Questions and Answers

Yesterday we were driving in the car, and Myla asks, "What's humidity?"

The girl probably asks 20 questions like this a day. It makes me want to take a remedial course in grade-school science (and history, and geography), because I don't always remember the answers. And even if I do, sometimes it can be very hard to explain--our answers usually just lead to more questions (What's moisture? How does the water get in the air?).

Anyway, Matthew took this one and I thought he did a pretty good job. But then she said, "okay, so in Tangled, when Rapunzel is trying to get the guy back, why does she say, 'Where's your humidity?'"

I'm puzzled for a minute, and then say, "Oh! I think she says 'Where's your humanity?'. Not humidity."

Of course, Myla's immediate next question is, "What's humanity?" I think humidity was easier to explain . . .

Luke Turns 2

I'll try to post a full slide show of Luke's birthday festivities soon, but here are a few favorites.

Funny Myla

A few recent, funny stories about Myla. First, her class took a field trip to the bowling alley last week. Her teacher wrote us a note on her daily report: "Myla liked bowling. She also liked using the arm brace once she recognized that it gave her an edge." That's our girl!

Also, while we were home in KY, our families made sure we ate very well and probably too much. After having a bowl of ice cream one night, Myla wisely said "that's enough food for today." When Pop went back for a second bowl, she told him he shouldn't eat any more ice cream because it didn't have very many vitamins in it. She went on to tell him that he shouldn't drink so many milkshakes either, because milkshakes have a lot of sugar bugs in them. If only we were all so disciplined! (Of course, she doesn't always walk the walk--as evidenced by the sugar bonanza that was her birthday).

Finally, she has been very interested lately in weddings and marriage. She makes Luke play wedding with her, complete with an aisle runner of blankets going through her bedroom. She also talks about who she wants to marry, and my favorite of the candidates so far is Joey Votto. Sean Kinnucan is also in the running, but sorry Sean--if I had to pick, I'd take Votto over you. You're cute and all, but really, Joey Votto.

Food Week

As I was downloading our photos from the last few weeks, a clear theme emerged--food. So I'm declaring this week "Food Week" on our blog, and each day will feature some member of our family eating or making something delicious. Prepare to be envious.

First up, here is Myla enjoying a corn dog at the St. Joseph County Fair. We went to the fair for two reasons: 1) to see the birdhouse Myla entered in the 4-H competition (seriously), and 2) to eat some fried goodness. We had fried vegetables, fried potatoes, and these incredible corn dogs.



Here, Myla watches "Galaxy Girl" perform while she eats. Galaxy Girl climbed a 10-story ladder and did a handstand on top. Myla was entranced.

Mousse Moustache

I recently made some chocolate mousse to take to some friends who just had a baby, and Myla wanted to help. And then lick everything that came in contact with the chocolate.

Silver Hawks and Slide Show

Myla's big third birthday celebration was held at the South Bend Silver Hawks' game on Saturday night. Myla absolutely loves going to games (and especially loves the mascot, Swoop), so this seemed like a perfect fit. And it was fantastic--I highly recommend this experience to any of our local friends!

First, Myla got to throw out the first pitch. Though we practiced at home, I wasn't at all sure she would do it, but she did! In the picture, the ball has just hit the ground (she through a wicked sinker). After that, she got her picture made with Swoop. Her eyes were as big as dinner plates.

Then it was on to cake--which the Silver Hawks provided. Myla had asked for a cake with Swoop on it, and I was definitely glad to have someone else give that a try! Everyone loved it, and Swoop came out and joined us for a while as we ate it. And here's the whole party crew--thanks so much to Myla's grandparents for making the trip!

Finally, Myla went on the field in the 5th inning, and the crowd sang Happy Birthday to her while her name was on the scoreboard (again, with Swoop). And then he brought her doughnuts as the game was ending! What an awesome night.

Here's a slideshow with more pictures of the game, and the rest of the birthday weekend. This will be a tough one to top!

Cupcake Party

For Myla's birthday, I took balloons and cupcakes to her school for her to share with her classmates. I didn't tell her about it, and she was surprised and so excited when I showed up with the goodies (along with Nana and Pop--an extra bonus!). She could barely contain herself:



The whole class sang Happy Birthday to her, and then they sat there patiently while we handed out the cupcakes and juice boxes. I have to say, I was very impressed with how well-behaved her whole class is. Those teachers are doing something right!




Myla enjoys her cupcake.

Big Sister

Now that Luke is sitting up and crawling around, Myla is showing much more interest in him. She looks out for him and is usually pretty good about him getting into all her stuff (except when she's not). Here are a few recent shots of the two of them together:

Luke can now ride in the wagon, and LOVES it. Myla likes having a riding buddy. In the last picture, you can see that Myla likes to fire her water squirter at very close range.

Look like anyone else you know?

Happy 3rd birthday, Myla James!

Today, Myla turned 3! Several people have commented that they can't believe she's already three, but in some ways I can't believe she's only three. For one thing, it's hard to remember life before Myla. And for another, she's such a little person--especially in the way she talks!

At three, Myla is so, so sweet. She'll tell you she loves you fifteen times a day (not that I get tired of hearing it). She still has pretty great manners and will thank you for things you do for her, not just things you give her. And knock on wood, but she's very good most of the time. If she's starting to misbehave we just ask her if she wants to be in trouble, and that's usually enough to change her tune.

She loves to tease and be silly and make up words. She has an incredible memory and even helps me remember all the things we need before leaving the house! She seems to survive on one good meal every three days. Her best buddy is still Chi Chi the monkey. She loves girly things like skirts and dresses and toenail polish but on occasion has refused to go to bed until Joey Votto bats. Her teachers at school love having her in class and she has three best friends (Hailey, Emily, and Brianna). Several other parents have said to me that they hear all about Myla at home!

And when I come home at the end of the day, or pick her up at school, she screams and runs to greet me with a huge hug and a big smile that makes my day, no matter what kind of day it's been. It's a kind of uncomplicated love that probably peaks at around age three, so we're trying to enjoy every minute of it. We love you, too, Myla James!

P.S. This week will be Myla Week--come back every day for new pictures of her and the details of the birthday weekend.

Close . . .

This morning Myla was putting her shoes on and kept saying she had to do the "scarecrows." I was puzzled for a minute but then said "Do you mean velcros?" Yes. That's what she meant.

Dentist

Last week we took Myla to the dentist for the first time. As we were preparing her for it in the days beforehand, she kept talking about Hermie, the dentist/elf from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. We were thinking that this would be a disaster--she was expecting Santa and elves and was going to get her gums poked by a stranger.

Once we got in the exam room, she climbed up in the chair without any hesitation. There was a moment of lip-quivering at the beginning, but she fought it off and got through it like a champ. Sheila, our dental assistant, was wonderful, and Chi-Chi the monkey helped out too.

Diagnosis: 20 healthy teeth, four more baby teeth to come in. There isn't a lot of space between her teeth which means it's more likely she'll need braces later, but with my genes we figured she was destined for that anyway.

Myla Moments

Dear Day Care:

Please explain.



(In case you can't see the detail, it's a toilet paper roll. With little notches cut on one end. Then covered with splotches of blue glitter. With the words "Myla Germ Friend" scrawled on it.)

Snow Day!

Back in February we woke up one Wednesday morning to a fresh two feet of snow on the ground. The timing and amount of the snow caused Notre Dame to shut down, which meant a very rare snow day for Matthew and me! Myla and Matthew took advantage and played outside in the snow.

In the first picture, Matthew tries to show how deep it is by having Myla stand in it, but she's so light that she just stood on top of it. Then: snow angel!

Goofball

Myla has been such a hoot lately. She has an incredible imagination and a great sense of humor. Here are some pics of her in action.

Myla works day and night to take care of all her "babies" (some more baby-like than others). Here, she's putting the gang to "bed."


Crazy hair! And she's always on the phone.


I don't even know where to start with this picture. The sunglasses? The outfit (or lack thereof)? The one-armed baby?


It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of goldfish, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it. (That one's for Dad, who turns 60 today--happy birthday, Pop!)

It does sound fake

I was making brownies and Myla asked to taste the batter. I gave her a little bit but told her she couldn't have more because I didn't want her to get salmonella. She said "Sammanella? Mom, you're making up words again."

Christmas-isms

Last thing to share about our Christmas--Myla has been talking like crazy the last few months, and over Christmas we heard some gems from her. Here are a few:

* One day while Matthew was out, she and I wrapped her present for him. When he got home she showed it to him under the tree and exclaimed, "It's a shirt!"

* Called candy canes "candy candies"

* As we were pulling up to the house one evening, said "Daddy, you did a great job with the lights!"

* Looking in her Rudolph book, she insisted one of the toys pictured was a piggy while I said it was a bunny. She said "okay, it's a 'buggy.'"

* I used one of her toy phones to pretend I was talking to Santa. When I hung up with him, she said "now call the Statue of Liberty!"

Christmas in Chicago

In years past, Kasey and I have enjoyed taking a weekend trip into Chicago or down to Indy around the holidays. Two weekends ago we went into Chicago for the day and took Myla with us while Luke stayed behind with Pop and Nana. We love our little man Luke, but it was a lot of fun to have just the three of us enjoy some time together. Especially since Myla is so into all things Christmas this year.

We had fun looking at the windows outside of Macy's, had a good lunch at Weber Grill, showed Myla the Lego store, and then finished off with a trip to see Santa Claus at Bloomingdale's. The highlight of Myla's trip was probably all the escalators she got to ride.

I was having some serious flashback to my own trips to see Santa when I was little. My sister will definitely appreciate this, but I couldn't help but reminisce about when we used to head to Shilito's/Lazarus in downtown Cincinnati to walk through Santa's workshop, drop off our letters to Santa, and then get our picture taken with him. I had mixed emotions of nostalgia as well as boiling frustration with the length of time we spent in the line. I'll spare you the details, but summarize by saying that we got in line at 3:05 with about 8-10 groups in front of us and didn't leave until 4:30. This wasn't some fancy walkthrough toyland either. It was just Santa sitting on his chair talking with kids and getting pictures taken. Santa was awesome, but he took it upon himself to have long conversations with each kid and they also let you take as many pictures as you wanted both with your own camera and the one they had. It felt like we were in a portrait studio at times as parents were agonizing over pictures in which their two-year old wouldn't smile. A far cry from the days of one Polaroid and then waiting to see what it looked like as you shook the image into focus.

Anyway, we finally got up to Santa and Myla was so excited it made the wait worth every second. She went right up to him and told him all about her request for a train table. She even told Santa to make sure he brought "baby toys" for her brother Luke. Our stinker of a daughter is in this fun phase right now where she refuses to smile for pictures so despite what the pictures will portray years from now, she really had fun and even got to take home a stuffed puppy that Santa gave her.

Myla gets her day started right with a hot fudge sundae at Weber Grill!

We build some pretty cool things out of Legos at home, but nothing like Woody!

Kasey and Myla in front of a Christmas tree.

Kasey and I were cracking up when we looked over at Myla standing so patiently with her arms in front of her while waiting for the elevator.

Here is a video of Myla with Santa. Don't you love how I yell at Santa that my daughter wants a train table. Better get it right!

This video doesn't do it justice, but this is Santa's exasperated reaction when the camera and computer crashed. The man was having a long day.

Pretty Fall