Birdhouse

Catch up items from the last couple of days.  I will cheat and post twice to make up for missing yesterday.  Last post will be all the pictures from Easter.

Yesterday Lea got to hangout with Grandma and Grandpa Evans, Uncle Chris and Aunt Joy, Uncle Luke, and Aunt Rachel.  She decided to entertain everyone by being herself.  Basically imagine a tornado laying cuteness in its path rather than destruction--that was yesterday.  Good times and a great nap afterwards.

Of course we forgot to take pictures.  Mom and Dad are good like that.

Grandma and Grandpa brought her a Babur (the elephant for those who don't follow classic children's literature or cartoons).  She doesn't quite get his name, she calls him DUMBO!  Once again, such a child.

There's more, but I'm unable to remember much today.  Cross the 30 year mark and my short term memory is getting worse.  I blame the internet.

Here's a link to Lea's audition for NFL Live on ESPN. By the way. this is also my new favorite game.

http://youtu.be/B8-79VclXg0

Sunday night lea demanded that we build a birdhouse.  I have no idea why she knows what a birdhouse is, or why she thinks I have the carpentry skills, or any skills in the area of ornithological sciences.  Regardless she wanted a birdhouse.  So first she wanted to use dominoes--which if you've ever tried to build anything out of slick dominoes it doesn't work.  Dominoes are not exactly a quality building material, I do not suggest them.  We moved to big blocks.  Worked better.  This morning we started building a tower. See above.

Lea is an American, so bigger is better.

See.

Saturn!

Couple things from today since I owe another post to hit my self proclaimed quota. 

We're watching Backyardigans (Underrated show in my opinion.  Not a lot of buzz like Dora or Mickey Mouse Club House.  It's cute and most importantly not that annoying.  I've learned to live my life, that is my life with a two year old, but steering her towards non-annoying television.  So far its worked.) and Lea starts pointing and saying something like Saturday, only not.  If you have little ones you'd understand the language of a toddler.  Anyway, we decipher Saturn because the planet flashed on the screen.  Having access to the information superhighway I pull up a picture of Saturn and show it to the munchkin.  "Saturn! Saturn!" 

Now Kate and I learned that whenever she does something impressive it's usually followed up by something that reminds us she's only two.  Soon after correctly identifying Saturn, she ran head first into the back of the coach and fell flat on her back.  That's my kid.

Lea made me do 30 jump ropes.  The catch was that I had to do them with an Iphone charger.  High degree of difficultly I might add.  Apparently she feels I need to get into shape.

She also connected her Aunt Joy with pretty.  "Joy. Prutty. Joy. Prutty."

She also discovered that the Iphone has a forward facing camera.  You will see the results below.

Lea taking a picture of Kate (on a paper camera) while Kate takes a picture of Lea.

Below are pictures of Lea happily watching herself on the Iphone.

The Draft!

Yesterday's post will become this morning post, which means I need to get motivated and post again this afternoon.  Lost motivation yesterday because Kate and I went to a movie (21 Jump Street. Funny, exactly what I expected. Low expectations=rarely ever disappointed).

I forgot to mention at the end of the zoo trip Lea ran up to the car and hugged it.  That was funny.

My excitement over Lea's reaction to the zoo was tempered on Thursday when we went to Menards.  Apparently, Menards is to 2 year old's as Disney World is to people who like Disney-fied things.  She gleefully played with the sinks, counter tops, outdoor furniture, riding law mowers and doors.  Yes, my daughter loves doors.  The best part was when I dragged her out of the store with her screaming "My door! My door!"  Kate and everyone else in the store could hear us leaving.  Awesome. 

Thursday Lea got to attend her first NFL Draft Party (NFL is the property of the NFL and I did not use it without their permission. All rights reserved or something. Please don't sue me.)  Lea spent the who draft playing with one of her best buds Trevin.  Why they weren't analyzing the trades and player movement, I don't know.  Seems like they wasted time running around Trevin's kitchen, jumping and screaming while the most exciting draft in years was unfolding.  Such a child. She'll regret it when I explain the complexities and importance of the draft in years to come.  I guess she did have a ridiculous amount of fun, so that's something. 

