Happy Second Birthday!

Rosalie had a great birthday on Friday. Daddy took the day off work and the three of us went to the zoo together.

After naptime, Grandmama and Papa Stan came into town and we had a tea party and enjoyed some of Grandmama's delicious cake. Presents ensued. Rosalie's presents had a theme: tools!


We liked this afternoon-tea-party-type-cake eating rather than having it after dinner--this way we could all run around and play during that little sugar high and/or low. Tea parties are just fun. Plus, although she says "Yes please" when prompted, she always seems to remember to say it on her own when you offer her more tea. After tea time we had some fun at the park to burn off that frosting.

All in all it was a very low-key day, full of fun, laughing and hugs!




I feel inclined to write a sort of synopsis of her 2 year old skills. That may be coming. However, I have been reporting developments along the way already. Here's a cute moment that Mom (Grandmama) noticed while they were visiting:

"She was kneeling at her play table, playing with two of her horned duckies, one in each hand. Then she stood up, still holding one duckie in each hand and put her right hand behind her back while keeping her left hand in front. She then said in a concerned voice, 'Where go?' 'Where go?' followed by saying in a softer voice, 'Hiding.'

Wow. To have the concept of hiding at 2 years old......"

Super cute! Oh, also, on her second birthday she is a fraction of an inch taller than three feet tall. If the theory stands true, this means she'll be double this when she grows up--6 feet tall! Very cool.

Favorite Toys

Too many cute pictures to share! I'm sorry if this takes awhile to load; I had a hard time choosing the pics. Two of them are obvious cute smile-at-the-camera types, but the others tell cool picture stories about the toys and how they work.

One thing I have to say about the hammer/ball toy: Those balls are CHALLENGING to hammer in. It takes persistence and elbow grease to make it happen. Rosalie's patience has been, ahem, challenged with this toy. But we've been cheering her on when she makes progress--"You're almost there! Go Rosalie! It's almost through!" and when she makes it, obviously we all cheer, "Yay! You did it!" Yesterday, Rosalie's friend Owain was having a go at this toy and he was starting to give up, too. Then Rosalie started cheering, "Go Owain!" and when he finally got the ball through, she said, "YAY!" joyfully. Then she took a turn, and Owain caught on to the team spirit and cheered Rosalie on: "GO! GO! YAY!" It was heart warming! I love that a potentially frustrating toy is teaching them to be good friends and supportive teammates. Naturally this beautiful moment came after many other negotiations with various toy grabbing and bickering. It made this moment all the sweeter.


Truthully, this second toy, the "Marble Castle," is also about Rosalie's mommy's own adoration of intricate contraptions with little marble-grooved paths that reach some victorious destination. It is possible I play with this toy as much as she does. Safe to say this one is a family favorite.

New Shoes

Happy New Year! Wow, I am way behind on posting. The holidays did a number on me!

Anyway, Rosalie has new shoes now. I called Nordstrom ahead of time, told them her size and foot shape (wide), and told her our style and color prefs. I asked her to pull out a few choices and have them ready for us when we showed up. Stan gave some great advice that we totally used: I put Rosalie in her boots (rather than her old, comfy, but too-small shoes) on the way to the store, and so it was easier for her to have a better perspective on the shoes she tried on. So we showed up to Nordy's, and they had three pairs of shoes--along with a pink balloon--waiting at a seat for her. It was so, so cool. She picked out the pair that she liked out of the three of them, and glory be, they fit. We walked out with the new shoes on her feet. So cool! I am only ever going to do it like this in the future!!! By the way, if you live in Seattle and have a kid, you can stop by the Northgate Nordstrom shoe department ANY TIME AND GET A BALLOON. Talk about free fun. Plus, they have a big fishtank there. We have done this now that we know it's encouraged.

Okay, there's a big backlog of cuteness, so I'll just have to bulletize:

* On a rainy day we went out for a walk, only to discover that the rain had stopped. Rosalie commented, "Turn off. Rain turn off."

* Fully complete four word sentence: "I can't reach it."

*At preschool Rosalie now has the routine down. I was washing dishes after snack (it was my job of the day), and Rosalie came up to me and said, "Gym time. Rose Mommy gym time." She said this calmly but earnestly, as if to gently remind me, "Don't forget, this is what happens next."

*Rosalie used to launch into pretend play with her animals by saying, "Oh no." Such as "Oh no. Kitty stuck." or "Oh no. Hiding." or it didn't even have to be a problem. It could be "Oh no. Owl doggie eat food." But now, more often than not, the signifier of her entrance into pretend land is now Mommy and Baby (or Daddy and Baby). So she goes, "Mommy piggie. Baby piggie." and so the plot begins. These animals enjoy many, many meals and lots of gravity-defying jumps. Oh, they also have houses and they take 2 second-long naps. It's a good life for the animals.

*Rosalie has started to help me cook--we made scones yesterday morning. Part of this included rubbing flour all over the counter and pouring out the last of the salt, but it was for a good cause. We made scones because I wanted to have something to enjoy for our...yes! Tea party! We've been having tea parties lately. Yesterday Michael and I went to Goodwill and bought a bunch of mismatched but pretty little teacups and a teapot, and we came home and had a tea party with Rosalie. She is beyond cute when we do this, and really I have to say the whole thing is quite civilized and wonderful. I'm up for a daily tea if it is that good all the time.

* She's counting to 10 now! 1, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, 14! 49! This is the way it goes, in case you didn't know. Out of nowhere she can sing a lot more of the alphabet too.

*It's not all roses and dumplings here, though. We're going through all kinds of mutually educational times, mostly surrounding the issues of autonomy and boundaries. Good times. But I guess we can do it the right way or the easy way. Really, we do a little of both. It's been a cute couple of days, though. Must be the tea parties! Note to self: make more cucumber sandwiches.