Springtime!

It's springtime! Flowers are here! I had to check and see how they smelled.

Big Girl Bed

This week I got my new big girl bed! Bapcia and Opa bought it for me for my 2nd birthday. Mommy bought me new blankets and put some super-cute decorations on my wall - it's a whole new room!

I LOVE sleeping in my new bed. I get right in at bedtime and go right to sleep. And in the morning, I get out of bed and call for Mommy and Daddy: "come in! come in!" Sometimes I yell "hurry!" too.

18 Months: word count!!

I am talking up a storm these days!
The list is getting too long, so here are the new words I've picked up in the last 2 months:

57. giraffe
58. morning/good morning
59. cold
60. bear
61. chair
62. froggie
63. pool
64. beach
65. duckie
66. mouth
67. kisses
68. off
69. splashies
70. "ashes, ashes, down!" (Ring Around the Rosie)
71. horsie
72. chickie
73. bug
74. nice
75. pretty
76. green beans (kind of like Mommy used to say it..."ming means")
77. banana (sounds like "mean-ya")
78. wash
79. thank you
80. you're welcome ("welcome")
81. please
82. all gone
83. go
84. peas
85. yogurt
86. popsicle ("pa-co")
87. help
88. on
89. outside
90. cookie
91. treats
92. inside
93. downstairs
94. garbage
95. bunny
96. car
97. toes
98. mouth
99. wake up
100. get up
101. swimming
102. raining
103. shovel
104. bucket
105. chicken
106. toot-toot
107. choo-choo
108. book
109. ding-dong
110. backpack
111. thumbs
112. hungry
113. ant
114. moth
115. fingers
116. hands
117. tickle
118. bus
119. airplane
120. "munch" (lunch)
121. window
122. hair
123. head
124. itchy
125. ow
126. boo-boo
127. fork
128. spoon

Ricky vs Little Miss Maia

Progress Report: 16 Months

I know it's been a while since you heard from me--another whole month has gone by! I've been very busy this month.

First, my friend Hazel came to visit. Here we are getting ready for our baby eat-off. I think I won, but we tied in the cuteness contest. We had a lot of fun playing together!


I've found that the dog bed is a fun place to play.

This month Mommy planted a vegetable garden. Here I am helping Daddy next to the garden. I have my hat and glasses on so you know I'm ready to help!

I got to go to TWO zoos this month! The first one was called the Zoo at Forest Park. They had a special place where kids could feed the animals. I was very brave and fed crackers to goats and a camel.



I got to meet my new friend Joy this month. She doesn't do much yet but I was showing her a few tricks.
This month I went to Chicago again to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Both Mommy and Daddy came with!

First we had a Father's Day party. Here I am with Mommy, Aunt Maggie, and Great Grandpa Sonny.

Everyone wanted to take pictures with me on their laps outside, but all I wanted to do was run around.

I got to play this fun beanbag game with Daddy.
I liked sitting on the step with my cousin Ashley.
Aunt Mimi helped me and my cousins blow bubbles! I love bubbles!
I love Aunt Mimi too!

I got to spend a lot of time with Pa Pa on this trip. He made breakfast for me every day.
Here I am trying to get down and run around while someone was trying to take my picture.

I guess we didn't get the best Father's Day picture, oh well!

Glasses!


Mommy was very jealous that she didn't get to go with us to the Choo-Choo.
It's a restaurant where all your food comes out on a little train. I had a good time and ate a big cupcake with sprinkles. I kept my train whistle, even though I'm not quite sure how to blow it yet.


When Mommy finally had a day off from work, we went to the beach. It was my first time! I didn't really like the Lake Michigan waves, but I LOVED playing in the sand.
The next day, Mommy, Daddy, and Maggie took me to Brookfield Zoo. We got to ride the carousel--Mommy and I rode an aardvark.

With Mommy in the monkey house. Mommy says I'm her little monkey.



Me and Aunt Maggie in the kangaroo pouch!
We watched the giraffes together. I liked them a lot.
Here's the whole family together at Grandpa Sonny's house.

This is my very good friend Harley. He let me hug him and kiss him and pull on his little stubby tail all the time. I love him very much.

