Hanging around

We have had a pretty busy couple of weeks since Grandma and Grandpa left. That first week we stayed busy with our usual things: we went to Gymboree and the park a few times. One day we were stuck at home and collected all the pillows we could find to build a gigantic pillow mountain. Hazel showed us how much she has been learning at Gymboree about climbing that day. She scampered straight to the middle of it. Nothing slows her down.

I have also been having a great time at school. I am really getting the hang of going there.

Last week was pretty exciting for Hazel. She threw up all over the place at Costco Monday afternoon and then ended up in the emergency room Tuesday night with a really high fever. Luckily it was just a virus and she is fine now, but it was a tough week. She didn't feel good and she and Mom were really tired so except for the days I went to school, we stayed home.

By Saturday, Hazel was better and Dad said we weren't staying home anymore anyway, and he took us to Tot Shabbat. Sunday morning Mom took us out to the park. Then in the afternoon we went to a pet store, where we saw guinea pigs, ferrets, mice, fish and turtles, then to Amy's Ice Cream. It was a great day.

I surprised Mom and Dad some more when I discovered how to get around all of their child-proofing. I started by opening all of the kitchen cabinets and Mom's computer desk, but I really got their attention when I figured out how to open the doors that had door-knob protectors on them. That meant I could go outside the front door when I wanted, and I could leave my room after bed time, which I did a few nights in a row. Unfortunately, Dad seems to have temporarily outsmarted me again. He and Mom put a gate in front of the front door (I still haven't figured out the gates...yet), and Dad replaced the door knob on my room with one that locks from the outside. I noticed right away and keep saying "door knob" whenever I walk by it.

In my spare time, I have been perfecting my computer skills. You might recall that Aunt Laurie and Uncle Jonathan gave me a little laptop for Hanukkah. It has loads of fun games on it. The ones I like best are alphabet and number games.

Here are some more photos from Grandma and Grandpa's visit.

Here are some photos of our last couple of weeks.

And, here's a video of me playing on my computer.

Goodbye Grandma and Grandpa

Last weekend, we had visitors from Pennsylvania -- Grandma and Grandpa. We had a great time with them. The first few days, Grandpa was here and we went everywhere! We hit the Children's Museum Friday morning, then hit Mom's favorite restaurant, Guero's, for lunch. I loved dipping chips in salsa and feeding them to Grandma and Mom. Grandma gave me tres leches and flan for the first time. I loved it! After we all followed that trip up with a long nap -- Mom took hers in the girls' birthday hammock -- Dad came home from work and we all headed to Grandma and Grandpa's hotel for a dip in the pool and a barbeque dinner outside. It was a quick dip though. It was pretty cold, so only my toes made it in.

Saturday was a good time. We started out with breakfast at another of Mom's favorite places, Mozarts. I showed Grandpa the boats. Then we headed to Zilker Park to ride a train called the Zilker Zephyr, to look at a salamander exhibit at Barton Springs, and to play on a huge playscape. I especially liked riding the train with Dad. We saw turtles, fish and a guy playing a guitar and harmonica at the same time. Grandma and Grandpa spent the afternoon at a festival downtown, then we met up again at a place I haven't visited since last summer, Terra Burger. I had a great time running around, eating yummy chicken nuggets and fries, and climbing on the playscape. I even went down a big slide by myself.

We were sad to say goodbye to Grandpa Saturday night, but Sunday morning Grandma moved in with us for a few days! We took it kind of easy -- we were very tired and Grandma hurt her ankle Saturday -- but we had a good time relaxing with her. She read lots of books to us, we took her to Gymboree and Taco Cabana Monday, and Hazel got to spend the morning with her Tuesday when I went to school and Mom went to work. She took Mom birthday shopping Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday morning we went to a great park. We thought we'd just dig around in a big sandbox, but there was a great water area I played in. Grandma walked Peepa around and Mom pushed Hazel in a swing. When I went down for my nap, I had to say bye to Grandma because she had to go home to see Grandpa.

One thing that is funny about Grandma is that she likes sleeping on the floor. Specifically, she likes sleeping on my floor. When I went to bed at night when she was here, everything in my room was normal. But when I woke up in the morning, there she was, sleeping on an air mattress. It was fun waking her up with my snuggles (aka banging my toys around and whooping at the top of my lungs at 6:30 a.m.) and I decided to pay homage to her a couple of days after she left by sleeping on my floor in her spot with my blanket and pillow. I miss her a lot!

After our visitors left we had to come up with fun things to do on our own. Thursday Hazel and I went to school in the morning, then in the afternoon, it was too hot to go outside so we headed to Gymboree. We recently signed Hazel up and this was the first time she could play too. She loved it! She climbed on everything and especially liked a hollow barrel-shaped structure. She kept crawling back and forth in it, laughing the whole time. We can't wait to go again.

Friday we had nothing lined up so we put on our swimsuits and headed back to the park. We were better prepared this time, with shovels and buckets. We all wore our swimsuits and water shoes, even Hazel! Mom said Hazel's water shoes are the cutest things she's ever seen. We got them so Hazel can crawl around on the concrete and not hurt her toes.

When we got home, my speech therapist came over while we were eating lunch. She says I am talking so much now, we don't need her anymore. Dad and Mom say this is very welcome news and everyone is proud of me. Not only am I talking a lot, I am reading letters and numbers now too! I know all the letters, I can count to 10 and I can even spell "dog." I am really keeping Mom and Dad on their toes. Today I figured out how to open the kid locks on the kitchen cabinets. I celebrated by moving the rice cooker to the middle of the kitchen floor.

Today was Mother's Day so we gave Mom the gift of sleep. Instead of getting her up at the crack of dawn, Dad got up with us today so she could sleep in. We were going to all hang out at the pool after that but the weather didn't cooperate so she worked instead while we hung out with Dad in the morning. We went to dinner at a crazy Chinese restaurant and Hazel wrapped up the day by pooping in the tub, which really freaked me out. Happy Mother's Day!

Unfortunately, most of the pictures from the past week were on Grandma's camera, and we had some technical difficulties getting the pictures from them. Mom and Dad managed to take some, which are here.