Hand in the Cookie Jar

Rhianwen was playing with her shape sorter today, and reached through the circle hole, grabbed a lego, and tried pulling it back through. But her hand was too big with a fistful of lego. So, I said she needed to let go of the lego if she wanted to get her hand out. She kept trying without letting go of the lego. I finally said, "It's like the monkey with his hand in the cookie jar. You have to let go of it if you want to get your hand out." Not that she knows that story yet. When she heard me say that, she dropped the lego, raced over to her sock monkey, brought it over, and stuffed him in her shape sorter jar. It was too funny!

This past Tuesday was my birthday, and Grandmama, Grandaddy, and Uncle Averett came up to celebrate. They worked out in the yard, brought delicious corn on the cob (that Rhi just ate all week), fresh strawberries and cantalope, peonies and roses, and gifts. Rhianwen had such a blast with them and won't stop talking about Uncle Averett. Wally and I even got to vote without bringing Rhi :)

Rhianwen brought Grandmama a book to read to her, but then Rhi grabbed our old church directory and sat down to read it herself.

Having a ton of fun making mommy's b-day card with markers, sticker, and Grandaddy's help.

Rhianwen got to sing happy birthday to mommy, then totally inhaled the cheesecake daddy made! I guess we might start having cheesecake twice a year: once for mommy's birthday and once for Rhianwen's! I've never seen her eat something so fast...not even cookies!

She can't even look up for a picture!

Grandmama and Grandaddy.

With Uncle Averett.

Grandmama brought the dress that she's been smocking for Rhianwen to see how it would fit. Looks great!

Mommy tried a new hairstyle on Rhi this week. It seems to work pretty well for her. Here she is saying, "Uncle Skipper!" I'm not sure why.

A daily treat for Rhianwen is feeding kitty cat when daddy comes home. She does a great job with it.


On Friday, Rhianwen enjoyed playing with a friend while mommy had her Dr. appointment. Mommy was told that they shared lots of hugs! We just got Rhianwen a book called HUG (I got it at Goodwill for $1 b/c I refused to pay $8 for a book that mostly only says Hug all the way through it). She loooves the book though and has gone into a hugging spree with anyone who wants one! Anyway, mommy's appointment went well. No problems. And baby Alden is now head down! Next appointment is May 22 for our last ultrasound of his kidneys, and the Dr. assured me it is a really normal thing to be measuring just above the threshold.

Saturday, Rhi's friend Hannah came over for a few hours where they had lots of fun coloring, playing with all kinds of toys, getting really grimy outside, and sharing food. Somehow, Rhianwen thinks that sharing means that people need to share with her and not vice versa. She did a good job sharing most of her toys this day, but any time she wanted something back from Hannah, she'd look at me and say, "Share! Share!" as if I needed to get Hannah to give it back :)

Rhianwen keeps Hannah hydrated during the coloring phase of the day. What teamwork!

Saturday we also did a thorough cleaning of the VUE. Boy was it sticky and messy. Sitting behind the driver's wheel and pressing all of the buttons was a fave pastime for Rhianwen. If she wasn't doing that, she was finding all of the pens in the car. Now that she is learning her colors, daddy has told her what red and green lights mean. There was a point the other week when Rhianwen would nearly throw a tantrum when the light was red. Talk about learning early :) I finally told her it was not something to cry about and that we just had to wait until it turned green to go. She's gotten better about it. Wally said he knows the feeling!

Lastly, Rhi made a fabulous mother's day card. She drew herself, a fish, a puppy dog, and wrote "I love you" on it...we'll just say she's mastered abstract drawing.