Better late than never

Right? So it's been quite a while since I posted on here, and rather than bore you with page upon page of updates I'll just give you the highlights. I also posted a bunch of new pictures of my photo website, but since Daddy can't view them at work I'll put some of the best ones on here too. Hi Daddy!

So since last summer tons of stuff happened. Fall was fantastic. I got to be a crow for Halloween (Mama made my costume, and I loved it). Daddy was a crow also. Here's a picture of us crow kissing. We went trick or treating in Mill Creek and I got a ton of candy. Everyone loved my costume too, so that made me feel good.

Then, the next month, it snowed. A lot. It was so much fun to play in, although I think Mama and Daddy didn't really like driving in it very much. Oh well, I thought it was great. We went all the way up to Bellingham to spend Thanksgiving with Grandma Vicki's family, and it was a blast. The

older boys were really fun to play with, and I even held my own when they got a little rowdy. Here's a picture of me playing in the snow.

Then I started my soccer classes. Luckily it was inside, since it was really cold and rainy most days. I had a blast. Sometimes I was really good at little kicks, and sometimes I wanted nothing to do with the ball, but I was always really good at hard kicks into the goal. I got to go for six whole classes, and I even got to wear shin guards!

Then this awesome thing called Christmas happened! This great guy named Santa Claus brought me a bunch of gifts, and my whole family got together to open even more gifts from everyone else. It was amazing! Even Henry and Nora got to come to our house for three whole days. We had a ton of fun the whole time. I think Henry is the best cousin ever, and I really enjoyed playing with him. We even got to have a tree in our house that I helped Mama and Daddy decorate, and we got to put lights on the outside of our house. I really enjoyed driving around with Mama and Daddy sometimes to look at the lights on everyone else's houses too. It was fantastic. I visited Santa at the children's museum before Christmas and told him what I wanted. I forget what I told him, but he brought me a great grocery store. I have played with it almost every day since then. I got a bunch of other presents too, but the grocery store is my favorite.

Since then it's been rather relaxed around our house. It snowed again, and I have been spending time with my friends, but really I've most enjoyed relaxing with Mama and Dadddy.

As far as things I love to do now, I mostly love to sing and dance. I make up songs all the time, and I still am singing a lot of Christmas songs. I love anything that plays music for me to dance too, and I especially love watching myself dance in the mirror or on the TV when Mama hooks up the Kinect. I love playing with Darby, although that mostly means I love jumping and lying on her until she gets fed up and runs away to hide. Then I chase her all around the house. It's pretty fun. I also really like doing puzzles. Real, grown-up puzzles even! Well, Mama says they're for little kids, but they look just like grown-up puzzles. Just a few days ago I got my first chore chart, and now I get to help Mama do things around the house to get smiley face stickers. If I do all my chores for the whole week I get a special prize. It's pretty great. I think it means I'm a big girl. Also, I don't wear diapers anymore, and I can open doors and come out of my bedroom when I wake up, so I guess I am officially a big girl.

Rock Band!

Did you know that I'm really good at Rock Band? Especially when daddy makes it so I can't fail. Here are some pictures of me playing on the Fourth of July.

Henry's Birthday Party

Yesterday was Henry's Second Birthday Party, and it was fantastic! His family is staying out at Grandma Carolyn's farm (she's not my real grandma, but close enough) so the party was out there. They have chickens to feed and chase around, and they live on the river so we all got to go swimming. Mama forgot my swim suit so I had to swim naked, but it was really fun. Me, Ruby June, Presley, and Henry all went swimming and had a great time. I even got to ride on an inner tube and float down the river with Jenna! And, the best part, we got to eat cake! It was delicious and I made a huge mess, but I really liked it. It was the best party I've been to all year (and I've been to quite a few). Happy Birthday Henry!

Long time, no see

Daddy says I need to write more. I suppose I should indulge him.

