Celebrating Two

To my Sweet, Adorable, Loving Little Miss Pie on her 2nd Birthday:

Two years ago today, on the very first day I kissed your sweet little cheeks, I had no idea how much joy you would bring to my life.  I'm practically speechless.

Watching you grow and change over this past year has been absolutely amazing.  You have grown from a baby into the most delightful toddler I have ever known.  You can talk up a storm, you can express what you need and want with pleases and thank you's, you can build tall towers with blocks, blow bubbles, sing the ABC's, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle, run and jump and climb like crazy, you have created your own relationships with so many people (all your grandparents, cousins, aunties and uncles and our new baby friends), and you're still as cuddly as ever and love a good snuggle and hair rub with your mommy and daddy.  One of my favorite things about you is that you are so easy-going.  You're usually up for just about anything and you always able to have a good time no matter what we're doing.  I could go on and on about the wonderful things about you, and how happy you make me and your daddy. And I know that you are going to be an awesome big sister.  That little girl in my tummy has no idea what is in store for her!

I know that our future holds wonderful things and I am looking forward to being there with you every step of the way.  

Happy Birthday Miss Pie!

Summer of Fun

It's not even officially summer yet, but we're off to a fantastic start.  I'm trying to squeeze in as much fun as we can possibly have before I get too big and the baby comes.  So we're doing lots of stuff!  Here's how we spent last week (just one week!)

Right after Utah, we had Grethe's wedding.  Marea associates Grethe with the kitty jumpie now because I got it for Grethe's bachelorette party, but Marea got to enjoy it the whole next day.  So when we were spending time with Grethe before her wedding, she would always say, "Jump in kitty".  Marea was quite the dancing queen at the wedding.  She really busted out of her shell and spent a lot of time tearing up the dance floor with all the other kids.  It was super cute. 

Then we headed off to Disneyland, with our friends Kate and Madison,  for her first visit.  It was definitely more for me than her, but she really enjoyed it.  Her favorite things were the Jungle Cruise, Winnie the Pooh ride, the play area at Toon Town, the train ride and the parade.  She's definitely not a disney manaic, *thank god*, because she's a little too young and I really haven't pushed any of the disney stuff.  And i'm super happy about that, I hope it stays that way!  

After that it was off to the Long Beach Aquarium with Auntie Conny, Jackie, Emily and Lauren.  It was fun to see her enjoy it in new ways since our first visit last summer.  She's definitely more interested in different things now.  Her attention span for the fish is better, and she likes learning the names of different animals, since she loves words and talking so much.  She really liked the seals this time.  And the touch tanks.  

THEN we saw ELMO LIVE!  It's so funny because she actually refers to it as "elmo LIVE".  I'm not really sure how she picked up on the 'live' part, but it's funny.  She really enjoyed that, especially the part where they sang Itsy Bitsy Spider.  

All that stuff happened in a week.  Now is it any wonder why I don't get much written down in this blog?  Time flies when you are having so much fun!  Lots more is coming too....we have lots of great stuff to look forward to!

Marea is also moving into a big girl bed.  I hope this goes smoothly....it probably will, she's so easygoing, i feel so fortunate that everything seems to go smoothly!

Another Edition of Marea's Faves

Playing Farm.

Going for walks around the neighborhood while I push her on her trike.

Talking about Wow, usually in the car, and most recently, about taking him to the doctor.  

Hiking.  We just got back from Utah and we did a lot of hiking.  She's also talking about 'ew-ta' a lot! 

Potty Time.  Oh my god, how she loves that freaking video.  (speaking of which, she's pretty much potty trained now!)

Playing with cousin Jackie.  Will that ever get boring?  A common morning conversation is, "Marea, what do you want to do today?" and her answer is "Jackie".

Singing the ABC's song.  She's almost got it now.  At least the first 10 letters.

Cashews. She just calls them nuts.  

A Toddler's Life

Marea is a happy kid.  She's got so much going on in her world right now, and she's loving it.  Her coordination and vocabulary are skyrocketing, and she's figuring everything out.  

She loves singing in the car.  She's starting to memorize the songs and will often belt them out while we're driving.  Like, 'winkle, winkle, wittle shar'; 'H I A, H I A, MMMMP'; and the itsy bitsy spider...which i don't know what she is saying but i recognize the song and her hand motions that go with it are absolutely hilarious.  She talks about Homer all the time.   More commonly known around here these days as 'wow' (still) although she also knows his name is Homer now.  She'll always ask 'where's wow?' or talk about 'wow sleeping on bed', or just meow or hiss like him really loudly.  She also pretends to be putting her babies/stuffed animals/any animal or person toy to bed all the time.  She can do that a lot.  She'll wrap them up in blankets or towels and make them go night night.  She even makes a bed out of her blocks and puts her farm animal toys to sleep.   The kitchen and food toys are getting a lot of use. She likes to make different meals and present them to us.  The bread and peas sandwich is my favorite.   And she still absolutely loves playing with Mr. Potato Head.  That one has been a favorite for a long time. 

