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Last night Tim went to pick up a special new toy for Makaela. She always fusses for a couple minutes when he goes out the door, but last night she tried out a new tactic. When it got quiet, I knew it was time to check on her and this is what I found.

Me: "Oh you want to go on a stroller walk?"

Mak: "Yah! Go, go, go!"

Me: "I wish we could, but remember it's almost night-night time. It's very dark, but let's go on a walk tomorrow morning."

...and then she kicked back in the stroller, and I went back about my business. A couple minutes later I hear the door knob rattling.

I admire your inventive, adventurous spirit kid, but we're still not going on a walk. 

Tim enjoyed these funny pictures when he got home, but unfortunately the little nugget was in bed already when he arrived, so she'd have to wait until morning to see her new toy. 

And you know what, it was a good thing, because the girl played with her new diner ALL DAY. If she had gotten it before bed, she may have pulled an all nighter. 

She has a play kitchen, but this takes it up a notch. This is a play kitchen with seating attached! It is set up like a little diner...so cute. She ate breakfast, lunch and sevvvvveral snacks in her diner today. It took some convincing, but she had dinner with us like normal at the table. 

Have I mentioned that? She sits in a normal chair at our dining room table! Like an adult. No booster. No high chair. Totally the big leagues. It makes meal time so cute. Oh and being the sophisticated lady that she is, she insists on always using utensils. Sometimes this means eating a spoonful of blueberries. And if she can't manage to scoop it up, she picks up the item and places it onto her spoon and THEN puts it in her mouth. Yes, that's right, when she had corn with dinner the other night she would pick up one kernel, place it on her spoon and then put that HUGE bite ;-) into her mouth. We were at the table for awhile. Sorry, that was a long side tangent. It's just adorable to witness. 

Grandpa and Grandma are going to be proud and love this little diner...keeping the family business alive!

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

We didn't have to go far to reach Sesame Street. It turns out it was only a block away. Recently, the USO and Sesame Street put on a special performance for military families in our area. Lucky for us, we got tickets!

Makaela has loved Elmo for what seems like forever. Something about him being red, I think, is what drew her in originally, and now she recognizes him on anything - if there is an Elmo book, she wants it, an Elmo plate, she's gotta eat off it and if Elmo is on a commercial, prepare to see a toddler's MIND. BLOWN. 

The performance was held inside a gym, we got there early enough that we landed an awesome spot on the gym floor. And let me just say, sitting on a gym floor sure does feel different at 29 vs 9. Yikes. Anyway, when we got there they gave everyone a nice USO bandana and all the kids got a special Elmo light-up-spinner toy. You know, the kind you pay $20 for at a normal event, haha. 

That little toy certainly came in handy while waiting for the show to start. That, and goldfish crackers. When do those NOT make a toddler situation better?

Once the show started, Makaela was locked in. It's possible that she didn't blink for the entire 30 minute show. 

The show was perfect - just the right amount of singing and dancing. It appropriately focused on moving, and making new friends, go figure.

There were even some parts where Elmo and his buddies came into the crowd. We were on an aisle so Makaela scored some high-fives and a couple pats on the head. 

That was really great because throughout the show she had been blowing kisses to Elmo. Probably like 17 kisses, and she seemed to get her feelings hurt when he didn't blow a kiss back! It was cute and sad all at the same time. Perhaps she didn't notice the 75 other kids in the room that Elmo also needed to give attention to ;-)

We were so thankful to have had this opportunity, it really was a blast!! It is all Makaela talked about for the rest of the day. Seriously. 

18 month check up and a crappy ending to the day...

Makaela had her 18 month check up on Wednesday. Can you believe she is already a year and a half old? I certainly cannot!

She is such an intelligent, affectionate, silly little (okay, not so little) girl.

Right now she is loving:

- Playing at the park or anywhere that she can run free - the more space the better.

- Holding hands ("han") and giving kisses. Kisses for mom, kisses for dad, kisses for her food, kisses for the window - you name it, haha.

- Reading. No joke, she will go days without touching a toy, but don't take away her books!

- Coloring. If you'd like a limited edition Makaela print, send us your address, hahaha ;-)

- Songs that she can act out motions to, like The Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider.

- Learning! She knows all of her body parts, loves when we count or say the alphabet, and is learning her colors.

- Making decisions. We try and give her choices whenever possible, and she does a great job letting us know what she wants.

And sometimes she likes to play in her baby toys...this girl...

Oh my, how you have grown...

