Chicks and Chips

This past weekend we attended a Family Day for the local school to celebrate spring. They had Face Painting, bean bag games, egg decorating, tissue paper flower making, and baby animals, as well as some other things. Laina had no interest in anything but the animals. We went into the room with baby chicks that the kids could hold and she held one, ever so gently in her arms for almost 45 minutes! It was so relaxed that it fell asleep and she absolutely refused to put it down. She was kissing it and cooing, it was so very cute. I had a hard time getting a picture because of the crowd. The yellow chick is the one she fell in love with, the brown is the first one she held.(we tried to get her to the other games at the fair but she just wanted to go back in with the chicks). When we got home later, we made some cookies and took a photo of her in one of her aprons with a chef hat on. She came up with the idea to make Daddy a really Big Cookie so we did and he was very happy about it as you can see. Laina was not happy at that point, it was naptime so she "hid" behind him and did not want to have her picture taken. At two years old, she can be an angel one minute and then suddenly turn into a big grouch, but we are managing. We've had to start time-outs and occasional loss of priveleges that she really wants, like books at bedtime.She told Jimmy one day that he wasn't the Boss, and when she is really angry she says "You're not my friend!". She is really testing her limits! The joys outweigh the frustrations always though, and she is growing up and learning quickly. What a kid!

Jammin'

Hi; Here we are again. We have been very busy lately. Our most recent adventure was a trip to the New England Aquarium on Feb,28. We had a great time, Laina was very excited and kept running ahead, coming back and grabbing my hand to see the next thing. Her favorite things were the penguins(when we arrived, they were feeding them). and the jellyfish. She liked to have them swim by her face up against the glass. Unfortunately, our camera was acting up and we have no pictures of the event. I have been trying to post some that were emailed to us by Uncle Paul, but something is glitchy. Hopefully I can figure it out.For now, you'll have to see some that were taken here at home. One is of her playing her guitar for me, and some are of her eating a muffin with jam, lots of jam...and playing at the sink, and wearing an envelope hat. We have been enjoying a couple days of nice weather, Laina and I went to the swings yesterday and she was practicing pumping all by herself. She likes to sing the whole time she swings so it is great fun to be there with her. She absolutely will not leave the playground until she has been on ALL the things either. If we miss one, she will remind me at home,"We forgot to climb the dinosaur Mommy!" She counted to 14 yesterday, all by herself, so I think we've overcome the number 12 hurdle. She had been stuck there, saying 11 and then 8. We have also noticed a great interest in letters and reading, she pretends to read "grownup" books and must have one of mine for the game. We play pretend a LOT, Jimmy and I must always be ready, at any time, anyplace, to instantly become a bear, a baby, an alligator, a lost kitty, or anything. It's very tricky sometimes. A funny new game is playing "babysitter". It's funny because when my friend, Wendy babysat for us, the power went out. Poor Wendy had an irate and bossy 2 year old yelling "Put on my Winnie the Pooh Light NOW!", and she didn't know where our candles or anything were. So now, when we play babysitter, Laina means "Get the flashlight, and pretend the power is out". I laugh every time!