plants, part II

more birthday fun

rolling, rolling, rolling

"hey, mommy, make a movie of me rolling down the hill."

birthday report

me: "L, stop telling A. what to do; you're not in charge of her."
her: "But, Mommy, now I'm four years old."

we had a nice day and celebrated with a little cupcake (real cake and party will happen this Sunday) and L. wasted no time and played with her new toys all afternoon.

then, this morning: "Mommy, is it Sunday yet?"
me: "No, just a few more days."
L.: "because I want it to be ice cream sundae!"
(thanks for the gift, B & C; I better get to the store quick so she can find out what it is!)

we must be doing something right

sometimes I worry about whether the good dr. and I are doing a good job as parents.
today I asked L. what she wanted me to make for her birthday dinner: "shrimp curry and corn on the cob."

phew.

going on an adventure

He's vertical and trying to keep up with those girls.

I think of you, olittles, when I watch BR walk. Just recently his hands came down to shoulder-length when he toddles around. Up until last week, though, he held them high up in the air, reaching for those mama hands he still thinks should be there, I guess!

"say cheese, BR"

that elusive popsicle...

I was having a deja vu moment while filming this. It's been about a year and now it's BR's turn to have his first taste of a homemade lemonade popsicle. Now if it would just stand still for a minute...

"Look, Mommy, I can run like a cheetah!"

1, 2, 3

That's how old they are, for one more week. Nothing but trouble. Cute, but trouble. Cute trouble.

keeping up with the Livos

Well, I'm not sure we can really rival those Livo gals, but we do have our own fashion shows around here, complete with Santa hats, princess dresses and butterfly wings (sometimes all at the same time).

i love to play with chalk, and also eat it

yo soy Sam

Some advice for all you new moms or moms-to-be: if reading Green Eggs and Ham over and over again means it is no longer the tongue-twisting challenge it once was, here are some suggestions...
it's got a great ring to it if you do it backwards:

"there or here them like not would I.
anywhere them like not would I.
am-I-Sam them like not do I,
ham and eggs green like not do I.
house a in them like you would?
mouse a with them like you would?"

in Spanish:

"No quiero los huevos verdes con jamon."

or, in French:

"Je ne voudrais pas, je ne pourrais pas dans un bateau.
Je ne les prendrais pas avec une chevre.
Pas dans le noir! Pas sur un arbre!
Pas dans une voiture! Laisse-moi tranquille!"

And then if you realize suddenly that you actually don't know how to say mouse, or fox or goat in Spanish and you're ready to give up, there's your 3 yr-old cheerleader: "Try it and you may, I say!"

Oh, and you don't actually have to worry about any mistakes 'cause you can bet your house AND car AND your Christmas bonus that your 2 yr-old hasn't noticed anything different about the way you're reading it tonight anyway!

the answer

Yeah, I knew you'd never guess (took me a week to figure this one out).
This is what is outside the chiropractor's office in our neighborhood:

See? His back hurts 'cause there's a worm on it, of course!

sometimes it's hard for me to walk...

...cause there's this thing grabbing onto my leg.

testing, testing...

earlier today we were talking about holidays and I decided to see how well A. remembers Christmas:
me: "...and you get a lot of presents, and we had a Christmas tree. And what did the Christmas tree have on it?"
A.: "Umm...a roof-rack!"

guess not.

chicken dance

soundtrack: "buk, buk, buk"

they are such nerds.

A.: her favorite books are the "Knuffle Bunny" ones (thank you, Leia). She especially loves the sequel, "Knuffle Bunny Too" and her favorite part is the Epilogue for some reason. She gets so excited to turn the page, "epilogue! epilogue! epilogue!" It's really nerdy.

So there was Little Riceball, toddling through the livingroom and headed straight for the KB2 book which was lying on the floor, opened to this most beloved page. (A. shouting) "Don't step on my Epilogue!"

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L. has recently, and with much practice, learned to pronounce "th" correctly. She used to say it "f" and with her newly acquired ear for the different sounds, she suspects that she may have had it wrong all along...

So now she says: "dol-thin," "to-thu," "enou-th," "ditherent" and I could go on, but I'm lau-thing too hard.

And in case you're still not convinced of their extreme nerdiness, there's this. (caption: "Look, I'm just like Daddy!")

happy reunion

A. has rediscovered her blankie. It was rejected for awhile, but she is in love again.

take a guess

So there we were, happily driving along, and L. asks me a question about something after we had already gone past: "Mommy, why does that man say 'ouch'? Oh yeah, I remember. It's because there's a worm on his back."

Any guesses?

growing and growing

look, aunt K!

cool water, green grass, warm days (and green water)

(photos by MKD)

first steps. many first steps.

so yesterday BR decided to stand up and walk. just like that.
or maybe it was no coincidence and he was saving it to impress a certain aunt...?
luckily she had her camera nearby to document it all (with audio!). thanks, mer.

tell me a story...

L. demands stories. Made up ones, by me, on the spot, on a topic of her choice. Usually it has to do with something in her immediate surroundings. Like if we're in the car and she sees a truck go by, "Mommy, tell me a story about a truck." It's not complicated and involves pretty straightforward 3 3/4 yr-old story material. "Once upon a time there was a little truck and he had a mommy and daddy and his favorite color was blue and he liked to go to the park and blow bubbles and also to write on walls with colored markers but that was very BAD but usually he was very GOOD and shared his books with his sister..." and so on.

Lately, she's made it a bit trickier for me (since I'm usually listening with one ear and talking with half my brain on not burning dinner and also on the results of the latest democratic primary) "Mommy, tell me a story about the elephant, the elephant's dog and the friendly alligator..." Ok, yeah, I can do this. Then, "tell me a story about a woodchip." Uh, what?

When I'm really not up for the challenge of spontaneous creative masterpieces, I can always recycle her favorite, soon to be ranked alongside the old classic children's bedtime tales...
"Once upon a time there was a girl who loved to hear stories so she asked her mommy to tell her a story and the story went like this... Once upon a time there was a girl who loved to hear stories..."

baby.boy.

the Ball of Rice is trying to fit all the stereotypes...

yummy beach snacks

kay pasa

look who came to visit us! we have been to the beach, gone for a few rides on the trolley, made some crafts, done some gardening, and generally acted like little crazy pants... and we still have 2 more days before she has to go home, woohoo!

riceball loves goats

kick, kick, squeal, kick, squeal, kick, kick

cinco de mayo

...was Daddy's birthday! We went to the zoo and of course had cake. A. was VERY excited about helping him blow out the candles and pounced as soon as I had them lit (and before we started singing).

Then, once we were all comfortably settled with their portion of Tres Leches (mmm...), she spoke up: "This candle treat is not very good."

Yup, munched in the center all the way down to the wick. Ahhh... still so much to learn when you are two years old...

"make a scary face, kids"

umm, try harder BR...

uhh, still not it...

it's hopeless, there's too much happy.

hazards

Big Sister likes to 'help' Riceball walk...