The Roo plays her version of Where's Waldo?!

My little girl couldn't fall asleep without her (aptly-named) Kitty Cat this evening. So I located said Kitty Cat, and she gave big big snuggles to her friend. Then the Roo asked for Floppy Bunny. So I found Floppy Bunny.

And, well, I decided, why stop there?

As you can see, she had no problem falling asleep surrounded by all her friends!

Reba, Raggedy Ann, Woodsy, Cora Cow, Monkey-Do, Chickadoodle, Freddie Frog, Teddy Bear (and not shown, the culprit who started it all, Kitty Cat)!

On another note, for the information of all those wanting to buy this child more toys, SHE HAS ENOUGH!!! :)

"Have a surprise for you, Mommy!"

These precious little words were being yelled at me in an eager little voice as I was making supper tonight, through the open window in the kitchen.

Turns out when Daddy took the Roo for a bike-a-cycle ride, she took it upon herself to load up the back carriage part of her trike with "cooorns" (pine cones) for Mommy!

This is what I saw when I went outside to see what my surprise was:

She was so proud of herself! And she should be, she picked the best cooorns on the block! When I asked her how many she picked for me, she proceeded to "count": "Oonnnne" (as she moves 3 to the side), "Twoooooooooooo" (again, drawing this out long enough to move more than 2 over to the "counted" pile), "Freeeee, fouuuur..." all the way up to 11, before she decided that 6 would be her final number! What a thoughtful little girl we have!

The Best Day Ever

We wrapped up a really fun day at the zoo by barbecuing some chicken and eating outside in our gazebo!

Cat was putting away the dishes in the house while Madelyn and I enjoyed the sunset. During a quiet moment, she turned to me and said, "This is the best day EVER, Daddy!".

I had to agree with her....

Here are two shots from our day at the zoo! In Madelyn's words, the best. Day. EVER!

Madelyn's friend, the Polar Bear!

Madelyn has been going to day care for just over a year. Ever morning on the drive over, we'd pass by a business who had a giant polar bear for a logo, and every morning we would greet him with a hearty "Good morning Polar Bear!".

It was a morning ritual thatI looked forward to.

Suddenly, about 6 months after it began... it just stopped.

If she said it at all, it almost seemed like it was to please me.

The other morning, after a long absence, her interest in the polar bear returned.

Good morning polar bear!

Did you have good patchi? (sleep)

What did you dream about, polar bear?

Bye polar bear! Have a good day, polar bear!

It was the exact same routine that Cat has gone through with her in the mornings since Madelyn was a newborn, and she was now re-enacting it with her old friend, the polar bear. It was very sweet!

Ukrainian dancing!

Tonight was Alexis's first big Ukrainian Dance recital! We are all SO proud of her, but Madelyn was especially excited! All dolled up in her authentic Ukrainian shirt, brought from overseas thanks to Great Auntie Rose, Madelyn was getting right in there, fascinated by the dance moves and bouncing to the music!

Especially all throughout Alexis's dance, the Roo would be sure to show her support for her cousin by shouting "AYEXIS!" and waving! It was super sweet!

Hey! That's my Daddy!

I took Madelyn to McDonalds for supper tonight. It is not something I want to get into the habit of, but there are the odd evenings where after running errands there's just no time to get her home in time for a proper meal.

There's also the added bonus of the giant play structures!

The McDonalds we went to tonight featured a nearly 30 foot tall maze of twisted plastic and bolts,forming the hugest play structure Madelyn's ever been on! She was a bit tentative at first ("That's so high, Daddy!"), but it only took her one trip down the slide for her to lose any trepidation about climbing those steps!

I was so proud of her. I always am! I'm constantly resisting the urge to go overboard with my pride - I'll grab random strangers and say "Hey! This is my little girl! Look! Isn't she great"!

Well, I got a little bit of that back tonight.

Madelyn made friends with a young girl about the same size, age,and development level, and the two of them made a few trips up the two storeys of steps to the top of the slide. It was fascinating to watch the two of them use their 2 year old vocabulary to communicate with each other.

Around their fourth or fifth time to the top of the slide, Madelyn spotted me at the bottom, and then grabbed her new friend's shirt and gave it a gentle tug. When the friend finally got turned around, Madelyn pointed at me, and with pride in her voice exclaimed...

Look! There's Daddy!"

It was so sweet, almost as if Madelyn was bragging about me, showing me off to strangers the same way I do to her.

The other little girl waved at me, so I waved back. Then Madelyn waved. Then we were all waving. Then I could tell all three of us were waiting for SOMEONE to stop waving so that we could all put our arms back at our sides, so I went stopped first, to the relief of the two toddlers.

I'll never stop being proud of my little girl, and I hope she keeps feeling the same way about her dad!

This needed to get done a while ago!

Such is the story of our lives as of late!

Rewind time....Friday, January 8th - early morning, our little Roo is turning 2! Dono and I spend the evening the night before blowing up balloons and placing them outside her door ...

We hear her stirring in

her twin-sized bed, so proceed to "knock knock knock" on the door, to which she replies in a quiet, sleep

y

, and yet happy voice, "Come in!"

I opened the door just a crack, and stepped back, waiting for her to get out of bed, open the door the rest of the way, and make her big birthday discovery.

"Knock knock knock!"

"....what the....?!"

I think she was telling her "friends" about the surprise. "Were you guys in on this? Did you SEE the balloons out here?!"