i L O V E this place!

such a happy girl!
we might just have to MOVE to the park!

not sure how she feels about landing in the mulch

not a fan of the swings today...

she signs and says DOWN

after several days of not so nice weather, 45ish was warm enough to head out to the park! aiyana enjoyed her first trip down the slide.
she even threw her very first "i-don't-want-to-leave-the-park-and-you-can't-make-me!" tantrum. when i tried to carry her to the car, she did her classic dislocated shoulder routine where she turns her body limp, rotates her shoulders, and manages to wiggle to the ground. each time i put her on the ground, she quickly turned around and RAN back to the park.

so, when mommy thinks this hilarious and laughs and laughs and laughs....what kind of reinforcement does the tantrum thrower receive?
(no need to respond)

this is aiyana's "concerned" face (notice the furrowed brow)

blackberries...

big girl drinks from a big girl cup...can you believe it?

MORE?

our day at the science museum

nani ponders the wallabies

bounce. bounce. bounce.
sure, her enthusiasm doesn't show here...but she really did like this bouncy seat!

i loved the way the sunlight was shining on her hair

we enjoyed a beautiful 55ish degree day at the children's science museum. the outside walk was definitely our favorite part. the animals were really close. maybe too close!
nani watched monkeys swinging on fences just a few feet away from her. but she probably liked the grocery cart the most! maybe she can help me clip coupons now, too.

let's go again!

my "jon & kate" moment

one of nani's clearest words is "drink". it's a pretty clear sign, too! sometimes, when i record a sweet moment like this, i catch something that i didn't plan for. i just noticed that she's signing WHERE at the end of the video. daddy keeps repeating, "where did i put your drink? where's your drink?" so, of course, nani signs WHERE.

i missed that moment in real time. i hadn't seen her sign WHERE before, so I wasn't looking for it. i feel like "Jon and Kate" sometimes....they say that when they watch the video footage of their kids, they see all sorts of things that they would have missed otherwise.

SNOW DAY!!!

what? you call THIS snow?

this is truly what a snow day looks like in north carolina. we heard that Raleigh got 6 inches...but our little triad received only the dusting you see here. nevertheless, school was canceled, and so was kindermusik.

someone did NOT want to come in out of the cold.

in honor of today's presidential inauguration, nani "inaugurated" her little red wagon.
next, she took her "inaugural" rock in her new/mommy's old rocking chair while watching our new president. she first sat in the chair at 5-months, but we've set it aside until now. today it was the perfect fit. nani cozied right in.

aiyana's random attachment object of the day: the pink stepstool.
she waltzed into the bathroom, gathered it in her arms, and carried it around for most of the day.

aiyana is in a phase of climbing into things. on this day, this basket was just the right size.
enlarge photo to see the poochy duck face she's making!

best dance video, EVER!

"be like a duck"

aiyana pulled out some special new moves for this dance number.

blocks and lipstick

this is pretty...but not really my shade. aiyana puts mommy's make-ups on and sometimes smacks her lips for lip gloss.

maybe i'll have to raid auntie em's stash next time we visit...
that's what mommy does...

tallest tower, ever!
in an instant, nani went from knocking towers down to stacking them four blocks high! unfortunately, whenever she reached forward to grab the 5th block, she knocked her building down and was rather displeased.

hide-and-seek

nani is learning to play games! we say, "nani, go hide!" and she covers her eyes with one hand. daddy couldn't believe it the first time she did this. she's not hiding...she's counting.
aiyana has been playing hide-and-seek with her 5-year-old friend. i hadn't realized that she had grasped the idea of covering her eyes and counting, but she showed us!

happy 15 month birthday, baby!

no shots today! hooray!

now that she's "15", aiyana thinks it's time she practiced some make-up application.

"mommy needs a little color," she thinks.

peek-a-boo

indoor swimming

i love how her lips purse into this face while she's eating her yummy snacks.

look, aunt shelly! it still fits!