The past few weeks have brought us some good and some sad things.
First, the good. The weather has been absolutely perfect in the afternoons lately and we have been spending tons of time outside. It is great -- in the mid-70s, so warm enough that we don't need jackets, and the mosquitoes aren't around yet. We are really trying to make the most of it.
Hazel has discovered the beauty of the hammock -- one day she and Mom lounged in it for an hour while I swung them, sang to them and ran around. We have had picnic lunches, and since we have really been into coloring and painting lately, we have moved that outside too. Of course, we have also made great use of our sandbox and playscape, as always. Mom likes playing with her new camera outside and while I run from Mom when she breaks out her camera, Hazel tells her to take more pictures of her while we're playing.
Hazel is still really into climbing but about a week and a half ago, she finally figured out how to jump! She has been trying for a while but couldn't manage to get both feet off the ground at the same time. Then, after spending most of a day at Leaps n Bounds, came home one day and did it! Now she is spending more time jumping than climbing. She is pretty excited about it and looks really cute airborne.
Oma got Hazel a one-month Gymboree membership for her birthday and while Mom expected her to really like climbing on the equipment, since she learned to jump, she mostly wants to jump around in the soft areas. She also really enjoys the songs and at the end of each class, getting a Gymbo (the company's clown mascot) stamp on her tummy, just like I did when i was her age. She runs around and shows us the stamp until it washes off a day or two later.
As Hazel has become more mobile and bigger, she has been fighting riding in the stroller so Dad has been walking both of us the whole way when we go to my school in the morning. We are pretty impressed that she can make it so far on such little legs. She can cover a much greater distance than Mom right now.
People keep telling Mom how impressed they are with both of us and our teachers keep saying how smart we are.
We spent a lot of time with Clark's grandma, who we call Aunt Bobbie, this past week, and she told Mom Hazel is precocious because of her talking and potty training, which are both going really well. I had a blast with Bobbie when she babysat one day. She spent most of the time with me while Hazel napped and I colored with her and talked to her about animals. She drew a picture of a vulture for me, at my request, and was blown away by my reading. I am now reading whole books to Mom and Dad. They say I am amazing. I think so too.
Last week was a lot of fun at school. We were studying spring and made crowns with flowers on them. One day Mom picked me up and I was wearing the crown with a necklace I got from the treasure box at school, which we can select something from when we behave well all morning. My teacher said I looked like a king.
The next day was beautiful and warm so my teachers took us all outside early to meet our moms and, for those who ride it home, the school bus. My friends and I all wore our crowns we made that day and blew on whistles our teacher gave us. It really made Mom laugh. Make sure you check out our photos to see Hazel and me modeling the crowns.
I have been saying some really hilarious things lately.
Today was gloomy out so we stayed inside. Mom had to work so we stayed home with Dad. We played with a little remote helicopter we gave him for his birthday. Hazel was a little scared of it but I thought it was hilarious. I jumped up and down and laughed a lot. Dad asked me what I liked about it and I said, "It flies around like a little zebra finch."
Mom asked me if I'd like to bring home a gorilla. I said no because it would eat all our bananas and poop everywhere.
One night I stood up in the tub and announced that I needed to get out. Then I asked to get right back in. Mom and Dad asked why and I said, "Mitch is having problems." The next night I said the tub was having a problem. Mom asked what the tub's problem was and I told her it was full of vampire bats.
We are getting pretty excited about our new baby, who we expect to meet in only a few weeks. Mom and I took a class about what it will be like yesterday, where I asked if the baby will poop. Mom set up and cleaned all our old baby stuff this week so now our house looks like we are going to have a new little guy.
Hazel spent a whole day at school last week convincing her teachers that the baby is a girl even though she tells us she will have two brothers. She also keeps saying, "Come out, baby!" while rubbing Mom's giant tummy. Meanwhile, Mom keeps saying, "Give me another week." The due date is not actually until April 4, but Mom's doctor says he is really big and might have to come a little sooner.
One of the bad things that happened recently is our dog Peepa died two Wednesdays ago. She was a great dog; she was with Mom through a lot of big life events, she showed Dad how fun dogs can be, and she was very patient and gentle with Hazel and me when we came along. She was also very good at cleaning our floor and sharing the food we didn't want. We miss her a lot and we all find ourselves trying to feed her still, in our own ways (some in her food dish, others under the table).
The day Peepa died, Mom took me out to lunch. We went to a pizza place where we could sit outside, which was nice but a fly was freaking me out the whole time. Next we went to a grocery store called Sprouts, which was right next door. When we put our cart away as we were leaving, I noticed something weird on the windowsill. I asked Mom what it was and she told me it was a dead fly. She explained that meant its life left its body. I asked her what it would do now and she told me it couldn't do anything because its body doesn't work anymore. I thought that was pretty funny and for the next day or so laughed about the dead fly. Mom wonders if I think it was the same fly that had been bothering me at lunch earlier.
It took me a couple of days to notice Peepa was gone, and when I asked, Mom told me she died. I yelled, "Like the dead fly!" and cracked up. Mom and Dad are glad I am not traumatized.
Click here for photos of the past few weeks, including shots of Hazel and me drinking smoothies we helped make when Dad was away, lots of our time outside and our last day with Peepa, walking to school with Daddy, Hazel exploring Gymboree, and the crowns I made at school.
It has been quite a week! A couple of days after Mom, Dad, and Turner got back from the hospital, we got a bunch of visitors.
Turner slept through the whole ceremony, lucky guy. 
Hazel, Turner, and I were sad to see everyone leave today, but it will be interesting to see what the new normal is in our house. I think Mom and Dad will have their work cut out for them over the next few weeks.
