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.

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!

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.

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!

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 :-)

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!

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