Our Little Genius

We've always known Michelle was smart but lately she's getting so smart it's almost scary. She seems to pick up a new word or skill just about every day.

We've been working with Michelle on numbers but we weren't sure if she was really grasping the concept. She was able to hold up all five fingers and say "five" but we weren't sure she really understand what that meant. Then Saturday we were walking out the door and I had my purse on one shoulder and a tote bag on the other shoulder. She pointed to each bag and said "Mama, two bags." I was blown away. I was amazed that she was able to count and understand that I had two bags and I was also surprised to hear her articulate it so well.

We've also been working with her on colors but, again, we weren't sure if she really understood the concept. On Sunday I went out for awhile and called Roman when I was a few minutes away so they could watch for me at the window. I saw Michelle at the window squealing with delight when I started to pull into the driveway and I raced inside as quickly as I could. When I got inside, Roman told me that Michelle saw me half a block away when I was turning the corner. He said she pointed excitedly and yelled "green car!"

She's our little genius. Expect a graduation announcement from Harvard by the time she's five. :) We're just dreading the day she realizes she's smarter than we are. It won't be long. I can just picture the look she's going to give us now. It will be half disappointed, half pitying. We do find it curious, though, that she's so smart and yet she doesn't understand the concept of the word NO.

Halloween and Ponytails

The Halloween outfit that Dada bought for the party at school. Good job Dada. Hmmmm....I wonder if there's any candy in this pumpkin.
Having lunch after the party. We were able to get her to wear the hat just long enough for a picture.
I must have taken at least 15 pictures on the haystack trying to get her to smile but she discovered the yummy treats in her pumpkin and had no time for posing for pictures.
Coming through the tunnel.
Mommy's little monster.
Our precious ladybug getting ready for the Halloween party.
Two tiny ponytails! You can't even imagine how exciting that was for us. We've waited nine months for this moment.

Little sweetheart

Tonight I had one of those wonderful, precious, this is why I became a parent moments. I was sitting on the living room floor folding laundry and Michelle was "helping" so Dada asked her if she wanted to go to the kitchen. She said "buh bye Mama" and gave me a high-five as she left the room. A few seconds later she came running back and gave me a kiss. Then she gave me a sweet smile and went back to Dada. I'll cherish that moment for the rest of my life. If that weren't precious enough, about an hour later I was sitting on the sofa folding another load of laundry and Dada went to take her back to the kitchen for a snack. She gave me a kiss and started to walk off and then she turned back to give me a hug. I'm tearing up again just thinking about it. Michelle is so precious. I'm so grateful to be her mama.

I finally got some pictures loaded. Enjoy!

Michelle's first teeny tiny ponytail on top of her head. It's small but it's there.

Enjoying tea time.

We went apple picking again and ran into another family from our travel group.

Michelle's first hayride

Picking out her first pumpkin

Michelle's Favorite Things

Ok, so I know pictures are what you really want but we're having issues with getting pictures loaded so I thought I'd share some cuteness in the meantime.

Michelle's personality is coming through more and more all the time and she's developing strong preferences. She lets us know in no uncertain terms exactly what she wants and what she doesn't want.

Michelle adores Elmo. Someone bought her an Elmo DVD for her birthday and now she can't get enough of him. We had to buy a portable DVD player for the car so she can watch her Elmo DVDs during our daily commute. That DVD player has been the best purchase we've ever made. It has saved our sanity so many times.

Michelle also loves Teletubbies. We found a few episodes on PBS Sprout and Michelle fell in love with them instantly. We were able to find one Teletubbies DVD for her and she alternates between that and Elmo. When she wants to watch it,she rubs her tummy and says "Babies."

Michelle has her first boyfriend. He's a little boy in her class at daycare and the two of them are inseparable at school. She actually dismissed me without a look back one day when she saw her boyfriend. The kids were out on the playground and she saw Garrett and wanted me to put her down right away (normally there's a little clinging) and gave me a quick wave and a "buh bye" without even turning around to look at me. It was so funny. They're so cute together. I think Dada is a little jealous.

Michelle's two favorite songs are "The Wheels on the Bus" and the ABC song. If we start to sing or play anything else, she says "no no" and tells us she wants one of these two songs. She has the hand motions down perfectly for "Wheels on the Bus" and she's trying really hard to get her ABCs down. She's so smart, she'll probably have the alphabet memorized by next week.

Michelle has become a little chatterbox. She loves to talk all the time now and we love hearing her sweet little voice. She seems to pick up a new word just about every day. She's also putting words together now. That makes us so happy to hear. She says "buh bye" to everyone and everything. It's really cute. She'll say it when we get out of the car or when she gets out of the bathtub. I love hearing her saying "buh bye wawa" at the end of her bath. She also points out what belongs to different people, ex. "Mama coat. Dada coat. Me (pointing to her coat)." Here are some of her new words and phrases:
Elmo
Garrett
Apple
Shoe
Sock
Mine (this is her favorite word)
No no (her favorite phrase)
Baby eating apple (she actually said this the other day when she was eating an apple)
Babies
Mommy (she's starting to say this more than Mama)
Daddy (she's starting to say this more than Dada but Roman definitely prefers Dada)

I added the Follow this Blog feature so if you're a Michelle fan, please follow her blog. It's fun to see who's reading it.

I'll do my best to get some pictures loaded soon.

Apple Picking

Saturday we had a great time with our good friend Carolyn a/k/a Auntie Carolyn. We went apple picking. We went to a farm with a huge orchard and a lot of activities for children. They had a petting zoo, which Michelle loved. She got to pet goats and sheep. They had a hay pyramid and Michelle couldn't get enough of it. She ran over to it and left me behind. We had to go up and down the pyramid several times. We also went through the burlap maze with Michelle leading the way. She had very definite ideas about which way she wanted to go and only made one wrong turn. She even got a pretty ladybug painted on her face. We all had a really good time. Michelle really loves her Auntie Carolyn. Whenever Carolyn took a few steps away, Michelle called out for her. She called her "Ah-nie" and one time we really thought she said Carolyn. It was a perfect fall outing (except the weather could have been a little cooler and crisper).

We had a lot of fun during the summer but I've been really looking forward to fall. It's my favorite season, especially living in New England. There's just so much to do. I love apple picking and I'm looking forward to taking Michelle to pick out her first pumpkin.

I can pick apples all by myself.
Apples right off the tree taste yummy!
Petting the animals was a lot of fun.
She was so excited about the hay pyramid, she left Mama behind.
The apple of Mama's eye
She wasn't too sure about the woman painting her face but she liked the ladybug afterward.
She was worn out by the time we got to the pumpkins.

San Antonio, Part 2

Sorry I've been so behind on my posting lately. I started a new job recently and it's keeping me very busy. It's a great job but it definitely cuts into my free time.

While we were in San Antonio, we decided to take Michelle to SeaWorld. She wasn't as impressed as we were but she seemed to have a pretty good time. She loved the ice cream but hated the stuffed whale I bought her.

Hanging out with Mama by the dolphin pool.
Taking a stroll with Dada and Nana.
Checking out the parrot.
Shamu.

Enjoying the Shamu show.
Ready to go home at the end of the day.

Trip to Texas

We had a great trip to Texas. Michelle had a fabulous time. She loved being the center of attention and she really enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa's house. I have a ton of pictures so I'm going to do separate posts for the different activities.

The first big thing we did while in TX was to have Michelle baptized. It was really nice. Both families were there as well as some friends we hadn't seen in years. We had a reception at the hall next door to the church afterward.