Weegee LOVES Grandma Sheila!

We brought the family parrot, Weegee, out for our Thanksgiving dinner, so he could enjoy time with the flock and eat some tasty comestibles. But, really, he was only starved for some attention from Grandma Sheila. We tried feeding him some scraps from his table-side cage. He was not interested, and just bobbed his head and chirped for Grandma. We let him out to sit on the back of Grandma Sheila's chair, where he accepted some potato from her. It wasn't too long before we realized that he was only taking food from her hand in hopes that he could catch her finger and climb on.

He sat on her shoulder for as long as she tolerated him, all feathers fluffed in happiness, giving her kisses, and begging for the privilege of drinking from her water glass. In bird terms, this is LOVE.

Rosie loves her Grandma

And loves that Grandma S is always thinking of things to do with her!
(Especially taking her to the pool, hint, hint.) :-)

I think that Grandma & Rosie are at the pool, swimming, in the thought-bubble. Don't you love your sparkly silver hair, Mom?

Great send-off, Mom!

With all the excitement on Friday evening through the night on Saturday etc., I forgot to write about the momentous event that I attended on Friday afternoon.

After over 18 years of civilian service with the U.S. Army (all of them in the Pentagon), my mother retired from her day job and entered a new phase of her life. As of that moment, Sheila became a full-time grandma! My dad, Auntie M., and I all attended her retirement luncheon, which was a jolly affair with many Army active-duty members and civilians who celebrated her career. You could tell that all the people that worked with her truly appreciated her years of hard work, her friendliness, and ready sense of humor.

The surprise of the evening was that she received a medal! Sheila joked that she will be wearing it on trips to the grocery store. :-) So now, I can tell friends and relatives that my mom has been decorated, right? She also received a U.S. flag in a shadow box that had been flown over the Pentagon in her honor and a framed letter from her Congressman on gold-embossed stationery. The lunch ended on a positive note when my mom gave a very gracious and funny speech that delighted all.

And yes, she was working at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. For the whole story on that, read this entry. Congratulations, Mom! I'm so proud of you. I hope you enjoy every minute of your retirement; any time you get bored and want the kids, come by and get them. ;-)

Valentine's Day. Gotta love it!

Yesterday, daycare was closed, the roads were nasty and icy (no plows in our neighborhood), so AJS and I had quality time with the kids and could watch them under a microscope. Dash is now a week shy of 20 months and Rosie is 4 years, 3 months.

Rosie likes to have animated playtime, where she makes up dialogues between her toys; I've been wondering about some of her catch-phrases, like, "his eyes were bigger than flashlights!" or "then, we'll have to slice off your head"? (Me: shaking head.) She loves to play with Dash and we hear a lot of "c'mon Dash!" and "follow me!", but we also hear a fair amount of "get Dash away!" One of her favorite shows on Noggin is "Little Bear," which we watched yesterday. There was a very sweet episode in which Little Bear was making drawings of all the things he loved about his mother, and during the show, I got plenty of hugs and kisses! One of the special favorites of Little Bear is Mother Bear's chocolate cake, so we spent some of the afternoon making guess what? Chocolate cupcakes. Yummy.

Dash is picking up lots of new words. Using "please" is something we've been drilling into Rosie for months, and while it's not sinking in much with her, Dash has started to say "peesh" which is the cutest. Other words are mom-ma, dad-da, duck, car, up, on, off, book, boot (all shoes), boown (balloon), booboo, BYE!!! (at top volume), ree (read), baish (water), moo (milk), laliesh (olives), heesh (cheese), caak (clock), cack (crackers), cowk (chocolate), haaiiee (in a whisper, means quiet), Momo (Elmo), Bawa (Dora), and a few more that I'm not remembering right now. Somehow, a name for Rosie hasn't materialized. Maybe since she is available for him most of the time, he hasn't needed to identify her with his words?

Yesterday, Rosie and Dash had several campouts (lights out, flashlights on), colored and painted together, and watched a little television together. Later on, Rosie and I went to her grandparents' house for some one-on-one playtime with Grandma. Quite a busy Valentine's Day. Romantic, though? Not by most definitions.

Xmas Joi de Vivre!

Despite having an ear infection, throat infection and possible RSV, Dash was awfully perky over our holiday weekend. Before bedtime on Friday, his temp was 103.5, so I got him in to see his doctor first thing on Saturday. We met one of his classmates, Lizzy (see the cutie in #11), in the waiting room with _*surprise*_ RSV symptoms, too! We visited Lisa, my sis-in-law, that morning, but cancelled our plans with friends that afternoon, to keep from infecting their kids with the dreaded RSV. Auntie M.came over that evening to bake gingerbread cookies with Rosie while Dash napped (after throwing blocks across the house and climbing on the furniture) and gave me a chance to do dishes, sweep, and pick up our crazy house. Whew! I also baked oatmeal craisin cookies that turned out darned well, I must say!

Christmas was at my parents' house, as usual. I think the day went perfectly! We left for "gromma's" after Dash's nap, opened gifts (woo!) and had some lovely roast! The standout Xmas gift was from my mom--she bought Rosie another American Girl doll; this time it was "Jess", a doll with a Japanese-American heritage. She even has a Japanese middle name, just like Rosie! My mom bought the doll's "hair care kit" so we could curl Jess' hair so we could make her look more like Rosie. Auntie M. painstakingly did just that! Bless her heart. She loves her niece. Dash was just happy to run around, throw balls and terrorize Groucho, my parents' cockatiel.

After wine and pie, AJS had a long nap. And I let him sleep. Merry Christmas, baby!

Ms. Focused and Mr. Speedy!

Sunday, we had a family birthday party for Rosie at my parents' house. It was mostly for Auntie M., who won't be coming to our double-scoop of a joint party this weekend for Rosie AND Liam. Auntie M. must be super-in-tune with Rosie, because once Rosie opened Auntie M.'s gift, she wouldn't look at anything else, or eat, or do anything but play with it for maybe three hours straight. My mom bought her some fairly pricey American Girl twin toddler toys, and she showed no interest in them whatsoever, until later, anyway.

The really FUN part of the evening was when I came to pick them up a few hours later, after they had been eating naught but chocolate ice cream and cupcakes. My little Dash saw me and ran at me with speeds previously unknown, powered by sugar and sleep deprivation. BOY LOVE CUPCAKE!! (And Grandaddy can't resist the puppy-dog eyes and the darling way he signs for :more:) He dashed, he shrieked, he giggled maniacally! And then he crashed on the car ride home, only to wake up just as he hit the mattress in his bedroom and then screamed bloody murder for the next hour. Until dinner, that is. Food calms the boy.

Rosie slept with her twins, who are now named "Rosie" and "Dash." She is enamored, and I will let her grandma know. We left the unicorn-land-of-many-chokables at her grandparents' house...