Doubling Up

It was my second birthday over the weekend! I never thought I'd make it this far. Remember when I was a little bundle swaddled up in the hospital nursery after my first bath? Because I don't. In fact, I don't believe Dad when he says I used to fit on one of his arms and he could bounce me just by flicking his wrist. I was never that little, was I? And if I was, I'm not going back. It's too much fun running and jumping and talking and singing and swinging.

Whenever anyone asks how old I am, I say "Twenty-eight pounds." At this point I've forgotten whether it's a rote response or a joke.

We had a big party on Saturday to celebrate my milestone. My best friend Mallory came over, along with her parents and about 20 other people. Dad made a bunch of food, including two kinds of cupcakes. I ate the icing off two chocolate ones and the bottoms off two blue lemon ones (he said they were margarita, and the booze was in the icing so I didn't get too much of that). I also had a lot of chips and cheese, some lemonade, some rice, and (in the interest of healthy eating) a baby carrot. My favorite part of the party, though, was the pinata. Mom helped me hit it with a stick, and when a bigger girl broke it, candy came out. I hid candy everywhere, so no matter how much Mom and Dad find and put away I'll still have a stash.

There's been a lot of travel in April. Dad and I went to New Mexico last week so we could try to find a house to buy. I guess we're moving this summer, which means that we need to box up all our stuff and put it in a truck so it can be unboxed in a new building. But that new building is going to belong to us, so we have to find one we like. My favorite of the whole week was the one that had the swingset in the backyard, but Dad said something about "too small" and "ugly," and then promised I could have a swingset no matter where we end up. He and Mom are working on buying one -- the first one they said was sketchy, so they made a second offer yesterday. I hope we're not homeless, because then I won't have a place for my books.

Also, we had two different sets of guests the week before Easter. Grandma and Grandpa came for four days over the weekend, and then my great-uncle and great-aunt from Saskatchewan came during the week. We had so much fun! We went to the beach twice, the Magic Kingdom, the botanic garden, and a bunch of restaurants. Grandma helped me color Easter eggs, which was a lot of fun with the stickers and the splashing and the pretty colors when they came out. And Auntie Shirley read to me pretty much nonstop, which as you probably know is my favorite thing to do of all time.

You know, I can't think of anything else we did. The travel and the house hunting and my giant party have taken over all of our brains in the house. It's a lot to think about and a short time to make it happen. Oh well. I'll write again before we leave Florida, and maybe now that I'm two it'll be easier to remember.

Marching Along

Oh yeah, I forgot I have a blog. Happens sometimes.

The last month has been packed full of learning more vocabulary words. Dad and I talk all day, about the dogs, my friends, my TV show (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is my favorite), my toys, and whatever else I might happen to see. It's fun to surprise him with words that he didn't know I knew. We can sometimes carry a single thread of conversation for several minutes.

Of course, knowledge is power, and as I learn more I'm starting to figure out how much power exactly I have. I'll turn down stuff I like just because I can. I'm also less satisfied sitting in one place, especially when it's a new place -- I want to explore everything. Of course, that's not always appropriate for a little girl by herself, according to Mom and Dad. Sometimes that makes me mad, and I make sure everyone knows it. They call this the "terrible twos," I guess because I'm almost two. But I'm not trying to be bad, I just want to learn more.

So let's see, stuff that happened since my last post. Grandma and Grandpa came over Valentine's Day, and we had a lot of fun playing together, even though I wasn't feeling very good that weekend. Like, I wasn't interested in gym class, so we just had to leave rather than playing. Still, we went to the beach, we played in the backyard, and we had some good dinners together. We were planning to go to Disney World, but again, I really wasn't feeling good enough to enjoy myself out there.

Mallory and I had a couple of play dates the week after that. Her mom and dad needed a date, so she came over Sunday and we played on the slide and in the sand table. Then the dogs had a vet appointment on Thursday, so Dad took me over to Mallory's house and we played for a long time, until we were both ready for naps. (Mallory was falling asleep when Dad came to get me, and I almost fell asleep in the car on the way home from her house.)

We went to a wedding not long after that. Mom's friend Shene asked her to be a bridesmaid, so we all drove to Tampa and made it into a little weekend break. The wedding was at the Florida Aquarium, and it was cool looking at all the fish and water birds, and I even saw a ginormous spiny lobster and a big turtle. The most fun, though, was dancing with Mom and Dad (and Tony a little bit, too) during the reception. I didn't want that part to end. We were going to go to the beach with Melissa and Aditi (our usual weeknight dinner party guests) on Sunday morning after the wedding, but it was cold and rainy, so we decided against it.

