Daddy's Home!

My Daddy came home a few weeks ago - we've been busy playing and taking care of Mama (she has a baby in her tummy, you know) and learning new words and sledding and playing with beans...I missed him so much! I've been such a good girl lately, considering all the pain I've been in. See, I learned to walk while Daddy was gone, and I tend to fall a lot. So I had just gotten rid of the multiple bruises and scrapes on my forehead when I fell down at the hospital on Monday. I tripped over Mama's foot (she says I never look down when I walk or run, I say she's out to get me) and fell on my face - my two front teeth on top cut my upper lip very badly. I bled and bled and bled - Daddy said it looked like I got in a street fight, whatever that is. I am also cutting four teeth (actually, they are cutting me): the two top canine teeth and the two molars on top, as well. I've been having a rough time of things lately! Anyway...without further ado, here are some pictures from since Daddy's been home.

Daddy likes to put my hair in 80's styles.

He does make me laugh, though!

This was taken from our front porch almost 2 weeks ago - we've gotten about 60 inches of snow so far this year!
















I love sledding!














I got to vote! Well, not really, but I told Mama and Daddy who to vote for.










I love pizza and ranch - a rare treat!

Where's Daddy?

On Saturday, Daddy woke me up REALLY early and gave me my medicine, then we (and Mama) got in the truck and drove out somewhere very far (it was almost 10 minutes away!) in the dark. Then Daddy kissed me, and me and Mama went out to breakfast, a rare treat. I haven't seen Daddy in person since then. I think Mama trapped him either in the telephone or the computer. I hear his voice several times per day on the telephone, and sometimes I get to see him and talk to him on the computer. I wonder how he's going to get out of there? I wonder how she got him IN there, in the first place. I'm not sure I trust that woman.

I miss him. Mama doesn't do bedtime the way he does. I hope he gets out of the phone soon.

*Mama here. He will be home November 2, honey. And he misses you too, I assure you.*

Is that an ice cube in the potty?

Mama is always complaining how cold the cold water is here. I ask you - does that make any sense? Isn't cold water supposed to be cold? Well, I decided to see what all the fuss was about, so while Mama was eating her breakfast this morning, I took her digital meat thermometer and ran it under the cold running water. It registered 46 degrees! That IS cold! So then, just for fun, I ran it under the hot water, and it got up to 128 degrees!

Here's what our toilet does all the time. It is constantly dripping everywhere and Mama sometimes keeps towels under the toilet so I won't play in the outside potty water.

New Words

Yesterday at Mighty Mites (my playgroup), Mama brought a delectable banana for my snack. I LOVE bananas, so I decided to surprise Mama. When she asked me if I wanted a banana, and did the sign for "banana," I said "nana!"

Mama was so excited!

My Mama

You know, I love Mama. But, sometimes, she does things that I don't understand.

See, normally, as soon as I wake up, Mama changes my diaper, brushes my teeth, and gives me my reflux medicine (Prevacid - yummy!). Then I help her vacuum the downstairs and we do some laundry for a while, and then I am allowed to have breakfast once 30 minutes has passed.

Well, yesterday Mama decided she was only going to give me 1/2 my pill to see if I did OK. I guess she is getting tired of scheduling my breakfast around it. To be honest, so am I. Sometimes I sleep late and when I get up at 9:00 or 9:30, I am HUNGRY and do NOT want to wait 30 minutes to eat.

On with the story...

Mama forgot that she only gave me 1/2 pill, and then when I felt horrible and was being truly nasty and upset all afternoon and evening, she thought I was sick or teething. She kept sticking her finger in my mouth and feeling my gums. I tried to tell her my tummy hurt, but she didn't get it. So today, she is giving me a whole pill again.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

It has been raining in Valdez, quite literally, ALL SUMMER. I saw a commercial (well, actually, Mama told me about it, because I'm not allowed to watch TV) the other day that started with "Winter is here..." How sad is that? And it's COLD. Not, like, 2am-on-January-30th-cold, but in the 40s and 50s (at most) during the day.

My friend Everett's Mama, Amy (I go to playgroup with them), has lived in Valdez for almost 15 years, and she says this is the worst summer she's ever seen here. So that kind of makes me feel better, because it can't get much worse than this, right? I'm just excited because she said the last time they had a cold and rainy summer (apparently it's usually sunny every day and in the 70's during the summer...I wonder what she meant by "the 70s?") the winter following was hugely snowy - she said she would wake up one morning and the snow was to her waist. She'd shovel (or snowblow) and then two days later it was up to her waist again. And it went on like that the whole winter. That's a lot of snow, and I can't WAIT!!!

I think the rain and cold are starting to affect Mama. She actually let me play with pudding and chocolate syrup in my highchair on Sunday. It was fun, but a word of advice to all you budding finger-painters out there - chocolate syrup does NOT feel good when rubbed in and about the eye area.

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks (and months). Oh, I took my first steps on Sunday!!! I'll be running away from Mama and Daddy even faster very, very soon!

My New Skills

Hi! It's been so long since I've posted, and so much has happened!

My cousin Gloriana went back to her home in Florida last weekend. I miss her. I keep crawling down to her room (I crawl really fast now!) to see if she's here, but she hasn't come back yet. Mama says maybe next summer.

I also stand up a lot now! And I can climb the stairs, too, but the first time Mama and Daddy saw me doing that, they slapped a gate up at the bottom (there's been one at the top for a few months), so I can't really do that so much any more. I've started drinking from a cup (albeit messily), but the BIG accomplishment, which Mama is SOOOO happy about, is that I can nod "yes" and "no" when she and Daddy ask me questions (and sometimes just for fun, to keep them on their toes). Mama keeps saying how strange it is that I learned to nod "yes" weeks before "no;" I guess other babies say "no" first because it's easier. I'm just contrary like that!

My birthday is coming up soon - less than a week now! I'm having a BIG party next Saturday with all my friends from the neighborhood - Parker, Maddie, Molly, Shelby, Jada, Ava, and Perry! PLUS, my Grandma and Grandpa who live in California are coming to see me! They fly into Anchorage Sunday night LATE, so Mama and Daddy and I are driving up Sunday and staying until Tuesday. Grandma and Grandpa will be here for two whole weeks, so I'll get to climb on them and play with them for a long time!

Here are some pictures from the past month or so.