Reading, Smarty Pants, Sweetheart

Now that Daddy is once again gainfully employed, Mommy and Allen are getting back into a routine. Since I've been under the weather lately and it's been colder out, we've been reading a lot of books.

Yesterday, he decided he wanted to read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Llama Llama Mad at Mama. We brought them downstairs, and I sat down to read them to him. He had other plans though. He stood and "read" me Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and then decided to read Llama Llama to me as well. Since we already have video of him reading Chicka, I didn't video tape that, but I did get him reading Llama Llama.

It's kind of a long video, and it's not as cute if you aren't familiar with the book, but it's charming nonetheless, and I decided it needed to be posted. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did (and Allen. He spent about an hour yesterday afternoon watching the video. He's so vain).

After he read the books to me, he asked me to read Chicka to him. I read it, and then we looked at the inside back cover, which has all the entire alphabet. I was very impressed to discover that he recognized about 85-90% of the letters. He calls the letter U "umbella" (umbrella) because he has another toy that has "U for Umbrella". What a little smarty pants I have on my hands!

Also, he's been very excited about going in field service lately. He wants to give "people tacts" (tracts) and tell them about "Hovah" (Jehovah). He also announced to us the other night as he got into bed that "Hovah made moon and stars" (and he shook his finger at us for emphasis). I'm so proud of him.

Finally, I was reading an article on Babycenter about teaching your toddler manners, and was impressed to see that Allen is ahead of the curve with this. The article said that by age 4 children can sometimes say "please" and "thank you". I'm so proud to know that Allen says both fairly regularly. In fact, he was ahead of the curve on most of the "manners" that the article discussed.

OK, I'm done bragging for now. Have a fabulous weekend, my friends. I plan to continue my Disney recap and enjoy some Mexican food tomorrow night with my friend T and her beautiful son, Micai. Oh, and we'll be giving people "tacts" tomorrow too!

xoxo,

Capes

Since Allen's first trip into Mia's crate, it's become his regular hangout. He goes into Mia's "cape" (as he calls it) several times a day. Yesterday, he decided to join Mia in there. You can see how much Mia enjoyed that ...

He looked a little dejected after Mia decided she'd had enough and vacated the "cape."

Since he was enjoying Mia's "cape" so much, he decided he would check out Murphy's (smaller) crate as well. He got in there, but it was definitely a tighter fit, and he announced to Mommy as he was getting out, "I'm in stuck. Hep!" (I'm stuck, help).

xoxo,

Disney Recap: Hollywood Studios

Tuesday we went to Hollywood Studios. While there was more for the "adults" to do here (Rockn' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, etc), I was particularly excited for Allen to visit this park because he was going to get to meet all his friends from Playhouse Disney. Once again ... the photo highlights:

Mommy, Daddy, and Allen watching the Playhouse Disney Show (featuring Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, and Handy Manny)

Sharing a milkshake with Mommy at the Sci-Fi Drive-In restaurant
Seeing the real, live Mater!

And the real live McQueen!!!

In line with Daddy to meet the Little Einsteins

June and Quincy!

Annie & Leo!

Handy Manny (Mommy has a little cartoon crush on him)

xoxo,

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program

of the Disney World recap to bring you this amusing story. As I was cleaning up after dinner last night, I found Allen messing around in Mia's crate. Now that's no surprise, as he has always shown an interest in it ... opening and closing the door, checking on Mia, throwing his cars in it, etc. But what I witnessed him doing last night was like nothing I'd ever seen before ... take a look:

I loved the exit ... so graceful.

xoxo,

Disney Recap: Epcot

We really enjoyed our first day at Epcot. We didn't do a whole lot (well, actually Kristen and Josh did. They were on their KimPossible missions most of the day). The highlight for most of us was The Seas with Nemo. Allen loved looking at the different fish and at the manatees. Nana loved it too!

Some photo highlights ...

Nana in front of the "Ball"

Allen with his new friends Dory and Nemo
The Craig Family at the Upside_Down Waterfall Fountain

Checking out a real fire truck

Playing with Josh in a London phone booth

Lunch was shared with a large aquarium of fish at the restaurant at The Seas, and we enjoyed dinner underneath the "stars" in Mexico.

More to come ...

xoxo,

Finally ... My Disney Recap; Magic Kingdom

OK, so I'm finally really starting my Disney World recap. So here are the photo highlights from the Magic Kingdom:

Allen and I shared our Carousel ride with Nana and Kissy

And then we rode Dumbo with Kissy

After Dumbo we rode Small World. Allen loved it, and pointed to different things constantly.

We shared a Mickey Mouse ice cream treat. Allen liked the chocolate the best, and kept biting that off. Mommy got most of the ice cream ...

We went to our first character greeting that day too. First we met Max (I think he's Goofy's nephew or something ... I'm not sure)

Then Goofy (I think he's Allen's favorite)

And finally Nana's favorites -- Chip and Dale

We also got to talk to "Push," a talking trash can who somehow could see us and interact with us, but we're not sure how ... ahhh the magic of Disney!

After a really fun day, we enjoyed dinner at the California Grille, atop the Contemporary Resort. It's the best place to watch the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. Allen enjoyed them quite a bit, and then nearly fell asleep in my arms.

That's it for the first day recap. More soon!

xoxo,

Figures, Magic Kingdom

I apologize for the lack of posting ... surprise surprise, I got sick as soon as we got back from Disney. Between being sick and crashing as soon as Allen goes to bed, and having 500 pictures (love you Papa) to go through from the trip, the thought of blogging about our trip has been a bit overwhelming.

While I'm still trying to organize the photos, I will go ahead and share these three with you (in spite of the fact that I look like an idiot in them). They are of the Disney castle, and of our first ride -- The Carousel. I'm working on getting all the photos organized, and I hope to have some good recaps to share with you soon (once I can do something without having to blow my nose every five seconds)!

xoxo,

Fabulous time ... where to begin??

Well, we're finally home. We had an unbelievably wonderful time (thank you Nana and Papa), and we are sufficiently exhausted. I had such high hopes of posting while there, but with hundreds of photos to go through, I found the task a little too daunting. Here are some photos to whet your appetite (in no particular order) ... I'll be posting much more over the days to come.

xoxo,

Enjoying a show with Nana at Sea World
Charming the "ladies"

Playing with Uncle Josh (in a "London" phone booth)

His black eye (which he got within minutes of our arrival)