I also love this little chair that Grandma bought for me.
Here I am with Pa Pa, Grandma, and Aunt Maggie in front of their house.
Back to the beach one more time...we brought Daddy to show him that Lake Michigan is bigger than Long Island Sound. Too bad it was so windy, we all got sand everywhere! What a great trip!



This month I have been learning lots and lots of new words. Look how long my list is now!!

1. mama
2. dada
3. kitty
4. fish
5. shoes
6. baby
7. eye
8. ball
9. doggie
10. socks
11. bup-bup (Mommy and Daddy pronounce it "fruit")
12. cheese
13. duck
14. hi
15. this
16. foo-foo (as in, "little bunny foo-foo", and accompanied by the appropriate finger gestures)
17. teeth
18. uh-oh
19. NO
20. apple
21. up
22. tweet tweet
23. grandpa (pa-pa)
24. mine
25. milkies (milk)
26. more
27. glasses
28. wow
29. water
30. pants
31. elephant
32. octopus
33. owl
34. ears
35. blue (as in "blues clues")
36. Elmo
37. all done
38. down
39. bee
40. flower
41. bye bye
42. ma-ma (grandma)
43. harley (grandma & grandpa's dog)
44. eggies
45. night-night
46. binky
47. hat
48. pee-pee
49. bathtime
50. Maia
51. Mimi (great-aunt)
52. Maggie (aunt)
53. keys
54. hot
55. monkey
56. eat

I love to try to sing, and I can do the hand motions (sort of) to lots of songs, like Itsy Bitsy Spider, Where is Thumbkin, and the Blues Clues theme song. I love to give hugs, even to strangers. I like to run and when I fall down I just get back up and keep on going. I like to make you laugh with my silly faces and I love to chase the kitties around and give them hugs, even though I get a face full of fur afterwards that makes me cough.

See you soon, bye bye!

Progress Report: 15 Months

Oh boy, it's been a whole month since I've let you know how I've been doing! My excuse this time is that I've been too busy WALKING everywhere to do much of anything else. That's right, I finally let go of Mommy and Daddy's hands and took off on my own, and I'm having a great time going anywhere I want.

So, here's what else I've been up to. I went to a really cool park with Mommy and Daddy and saw a bunch of neat birds. I was just starting to walk a little bit...

Then we had a picnic outside on the grass.

Mommy has been excited for the weather to get nicer so she can dress me in all my cute spring and summer outfits.

So, here you might think I'm doing "Blue Steel" but really I'm just puckering up for a kiss. I like to pucker up. A LOT. And I always have someone specific in mind that needs to come kiss me...I wait, all puckered up, until the right person delivers.

Did I mention that I especially love kisses while I'm eating?
I always get what I want!Here I was getting my first taste of ice cream cake...yum!
Mommy showed me how to lick the frosting off my hands.
And how to lick the plate.
Yay for ice cream!!!
Afterwards I really needed a bath. I was getting too big for my baby tub so I got to have a bath in the big tub, with bubbles! I tried to eat them.

This month Mommy and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ritz in Chicago. They had some new things at their house for me to play with, like this awesome princess scooter!
We got to go to the park. I love to swing on the swingset.


Not really a big fan of the slide just yet, but we tried.Another new discovery...WATERMELON! I ate so much that Mommy and Grandma thought I might explode. I couldn't even finish a piece without yelling for the next one.
YUM!!
I got to ride the train to Chicago with Mommy and Grandpa.
And we got to walk around downtown a little bit too.

Of course, it's always nice to hang out back at the house.

Back in Connecticut, I got to go to my first union rally. I clapped a lot and got to meet some nice dogs.
Nothing like hanging out in your bathrobe. It doesn't look like it here, but I had a good time prancing around in it.

New words to add to the list this month:

1. mama
2. dada
3. kitty
4. fish
5. shoes
6. baby
7. eye
8. ball
9. doggie
10. socks
11. bup-bup (Mommy and Daddy pronounce it "fruit")
12. cheese
13. duck
14. hi
15. this
16. foo-foo (as in, "little bunny foo-foo", and accompanied by the appropriate finger gestures)
17. teeth
18. uh-oh
19. NO
20. apple
21. up
22. tweet tweet
23. grandpa (pa-pa)

I can also point to all the different parts of my face when you say them (eyes, nose, mouth, chin, hair, neck) and I even know where my hands, fingers, arms, and feet are! I know, it's impressive.