So it's been three months since I wrote anything hasn't it? Lots has happened since my birthday. The most exciting thing is that we got a dog. Her name is Darby (I named her) and she's really fun. Mama says she's a stinker because she eats books and chews up diapers (even dirty ones!) and doesn't listen, but I think she's really fun. She likes to run with me and chase me. It's even more fun when Caleb and Maya come over and they all wrestle. I think it's hilarious. I think what I like most about Darby is that because she needs to go on walks I get to go to the park more often. It's fantastic.

I'm learning more and more every day. Including all of the letters in the alphabet and most of my numbers. I really like to count things even though I usually get the number wrong. It's still fun. I really like books still, and sometimes I even try to read them to Mama. She says that usually when I fall asleep I have at least one book in my bed with me. When I wake up they're gone so I'm not sure if she's telling the truth or not. I really like playing matching games and building with my legos. Especially if Mama and I sort them first. Sorting is one of my very favorite things to do. I've also started helping Mama and Daddy to cook things in the kitchen. Today Mama made muffins and I got to stir, but my favorite thing was when Daddy helped me make oatmeal cookies. They were delicious.

Since the sun has been shining and it's been warm I've been spending a lot of time out in the backyard with Mama and Darby. We like to go swimming in our pool, and Mama likes to lay out in the sun to get warm. I really like it when she tells me stories. Especially the one about the three bears and Goldilocks. She's naughty though and I don't like it when she breaks Baby Bear's chair. It makes me sad. There have been lots of flowers out in our yard over the last few months. Some of them have been pretty, and some haven't been very pretty at all. Mama's been pulling a lot of them out of the ground and I've been helping. She calls it weeding, but I call it digging. It's fun. Here's a picture of me in our apple tree just in case you want to see it.

We've also been doing a lot of fun stuff outside of our house lately too. We go to the children's museum in Everett a lot because we got a membership there. I especially like flying the plane (and I talk about how Grandpa Gary flies planes the whole time I'm in there) and playing on the slides upstairs. I'm a little scared of the dinosaur bone area because the roaring is too loud. Mama says it's OK for me to be scared of dinosaurs. She doesn't like them either. Just a few days ago we went to Wild Waves and I got to ride roller coasters and other fun rides. I really liked the ones that went fast. I felt like I was flying and had a really good time. I loved the rides that I could go on all by myself the best. I like to feel independent. We went to the zoo a little while ago too. Daddy let me ride on his shoulders almost the whole time and I had a really good time. I especially liked the giraffes and the turtles. Here's a picture of me running through the giant meerkat tunnels.

The one thing I've been doing lately that Mama and Daddy are really happy about is using the potty. I'm not really good at it yet, but I'm working on it. I really like it when I do go in the potty because I get stickers and get to wash my hands.

I think my favorite thing over the last few months has been playing with my friends. I really like to play with other kids now, and I'm great at sharing. I also really like playing with babies. They're cute and I think it's funny when they laugh. That reminds me, I'm really excited that my cousin Henry is going to have a baby sister soon. I'm going to tickle her a lot because she's going to be cute and funny. I talk about her all the time because I can't wait to meet her. Here's my favorite picture of me and my friend Sara at an airplane festival. We were trying to get into the restricted area. We're kind of rebellious like that.

My Birthday!

My birthday party was fantastic! Everyone came and I had a great time. All the kids searched for easter eggs in our backyard, and I got a ton of presents. There are a lot of pictures up on my photo website, but I wanted to just put a video here to show you my favorite part of the day.

Holy Guacamole (which I still refuse to eat by the way)!

You would think that an almost two year old would be a better blogger, but apparently you would be wrong. Blame Mama.

