Take time to smell the flowers

E loves to take time to smell the flowers on our walks. Sometimes her dilly-dallying makes me a bit crazy but really, what smells better than spring-time flowers? It is amazing to watch the world from a child's perspective. Everything is wonderful and amazing. Our slow meandering walks are good reminders to me to just enjoy the wonderful creation outside of our doors. E is very disappointed that the tulips are all gone but she's decided that the iris smells pretty good too. Plus, they are so top-heavy that she keeps busy trying to stand them back up.Although truth be told, her favorite activity is watering the flowers versus smelling the flowers. It is too bad that it hasn't been warm enough to play in the water for a week or so. She's anxious to get back to her 'splashin' table that she got for her birthday that has been sitting waterless for a week now.

Take a lesson from E and slow down for a few minutes and take some time to smell some flowers today...just make sure that there isn't a bee hiding it in when you do so!

The Last Two Years...

We had a great time celebrating E's birthday with the family this weekend. E received some great new toys that will hopefully be keeping her entertained for the next few weeks. I took some time today looking at how she's changed in the past 2 years and I thought that I'd share...

Newborn E...not even an hour old...

6-month old E...sitting up but not crawling or moving about too much

E at 1 year...she wasn't walking yet...but moved around any where that she wanted

18-month E...barely talking had less than a 10 word vocabulary

My 2-year old...runs everywhere, talks constantly

Below is a snip-it of the 2-year old E...

• Loves Super Y on PBS and says "I'm a PBS kid" all the time
• Loves to help sing "EIEIO" and "BI" (Bingo or Bible...)
• Sleeps with a 2-layered fleece duck blanket that she won't give up even with the changing weather
• Favorite breakfast is pancakes...but she'll tell you 'eggs' every morning (but won't eat them)
• Loves to wear dresses and her splashin' boots (although not together)
• Eats hummus for lunch commonly and uses a cracker as her spoon
• Loves apricots and mangoes and yogurt
• Reading is a favorite pastime whether she's reading to herself or being read to...loves her library books!
• 101 Dalmatians and Little People are her favorite movies
• Being outside is her favorite activity...loves going for walks and playing at the park(s)
• 'Cross the bridge' is her favorite destination when we are on our walks
• Enjoys hunting rocks and carrying them in a bucket
• She is enamored with 'Uncle Brent' and loves being outside with G'pa
• Loves to 'swing high' at G'pa and G'ma's house
• Gets upset when the car and her 'seat' leave without her
• Still talks about "toy box, finger, pinch" although it happened almost a month ago...(first bleeding incident)

Happy Birthday, Miss E!

Our neighbor brought E an early b'day present of sidewalk chalk (among other fun 'outdoor' toys). She couldn't wait this morning to get outside and 'color' on the sidewalk with her new 'crayons'.

Intensely concentrating on that chalk. She studied it for a long time. Crayons don't leave marks on your hands...but strangely, the chalk does....hmmm.

Aren't those dandelions huge?! Although, what I really have a hard time believing is that E turned 2 today! It doesn't seem like it is possible that God has left her in our care for 2 full years. It has been a crazy, but very fun, 2 years...and E keeps getting more and more fun each day!

We had a pretty low-key day. It involved a lot of playing outside with her new 'colors', bucket and ball. She also had a great time 'watering the ground', which was really just making some mud to splash in...she hasn't lost her love of splashing. She didn't eat her special birthday dinner...(not really a surprise considering her eating habits of late)...but she inhaled the cool whip on top of the strawberries and angel food cake. Crazy girl. She ended her day watching her favorite 'Cruella-Dalmations' before bed. G'ma brought her a birthday balloon which had to go upstairs with her and it is keeping watch over her sleeping tonight. She's just so precious!!

Splashin' boots

After washing E's shoes 3 times or so, I decided that it was time to get her some rubber boots. She loves puddles and I couldn't keep her shoes clean or dry. Thursday night we found the perfect orange pair.

Her experience her first time out was hilarious. They ended up so full of water that she could hardly lift her feet. Plus, she sat down in the mud and I think she was 10x dirtier when she was finished than she ever was when she just played in her normal shoes. (but I didn't have the camera handy)

Today we went back outside to do some 'splashing'. However, our yard was much drier today. The big puddle was gone. There was still lots of mud and very shallow standing water, but it wasn't the 'fun' that it was yesterday. However, she did come in much cleaner and drier!

She loves sailing 'leaf boats'. She carries leaves to the puddle and drops them in. Its good fun.

Modeling her boots before adventuring outside...however they are pretty dirty from yesterdays escapades.

E's long day...

For the first time in 2 months, I ventured into the subbing world again yesterday. I was going to my favorite school to sub, and working for a teacher that is ultra-organized. I wasn't worried about my day. However, I was worried about Jut and E's day.

Last Saturday, I left E alone with Jut for the first time in entirely too long. She spent an hour of the 2 that I was gone screaming for "Mom". By the time I got back, both of them were frazzled. However, I do need to give Jut credit...he somehow managed to clean up the majority of the downstairs with the little tyrant going strong.

