Duplos Jackpot!

So our baby girlie has recently discovered Lego Duplo blocks - - I knew it'd be just a matter of time! So yeah, she's likes them a lot... So this afternoon, while she was napping, I checked both Amazon.com and Target for Duplo sets ... and oh boy! A basic blocks set of 80 pieces is listed for $20 - - and a 'building set' of only 71 Duplo pieces is listed for $39-46!?! And a 95-piece set with a building plate is listed for $85?!?

IMPORTANT FACT: Anyone who knows anything at all about Legos or Duplos knows you need more than 80 pieces to make yourself a Duplos house!

Well, ten minutes ago I scored a Lot of 410 used Duplo blocks for $28.25 on eBay, thank you very much! CORRECTION: FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY DUPLOS!

And when they get here, I'll throw 'em all into a hot bathtub with some ammonia cleanser and I'll soak 'em, and I'll scrub 'em, and I'll rinse 'em, and after they dry, I'll let her at 'em! And her big brother is coming for Memorial Day weekend --he hasn't been here since Easter!?!-- and I can only imagine the Duplo creations he'll make for her! WOO-HOO!

Sleepy Sweet Potato

My baby girlie is nearly dozing off in her high chair... although she won't say so, I think she's "all done."

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 53

Because he has the ability to step back from himself in order to measure the facts -to objectively weigh the value of our options- and he can come to a solid and sound determination, and he can not only accept it, but act on it, even if it's something he wouldn't necessarily want to do at first.

Happens to be one of the most valuable reasons I have to love and adore him (and it's one of the top reasons I married him!).

Our Shining Star

Our lil' sweet potato has moved from the 'transitioning-into-toddlerhood' Tadpoles class to the 'FULL-BLOWN-TODDLING-EVERYWHERE' toddlers group, Stars!

BACKGROUND INFO: A month before the winter/spring school session was to end, May 7th, her Tadpoles head teacher had said that if our girlie wasn't walking by May 1st, they'd keep her in Tadpoles for the new summer session. Well, she was walking independently by April's end, so her head teacher decided she could move up into Stars with the rest of her classmates. But then the program director worried she was too young when compared to her Tadpole peers, as most of them are 5-7 months older than her, although she's the very same size as the oldest babe in the group. Nonetheless, they proposed that she remain in Tadpoles until June 1st, giving her more time to master her new biped skills. At the same time though, her head teacher voiced that our girlie might regress if she found herself surrounded by a bunch of new, non-walking Tadpoles...

MORE BACKGROUND INFO: As of this week, the majority of the kids who make up the current Stars class were Tadpoles just last week. So this past Monday they'd all moved on and up, ahead of our sweet potato, and she was the only one in her Tadpoles class to remain a Tadpole. But indeed, after all the walking kiddies left Tadpoles and the new crawling-only babies moved into Tadpoles, our girlie became SERIOUSLY and IMMEDIATELY bored with her Tadpoles classroom, with her new classmates, and she began monopolizing her teachers' time, whining a lot and demanding a lot of one-on-one reading time. More importantly, this past Monday and since then, remaining in Tadpoles, she almost altogether quit trying to walk as her primary mode of personal transportation - - She began to crawl again (unless she was with us at home) = NOT GOOD.

So her head teacher talked with the program director and they had our girlie visit the Stars classroom for 'free play' by late Tuesday afternoon, and yesterday they brought her to the Stars classroom during their snack time, and she was just fine with all the older kids, so it became official today - - she's now a Star.

Sooo, she was the second babe to arrive to the Stars classroom this morning, and she immediately recognized the first and only kiddo there, who had moved up from Tadpoles into this new classroom, and my lil' sweet potato, she shrieked with glee and she toddled right over and gave her playmate an enthusiastic pat-pat hug, nearly knocking her lil' friend over.

And right then and there, I melted into a big 'oh-my-darling-daughter-adoring' pile of uber vehclempted goo, right in front of her new Stars head teacher, who I had just met for the first time.

