept telling her that there wasn't any snow, but she wouldn't let it go, and really thought there was. All morning she kept talking about wearing her "gwubs" (gloves) to go play in the snow and make a snowman. I finally let her put them on, but instead of playing in the snow she decided to play the piano.

down on the farm

Rachel has always been in love with animals (from afar....like in books or on TV, but up close she's actually a pretty big scaredy-cat). I think I've shared before that though my husband and I aren't animal fans, we've bought a zoo membership the last two years to help feed her interest. She plays with her Noah's Ark animals and Circus Animals (both Little People sets) like crazy lately as well as a set of little plastic animals she has. We look at lots of animal books and she loves animal shows. In fact, one of her all time favorite videos is still Baby Einstein's Baby MacDonald DVD. (She's still enamored with Baby Einstein, even at almost 2 1/2!). She talks non stop throughout the 30 minute video, naming everything on the farm, including the silo, combine, and windmill.

So imagine her excitement this weekend to go to a real farm, complete with a windmill (that's the part she seemed to enjoy the most)! A local metropark has a historical farm as a part of the park. She'd been before, but it was about a year ago, so she didn't remember it.

We waited until after her nap to go, which means we didn't get there until about 3:40. When we drove up we saw a sign saying they closed at 4:00, so we were quite disappointed (it's about a half hour drive from our house, so we had driven all that way and would only have a few minutes). We rushed past the hen house, even though Rachel was very interested in all of the chickens, because we wanted to get to the barn and make sure we saw the animals, figuring we could see the chickens on the way out. When you first walk in the barn the horses are immediately on the left. She had been talking and talking about seeing the "hoe-sies," but was scared to death when she actually saw them. She turned her head away and laid it down on Daddy's shoulder instead of reaching out to pet them as we had hoped. She wouldn't go see them again after that. I think they were just too big for her little self.

Next came the sheep. She did a little "baa-ing" at them, but made it clear that she really only cared about seeing the cows in the barn. The farmer in the barn let us know that it wasn't a cow, but an ox, while Rachel moo-ed at it for awhile.

Then we headed out to the pig pen. Covering our noses. Ick. We didn't spend much time there, though these piglets were rather interesting to watch.

Turkeys and baby ducklings rounded out the rest of the farm animals. Rachel had little interest in them, which surprised us. She kept saying that she wanted to see the cows and the roosters. We went back to see the cows, and then headed out to the hen house, which is between the barn and the parking lot.

But first we stopped where they had these old fashioned games set up. Daddy wants to build her a marble run--she loved it. Mommy and Daddy took turns walking on stilts.
Daddy said he wasn't too good at it, but I used to have a pair that my grandpa built me when I was young, and it was kind of like riding a bike....I got on them and it was pretty easy to do (he took a picture of me on the stilts, but it's of my back, not my face, so I'm choosing not to put it on here!).

We finally headed back out to see the roosters and then leave. But they had put them away!!! The farm was closed, and they let us hang around well after 4:00, but they were cleaning up and one of their tasks must be to make sure the chickens are back in their house. Rachel was disappointed, but quickly cheered up when we told her we were going to go find the playground. "Pwaygwound? Pwaygwound?" is all we heard for the next few minutes as we drove to the back of the park to find it.

So we found it, she played, back and forth from the small playground to the big playground, and she ran us ragged. It was a fun afternoon.

pictoral update

Rachel loves all things ballet. Here she is in her ballerina shirt with her ballerina shoes, doing ballet.

She also has a renewed interest in bubbles. The warm weather is affording us lots of time outside to use them.

One of her other new favorite things to do is to take a walk around the neighborhood while pushing her baby doll in its stroller. We used to walk down to the octagon (the stop sign) and back, but earlier this week she walked around the entire block! What a trooper. I couldn't believe she made it the whole way. She started dragging about halfway around and I had to say, "Show Mommy how fast you can push the stroller!" so she'd get up to speed again, but she made it!

Building with blocks (or rather, having Mommy or Daddy build with blocks while she watches and then knocks down) is another one of her favorite pasttimes at the moment. Here Daddy and Rachel were playing The Three Little Pigs. She was the third little pig in the brick house. Daddy was the big bad wolf. Daddy huffed and puffed and this time the wolf was able to blow the brick house down! Our little Rachel pig fared much better than the pigs in the story, however.... tickling, not gobbling, ensued for her!

freedom

How does one small family of three accumulate so much junk??? I was just taking stuff down to the basement a little while ago and was just full of disgust at our full-of-junk space. Today at my playgroup one of the moms was talking about wanting to finish their basement and another mom said, "Yeah, we want to, too, but you know, there's just something nice about a basement that will just accept your junk." I laughed, thinking of our basement, which is quite good at accepting our junk!

