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.

Happy Birthday, Dear Mazie

To our Amazing Mazie,

Two years ago, at right about this time in the evening, we were spending our first amazing moments with the tiny little brand new Mazie James Dickinson. When you were born, we found out one part of your identity that had been a secret until that moment: you were a little GIRL! Other than that, we really didn't know anything about you... except that you were absolutely perfect.

Over the past two years, it has been so wonderful to watch your personality develop and emerge. While it's still hard for me to picture you as a 15 year old, for example, it's suddenly not such a stretch to think of who you'll be at 5 or 7. You are absolutely your own little being, so full of your own ideas and character. The word your daddy and I use most often to describe you is BRIGHT. You are such a bright person in so many ways -- smart, of course, and clever, but also cheerful, curious, engaging, alert, kind, and funny. With few exceptions (you ARE two years old...), you are an absolutely delightful person to be around.

Here are some of your recent accomplishments:

You've been potty "trained" for at least two months. Really, there was very little training involved. Last fall, you started to show an interest in the things that happened in the bathroom, and Daddy and I let you dabble with using the potty for a while without any real commitment. A couple of months ago we bought you some underwear and spent a week or so setting a timer and putting you on the potty every hour, and that was pretty much all it took. You still have accidents and wear a diaper at night, but our days of changing poopy diapers seem to be behind us... until your little brother or sister comes along.

Your vocabulary continues to expand and amaze. Sure, Dad and I taught you silly things like "stethoscope" that make good party tricks, but what I've been really impressed with recently is your use of more mundane words and phrases:
actually
probably
right, Daddy?
okay, Mom?
no, thank you
now?
NOW!!
The concepts you're able to communicate just keep getting more complex and subtle. A few days ago when Daddy caught you getting into some candy at a friends house, you said, "Don't look at me, Daddy!" Daddy also recently explained to you where your shadow came from, and you recited it back to me: "Sun shines on me, and shadow goes on the ground. Sun isn't there, then no shadow!" You've even started to branch out into other languages: with your Portuguese "obrigada" and French "bonjour," you're a budding polyglot!

You are a very social little girl. You love your friends and talk about them all the time: Julia, CharlieHenry, Morris, and even cousins who you haven't seen in months (but will see a lot of very soon!). You're generous with hugs and kisses, and love to play, often narrating as you go: "We playing together! We running! We having fun together!" It's so much fun to watch the enjoyment you get out of being around other people.

Happy birthday, Miss Mazie. We love you so, so much.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Europe... continued

We added some more pictures to the Europe photo album here. We had some added excitement at the end of our trip with a missed flight from Paris to Chicago. In the end we made it home with one extra connection (DC to Chicago to Madison), a few extra hours, and a little extra stress. It was a great trip, though! We'll post some videos soon.