It makes me feel better, okay!

Anyway. Since then whenever you are hungry, you walk up to me and say in the cutest little voice:

“The grasshopper is hurting my belly. It’s hungrrrry!”

Since the day you discovered that you could watch stuff on Niki’s iPod, you’ve been asking me to watch “Charlie! Pweeese?” over and over again. Except we’d both get frustrated because the earbuds keep falling out of your ears and I have to keep putting them back in. If I don’t make it in time, you scream at the top of your lungs until I get there. I had to think of something. Quickly.

Then I remembered the headphones I bought a while ago. Now we’re both happy again.

Today Meemoo and I decided to go on a photography excursion. Since it was beautiful outside, we took you to Coulon Beach Park so you could play. While we were there I realized just how big you’ve gotten.

We didn’t need a stroller.

You ran around like a big girl and didn’t need to be carried or pushed around. You picked a flower and held onto it for a long time while taking in the scene around us. When we saw some duckies, you went as close as you could without running after them.

You played at the playground and didn’t need anyone to help you most of the time. You swung on the big kids’ swing all by yourself!

There were turtles. Lots of them. Four in a row on a log. A few scattered on some of the other logs. And even more swimming around. You liked seeing them and now we can’t wait to bring you and your sister to the zoo.

After you got tired of the playground we went to the “beach” area where you walked in the sand and played in the water. When I tried to stand in the water with you, I felt like my feet were going to freeze off. It was so cold! I don’t know how you could stand in that water so long, but you did. And you played. You splashed. And got your little dress all wet.

But it didn’t bother me one bit because you were having fun.

You were sad when we had to go and so was I. Except it was getting late and mama forgot to bring water. If you knew what I had done you’d tell me, “You’re creezy, mama!”

To make up for leaving early, I bought you some ice cream. Which you ate all by yourself. You big girl, you. Of course, mama and Meemoo had to get some for ourselves too. We’re big girls, it’s okay. Even though I sometimes say I want you to hurry and grow up, today I wished you wouldn’t.

In a week you’ll be 2.5 years old. I can’t believe it.

Love, mama

More photos.

The girls and I spent hours in the backyard today. While I was clearing out the flower beds of weeds and grass, they played. They came across this precious little thing. While Niki held it, Maeby tried touching it. Except she kept jumping back just before she would.

She calls it a beautybug. You might be able to hear it in this video and she’s so cute in this one.

Last night I gave the camera to Niki and let her go. This is a part of one of the videos she took.
She’s definitely Dave’s and my daughter.

I chased her around the playground with the camera at my waist.
Wanted to see if I’d get some fancy photos that way.

Believe it or not, this photo was one of them.

You hold us captive with the sparkle in your eyes, the chunks of your cheeks, the singsong of your voice, and your infectious laugh. Your ability to shock us everytime you do something new keeps us entertained. I’d absolutely LOVE to put up more photos and videos of you, but there’s one problem.

You won’t wear anything but your training pants.

Hell. If you had it your way, you’d drop those too. Trust me. I completely understand. That’s why I have no problem with you running around the house with nothing but your Pull-Ups on. Enjoy it while you can because when you’re older, you will have to wear more. At least, most of the time.

The thing is, because I allow you to run around that way, most moments captured on camera will be of you like that. You will thank me when you’re older that I held back. Because at this very moment I would love nothing more than to post pictures of your cuteness all over the internet for the whole world to enjoy with me.

So I’ll hold myself back and post only the photos and videos where you’re at least wearing a shirt with your training pants. At least, I’ll try. Except, every now and then there will be one that I couldn’t resist putting up.

I blame you. For being so cute.

Warning: Niki gets a little crazy because it’s getting close to the end.

Is she not eating enough at night? Let’s feed her more. Is she cold? Let’s put the warmest pj she has on her. Maybe it’s too quiet. We’ll put some soft music on.

Nothing worked and well after she should be sleeping through the night, she still woke up every few hours like a newborn. It was freaking us out but we didn’t have the insurance to take her to see a doctor.

She’s had a really bad skin problem the past six months or so. We’re not sure if it’s due to allergies or exzema. We covered her in moisturizer many times a day and then at night at bedtime. Just last week it looked like it was really clearing up. This week it is almost completely gone, and if it weren’t for a few light scars from all the scratching she had done when it got really bad, you might not even noticed she had anything at all.

The best part is that she’s slept through the night four nights in a row. Let’s just hope that I don’t jinx it by publishing this blog. We’d all really like to get some good nights’ sleep from now on.

At least until the scary dreams start.