I finally did get to go to the Magic Kingdom, with Nona when she was here last week. She didn't want to originally, but Mom sort of talked her into it. We rode a lot of fun stuff together, and I think in the end Nona was glad she went with me. While she was here, we also got to dig in the sand at the Contemporary (where she was staying) and play in the pools at the Polynesian (because the Contemporary pool was closed for some reason, so they directed us to the Poly).

Auntie Cassie and Uncle Ben were here last week, too. They brought their baby, Keegan, who was just too cute. He's still only seven months old, not quite crawling but he's really good at scooting around on his belly. We all went on a cruise together over the weekend, on the Disney Wonder. There was actually fun stuff for us little kids on the boat -- a splash zone, character greetings, the Playhouse Disney dance party. We stopped in Nassau, where we saw lots of fish and got three impromptu area tours (once on the glass-bottom boat, once on a cab ride to the Atlantis aquarium, and once on the ferry ride back to the ship), and on Castaway Cay, Disney's own private island in the Bahamas, where they had a really pretty and safe beach for me to play on.

Last night, we went to an Orlando Magic game. It was my first time seeing basketball in person. We sat way up in the stands, but I could still pick out the players and see who was doing cool stuff. Dwight Howard doesn't look as big from row S as he does on TV, but it was exciting to see him slam dunk. What I really liked, though, was when the dancers did a dunking routine during intermission. I also liked Stuff (the green alien mascot) and the giant floating milk bottle ridden by a cow that dropped stuff into the crowd.

Whew, that's a lot of stuff. I should update sooner next time so I can remember it better.

Quarter to Two

Back to the delayed schedule, right? But who has time to write when there's so much to do and explore? Besides going to gym class twice a week, we're spending a lot of time playing outside, reading books, taking long hikes, running new and bigger errands, doing chores around the house, and hitting up local stuff. After all, we're back to New Mexico in less than six months, and as excited as we are, we want to get all we can out of Florida in our remaining time here.

So a lot's been going on in 2009 already. We were in Canada for New Year's Day, spending some time with my aunties and Pappy and Grandma. Everybody seemed glad to be home, and a lot more comfortable than when I saw them in the hospital before. I can't imagine having to live somewhere that isn't your house for as long as they did, so it was better being at home with them. We played games, danced, dressed up together, and even went into Victoria for a little while to look at the city. Keep Auntie Lourdess in your thoughts, though -- she's still recuperating from all the treatments, so she's not a hundred percent yet.

When we got home, we took the next step toward big-girl-hood: I got a potty. We brought it home just so it'd be there, but as it turns out I really like the idea. Pooping in there is a lot better than going in my diaper -- it's not anywhere near as gross, for me or the 'rents. It helps that my potty plays music when I use it. I'm still not using it all the time yet -- Mom and Dad don't want to push me, especially with a big move coming up -- but I'm making some progress.

I also got a booster seat while we were at the store buying the potty. Since I like eating off the main table better than the high chair tray, it just made sense to have a seat of my own that lifted me up there. This I could take or leave, especially since I still have a table my own size from Christmas, but it's kind of nice to be able to sit at the table with Mom and Dad when they're eating. What's more fun for me, though, is to get one of my friends (my dolls, my stuffed animals, sometimes even little plastic non-anthropomorphic toys) up into the seat so they can have a snack. It's important to share, after all. In fact, if Maggie's not sitting at the table with me, sometimes I won't touch my food until I find her and help her into the chair.

This month, we went to Disney World twice and the Sanford zoo once. It was all fun, even the zoo trip when Dad thought I was too tired to enjoy myself. In fact, that day was warm (as compared to the sub-60s we've had most of January), so Mallory and I got to play in the splash zone for a little while and get nice and drenched. At the World, I basically redid my favorites -- Small World, the carousel and the parade at Magic Kingdom; Honey I Shrunk the Playset and Playhouse Disney Live at Hollywood Studios. Dad's also talking about finding a weekday to go where I can have the run of one of those play areas. Hey, we gotta make use of the pass, after all.

Finally, if you're looking for the usual every-three-month measurements, I didn't see the doctor this time. My next scheduled checkup isn't until my birthday, and hopefully I won't have to go back until then. (The urinary exams I had came back all clear, and yes, I did go to the hospital for that, but they didn't measure me.) But I always ask Dad to help me get on the scale at the supermarket, which says I'm 28 pounds, and he lined me up against a Lobo Louie height poster I have, which says I'm 32 inches. So use that if you want.