3 years old!

My parents came to town for Rory's birthday. As a surprise, they also brought Kendall, who is Rory's favorite toy essentially. Kendall spent the night, helped frost cupcakes for the party, and then made the mistake of choosing to sleep in Rory's room with Rory. At 5:30, after hours of getting kicked (and scared by the yelling in Rory's sleep we forgot to warn her about), Kendall sent Rory to our room after Rory had told her "I'm awake!". Rory came to our room and said, "Mommy! Daddy! I'm awake! Am I three years old now??"

Her party was a small brunch for about 15 people at Kaldi's coffee house, complete with an art project for the kids to work on. It was casual, but it seemed to be enough to entertain the three year olds.

Birthday Prep

Rory wanted to make her own birthday cupcakes for her party. She can DO it, it's just not pretty.

Candyland Crazy

Rory has officially entered the world of board games. She had never tried one and was christened into them this holiday season with Candyland and a couple others. She has been playing all of them, but Candyland is king! Wow. She wants to play the second she gets up, before she's even out of bed. She wants to play every night before bed. She plays with us, and has recently taken to playing against her pink teddy bear. I'm not sure she really gives the teddy bear many turns, and the teddy bear DEFINITELY does not get to keep any of the "favorite" cards if he should get them, such as the Gumdrop, Ice Cream Cone, Candy Cane, etc. Oh no. Those are hers. She's actually VERY good-natured playing the games (apparently she did not get her mommy's competitive game-playing gene), animated and funny. And she's a good sport. But teddy just doesn't seem to notice when it's his turn, the Gingerbread Man is drawn, and Ro says, "Oh, look what I got!".

BTW, for the first couple of weeks, she thought the Peanut was the "Potato Latke" card!

Elmo's Green Thumb

Jason, Mimi and I took Ro to see Elmo's Green Thumb, the Sesame Street show.  She loved it! 

President Barack Obama

I had to write a topical post since I hope that one day Rory will see this and look back on her own history, as part of the country's history. Yesterday was the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States. Jason and I watched the inauguration together here at Wash U, in the student union, with a couple hundred students. Rory watched at school. When I picked her up she was telling me all about it. Here's some of the conversation:

Rory: Mommy, where is Barack Obama?

Mommy: He's in Washington, D.C. honey.

Rory: No he isn't, Mommy. He's in AMERICA!

Mommy: You are so right, Rory.

Rory: Can Barack Obama come to my house?

Mommy: Well, Ro, he's pretty busy. I don't think he'll be coming to our house. He works a lot.

Rory: Does he go to other people's houses?

Mommy: Not really, Ro. He works a lot, then goes home to see his family. I don't think he gets out a lot just to visit houses.

Rory: If he will go to people's houses, he can knock on the door, and if they open it, he can come in and he can bring them a PRESENT!

Mommy: Really? Wow. What kind of presents do you think Barack Obama would bring people, Ro?

Rory: He can bring me a giant black Slinky! I saw one at Uncle Jeff's house!

So, I do believe that my child has cast some Santa-esque qualities onto President Obama. I think this is a great representation of what her mind can comprehend about all this right now. It's amazing to think that she will grow up in a world where she doesn't know any different. There have always been African-American Presidents in her world. Amazing.

Jason's Creative Work

Jason is getting creative.  Here's a video from April 1, 2006, when Rory was about 7 weeks old.  I don't remember this moment at all, but love this clip.  Beautiful job, Jas.  I'm amazed at how communicative she looks, like she's just soaking up every word and facial expression.

Fancy Girl

Everything is about being fancy these days. Rory loves the Fancy Nancy books. She has a new fancy robe (like Fancy Nancy), and fancy shoes. She loves fancy things in her hair. Check out the fancy girl.

Budding Artist

Rory got an easel for Hanukkah this year and is having a good time with it. Here is the budding artist this morning.  And even Sydney likes Ro's art!

Holiday Party for Work

The Dean had a holiday brunch and we just got the pictures back from the photographer who was there. Rory could not have been more excited about these cookies. (OK, I must admit, I couldn't either. They were PHENOMENAL!) But despite her enthusiasm, Rory still shared her cookie with Daddy.  All grandparents: don't worry, copies of these pics are being sent to you soon!

What are you grateful for?

I promise to post some pictures soon, but I just had to post this story from last night first!