So, what's happened lately. Well, we moved. I know what you're thinking, that we just moved a few months ago, and you would be right. It was only four months ago that Mama and Daddy made me move into a new room and changed everything. And they just made me do it again. This time I'm really excited though because we have a ton more room and I have a huge yard to play in. I have a whole room for my toys and art projects, and a whole separate room to sleep and throw clothes around in (did you know that it's a lot of fun to take all of your clothes out of your dresser and throw them behind a chair? It is). There are even two bathtubs outside for the birdies to get clean, and two different things that hold food for them. I love to stare out the window and watch them. It's really funny when they get in the water and shake all their feathers around. There are also a bunch of flowers and pretty bushes out there to look at. Inside the house there are lots of fun places to hide, but the most fun is the shower in Mama and Daddy's bathroom. It's really fun to run around in circles until I slip and fall down. Mama gets scared that I'm going to crack my head open, but I just think it's funny. I always laugh when I fall down (unless I get really hurt, but that doesn't happen very often). Mama thinks I'm crazy, but that just makes me laugh more. Now I stand in front of her and pretend that I'm going to fall, then when she gets scared I laugh. It's pretty funny. I laugh at a lot of stuff now. Especially when I put something in the wrong place on purpose. Today I put my sunglasses on my feet, which is hilarious. The other day I pulled a hat down over my face. I walked around until I ran into something and fell down. I am such a riot!

My other favorite thing to do is to sing. I make up songs all the time, and sing them to Mama and Daddy. Sometimes they understand what I'm singing, but other times they just nod and smile and tell me I'm such a good singer. They do this a lot when they don't understand me which is really annoying, but I know I'm not very good at English yet, so I'll forgive them. I am learning all sorts of new things to say though. I repeat most everything anyone says around me (Mama says to remind everyone to mind their French around me, but I don't know French so I don't know what she's talking about). Today I even tried to say sea anemone. I failed, but the important thing is that I tried. Right now my favorite things to say are "big kiss" "mamadaddymamadaddymamadaddymamadaddy" (when I don't care who answers me, as long as someone pays attention to me) "i hiding" (there are so many places to hide in this house!) and "where's *fill-in-the-blank-family-member*". Apparently everyone in my family is always at their house and never at mine. Bummer.

Most of my attention right now is on learning how to talk better, but I'm learning other new things too. I really like to climb up on things now, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad, but always an adventure. I'm trying to learn how to pick flowers, but usually the petals just fall off when I pull on them. I've almost learned how to jump with both feet off the ground, and I have officially mastered tackling. I've learned most of my colors, although I love telling Mama and Daddy the wrong color name just because I think it's funny. I'm working on learning shapes, and I know circle, star, and heart best of all. I have also started counting things. Sometimes I count the same thing four or five times, but I can count all the way to ten without skipping any numbers most of the time. I just keep counting until I get to ten and everyone claps. I do love it when people clap for me. Mama and Daddy say I'm a ham. They also always tell me that I am very polite. I always say thank you, and usually say please. I always say bless you to people when they sneeze or cough, even to strangers and myself. I also always want to make sure that everyone around me is not hurt or crying. I give them kisses when they are, and they always feel better. Apparently I am very empathetic.

My absolute favorite game right now is the Happy Birthday game. I "wrap" up a "present" for someone and give it to them while singing Happy Birthday. Then they open it and I say surprise and get really excited. I even like to take "presents" to friends when I go to visit them. Mama and Daddy keep telling me that my birthday is coming up soon, so maybe I'll get some presents to open and everyone will yell surprise (hint, hint).

And, now, I will leave as I always do after doing something amazing. I bow and say "thank you, thank you."

Now I know my ABCs....

What is going on in this crazy house?

Mama and Daddy keep wrapping up boxes and putting them under the tree. What's up with that? What's in those boxes? Why are they being crazy? First this big tree shows up, then there's all this green and red stuff with snowmen and this crazy guy in red all over it, then they hang socks above our fireplace (socks, for crying out loud!), and now these wrapped up boxes!?! And the other night I swear I heard them putting together some big, loud toy but now it's nowhere to be seen. This whole "Christmas" thing is weird. I don't get it.

I love the Christmas Tree!

Today I discovered all the little shiny and/or pretty things on this huge tree in our house. I love them. I gave them all hugs today, and I carried this little starfish santa around and sang songs to it. Right now I think I'll go shake hands with the tree (this means shaking the branches so they make cool sounds). I just thought I'd share with all of you how much I love this tree. I wish we could have a tree in our house all year.

