Morning

Vivien wakes up between 7 and 8.  She likes to be taken out of her crib by Daddy (who is very nice to get her and let his whale of a wife stay beached), have her diaper changed, then say "Where Mama?" until Drew brings her back to our bed so she can snuggle with us for awhile.  Sometimes she'll cuddle up and go back to sleep, sometimes she'll lay there and pat our faces and point out our eyes, noses, mouths, and ears, sometimes she'll talk to her stuffed animals, and sometimes she'll climb all over us till we banish her from the bed.  When she gets tired of waiting for us to wake up, she will go to the door and bang on it till we get up to let her out and feed her.  I usually will take her out of her pajamas for breakfast to save myself some laundry, but if I do it too soon before the food is ready, she will take off her diaper.  I've decided to photograph her in retaliation.

Yesterday we showed her how to fold her arms during the prayer, and today when we all sat down to eat she folded her arms on her own and said "Ready?"  When Drew goes to school, she says "Bye Daddy!" and waves at him.  

I've moved all her clothes down to the bottom drawers of her dresser so she can choose what she wants to wear when it's time to get dressed.  She really likes the purple leggings Grandma Paula got her for Christmas.  She'll point to them and say "poh-poh."  

She has recently developed a fondness for pillows.  She calls them "piyoh-s."  She likes to help me make our bed in the morning because she gets to pick up the pillows (which are as big as she is) and walk them over to me.  When we are finished, she likes to get on the bed and sit in the middle of them like a nest.  

  

We try to go for an outing in the morning in hopes of tiring her out so she'll take a nap in the afternoon.  When she sees me getting ready to leave, she will say "walk?" or "go!"  She will get her shoes out of the closet and bring them to me ("shioo").  Today we went to Matthews Beach Park.  It was a gray day, so we had the whole park to ourselves.  There were seagulls, ravens, ducks, pigeons, and squirrels galore.  

We had to sit and watch them for awhile.  She likes to listen to them and then imitate them.  She does a very good raven impression, though I'm not surprised :)

Vivien will now take you on a tour of the playground equipment.  We start with the Merry-Go-Round.  She likes it, but was confused today when she'd start walking straight towards me and end up somewhere else.  I like how she stomps her foot.

I couldn't get a video of her going down the slide because her rain jacket made her go really fast and she needed two handed catching at the bottom.  You will just have to believe me when I tell you that she loved it.     

I'm going to need to invest in a Shammy to take to the park with us--everything is always wet, and my sleeves can only hold so much moisture . . .