The backyard is awesome.  She just loves playing out there.  She likes the toys that she has, especially the swing, but for the most part she's just happy digging in the dirt or playing with her watering cans or finding rocks.  I think she has the most fun following me around and doing whatever i'm doing, like watering or planting seeds.  We often sit out there and have lunch together.  She doesn't mind getting dirty at all.  I often strip her down before she comes in the house because she is such a mess.

Marea just went on her first fishing trip in Utah.  We went to Sand Hallow resevoir with grandpa and daddy and she hung out on the boat, playing with the worm bait.  She wasn't very interested in the fish when it was caught, but we talked about the fishies afterwards and she liked that.  We introduced her to 'hiking' which at this stage involves her walking around the house.  But she thinks that is pretty darn cool....hiking around the perimeter of the house, checking out all the beautiful red sand, carrying around rocks, looking for bugs,  and watching out for the 'owie' cactus. 

Even though it's still a lot of work, sometimes I wish she could stay this age forever.  Because it's so much fun to watch her enjoying life so much.  I know that she will always enjoy life, it's just her nature....but their is nothing like the carefree world of a toddler.  

3, 5!

Marea recognizes numbers.  She sees them on her kitchen set, and in other various places.  She also understands that when there is more than one of something, that you can count them, like when she wakes up with a bed full of paci's, or sees a bowl full of strawberries.  When she see numbers, or when she wants to count, she happily exclaims, '3, 5'!  

Now I have tried and tried over and over again to get her to understand about 1 and 2.  But she's not having it.  In her world, 3 and 5 are good enough for now.  I promise she won't go to kindergarten only knowing 3 and 5.  

It's pretty cute, sometimes I will start and say, '1, 2,' and then she will happily yell out '3, 5!'.  Hey, we're a team, right?  

Speaking of numbers...7 is such a beautiful number.  Marea has been letting us sleep till about 7 for a few days now.  Funny thing is, I never would of appreciated 7 without being subjected to 5 for so long.  I am going to relish in this grace period before 2 arrives.  

Lots of Big Changes

It's been a busy few months.  We finally have a new house, and we had three back to back colds and we have a NEW BABY ON THE WAY.   Who has time to write with all the boxes to go through, runny noses,  4 canine teeth all at once, major loss of sleep, and the nausea to keep at bay?  Things are settling down a bit, although i'm starting to think my fantasy of a time when we'll just be 'coasting along' will never be a reality.  It seems like life just keeps giving us more and more these days.  Thankfully it's almost always good things.  I think the best thing lately has been a giant backyard, lots of warm sunshine, and some super garage sale finds which has turned our yard into the perfect little playground for the little miss.  She loves it out there, and I do too.  We already started on our garden.  This weekend we planted some seeds, which Marea helped with of course.  Gary and I did the tomatoes and zucchini, and Marea planted all the sunflowers by herself.  Just knowing that she picked up the seeds and pushed them into the dirt makes me that much more excited to watch them grow.  

I think Marea is having a growth spurt.  Is she growing out of her clothes? Not really....but she's been so darn clumsy lately!  It has to be that she's unsteady with her body right now.  She trips and falls and wobbles and crashes.  She's got a black eye, two bruises on her forehead and a skinned knee to prove it.  The fingernail that she's losing is not from the growth spurt though.  That's from a sailboat injury.  She's taking all of it like such a champ.  It hasn't slowed her down one bit.  Maybe that's the reason for all the injuries.  Nothing can slow her down, and she's getting more and more able and willing every day.  She really seems to be loving life and all her new found independence.  And she's putting 4 word sentences together!  Like, "look, daddy, wow poop!" 

Wow

This is not a post about something that Marea did that makes me go 'wow'; or about how Marea will exclaim 'wow', or anything related to the traditional meaning of 'wow'.

This is 'Wow':

She doesn't call him that because the things he does makes her say 'wow'. It's just his name, because that's the noise he makes. Sometimes she'll chase him around the house saying, 'woooooow' or 'woooowowooow'. It's just what she calls the kitty. It's hilarious.

When we drive home in the car, we talk about who will be at home. She says, 'gwa-wa'; 'pa-pa'; daddy, and wow. (and sometimes melmo)