I'm too busy right now

OK I promise to put some pics up on the next posting, but I just finally recharged my battery and haven't uploaded any yet. So for now, here are some more entertaining Maria stories.

I had given Maria a kleenex for her nose and she happily announced that she got a booger (sorry TMI), so I said yay! let me see (something I never thought I'd say). So she comes over and I say great can you throw it away? She was playing with my radio at this point and says, "No, Mommy you can throw it away. I'm too busy right now." greaaaat.

She's also started retelling stories of events that have happened in the previous weeks. Today I was serving her a piece of leftover cake from Papa's birthday. She goes on to do a pretend cry and then says, "I was crying, then Abuela said 'you'll have cake when we get home', then I said 'oh that's exactly what I need!'"
First of call what kid says "oh that's exactly what I need!" - another phrase that I'm not sure where she picked up (but one that I prefer over, go away!). Second, she was retelling me the story of when she went to the bakery with Abuela on Wednesday to get Abuelo's cake and had a meltdown and threw herself on the floor of the bakery because she wanted cake right then and there. hilarious.

on the topic of 'go away' - I got her to stop saying it. When she recently said it, I told her 'hey mommy is not the cat in the hat and you are not the fish!". Since then, when she's about to say it she changes her mind and says, "I'm the fish and you're the cat in the hat" and then laughs. Silly girl.

...and last story...she's been singing songs in English forever, but today for the first time she clearly sang a Spanish bedtime song, Duermese mi nina, with a couple of verses! So cute :)

WHAT?! GO AWAY!

On our car rides Maria and I often sing different songs together. Here was today's conversation:

Me: Maria what song should we sing today?
Maria: No singing!
Me: What? No singing?! Oh no! What are we supposed to do instead?
Maria: Eat!
Me: Oh! That's my girl! (as I munch on a breakfast bar)
Maria: Mommy, are you eating? Can I have some?
Me: I was eating, but I already finished my bread, so I can't give you any.
Maria: WHAT?!

I've realized now that Greg and I say "What?!" often enough, so that it's now part of her vocabularly. Another phrase that has recently sprung up is "Go away!". Over the couple of months I think she has used it on Abuela and Papa, Nana and me. She usually has said it when we go to get her out of her crib and she doesn't want to get out. This week she used it twice in one day - once when having a meltdown at the front door and she wanted to me to go inside before her and later in the day at the grocery store when she was done and wanted us to leave and got mad so she finally just yelled go away! to me. Well that night I was telling Greg that I have no idea how she came up with the phrase or where she ever heard it. Alas, my husband who has probably read the Cat in the Hat more times than he ever thought he would, reminded me of the lines in the book where the fish is telling the cat to "go away"! UGH! All along I thought this was an innocent cute book and was oh so proud that Maria had memorized most of it and would recite it...only to have it lead my toddler to telling her mommy to "go away!" when she doesn't want me around! Goes without saying that the Cat in the Hat is on hiatus for the time being.

Mickey meets Maria!

After postponing our Disneyland trip by a week due to Maria having a fever, we finally made it to the Happiest Place on Earth for Maria's first visit. We were joined by Cousin Bella for her first visit with her mommy and daddy and Abuela and Papa. It's been almost a month since our visit and Maria is still singing "It's a fall world" (It's a small world) and everytime she sees a train she talks about the "train at Disneyland where we see Dinosaurs!". Her other favorite activity was going in Sleeping Beauty's castle, which I thought would scare her but totally didn't.

I was absolutely exhausted from the trip. We got there at 8am and lasted till 10pm with Maria experiencing her first bloody nose in the middle of Adventureland thrown in the mix. Even though it was like the Matterhorn, Space, Splash, and Thunder Mountains didn't even exist on this trip, I would do it again in a heartbeat! It was so much fun to see Maria and Bella laughing and staring wide-eyed in amazement at all of the fun things a trip to Disneyland brings!

First ride of the day, the carousel, which was also Maria's first carousel ride (is it weird that she rode a real horse before riding a carousel horse?!).