We have dreams of finishing ours too, especially just to have a space for toys so our dining room no longer has to be a playroom (my husband really, really wants to make it a home theater, but I'm thinking the necessity of a playroom and the fact that it's the least expensive option will allow it to win out), but for now, it is nice to just take something to the basement to get it out of the way and not have to worry about making it look nice somewhere. There is a certain sort of freedom in that.

Even more freeing, though, would be to rid myself of all of the junk! I wish I could bring myself to do it. I hang on to everything....either for sentimental reasons or because "I might need it someday." I'd hate to have to go buy something that I once had but got rid of because I didn't want it cluttering up my house. I don't think I'll ever be free of junk and clutter. It's just not in me to get rid of it. But maybe someday I'll organize it better and feel some more freedom in that.

I've been contemplating whether or not I should share my daughter's name because I am so tired of typing it in the middle of a story without thinking and then have to go back and delete it and change it to "my daughter" or some other phrase to indicate who I'm talking about. I've decided that all five or ten of you who read this blog know her name anyway, and the one or two strangers who may somehow find their way here probably won't be back, so by sharing her first name I most likely won't be revealing her identity to some scary person somewhere, so to make matters easier for myself, I'll share the fact that her name is Rachel. (Most of you knew that already, so it's not a huge revelation.)

There, I've said it. I no longer have to walk around that fact. Whew.....what freedom!

aftermath

Who knew a hurricane could do so much damage this far from a coast!? Sunday afternoon we had wind gusts of 70+ mph and power was out everywhere. Ours threatened to go out many times, but it managed to come right back on every time (I made a hundred trips down to the basement to restart the dryer, though, since it automatically shut off every time the power switched off for a second, and didn't come back on when the power came back on, and I really wanted to get the laundry done!).

We did, however, lose our phone, cell phone, internet, and cable. So I've felt really out of it for two days, not able to communicate or get any news or anything. Monday R and I went to Panera to connect briefly, and today we went to the library. It finally came back Tuesday afternoon.

All of the schools around here have been closed for two days and most are closed today, too, since many are still without power. Our backyard looked like a tornado swept through it before we cleaned it up. The neighbor two doors down lost a tree in his front yard--it fell onto his car while he was in it, trying to move it into the garage!

All of this chaos hasn't changed much in our little one's life, though. She did ask once to watch Blue's Clues, and I had to tell her the TV was broken, but otherwise it's been life as usual around here. She "helped" me yesterday to rake and pick up some twigs. We did get a couple of extra videos out of the library yesterday.

Then Monday night she was acting very strangely, telling me, "I'm tired," which she never, ever says, and kind of moping around. She felt really warm to me, but the thermometer said her temp was normal. I gave her some tylenol before bed to be on the safe side. She woke up several times in the night, and needed some Advil early yesterday morning because she was burning up. She was fine most of yesterday, but last night she started it again, though not as badly. I gave her some Advil and she did fine all night. I don't know what's wrong. She doesn't have any other symptoms and today she seems fine.

Here's my sweet girl, who got her hair cut yesterday morning, right before this picture.

laying low

Don't have much news to report....I just realized I hadn't updated in awhile. Here are some events in the past week or so:

*Grandma came to visit!
*a shopping trip with Grandma
*coloring, coloring, coloring, and more coloring--she's currently obsessed with her crayons
(Thankfully she's only colored on paper--and a couple of books, but it rubbed off (it was on the glossy covers) and she got in big trouble and hasn't attempted anything like it again)
*lots of talk about the potty....and no results--today she told me was a big girl and big girls use the potty. When I asked her, "Do you use the potty?" She said, "yeah!" I say, "Yeah, right."
*playgroup with much fewer sharing issues than in the past (the kids are almost all about 2 1/2, so there are many sharing snafus)
*a trip to the toy department to check out possible Christmas toys (I was just scouting everything out and seeing what she likes and doesn't have)

That's about all I can think of. She continues to tell me when she has a "burp in mouth" or "burp in diaper." Her words, not mine.... At least she says excuse me!

burp

So this is probably too much information, and she'll kill me when she's 13, but my husband would like me to share this story with all of you, so here you go! Sorry, R!

