When I grow up

I want to make pancakes like this guy.Can't decide between pancakes and bacon and eggs? Have them all! Myla would love it.

What should we learn today?

Its amazing to me how fast little ones grow. All that they must learn in such a short time - eating, drinking, crawling, walking, talking and on and on. I think about all the things that they must conquer just on a daily basis and am speechless. Myla has done so many new things lately that its hard to capture them all. One of her favorite things is to sit in her crib and snuggle with her horsey. She tucks all her other animals in, but horsey gets to snuggle. That's what she says too, "I snuggle with horsey." She also loves to blow big bubbles, destroy ant hills with sticks, and dig in the dirt. She's a multi-faceted little girl.

Last week, Myla got to take her first trip with daddy to the aquarium. She got a little spooked in some places, but she loved to watch the fish swim all around and even saw a mermaid. A2 got back this week too, so they got to go to gymnastics again. She's getting the hang of that too - have it mastered in no time. She got to play for three days with Pop-Pop and is working on pushing the peddles on her tricycle. Oh! And she tried some buffalo sauce, completely on accident and she did not like it at all.

Today, Myla and daddy discovered a new addition to our house - a mommy robin with a nest full of baby robins. They got to see the daddy robin bring back food and the baby robins peak their heads up to eat them. Can you imagine all the things a baby robin has to learn?

Ah summer

Myla has become a little fish since the days have gotten so nice. (With the exception of this weekend of course. Rain, rain and more rain!) Her Nonni got a pool for the girls to swim in and they have been out there quite a bit. And then, when she comes home, she wants to get in ours! Tuesday, she went with A2 to gymnastics and thoroughly impressed the coach there when she got on the bars. She held herself up which is not something little ones usually do I guess. But she practices here at home so we weren't really surprised. They went swimming that day too.

So, I have to do a little bragging about my girl. Last week, when I posted, I told you that the potty training was going slow. Well today, she went FIVE times. We found her sweet spot - ok, Nonni found it - Myla loves to get and put stickers on a "chart." So last night, John and I got some stickers and I dressed up some poster board and today, she was so excited to put them on. In fact, one time she knocked on the door to get Johnny out of the bathroom because it was "Myla's turn."

She was especially sweet today, laughing and being very happy. She just brightened up the whole room. She ran over to Johnny and gave him a big hug and said "I love you daddy" for no reason at all. It reminded me how proud I am to be her mom, what a joy she is to have in our lives, how much fun we have with her. It made my heart swell with happiness and, yes I'll say it, pride at what a wonderful little girl she is. She is something pretty special...

A busy week

It has been go-go-go around our house this past week! Now that the days are long and warm, we have been out and out some more! Let's start with last weekend where we met Mam-mam and Pop-pop downtown for the Memorial Day parade. Myla loved all the cars and waving her flag at the people driving by. When the first section went by, she said "there's the parade, should we go catch it?" I think, by far and away her favorite part was the kids that came around and gave her candy. She's not really partial to candy yet, so it was a real treat for her. She was sticky, let me tell you!

Today, we ventured downtown again for the chalk art festival. And we took the lightrail train which she loved! While we were waiting for the rest of our party, she discovered the "buffalo herd" and had to take pictures with every one. After we got going, she was excited to go the the "parade" again. She's really into sidewalk chalk and I thought she would love it and the ones that were to the point where you could see the drawing she did look at for a long time. She even got spoiled by Pop-pop a little and got to try her hand at her own little square of chalk art.

This afternoon (after no nap, but not for lack of trying on my part!), we went to a wedding for the daughter of our beloved babysitter. Myla's BFF Hailey was there and they were joined at the hip. Myla thought it was great that Hailey was wearing a pretty dress too, and so was Nonni, and Princess Susie (the bride) and Mama Jen, Hailey's mom, and Gabby. But, just for the record, boys and horses do NOT wear pretty dresses. They entertained each other during the ceremony and then went everywhere together and had a ton of fun running around during the reception and snacking on the go. They made sure to drink from "big girl cups" whenever they could.

We've also been swimming, watering flowers, taking the dog for walks, going to the playground and to the store - 'cause sometimes a girl just has to get out. We've also been trying the whole potty thing - VERY slow going on that, let me tell you. But really, we've just been having fun, and isn't that the most important thing?!

Summer is here!

A few weeks ago, when it was 80 degrees, Johnny said, "we need a kiddy pool." Myla thought that was a great idea. And so, when one went on sale, we got one. As soon as we did, it rained. Yesterday, it got back up to 75 and Johnny said "I'm setting up the kiddy pool." And today, when the backyard thermometer said it was 95 (probably not), Myla and Johnny had the inaugural pool party. Let me tell you, this pool is cool. It has a slide, a waterfall (when you hook it up to the hose) and it came with inflatable toys. But what do you need all that for when you have all this water to splash daddy with!?

The water was still a little cold and she came inside shaking when she was done but she had a great time. She did eventually go down the little slide and only ended up with her face in the water once. As she gets more used to it and the water really warms up, she'll be hard to keep out of it. But she's been asking all winter to go swimming, so to have the pool at our disposal will be great. And I think it will help her get more used to the big pool at A2's house.

In other words, its shaping up to be a fun - and wet - summer!

A Wear-You-Out Day

Myla has been... shall we say... adverse to sleeping all night long for the past few nights. She prefers it in shifts, five hours here, three hour break, five hours more. Well, that just will not fly. So today, after she woke up at 10:15, we did everything in our parental power to wear her out. It was a balmy 88 degrees with some good wind, but we were not going to let that deter us!

We started with a trip to the store where we got every toddler's dream - bubbles. The wind was very helpful in that respect. We watered flowers, we took the dog for a walk and looked for ducks in the canal. Myla and Daddy had some special time at the playground and the pet store. (Its like a cheap zoo, she can see puppies, kitties, fish and frogs and we don't have to pay anything. Its brilliant!) After some dinner and ice cream (thanks MamMam for the coupon for a free one!), we hit the highlight of the day - the Englewood City Center fountain.

It took her a little while to warm up to the idea, but once she did, there was no stopping her. It bubbled right up next to her, she put her hand in the stream, we played chase under the arches of water. Her sweet little laugh rang out when she splashed herself and her daddy. She was a sloppy mess when we were done, but man did she love it. Half way home, she started giggling from the thought of it.

Now, I don't know about her, but I'm tired. Here's to a good nights rest... hopefully.

A Yellow Train

Today, Johnny was sleeping. Myla was not. And so, rather than run around screaming and waking up daddy (Myla screaming, not me), we headed out to explore this city we are third and fourth generations of, respectfully. We grabbed some snacks and headed down to Confluence Park. Myla loved to watch the waterfall, even if it was loud. She wouldn't get too close though, or go over the grate where you can see the water below you, but she was perfectly happy to point from afar.

We walked around a little bit and found some statues of three bears, which from that moment on became Myla's new friends. She would bring them rocks from the other sections of the walking path and give them soft touches. She wasn't even too afraid of mommy bear, which when you walked from the other direction became daddy bear. Perspective I guess.

And then, when there was only kids to keep her entertained, the Platte Valley Trolley came to whisk us away down the river. She was so excited to hold on to her ticket and to feel the wind blowing her hair. They showed us some neat things, like swallows nests that are built onto an old bridge. (Side note here, did you know that swallows come back to the same nest every year!? How do they know...) It was fun to watch her eyes light up when we got moving and her little voice say "we riding the train mommy!"

And on the way home, she fell asleep.