A message for Daddy

OH. MY. GOODNESS!

I had just about the most exciting day of my three-and-a-half years yesterday: we went to Disneyworld! Let me tell you about it.

We had to leave really early to drop Lela off at Grandma's house and hit the road for the two-hour drive down there. I got to drink milk and eat a breakfast bar in the car - pretty fun, huh?

Then after what seemed like forEVER, we saw this sign:

Yep, Magic Kingdom. After parking and taking the monorail (one of the few things Mami remembers from her trip to Disney, 30 years ago!), we entered the kingdom. The first thing we saw, aside from all the people, was the great big castle!

We got closer and there was a show starting. It was Mickey and all his friends singing about how Disney is where all your dreams come true.

At this point, I turned to Daddy as asked him if he thought my dreams would come true. He asked me what my dream was, and I said, "To meet all the princesses."  It turns out that dreams really do come true, because the next place we went we got to do just that!

First, was Cinderella. I was happy to see her, but I think I was in shock too, because I didn't stay long to chat with her:

 Sitting next door to her was Belle, and I did have a little more of a conversation with her. We talked about all the princesses I had on my clothes and shoes and stuff.

And I posed for a picture with her before taking off.

The third princess there was Sleeping Beauty. We smiled and laughed and talked.

We talked about fairies.

I know you won't believe it, but that was just the beginning of my day!

We went on a carousel ride where we rode horses, just like Nana does.

And then we stopped in a little garden and saw Belle, where she read us a story. (You know, Belle loves to read. Mami says that's why she's her favorite princess.)

Then we went to Ariel's Grotto. I was blown aaway by the rocks and water fountains. I sat there and pretended to be Ariel, singing the songs from the movie, for pretty much the whole hour we had to wait in line. 

(I didn't know what we were waiting in line for, of course, the grotto itself seemed pretty darn neat to me!)

But it turns out that Ariel was at home inside her grotto, waiting to meet me!

 I loved meeting her, especially because she was on my shirt too! We had a nice conversation about her glittery tail.

After that, we did a few more things that we don't have pictures of, like the It's a Small World ride and the Magic Carpet Ride. 

Then, because we were hot and tired, we stopped to get ice cream and to check the score of the Gator game.

(Chocolate, and they lost, unfortunately.)

The last thing we did was go on the Snow White ride, but it was dark and scary in there so we don't have any pictures of that. Then we headed back to the parking lot and got back in the car.

I was exhilirated but totally exhausted and about 10 minutes into the drive back home I fell asleep.

The perfect ending to the greatest day ever! I wonder when we'll go back...?

Watch out Disney, here I come!

Well, blog fans, the time has come... As you know, I struggled a little with my last phase of full potty training. But I've finally done it! 

We had a chart where I got a sticker for each successful potty trip, and a small present for every three stickers. And this weekend I got all the stickers!

I don't know if you can read what it says at the very bottom, but the final row says "Disney World"!!! That's right, we're going to Disney as my ultimate reward for being such a big girl. Daddy called Cinderella on the phone and asked when we could come see her, and she said SATURDAY. So we're going on Saturday! I'm so excited I can barely stand it. I'll be sure to get lots of photos and you can bet I'll be blogging about it!

Conversing with a 3-year-old

Conversing with a three-year-old generally goes something like this:

Shabbat, redux

Not only do we celebrate Shabbat at school every Friday (and of course, as you've seen, sometimes at my house too!), but we also had a whole unit on Shabbat where we learned about it every day for a while. Like any good episcopalian, I've taken these teachings to heart and often reenact Shabbat for myself and Lela at home. Mami caught some of it (although it's not my best) this afternoon. Anyone speak Hebrew?

Shabbat Shalom!

We had an adventure last night at my house. Mami and Daddy agreed to host a dinner for five families that go to the same daycare as I do. There were 18 people at our house - 8 adults, 3 older kids, and 7 younger kids. Oh, and the catch is that it was a shabbat dinner! Luckily, there were folks there who were quite good at saying the appropriate blessings.
Here we are blessing the challah and saying the prayers.

Then we blessed the wine and passed the Kiddush cup around.

And then we each got some challah. Yum!

My friend Riley was there. She's in my class at school and we love playing together.

Lela was there too, of course, don't worry!

Riley's older brothers were there and they were fabulous at playing with us all.

Tal, the boy in blue, is also in my class this year. We all had fun playing in my room.

It was great fun, and we stayed up so late that Lela and didn't even need to take a bath! So, Shabbt Shalom to everyone!

Ballet, gymnastics and yoga

We're getting in to that age group where everyone is starting to sign up for afterschool activities. So far, I've remained on the outside of that circle (we've got enough going on at our house!), but I have lots of friends who take ballet classes and go to gymnastics classes. The funny thing is, I apparently am not sure what they are. Ballet I know means putting on a tutu and raising one leg out behind you. Gymnastics, for most of the weekend, was a box I was carrying around. And just to mix things up a little, we've started doing yoga a few days a week during school.
Here's a dinner conversation about all these things.

I'm a paper bag princess

You all know that I love my princess books and stories, and I enjoy pretending to be Ariel, Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. But I recently discovered a book about a different kind of princess, and it's become one of my favorites too. The book is The Paper Bag Princess (by Robert Munsch, with illustrations by Michael Martchenko).

(click on the image to hear the author read the book!)
We've been reading it so much lately that when Mami got a paper bag at the grocery store, she decided to make it in to a dress for me, just like Elizabeth does in the story.

It was definitely different than the princess dresses I usually wear, but I sure enjoyed hanging out in it. It's good for dancing too!

And Mami definitely likes the idea of a princess that can be strong and smart!

Being as brave as I can

I went to a special doctor today to make sure my tummy is as healthy as can be. The nice doctor thinks I'm doing great, but he said we had to go get some blood work just to make sure. I naively went along for the adventure, not knowing what "blood work" meant.
I started getting nervous at the big rubber band around my arm...

And then when I realized what they were going to do, I admit to a full blown freak out.

But Daddy held me tight and Mami sang me songs, and eventually it was over. I was very brave and got through it ok. We're sure everything is going to come back perfect, and now I have another new experience to add to my list. (But it's not one I want to repeat, if possible...)