Easter Sailor!

I wasn't sure about wearing "pants" to church on Easter Sunday, much less an outfit that looked a little bit nautical, but it turned out better than I could have imagined! And she kept her hat on all day long! We got Abigail dressed and ready to go, then she pranced and posed for us like she has never done before.

I am so pleased with these Easter morning shots!

Abigail is TWO! I can't believe it, can you?

Birthday Girl!

As soon as she saw Grandmama with a present she wanted to open it right then and there. 

Books. . . and bubble wrap! Guess which one she went for first. . . 

Let the Birthday Party Begin! Abby had a blast at The Monkey's Treehouse.

What do you think Daddy. . . I'm not so sure. . . maybe I'm not quite old enough for this rope ladder. . . 

Loving the ball pit. This is more like it.

Playing with Caroline

I see Emmaline in my rearview!

Mommy was glad to see her friend, Martha, Caroline's mommy. We wish Beki could have come!

The Crim family was there!

Grandmama and Mimi

Emmaline and her Daddy went down the slide together!

There are so many fun things to do at The Monkey's Treehouse. Abigail drew a picture in the coloring area,

and with upside down baby in tow, put it in the mail!

Next stop, lunch!

Abigail grabbed her friends, one on each side, and walked into the restaurant. 

Quick, pose for a pic! Three blue eyed blondies. 

Now it's time for PASTA! "Ravi-lo-li" is Abigail's favorite. We picked a place called Buca di Beppo and had a reservation in the very interesting, circular "Pope Room". This was a room filled with "Pope related" decor complete with a bust of the Pope right on our table! We weren't going for a religious theme, but this room was big enough for our whole crew to sit at one table, and had a lazy susan we could use to pass the very yummy food around. We had a blast!

More present opening at home. Mommy and Daddy's card turned into a birthday girl crown, and Abigail loved her big girl backpack and umbrella! 

Happy 2nd Birthday sweet Abigail, we love you!!

Who Came To School Today?

Now that Abigail can speak so much clearer, we find out the actual lyrics to her songs at school.

"Who-day ma-ma, ma-ma, who-day, ma-ma, juuuuuuust a minute mama"

is now sung:

"Who came to school today? ma-ma, ma-ma. Who came to school today? Ma-ma did. Good morning mama!"

A little girl and a pink balloon

Courtesy of. . . the floral department at Kroger. The lady in the floral department clearly is struggling with the fact that she only has grandsons and no granddaughters because she pretty much smothers Abigail with sweet compliments every Saturday when she and daddy make their regular Kroger run. And each week Abigail comes home with a balloon from the nice lady. 

What is Nitten Wipers?

We can generally understand almost everything that Abigail says. Then one day she came out with, "nitten wipers". I was stumped. Nitten wipers? really? sometimes pronounced as "nittan why-paas", what on earth could this be?? One day at school she pointed to a picture of a leprechaun, and a shamrock and a picture that one of her little friends had drawn, and said, "Nitten wipers". A few more days went on, and Rich and I pretty much cracked up anytime she ever said, "nitten wipers", just because it sounded so ridiculous. It had become a joke around the house and we remained clueless. Then one day it hit me. . . Jaiden Roberts! She was saying her little friend's first and last name. When she pointed to the wall, she was pointing to a picture with his symbol on it. (Each child at school has a symbol: butterfly, dog, train, etc., and she knows which symbol goes with some of her little friends). I couldn't believe I might have guessed what it was, and could not wait to ask her teacher's if Jaiden's last name was Roberts. Sure enough, I was right! The Nitten Wipers mystery has been debunked!

Sweet little friends

Abigail and Emmaline have proved to grow closer and closer over the year and months they have known each other. We have enjoyed our Friday morning walks with Emma and Beki. For a while Emmaline was referring to Abigail as, "Babby", but now calls her Abby. I must share this sweet facebook post from Emmaline's dad:

Today Emmaline was sitting quietly and she said to herself, "Abby." Then she signed "friend." It was the cutest thing I've EVER seen!


 I will truly enjoy watching these girls over the years grow closer and closer as they cultivate a lifelong friendship!

Language explosion!

 Abigail has been stringing words together into little "sentences" for a while now and I have yet to document this. Bad Mommy. There are no excuses, but I guess life just gets in the way. Before Christmas and definitely after, Rich and I have both been more stressed than usual with work and I have not had any time to work on the blog. Meanwhile, little Abigail is learning SO MUCH every day. At this point she is speaking very well, using nearly complete sentences, even if they are not necessarily always grammatically correct. She is also becoming extremely independent as evidenced by some of the her current favorite phrases/sentences: "my do it" and "my turn, okay?". Okay is big right now. . .

 About one month ago she would say, "uh oh yocks!". Now she says, "Abby puts socks on".

This is a flashback from late December/early January: Here are a few of her phrases and "sentences". . . in her own dialect, with "a" as a filler. Also note words with mama/dada are often interchanged.

Abigail:                                   Actual:
Mama's nummin'                      Mama's coming
Dada a nit-in                            Daddy's in the kitchen
Santa a a red bite                   Santa's on a red bike (neighbors have lots of inflatable Christmas yard decor)
Hold on peas                          Hold on please
Happy Hol-days                     Happy Holidays
Dada a wort                           Daddy's at work
Boo-too reh-y                        Bagel's ready (she says this when the toaster pops up)
Nomo tree                             Christmas tree          
Abby a all done neigh              Abby is all done with horse (riding her wooden horse)
Mama a one more bite mean   Mama has one more bite of beans
Hi yuh you                              Hi love you

She can say so much more now than what's on this list. Each night she says, "night night dada, I love you dada" and "night night mama, I love you mama" and gives us each two kisses, one on each cheek! Best way to end my day for sure!

Mama has been very blessed today

Abigail has learned to say, "Bless you". She is very sweet in that she'll say "Bless you Mama" whenever I cough or sneeze. So, since I am a little bit under the weather today, I have been lucky enough to hear Abigail say, "Bless you mama" all throughout the day! She also blesses herself if she sneezes or coughs. I'm so glad all of our hard efforts at manners super early on seem to have paid off!

She Sings!!

Check out Abigail's rendition of Baa Baa Black Sheep!

Goodnight Gorilla and Goodnight Moon

I must write about Abigail's obsession with the books "Goodnight Gorilla", and "Goodnight Moon". These two books have become an integral part of our night and now daytime routines. Usually after multiple readings of one book or the other when we finally have to call it quits and go to bed, she chants, "more ba!" (more book) over and over on the verge of tears. Preferences are developing for sure. She will tell you Goodnight Gorilla is her favorite book, "A-Rilla a ba". In Good night Moon, she likes pointing out the kittens, "meow, meow" and bunnies "one munny, one munny".

We are so proud of our 1&1/2 year old reader! She loves going through and naming off the animals.