Covering for Daddy

Daddy had to go away to a conference for a few days. I'm always sad when he's not here, but I'm a big girl and I know he'll be back soon. Lela, though, is very sad without him, so I have to help her cheer up until he gets back.
The best way for me to do this is by giving her a big ole kiss.

And then we're both happy, see?

But hurry back, Daddy, there's no substitute for you.

Artsy close-ups

That's the great thing about "art" -- you can ask if yourself if these aren't really just too close-up and too blurry rather than artistic... But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and art is in the out-of-focus eye of the camera-holder!

Fun in the sun, according to Resli

We took advantage of the sunny weather this morning to play outside a little. I had my princess dress on, so I just popped on my sneakers to complete the look, and out we went.

I ran and jumped and played, I just love playing in the grass!

I flew through the trees a little too, thanks to Mami's feet.

Then the thunderstorms came so we had to run back inside. Such is life in Florida.

Playing kitchen in the kitchen

My Aunt Melissa got me this great set of play food for my play kitchen back in February for my birthday. I love it, but we just recently discovered that my sister Lela loves it too! And now we can play together with it.

I have more elaborate scenarios than she does of course - she mostly chews on the food.

But we have fun anyway!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Jenifer & Vlad's wedding

Today was a very special day - it was my teacher Ms. Jenifer's wedding, and we were all invited. It was at the beautiful Thomas Center in downtown Gainesville. (Lela was invited too, but someone had to stay home and keep Grandma and Granddaddy company, you know?)
We got there a little early so we played by the fountain. I was all dressed up in my new party dress, so I was as happy as could be.

Daddy was wearing his "dashing blue jacket" as I like to call it, and he looked very handsome too.

Mami had a beautiful ball gown as well. We were all very excited about the fancy evening out!

Before the wedding started, we went inside to use the restroom, and Daddy and I took a few moments to practice our dance moves in the hallway.

You'll NEVER guess who came in to use the bathroom too... Ms. JENIFER! I was so excited to see her that I had to give her a big hug and a kiss. Doesn't she look beautiful? I told her she looked just like a princess.

The ceremony was outside, and then while they were taking pictures my friends and I ran around, explored, and generally acted like 3-year-olds up after their bedtime.

Then we finally went inside and you'll never believe this but there was a dance floor in there! My friends and I had a great time dancing and running around. We even left Ms. Jenifer alone for almost long enough for her and Vlad to eat dinner.

After dinner, I think Ms. Jenifer forgot it was her wedding and thought we were in Circle Time at school! We all sat down on the floor with her.

But then we got up for more dancing. We all wanted to dance with Ms. Jenifer.

But she had a lot of people to dance with, so I had to content myself with dancing with Mami. As I keep saying, "Mami and I danced up a storm!" She showed me how to do the YMCA dance, and I even sang along a little too.

And we learned to dance the electric slide too. (Sort of.)

This deserves a closer look:

Clearly, I was having a blast. This may have been the most wonderful night of my life so far!
I'm exhausted but exhilarated. I'm now sound asleep in my bed ... still in my party dress! It was so nice of Ms. Jenifer to invite us all to her wedding, wasn't it?

Learning to play together

It's taken a while, but my sister Lela and I are starting to enjoy playing together now, and interacting with each other.
One of the things I like to do with her is pretend that we have to go to the doctor's office, usually because she has a cold (or so I say). When we get there, I play doctor and look at her with my little flashlight and show her all the toys she can play that. That's about what I do when I go to the doctor!

And then I give her a big hug to make her feel better and tell her to take her medicine.

Sure, it's a simple game, but I know it's just the beginning of many years of fun together.

(By the way, yes, that is the former crib bumper lining the fireplace. We had to take it out of the crib since she can pull up and climb, but it seemed the perfect thing to protect against the sharp edges of the hearth.)

Helping make Lela feel better

Lela's been a little under the weather lately with a cold, and she gets kind of fussy. Luckily, I know the perfect trick to cheer her right up and get those giggles to come out.

Strummin' my six-string...

Per Nana's request, here are some videos of our latest jam session. Daddy's strummin' HIS six-string, and I'm singing along.
First, we did a little Jimmy Buffet of course. This is "He Went to Paris." The cameraman begs your pardon in advance, she was simultaneously filming and trying to keep Lela from eating the potted plant.


And then we moved on to "This Land Is Your Land." Unfortunately, the cameraman had returned to the kitchen to wash dishes, and therefore only caught the second verse (also managing to drip some water on the camera in her haste, hence the blur on part of the image).

Singing the afternoon away

Daddy surprised us with a special treat this afternoon. He got out his guitar and played for us. After only a few notes, I couldn't help but sing along.

We sang a little alphabet, a little Jimmy Buffet and my favorite, This Land Is Your Land.

Then Daddy let me strum a little. Lela thought that was way cool and wanted to help out too.

