Playing in the yard & hamming it up for the camera

Lauren was a big help in the yard today. Daddy was mowing the lawn, while Mommy raked and swept leaves that were left over from the winter. Lauren helped me sweep and played outside for a few hours. She loves being outside. She had fun smelling the tulips and helping Mommy pick up sticks.

Lauren was sick again, poor thing. She had a virus and an ear infection. She ran a fever of 102, threw up and was all around miserable for 2 days. Thankfully she's back to her happy self.

She's really talking up a storm these days. She'll tell us if she's thirsty (firsy), point out many things by name, she's starting calling me Mommy on occasion instead of Mama, and today she pointed at herself in the mirror and said Lauren for the first time (Yowen). She keeps amazing me with her vocabulary and her ability to communicate with us. She’s also starting to memorize some of the words in her books and will say them when they are coming up – especially the ones in Good Night Moon.

Lauren loves guacamole. I wish I would have had our camera with us at dinner tonight. We went out for Mexican and she went wild for the guacamole. She started by dipping her chip in it, then she was taking handfuls of it and shoving it in her mouth, then she dipped her Barbie’s feet in it and licked it off, then she resorted to picking the bowl up and trying to pour it in her mouth. She had us laughing so hard!

She’s becoming quite the ham for the camera. Today for the first time, she would smile for the camera when I would ask her too – a big toothy grin. What a cutie pie! See the pics below.

Beautiful, happy girl!

My bright eyed girl!

Smile for the camera!

My little ham.

Funny

If you ask Lauren what a truck does when it goes backwards, she'll walk backwards and say "beep, beep, beep, beep".

Ha, ha, ha.

Hoppy Esu!

Happy Easter! or Hoppy Esu, as Lauren says. Here's a picture of Lauren's Easter basket. The bunny tried, but he couldn't fit the chair inside...

She found her Easter basket!

Lauren and cousin Brynn had fun playing together!

I'm pooped from all the fun!

The day before Easter

The next door neighbors invited us over for an Easter egg hunt. The Easter Bunny was even there! Lauren did a great job hunting and found lots of eggs.

Lauren checks out the Easter Bunny

Lauren & Friends at the Easter egg hunt.

Lauren colored Easter eggs.

The day of the baby doll

Lauren got lots of laughs today out of banging her baby dolls head on the glass table. Then she fed her at least 100 bottles and burped her. She didn't want that doll out of her sight today. We had a family Target outting today and Lauren ran wild through the store laughing hysterically.

We may have kicked this Mommy phase, or maybe I shouldn't speak too soon. I went out two times this week leaving Matt to put Lauren to bed without me home. She went down with no problems. I guess me not being around made a difference. He's up putting her to bed now with me home and so far, so good, no crying!

She slept like mad this weekend. 8:30 pm - 9:00 am Friday night and again Saturday night and a nice two hour nap in the afternoon. What a blessing for us!

Time to potty train?

I think it's time to get started on potty training. She's been telling us for quite awhile when she goes potty. Today she says "potty" and then I ask "Did you go potty?" and she says "Yesh". I love the way she says yes, it's so cute. She's been answering questions with yes quite a bit lately which is fairly new for her. I asked her if she was thirsty today and she said "yesh". :)

We spent the day today playing and running errands. It's so fun having her around. She's so good when we are out. She says hi to everyone and points out everything she knows. She tells babies that cry "shhh", and and surprises me with some of the things she points out.

Lately we like to play a "do what I say" type game. I'll say, touch your toes, or twist, or pat your thighs, or stick out your tounge. She love it and will play for ages. She figures out most everything I tell her to do.

She's still Mommy's good little helper. When we unload the dishwasher, I tell her what each piece of silver ware is and say thank you when she hands it to me. Today she handed me a fork and yelled "FORK, THANK YOU!" She very rarely says thank you so it really made me laugh. She has learned to say "bless you" when we sneeze. She even told Buddy bless you when he sneezed today. What good manners little miss has!

The sweetest thing...

I swear Lauren is the sweetest little thing on earth. She runs to us to give hugs and kisses and she's just so darn sweet! She listens very well too. She's just all around a good kid.

She's smart as a whip too. Grammy's really been working with her on counting and she's starting to learn to count to ten. This weekend we got a 2, 3, 5, 8, and 10 (or something like that) out of her. Today I got a 2, fwe, 8. She's inconsistant, but she's definitely learning it! It blows my mind how quickly they learn.

Figuring out her language has me laughing all of the time. She calls boobies "beeboos", and bananas are "banyas".

She can be a stinker though. She's definitely going through a Mommy phase. She will not let Daddy put her to sleep lately. She'll play all night with him, but the second he sits in the rocking chair, she starts crying and calling out Mommy. She won't let him go to her in the night either. Poor Daddy. She also won't go into the nursery at church anymore without crying like crazy. Hopefully she'll outgrow this soon.

Corinne's visit

Aunt Laura, Uncle Pat & Corinne came and had a sleep over with us this weekend. Lauren & Corinne had lots of fun playing together. Here they are dancing in their PJ's Sunday morning. (click on the picture below)