Outside

We are all so happy the weather is good these days. For me, it's like having an extra, giant room for the kids. We put Veronica in the playplen out there and Maria and Anthony run around and chase each other and even though he sometimes gets mad or sad and Maria falls down every 3-4 seconds, it's still better than being inside in the rotten old winter.

Candy Necklace

Maria and I went to a birthday party playgroup today and she got a candy necklace. She liked it, but whipped it off her head to eat the candy, which is why her hair is such a mess.

Pretty

I love her look, I love looking at her face. Her eyelashes are so long and her eyes are so blue. I even love her birthmark. I love her messy hair and her little nose. Ooh and it is a good thing.

She never stops moving or talking

In the Tub

You can find her in the tub, we always sing to her.

Salute!

She's eating my birthday cake here, she loves it. We are keeping it out in the fridge in the garage but she keeps going out there and getting it. She is having a good weekend, doing her share of demanding and crying but she is happy and laughing too.

Oh Maria.

This is her face, like, a LOT of the time.

Cook! Cook!

Cook!, she kept yelling as she took (lidded) spices and shook them into a pot on the stove. She is driving me mad - she napped from 10:30 to 11:00, which makes me dread the whole rest of the day. And week. And year. :)

Looking at Veronica

Video

This is a video of Maria, taken last week in the morning, right after Anthony and Mike had left for school and work. She is a big faker.

Who Cares if she's the Devil?

Right? When she's this cute?

Wrath?

Is that one of the seven deadly sins? Because, not for nothing, I think Maria has a lot of them. Gluttony (juice? JUICE? JUICE? JUUUUUUIIIIIICCCCEEEEE?), Wrath (as pictured), Sloth (she does nothing), Envy (she can't stand when anyone has anything that she thinks might be hers)... I can't think of any of the other ones. Hmmm. I'm going to keep an eye on her like she's the devil. As if I haven't been already.

She never closes her mouth

She never stops talking. Sometimes she starts saying words and ends up saying, like, 'usha usha busha buj', but it works for her. She and Anthony played outside last night, in the light rain, for a long time after dinner. She loves being outside. That is a gigantic understatement. I'm looking forward to when she can open the damned door by herself is all.

Be Fierce!

That's what I told her, like Tyra would. Ha! No, I didn't.

Pajamas and Boots

She's already been outside today, even though it's raining. I think it will all be a little bit easier once Veronica isn't napping in the morning anymore. It's hard on Maria to not just go right out the door in the morning, regardless of what others are doing, if others have to take naps, if others aren't even out of their pajamas yet. She's had a taste of SPRING and FREEDOM and she wants MORE!

Watching Anthony

Outside

Maria is a pain in many ways, but the worst of it is when she wants to go outside, but she wants you to go outside, too. Even if you are feeding the baby, or cleaning the house, or going to the bathroom, or just plain don't WANT to go outside. So you tell her, gently, that you can't go outside right now and before you can finish your sentence, she SCREAMS at you, "OUTSIDE! OUTSIIIIIIIIDE!". I feel bad for her but as usual, for me too.

DVD

She's constantly taking DVD's out of the package now and putting them in the player and starting them. She doesn't want to watch them, but she loves to get them started!

Look at her thumb

She's so funny. There's her original hat.

Pretty

Thief

She stole that hat from Anthony while they were outside. She had a whole different hat on when she first went out. That sweater is from my grab bag sale, it's from the Gap and it's size 2 years but it's giant on her.

She and Anthony played outside quite a bit today. She likes to have her clothes off, though, so every time she wanted to go out, we had to find her pants and shoes and coat and hat.

Pretty Baby

Thank God, she's a pretty thing. She can NOT get by on her personality at this point. I'm so glad Laura is here helping me this weekend because I feel so VINDICATED. Finally, someone to say "yes, she is insane!".