Silliness on Monday

The Kitchen Reaction

Julia woke up on Wednesday to her new toy.  Andrew was a little optimistic with his prediction about the 5:30am reaction.  It seems nothing can distract from the morning routine of milk and Sesame Street.  Julia wanted nothing to do with the kitchen when she woke up BUT an hour later she was happily exploring it.  Apparently she was thirsty!

Julia’s First Kitchen

For anyone who has stayed at our home it will come as no surprise that Julia loves exploring the kitchen.  So after a couple of test runs at the toy store with commercial kitchens, my brilliant wife figured out how to build one.  She inventoried the house, sketched plans, hired a contractor and started building. 

 

 

 

As you can see it started pretty simple.  After a few hours on the weekend, and some nighttime labor, she and the hired help delivered a very cute kitchen.

 

 

Here is the proud architect with her wonderfully designed and almost fully stocked kitchen – we just need to add some play food!

 

The big reveal is tomorrow, my guess is that Julia will wake up the entire neighborhood when she sees it at 5:30 am. 

First Haircut

Last weekend we took Julia to get her first haircut.  I have given her a couple of trims in the past but have not attempted the whole head and it was time.  She was excited about going but a little apprehensive when the hairdresser started.  Bunny and sitting on dad’s lap helped that and she ended up with a very cute cut!

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Independence!

We spent the long weekend in Charlottesville with Andrew’s parents.  It was a perfect way to spend the holiday and we all had a fabulous time.  Julia got to spend time at the pool each day which she LOVED.  I was amazed by how comfortable she was in the water.  There’s a ramp that goes into the pool and she just walked right in and kept walking… even when the water was up to her chin… and her nose!  She spent several hours over the weekend splashing around.  It was pretty funny and makes me very excited for our beach vacation later this summer! 

 

The other thing that we have noticed over the past few days is that there have been quite a few moments when Andrew and I have looked at each other amazed by what Julia is doing.  She’s becoming a very independent toddler! 

One example was last night after dinner.  We were hanging out before bed and Julia decided to color.  She went and got paper and crayons and settled herself on the floor:

Then today she and I did our first painting project.

And I was able to put her hair into a ponytail in the back of her head for the first time.

 

She has also been expressing her independence in other ways, especially when she has an opinion that does not quite match her parents’ but the pictures wouldn’t be nearly as cute! :)

Uh-Oh

“Uh-oh”  This is Julia’s new favorite word.  Well, not really new because it’s been heard quite frequently around here for the past two or three weeks but I’m finally getting around to writing about it.  The thing about “uh-oh” is that it can mean almost anything.  She definitely uses in pretty much the proper context but there is no distinguishing in tone between a big" “uh-oh” or a little “uh-oh”!  So when we hear it uttered it could mean “I dropped my bunny on the ground” or “I spilt some water on the floor” or “I just knocked over a whole container of goldfish crackers which were open and are now swimming all over the kitchen floor” or “I just fell on the driveway and skinned both my knees.”  It’s sort of amazing that she does not have more of a reaction to some of these things but to her it’s just an “uh-oh.”  I, on the other hand, usually have a different opinion… especially about things like this:

Father’s Day 2010

This weekend was my second Father’s day as a Dad.  It started off wonderfully, my wife and daughter let me sleep in, then cooked me a delicious breakfast.  They made biscuits, bacon, and yogurt with cherry jam mixed in.  It was a wonderful start to the day.  After breakfast we introduced Julia to her newest toy, the castle!  She took to it right away.

Not sure who taught her to climb up the slide that way.  I think it must have been Alyssa. :)

But she quickly figured it out then started directing everyone.

From there we headed to North Beach for another fun filled afternoon.  Alyssa packed us a wonderful picnic lunch of gazpacho, sandwiches and tomatoes (unfortunately Julia ate all of those).  We had another great time in the water, I think Julia would spend hours in there if she could.  Once we were sufficiently cooled off from the 95 degree day we headed back home to a hang out with Chris, Cristy, Meg & Jack (our neighbors) and cook a wonderful steak dinner.  It was a wonderful fathers day, I couldn’t ask for anything better than spending the day with my wife and daughter.