Car wash

"I am making the car not dirty, Mommy."

Hello, operator

Caught this as I was drawing her bath tonight. This is my old cellphone. Here is the conversation:

"Hello, Dana Pearce. I change my diaper. Uh huh. Uh huh. Hi Mimi! Hi Poppa! I mumble mumble something unintelligble. Uh huh. Uh huh. Mommy! You silly! Nona, I change my diaper. Uh huh. Uh huh. I put medicine on my booboo."

Monkey see, monkey do

Scene: Walking out the door on the way to school. Mommy is holding Cara, who is holding Monkey.

Mommy, singing: You and me and Monkey make three!
Cara: No, Monkey doesn’t make three!
Mommy: Then what does Monkey make?
Brief pause, while Cara considers.
Cara: Monkey makes gooooood choices.

Splash!

It rained sometime today. But the ground was already dry by the time we got home, so I didn't think much of it.

I was talking to my neighbor and Cara decided she needed to check out the sandbox... by the time I got up there (2 minutes later, mind you), she was soaked from head to toe and giggling non-stop. It was great.

Naptime

The joys of napping with a toddler in the house: you get company. Lots of company.

Plus a loving two year old patting you to sleep.

What impressed me, Tim, is that you sleep through it all. Including the "Let's explore Daddy's mouth" part.

Advice on cows

On the way home tonight, I received some very sage advice on dealing with cows:

Cara: Do NOT crash into the cows! You gotta BE CAREFUL, Mommy!

Mommy: That's a good plan. I will not crash into the cows.

Cara: The cows would be SAD if you crashed into them. The cows would cry!

Mommy: You're right. They would be sad.

Cara, waggling her finger emphatically: Do NOT crash into the cows! Be careful!

Mommy: Ok! I won't crash into the cows.

Cara: We ride the cows. And the ponies.

Mommy: Really!

Cara: Yup. We ride the cows and pet the ponies. And we go to the zoo. You gotta BE CAREFUL, Mommy!

No cows were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had lots of fun this weekend. Tim's parents have a cabin on Lake Blue Ridge, which is a lovely place to relax and have a mini-vacation in the mountains. Cara was VERY excited and it was all she talked about Thursday and Friday. "I'm going to the mountains!" she kept telling us. And now that we are back, she is just as enthusastically declaring "I am a mountain girl!!" to everyone who would listen. She even says it in the appropriate mountain girl accent.

We took long hikes several days, trying out Daddy's new backpack. To my surprise, we saw a whole slew of little tiny orange lizards (salamanders? newts? I dunno). Cara named them "Orangie" and had to hold every one we saw.

Just to illustrate how much she's grown in a year.... here she is, May 24th, 2009:

And here she is on May 25th 2008:

Look at that hair!

Daddy and Grandpa spent some quality time fishing... but the best fish of the whole trip was caught by... Cara!! She was very pleased with herself and tried to kiss it. I don't have any pictures yet - they are all on Grandpa's camera - but will post once he sends them.

She was very eager to examine the catch of our two fishermen:

Cara's favorite pursuit of the weekend was swinging on the porch. She is OBSESSED with her swing. We had to pry her out of it with a crowbar....

Although a spoonful of brownie mix worked well too : )

: