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.