Preschool!

Mazie with a "camera smile" ready for her first day of school

Now THERE's a better smile!

I started preschool this week! I'm going to Our School, a small cooperative preschool, two mornings a week. I've gone to visit a few times with my cousin, Livi, but on Tuesday I had my first day in the class all by myself. Well, not really by myself... there are 6 other kids and two teachers, and then one parent stays for each class, too. Anyway, I had a GREAT time on Tuesday! Mom dropped me off, and I promptly changed into a swimming suit because we were going to play with the water table that day.

The teachers like us to do things by ourselves, and that works well for me -- I took off my clothes and hung them up all by myself! Mom seemed to linger around for a while... I was too busy playing with all the fun stuff to pay too much attention to her. When she finally left she gave me a hug and I said, "Bye Mom! Love you!" I had lots of fun playing with the kids, and I'm really excited to go back for my second class tomorrow!

Even though I'm just starting preschool, my days have been pretty busy and very different since we moved to Colorado. For the first two years of my life Dad was home with me all day every day, and Mom worked from home sometimes and then spent afternoons and evenings with me. I hardly ever spent time away from BOTH of my parents. When we moved to Colorado, Dad started working part time, too. This meant that I got to spend time with a bunch of other people... Aunt Jen, Aunt Michelle, Nana, Ahya, and several different babysitters. It's been a little crazy moving around so much and having a busier schedule, but I LOVE it! It's been so great to hang out with my extended family and new friends.... Fridays are "Ahya Fridays" and we have so much fun playing together. Ahya lets me do things at my own pace, which can be kind of leisurely... she took me to the zoo a while ago and we only saw a few animals since I like to take my time! But Ahya doesn't mind -- she's very patient and just enjoys letting me do my own things!

And then there's my cousin Olivia. Since Dad and Aunt Jen work together, Livi and I have gotten to spend a TON of time together, and we're not just cousins anymore... we're BEST FRIENDS! I have so much fun with her -- we play all kinds of games together, we share things, we tell each other jokes, and we rarely fight. Considering the fact that she's 3 and I'm 2, it's pretty impressive how well we get along. We'll see each other a little bit less now that I'm going to be in school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (she goes Monday/Wednesday/Friday), but I'll still get to spend plenty of time with O-LIV-I-AAAAAAA!

All in all, I'm still a super happy kid with lots to say and lots of jokes to tell. I LOVE to tell stories and talk about my friends, many of whom Mom and Dad have never met. One friend is "Aso" -- I talk about him (or her... it varies) all the time. Today in the car I was asking Mom, "Do you know Aso?" Mom said she didn't, so I explained, "Aso is a girl who saves the day." I proceeded to list a bunch of other friends who also save the day, including Fifi and Biba. Mom asked what they were saving the day from, and I told her, "Washington." That made Mom wonder if I've been attending too many Tea Parties or something. Who knows where I get this stuff!

Videos

As you all know we've been SUPER busy over the last several months (traveling, moving, traveling, starting new jobs, moving into our new house, unpacking, having Nanny and Papa visit, traveling some more....) and Mom and Dad are way behind on updating you all on ME and my antics. We are very happy to be settling in to our new home and new routines, and I just get cuter (and feistier) every day. Here are some recent videos.

Talking on the "phone" in our motel in Glenwood Springs, where we went to celebrate GG's 80th birthday! So great to spend time with the Hansen crew!


My performance at the Hotel Jerome in Aspen on our way back from Glenwood.


Yesterday at Aunt Jen's house -- Mia got me and Livi all dressed up and we did some belly dancing!

Recent Quotes

Here are some of the more ridiculous things I've said recently:

During the ceremony for Uncle Ty and Aunt Sara's wedding (more on that, including pictures, soon):

"Don't fall in the water, Daddy!" (He was the officiant and was standing on the edge of a fountain!)

