Happy Birthday, Casey

Hi Casey,
You looked so beautiful and happy on your birthday! I like your new tower and hope you become a good cook using it. Love, Nana

More language stuff

This weekend, Casey spent almost two hours in swingsets, swinging. At one point, she played this game where she would not want me to push her until the swinging slowed way down. Then she would get me to push her, and when it was going fast she would say "I wake up!" So the game was like slowing down = falling asleep, going faster = waking up. It was so cute I wish I had a video to post :)

Blow by Blow of Casey's Second Birthday

Casey got a lot of presents for her birthday, but none were so precious as this card from Jacob. Below is a blow by blow of what Casey did throughout her birthday. Happy Second Birthday, Casey. We love you!

9:00 AM---It's a tower! Thanks Nana! Jacob loves it too!

9:20 AM---These are cutie!" That's what Casey said when she opened her rock themed bath toys. She called the guitar her "singy."

9:30 AM---"This is MY purse," Casey said, looking purposefully at Jacob.

9:40 AM---"These are my underwears!" It's the only thing we could get Casey to wear in the morning. Thanks, Aunt Brenda!

10:00 AM---Casey and Jacob check out the new learning tower. Jacob "towers" over Casey!

12:30 PM---Casey plays with her new play kitchen! "The mac n cheese is ready," she says.

6:00 PM---Casey gets to eat her cake. "It's MY cake," she says, when she sits down.

6:30 PM---Casey plays with the birthday party cake set she got from Bianca's family!

Casey relaxes by reading to herself after a long, busy birthday

Carnival, how we love thee!

Carnival used to be the most annoying event at CMU. The parking lot that I used every year would be taken over by "carnies"---as well as booths built by the school's fraternities and sororities. Something called "Buggy," races that took place behind my office, kept me from parking outside my office on weekend mornings for months before the big race.

And then I had kids. Jacob would talk about Carnival for days, watching every day outside the windows at Cyert as a magical fairy land was constructed before his very eyes. He would talk about Carnival for weeks after, asking, begging us to bring it back. It was still annoying in all the old ways, but suddenly Carnival was something more than the sum of its parts, something that made my child happy.

This year was Casey's first Carnival. A few days before Carnival started Casey, Jacob and Josh and I walked through the parking lot where the Carnival workers were setting up the rides. Casey saw the "Granny Bugs," which were ladybug with granny glasses on them, and she declared that "was gonna ridem." She also said she was "gonna climbem." It occurred to us that Casey really had no idea what a Carnival ride was, but that each ride looked like a strange and wonderful play structure.

When Carnival day finally dawned and Casey got to "ride" the ladybugs, you can see that her expression turned from one of delight and anticipation, to fear and distress.
This is so exciting!

Hi Mom and Dad, I'm rid'n the Lady Bugs!



I'm not so sure about this all of a sudden....

Casey, it's OK, it's almost done...


I wanna get off!

The day before Casey's second birthday

I wanted to jot down a few thoughts about Casey before her second birthday. She's been really fun lately, and funny, and she has also been throwing the most awesome tantrums of her life. The tantrums have partly come from all the fun she's been having, which has led to scotched bedtimes and eating on the run. She has developed a screech that sounds like it could break glass.

A few of my favorite things lately have been watching her hop, with two feet, all over our bed. She also loves to be naked---except for a pair of Mary Janes. She runs around the house in her little shoes, but without another stitch of clothing, shouting, "I'm naked, I'm naked." Her vocabulary continues to grow, though she still likes to call "oatmeal "emo" (reversing the order of the vowels). Yesterday, referring to her morning ritual of yelling from her crib for one of us to pick her up, she said, "I was yelling and crying and shouting." That's a lot of synonyms for such a little girl!

She's been saying "why" a lot, too. After everything. Anyway, those are a few thoughts for now. Tomorrow she'll be two!

