We recently visited Minneapolis and went to the Minnesota Zoo with some of T's friends from high school. Papa Max and Nana Sandy came too, with Aubrey's Cousin Weston in tow. What fun!The kids in action (L-R): Aubrey, Calin, Lily, and Kayden
Break time at the wolf exhibit - the frozen lemonade was a hit!
...is always easier with chickens around. Bea (in blue dress) has moved to New York with her new brother Leon, dog Emma, and Papa Fred and Mama Nicole.
And Mia (in pink, between Else and Noa), her brother Emilio, and Papa Tom and Mama Katia are off to Nevada. Aubrey and her daddy and mommy sure enjoyed spending time with them and hope to see them all soon.
Aubrey thinks she is 4 at a minimum and 16 on most days. She insists on doing many things just as mommy and daddy do: this means sitting in a big chair for all meals, eating without a bib, and drinking from a glass held by one hand. Driving is not a privilege but a right, one that Aubrey possesses - or thinks she does - and tries to invoke nearly daily. Parents of 2 year old children, I think you know what we are talking about. Before I digress further into the intricacies of raising a 2 year old, let me share with you a slice of Aubrey's life at 2.
Favorite things to do: -Jumping. So much so that there is a trampoline at daycare and at Aubrey's house to accommodate the jumping. -Watching Handy Manny. Move over Little People, there's a bilingual Hispanic with talking tools in the house. And they fix things just like Papa Jeff and Daddy. How cool is that?!?
Favorite foods: -Cheese, pizza, pasta, and dessert. In that order. Red peppers and broccoli are rapidly falling out of favor despite our best efforts.
Favorite books: -Oh, The Places You'll Go. -Anything mommy reads 10 minutes or more past bedtime.
Favorite sayings: -"One time, I ..." How Aubrey begins a story. -"I want to watch Handy Mandy" We don't bother correcting her. -"Daddy/Mommy, will you play with me?" Of course we will!
Aubrey's daddy and mommy have been very bad at keeping you up-to-date on Aubrey's latest, greatest, and funnest moments. They have an excuse, albeit a poor one at that, for their poor performance: Aubrey's mommy has a new job and Aubrey's daddy has a new job as well.
For the past few weeks (err, months - about 3 of them), we've all been adjusting to a new schedule. That schedule goes like this for Aubrey, Mommy, and Daddy, respectively:
It was rough initially. Aubrey took about a two weeks to get used to the idea of daycare, enjoyed it on the 10th day, and then had a great weekend and decided she didn't want to go back to daycare. Ever. Chaos ensued, and to be honest, reigned for a bit. Daddy got busy at work (new job overlapping with responsibilities for the old job) and Mommy was busy at work from day one (previous person left the position 2 months prior, lots of work to do to catch up). This meant grocery shopping, laundry, and other life chores were done from 9 - 10 pm on weeknights, or however long we lasted after Aubrey finally fell asleep after too few hours spent with us. We did our best to pack our weekends with fun, and had great fun at that, but there never seemed to be enough time. Oh, and Aubrey cut her canines and molars during that time as well. The fun expressed itself in many ways!
We are finally settling in to a nice pattern, one in which Aubrey is happy at daycare, mommy and daddy are happy with work and our house life, and we all can enjoy a wee bit better standard of living thanks to the additional income generated by mommy.
As we get better at this 2-career household stuff, we anticipate a few more posts on a monthly basis to satisfy the fans. Daddy owes a big thanks to mommy, who has made many of the recent blog posts. Without mommy, all you fans would be greatly disappointed. Daddy is back now and looking forward to a few (more frequent) posts in the coming weeks.
Thanks for sticking with us and we look forward to sharing Aubrey's adventures with you.
The kids in action (L-R): Aubrey, Calin, Lily, and Kayden
The kids in action (L-R): Aubrey, Calin, Lily, and Kayden
Break time at the wolf exhibit - the frozen lemonade was a hit!