Yesterday Tasha (Debbie and Harvey's dog) came back from the vet where she had been boarded for a week while we were all gone. She is typically a very quiet dog. She doesn't bark or whine. Not a sound. Apparently at the vet, some other dog taught her to howl. Being a small girly dog, it sounds a bit like a car alarm - "WoooOOOOOP! WoooooOOOOOOP!" It doesn't seem like it's a sound that could be coming from a dog, so it's pretty funny. And Tasha was having a lot of fun with that sound around the same time we were putting Rory to bed.

Rory had been in bed for a bit when she called for us. Jason went in and she said, "Daddy, we didn't talk about what we're grateful for!" (This is something we do every night, and will get it's own separate post sometime because of some of the funny things Rory is grateful for.) Jason said, "You're right, Rory. What are you grateful for?"

No lie - THIS is her answer:

"I'll tell you what I'm NOT grateful for, Daddy. I'm not grateful for Tasha howling and waking me up!"

She's 2, going on 30.

Filling in the gaps

I filled in the gaps of this fall with a couple of videos I meant to post when they were fresh. I back-dated them so they stay true in the sequence of when things happened. If you'd like to check out two very short videos, check out August 24 and September 13.

The Joys of Parenting

I walked in the kitchen last night and told Jason and Mimi, "I just poured pee out of sparkle shoes."

The Library

Have we talked about what a blessing the public library is?  There's one not far from our house.  Rory seems to devour books, so the first week we moved, we got a library card.  Every Saturday we head to the library.  We don't actually go there to pick out books, because we reserve them online ahead of time.  Rory goes to the library for Poo.  Oh wait, that's Pooh.  In the children's room at the library, there is a shelf with large stuffed animals ("germ traps", as Daddy calls them).  Rory runs in and picks up Pooh, gives him a giant squeeze (while Daddy gags and searches for hand sanitizer), then puts him in a chair so she can read him a story.  Sometimes Piglet and Clifford the Big Red Dog get to join the party, too.  She gets a few books and proceeds to make up stories (and even words) while she loudly (despite our "shhhh"s) describes the pictures to them. 

After her story time, we go up to the front counter.  Rory hands the people at the desk our library card and asks if we have anything waiting.  They come back with a stack of books and Rory immediately starts LOUDLY TELLING EVERYONE WHAT EVERY BOOK IS.  It's embarassing as heck, but the librarians love it because she's giddy with excitement about her books.

Here are some of her recent favorites:

• "A Good Day", by Kevin Henkes
  
• anything by Todd Parr (the "Otto" books)
  
• anything by Mo Willems (the Pigeon books, the Elephant & Piggy books, and Knufflebunny books)
• "Blueberries for Sal", by Robert McCloskey
  
• "Pinkalicious", by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann
  
• "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake", by Laura Numeroff
  
• "The Giving Tree", by Shel Silverstein
• "Silly Sally", byAudrey Wood
  
• "The Napping House", by Audrey Wood
• "Fancy Nancy", by Jane O'Conner
• "Where the Wild Things Are", by Maurice Sendak
• "Kitten's First Full Moon", by Kevin Henkes
  

Before the Sugar High

While we still can, we thought it would be fun for US to pick Rory's costume. We plotted and planned for weeks behind her back to create a costume we thought she would love. We picked Rory's favorite character from a book for this year. In case you aren't familiar with Mo Willems' Pigeon series, here is the picture from "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!", Ro's favorite.

And here is our version, where our pigeon actually gets to DRIVE THE BUS! :

I made the pigeon and Jason made the bus. She will, of course, have black tights and black shoes tonight to be as accurate as possible, but these were taken a couple weeks ago when we completed the costume and showed it to her. A minute after this picture was taken, a real school bus drove by the house, saw Rory, and stopped in the middle of the street to honk and wave. I'm not sure Rory has had a happier moment.

Two Statements, One Minute

I NEVER thought I'd say these two things to my daughter in the same minute at the kitchen table, but alas, I did.

"Rory, don't put your hand in your crack."

"Rory, don't put grapes in your eyes."

Welcome to the world of toddlers.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Rory Liv

Mommy, Daddy, Mimi, Poppy and Rory were joined by the Joneses for a trip to Rombach's Pumpkin Farm this weekend.

YOU WRITE THE CAPTION

For those of you who don't know, the VP debate is tomorrow here on the Washington University campus, basically across the street from my office. You never know who you might see on campus the next couple of days! Post a comment below and lets see who comes up with the best caption. Don't forget to check back and see what other people wrote!