As far as her check-up went, she is healthy! She wasn't happy, but after a sucker, a sticker and a high five from her nurse she was willing to put their differences aside. 

Ignore the name misspelling. As we suspected, our girl is growing, growing growing (proportionally! haha). She got 3 shots at her appointment, but doesn't need anymore until she is 4 years old - woo hoo! She wanted to pick off her band-aids until I told her they were stickers for being brave, that just took the coolness level up a few notches and she isn't concerned about her "boo boo" anymore. Within a couple hours of her appointment she was at gym class having the time of her life.

So perhaps you're wondering why the title mentions a crappy ending to the day, well I literally mean there was crap involved. Mak has a little rash on her upper thigh right where her diaper rubs, of course, so we let her run around for a little bit without a diaper...you see where this is going...

Yes, the child has a fashion sense all her own...those are Daddy's socks. She's going for the toddler assless chaps look, I think. 

ANYWAY, while I was washing some dishes Makaela was playing with her guitar in the kitchen. I look over to check on her and what do you know, poop right below where she is squatting down. It was hilarious, to be honest. She had 0% awareness of the poop. Don't interrupt my jam session Mom, jeeeeeez.

Thankfully it wasn't messy, so I cleaned her up and she was back on her way...without a diaper, because I ASSUMED she was done. Boy, did I learn my lesson. 

About 15 minutes later, she was staring out the back window watching the landscapers cut a neighbor's grass, and I was in the dining room. Suddenly I hear, "kuk-ka" "mama!" So I go in to see that she has crap ALL over her foot, oozing through her toes (nice visual for ya). 

We had always taught her to just brush stuff off, like wood chips or dirt or whatever when she falls at the park, welllll that came back to bite me because now she was trying to "brush off" the poop on her foot. Yep, now her hand was covered in poop. The least of my worries was the poop pile on the floor and the poop foot prints on my carpet. 

I didn't even have the slightest clue how to pick her up without getting crap all over myself...I thought I had succeeded, until 5 minutes later when I saw my entire arm had poop smeared all over it. LOL. As "crappy" as the situation was, it really made me laugh - it was totally one of those "omg, this is happening" moments.

Needless to say, the rest of our day was spent bathing and steam cleaning the carpets.

She cleans up well, I must admit...

Oktoberfest!

Last night we went to Oktoberfest in our neighborhood. We knew what to expect because we had gone last year, so we were super stoked for Makaela to experience all the kid stuff she was too small to enjoy last year.

It was actually a bit "chilly" so Makaela rocked her skinny jeans and her Converse - her first pair of lace up shoes, ah!

And she helped herself to a juice box for the road...

Because the festival was only two blocks from our house, we just strolled on over. Yay for not having to search for a parking spot!

First we walked around and looked at everything, because we knew once miss thang was out of her stroller there would be no going back.

And we enjoyed some not very authentic German food, and beer with Oktoberfest in the name ;-)

There were lots of activities for the kids - pumpkin painting, face painting, zip lines, bounce houses, pony rides and more. 

Makaela loved running (and sometimes marching) around, waving to everyone and of course making friends along the way. 

I didn't expect her to want to go in the bounce house because a month ago when she was exposed to one it made her nervous, but she surprised me and confidently ran right over to the bounce house and began to climb in!! See ya later mom!

For the most part she preferred to crawl around, but every once in awhile she'd stand up and give a little bounce, bounce. 

We were so proud of her for trying something new, and LOVED watching her hang and play with the other kids. It was impossible not to smile from ear to ear. 

After the excitement of the bounce house she was ready to go check out the ponies! 

"You mean I get to sit ON TOP of an animal?!"

At first she kept saying "moo moo." LOL. Then we reminded her these were horses, and then she was all about "nay nay." 

Last time she rode a pony, Daddy walked with her, this time Mama walked along side her girl, while Daddy captured some nice photos. 

She absolutely loved it and did not seem hesitant at all. What a happy girl!!

After a couple rounds she started waving to everyone as she passed by. Such a ham. 

At the end we told her she could pet the horse "just like you pet Ginger." 

She did a great job being gentle and I think her horse friend liked the pets ;-)

After the pony ride, we burst her bubble and told her it was time to go home. Makaela waved to us, said "bah!" and ran off in the opposite direction. Sorry sweetheart, you have to go home WITH us.

She cried most of the way home as Tim and I took turns carrying her because she was wiggling out of control. The only bad part of having fun is that it has to come to an end!