"I did share!"

So for the last couple months, Tara's been so proud of herself whenever she shares something. If she hands you one of her toys, or colored pencils, or a book...she'll cock her head to the left or right, get a big grin on her face, and say "I did share!" And she says it in the sweetest little voice...it's the most precious thing ever :)

She's also very aware of when other people share, and loves to point it out. So these last few weeks if I do anything from hand her an apple slice, to giving her the book she asked for; she'll cock her head and say "You shared!" Oh my gosh how sweet is she???

Sean and I can't help but have our hearts just melt when we hear that!

YAAAAAY TARA!!!!!

So for months and months now, we've been working on Tara learning her alphabet, numbers, shapes, etc. She's got it down pretty well for the most part. A lot of her favorite activities include counting EVERYthing in sight, telling us what color everything is, and what shape they are. It's so fun :) For her 2nd birthday, we even bought her the Vtech Alphabet Apple, and it's one of her favorite toys. It's helped her learn the alphabet at an even faster rate. I just thought we had a ways to go until the point when she could stand there and recite the entire alphabet.

Yesterday-she (once again) took me by surprise. Sean was due home from work any moment, and Tara was playing with her toys in the livingroom. All of a sudden, I look up at her because I hear her saying "L, M, N, O, P..." I think I may have stopped breathing for a moment or two while she said that! She continued "Q, R, S, T..." At this point I screamed in delight-so excited that I was hearing this :) She had this humongous grin on her face as she went on "U, W, X, Y, and Z! I did it!!! Where's my apple?!?" I started clapping, and telling her how proud I was of her. It was so cute! I thought is was hilarious how when she was done she immediately wanted her Alphabet Apple...hehe. I was SO proud of her! I also thought it was adorable how she skipped "V", and the first part of the alphabet-but we'll get there.

My baby's learning so much!

Hahaha! Tara always makes me laugh so hard...

So a few minutes ago, I was craving a fresh tomato; so I sliced one up, drizzled a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil on the slices, and a tiny bit of salt. Tara and I enjoyed every last bite. When they were gone, I said to her "That was delicious!" (A new word we've been trying to teach her the meaning of). She went to exclaim something, and started to say "That was..." and then she saw the empty plate, and said "Gone!" I busted up laughing...

Such a sweet surprise!

So on sunday mornings I'm usually the first one up. I grab breakfast, shower, and then get the rest of the family going. Yesterday when I walked into the bathroom, I came upon such a SWEET surprise...











The day before, amongst our saturday activities; we made a stop at the store to pick up some items we needed. Tara was asleep in the carseat, so I stayed in the car with her while Sean ran into the store. When he came back, he was showing me how amongst everything, he came across a couple of items he couldn't resist getting for Tara. One was a little toy pony, that he thought she'd love; since she adores her My Little Pony collection. Another was this little mini Disney chalkboard, and chalk. He thought she'd have a blast drawing on it, and maybe practicing her alphabet. Sunday morning though-I discovered that Sean had written a sweet note on it for me the night before, for me to find in the morning. What a guy...It just warmed my heart :)

Don't forget the baby!

Yesterday afternoon, Tara and I were leaving the house to walk to the park. We had a conversation that just made me smile :)

Tara: "Mommy! Where's the baby?"

Me: "Don't worry honey, the baby's still in mommy's tummy."

Tara: "Okay. Let's go!"

She's going to be a great big sister, if while still pregnant; she's reminding me not to forget the baby!

Is she THAT old already???

So last night, Tara and I were food shopping with Rachel and her kiddos. Mason was in Rachel's cart, and Tara was in mine (after sitting with Rachel for most of the trip). Tara asks me all of a sudden "Where's Mason?" They were right behind us, so I stepped out of the way so she could see her friend. Then I hear my daughter say "Ooh...he's cute!" Rachel and I cracked up, and it was certainly a glimpse of things to come :) Oh boy...am I ready? haha

Blackberries Anyone?