What a great way to spend a rainy afternoon!

The making of the perfect princess slippers

Mami has a wonderful pair of "dancing shoes" Nana made her for her wedding, and I always want to try them on and play with them. However, Mami doesn't want me playing with them. So we finally struck a deal - we decided that if I could make my own perfect princess slippers, I wouldn't need to play with hers anymore.
So this morning we headed out to the store to find plain white slippers and decorations to put on them.
Here's how the slippers started out.

Then we planned what decorations we'd put on them.

And after a little glue gun magic, I came out with most perfect slippers ever!

Once they dry I'll be able to wear them to all my royal balls, and maybe even to Ms. Jenifer's wedding next weekend!

Resli shuck corn and I don't care...

Having now looked up the history and meaning of the Jimmy Crack Corn song, this is probably not a great title. But we're sticking with it anyway...
Today Mami told me she had a very important job for me to do to help her get dinner ready. We had to shuck the corn.
What's that you say? Not SUCK the corn?

Oh, no, SHUCK the corn!
I learned how to peel the husks off.

And then get rid of, as I called them, "all the furries".

I lost interest after only one ear, but that's the ear I ate at dinner. And it was yummy!

New panties for me!

PG-3 Warning: This post contains some graphic content and language. Those offended by talk of bodily functions should read no further. :)

As you probably know, I'm about 99% potty trained.... The only thing I won't do is poop in the potty. So in my house there's a big bag of presents, and every time I DO poop in the potty, I get a present.
Yesterday, I pooped in the potty at school (or so they think, it was all kind of confusing, but I get the benefit of the doubt!), so I got a present. The one I opened was a package of brand new panties for me!
They have all the princesses on them, and I'm very excited about them.

I have changed panties three times already this morning, and I am carrying the rest of them around with me.

Yay for me! Progress is progress...

UPDATE:
In retrospect, perhaps some of my obsession with panties yesterday was due to the fact that - as we've since learned - I have my first urinary tract infection. Mami and Daddy finally realized something was wrong when I was having several accidents, only 20 minutes apart, and crying every time because it hurt. So now I'm on antibiotics and should be feeling better soon. Good thing I have such great panties to help me along.

Double the bathtime fun!

Thanks to yet another nifty contraption Mami and Daddy found, Lela and I can now take a bath together in the same tub!

She sits in the tub right next to me and we share toys and play together.

We even give Mami the same look when she says it's time to get out!

We're looking forward to years of fun baths together!

Baby Resli

Sometimes I get jealous of my little sister and I want to do some of the things she does. So Mami and Daddy swaddled me and gave me a pacifier so I could take a nap this morning.

Needless to say, I didn't like that too much!

Jumping, laughing and otherwise being crazy at the mall

Mami and I had some errands to do at the mall yesterday. (Father's Day is coming up, you know...) I got to play in the play area!

There was jumping!

There was running!

And there was all-around good fun!

(As long as you try really hard not to think of all the germs floating around that place!)

More role playing

This afternoon after my nap, Mami decided we should dress up as mermaids (since my other current obsession is The Little Mermaid, in addition to Aladdin - see below!). We got "tails" and tied them around us and then swam around the living room looking for the prince and watching out for the bad sea witch.
Apparently, when you're a mermaid, you have to go around on your knees the whole time (if you had knees, of course).

Then we got kind of tired of that game and decided to trade our tails in for headscarves so we could play at Jasmine and Aladdin.

Yea, sure, my Mami's pretty goofy, but we have fun together!

Why don't you come with me little girl, on a magic carpet ride?

I've been reading the Aladdin story a lot lately, so I'm really in to magic carpets. Yesterday I set up a magic carpet on our floor and invited Lela on for a ride.

I even sang a little of the song from the movie for her. We danced (it's a magic carpet, so it's ok to get up and dance even if it's flying) and had a great time...

... until Daddy had to haul me off to a time out!

That's ok though, three short minutes later I was released and we resumed our fun.

Gosh, I wish we hadn't already titled a post "Movin' on up"...

...because this would have been a perfect opportunity to use that title again. You see, today we had my "Moving Up" ceremony at school, when we celebrated finishing this school year. So I 'graduated' from the Tzhov Class and next year will join the Sagol Class.
The ceremony was lots of fun. When I walked in I was thrilled to find that Daddy, Mami, Grandaddy and Grandma were all there, and Lela too! She was having fun just hanging out on the floor.

I had to sit with my class while Ms. Debby and the Rabbi and everyone talked about how proud of us they were. Of course, I sat with Ms. Jenifer so we could have our daily cuddle time.

And then it was our turn to sing. We sang two songs.
The first was about Mr. Sun.

The second was, we think, the Hebrew version of Twinkle twinkle.

Then they called my name and I got my "diploma"!

I was very proud of it - here, you can see what it says:

So, clearly, it's been a great day. Can you believe what a big girl I am?