And now I'm off of work, about to go claim my lil' shining Star!

We Have a Puppy!

Last weekend, our baby sweet potato girlie began imitating a doggie, saying "woof, woof!" And this morning she added panting to her doggie imitation. I love it!

Our Lil' Book Worm

Our baby sweet potato girl is a book worm! Her head teacher has confirmed she loves books and more so than any of her classmates. She LOVES "Circle Time," always eager to sit beside her classmates in a semi-circle for daily reading time.

Her definite very first favorite book was "Sounds" from Hinkler Books, part of their Baby's Firsts series. It simply features images of all sorts of things with the sound each makes written across the page bottom. She will still bring this book over, climbing into my lap, ready to hear me read the sounds.

Her second favorite book was a solid tie between Piggy Toe's "Ten Little Ladybugs" and Harper Festival's "Cow Moo Mee" - - she still loves them both, although only recently did she rediscover the "Ten Little Ladybugs," eager now to point out and identify all the different bugs and animals.

Her third favorite book is from Cartwheel Books, "It's Spring," by Samantha Berger. Our lil' sweet potato still really loves this book, nightly, and now points at each of the animals featured, trying each time to use the sign for birdies.

Her fourth favorite book is one of my very favorites - the illustrations are so darling - from Chronicle Books, "My Friends," by Taro Gomi.

Her fifth favorite, a well known classic, "Goodnight Moon" from Harper Festival. This book didn't hit her favorites list though until she was about 11 months old.

We have tons of books for her to read, including a number of great Priddy Books, and nearly a dozen from the fantastic Touchy-Feely board books series by Fiona Watts from Usborne Publishing, but all the aforementioned "Top 5 Favorites" have been the ones she wants read to her, over and over, sometimes each read repeatedly in one sitting.

Not until her first birthday, did she really add new titles to her Top 5 Favorites rotation. It should be noted that we haven't yet been able to trust her to handle paper-page books with care, so the majority of the books we read and give her are all board books... but she has, like, 30 or 40 of them now since her first birthday for which I'd encouraged people to give her board books ~ yay me! Lookin' out for my lil' book worm!

Sooo, her latest BIG BIG favorite that she wants read every night now (along with "Goodnight Moon" and "It's Spring") is a Sandra Boynton board book from Little Simon books, "The Going to Bed Book," given to her for her 1st birthday. She loves this book and will point to all the animals, and she will turn round and look up at me, wanting me to identify each of geanimals as she points to each of them, like the moose and the rhinoceros.

A recent new favorite is another Harper Festival pub, "Harry the Dirty Dog." She goes nuts pointing out all the doggies and birdies and trees and flowers and the butterflies and she just gets soooo excited. She doesn't really let me read this book though - - she wants to flips through the pages faster than I can read them.

Another new favorite is "The Paper Bag Princess" from Annick Press. I think it's the voices I use though to read it that she finds the most amusing - - she doesn't yet know/recognize/appreciate this lil' books fantastic message for young girls. I'm really looking forward to the day I can try to teach other similar lessons, especially important for today's growing girls.

Lastly, the book for which I'd written a blatant plug last week, "On the Night You Were Born," from Feiwel and Friends... It isn't yet on her favorites list, but it's getting close (due to repetition) and all the ladybugs on one of its pages near the book's end. Ha!

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 52

Because he continues to argue with me about the merits of the band Rush, the subject up for discussion again due to a recent Tribeca Film Festival winner.

Him: "Ya gotta put a link to their website... (as he smacks me on the arm with his napkin) ..."Quit making fun of your husband. "

He leans over to see what I'm typing and then he tells me, "You can't post that until you add a link to the band. Go get it right now."

Me: "As if I would EVER post a link to anything RUSH-related on my blog!!!?!"

Him: "How dare you! They're gods among mere mortals."

He's now making me watch some trailer for a Rush documentary - - and I do this, why?
Because I love him...