So over the last few weeks, we've gathered a good amount of fresh blackberries off some local bushes; and it's been worth all the scratches you get! We once again joined up with Rachel and her kidlettes, and had a blast spending time together picking blackberries. Tara (understandably) didn't enjoy picking blackberries as much as picking blueberries; but can you blame the girl? I myself got beat up pretty good by my fair share of thorny branches slamming into my legs, arms, face. Fun stuff...But when you leave with a 10 quart bucket filled to the brim? I started smelling the blackberry cobbler before we even left the field! Although-Tara and Olivia were so darling as they sat together by our feet, just waiting for us moms to either say we were finished picking and could go home, or to dump another handful of berries into their hot little hands for the eating. I couldn't get over how cute it was to see Tara's little face and hands COVERED in blackberry juice, huge smile on her face, asking me "Mommy! More berries?" The memories will last forever...So we've made blackberry syrup, blackberry cobbler, had blackberries with vanilla yogurt for breakfasts, and eaten handful after juicy handful of berries freshly picked. We're hoping to go back for a third trip soon, before the season's over. Next up-strawberry season!

"All done. Let's eat!"

So today, I took a nap when Tara did; because I was too exhausted to function. This whole growing a baby thing was getting the better of me...So she ended up napping for a good 2 and 1/2 hours, which meant-so did it :) When she woke up, she came into our room, and said she was ready for lunch. I told her that I'd get her lunch if she put her books back on the bookshelf. Before her nap, she had taken about every book she owned and strewn them all over the floor in the livingroom and hallway. So when I told her she had to put them back on the bookshelf before lunch, she got upset. She knows the rules though, that we clean up before any mealtime, and she knew she wouldn't get lunch until they were put away. So after whining for a couple minutes, she got to work. I ended up slipping back to sleep for a period of 3 minutes, after which she comes in to tell me she was done. You can see the bookshelf in the hallway from our open bedroom door, and I still saw books strewn all over the floor in the hallway. I told her she needed to put ALL the books away before I made lunch. She whined a bit more, then got to work. I looked at the clock, and fell back asleep for another 4 minutes. I woke up to her saying "All done-let's eat!" I got up and inspected the hallway and livingroom, and all the books were put away on the bookshelf this time. I was so proud of her! I thought it was so cute the way she said "All done-let's eat!" What a big girl...

"Dress?"

So last night Tara sure shocked us again into realizing that she is growing up, whether we're ready or not. I had been in the kitchen making blackberry syrup out of some of the fresh blackberries we had picked as a family. Tara and Sean were in the livingroom playing. I was focusing on what I was doing, but also recognized that for the past couple of minutes I'd heard her saying "Dress?" "Dress?" Then Sean says to me "Honey-she keeps asking for a dress! What should I do?" I said "Get her a dress, I suppose.." It was just minutes away from her bedtime, but I didn't see why I couldn't let her play dress up real quick while I finished the syrup. So I go into her closet, and retrieved one of her dresses. I walked into the livingroom and handed Tara the dress, and she said "Thank you!" Our bedroom isn't far from the livingroom, and she promptly walked over to our bedroom, opened the door, and walked in. She then turned around and said "I get dressed" and then shut the door! We started laughing at how cute she was. She opened the door a couple moments later, and said "Mommy help!" She was struggling with removing her shirt, and was a bit distraught. I motioned for her to come into the kitchen so I could help her-and she looked at me like I was crazy. She emphatically said "No...Daddy will see!" She was shy, and wanted her privacy! She'd never cared before! It was so darling, and it was so hard for Sean and I to stifle the laughter...I walked into our bedroom, and she ended up needing help turning on the light in the bedroom since she can't reach, and she also needed help removing her shirt. So after I turned on the light, and got her shirt off, I asked her if she wanted help getting the dress on; and she said "No. I got it." So I left. She came out a couple minutes later, and she had put the dress on...just not all the way. The sleeves to the dress were rolled under into the top of the dress, and because of that the dress wasn't hanging correctly on her body. Due to this all, she walked out looking like she was wearing a strapless dress, that only hit mid-thigh. But boy-she was SO incredibly proud of herself for doing it all by herself! We told her "Good job Tara!" She was so cute!!!


*sigh*


When did she grow up?