Jokester

E told her first joke tonight:

E: E make white brownies
M: Really, white brownies?
E: No, E make brown brownies! Ha, ha, ha, ha!!

She needs a little work, but for a first joke, on a night where she had actually helped me make brownies, I thought it was pretty good.

Catching up

I don't know where April went, between the kitchen project and the nice weather, time is flying. Evenings are shorter since we are letting E stay up a little bit later then she should, which also cuts into the time I have to get anything done. I'm hoping I'll feel a little more organized in the weeks to come, which means more pictures and stories about life.

E has rediscovered her love of sidewalk chalk. She thought it was wonderful last summer, but early this spring, wanted nothing to do with it. That all has changed, and she spends her time either writing her "ABCDs" or asking me to draw things. She usually requests an alligator, which I'm not great at drawing. She always wants to draw on the house (which isn't allowed) or on the neighbors sidewalk since she runs out of room. Last weekend we even made it out in between rain storms to draw. She loved drawing and then washing her hands in the neighbor's downspout.

 We made a cake to take to dada's work, E was in charge of measuring flour and sugar and cracking eggs. She did a great job of filling the measuring cup and dumping it into the mixer. She loved playing (and tasting) the extra flour that was on the spill plate. She also liked eating handfuls of sugar.

E has cracked eggs a few times, she loves pulling the shells off of hard boiled eggs, but doesn't like to eat the egg. So I wasn't too surprised that she also liked cracking eggs. She's a fearless egg cracker, she smashes it against the side of the bowl and then crushes the remaining shell in her hands, the egg leaks out into the bowl. It means that I end up picking a lot of shell bits out of the bowl, but its such fun to watch her work.

 We had a rainy few days and E started talking about needing a Dora umbrella. She didn't have an umbrella, and we happened to be running around at the mall when we found one so we got it. She absolutely loves it, and her face lights up whenever she holds it.

We had a busy weekend (April 19-22), it started with momma and dada going to faculty prom for dada's school, so E spent the night at Ama and Grandpa Ada's house. She did very well at their house, eating dinner and sleeping through the night. The next day, she came home and was a little more clingy then usual, we could tell she was a little confused about what had happened the night before. We had a nice family afternoon and got a walk in with A and R. Both girls came to our house to play for a little bit before dinner. They loved the left over balloons that had decorated the prom.

Sunday we had a great family day. We started with nice breakfast (E cracked the eggs) and then headed to the zoo, the weather was great so we spent a good two hours looking at the animals and having lunch. After a long nap to recover from the outing, we went to E's favorite store (Target) and out to a restaurant with Ama and Grandpa Ada, just as we were leaving, A and her parents came in, and E was over the moon with excitement, the girls got to run around and play for a little bit. Then, to top it off, once we got home, E got to play with R for a little bit.

The most amazing part of the day was E's huge potty training success. She used the potty successfully all day long, she even wore big girl underpants for a good part of the morning. We experienced potty training at public restrooms (the zoo, Target, and the restaurant) and were successful ever time. E only used her diaper one time today! And that was during nap, so we didn't even think it really should have counted!

 E and dada rode the carousal at the zoo

 E tried to sit on the rocks near the otters, she also wanted to hold on to the sunscreen  (on sun scream as she calls it)

Biker Chick

We got to go bike riding today! E wore her new helmet and "rode" our entire loop. She figured out how to pedal a little bit, but mostly momma had to push her.

Easter

Easter weekend wrapped up a huge week of remodeling for us, our kitchen is now totally replaced. So the week before Easter was full of remodeling, going out to dinner, playing at Ama and Ada's house, and generally trying to keep out of the construction zone. So, Easter weekend was a really nice family weekend.

Saturday kicked off with with E and dada going on one of their "adventures" they came back with bagels and coffee, the best kind of adventure. E and I headed to swimming lessons, which were cancelled, so we played at the park for a few minutes, before taking part in E's first Easter egg hunt.

She loved finding the eggs and adding them to her cookie bag. She had no idea their was candy inside the eggs, so she found lots of eggs while the other kids were busy eating treats. Once she learned about the candy she didn't want to stop eating it!

After the egg hunt and a nap, we headed to the Children's Museum as a family

 We finally got to see the rooftop garden and all the animals.

Because we were there late in the day, E had most of the painting wall to herself, she loved it.

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny came to our house and left a basket and hidden eggs. E was only excited to find the eggs with candy in them and wasn't too impressed by the eggs filled with puffs. She loved the Minnie Mouse bubbles from her basket and the stickers.

 

Over the course of this weekend, E ate more candy then she has in her whole life combined! I guess that is what holidays are for. Because of all the candy, E didn't take much of a nap and was a little cranky by the evening.

We went to Ama and Ada's house for dinner, and E got to play with her cousin S. The girls had a great time at the park, and E wasn't even scared to go down the big slide by herself.

The Easter Bunny even came to Ama and Ada's, it brought E the helmet she's been asking for.

Any tine we've seen a biker recently she's said "E need a helmet, buckles under the chin" so it was exciting that the bunny found one for her.

Words

E has surprisingly few cute mispronunciations. Generally, she speaks clearly and says every thought that enters her mind, whenever they enter. Here are are her common mispronunciations:

1. For-da-get (forget)
2. Alligator (elevator)
3. Grocery Gore (grocery store)
4. Gramma bars (granola bars)
5. Bubble guand (bubble wand)

She also has a few misconceptions:

1. Everything (from people, to birds, to airplanes) sleep in nests
2. Everyone can grow babies in their tummies
3. Whenever momma isn't home she is in 'tucky (Kentucky)
4. Whenever her friend A isn't home she is in Carolina