I forgot

Today Mama made me go visit Santa Claus again. This time we went with my friend Sara (who I call Seeya) and her mama, Janet. He was still a little scary, which is why you can see I'm sitting on Mama's lap in this picture. The best part of the whole day was playing wrestling with Sara. She's almost exactly my age, and we get along like two peas in a pod. We went down to the playground in the mall and chased each other around. Whenever I lost her I ran around yelling "Seeya" until I found her, and whenever she lost me she would run around yelling "Thena" until she found me. We're pretty much best friends, and the cutest two girls in the world. Mama took some pictures of us wrestling, so check out my photo website soon to see us.

December!

Sorry I'm not more creative with my title today, I'm only 20 months old after all. So November flew by. It all started off with my family moving into a new apartment. Mama and Daddy were a little bummed that we weren't moving into a house, but I think the apartment is pretty darn cool. I have a whole pond of ducks right outside my window, and a whole bathroom to myself. My new bedroom is gigantic so all of my toys fit in there. I spend a lot of time in there playing various imaginary games. Sometimes I let Mama play too, but other times I tell her to get out. Literally. I look at her, point out the door and say "Go!" It's pretty funny. After that we didn't really do very much for a while. We all just got used to the new apartment.

I went to spend Thanksgiving at my Auntie Joan and Uncle Craig's. I got to stay for the whole weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Sue, and my Mama. Daddy had to work. Boo! We had a lot of fun. Grandma, Grandpa, Mama and I went on a train ride to the "Island of Misfit Toys" which was really just some parked train cars with toys and a big scary guy dressed in red. The actual train ride was the best part. I really liked watching out the windows at all the stuff going by. My other favorite part of the whole weekend was dancing with Auntie Sue. She's a really good dancer. I think she taught me all of my moves for the tambourine video. If you haven't seen the tambourine video jump over to my photo website to check it out. You just might pee your pants because I am so funny.

The other thing that happened this month is that Mama started taking me to Gymboree. It's this really cool place with lots of tumbling mats, things to climb on, balls to throw and catch, a fantastic rocking boat, and a lot of other cool stuff. Mama calls it a "gross motor wonderland" but I'm not sure I know what that means. Every week I get to go and learn some new things and play on all the toys. This week we learned about how some things are hard and some things are soft, so now I knock on everything I see and say "OW" if it's hard and hurts my hand. I'm pretty smart that way. My favorite thing at Gymboree is when they pile up a bunch of soft stuff like sleeping bags, inner tubes, and cloth parachutes, then we get to jump into it from one of the climbing toys. It's awesome. In fact, when I was at the YMCA yesterday I thought I would try jumping off of one of their climbing toys to see if the landing was as soft. It wasn't. It kinda hurt. I was sad. But then I tried again. Still not soft.

New things, new things. I now say a whole ton of words. Most recently I started saying "awesome" when I give someone high fives. Everyone thinks it's pretty funny. I also really like to say "go" whenever Mama or Daddy has to stop the car when we're driving somewhere. My favorite new thing to do is to tell people what to do. I tell everyone where they should sit, and what they should be doing at all times. I like to be in charge. They don't always do what I say, but it's really nice when they do. My other new favorite words are "Owa" (which is Lola, Mimi's dog), "bubbos" (bubbles), "bebe" (baby), and "patty cake." I can sing almost all of patty cake by myself now, which is pretty awesome. Overall I'm a pretty great kid, and I am so excited for Christmas. I have no idea what it is or what will happen, but from what I hear I should be excited, so I am.

Happy Halloween!

Yeah, so I'm a little late on this. Forgive me. I'm only 18 months old afterall.

