Getting Back to Our Roots

We spent Memorial Day planting flowers. Chris made a pretty redwood planter and matching storage bench. Mercy was a super helper. We have a tiny vegetable garden in the back yard and have enjoyed peas, strawberries, and a bumper crop of lettuce. We're looking forward to seeing if the heirloom tomato plant produces. It's already taller than me and about 3 feet in diameter! (SS)

Funny Things She's Said

My favorite method of Mercy waking me up was kissing me all over my face, but a close second was this boisterous greeting: "Wake up, mama lady!" Also memorable was the time she spoke in perfect syncopation with the alarm: "(beep)...TIME...(beep)...TO...(beep)...WAKE...(beep)...UP!"

Yesterday morning she actually wanted me to STAY in bed and said, "Let me get a much better pillow for you. There you go."

While I was singing her to sleep one night she reached up and patted my cheek and said, "Another song, sweetie pie?"

One day she was having a great time riding on her toy car outside and asked, "Wanna ride, mama? I'm pretty sure it's happiness for you!"

One day on our way home in the car she was asking if daddy would be home from work when we got there. "Can I play with dada? Can I be funny? Can I be crazy? And weird? I like him. He's a nice man. He's a sweetie."

Two!

How did it happen? We blinked and two years went by.

Here are Mercy's current stats:

Height: 35 inches

Weight: 32 pounds

Shoe size: 8 W

Number of teeth: 16

Favorite color: orange

Favorite animal: lion

Favorite letter: Y

Favorite things: babies and dogs

We celebrated on Easter Sunday with family, had a special spaghetti dinner and cake tonight with just the three of us, and we'll have a party with her little friends next weekend. I'm ok with spreading it out--I'm still getting used to the idea of her being two and may or may not have cried my eyes out TWICE today, but I'm not tellin'. (SS)

Carlsbad

We took a little day-and-half spring-break trip to Carlsbad this weekend. It consisted mainly of relaxing, going to the beach, and visiting the flower fields. Sweet time.

Mercy

um...self-explanatory.

Tumbling Take 2

Disclaimer: This is a little bit of bragging on our girl. But it is a whole blog about her, after all. And the people who read it love her and would be proud of her too. Am I right?

Mercy is taking a tumbling class again, but it's FUN this time. Ahem. Last summer, when she was 15 months old, we took it for the first time, and frankly, I was the one getting the workout squatting up and down for 45 minutes trying to help her do all the stuff! And then there was the fact that she would simply refuse to do some things. AND it was really crowded with other 1 - 2 1/2 year olds and their parents, many of them just wandering around (the kids, that is). . . Anyway, I was brave enough to sign up again, and am SO GLAD I did. Mercy is doing great and really enjoys it, too. She's not afraid of the apparatuses (yes, that is the plural. My instinct was apparati, but I guess not), follows directions much better now and is just so much more physically capable. Plus, there are only 4 kids in her class this time (and three teachers!) so it's just better all around. She talks excitedly about tumbling class during the week and practices the things they've taught her. They have pretty high expectations, in my opinion, and each week I think the maneuvers are kind of a stretch, but then she amazes me and gets it by the next class. She is doing forward rolls and eagle rolls (feet apart and hands behind the back) on her own, and wants me to help her do headstands at home, and she is surprisingly good on the balance beam (don't worry--it's hardly above ground-level). The first week her teacher asked her to walk on her tiptoes backward on the beam and she did! I thought, "Wow, Mercy, you have skills I didn't even know about!" So, I'm not saying she's the next Shawn Johnson, but I think this class is so beneficial for her and lots of fun. Of course, getting a stamp on her hand at the end is a major highlight, too. (SS)

Going Forth

I found out that the posts can be back-dated, so I can go ahead with what's happening now and fill in the past at the same time and everything will be in chronological order. So, scroll down once in awhile to check if there's anything you haven't seen. Thanks for your patience everyone! (SS)