Cuddlebug

As I was getting Scarlett up at 6 this morning (poor kid) she nuzzled her face into the crook of my neck. I, quite appropriately, said the following;
"Awww...are you mommy's little cuddlebug this morning?"
Scarlett's reply;
"No mama. I'm not a cubbledug. I'm a Scarlett."

Stork Club - The new daycare

Scarlett started a new daycare yesterday. As many of you know, this little girl had been in the same daycare since she was 8 weeks old. She had been attending a home daycare and while it was exactly what we wanted for her as a newborn, Joe and I decided that we wanted a bit more for her and her baby brother. Scarlett has started attending the Stork Club, which is a curriculum based daycare center. In her "Toddler Twos" class, she goes outside twice a day. She does two art projects a day. Everyday has a new theme and lesson. They keep the kids very busy. We picked Scarlett up at the end of the day and she immediately started talking about spots on a cow. Turns out, that was their lesson for the day. I was seriously impressed.

Here is a picture of Scarlett holding her new packed lunchbox getting ready to leave for her "new school."Making her game face before going into the school.Smiling (not that different from game face) before going into the school."Come on dada."Scoping out the other classrooms.Sitting in front of her cubby."Scarlett, you gonna be okay? Scarlett? Scar-lett? Mommy and daddy have to go to work. You gonna be okay? Scarlett?" Yes...I think she's going to be just fine.

Baa baa blacksheep

Whole family - "Baa baa blacksheep have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full..."

Scarlett - "More mama dada."

Whole family - "Baa baa blacksheep have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full..."

Scarlett - "More mama dada."

Mama - "Scarlett, can you sing by yourself?"

Scarlett - "Baa baa baa-sheep."

Dada - (chimes in) "Have you any wool?"

Scarlett - "No dada. Scarlett sing."

Dada - "Yes sir, yes sir"

Scarlett - "No dada. Scarlett sing!"

Dada - "Three bags full."

Scarlett - "NO DADA!! No. No bags full."

"Eatin' fishies!!"

Joe and I took different cars to work this morning. I had to go to work early so Joe dropped Scarlett off at daycare. We ended up passing each other while driving on the highway. Seeing mommy is pretty amazing enough, but seeing mommy driving next to daddy's car waving like a maniac is apparently just about the most amazing thing to a toddler. The most amazing thing ever. Joe and I drove side by side for a few miles. I could see that Scarlett was ecstatically saying something, but I obviously couldn't make it out. After a few minutes, the cars had to go their separate ways.

Joe called me after he had dropped Scarlett off, and he was in hysterics. Scarlett had been eating a bag of Goldfish crackers while they were driving and, turns out, she had been saying something to me in passing. Apparently while we were driving side by side Scarlett was actually yelling at the top of her lungs to me as if I could hear her. What was she screaming, might you ask?

"MOMMY I'M EATIN' FISHIES! MOMMY! MOM! SCARLETT'S EATIN' FISHIES!! MOMMY FISHIES, FISHIES!!!"

That's my Bubsy.

Dinner and ice cream

Sunday night we went out to dinner, outside dinner might I add, with Carson and his family. It was so nice to be sitting outside. Like...so incredibly nice. We ate dinner, and then got ice cream, and then we just continued to sit there for a little while longer because that's just how nice it was. Scarlett and Carson both had ice cream cones. Though...you might not be able to tell that Scarlett was eating ice cream from these adorable pictures that Val took. If you look very closely, you can see a smear of vanilla ice cream on her chin. I'm not kidding. It's there. And if you look very closely at Carson, you can see a smear of vanilla ice cream...umm, just about everywhere. Seriously folks. Is he all boy, or what?Scarlett obviously doesn't hold the messy eating thing against Carson. At all. She jumped at the opportunity to share some of Carson's ice cream when he so sweetly offered it to her.

And, of course, she copied him and offered some right back.

