Weekend in Portland - March 2009

Can I go to Aunt Shaila's house? Can I? I had a great time visiting Aunt Shaila and Uncle David and the cousins. I had to correct them at times though since they're not used to having a little toddler around. I noticed I had a big spoon and said no, I need a little tiny weenie spoon. Keira needed saving from what was on her head but I clearly had no problem with it. Jared helped me balance on the scooter and Jared and Jonathan's friend help me out with my dunk. I asked where Aunt Heather was the other day after mom walked me by the heather flowers in our yard and she told me what they were. I finally I got to hang with baby Daniel! What a cutie!

March Goings On and Funnies:

Just last night (Saturday March 29th) Ella said "I love you" to us after we said it to her when we put her down for bed. A lot of emphasis is put on the "u" part of I love you. She's said it before over the last few days, but this was the first time that we melted, weather she knew what it meant or not:)To balance things out, she also mastered the meaning of the word "no." If she doesn't want another kiss, or any more of what she's eating or drinking, she knows that saying no will stop what's going on. Favorite words of the month are: shoes, boots, socks, bib, no, meow, thank you, hi dada, hi mama, and "caw" like a crow. Favorite songs: I'm a little teapot and pat-a-cake. Made mom sing I'm a little teapot about 10 times during bath time tonight. Favorite letters: W and Z. Likes to sign Z a lot.Recognizes all of the letters of the alphabet by sight and in sign language. Mastered ABC jigsaw puzzle weeks ago.Ella likes to go to the garage door and matter-of-factly say "uh huh" if we ever mention going for a walk or a ride. Also likes to close doors and say bye bye while she's doing it.

My perspective - March 2009

Mom and dad let me take pictures with mom and dad's old camera yesterday and below is a sample of my work. Featured are my absolute favorite blanket in the whole wide world. I call it my pink blanket and I know that my Grandma Boo made it for me. I love it so much that I just had to capture it on film. And my Cat ranks right up there with my blanket in terms of importance. Again, an obvious choice for a great picture. I'm still learning about the camera flash, so for now we'll call the blurry spot on the lower part of the picture "my artistic expression." You'll also see pictured my view of mom and sister...I'm pretty good at capturing a moment. Mom takes a turn with the camera capturing me showing her my work which I did after each and every picture:) Keira uses her super sneaky snag skills to almost grab the camera strap - you've been caught on film! Keira acts coy in the next picture after her camera snatching attempt. Good maneuver sis, you know I can't resist reading a story...or kissing my sister...or trying to snatch her binky. It's payback for her trying to snatch mine. Mom claims that I tend to get a little more upset when sister takes it from me, but I have yet to see it documented on film.

I'll close this entry with a few of my latest funnies. I've memorized one of my favorite bedtime stories "The Going To Bed Book" by Sandra Boynton and like to recite it in the bath, especially to Erica. I also know and like to point out the names of publishers and title pages in my books. Sometimes when I'm tired lately I'll say "I'm just a little bit tired." One night recently I fell asleep after reading every single one of my 12 Curious George books and each one of them was piled on me and my bed but I was too tired to tidy them up before bed as I often do when I read to my cat at night. But mom and dad must have done it for me because when I woke up, they were all nice and tidy. And over Valentine's Day I got candy hearts and would hide them behind my back like mom did to me and say "I have a surprise for you!" ...after which mom or dad would have to answer "what is it?" And I would say "a heart" and they'd have to ask what it says. Then I'd say something like "I'm yours" or "yes" or "I love you." I would practice this often even without hearts just for pretend. I'm going to the potty a lot more on my own these days. Yay me! I also made mom and dad and Kim and Tony laugh pretty hard the last time they were over because I was dancing with Kim and would copy her and say Look Kim, I'm doing it yay! And I'd tell her to take a bow after a smooth dance move. I love being two and a half! I also love story time with miss Patty at the Bothell library, especially when she gives me Curious George stamp on my arm. And I love going to the Northshore learning center for Play N Learn class with miss Megan.

Growing up - February 2009

These days I really enjoy playing "airplane" with dad and his remote control helicopter. Sis likes to watch us play too. I sometimes help mom feed sis and even do an airplane imitation with her spoon for her. I've also enjoyed taking baths with sis and rinsing her off with mom and dads help. I could do without her trying to grab my binky all of the time though.

I sang all of "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam" yesterday to mom after cleaning up toys just like in nursery. And when we were getting ready to leave church I saw that daddy's bag was still on the floor so I reminded him to get his "purse."

Pictured here I am painting at the Seattle Children's Museum.

February Ella Funnies: Said "no" for the first time with some hint of actually knowing what she was saying when mom asked her if she wanted to give dad a zerbert. Surely she'll learn it's full value to her in due time.Found a foam paint brush of moms to play with and mom told her what it was, so she naturally tried to brush her hair with it. She’s going to be a Little Mermaid fan for sure since she already has her own version of a dinglehopper, yay!Likes to laugh at jokes (“ha!”) after other people have laughed at them…did this at Stake Conference a couple of times and got a few laughs of her own.

What the heck? - January 2009

Today mom asked me to pick someone to say the blessing for lunch and I said I would. So mom said to go ahead and I said 'dear Heavenly Father' as best I could. I forget what to say after that so I asked mom to finish. But I started to say my very first prayer. I guess it kind of makes up for yesterday when I was hanging out with the fam and I heard dad say 'what the...' and since it sounded kind of familiar I filled in the blank for him and said 'what the heck!?' Mom and dad laughed at me. Maybe it's becase I said it so abnormally sweet. I can't help it if I'm a matter of fact kind of kid. I mean, I'm still learning. I learned that please goes a long way and asked the mom and dadster yesterday if I could please have some more cheerios in the car. My sentance structure is really coming along. I practice with my cat lately. Mom and dad read to me with my cat and my cat reads too. If I ask them to have cat read, then they'll oblidge with a meow story here and there.

I'm also improving my interpersonal sister skills by practicing feeding Keira each day. Mom let's me feed her Cheerios and baby food. I mostly like to eat a lot of Cheerios myself, but sometimes I give Keria one and she'll lean in for it. Soon I'll have her eating out of my hand!

Snowy Weather - December 2008

Look how thrilled I am to be in the snow! Notice my sweet hat Erin? Pictured in this post I am teaching Erica how to levitate a snowball and you'll see my very first snowman. Erica's no snow angel...I see that snowball she's making! You'll also see my backyard and the view from my house when it was really coming down. The "cool" icicle is our backyard hose. And the Santa we found in a shop on Main Street.