Home improvement

It's been a busy couple of days on the homefront. Several men have been in our house all week doing work in the basement (which Mom and Dad say is going to become my playroom soon) and Mom and Dad's office (which they say will become my bedroom when my brother arrives). I've been spending lots of time at Bobbi and Dido's—sometimes I even spend the night!—to keep me away from the dust and paint fumes. That's probably just as well, because Dad is now under the impression that he can put me to bed by going out to the hall, closing the door and leaving me fall asleep all by myself. Who put that crazy thought in his head?

Anyway, I hope you all have a great weekend.

iPhone a friend

I hear there's some new Microsoft commercial out there featuring a 4-year-old girl who can do all sorts of stuff on the computer. So what's the big deal? I'm less than half her age—just 21 months old as of yesterday—and look what I can do already:



So where's my commercial?

Guitar hero

I visited my friends Anne and Jonah over the weekend, and also caught up with two younger pals, Gwen and Soleil. Anne and Jonah have some really cool toys, like that guitar you see above (just like my favorite guy, Bruce Springsteen!). But I loved Anne's kitchen the most.


Get the hint, Mom and Dad? I love toy kitchens! And isn't Anne great? When she saw me in my tulle skirt, she went and changed into her tulle skirt. It was so much fun being dressed like twins.


There was lots of other great things to play with too, like a fire engine and the new Mickey and Minnie dolls that I brought along myself. And let's not forget about Molly the dog!



As you can see, things got a little chaotic when all of us kids were running around. Well, get used to it, Mom and Dad, because this is a glimpse into what things will be like when my brother gets here!

(Cool) Whip it good!

So we celebrated Mom's birthday last Friday (her birthday was Thursday, but the birthday dinner was a day late). But come on, who cares about the dinner when there's ice cream cake - and more importantly, Cool Whip - to be had? As you see here, I could not wait for dessert! Even when we sang "Mnohaya Lita" to Mom, I was very impatient. I usually love that song, but why didn't they understand I needed my sugar fix?

Grandma and Grandpa heart me

I had a little more to share about my visit last weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma is doing much better—she's as good as new! It seems like only yesterday when they'd put up the pack 'n' play for me, and now they set up a little table and chairs. And look at all the crayons Grandma has for me! These are the same ones that Dad, Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jess used as kids.

Grandma and Grandpa got me two balloons for Valentine's Day, which gave me a perfect excuse to show off my ability to put words together into sentences...and to run around the house. Take a look.



I hope you all have a great weekend.

Happy birthday Mom!

It's a big day for Mom: her birthday! I wished her a happy birthday this morning. Last night, we talked about her birthday a little bit and I wowed her with my mastery of the Shape-O Toy (which Dad also played with as a kid). Check out all the fancy new words I learned from Bobbi and Dido!



One of the reasons I love birthdays is that means I get to eat cake (or cupcakes!). So bring on the sugar, Mom and Dad!

I hate to blog and run, but...

Hi guys. I know that some of you get all flustered when I don't write, but I've got a very busy social schedule: between story time, swimming, Music Together, Little Gym, play dates and napping...I'm just too busy to do a proper blog today. But here's a cute photo of me and Dad that should tide you over until tomorrow, when there's another big birthday to celebrate!

Ask Julia: 2/16/09

I had a fun weekend visiting Grandma and Grandpa. They were impressed by all the new things I've picked up since I saw them last month, like the ability to put two words together ("one more," "other room," "pick up") and to recognize colors like red, blue, white, green and pink. I'm seriously smart!

But today's entry isn't about my trip. I'm finally answering some Ask Julia questions that Aunt Paula sent awhile back:

I am glad that you are a pizza lover. What part of the pizza do you like the best?
Well, I'll tell you which part I like the least: the crust! And while I usually eat pizza when it's cut up into tiny pieces, over the weekend I picked up a (kids) slice and had a few bites the real way. Yum!

I understand that you got a hair cut. Where are we going to get to see some pictures of you with your new hairdo?
Yes, I went back to Cozy's a couple weeks ago for my second haircut. You can see it in the photo above.

It sure looks like you have a great time sled-riding. Do you like the big hills the best? Do you think that you might be riding a little roller coaster soon?
I don't love sledding (yet), but I think I will love roller coasters. There are pictures of roller coasters in a few of my books, and Dad always points them out and talks about how he and I are going to go on them. I love going up and down, so I certainly think I'll take to them. I guess that means you have to take me to Cedar Point soon! When will I be tall enough to go on Top Thrill Dragster?

Anything new with that talk of your brother coming soon? You will have lots of fun with him. Do you think that you will get to help out with him? Like feeding or changing diapers? Or do you think you would like burping him?
Mom and Dad still ask me about my brother all the time. And Dad mentions things like, "You have no idea what you're in for," and "You'd better enjoy getting all the attention while you can!" What on earth is he talking about?

Now that my mailbox is empty, it's up to you to fill it up once again!

Home is where the heart is

I know it's a little early, but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day. I'll be spending the weekend visiting Grandma and Grandpa, so I got an early jump on celebrating Valentine's Day this week. Mom bought me a heart balloon man, and I've become great friends with him.



We do so much together—I kiss him, feed him, walk around the house with him and yes, poke him:



Enjoy the holiday weekend everyone!

Dog day afternoon

Mom and Dad held out as long as they could, but in the end they had to break down and let me watch TV. At first it was just my videos on the computer, then we started watching some Sesame Street segments on YouTube, and now I've been watching several on-demand kids shows on actual TV. I usually watch Sesame Street or Barney (which Dad is thrilled about, let me tell you!). But lately I've enjoyed watching several episodes about a cute dog named Angus. Take a look:



Did you notice how riveted I was? Sorry guys, you couldn't stop my inevitable TV zombification!

There's NOT always room for Jello!

Sorry I've been MIA since last week. I'm feeling much better, no thanks to Dad who went away for a few days and left me and Mom by ourselves (best weekend ever!). I know there's been a video drought, so let's correct that right off the bat. Consider this a companion piece to my recent pizza video. Mom wanted to use my new fairy tale-themed cookie cutters so we could make—and eat—some fun Jello shapes. But in classic Julia fashion, all I wanted to do was slurp the Cool Whip.



Like the pizza experiment, it ended in tears (blame Dad, who eventually took my Cool Whip away). Take a look:



I've got lots more videos for you this week, so check back soon!

Red velvet cake: it does a body good

I had a special birthday present for Dad last night, and I'm not talking about the card that I colored for him. I came down with a virus last night, complete with 103-degree fever, and spent much of the evening acting lethargic, clingy and weepy. It made for a very morose birthday dinner, but then something magical happened: Mom brought out Dad's red velvet birthday cake. Suddenly I perked right up, wolfed down much of Mom's piece of cake, and within a few minutes I was running around and chattering as if nothing ever happened. Moral of the story: red velvet cake has healing powers!

(I'm not technically out of the woods—the doctor said I just have to let the virus run its course—but next time I get sick, Mom and Dad had better give me more red velvet cake!)

Happy birthday Dad!

It's Dad's birthday today, and any day I can wish someone happy birthday makes me very happy. Over the weekend, Mom and I took Dad to Red Robin and after several visits of watching the servers go "Happy!" and clap for someone celebrating their big day, I got to see it close up when they did it for Dad. I was actually underwhelmed, but I'm really looking forward to celebrating with Dad, Mom, Bobbi and Dido later on today.