So Halloween was fantastic. I ended up really liking my costume (which made Mama really happy). I got to go visit Daddy at work, but I was kinda scared because he had this red stuff all over his outfit and his face. He told me it was juice, but I'm not sure if I believe him. Then I went to pick up my Mimi, and she came with Mama and I to Ruby June's house. It was a girl explosion there with me, Ruby June, Presley, Baby Caroline and Baby Lucy. It was craziness. All the big girls got dressed up and ready to go out (after they made us sit still for like 400 pictures of course) then we all headed down to Edmonds to go trick-or-treating downtown. The closed all the streets so we didn't have to worry about cars and all the businesses gave us candy. It was awesome. I think every other person I saw on the street said that I had the best costume of the whole night. Some people even asked Mama if they could take a picture of me because I was so adorable. It was fun. There were a ton of people and I walked too much so I was exhausted. Then Daddy joined us for dinner, and we headed up to Eric and Renee's to visit them. They loved my costume too, but I was afraid of all the people in makeup. I danced in the kitchen so I felt better. Then I came home and fell asleep. It was a rather eventful night, and Mama hasn't even let me eat any of my candy yet. She says I'm too young. I think I'll come out here tonight and eat it all while she's asleep. I only have to figure out how to get out of my crib without her noticing, open the door (which I don't know how to do yet), and climb up on the counter to get the candy. This might take some more thoughtful planning.

Check my photo website for Halloween pictures soon. Or whenever Mama actually puts them up there, which might take a while.

Almost Halloween

I'm getting pretty excited about Halloween. One thing I am not excited about though is wearing my costume. Mama finished it a few days ago, and every time she takes it out to try it on I run away screaming. When she finally gets it on me I just stand there and cry until she takes it off. Apparently she thinks if she puts it on me every day for a few minutes I will eventually get used to it and not cry when I wear it on Halloween. I'll show her. She hasn't seen anything yet.

Pictures and Pumpkins

Mama finally posted the pictures. athenaluccio.myphotoalbum.com if you're interested. They're pretty darn cute.

Also, we carved pumpkins yesterday and it was great. OK, so I didn't actually do any carving, but Mama found me some faces for my pumpkin that are kinda like Mr. Potato Head. I had a blast making my Picasso pumpkin. Mama and Daddy's pumpkins turned out pretty cool too. Mimi's pumpkin has the cutest spider on it; I think it's my favorite. I had a great time playing at Mimi's house with Uncle Jared and Lola. Uncle Jared even pulled me all around the house in a wagon. It was awesome.

On behalf of my Mama

Daddy took the laptop to play video games with Uncle Jared, so she can't put the pictures on the website. She wanted me to let everyone know so that you all knew she didn't forget. I'm off to sleep now (except that I've really been asleep for 3 hours, but no one needs to know that).

Pumpkins Everywhere!!!!

So, this week the folks and I went down the old pumpkin patch. Actually it's a new one that we hadn't been to before, but I digress. It was flippin' awesome! I got to ride in the wheelbarrow and pick my own pumpkin and see some animals and run around in the mud and try to lift really heavy pumpkins and....and...I think that's it actually. Mama took lots of pictures, but she's lazy and hasn't put them on my photo website yet. I'll make her do it tonight. No sleep until the pictures are up. Who's with me?

Oh, by the way, my friend Ruby June has a new baby sister. I got to go see her when she was one day old, and she was fantastic. I got to sit next to her and check her out while she was waking up. She makes funny faces and I think she's cute.

Also, I have officially learned how to talk. Ok, so I can't say sentences or all words or anything yet but I can copy Mama and Daddy almost all the time. My favorite words are more (usually referring to food), up, night-night, draw, book, banana (which really means any kind of fruit), cracker, and no. Sometimes I say OK, but it's pretty rare. Usually I just say no whether I mean no or yes. Talking is hard, and I haven't quite figured it all out yet. I also can't wait for it to snow. Mama bought me some snow bibs because they were on sale and I spend all day trying to put them on and buckle them. I've even started saying buckle when I'm talking about them. Mama says it's pretty funny, but I think I'm just learning. Learning isn't funny, it's hard work. Overall life is pretty good. Although I would like a puppy to play with....

Did you know.......

Did you know that plums are delicious?

Did you know that it's easier to eat cereal with your hands then dump the milk down your shirt?

Did you know that if someone tells you that you're going to hurt yourself unless you stop they're probably right?

Did you know that there's a difference between hot and cold?

Did you know that a lion says "rawr"?

Did you know that sitting still to get your hair cut is really really hard?

Did you know that Mama will always come back to get you when she leaves you with someone else for a while?

Did you know that brushing your teeth is not only important, but is also really fun?