Jacob and Mamma Make the Crafts from Family Fun Mag

Jacob and I made all the birds in the Family Fun craft magazine. We used egg cartons and pieces of the magazine to make the birds in the tree and the bird cartons. We used modeling clay and twigs to make the little faux nest. We had a great time and Jacob was a great model! Click on the photo to see a closeup of our little aviary!

Easter Morning Showing Off New Clothes at the Phipps

'

After opening our Easter baskets we went to Phipps to celebrate rebirth and eternal renewal at the spring flower show. At the wishing well Jacob wished to "live forever and never die like a super hero." The place was packed with many families armed with cameras and their Easter bonnets. We had lunch after our tour, and then went back home for quiet time.

Dying Easter Eggs!

We dyed Easter Eggs on Saturday before Easter. Check out Casey's orange hand! And what's with Jacob's super cutie face?

Happy Cookie Decorating Faces!

On Friday we received a mysterious box from Nana. I opened it when Jacob and Casey were napping and found prebaked Easter cookies and lots of stuff with which to decorate them. Yeah! Jacob liked the stars and the sugar; Casey and I painted with the small tubes of icing. After we decorated each child got to eat one cookie each! In the bottom photo Casey is nicely offering a bite to Dad!

Easter Cookies from Nana

Here's the before and after. Thanks for the beautiful, delicious cookies Nana. Don't they look pretty!

Ivana comes to visit!

Ivana is an old friend from my graduate school and union days at Yale. She is in town on serious union business, but she took out an afternoon to play super friend to me as we did the "Labor and Capital" tour of the burgh. Jacob and Casey and I took her to the site of the Homestead battle with Henry Clay Frick, and, after a lovely supper at Point Brugge, we played in the mud at Henry Clay Frick's family home. We got chased off the property by a guard at closing time. How appropriate!

Casey's Birthday Wishlist

A few weeks ago we went to Anouk's birthday party and the experience, which was lovely---full of nice parents and lots of frosting---has put Casey in a slighty greedy mood. Keep in mind, as you are reading her list of demands, that she is not yet two years old!

"When's my birthday?" She says, now, almost every day.

"Next week."

"I wanna new car."

"Why? What's wrong with this one?"

"I want Alan's car." Alan, our downstairs neighbor who we wake up every day, with screaming, crying, pounding feet and the tossing of balls, has a shiny black Nissan Pathfinder. We have 1997 champagne colored Honda Accord. With a lot of miles on it.

"Well, this car works just fine, and we're going to keep it until it doesn't work anymore."

"Oh. OK....well, I wanna new house. Like Jane's house." We went to Jane's house for brunch last Sunday and Casey didn't want to leave. The house looked like the set of an English's professor's house in a movie. Gorgeous built-ins, house plants, a sun porch brimming with sunlight, and a rich, dark dining room with flowers on the table. Antique photos and books, everywhere.

"We're not going to get a new house until Daddy gets a job."

"Oh. OK."

I'm a bit worried that the Learning Tower that I got used and the play kitchen coming from Target are going to be a bit of disappointment for Ms. Wants-a-lot. And she's not even two years old!

The Circus Comes to Town!

Jacob has a best friend. His name is Anand, though he often goes by Ani. Last night Ani's parents and younger brother took Jacob to the circus! Jacob has been talking about the circus a lot today---especially the human cannonball! I love the picture of Jacob and Ani with the clown. The clown doesn't look too scary, and the boys look darling. Thanks again, Anand's family!

Trip to the "dinosaur" museum with mom

I figured out that the Carnegie is open late on Thursdays, which means that Jacob can finally get into his favorite spot: the dinosaur digging pit. Dinosaur bones are covered in a mix of paraffin and sand, and the kids have to use tools shaped like giant screwdrivers to reveal the bones below. It's very hard work, even for mom! Jacob loves this place---and Casey just loves running all over as fast as she can. She says, "Can I run," and then she does!

Casey looking like a pro on the potty

Casey knows that going potty is all about having the right reading material. So here she is reading a magazine on the potty with dad's help. However, she has not figured out that the potty is also about poo and pee!