Then, to the bridesmaids:

"If you take your shoes off, THEN you can put your feet in the water!" (Spoken from experience.)

To my mom, when she was putting on my shoe that sometimes pinches:

"If you hurt me, that's okay. If you don't hurt me, that's better."

To a nice woman outside the restaurant I was eating at with Mom and Dad:

"I came outside because I couldn't see you inside."

"I just moved to Colorado."

"It's really nice weather."

To the librarian who was telling some boys I was playing with to be a little quieter and stop screaming:

"If you're inside, then you can't scream. If you're outside, THEN you can scream."

To Mom as she was bringing me up to sleep, after I said goodnight to Daddy:
"Daddy's daughter is going to bed."

I've also taken to using first names. Mommy is Katie, Ahya is Tracy, Papa is Steve. I also regularly inform Daddy that Nana is his mama, and I tell Mommy that Ahya is her mother.

I'm really liking my new house. I'll write more about that and put some pictures up soon.

Busiest Month Ever!

The last month and a half has been WAY busy and Mom and Dad are WAY behind on updates. Here's what we've been up to:

June 20-28: Up at the cottage with our friends. We had an AMAZING trip... great weather, fun boat rides, and lots of time in the water. I loved hanging out with Miles, Tobin, and Evan, and the big boys even taught me how to pee outside! It's a little easier for them, though.... All in all, a wonderful vacation.




June 29-July 2: Packing up our house in Madison...

July 3-8: Back up at the cottage with our family. Once again, good weather overall and LOTS of fun with my cousins. (Mom dropped our camera in the water during the first cottage trip, so we have to get pictures from Grandpa to post here from our family trip...)

July 8-10: More packing...

July 10-11: Moving to Colorado! Dad and Grandpa drove the big UHaul moving truck while Mom, Great Aunt Joy, Wiley, and Bailey (our sweet Roxie has a new home with a very nice woman in Madison) all piled in to our Volvo. We drove straight through the night and made it to Avocado (that's what I like to call my new home state) on Sunday the 11th.

July 12-22: Staying with Ahya and playing with my cousins (Olivia and I have become really good friends!), while Mom and especially Dad worked really hard to finalize the purchase of our new house in Louisville! We finally closed on the house on July 22 and Mom, Dad, and I got to spend one night there together before Mom and I flew to Bellingham on the 23rd.

Mom and I are here in Washington now, and Dad will come out on Tuesday the 27th. We're getting ready for Uncle Tyler and Aunt Sara's wedding on Aug 2 -- I'm going to be a flower girl! We are so excited to see everyone and to celebrate this wonderful event! When we met Ty and Sara at the Farmer's Market this morning I showed Aunt Sara how our whole family feels about her: I gave her a huge hug and wouldn't let her put me down for about 10 minutes straight. Uncle Tyler's okay, too, I guess... I'm just glad he's finally making an honest aunt out of Sara -- she's a keeper!

Longest Sentence

Ever since my dad read somewhere that a kid my age is supposed to be able to string 3-4 words together into a sentence, he's made a hobby out of counting how long my sentences are. The other day I blew my old record out of the water with this 15-word gem, followed by a little two-word finisher:

"This bear have an owie,
and I am trying to fix it
-- with this fork! Okay, Daddy?"

As Mom was typing this out for me, she realized that it's also just a few syllables away from being a haiku! I'll work on that next time....

Videos

Here are some recent videos...

Daddy started my soccer training at my birthday party this weekend. He even showed me and Morris how to celebrate after a goal!


Here's one of me riding a pony at Elvire's house in France.


Also in France, this is me reading to Timeo.


And back at home, I tell Mommy another silly story while I eat my birthday breakfast.



And then dance and sing with the presents Ahya gave me.

BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

Today was my birthday -- I turned TWO years old. For my birthday, a bunch of friends and I went to the zoo yesterday and then hung out at the park. It was a gorgeous day and I had so much fun with all my buddies!








Here are some more pictures.