Two-and-a-half!!!!

Last week Josie hit the two-and-a-half mark. It's so hard to believe that the march to three has begun. This is likely one of those "more for us than for you" posts, but I wanted to get down some of her development milestones since this blog doubles as a babybook/journal/scrapbook/etc.

At 2 1/2...

• Her favorite things to play with are: puppets, dolls, playkitchen, tricycle, Rody, and books!
• Her favorite things to do are: cutting and pasting, stamping and stickering, painting and coloring and "making masterpieces".
• She likes to pretend: to go to the zoo, to comfort her dolls and animals, to prepare meals in her kitchen, to go on adventures with her toys.
• She loves: dancing, singing, and more dancing!
• Her favorite things to eat are: PINEAPPLES and watermelon, sunbutter & crackers, pasta & broccoli, bagels with cream cheese, poached eggs, dried fruit, ham and cheese.
• Her favorite treats are: lollipops, candycanes and gumdrops.

Developmentally, she can...

• Name words that start with certain letters (i.e. if you ask her what words start with "z", she'll say "zoo, zebra, zipper...")
• Read common words she sees like zoo, cat, dog, mommy, daddy, Josie, Sisis, up, and.
• Break down words into parts to "sound them out" like b-u-g to figure out it says "bug."
• Draw circles and lines and attempts to draw letters.
• Identify the initial sounds in words. (She started doing this on her own.  For example, the other night she said "bath" starts with "buh-buh-buh, bath starts with a b". Tonight it was "pineapples has lots of p's".)
• Ride her tricycle (all over the condo at quite a fast clip...)
• Make-up and tell stories with a pretty good beginning, middle and end.
• Run, jump, almost-skip and do quite a few yoga poses.
• "Reads" back books that she has memorized or make-up her own stories based on the pictures in a book.
• Make up her own songs and play along on the piano, drum, etc. with the lyrics.
• Compare and contrast things - which is bigger? higher? wider? more? less? etc.
• Make lists of rhyming words.
• Identify opposites.

Things we love about Josie at this age:

• How polite she is (please, thank you, etc.)
• Her creativity and her imagination (must get video of some of her songs and stories soon!)
• Her ability to barter and compromise (a future diplomat for sure)
• How cuddly and affectionate she is (best hugs ever!)
• Her growing confidence and independence
• The fact that she can fully communicate her wants and needs with us.

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but that's what comes to mind so that will have to do. :)

Penguin Breakfast

A couple of weekends ago (yea, I'm behind) Tia, Tio & Lyla braved a winter blast to meet us at the Newport Aquarium for their annual Passholder Penguin Breakfast. While we were a little disappointed that we didn't get to interact with the penguins as advertised, we were thrilled to have our run of the aquarium without a crowd. Now that Lyla's getting older, the girls have so much fun running around exploring together. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day.  Enjoy!
A pair of "Daddy's Little Girls..."

 

  

Josie probably would've been content to spend the whole day in the lobby with this guy - dancing, twirling, and hugging him...
 

  

"Randy, Paula & Simon"...
 

Lyla wasn't a huge fan of the tunnels...
 

...but she *loved* the turtles!

"Three Austins"

 

"Three Schneiders"
 

Josie, Louie, and "Kina" (long story)
 

The girls had a blast in the "Frog Bog". And check out Lyla doing the sign for "frog"...

  

 

Back at Grandma & DD's house later that afternoon.
 

The "play park" never disappoints (especially after it thaws out).

Our little sweeties playing peek-a-boo in the window between the dining room and family room. I'm not sure which girl led the other in here but it is a sure sign of sneaky-cousin fun in the future.

 Thanks to the Austins for making the super-snowy trip to Cincy. Thanks to Dr. Suzie for the special TLC for little Doogie that brought the Austins here in the first place. Thanks to Grandma for the yummy bday cake and to Grandma & DD for babysitting the girls so we could go to Marions and the movie. 

Quick Quotes

Josie to me last night while watching the first night of Olympic pairs figure skating...the Chinese male half of the pair (dressed in a very fancy bedazzled get-up) lifted his partner, and Josie shouted: "What is that King doing?" (Who else but a King would wear such a fancy outfit?)

Josie to Carissa, in trying to explain that we are old ladies and she is a young lady:  "You are an OLD lady, and I am a NEW lady."

(I've got lots of blogging to catch-up on and hope to do so soon. I was very sick over the weekend, so thanks for being patient.  I still have photos from the visit from The Austins two weekends ago.)

Quick Quote

Carissa was just talking to Josie about Tia having a baby and giving Josie a new cousin.  Here's the conversation that followed:

Carissa: Do you want Tia to have a little boy cousin or a little girl cousin?
Josie: "I want her to have a baby tiger. A big tiger. A big tiger cousin. With a twin giraffe cousin. And a zebra cousin.  I want Tia to have animal cousins for me."

Good luck with that one Tia. ;)

Dolls, Dinos, Dough & Diamonds...

