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...