Tonight while Daddy was tickling her, our less than lady like daughter passed some gas. She thinks it's funny whenever this happens (especially in the bath tub!), and we're trying to teach her to say excuse me when it does. However, we're also trying to teach her to say it when she burps.

So when that happened tonight she laughed, and then we said, "Say excuse me!"
"Excooze me," she said. And then she added, "Burp."
Daddy said, "Did you burp?" to which she replied,
"Yeah. Burp in pants."

We're still laughing....

mommy goose

Lately our daughter has been very into nursery rhymes. She's had this book for a long time

and has brought it to me to read now and then (her favorite in this book has always been "Little Boy Blue"), but it wasn't really an every day type of thing.

Then I got the Wiggles "Pop Go the Wiggles" CD out of the library about a month ago, which is full of the Wiggles singing all of the traditional nursery rhymes. She loves it and listens to it every day in her play pen.

Next I got this book out of the library and she fell in love with "Hey Diddle Diddle." I think she likes the picture in this book because the cat is playing a "vi-ah-win." (Not a fiddle.....a vi-ah-win!) She wants this one read to her all of the time. Humpty Dumpty is another favorite in this book.

So this afternoon she brought the blue book to me and wanted me to read "Diddah Diddah Diddah" (Hey Diddle Diddle), which I did. Then she wanted Humpty Dumpty. I complied. Then she closed the book and pointed to the front and said, "Duck! Quack, Quack, Quack." I told her no, it was a goose, and said, "Honk, Honk, Honk." She insisted that it was a duck and quacked some more. I said no, and pointed to the words at the top and told her it said, "Mother Goose." She thought about that for a moment, pointed at it again, and said, "Mommy Goose!"

a long weekend

Labor Day Weekend in pictures:


Friday: Zoo with Mommy and Daddy--this trip was all about the rides. We saw animals, too, but we'd never ridden the rides before and decided to try them this time.

Carousel trip #1 (on which she was terrified of the moving horse)




Boat Trip (which she loved)







Carousel Trip #2 (she was dying to go a second time, but this time she chose to sit in the seat with Daddy instead of on a horse, and thoroughly enjoyed every second of it)






Saturday: Grandma and Grandpa came (no pictures today...sorry... but it was a fun day!).

Sunday: Uncle Ted, Aunt Leslie, Ethan, Emma, and Alex came to join Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of us for a cookout and big bocce ball match.

Here's what everyone was looking at (Ethan's marking the target with the croquet mallet):




Monday: Trip up to visit Granny and Papa (my husband's parents) at the campground where they spend much of their summers.

It was a very busy but fun, family weekend. Whew, I'm tired!

long lashes

I was wondering if she had inherited my side of the family's long eye lashes. Judging by this picture, I guess she has.

raindrops keep falling on my head

Who knew it was supposed to rain today?! I was pleasantly surprised by the nice, cool temperatures and the soft, steady rain that our poor, brown grass so desperately needs.

All morning though (starting at 6:30, when it was still dark out!), my little one was begging to go outside, as is her custom when we're home in the mornings. I kept telling her no, that it was raining. But finally, after her asking for the umpteenth time, I thought, "Why not? There's no thunder and lightning....she'd love it." So I told her if she got her rain boots and put on her raincoat (a recent garage sale find), she could go out.

You should've seen the excitement on her face. First, she got to go outside. But wearing her beloved boots? Even better! And a new pink coat? Wow, does life get any better for this two year old?

Here she is, surveying the situation.

"It's waining, Mommy! I get all WET!" she told me excitedly.

We went for a walk around our cul de sac. Then she decided she wanted to go find the octagon (our neighborhood walks have recently become shape finding walks, as she points out the octagon stop sign, the triangle yield signs, and the rectangular street signs.). So we walked around the corner to where we could see the octagon sign, and walked home. Smiling all the way, I should add. She had a ball.

new adventures

This morning, just before 9:00, R told me that she had gone pee-pee in her diaper. I told her it was okay, but next time she should tell me she had to so we could go in and use the potty (potty training has been pretty non existent since I posted this.). I was in her room at the time, so I pulled the training pants out of her drawer that I've been collecting in hopes that soon she'll be ready to start potty training. I showed them to her and told her they were "big girl pants," (that's how they refer to them in the potty story she loves to have read to her) and when she was ready to use the potty she could wear these instead of a diaper. She was really excited about them and smiling as she held them and looked at them. I asked her if she wanted to wear them today and use the potty instead of going in her diaper. She said "yeah!" So I put a pair on her and the adventure began.

