Sunday, June 22, 2008

Hooray for Summer!

Sunday, June 22, 2008 by Dawn B
Hi friends,
Thea here.
I understand you're all eager for a little update.
Well, life is good now that summer's here. Mom is finally seeing that I'm not a baby and giving me a little more of the "big girl stuff" (note my stylin' toenails). I stayed really, really still while Mommy painted them and we read books until they dried. Now every time I take my socks off--it's like a happy surprise all over again: "My toenails--red!"


Of course, this last month was busy with a lot of big social events. We've been to lots of what they call "open houses." Despite the name, I'm still not allowed to explore the entire house!
Here I am at Bridget's open house playing a game with my friend Pastor Mark. He's so easy to amuse.
We noticed we were wearing the same sort of hat and started messing around with them.
Eventually, of course, I got hold of HIS hat. Ha, ha, ha!




I've also been helping Mommy in the garden.
Here we are gearing up to plant some flowers.
I'm not a big fan of worms, so I let mommy do the digging part, but I helped her figure out which flowers should go where.






My other favorite summer activity can be summed up in one word :"PARK!" I love going to parks--and the fine city of Sioux Falls has many.
I love playgrounds, and the wading pools, and the fun kids shows that the Parks dept. puts on during the summer.
My favorite recent theatrical production was about "a girl and her purple purse. A man taked it." Oh the drama! Very intense.



Last but not least, my favorite excursion is definitely the ZOO!
I love pushing my stroller around the zoo and seeing my friends--rhino and monkey and giraffe and lao hu (that's "tiger" for those of you who don't speak Chinese).






They even have a little train that we can ride in. Here's a picture of daddy and me on the train. Oh, how I love that "little train!"


Here's a picture of me and daddy with one of the lao hu's at the zoo. There are two of them, so we always sing them the famous children's song from China "Liang zhe lao hu" or "two tigers."


Since they're asian tigers, they really like it when you sing to them in Chinese. It helps them feel more at home.


Here's the English words to our song:
Two tigers, two tigers,
running very fast, running very fast,
one has no eyes,
one has no tail,
isn't that strange, isn't that strange?

Thankfully, both of the tigers at our zoo have their eyes and tails.

Finally, here's some footage of me having a little race with one of my zoo friends. Enjoy!

Friday, June 06, 2008

Big News in Toddler Town!

Friday, June 06, 2008 by Dawn B
Hi friends!
I've just started something really great . . .really exciting . . . Mommy and Daddy just can't get enough of it . . .

I'm wearing underwears!
I would gladly show you them, but Mommy says I'm not supposed to show everyone my underwears. It's "a private thing." But that doesn't stop me talking about it--to everyone I meet!
And Mommy and Daddy are such fans of the whole "going potty" thing, that they don't even mind if I tell everyone I meet that "I'm wearing underwears!"
Today I'm sporting the latest in Disney princess underwears. I also have the entire "Dora" line and some key wardrobe selections in the Le Pooh Bear Avec Fraises Collection. Although Mommy overlooked them at first, I managed to spot some really cool underwears with Spider Man on them. They glow in the dark and each one has a pocket in the front! How cool is that!
Speaking of cool, I timed this whole transition quite well, if I say so myself. Mommy was thinking the time was right a few months ago, but, as I like to remind her, some things just can't be rushed. Now that the weather is getting warmer, it's really the right time to be . . .