Followed, by a ride on Dumbo, where we of course had to ride in the purple Dumbo! First pic is my attempt at a self-portrait mid-air :)

Then one of the girls' favorite rides - Casey Jr. They laughed so hard during that ride. It was hilarious to watch.

Here's a video of them on Casey Jr. I have a feeling that these girls are going to love Big Thunder and Space Mountain in a few years!

We then headed off to Toontown, which of course was a hit since Maria loves watching and reading about Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and got the clubhouse for Christmas (goes without saying that we spent a significant amount of time here). She had her first character encounter with Pluto and went up to him - and later to Donald, Goofy, and Mickey - and gave him a big hug - so unfortunately most of my pics are of her back!

Cousin Bella wasn't as excited to get up close and personal with our Disney Friends, but she did manage to pose with Donald for one of the pics!

After the 90 minute wait to see Mickey, we finally found him! (luckily for Maria we had no idea the wait was that long - otherwise she would have had to have settled for just meeting all of the other characters)

And since my parents waited with us for all that time I told them they HAD to take a pic with Mickey too!

Here's Maria being her silly little self, pulling her hat over her face just as I told her say "cheese"! ..and our last ride of the day :)

Final video - this one shot by Papa. Forward to the 2:44 mark. When Maria hears the beat of music, the girl will stop in her tracks and start to dance (that's my girl!). At Disneyland, that means she will break into dance at any moment's notice!

Candyland

Maria received a Candyland game for Christmas. Although it's for 3+ I thought we'd try it out yesterday. All went well (counting, colors, etc.) until we got about 3/4 of the way through (we were almost to the King!) and Maria decided that it would be more entertaining to have the Gingerbread people "talk" with each other and dance. oh well. :)

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas Everyone!

With Baby Jesus at Church

Christmas Eve with Abuela, Papa, Aunties Elisa, Yaya, and Evie, Uncles Brad, Billy, and Don and Cousins Bella and Aidan

The best Cousin shot!

The best Cousin and Abuelos shot!

Uncle Don and Auntie Evie looking on at the chaos of opening gifts with 3 toddlers on Christmas Eve

Maria kinda shut down by the time we opened gifts on Christmas Eve, leaving us to unwrap her gifts. All she would do is repeatedly say "Open It! Open It! Open It!" after each gift was opened, until we opened it. Lovely. But Aidan and Bella really enjoyed tearing open their gifts!

By Christmas morning though, Maria was re-energized and ready to unwrap her gifts from Santa!

She is a big fan of Charlie Brown (swayed a bit by all of Daddy's decorations on the front lawn) and Santa knew it - leaving all of her gifts decorated in that theme. She kept repeating - "Charlie Brown Christmas!"A quick visit from Abuela and Papa on Christmas morning, with her cheesey smile

Playing with her new playhouse - or clubhouse as she calls it - that Santa left outside. Not thinking clearly, we showed her this gift on our way out to Nana's house. So of course, she didn't want to leave and it took uis a bit longer than expected to get on the road!

Finally we arrived at Nana's and Grandpa's house! Maria goes in to give Sammy the Snowman a hug :)

Posing with her new dolly stroller - just like the doll crib she got at her birthday, she decided to get right inside of it!

Santa left her an art easel. Maria was funny with this - she started a game of immediately erasing whatever Uncle Matt or Nana drew on it. That killed a lot of time!

Here are some additional random Christmas shots. The first are from a Breakfast with Santa at the local mall and the first time Maria rides on a little train by herself.

A walk through Christmas tree lane. Maria got her first yummy taste of hot chocolate, and of course loved it. She was quite cozy in her jacket, mittens, blankets, and wagon!

Love this look!

Nana's birthday and other December pictures

Here is Maria enjoying some time with Nana on Nana's birthday :)

A week before on Maria's birthday we took her picture with her pink elephant - here are a couple of pics followed by one of her when she was 1 month old. Feeding the sheep at the Christmas tree lot.

Riding her first trike that she got from Abuela and Papa for her birthday. She hasn't quite figured out how to pedal and steer at the same time - but at least she will finally wear the helmet!