Spring Has Sprung

Spring is here! It has been gorgeous out lately, so we've been spending as much time as we can outside, before it's summer and it's too hot to leave our house.

We've been going to the park sometimes and playing in our backyard, usually more than once a day. I have been having tons of fun climbing on my playscape and slide, scooping sand in my sandbox, and shoveling stones into my dump truck. Meanwhile, Hazel's been enjoying my old swing.

When Aunt Lauren was here last month, Mom had the chance to clean up the yard after our dog Peepa. She has a special tool for this job called a pooper scooper, basically a little shovel and a rake. I thought it looked like fun, so I grabbed the bottom of my tee ball set and my toy rake and pretended to help. So that's another thing I spend time on every time we're outside.

When I am not busy working in our yard, we like to eat lunch and dinner out on our deck, which as you can see, Peepa especially enjoys. This week we had an extra special dinner out there -- our Passover seder. It was great. My friend Clark, his parents, and his grandparents all came over. Dad told us a story, we sang a song or two, and we had a huge meal.

My favorite part was when I was allowed to dip my finger in some grape juice and put it on my plate. Usually I get in trouble for doing things like that; I have whenever I've tried it since then, anyway. Clark and I had a great time playing with each other. At the end of the night, he found the afikomen, and I am glad we still have tons of leftover matzah.

Another exciting thing that happened this week is I started going to school regularly at Leaps n Bounds. I am going Tuesdays and Thursdays for three hours each morning. It's fun. When I get there, we go outside. When we go inside to our classroom, we play, do crafts, and have circle time, where we sing and hear stories. After I eat lunch, we rest and Mommy picks me up.

Today was a special day at school. When we came inside, I was surprised to see Mom. Then I was surprised again because she gave me a basket and we went back outside to look for Easter eggs! I did a great job finding them and I had a lot of fun. They were weird eggs though. They were not brown or white like the eggs we cook with. They were all different colors and when I cracked them, goldfish and marshmallow bunnies came out! It's a good thing I found lots of them, and lucky for me, I got to bring them home. I really like them. They are fun to play with in my kitchen and Mom gave me a real egg box to hold them in. I played with them all afternoon. Mom made me go outside, and I even insisted on taking them out there!

My teacher also gave me a basket to bring home, and in it was a bottle of bubbles that Mom blew for me. The whole experience inspired me to say two new words -- bubbles and egg.

Speaking of new words, I've been saying lots of new things lately, like king, bath, burger, work, home, and poop.

And speaking of poop, I have a funny new trick I play on Dad and Mom. There are diapers everywhere in our house because Hazel and I both wear them. When Aunt Lauren was here, she gave me a grill kit with little pieces of burger. So when no one is looking, I stick the burgers in a diaper and put it on the coffee table. When someone finds it, I say, "poop!" Mom thought I would just do it once, but anytime they put it away, I put it out again because it's fun hearing them laugh when they find it.

I've been pretending and imitating a lot lately. Yesterday I pretended to pick things up and throw them off the deck. (Mom said it's good I was only pretending to do that!) I've been changing duck's diaper, pretending to serve Mom and Dad food from my kitchen, and putting toy keys in my pocket.

Yesterday I got in my car and when Mom asked where I was going, I said, "Work!" Then I drove across the room, got out, and yelled, "Home!" It's pretty fun seeing Mom laugh that hard.

I have also been a real help around the house lately. I have been putting dirty clothes (mine and Hazel's!) in the laundry, putting my dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, throwing things that are on the floor away, bringing Mommy things she asks for, and giving toys to Hazel when she gets her diaper changed and when she cries.

I tried letting myself outside so Dad and Mom wouldn't have to take me out there, by learning how to unlock and open the back door, but evidently that wasn't the kind of help they wanted. One day last weekend I woke up from my nap and Dad had put a new Mitch-proof lock on the door.

Hazel is really coming along too. She is faster at crawling and pulls herself up constantly. She loves throwing all the Legos and trains off the train table in my room, and she once let go and stood up by herself when she was in her playpen. Mostly she still hangs on with one hand though.

Most fun of all though is she's really starting to imitate and interact with us. If we clap, play peek-a-boo, or raise our arms above our heads, she'll do it too. She also has a dance we call the Wiggle Dance, and if we ask her to do it, she will.

Even though she still only has two teeth, Hazel is enjoying more foods and eating tons more lately. She's been eating lots of orzo, peas, carrots, avocado, and macaroni and cheese. Today she had Cheerios for the first time. She loves them!

To check out some fun we had a month or so ago, including Hazel's moves, watch our video and look at our photos!