for Grandpa

here's the pictures i was supposed to post for you...

thanks for the fun new outfits!

What's new

it seems like our little Miss B is growing up so fast now! the latest accomplishments include learning to shake her head "no" and then a week later, learning to nod her head "yes". she also now knows how to sign "finished" which we translate to "all done"- when we are finished eating, reading or any activity where it is helpful to let her know that we are done with one thing and moving on to the next. if you or someone you know has a baby i can not even express how helpful it is to teach them a few signs. generally babies can sign long before they can say words and it avoids sooooo much frustration (on both ends) when they can express to you some of their wants and needs.

but back to Miss B. she is now attempting to make some animal noises as we learn them in her books. this is super cute because most of them come out sounding much the same, but you can see her working very hard at it. reading is still one of her favorite activities, with us or on her own. give her a book and she is a happy girl.

we also had fun the other day doing some "drawing". Mommy got all set up with some fancy-shmancy, high-tech, specially designed toddler crayons that have big ole bulbous hand grips, supposedly infinitely easier for little ones to use than traditional crayons (imagine a weighted weeble-wobble with a crayon sticking out the top, if you don't know what a weeble wobble is, ask someone over 30 to explain it to you)...well of course she wanted nothing to do with these. even when i stuck one in her hand and showed her she was not interested. what she wanted was an every day average ball point pen. like the ones she sees Mommy and Daddy use daily. will i ever learn? gizmo does not equate to cooler in a child's eyes. they just want to be like the big kids. so precious. Lord, help me to behave like the kind of big kid i want my girl to be. anyhow, she was DELIGHTED to scribble with a pen and did so for about 15-20 minutes until it was time for her nap.

our sweet little Miss also enjoys trying new foods, especially fruits and veggies. (special thanks here to Mrs. Jones who advised me..."feed her anything and everything!"...safely of course) well it worked and she likes to try whatever we are eating. this morning she ate strawberries for the first time (woohoo, it's finally spring!) and enjoyed them every bit as much as Mommy does. i think we are going to try to grow some...won't she just love that! she also enjoys avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, olives, cooked carrots, peas & green beans, bananas (what kid doesn't?), apples, oranges and really whatever else we put in front of her. she has eaten enchiladas, lasagna, tortellini, steak and on the "when in Rome" theory...has also tried German sausage with sauerkraut and potatoes...and loved it. go figure. but then i never knew i liked those until we got here either. what can i say, they are just extraordinarily better here.

while we are on the subject of eating i must share more. about two weeks ago we found a fabulous Indian restaurant nearby. Miss B joined us, and we were kind of holding our collective breath as the restaurant was a little fancier than we had expected. i am pleased to report that she did wonderfully. she ate the food we brought for her, and also joined us in trying our dishes. we all had a good time and look forward to more meals out as a family. i have to say that a little consistent table manners training at home goes a long way! not that she does not have her moments. all kids do. but generally speaking she is a joy to take out and about.

happy travels await....

Pictures, pictures, pictures & current events!

Ok, so SORRY it has taken me sooooo long to update. here are the highlights since the last post: teeth, teeth, teeth. she has been teething for the better part of the last 2 and 1/2 months, no kidding. i think she still only had two in January, our current count is seven and i think a couple more are on the way. crawling-finally, woohoo! she finally got around to this in February. Daddy was the catalyst. he sat down across from her one morning and started playing with her favorite bucket of blocks and she just had to get over there toot-sweet to get in on the action. she hasn't stopped since. Birthday, the big "1" another WOOHOO. Miss B asked "where has CAKE been all my life??? it was a quiet event with just the three of us (and her best buddy the cat) but she had a stellar time, especially after we convinced her after 20 minutes to dig in to her cake- yes, that is a miniature four layer "German" chocolate cake. like father, like daughter. (ps, interesting tidbit, this cake is not actually of German origin.) ~ saying "Dada"- who offered to buy her a pony for doing so :) ~ saying "Mama" who then considered buying her whatever other pet she may want...you just never expect how that is going to melt you. ~ pink eye-big bummer, but it is over ~ and she is also now pulling herself up standing to a standing position ~ i am sure there is more but this is everything i could think of at the moment. i tried to include enough pictures to secure forgiveness for the length of time between blogging. enjoy them.

Miss B often sleeps like this, we call it "the beach", can't you just imagine the palm tree overhead and her ipod in place?

mommy's big girl

one of the last bottle pictures- hooray for turning 1!

buddies

apparently ready to go back to the states...

our excited crawler

"g" is for giggle

sweetness

new teeth

Daddy's home!

not sure what this look was for

but i recognize these...

Daddy's going to have a hard time saying "no" to this look...

trying to grab the camera

boxes are great fun around here!

got it!

Daddy's girl

big girl pig tails

the day we practiced wearing our birthday hats & the only day she kept one on!

the big day!

she was really happy to have the fork, the cake was too sticky for her liking, so to speak...

back away from the cake...

she loved eating cake with balloon in hand

party girl!

super sweet close-ups

working on it

ok, everybody. so i talked to mommy today and told her we REALLY have to blog again. because after all people are waiting...seriously holding their breath and everything to see my progress. an ocean away these poor people wait, and what have we done for them? we got them all excited about the new blog thing and then just dropped them...

so mommy is working on the next post and it should be up in a day or two. Love, Miss B.

All in a days word

One first today, possibly two.

Our little Miss B made the sign for "please" today at the table during lunch for the first time! We have been working on this sign for a while now and she has been signing it lately, but at random times. Today she actually indicated with this sign that she would like more food "please". We were all very excited for this accomplishment and for the beginning of understandable communication and had a little party there at the table.

Also this morning when we were petting the kitty as we do every day and saying hi to him she waved at him and said "Ed". She said it several times. Over the next couple days it will be apparent whether or not she was just repeating it or truly connects "Ed" with her kitty cat, but it looks promising. This would be very fun since they are special friends already. She loves her kitty cat and the feeling is clearly mutual.

Some people just have flair!

Hey Mrs. Jones, i happened to have that pix of my "niece" Elton John handy, so here it is...this had to be around spring 2005, right? Love you Miss M! (oodles of LOVE to Jones 2, 3 & 4 also of course :)

The talented Mr. M...

I have been wanting to brag on my husband's most recent endeavors for a while now, so here's the latest. Most of you know what a skilled craftsman Mr. M is, he's very handy to have around if you need to build a fire...or a house. He's also your go-to guy if you need help surviving in or navigating through pretty much any environment, oh, and he's now a certified lifeguard. With that said, he has been busy this last year working on some new skills many of you may not know about including knife making, prolific spoon carving (he has also turned out one SWEET Swedish-style drinking cup out of wood) and most recently basket weaving! Yes, basket weaving. I was amazed that his first one- crafted today, was complete in about an hour. It was amazing to see a pile of dry grasses be transformed into a basket by my husband's own hands in such a short time. Is there anything he can't make? So here are some pix of his creations (and yes, the very small spoons are baby spoons, he started carving them when we found out i was pregnant :) Our little girl has the coolest Daddy! What fun she will have learning all his trades. At the bottom are some pictures of her "working" on spoons with Daddy.

Mr. M's most recent knife & a sampling of spoons

look at the excellent carving detail on the top spoon!

the latest knife, and yes, he makes the leather sheaths as well

first basket, interior

exterior

basket, spoon and Swedish drinking cup

very cool!

turning over a"roughed out" spoon

Daddy's little helper, you would think he just gave her candy

the bite test...

by far, the best Quality Assurance officer ever!

also part of the oversight committee

more QA

feedback is a crucial part to QA~always hard at work!