Well Mary and I had quite an eventful weekend. Mary attended her first shoe party (like a Tupperware party--but with shoes!!!) and was the life of the party--as usual. She attached herself to Kelly and was her helper. She arranged shoes, made phone calls, and made us all laugh with her crazy new expressions. It was pretty hilarious.

Sunday morning got started bright and early. I made a collage of baby Mary pictures for Mary's first birthday. Well she decided she wanted to look at the collage. I got it down for her and put it on the floor. She pointed to herself and said, "baby?" Then she proceeded to kiss herself in every picture. It was very cute. She also kissed her "mommy?" and "daddy?" in the pictures too, which was very sweet. Then we danced and played with hula hoops until she tuckered herself out and fell asleep.

So there we were having our usual Sunday night dinner at Stacey and Cory's house (which was delicious and super fun as usual) when Mary did something terrible. Cory and Mary were looking through Trader magazine (boring I know). Cory was pointing out different things in the magazine, when they came across a picture of Britney Spears and Mary pointed at the picture and said,"Mommy!" I was horrified!!! So maybe if it was a picture of Britney when she had her life together, I might not have been quite so horrified, but it wasn't! On a good note--I think?--after that she pointed to all the women in the magazine and said "Mommy!" I didn't know whether to be relieved or worried that she seems to think all the women in magazines are her mommy.

This week is going to be busy for us as we will be getting ready to move out of our Point Pleasant house. It has been a good house to us, but it is getting ready for the summer season and we are getting ready to be in a house of our very own! I am excited to live closer to our friends, have a dishwasher, and have my very own permanent address!!!!

Note on the pictures: They were taken with my cell phone so the quality is not the best. Lately when I try to take a picture of her with the regular camera, she covers her eyes because of the flash. But they are so cute. In the first one I had told Mary that it was time to get dressed, so she ran to her chair and started "lounging." Lately she will not get dressed without a fight (nor will she bathe without a fight). The next one she was wearing my high heels (its hard to see that in the picture) and she wanted her sunglasses on (which do not stay on her face because she has tiny little ears and a tiny little nose--thanks to her dad:o) and that means I had to be speedy to get the picture). She is a good little walker in mom's heels. I'm impressed. The last picture was taken after the shoe party. She was so exhausted from the excitement that she fell asleep reading her books. When she saw that picture just now she said, "night, night." Then she put her finger to her mouth went "SSHHH."

Today Mary had her 18 month check-up (Yes she is 19 months, but March was a very busy month for us). She is always so scared and clingy. When the doctor examines her--you can see that she wants to cry, but is holding it all in until she is all red-faced and tears are running down her face. She did the same thing when she got her shots--didn't even cry. Well she is healthy and in the 50th percentile and so on and so forth.

I am constantly amazed by the fact that only yesterday she was just my little baby and now she is truly a little girl. Although sometimes she crawls up into my arms and says "baby." This means that she wants me to cradle her in my arms--like a baby--and say "aaawww, look at my little baby." Then she laughs and squirms free. She doesn't really want to be held like a baby--she is too independent.

Right now we are working on (among other things) trying to leave our hair in pigtails. Her hair is finally long enough for pigtails and it is so adorable. She likes the word pretty, so I tell her how pretty her hair is and sometimes that is enough for her not to mess with it. In the last couple days we have gone from pigtails lasting seconds to hours. We are making much progress.






Mary's phrases of choice right now are, "I sorry," "I fall," "Thank you," and "Okay" which is pronounced, "Otaaaayyee." "I sorry" is used even if she's not sorry, but you should be. And "I fall" is used when she falls, which is often, and if something is dropped. "Thank you," like "I sorry" is said when you give her something or she gives you something. It's very sweet and I am excited that she has some manners. I AM doing something right!

Lastly, Mary now loves to talk on the phone. She went from preferring to speak to the phone when nobody is there, to now preferring a person to talk to her. What do you know? So now unfortunately, when I am talking on the phone, she is yelling "talk, talk!" and reaching for the phone.

If you are wondering about the top picture: it is Mary with her bikini bottoms on her head. Apparently I haven't shown her the correct way to wear them. Alrighty well that's it for now.