My routine is to put her in her playpen while I take a shower in the mornings. I hadn't done that yet, so I put her in the playpen in the training pants, sitting on a waterproof pad so if she did go, it wouldn't get the playpen mat wet. I told her to keep them dry and when Mommy came back she could go sit on the potty.

Usually she's in her playpen for nearly an hour, listening to music, playing with toys, and reading books. I take a shower, make the bed, get laundry started, and usually some other thing that needs to get done. It's really a nice arrangement, and she loves it, most days. But today I knew I couldn't leave her in there that long, so I took a quick shower and got ready and went to get her at 9:15. My plan was to check and see if she was dry (she was), take a load of laundry down with her in tow, and then bring her up and put her on the potty. But while we were in the basement, and she was playing with her old baby toys which are down there, I heard a stream of running water, looked over, and saw her looking down at her wet feet and a steady stream going down her leg. "Uh oh," she said. "All wet!" I told her it was okay, that she had pee-peed in her big girl pants, and next time she needed to tell Mommy before she did that so we could get to the potty. "Keen it up?" she asked. I told her yes, that Mommy would clean it up, but first we needed to clean her up. So I took her upstairs, cleaned her up, put a new pair of training pants on her, and told her to keep them dry. We went back down to the basement and she continued playing with her toys while I cleaned up the mess (I'm so glad it was the concrete floor in the basement that I really could care less about!).

I got the load of laundry started and we played down there a few minutes and then I told her it was time to go up and sit on the potty. She did so, willingly, for about 10 minutes. We looked at books and talked about the pictures. But after 10 minutes she started taking off the training pants from around her ankles, got up from the potty, and said, " Take them off! All Done!" I told her that if she took them off, she needed to sit on the potty. "All done, potty," she said. Then she said, "Diaper on?" At this point, I knew I had two choices.

1) commit to a day of full fledged potty training--no diapers, many trips to the potty, and probably many accidents

or

2) chalk it up as a little bit of experience, put the diaper on, and try again another day

Well, I have been up since 2:30 this morning--couldn't sleep for no known reason (except that I didn't take tylenol PM or benedryl, and it seems that lately if I don't take something, I don't sleep well at all--not a trend I want to continue, but I'm not sure what to do about it). So I was tired. Very tired. And the idea of committing to a day of potty training didn't appeal to me one bit. If I had thought about it very much, I wouldn't have even suggested putting the training pants on in the first place. But I was tired, so I wasn't thinking much.

So I chose option #2. At 9:52 she got her diaper on and we went on with business as usual around here. Much less stressful for both of us. 52 minutes of potty training. Not really a good start. I know the rough days are soon coming..... I'm not looking forward to them, but if I keep the end in sight (no more diaper changes!!!!), maybe I'll have the energy I need to make it happen.

And just because, I took some pictures outside today. Can you tell where we were playing?!

titanic tent

Some of you know that my husband is an outdoor fanatic. Hiking, camping, and exploring outside are some of his very favorite things to do.

But he married me.

Hiking, camping, and exploring outside are some of my very least favorite things to do.

Consequently, since we've been married, we've gone camping only once. I've refused since, because sleeping on the hard ground is not my idea of a good time, but promising that if he got me an air mattress (or a camper) , I'd try it again. The thing is, our tent wasn't big enough to hold an air mattress. That saved me from having to go camping ever again!

Until this weekend, when he decided to start looking for a new tent, since they're on sale at this time of year. We went all over the city on Saturday and Sunday, looking for the best deal on a tent big enough to hold an air mattress plus a pack-n-play for our little one.

So he decided on a tent. He brought it home last night and decided to set it up in our living room. As we unfolded it we were in disbelief--it was MUCH bigger than we had anticipated--bigger than our living room! But we went ahead and set it up--of course R was ecstatic, watching us, trying to "help" anywhere she could (but really, just getting in the way).

Tonight he decided to set it up outside so he could put the rain fly on and really see what it looked like, since we couldn't get the full picture inside.

It was like rocket science, trying to figure it all out. But we got it up. It fills up the majority of our backyard! I wanted to take pictures, but I forgot to take the camera outside until it was too dark to take them, so I decided to look online to find a picture. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a picture of someone else who set up the exact same tent in their living room! So this isn't my living room, but this is pretty much what my living room looked like last night!

And this is what the tent looks like on the website, and what it pretty much looks like in our backyard right now.

It fits the air mattress (which he also bought me last night) and there would be room for several more air mattresses! There's plenty of room for the pack-n-play, several weeks' worth of suitcases, and anything else we'd want to take with us camping, like the kitchen sink!?