Did you know that jumping is much easier on your bed than it is on the floor?

Did you know that if you say "Hi" to every single person you see (even people driving by in their cars) most of them will stop and tell you that you are adorable?

These are some of the things that I learned recently and I wanted to make sure that everyone else knows them too.

Corn on the Cob!

I love corn on the cob! Not so much if you take it off the cob, but I really like tearing it off with my teeth and chewing on the cob.

Also, I should tell you that I got to have a sleepover with my Grandma and Grandpa Farrell the other day, and it was awesome. They took me to this really cool place called "Country Village" where I got to feed ducks, ride a train, and eat a ton of kettle corn. I apparently shoveled it in my mouth faster than they could believe. What can I say, it was tasty. The also took me to a cool new park that I had a lot of fun at. In the morning there was a pancake breakfast they took me to, and I loved it because everyone else there thought I was adorable. I really do love it when I get to be the center of attention. Overall it was a great sleepover. Who wants me next?

The end of September

September is pretty much done, which means I am pretty much 18 months old. Hooray! Not that I haven't been acting 18 months old for the last two months though....or that Mama hasn't been telling people I'm 18 months old already. Close enough. I have learned a lot of stuff over the past year and a half, but it's a little overwhelming how much more I still have to learn. I've mastered walking and running by now, but I'm still working on talking. I do say a few words though. I say Mama and Dada all the time, even when I'm not talking to them. I also say Potty, even though I don't have any idea how to use one yet. I've also started saying Go when we're getting ready to go somewhere. Mama says it makes me sound impatient when I stand at the door yelling Go Go Go while she's packing up our diaper bag. I think it's funny. I also started saying More when I do the sign, which I do all the time. More food. More music. More bubbles. More blanket forts. More. More. More. Speaking of bubbles and blanket forts, they are my two favorite things. Mimi really likes to blow bubbles with me, so now whenever I go over to her house I just keep saying Bubbles until she blows them for me. She even taught me how to blow them all by myself! Uncle Jared also taught me how to blow a whistle all by myself when I was over there. I love it, but Mama and Daddy hate it. The whistle seems to have mysteriously disappeared a few days ago though....I'll have to look for it. I also make Mama build blanket forts all over the apartment and dance in them with me. Then I tear them down and ask her to build more. If she doesn't build them fast enough I start to cry while signing and saying More over and over again. She always builds them right away when I start doing that. One more thing that Mama told me to write about, then I'm done. Yesterday when we went up to the YMCA so Mama could work out while I played in the Child Watch room I didn't even cry at all when she left. I walked right over to the play kitchen and start making food. Then she tried to give me a hug, which I rejected, and blew me a kiss before leaving. I didn't even really look at her because I knew she was going to come back when she was done and they have lots of cool toys to play with there. I thought Mama would be happy because I'm such a big girl, but she said it made her sad. Next time I'll have to cry a little bit so she feels better.

The Puyallup Fair

I went down to the Puyallup Fair with Mama and Daddy yesterday and it was quite exciting. I really liked watching all the people walking around and looking at all the stuffed animals, balloons, and other crap we could buy. I got to see cows, dogs, goats, chickens, rabbits, and a whole lot of other animals. I even got to go into the petting zoo. I wouldn't touch any of the animals though because I was scared. I was afraid of the horses too. Daddy kept saying that I was the first girl in history who doesn't like horses. I disagree. I'm sure there's someone else. We did get to watch the giant horses pull their wagons through the arena. They all wore bells and it sounded really cool. I was still afraid of them a little bit though. I guess I'm my Grandma Diane's granddaughter because I'm scared of so many things. It's really unfortunate because I really doubt my Daddy will sit in the car with me when I'm scared to go in places. I did really like riding the train through Sillyville (the little kid part of the fair). I didn't want to get off so I cried when we had to. The best part of the day was when Daddy won me a stuffed lizard by playing skee ball. She's really pretty, and I named her *pffft* but Mama says we're going to call her Raspberry because that's what I did (who knew it had a name!) and she's purple and red. She's awesome, and so is my Daddy because he won it for me.