Miss A + Taylor Swift + Mulan = quite a show!

She sings! She hiccups! She wants it LOUDERLOUDER!

Music sweet music!

Miss A has been sickly for almost every week since the beginning of the year no thanks to starting preschool! (Her immune system is REALLY beefing itself up and we have been assured that we won't have to go through this at kindergarten time at least.) Still? We are thankful that we have been able to put Miss A in preschool at this stage because she's like a little sponge the way she is soaking up all of the amazing things they teach her everyday.

The other day her teacher told me that she knows EVERYBODY's name there (kids and teachers alike!) and yesterday she was able to identify almost every shape on this interactive learning toy we were playing with at church. She can identify the letter 'A' (for her name, of course!) and she's also become quite the songbird with all of the awesome songs they are teaching her. We've grown quite used to her just breaking out in song but she usually has to clear her "stage" (that is one of our sofas) of all of it's blankets/pillows/cushions...

I need this, YOU need this, We all need this!

D and I were up until past 2AM last night trying to "remodel" (for lack of better way to put it) what was once my cramped and sad home art studio into something that is both usable for creating artwork as much as storing all of the supplies I have - both personal and business.

I am trying my best to just let D sleep in because last night he was nothing short of "my hero" when I accidentally assembled a corner shelving unit in the wrong order (to be fair the directions were hardly specific or explicit enough) and it become impossible for me to put together. He gave me the "easy" stuff and he took over for me where I royally fudged everything up. *SIGH* Thank the good Lord above for my amazing husband!!!

So, this morning I'm trying my best to 1) stay awake, 2) keep Miss A entertained/happy/and reasonably quiet, and 3) not get too slap happy because I definitely am approaching the point where I am deliriously barely awake.  Miss A got to bed an hour later than usual so she might be a little bit feistier than normal but I think she also might be a little slap-happy as well because... well... she just is that way these days! She's just becoming a little person who does and says stuff that is just plain pure entertainment! Case in point: yesterday morning she came up to me with one of her stuff animals and said, "She's my best friend! High-five, Mama! High-five the bunny!!" And she helped the bunny hold up its paw to high-five me and then immediately after she ordered me to "pound it" with the bunny in the fashion of the fist-pound.  Perhaps I'm becoming one of those people who just think their kid is more awesome than any other but I am just loving how much of a ham she's becoming!!!

Anyway, back to what I was trying to do at the beginning of this post which was share a video of this mornings antics. Miss A somehow has boundless amounts of slap-happy energy and she spent a good 15-20 minutes of it "serenading" me with a whole catalog (as it were) of all of the songs she knows and has been learning at preschool. Some of the really good ones I didn't even get because I wasn't fast enough at getting to the camera but I did get a pretty amazing rendition of her singing "Old MacDonald." Pay close attention to the very end at the pinnacle of the song when she holds the last note and then plops down on the couch and declares what a good day this is!

Just for fun

This one might be from summertime and I found it on the video camera. It's very entertaining and I dare you to try not to laugh out loud at certain points of it.

Our resident songbird

It's official. I'm the mom who embarrasses her child because I try to sing along too - as evidenced by Miss A telling me outright "NO" when I tried to sing with her. *sigh* This day was just waiting to happen.

Tiny dancer

Apparently, Miss A's new favorite thing is "busting a move." She's always been a fan of dancing but she's definitely opened up her repertoire to forms other than just old school 80s and 90s favorites.

She's the girl with the twirl and a heart that makes her just want to dance like nobody is watching! LoveLOVELOOOOVE her!!!!

Some things never get old

Some of my fondest memories of my childhood are of bedtime when my mother would read to me. There were the ol' favorites that most every child remembers but then there were also the longer books without pictures that I remember fondly: The Little House on the Prairie series, Charlotte's Web, Alice and Wonderland, and an anthology of short stories about dolls. And the memories of hours of bedtime stories aren't mine alone! My two older brothers have also recounted the similar happy memories of their childhood as well! And because I can be such a traditionalist sometimes, I'm doing my best to make story time an absolute staple of bedtime for Miss A as well.

Miss CAN. NOT. go to bed without the same two stories every night. One is a book that my mom got for her from a yard sale or thrift store called "When Mama Comes Home Tonight" and the other one is "Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss. I can't recall when we read these books to Miss A for the first time but they are her absolute favorites and she even insists on reading them before her naps as well. Talk about a creature of habit!

As it turns out, we've read both of these stories SO MANY TIMES, Miss A has actually memorized them! Tonight I took some video of her chiming in on different parts of "Hop on Pop." I think it's just about the cutest thing because she has a hard time saying "Hop on Pop" and it always comes out as "Hop on Hop." *sigh* I will ALWAYS remember these times with her. ALWAYS.

P.S. In case you were counting, this is our 200th post so far on the blog!! Pretty nifty, eh? Thanks for keeping up with us. We've still got plenty more adventures to share just yet.

She could be on the next Dancing with the Stars

Miss A was in rare form last night. I got a number of good videos of her but this one is by far and away my most favorite so far!

She has this toy that she's discovered that's actually a baby toy - the very first one we actually ever bought for her when we found out I was pregnant. Well, it looks like a bouquet of flowers and when you press the blossoms, they play different songs music box style. Tonight she was dancing to the songs and having a grand ol' time. The best part is about halfway through when the song switches up on her and she actually changes her style of dancing to match the change in the style of music. I was just about holding my breath while I was filming it because I was going to laugh like crazy and I didn't want to make her embarrassed and stop doing it.

Feast your eyes on this... it's a good one...

The stuff that dreams are made of

Wendy's Frosty + french fries = DELISH!!!

I KNOW it sounds gross (this is what I thought before I was "in the know") but it really is one of the greatest joys that I really believe all should know if they truly want to live a life that is fulfilled and awesome...