So my excuses for going camping are gone. Uh oh. What have I gotten myself into?

Camping with a two year old.... I thought it would be difficult before I was a mother. I can't even imagine trying to do it with a toddler. Stay tuned. I'm sure we'll go before long (I have no more excuses!) and there will be plenty of stories to tell. Oh my.............

friend fix

So yesterday I got my friend fix....

We met Allecia and Kaden about halfway between us for a fun morning at the park. The drive wasn't too bad, and was totally worth it to get to see our friends again! We met at a park, which had a water playground as well as a regular playground. After lunch we changed the kids into their swimsuits, but neither of them was too excited about getting too close to the water. As the time went on they got a little more brave, but mostly they jumped in puddles and avoided getting sprayed. At any rate, they both had a great time and enjoyed seeing each other.

Here are some pictures.

We got them to pose for this picture together and then some other people came over to the playground and they were much more interested in looking over at the new kids than looking at Mommy for a picture. I finally just took the picture anyway!

This is about as close to the water as she would get.

Running away from the water.

With Kaden and "Sheesha" (her name for Allecia)

They wouldn't go close to this while it was spraying water, but as soon as the water stopped, they'd run up and play.

an adventurous evening

Well we had quite an adventure last night. My husband was reading our little one her story before bed and I was downstairs (it was his night for bathtime). All of a sudden I heard him on the monitor say, "What the heck?" Then he yelled "Weed, get up here, quick!" (Okay, he doesn't call me Weed, but I don't use my name on here.) I ran up and he closed R's door behind him, coming out in the hall and said, "There's a bat." As we stood there in the hall I saw it flying behind him, near the bathroom in the hall. I screamed. It was so freaky. It flew into our bedroom.

I went in R's room and shut the door behind me. She was sitting in the rocking chair with her eyes open really wide. "Bird fwying Deetah's house," she said!!! (Deetah is what she calls herself. For those of you who know her name, you can see that it sounds absolutely nothing like her name.... We try and try to get her to say it right, to no avail). Anyway, I said, "You saw a bird flying?" and she said, "Yeah. Over dayer!" and she pointed at the door. I told her it was okay, stayed in there with her, read her another story, and put her to bed.

My husband had meanwhile trapped the bat in our shower in the master bathroom under a cardboard box. When he went back a few minutes later he thought it had gotten out of the box. He called a bunch of people (the health department, Animal Control, and a Critter Control place), trying to figure out what to do. It was going to cost $370 for someone to come catch it, with no guarantee that they would get it. They give you 30 minutes and if they don't catch it, you still have to pay them! Outrageous! So my husband decided to do it himself....armed with my tennis racquet and wearing his steel toed work boots! He told me I was his back up and he handed me a badminton racquet!! If I hadn't been so freaked out I probably would've been laughing my head off. He went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him, so I didn't know what was happening, except from the sounds. He told me later that he found that it was still in the box. He got it wet with the shower so the box was pliable. Then he stomped on it over and over. He killed it and got rid of it (after he took pictures....which I wouldn't look at, and won't post on here, even though he thinks I should. I really don't want to see it, and I doubt many of you would, either!). Then he scrubbed our shower like it's never been scrubbed before. I'm glad I didn't have to look at it (he wanted me to, though)!

So that's just an ordinary night in the world of Weed....

I had trouble going to sleep, wondering how it got in, whether there were more, and would they be flying around me while I slept. Eeeeewwww!!!

This morning when I went to get our daughter out of bed one of the first things she said was, "Birdie fwying Deetah's house over dayer!" pointing toward her door. What a memory! I told her the "birdie" was all gone, and she seemed pleased by that fact.

tiny ballerina

A few days ago she started talking about a "banahnina." It took us awhile to figure out what she was referring to, but we finally figured out she was saying ballerina. How she knows what a ballerina is is beyond me, but then I didn't know she knew the word "octagon" either when she pointed one out to me at a stop sign the other day! She picks up things all over the place.

So anyway, this weekend my mom and I went to a series of children's garage sales and one of the things my mom found were some Isotoner-like slippers for toddlers. They look silimar to ballet shoes, so she bought them for R to pretend she's a "banahnina." They're too big for her, but the elastic allows them to stay on her feet, and she is now constantly asking me, "Put on banahnina shoes, Mommy?"

I asked her to pose like a ballerina for the picture. Here's fifth position....

...and here's her interpretation. Needs a bit of work, but I think she's about ready for the stage, don't you think?

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.