Here's a Lea picture.  I call this, Lea's morning eyes. (Pre-coffee)

2 Hours at the Zoo

Report From the Zoo:  2 hours, lots of running, excitement and zero meltdowns.  Huge success! 

Lea was as excited as a two year old can get about something she has never done before.  Upon approaching the entrance of the zoo she was chanting "animals, animal."  Granted, we were still in the car at this point.  Walking towards the actual entrance of the zoo she spotted some sparrows and shouted, "BIRDS! BIRDS! That's BIRDS!" (English grammar is not her strong point yet.  Random words and gibberish, that's her wheelhouse)  I assumed that would be the high point of the zoo, Kate told me it was not time to go home yet.

From there she was uber-excited about everything.  BIRDS! OTTERS! WATER! TREES! Not so much with the goats, but they stink and are ugly.  No one likes goats.  If you like goats, you need to do some soul searching because goats are dumb. 

Third best part: The playground.  Kinda thought we'd be stuck at the playground the whole time.  Although, there were three different slides.  One of which I squeezed down with her. Literally squeezed.  It was enclosed, and not built for someone Steven-sized.  

Second best part: The tiger pen.  Not because of the tigers mind you.  She was excited for the 1980s Toyota Landcrusier that was cut in half.  Facing forward she could steer the half-vehicle, turn around and Tony the Tiger was prowling around sizing us up for lunch.  It's a little unnerving seeing a 500+ lb tiger occasionally checking you out.  Thankfully Lea had diapers. 

Best part EVER:  Fish aquarium.  See pictures below.  This was the last thing we saw, but sooooooo exciting.  Three tanks for which she ran from one, to the other, to the other, back to the first, and so on.  One tank was filled with fish from Finding Nemo.  She chased the poor clown fish around for away.  THAT'S NEMO!!!! HIYA NEMO!

Good times.

Lea told me this was an egg. Thought we'd be stuck here for most of the trip.

We're saying 'hi' to a swan. Not so exciting. 

 I really have no idea why, sometimes you just gotta sit.

Kangaroo Lea. If you notice a trend, she was too excited to look into the camera long enough for a proper picture.

This was most of the trip. Running, running and running. Heck of leader we have. She refused to let Kate and I take the lead very long. 

If you couldn't tell from the first photo the kangaroo was not real.

Dirty, sticky goats.

No Lea. Just prairie dogs. I love prairie dogs.

Lions.  She was not overly excited about the lions.  And not a single lion told us about the circle of life.  So disappointed.

Fish, so much fun! 

More fish! 

Sorry Aunt Joy

I was given a guilt trip recently about not posting any updates.  Granted the guilt trip didn't actually work because it was about two week ago, but it's the thought that counts.

My hope is to update this bad boy either once a day or once every couple of days with some low quality posts. Just finished a class in which I was writing 1000 words a week on State and Local Government, so that's been my most recent excuse for not posting anything.  I'm off work for a couple of weeks (spring break number 2! year round schedule rocks).  I'm also unable to workout this week because I screwed up by back again. I've also started my strict eating plan. (for which I've received some awesome looks for. "you eat like that on purpose?" "Tuna? No sauce on chicken? Why?") No working out, sore back, no food that actually tastes good, needless to say I'm a whole lot of fun to be around.

Kate just came off her stint as acting president of the USDA rural development business program of the state of Iowa.  Sounds more impressive than it actually was, considering I made the title part up. She was acting head of something, which meant more work and the same pay.  Awesome!

Lea has been fun.  She's 2. She acts like she's two.  This morning she either asked me for a cracker, or called me a cracker.  Not quiet sure.  She's also developed a little attitude, whether she realizes it or not. "Yes, daaad." "Yes moooom." More things later as I remember them.  She is also scared of bugs now.  Not sure why or where this came from.  She hides behind my back when she sees a gnat.  I've had several talks about toughing up and that bugs are not scary (unless they are giant and in your bathroom, right Joy?).  This has been great though if I want to get her inside.  I just point out a couple of bugs, or a spider (real or imagined) and Lea freaks out and wants to go in where it safe.  Not all bad.

We are headed to the zoo today, and hopefully we remember the camera so I can post some pictures.