Josie has been pretty sick. Oddly, she's been all fever and little else except a bit of a runny nose, a whole lot of drool, and a couple of complaints about her ears.  It's really slowed her down, but I think she's finally over it today.  She even started eating again this morning, which is a welcome change from last night when she said to her mac & cheese (which she never turns down): "I can't eat. My belly has a fever." Here are some photos of her the past few days, keeping herself busy while not feeling so well.

This first one makes me smile. Here is Josie switching back and forth from her dollhouse and her dinosaurs.  Actually, she had just finished making a delicious "dinosaur salad" in the salad spinner.

Here she is admiring what she called her "magic playdoh wand".  

She yelled to me, "Come check THIS out..."

 

I think this one is the one where she is most obviously sick - poor little thing.  She gussied herself up in her "diamonds" and said to us as she walked out to model from behind the couch, "Wow, I look wonderful!"

And, feeling extra sick yields lots of extra cuddles.

 

Even though she was feeling yucky, she still had her trademark silliness.

  

Finally, I'll leave you with Josie's first "garden" courtesy of Tia, Tio & Lyla.  While our plants have certainly peaked and only the basil remains (such is the case when you have no yard for transplanting your zinnias), we had so much fun watching and learning about seeds, plants, etc. over the past couple of weeks.  

(Have I mentioned how badly we want a house?!)

Four Austins!

Ladies and Gentleman...
I'm going to be an Aunt again! And Josie's going to get another baby cousin!
Tia, Tio & Lyla are expecting baby #2!!! Woo-hoo! Congratulations!!!!
The fourth Austin is due on August 26th.  You can post your congrats on their blog - www.threeaustins.blogspot.com

33 looks pretty good to me!

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday and thanks to my fabulous family, 33 is off to a great start!!! Thanks to everyone for all the calls, emails, cards, etc. 

While I had meetings most of the day yesterday, Lou & I managed to sneak in a great birthday lunch at NADA while Carissa secretly took Josie all over town to get everything for my surprise party!  While I was at my meetings, they decorated the house, colored cards, blew up balloons, etc and I came home to a really fabulous surprise!!!  This is what I found waiting for me when I walked in...

 

Here is Josie's card - check out the coloring and where she "signed her name" on the bottom right.

 

And, thanks to my wonderful husband, I had a super awesome new camera to capture all these moments!  Here are some photos from last night.  After such a big, delicious lunch - we had nothing but Graeters for dinner.  What better way to top off an already-perfect birthday than by sharing a pint of black raspberry chip!

Here is Josie lining up all her dinosaurs for a birthday-cookie feast!

Cuddling with Josie...

 

 

Replanting the flowers in her cheerios...

 

 

Rolling around in all the balloons...

 

This is hard to explain, but I'll just say it started with reading about the new "sand cats" in the Cincinnati Zoo magazine and ended with Louie holding Josie's pet sand cat which she determined only eats red balloons.

 

She was laughing hysterically at the story she invented!

 

By the end of the night, she was definitely over having her picture taken. But, hey, I have a new camera and she's the perfect model.  But, she came up with a creative solution...

All in all, it was a great birthday - starting with our night out on Saturday while Carissa watched Josie gratis (thanks Sisis) and ending with what will be another special day this Saturday that will include a penguin breakfast at the aquarium and a night out with family and friends.  33 is certainly off to a great start. Let's hope this is just a preview of all the wonderful things this year will bring!

Quick Quote

LOTS of our friends are either very obviously pregnant or have recently given birth to babies in the last couple of weeks.  In fact...Big Congrats to Missy, Rich & Ellie who just welcomed Gwen to their family!  And to Bill & Alicia and new baby Alanna! With all the excitement, there has been A LOT of baby talk around the Schneider house...which led to this priceless gem-of-a-quick-quote.

Me to Josie: "Jos, would you like to have a little brother or little sister someday?"
Josie to Me: "I want a puppy!"

Ahoy Matey & More...

Last weekend we had ridiculous amounts of rain, which prompted Lou to declare Sunday "Pirate Day" at the Schneider House - complete with homemade pirate hats, a pirate ship, a parrot, and a treasure hunt.  Here are some of my favorite photos from the day. 
Here are my pirates aboard their ship - just before setting sail.

And Josie & Lou playing "I Spy" with the pirate "telescope" -

 

  

Josie couldn't be luckier to have such a wonderfully-involved, loving, creative & hilarious daddy. And I'm pretty darn lucky myself!

Speaking of how awesome Louie is...have I mentioned before that he does about 99% of the cooking? Okay, maybe that's not giving myself quite enough credit, but he certainly does more than the average bear. Lots more!   Recently, he's decided to add baking to his repertoire (which surprises even me after the Great Gingerbread Disaster of 2009).  First on the list was the "Chocolate Moose Mud Muffins" from Josie's "If You Give A Moose A Muffin" book that they love reading together.  They were delicious and the three of us had a really good time all baking together. Okay - well - we all had a great time except for the moment when Josie stuck a fistful of unsweetened baking chocolate in her mouth. 

