August 4 and 5

Saturday August 4 was a mommy and E morning. We went to Lane's Bakery, which was a bakery I went to frequently with my parents when I was little. Our first house was only a few blocks from it. The bakery is closing in month, so I wanted to have a chance to get E there.  So, we went to the bakery, E chose a frosted clown cookie for breakfast, and we "shared" coffee. After breakfast, we took a walk around the block, and E spilled the coffee. She insisted on getting more, so we headed to Lakeside fibers for coffee. We each got our own cup (hers with a bit of coffee) after another spill, she decided that she didn't like coffee and had water.

We walked over to Bernie's Beach, and played in the sand and on the playground equipment. After a few garage sales, and the new "bubbie" dolls, we met up with dada and had a family day.

On August 5 we headed back to Circus World Museum. The entire way there, E talked about how excited she was for the circus and the clowns. When we got there and walked into the big top, Punchy the clown got a little too close to her and she decided he was scary. It took a lot of work to get her into the tent. She loved the circus, seeing the elephants, and the clown performances (her favorite was the one where the clowns got into the box).

 After Circus World, we went to A and W for lunch. E got her own glass of soda (a huge event) in a mini mug. I felt several times this weekend that E was reliving parts of my childhood, and the tiny A and W root beer was definitely part of it! She and I also shared an ice cream cone.

Favorite things

Two of E's favorite things this summer have been the summer Olympics and cherry tomatoes. She's been watching the Olympics as a party most evenings. She spends the time running, jumping, and sort of imitating what they are doing on screen.

When we watched the opening ceremonies, she got out her flags and handed them out mommy, dada, and herself and proceeded to twirl the flag and spin.

E's other favorite thing about the summer is cherry tomatoes. We got a carton of them from our CSA, and she pulled it out of the box, carried it to the living room, and starting munching away. Since we were grilling that night, we made a kabob of them, and she waved it around like a wand.

Bubbie Dolls

On August 4, 2012, E got her first "bubbie dolls" or Barbie dolls. She found two princesses (Belle and Aerial) at a garage sale, and wasn't leaving without them. I was with her and not smart enough to turn her around when I spotted them. So, now "bubbies" have entered the house. She knows that the word is really pronounced "Barbie" but can't say it yet, so the cutest part is when she asks where her "bubbies" are and I respond "I don't know where your bubbies are" and she says with an annoyed voice "no mommy, BUBBIES!"

So far, Belle has spent a lot of time dancing to the Me Party song from the muppet movie (as preformed by E).

Do you know the muffin skip?

E, singing do you know the muffin skip, the muffin skip, the muffin skip. Do you know you know the muffin skip, the muffin skip, the muffin skip.

This is sung to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man" while running and skipping around the house.

Babies

E is fascinated with babies, people growing babies in their tummies, and babies having a "got born day."

So, when we went to our neighbor's baby shower, E was in heaven. She asked to feel the baby kick and was thrilled when it kicked her hand, she patiently waited for several more kicks.

E was so excited to give the baby the monkey teether she picked out for her, and was happy to be at a party for the baby.

It wasn't until after the party that she said to me in a little voice "it no come out." It was at that moment I realized, she thought the baby was going to "get borned" at the baby shower. Apparently she had mentioned this belief to dada earlier, and he hadn't been able to convince her otherwise. Although E has heard her "E got born" story many times, and has heard that the doctor got the baby out of mommy's tummy, her new belief is that babies "pop right out of the belly button." She also thinks they start walking and crawling right away. She's in for a big surprise when she meets her friend A's baby sister!

Minnesota

We headed back to Minnesota to visit Titi and her family, baby E and her family, and Nate and Annie. E does pretty well with the car rides at this point, although we try to time then so that she will nap part of the way. On this trip, she saw me knitting and asked me if she could knit too. I handed over some yarn and she spent the ride pushing the ends of a circular knitting needle in and out of it.

The first stop on our trip was the Minnesota Zoo. Dada went to this zoo lots as a kid and was really excited to take E to it. They had a special dinosaur exhibit, with both dada and E were really looking forward to.

The dinosaurs turned out to be a little to scary for E, at one point she even pulled her hat down over her eyes so that she didn't see them. She loved the bears, tigers, and aviary. She even to to "play" with a lynx that was pawing at the cage.

We left the zoo in a rainstorm and headed to Titi's. For several days, E had been talking about watching the Chipmunk movie and eating Trix cereal (both things we did last time we were in MN) so I was curious to see how she would react if things went differently. She made herself right at home with Titi's toys and loved her Abby Cadabby present. She got to go swimming with Titi which
made her very happy even though the pool was a little loud.

The next day, the kids played in a slip and slide to beat the heat and E got to play with Titi's cousins P and P.

She also got to visit with uncle Nate and Annie. We had to wake her up a little early from her nap, and she didn't appreciate it!

That evening, the kids got to watch a movie, they decided on Smurfs, and E got to eat Trix and watch. She loved it. She also used the movie time to serve "tea" to all her friends. Watching the movie, having Trix, and serving tea are the things she talks about most from Titi's house.

Jobs and a Loud Museum

I try and let E help around the house and kitchen as much as I can. Finding jobs that keep a 2 year olds interest can be tough, but as long as it involves water, she is always interested!

So, I asked her to help clean some cherries. She carefully pulled the stem off each one, put some soap on it, and brushed it off with a little brush. Disaster struck though when she accidentally tipped over the colander that was holding them, its not often that she get so alarmed.

Dada also took E to the "loud museum" the loud museum is actually the entertainment portion of the Kalahari Hotel. E had a great time looking at all the games, watching the baby tigers drink bottles, and seeing the baby kangaroos. She is itching to get back to the "loud museum."