So, yesterday I was concerned that E would display the same behavior and I was going to be gone for 7 or so hours. I wasn't sure that either could handle the grouchies for that long! To make matters worse, E was up screaming at 5:50 A.M. I gave her some Tylenol and fortunately she went right back to sleep, but it made me even more nervous about her behavior for the day.

I scooted out of the house at 7:25 and headed for my day. Shepard has the Maple Syrup Festival going on this weekend. So, it was busy at 7:40...traffic was already coming in. I thought to myself that this should have the kids hyped up pretty well...then I read the sub note and found that they didn't have school on Friday...and there was a track meet that day. If that was the situation for Central, it would have been futile to try and accomplish much educational for the day because the kids would have been already checked out. However, these kids surprised me. They were energetic but they kept it contained pretty well. I was impressed. I got to hit some garage sales over my lunch/prep and spend time outside. It was a good day for me.

I walked through the door at home and there was E playing with her toys...no nap for her today. She saw me and said "MOMMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY!" and came running at me. What a wonderful welcome home that was!!!! She was so excited to see me that she wouldn't get off of my lap for over a half hour. It was nice to be missed.

Jut had taught her a new conversation while I was gone as well.
J: Where's mom?
E: Shepard
J: Right, she's in Shepard. What is she doing?
E: Teach
J: Good. She's teaching. Who is she teaching?
E: Boys 'n girls

We've repeated that conversation about 100 times in the past 24 hours. She loves repeat conversations when she knows the 'correct' answers.

So, I asked Jut how the day went...and he rolled his eyes. I guess that after "Super Y" was over and the tv got turned off, she realized that I wasn't home. The next hour was ugly. She even managed to give herself a black eye during the tantrum by pulling down a curtain and got clunked with the rod, (which we now have to kiss to make it 'feel good'). After Jut managed to finally calm her down, they had a pretty pleasant day. They learned the "Shepard" conversation to distract her when she'd get all sad and say "Mom?".

The nicest part of the day was at about 7...I was chatting with Mom on the phone and E came up and crawled into my lap and promptly fell asleep. She's such a nice little bundle to cuddle! It must have been very stressful to have mom gone for the day. She's usually up until 8 or so...even on 'no nap' days. But, the cuddling on the couch was the perfect ending to our day!

A Wonderful Easter 2009

We had a wonderful Easter weekend this year. Saturday we took E to a community egg hunt at the Masonic Home. There were hundreds of kids there. It was crazy! E got 3 eggs during her 'hunt' and then had even more fun playing on the slide with all other 2-year olds when the 2-minute 'hunt' was over.

On Sunday, we went over to my aunt and uncle's house for a family dinner. Good food, good conversation and lots of eyes to keep track of E roaming around in the backyard with the rest of the kids. Aunt Elaine filled lots of eggs for the kids to find in the afternoon. E got 15 eggs in this hunt and she loved every minute of it! All the pics are courtesy of Sheila from Sunday's hunt.

E with her Easter basket (from her hunt on Saturday) and some eggs

Cousin Seth helping E find more eggs once he got his basket full.

Uncle John showing E that there were goodies inside of those plastic eggs and sharing some chocolate with her...E declared "treats" "good"!

E spent all afternoon watching the 'big' kids go for rides, but was quite hesitant to ride herself. However, after one spin around the yard with Mom and Uncle John, she was ready for more!

"Grandpas" "Two"

What is better than 1 grandpa? Well, two grandpas being at your house, of course. Jut's folks came over this weekend to visit. Since the weather was pretty good and E's swing set hadn't been put up yet, it was the perfect time for both grandpas to work on it. Is there a better job for two grandpas?

Since the swing set was delivered two weeks ago, we've had the same conversation repeatedly.

E: Swings

C: You have swings? Where?

E: Garage

C: Who put swings in the garage?

E: Grandpa!

Yesterday, the conversation on repeat was

E: Grandpas

C: How many grandpas?

E: Two

C: You have 2 grandpas. What are they doing?

E: Swing (or "set"...rarely did the two words get connected)

She was so excited to have both grandpas at the house putting together her swing set. She stood in the breakfast nook and kept close tabs on them, while we sat in the living room watching the MSU game. Grandpa Flegel loves that little girl so much that he missed the game so that she could have her swing set! But she kept them company by knocking on the window at them and kept exclaiming, "Grandpas" "Two" out the window at them.

By the time they were done, it was getting cold and dark, but that didn't stop E from checking out her new swing set. She got right in her swing and tried it out. Of course, a big grin followed. She then kept them company outside while they put the finishing touches on everything. I thought that she might be too helpful, but she left Grandpa's tools alone and was content to watch the grandpas work and play with her toys while exclaiming "Out-side!" very happily. Its much more fun to be outside than just an observer in the window.

This morning, she had to climb up in the breakfast nook to make sure the "set" was still there. I had a hard time getting her inside after church because she was bound and determined to go check out her new 'set'. Hopefully the weather will cooperate this week and she can enjoy it some more! She certainly is ready to check it out further!!!