Fancy pants

Stasa loves being with us when we get ready for work in the morning and especially loves when I pull out my costume jewelry so I let her wear one of the smaller necklaces that matched the one I was wearing and she was happy as could be. And she keeps it on all day long and gets upset when I take it off. She's getting to be the same way about her bangles (more on that later). 













Stasa can now identify 8 animals on her flash cards. Tom's mom started this game with her - we lay 4 cards in front of her and ask her to pick out an animal. So far she can identify duck, snake, giraffe, lion, monkey, kangaroo, elephant and alligator. 



So proud of herself:



Oh! Oh! AND she's started putting toys away in the right toy bin without even being asked. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. Apparently she's actually paying attention when I put toys away.


Picking toys up:






And putting them away:

Dinner with the Erxlebens

I really wanted to go to IKEA on Saturday to get a new lounge chair for the playroom since we returned Topher's Pottery Barn Kids chair back to Emily. I searched all over the place and finally decided to get her a baby Poang since she loves the adult ones that we have.

Since we're about equi-distant from a couple of IKEAs, I decided to see if Lauren and Audrey wanted to meet us at the one in College Park, which they did. 

Of course, I can't go to IKEA and just get one thing, well, I can, but only if Tom is with me, hurrying me out of the store. After we found the chair, we decided to browse the children's toy section and wouldn't you know Stasa picked out a stuffed animal for herself, so I let her keep it, even though I wished it was a slightly less creepy stuffed animal. I also got a hammer toy and a giant stuffed alligator in a nightshirt that was eating it's baby.

Oh and her creepy animal? Yeah, a stuffed rat, who I now call Rat Baby or Rattie. She grabbed the one in grey.

And she lovingly held Rat Baby and patted its back the whole time we were in IKEA. While we were shopping, Dan called Lauren to let us know that Tom was going to drive up so we could all go out to dinner together. Our mens aren't the best of planners. Lauren and Dan live an hour away from us. Tom could have just driven with me to begin with, but no, he and Dan decided the minute Lauren and I left our houses that getting together was a fabulous idea, which it was. Just not the most efficient way to meet up. 

We went out to Carrabas for dinner and the girls were really well behaved the whole time even though it was getting pretty late. And Tom and I decided to hang out for a bit afterwards, which turned into a pretty late night for everyone. I wish we had planned ahead and brought overnight bags with us - driving home at 11:00 PM when you're an hour away is looooooong. But the girls had a blast and were definitely punch drunk. They ran around for hours, climbing up on the couch and then chasing the dog and then running into the office where the dads were. Lauren and I could not stop laughing at our two lunatics. And it made me really excited for our weekend at the lake in August. 

Reaching for toys

But first a picture of Stasa hanging with daddy while he worked. Check out those chubby thighs.


I put Stasa in her jumperoo last night so she could play a little before bedtime. She really loves that toy and was bouncing away in no time. Then it happened. She was staring intently at one of the toys on the tray, then reached out, grabbed it and then smiled at me. Then she did it again and again. Tom and I were cheering her on and she looked so proud of herself.