 

Several minutes later, she was still sticking her tongue out and going "bleck, bleck, bleck..."

Here are a few photos of Josie today with her new favorite friend - the giant ladybug from Gina that she knew Josie would love! Gina helps us out with cleaning around here and has grown to be a very special person to us. Here she is teaching the ladybug how to ride her tricycle...
 

And flying on it to Chicago to see Tia, Tio & Lyla (using the antennae to steer)...

  

Here she has put the ladybug down for a nap and is rocking her caterpillar to sleep so he could lay down with the ladybug...
 

And finally. I'll leave you with another cute scene and funny moment from this afternoon. Josie was quietly painting and the lighting was good, so I grabbed my camera.  She gave me this look and said to me very politely "Actually I don't need my picture taken right now, thank you!"  I managed to snap this quick photo before she got too insistent.

Quick Quote

Josie to me, paintbrush in hand...
"Mommy, I'm going to accidentally put paint on my pants."
(Clever one, isn't she?)

I Dig A Rody...

I think everyone needs a Rody...

Quick Quote

Josie to Carissa after loading up her purse and hopping on her trike:
"I'm going to a store...all by myself...it's a toy store...it's called 'Macaroni & Cheese Maxx'...It's got a zoo there too...I'm going to buy a giraffe...I'll buy two elephants, too...I'll buy some hippos, too...Hippos coming right up!"

Quick Quote

So, today we spotted our first "double-bus" that is joined together by that bendy accordion thing so it can turn corners.  Josie was *AMAZED* by it and for whatever reason she skipped the whole way home and then told me she HAD to tell Venus the Cat about it.

Josie to Venus, very excitedly:  "Hey Venus, I saw a bendy bus."
Josie to me after leaning in closely to Venus: "I asked Venus if she has saw a bendy bus and she said Meow-Yes, I have!"

(For the record, "Meow-Yes" is our new favorite catch-phrase. Feel free to use it!)

Celebrating the arts

Well, it's been quite a week so we're very happy that the weekend is here!  We have a clear calendar, so who knows what we'll get ourselves into. I figured I should clear the camera just in case. :)
Here are some photos of Josie enjoying "the arts" this week - a little drama, a little art & a little dance. Enjoy!
Here's Josie after she told Carissa & I she was going to have breakfast with the penguins (which we actually are going to do at the Aquarium in a few weeks).  She walked past us, opened the closet door, put on Lou's hat, grabbed the umbrella and told us she was on her way! Luckily she just crossed the living room and said "I'm here" instead of hitting the elevator button and hopping on the bus.

Here is Josie this afternoon after our art class at the CFEC.  I feel so fortunate that I have each Friday off of work so that I can spend this special time with Josie. She is such a creative little girl and we have so much fun making "masterpieces".  Here is her penguin puppet from today.  I try to follow her lead as much as possible and was very impressed that this guy came out looking like a "real" penguin.  She is so proud of him and has dubbed him "Mr. Crayon" - aptly named since, as she says, "he likes to eat crayons and the orange ones are his favorite."

This is her penguin balloon having a chat with Mr. Crayon.  I could've watched this all day!

Finally, here are Louie & Josie getting down before dinner.  She still regularly requests "Rock Me Mama Like a Wagon Wheel" (Old Crow Medicine Show) that they have been dancing to since she was an infant.  She loves dancing with her daddy. And it always makes me smile!

 

Quick (Adults Only) Quote

So Josie ran up to me this morning, while watching her *favorite* show "WordWorld". And this is what she said:

"Mommy, mommy...D-U-C-K spells DUCK...
F-#-C-K spells...FROG!"

The Fairy Garden Princess Palace

Ladies and Gentleman, Drumroll Please....We have *finally* finished Josie's big girl room! 
Here are some photos from her new room - complete with full-sized bed, lack of changing table, and lots of other big-girl upgrades.  She calls it her "fairy garden princess" room and you will soon see why.

But first - the "before photo" -

That's right; For much longer than we care to admit, Josie was sleeping on a blow-up air mattress on her floor while we decided what was next.  In the end, we decided to go ahead and convert her crib into the full-sized bed and the rest of the plans just sort of followed from there.

And here are the long-awaited "after" photos -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here comes the fairy garden princess herself - who spends quite a bit of times in a tutu and wings these days -

Lou had her laughing about something, which yielded some great super-smiley pics. I love these! And for some reason, she looks so grown-up in them (which I don't love, but what are you gonna do?)

 

 

This is Josie's surprised/excited face, which she perfected at Christmas but still uses when the mood strikes her - 

 

I'll also leave you with a few photos from around the house over the weekend. As I said, this little lady is obsessed with tutus and in this case - tutus and rain boots. The best is that she says, "Check out my fashion" whenever she puts together a little get-up like this one.

Here she is admiring a couple of the "posters" she made that we hung on the wall. Also pictured is her trike that she now zooms around the condo riding. Look closely to see how she has plastered it with stickers.

And finally an action-shot of our little fairy mid-spin.

...Oh yea, still sporting the rain boots.