The typical afternoon

It doesn't always start with whining, but it will if one of us comes upstairs to say "hi" and then quickly runs downstairs to make dinner. THANKS TOM.






After she got over the fact that daddy had to make dinner for us, she decided to check herself out in the mirror. A new favorite activity of hers.



I love how we already have a small bin full of kids meal toys. She loves these Madagascar penguins and really loves these weirdo dragon toys.






Not too long ago, we realized that we have 3 copies of Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham; 1 was mine, 1 was Tom's and 1 was given to Stas. Tom doesn't like Stasa "reading" our older books, but I don't think she can do more damage to Green Eggs and Ham than I already did. That thing looks like it survived a war.



Oh, and check out my awesome signature. I must have just learned how to sign my name with enthusiasm. 



Since we have 3 copies, I let her play with mine all she wants.

Cell phone pic montage

Hanging out with le bebe:






Bathing beauty:









Reading and relaxing:









And playing in her new dress-ups:

Our Indian Princess

Our friend, Pooja, is getting married this Saturday (with 600+ guests attending!) and while she was in India buying her wedding wardrobe, she bought Stasa a lengha to wear for the event, too. So of course I had to try it on her right away. She is going to be 100 times more fancy and adorable than both Tom and me together. And she didn't seem to mind the piece that ties around her neck. 


I'm going to stop by the Indian store in Herndon to pick up new bangles and bindi for both of us. I'll have to dig through my closet to find something colorful and fun instead of my traditional little black dress.

This is how we play

We start off by laying down to illustrate our difficult life:



We play a little footsie:



We roll over and lounge for a bit, while deciding what to do:




Stas loves driving her car from Mrs. Bishop, especially backwards:



After all that driving, some more rolling around is called for:



And we work through the occasional mini-meltdown:



Stasa loves brushing her hair now, but doesn't always manage to use the right side of the comb:



And she's been loving her Fisher Price tractor and pushes it back and forth:




And as always, we end our day listening to Daddy play guitar. Stasa usually plays with him, but she mostly likes to throw the picks in the hole of the guitar because that causes Tom to shake the the guitar to get them out and she LOVES that.

Out to lunch

I really wanted cheese fries on Sunday and wanted to celebrate the fact that Tom sold the Chevelle. Yes, you read that right. The car is G-O-N-E. So we went to Glory Days since I knew they have delicious cheese fries and was fairly sure it would be kid friendly. 





Stas sat and colored on the kid's menu and chatted while we waited for our food.

(don't worry - the pen wasn't clicked on)





On our way out we took a few pictures of us with the monster.



Lookin' good, Tom.

Happy 2 year blogiversary!

I started this "thing" as a way to share my pregnancy with you all since most of you were living far away. I'm sure now you wish I would stop sharing all the minutiae of our days. It's been so much fun keeping this up-to-date, especially since I started saving things for Stasa's baby book, but didn't get farther than the first few pages so I'm grateful I have this diary of her first years and love that it's complete with comments from our family and friends.  

Soooooo...happy 2 year blogiversary to what used to be A Merkel in the Making and is now Our Life with a Monster Masquerading as a Toddler.

Caveman Stasa

Caveman say:
"Me don't know how to work this barrier!"


"Hmm, how you walk in these?"


"Dinner! Wait. How I kill this?"



"Now me chief of all cavemen."




"What this guy have?"



"Is happy today as a caveman."

Today on the Stasa channel...

A new trick: jumping
(though it is very similar to the way she dances, lol)



Gigglefits



Diva-in-training




Playing with her piggybank



And quiet time with a book

Bookworm

Lately Stasa's become very interested in the bookshelves in her room. We don't let her in there very often, so when we do, she beelines for the books and loves to climb up in the glider and "read" to herself.





And sometimes she insists on reading to her "bees", too.