And on a last note...

In case any of you were wondering, Can Maggie undress herself?

What Color is that M?

Apparently Magnolia knows at least six colors as demonstrated during play with her M's! Magnolia has also added the word "and" to her vocabulary, which kind of surprised Zac and I as she demanded, "Mommy AND Daddy up!" as Zac and I tried to sneak in a little more sleep Saturday morning when we brought her back to our bed!

I know...just little details of a child growing and learning, but these little details and changes fill me with excitement and pride each day!

Summer @ Home

Of course we've been spending lots of time outside with the beautiful weather. Magnolia took some pictures of flowers this morning while playing outside. She also enjoyed taking off her shoes and stomping in water with her bare feet. She likes to crawl through her tunnel as well (I know, I know...the colors are atrocious!). She loves to swing in the hammock too!

She's having difficulties differentiating between flower and weed---she loves pulling flowers!

Maggie Celebrates Mother's Day

I have no excuses, but I have absolutely no photos of the Mother's Day celebrations this year. I figured I at least needed to share some details about the celebrations...

Magnolia and Daddy surprised Mommy with a beautiful card, and a beautiful pair of earrings. Of course they snuck out to Daddy's car first thing on Sunday so Maggie could add her "notes" to the card for Mommy. Zac said he had her rehearse saying "Happy Mother's Day" in the car, but all she got out after handing me my gift was, "Mommy Pretty!" That worked just as well I thought:)

On Saturday Grandma and Papa joined us at the market. They were even gracious enough to hop on the city bus with us. Magnolia went into a semi state of shock once again when we got on the bus, and then of course acted right at home on the bus ride back. It was a great morning!

On Sunday afternoon we had a celebration of mothers with my family. As many of you know my family is all women + Zac and Brad. We have a lot of matriarchal celebrating to do of course!

We ate fish tacos and yummy TCBY cake, and had a great time.

I promise I'll get pics next year!

Reading to Baby

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but Magnolia's a little into babies. This baby that Grandma Crist bought her has been the new Baby that must participate in everything Maggie does. She goes every where we go, she eats with us, she goes potty with Moo, etc. Apparently when Maggie went to the park with Aunt Sara and Uncle Brad, Brad pushed Maggie in a swing and Aunt Sara pushed Baby in another swing.

Here's Magnolia reading Baby The Wheels on the Bus.

"Wuv You Mommy" and More

Tonight Magnolia came home from school with her first official, made it myself, mother's day gift. A beautiful potted spring garden! As she handed it to me she said a very adorable "Wuv you Mommy!"

I love, love, love, love you too Moo!

Preschool...Already???

Zac and I spent this morning interviewing and touring a preschool for Magnolia. Since Maggie will be transitioning out of Chris' loop next Fall (time has moved unbelievably fast!) we have to start getting on wait lists again. It really feels like we just went through all this, but we know with long wait lists, at schools we would want Magnolia to attend, our chances are slim as it is to get in, so we better do it now!

Zac and I are thinking that Magnolia will be able to attend full-time preschool when she's three, so this too limits our options. If we are looking for an accredited school in the downtown area, I'm pretty sure that means we have about four options. I've already ruled out two of the options based on curriculum/philosophy/organization, etc., and the third option is incredibly expensive with full time care being 9am-3pm, so that leaves really only one option for us---the school we visited today---it's a great school! Or, we completely overhaul our entire lives, Zac or I quit our job, we sell our house and such, and then we might be able to try something along the lines of cooperative preschool!...that's kind of a joke, but who knows, we'll see.

Lastly, here's just a bit of Zac and I's evening entertainment.

Magnolia learned to scoot her ottoman to her crib to climb in and play

(this lesson was taught and demonstrated by Parker, not Mommy and Daddy),

this is now a very fun activity.

Bouncin', Bouncin', Bouncin'

Magnolia cuddling with "MY DOGGIE!"

Magnolia working on balancing on Rody to bounce and get on and off.

Developmental Update: Magnolia has really changed a lot over the last few weeks. She has become extremely independent---wanting to do just about EVERY LITTLE SINGLE THING on her own! She also picked up on that very common word among many toddlers..."NO!" Usually it comes out as, "NO MOMMY!," or "NO DADDY!" or for some reason "NO MAR-MAR!" Poor Marley just couldn't do anything right yesterday. I was kind of hoping that Magnolia wouldn't need to use this word as often as she is, considering she doesn't hear it at home or school, but it's one of those inevitable things I've learned.

Magnolia is still working on a lot of balance and control with gross motor tasks. Zac and I noticed that today her fast walk is starting to actually look like a run! She is throwing a ball overhand now, and is getting better at lifting a foot to balance then kick a ball forward. She is still very small, so climbing has been somewhat difficult. She's been working this week on finding a stool, or something else to use to assist her with climbing on the couch, bed, etc.

Chris left me the most ecstatic message last week that Magnolia crossed the "wiggly bridge" at Manitou Park all on her own. Apparently she had been working on this task for quite some time. I promised I'd take her over to watch the accomplishment myself!

Magnolia is completely into dressing and undressing herself right now. She can put on her jacket completely on her own (using the coat trick---I'll get a video of that one), she can take off socks and shoes completely independently, and she puts on pants with just a tiny bit of help. She zips and unzips her pajamas all on her own now too! She continues to ask to use the potty, and is peeing in the potty quite frequently. She always attempts to go poop on the toilet, and is very excited to wipe herself and flush.

She is enamored by other children! She loves nothing more than playing with Parker, and she still talks about her best friend Emma daily, although it's been quite awhile since Emma's mother and myself have gotten a play date arranged for them.

She loves to "vrrmmm, vrrrmm," which consists now of either riding in the car shopping carts at either Fred Meyers, Home Depot, or Albertsons, or sitting in the driver's seat of mommy or daddy's cars. She always tells me that she's driving to "Emma's house!"

She's totally on a bugsy kick (no comment), and she can't wait for baby cousin. She keeps telling Zac and I that she has a baby in her tummy too!