Val and I have taken a liking to the term "Scarson" when referring to our kids. They've been dating for about a year and a half now, so they deserve a celebrity nickname, right? Brangelina got one after about 2 months. And honestly, we see so much of Carson that dropping two syllables will make my life quite a bit easier. So that's that. They're Scarson. And, honestly, it's scary how well it works.

Josie turns 3!

Sunday we went to Josie's third birthday party. (To see last year's party, click here.) It was so much fun! Scarlett gets the whole "party" thing now. In fact, after Josie's party, Scarlett has talked almost non-stop about her party which is coming up in about 2 weeks. When I told her that Joe had school last night she started crying because she wanted to play with him at "her party." I reassured her that his class was not 13 days long and that he'd be out in plenty of time to attend the party. What a relief.
Here are some photos from Josie's big day. Scarlett waits patiently for the cake.

And sings "happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday."Miss Josie blowing out the candles.

Good stuff!

Scarlett putting on her "pretty" all by herself. I couldn't have done it any better.

Then came the presents. We got Josie a Play-Doh kitchen set. It sat wrapped on our table for about 3 hours and I'm seriously surprised that the present was still wrapped when we got it to Josie's. Scarlett likes presents. She kept pointing to it and reminding me that it was Josie's present from Scarlett. Scarlett wanted to help Josie open her presents which got to be a little troublesome. We actually witnessed Scarlett throw herself on the floor for the first time while having a fit. I was so proud. She had really good form. Josie got a big girl bike. She very kindly let Scarlett sit on it. Scarlett made sure that she put on Josie's new helmet too before getting on.

I told Scarlett that she should say thank you to Josie for letting her sit on the brand new bike, to which Scarlett replied "thank you for my bike Josie!" Sigh.

We had a lot of fun! Same time next year Josie!

A beautiful day

Saturday was such a beautiful day. The only time we were indoors was for nap time. We started the day at the Beardsley Zoo. Scarlett rode the carousel with Joe. She is quite possibly the only child I know who gets excited about riding the bench on the carousel. Scarlett and Joe also got a close look at some prairie dogs. They had to go back into the tunnel about 4 times because Scarlett fell in love with the little critters.

After the zoo we went to the playground at Beardsley Park and played. Then we fed ducks. There are no pictures of the ducks because, quite frankly, the ducks could have cared less about the bread we brought for them. It was very unexciting. We gave up and let Scarlett eat the leftover roll on the way home. It was actually far more entertaining, and was definitely done in a desperate attempt to keep her awake for the car ride home. Whenever she falls asleep in the car around nap time she never falls back asleep once she gets into the house. She lost interest in the roll, so Joe gave her his phone. Check out the look on her face. Tired?
Quite possibly.Ummm...definitely.

After Scarlett woke up we brought her to the beach. She was in heaven. In fact, we couldn't get her to leave. She loved the "wa-dee" (water).And the sand.
After the beach we went to a burger joint on the water and actually ate dinner outside. Can you believe it?! It was great. In fact, the whole day was great. As we were finishing dinner and getting ready to go home, Joe and I came to the realization that this might be one of the last few family days we spend as a family of three instead of four. One day I'll be showing Scarlett these very pictures explaining to her that her baby brother was born about 3 weeks later. If even possible, it made me enjoy the day just that much more.

Some new activities

Scarlett got some fun stuff in her Easter basket last week. She got some magic finger paints from Nan. They're magic because they only show up on the special paper, and not on everything else. This "magic" aspect is far more impressive to me than it is to Scarlett. The clean-up is wonderful. Mainly because it's almost non-existent. Needless to say, Scarlett loves painting with them. We've hung the pictures on the fridge and she keeps pointing at them saying "I made that." Yes, Bubsy. Yes you did.

Now be warned. This is a boring video. Every once in a while I will post something that is far more impressive to Joe and I than I'm sure it is to all of you. But humor me. We got Scarlett this bead threading kit and she is doing very well with it. Now don't take your bead threading skills for granted. It is actually a pretty complex task. Of course, Scarlett has gotten to the point where our excitement and encouragement embarrasses her. If you listen in the beginning of the video, she asks us to "stop it mama and dada."