She's the next American Idol

I have no idea what song she's singing but - trust me - it will be climbing the pop charts soon enough...

BTW - Sorry new material has been so scarce around here. We've been having some technical difficulties as some pictures and videos have not been able to upload at all. I'm thinking it's a problem with blogger more than the pictures so I'm going to keep trying to get everything up within the week - we're backed up a good 3-4 posts!

Attention Attention!!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for a special message from our sponsors in honor of all of those amazing fathers who visit our blog regularly (that means YOU gentlemen named Grandpap, Great-PapPap, Great-Granddad, PopPop, and Papa)...

Sorry we can't be with all of you fathers to celebrate the day but hope this made it a little more fun for you! We love, miss, and cherish you all. D will give Miss A a super big, extra special hug and kiss to make up for all of the ones you can't share with her yourselves (yet).


And just because it's father's day, here's a little extra bonus video that hasn't been featured on our blog yet... Enjoy!

License to drive

We're still alive! I promise!!!

Our absence has largely been due to the busyness of the end of the year for both D and myself but also because poor Miss A has recently been under the weather and not entirely herself. What we suspected were her "terrible twos" making a grand entrance turned out to be something that has now become known in our house as "icky belly" - or "icky Beh-wee," as Miss A says it.

Thankfully, Miss A is feeling back to her usual wonderful self and today we celebrated with giving her an early birthday present!!

(OK. So really it was unplanned to give her the present early and it's more that I was probably too excited to wait to give it to her and she never would have known the difference if I had just waited but I maintain that it's in her better interest to give it to her early - despite the fact that this is now the second present I've done this with - because we don't want to overwhelm her with all of the presents that we've found for her to celebrate her 2nd birthday now do we? Right?!!)

*ahem*

Anyway...

D and I have thought long and hard about what we wanted to give her this year for her birthday. Since we aren't doing the typical birthday party this year, we figured we'd scale it up in the area of her presents a little and pick things that were going to be things that we knew she would really love even if they cost a bit more. We went back and forth with lists and links of things we found and it's looking like, so far, we've hit the jackpot with all that we've picked out for her.

This present was one that I was able to figure out after a whole lot of brainstorming and considering of things like the following:

• She loves role playing and pretending to be like "big people"
• She likes going places in the car
• She enjoys cars, planes, trucks (and all other "things that go" for you Richard Scarry fans out there!) just like D does
• She's interested in experiencing the relationship between cause and effect

I really researched the idea I finally came up with to find the most fun and involved version of a driving console that I could. We (of course) would have loved to have gotten her a little power wheels version of Grammy and Grandpap's Cooper but it might still be a little too soon for that as she's still working on some on figuring out her fine and gross motor skills just yet.

Anyway, she played with this thing for a LONG time and I would recommend this version to anyone who is looking for a "play" driving console that is as realistic as they come - completely with turn signaling, moving windshield wiper blades, radio that switches tunes, and car alarm that turns off and on and siren sounds...



Pretty nifty, eh? Yeah... D and I have thought so as much as Miss A.

We'll (of course) let you know if we still think so in about a week and we are losing our hearing from the deafening volume of the sirens that it has WITHOUT volume control.

Do the twist!

Last evening Miss A learned a fun little lesson about cause and effect:

Twist dancing
+ Binky on a tether
-------------------------
Binky swinging around you in a silly way that makes you and everyone around you laugh

Attention Grammy and Grandpap!

Miss A surprised us this evening with a very special message for two very special people who live way too far away. (The big moment you are waiting for starts right around 45 seconds in)

Attention Grandpap:It's looking like Miss A might be interested in changing your name to Pappap instead. *shrug* She's got her own agenda these days as she's recently decided to call me Mommy instead instead of Mama.

She just calls... to say...

This message brought to you by our sponsors:

Too fast? Did you miss it? Let's try again...

Buckins

Miss A seems to learn at least a half a dozen new words each day. Some we work hard to teach her and some she just seems to pick up on her own and surprise us with. I should probably be keeping a running list of all of the words that she knows but honestly? I can't keep up. And I feel like even if I weren't the crazy busy working mom that I am, I still think I wouldn't be able to keep up. Despite all of that, I'm trying my best to not miss a thing of what Miss A is doing.

Tonight when I was helping Miss A get ready for bed, I was getting her into her pajamas and narrating the process and when I got to the part about buttoning her buttons she turned to me and repeated the word buttons as if to make sure that's what I said. When I repeated it back to her she said it again and then continued to repeat it over and over and over again! It must be a fun word for her to say! The cutest thing about it though is not the fact that I've started her on a mild obsession with saying it but actually it's HOW she says it. She can't quite get it and mispronounces it and if I were a Speech therapist I might be all particular about it but I'm an Art teacher instead and if anything I think it's just adorable. Here she is saying 'buttons' in her own way...

I love it! I JUST LOVE IT!!!

Helper girl

Miss A's new favorite thing is helping out around the house. One of her favorite chores to help out is easily the one the comes after meal time though. She is all about working her little "guns" and showing how strong she is by helping to move her highchair back to where it belongs after she's done with it.

More spontaneous dancing for the masses

There's just no stopping her! She's got music in her heart and groove in her bones! There's no stopping her when it comes to her shakin' her little "groove thang"...

She'd like that "to go" please

Common sense would suggest that, if you come to our house, you would want to protect your food from the dog. Well... please be advised... common sense does not apply in our house! It's Miss A who is the chowhound in OUR house.

If Miss A sees you eating ANYthing, she won't hesitate to make a beeline approach for you, loudly demonstrate the sign for "more," and then simply take a bite of whatever you are eating even if you don't readily offer it up. Consider yourself warned!