Oh my.

Really, the cat is patient.


For the record, when asked if she is going to be a vet or urologist, she did say "vet" without hesitation... :)

Driving Miss Nedy

Ned loves car rides. She always wants to be on the go and enjoys the 'getting there' as much as the destination. She is a detail-loving little creature by nature, and nowhere is it more evident than rides in the car. First, if the passenger side seat is unoccupied, Ned always asks, "Put seat down?" so that she can have a full view out the windshield as she travels along. Along the way, I can always count on the identification of several things:

Dogs. Much to Nedy's pleasure, we live in an area of prolific dog walking. She loves calling out the dogs, how big they are, describing their people, etc. For instance, "Mama! Yady walk TWO dogs. One yitto, one big! Yady red shirt...sungasses! See it?!?" or "Mens (men always has an 's' on the end) walking dog! Two mens, one dog...brown! Mens yaughing. See it?!"

Buses. Nedy loves her some buses. And she doesn't stop with just identifying them as 'buses'. Rather, it's 'CITY BUS!' or 'SCHOOL BUS!' or 'SHORT SCHOOL BUS!' yelled out (with tremendous excitement, mind you) as she spots them in all directions. ("SCHOOL BUS!!! Mama! Over der! See it?!?") The kid never misses a bus. And she sees them from such a distance that I often wonder if she has some sort of built-in bus radar. She even told me, "Mama, baby oh-der...bus work. Okay?" Apparently she intends to ride the bus to work someday. Good for her, my little green gal. Hmmm...or maybe she intends to be a bus driver? I should clarify that one...

Overpasses. There are distinctions in overpasses, you know. When we're on the freeway, Ned always points out the overpasses as we approach. "Der 'nother one! Overpass!" But when we approach a metal overpass, she always yells out, "Twain overpass!" And the ones with screening on them? "Pestwian (pedestrian) overpass!"

Race cars. Nedy knows a 'race car' when she sees one. I'm not sure where she got this from, but all VW beetles are 'race cars'. Like buses, she can spot a VW beetle from a mile away and yells out "RACE CAR!" every time with such enthusiasm you'd swear she was seeing a Ferrari. When I asked her why she calls them race cars, she looked at me like I was a complete fool and said, "'Cuz race cars. Willy fasssst." So, there you have it.

Cows and goats. On our way to Nana and Papa's, we drive through an area of farm land. Ned is always on the lookout for horses, cows and goats. In particular, there are two spots that she always remembers to check as we drive past: the dairy farm and the hobby farmers with a goat pen. She tries to predict in advance what the livestock status is on a given day, such as, "Hmmmm... cows...ONE cow 'tside...eat bweakfast!" meaning she predicts there will be one cow at the feeding area that morning. With the goats, it's usually a prediction on their indoor/outdoor status: "Hmmmm...goats...t'day...yitto house." meaning she predicts we won't see them because they'll be inside their little goat shed. Sometimes the goats stand on top of these huge spool-looking things in their pen. Ned tries to warn them about the risky nature of their behavior with something like, "Goats! Get down...tabe-oh! Danger, danger!", complete with waggling finger.

Winkie's. Winkie's is a most adorable 'dime store' type shop in Whitefish Bay, about a 3 minute drive from our house along the lake. Ned thinks the sun rises and sets at Winkie's and she's always up for a gander through their lower level toyland. Funny thing is that Ned is very good with landmarks and when we get close to Winkie's--from any direction--she'll call out "WINKIE'S!", even before she sees the actual store. (And we have this little thing we call "Winkie's hands" which means "fold your hands in front of you"--as in, resist the temptation to touch--that is applicable anywhere we are with lots of breakables.)

Who knew seemingly routine car trips could be such fun?

the garage

We're big teasers in this house. All of us.

One of Dan's classic lines after Ned or I ask for something is, "Get out of Dodge." For example, I might say, "Hey, Dan, can you clean the cat's litterbox?" and Dan would respond, "Get out of Dodge." (And then proceed to clean the litterbox.)

So the other night, Dan says to Nedy, "Hey Sweet Pea, it's time to get your jammies on." To which Ned replies, "Get out da garage, Baba."

So there, Baba. Get out of the garage, would ya? :)

No drive car sleeping!

Nedy is a talker. Every day something new comes out of her mouth. And lately she’s been stringing words like crazy and making sentences. Really funny sentences.

For instance. So we’re at my sister Lisa’s Saturday evening. Ned had been busy playing in the sand all day, so before heading home we decided to give her a quick “sudsy sudsy”, as she calls it. We were in the bathroom drying her off when Dan asked her if she was planning on falling asleep on the drive home, to which she responded, “Oh yes! Baby tired.” Dan said, “Me, too. I’m gonna sleep on the way home, too.”

Ned looked at him with the most serious expression and said, “No, Baba. Baba drive ca-aaaaar! No drive car sleeping! Crash car into other car. Policeman stop you. Oh, Babaaaaa.”

And--shameless bragging alert--she can say the alphabet! Well, she gets to 'G' and usually ends it at that point with the "next time won't sing wit' me" part. But if prompted through 'G' to 'H', she can make it all the way to 'Z'. It's really, really cute. And I'm trying really, really hard to get it on video, but the kid knows how badly I want to catch it, meaning she clams up at the sight of the camera. (I plan to win. I'm not sure how, but I do plan to win. Maybe she can be bribed with chocolate...the girl does enjoy her chocolate...)

Smilin' eyes

I love how Ned's eyes smile.

I mean, who needs her thumb out of her mouth for a family photo? Just look at those smilin' eyes! :)

Lion's Den Gorge

Today marked our first Lion's Den Gorge visit of the season! This preserve is a gorgeous chunk of land in Grafton right on Lake Michigan. Nice trails, beach access and a particularly lovely selection of rocks for throwing or collecting.

Yay for messy!

Nedy has long struggled with being okay being a little messy. And, we want her to be okay being messy. Kids should get messy.

I think we're making progress. She came to Baba the other day with her hands up in the air excitedly announcing, "See?! See?!? Baby color on hands! GREEN!"

You go, messy little green-handed girl!

Easter

Easter at Grandma and Grandpa's!

Another fantastic egg hunt! (Grandpa believes in the 'hunt' part of egg hunt...)
And Grandpa, the egg stuffer, believes in spoiling his Grandkids. Yes, that's a $50 bill inside one of Ned's 20 eggs... Seriously.
Uncle Mike (Nedy calls him Uncle Shenanigans) on gravy duty.
Some of our beautiful nieces love having their picture taken...
And some of our beautiful nieces...don't. (But your nails are stunning, Nicolle.) :)
Grandma and Grandpa's dog, Sophie. (Funny story about Sophie, we were out walking in the neighborhood and stopped one of our many stops for Nedy to ask if she could pet a dog when the dog's person asked her, "Do you have a dog?" And Nedy said, to my surprise, "Yes." The lady responded, "What's your dog's name?" "Sophie.")
Nedy helping Uncle Shenanigans reattach the slide to Grandma and Grandpa's swing set.
She's super serious about all things mechanical. She can actually use wrenches, sockets and screwdrivers pretty adeptly for a two year old. I think Uncle Mike was just a little impressed. :)
Ned adores her cousins. Just look at her smile at Syd.
Spring has sprung--the swing set is back in operation!
Grandma helps Nedy walk the wall to check on the budding plants.
Good times. Good times.

kitty p*rn

"Mao Mao, what dat?"

"Weird! Mao Mao...body."
Ummmm...yes, she was talking about that. Dear God.

Maybe she'll be a vet...or a urologist... :)


And, really, don't you think Mao Mao deserves a medal for his patience?