A healthy snack

I recently discovered these little bits of yummy deliciousness at my local Wal-Mart.



And I have to say, if you see them in a store near you, do not hesitate to buy them for your self and your loved ones. Chocolate and strawberry, all smushed yummily together. It's like manna from heaven.

Plus, the strawberry filling counts as a serving of fruit (right?), so you can't go wrong.

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Clarity

All morning Janie has been playing with her purses. She has two: one with a big pink flower, and one that looks like a fluffy Pooh-bear face.

First, she stands in front of her bedroom mirror looking at her cute self with a purse hanging on each arm. Then she runs to stand in front of my bedroom mirror to look at her cute self with a purse hanging on each arm. Then she runs to the living room to do a little dance with a purse hanging on each arm. And repeat. And repeat.

Then she walked up to me, with a very expectant look on her face, and did the sign for 'mouse'.

I said, "Oh, honey, that's not a mouse. You have a big pink flower and a Pooh-bear."

Again the sign for 'mouse'.

"Baby, did you see a mouse? If there is a mouse in this house I will totally freak. Why are you signing 'mouse'?"

Furiously signing 'mouse'.

"Yes, sweetheart, I see that you are signing 'mouse'. I mean, I know that I'm a natural blonde. But really, I'm not getting this."

And then, I'm not sure, but I think she rolled her eyes. Then, a very slow and deliberate sign for 'mouse'.

"Janie, honey, mama is so sorry. I can tell that you are really trying to tell me something. But I'm just not understanding. Gosh, that must be really frustrating."

She looked at me with an exasperated look, put down her purses and walked into her room. I stood in the hallway feeling a little bit like the worst mother ever. I prayed for understanding. I prayed for her voice to miraculously begin working right now. I prayed that she wouldn't remember this moment.

Then Janie returned, carrying her current most-favorite-book-in-the-whole-world, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. She pointed at Lilly on the cover of the book.

Lilly is a mouse. Carrying a purse.

Ooohhhh.

So we sat on the floor in the hallway and read all about Lilly and her purple plastic purse. And we laughed about silly mommy who wasn't able to see the dancing, purse-holding Lilly standing right in front of her.

Thank you Janie for not giving up!

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Bunny hop

Today we went to the Easter egg hunt at the park. It was the cutest thing.

Last year, Janie picked up two eggs. And that was it. I mean, once you have one egg for each hand, what's the point of continuing?

This year, she more than doubled her egg count at five! (Plus, she got to wear the little bunny ears that we found in the $1 section at Target.)

Way to go, my little bunny!

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Rice-a-roni

From Rob's blog:
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so janie and i were having some solo dinner time tonight at her favorite place: baja fresh.
she eats their rice like cookie monster eats cookies:
like a savage.



she grabs it by the handfuls and jams it into her mouth-
and of course- it gets on her cheeks, in her hair and tonight-
one grain of rice went half way into her nostril.

so- being the shameless dad-
i tried to pick it out-
which made her laugh- loud and hard.
unfortunately, my efforts didn’t help much-
it only drove that little kernel of rice further up her nose.
i got desperate.
i pulled out the little plastic baby fork from her baby-bag
and shamelessly started to dig for that grain of rice!

that made her wiggle and laugh even more-
it was at that moment that i realized:
i’m in a public restaurant, digging a piece of rice out of my daughter’s nose-
and she is making a loud laughing sound.
“janie sit still!” i said “dad is trying to dig rice out of your nose!”
i couldn't help but laugh myself as i was digging.

well, when jane is laughing, and then i start laughing,
she starts laughing uncontrollably- squealing
and she does what a lot of people do when they laugh uncontrollably:
she snorts.
and at the table tonight, while she was laughing, she did a loud laughing snort.
“oh no!” i thought-
then i looked up her nose- no rice!
“janie! YOU SNORTED THE RICE!” i said loudly-
the scene that we had made only got bigger-
and her laughter got wilder and louder-
she does it to embarrass me- i know it.
needless to say- we left soon after that- laughing all the way.

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