Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Bunny

One of M's favorite Christmas gifts is a bunny puppet from grandpa S. While she asked and asked for a teddy bear, "bunny" has become the absolute must have at all moments of the day since she opened him. Bunny has also become quite the little helper for mommy and daddy. M will do almost anything Bunny asks her to do- use the potty, change her clothes, eat more dinner, get her coat on for school. Who knew that this stuffed beast would make our life just a little easier with an independent two-year old!! We will all see how long this last but for now I'm always willing to stuff my hand in that fuzzy guy's back end and squeak out some directions.

Monday, October 11, 2010

M is developing in leaps and bounds and her vocabulary is taking off in both languages. She knows her numbers from 1-15 in English and Spanish, both alphabets, colors, shapes, days of the week, and animals. They say she fully understands the predominately Spanish speaking educators at daycare and is very active in helping other toddlers- especially with leading dance circles and helping other kids paint inside the lines. She can't get enough books, sings songs like "A Boy and A Girl in a Little Canoe," "Twinkle, Twinkle." and ABCs and happy birthday song. She also was introduced to Lauri Berkner from Auntie E and loves "Pig on Her Head" and "DoodleBug Song."

She loves riding her bike around and around the block looking for cats in the neighborhood, playing at the park, visiting the library and helping mommy cook and cut fruit with her big girl toddler knife. She is painting daily and doing puzzles and building towers out of blocks but still gives priority time to her babies. She loves playing with her cousins and friends and asks for them regularly. She is off the pacifier, in her big girl bed and on her way on potty training. She is the sweetest little thing and a joy everyday!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

First night M has gone to bed without the pacifier. She didn't ask for it at bedtime so we just went for it. Sleeping soundly so far!! Fingers crossed.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Bi-lingual daycare is paying off! M shared her multi-lingual prowess when she counted from 1-10 in English and Spanish to Mimi last week! I was blown away because I had no idea she could count that high at all! We had just covered 1-3 at home :-) I guess she was showing off just a little bit. Since then, she counts everything in whatever language she feels like. Her teachers say she is starting to learn up to 20 and her alphabet is coming along as well. She knows many of her animals in both languages and who knows what else! I only hope I can keep up. Love being a mama!

Monday, July 19, 2010


Just celebrated a 2nd Birthday for M! Seems like yesterday that I held my tiny little baby in my arms for the first time in the hospital with her dark hair and her squishy daddy W face. I can't believe I just celebrated her 2nd birthday. Her birthday party was fun- Florida Keys with cousins galore and a tasty underwater themed cake- but the real surprise was how grown up my little baby seemed already the next day. Her vocabulary has exploded and her ability to do and say and express things for herself is exciting to experience. Right now she is infatuated with stickers and tattoos, with "da-da-da-da-Dora" and "go-go-go-Diego" and with her big cousin E. She loves taking photos with her elmo camera and with mommy's camera too. Her favorite food is "monkey cheese and hotdogs".. big surprise, right? She is starting to use the potty everyday and started pre-school this week. Yikes! What a grown-up!!

I love being her mom and I love every minute I get to spend with her. I only hope time slows down just a little bit so I can savor every moment with my baby.

Thursday, July 1, 2010


Milena is a complete chatterbox these days and her new favorite work is "AWESOME!!" as in picking strawberries is.... AWESOME!! or hanging out with dad is... AWESOME!!! She also like to point out colors, shapes, things that are dirty, wet or icky. She loves being in "Nena's house" most of the time and insists on doing everything herself. Watermelon and tortillas are the favorite menu items right now.. not necessarily together :-). She has a blast picking strawberries this last weekend and picked and ate, picked and ate for about an hour non-stop. I was worried we were going to have a massive stomach ache on our hands but she was just fine.. stems and all! You can see the evidence all over her happy, juicy red face!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Blood Root Tattoos




One of my favorite memories from childhood is skipping through Hixon forest in the spring, picking blood root and making bright orange streaks on my hand. M had her first ritual "marking" today at Perrot State Park on the Brady's Bluff trail from Mimi. Along with her new word "oriole", her worn path through the garden trail, and her new habit of hugging and kissing trees, I think little M is turning out just like her Mimi :-)

Monday, April 5, 2010


Spent a great weekend in The Dells at an indoor waterpark...crowded? check. noisy? check. overstimulating? check. The kids loved it! ...and so I did too :-) M loved playing with her cousins and her pawpaw K. To top it off, M and K hunted for Easter eggs with about 50 other toddlers at MagiQuest, an indoor interactive video game environment.. this will be an Easter to remember- dragons, fairies and giant trees, oh my!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

M is mastering the stairs- up, down, up, down, up, down. Scares me half to death!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Milena woke up this morning with the giggles. After bringing her to bed with me around 6:30 am she proceeded to sit up in bed and start doing... the chicken dance! How cute is that?! She, of course, insisted that I join in :-)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I'm Baaaack!!

I'm baaaaack!! I decided to start blogging to document M's super cute fun little things she does everyday. 19 months is sooo cute!!

Good week so far:
1) M started her new bilingual daycare, loves her teachers, and said her first Spanish words "aqua" (water) and "negro" (black)- yeah!

2) M's new favorite word is "soup" and this week she helped daddy make and slurp up potato leak soup and.. much to our wide-eyed surprise tonight... red curry soup with edamame. With every bite she says "soup, soup, yum, yum"











3) She's talking alot and says mama, dada, baby, bye-bye, hi, thank you, wow, soup, cheese, ice, milk, more, this, eat, eye, ear, hair, beep-beep (to get me out of the way), ewwwww (for diapers and gross stuff in general), uh-oh, nuh-uh, puppy, woof-woof, moo, mimi, yah-yah, much more, I can't remember and of course the ever popular.. MINE! She said her first phrase "Bye-Bye Baby."

4) M started pointing to herself and saying her own name but instead of M she says, Nina, which W and I kind of like as a nickname!