 

Hooray for Homelessness

As of two weeks ago, we are officially no longer homeowners and we are ecstatic!! A couple with a new baby bought our house in Pearland (we understand that she actually went into labor while visiting our house, a clear sign they are supposed to be there). Especially now that Hurricane Ike hit this weekend, we are glad that we no longer had property down there to be worried about.

Hello Everybody in Dubuque!

14 seconds

Uncle Jeff visited us here in St. Louis. Over some strawberry crepes, Rory wanted to pass on a hello to everyone else in Dubuque.

My New Favorite Picture

This is my new favorite picture of Jason and Rory. He was tickling her while getting in the car on her way to her first day at preschool. I LOVE seeing them like this!

Hopscotch

29 seconds

Rory's Tea Party

At Rory's school, when it's time for a celebration of some sort (birthday, whatever), they have a tea party.  To celebrate Rory's last days at Hope's toddler program before heading off to preschool, they had a tea party and we were invited.  Rory and her friends Hannah and Audrey helped set the table, and Rory brought blueberry muffins for everyone.  She even got to wear her fancy party dress.  Check it out!

"I'm Frustrated!"

For the past two nights, when we put Rory to sleep, we've then heard through the monitor, "I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated! I'm Frustrated! I'M FRUSTRATED!" Until now, we've never heard her use this word.

Last night when I went in to ask what was wrong, she said, "I'm frustrated, Mommy."

"Why are you frustrated, Rory?"

"I want you to come in here and you aren't coming."

Well, what can you say to that? "I can see that would be frustrating, Rory. Right now, though, it isn't time for Mommy to be in here with you. It's time for you to be going to sleep."

Sometimes she is too smart for her own good. I'm not sure how much longer we will be able to keep up.

Fountains at Tower Grove Park

Mike and Melissa invited us to hang out with them and take Rory to the fountains at Tower Grove Park. Here are a few pictures of the girl in action. A couple are fuzzy. She's fast.

Special Girl

Today, Rory's school was having an outdoor fun day. The kids all brought their scooters or tricycles so they could wash them, they had a huge ball/sprinkler thing outside this morning, there were bubble stations, pools, just about everything. They even had a watermelon-eating contest. They say a 15-month old typically wins, as it's an age where they love watermelon, but we joked when we heard that: "They have no idea who they are up against."

Here is the email I received an hour ago from Rory's teacher, Casey:

"Jill,

Your girl did it, she won the watermelon eating contest. She ate 18 pieces, they were pretty small but she did eat 18 to win it. Take home your trophy tonight if you want it. She had so much fun and did so many things, keeping herself very busy. She decided to use me as her napkin when she was done with the watermelon and thought that it was so funny.

You really have yourself an amazing child. Enjoy every minute... I do!

Sincerely,
Casey"

OB LA DI OB LA DA

Visit from Lynn and girls

My friend Lynn came to visit from Indianapolis with her wonderful girlies, Becca and Anna. It was the first time our kids met each other, and Rory was ready to be friends before they even got out of the car. We went to the zoo (way too hot) and to the Botanical Gardens to feed the koi fish. Rory's favorite part was having friends in the house.

"Hey guys? Want to play downstairs? Hey guys? Want to dance? Hey guys? Want to take a bath with me?"

Bye Ice Cream

Rory finishing off ice cream recently. She doesn't really care what it is, as long as it has sprinkles!

Heading to Preschool!

Yesterday when we dropped off Rory at school the director, David, stopped us and wanted to talk to us about Rory. Apparently he and Rory's teacher, Lupe, had met and think that Rory is going to be ready for preschool early. The plan was to send her in January (right before she turned 3), maybe even November. Now, the plan is SEPTEMBER! She will have just turned 2 1/2 in August, which is their absolute minimum age to start at the preschool. Her school includes an infant/toddler community, which is what she's in now, and a preschool, which is a separate building down the block, run by David's wife, Suzie. I think we've ironed out which class she'll go into and who her teacher will be, and from what we know, we are excited about this class.

The markers for being ready include: being able to recognize primary and secondary colors; being able to express yourself verbally; being able to follow 3-step sets of directions. I forget the rest of it right now. Anyway, Big Girl is going to preschool this fall!!

Botanical Garden

Rory's new favorite place in the world is the Missouri Botanical Gardens. She went for a school field trip when we first got here, and we've taken her twice since. She asks EVERY nice day if we can go. Her favorite thing... riding the "sheep". Here are some pics from the various trips. And she loves to finish the trip with a giant apple on the way home (how happy can one kid look??).