"I Shtuck."

I had been wondering how she was able to get underneath the gate the other day. She has been trying to get under there for a good year now, but had been previously unsuccessful. Well – the pictures below demonstrate how she did it this time. In the past, the gate was low enough to prevent her from crawling under because she had not figured out how to flatten herself on her belly and slither. We seem to have slithering down pat.

She tried again this morning – but she got herself stuck in the process!!

Fun Pictures

Rosie laughs hysterically at Monsters, Inc...our movie of the week...

Minutes later, she is completely engrossed again...sprawled out amongst her raisins...

"Get out of my way Mom! I'm watching Sully and Mike Wysowski!"

Rosie and the Pussycat

There was a point in time when everything that Rosie did absolutely amazed me and astounded me. Like when she tried to get out of her crib for the first time…on the same day she started to crawl…at the ripe old age of 7 ½ months… I was shocked and caught completely by surprise. Totally unprepared. These days, with nearly 21 months of experience under my belt – there isn’t much that she comes up with that surprises me.

This morning, however, my little angel had me beyond flabbergasted. I was on the phone with Kim, my boss, discussing a quote that we want to send out today. Rosie had played in my office with me for a little while, but then settled herself on her chair to watch Big Bird’s Dance Party (her new favorite video). Kim and I hammered out the pieces of our proposal and she hung up to get other work done – and I to play with my toddler until lunch time. My warning bells went off immediately upon entering my family room.

I look around the family room – no Rosie. Poke my head in the laundry room – no Rosie. Kitchen…Sunroom – nothing. Now I’m starting to panic. Where could she be? From my office through the kitchen and sunroom is pretty much childproofed, gated in and a safe play space for Rosie. What could she possibly have gotten herself into?

It was then that I heard it…a sound coming from my dining room. Dining room? The dining room is gated! Not gated enough for my little explorer! We leave room between the bottom of the gate and the floor for our cat, Messier, to fit through. Not only is her food in there – but we want her to have an easy escape from Rosie when she just doesn’t feel like dealing with a toddler. Usually, the gate is just high enough for Messier to fit through – but not big enough for Rosie’s head to fit through. The gate had been moved last week during the Fantasy Football Draft party that was held at our house. When it was put back on, it was not low enough to prevent a nearly-two year old from finding her way underneath it.

So – Rosie figured out that she could squirm under the gate to the pot of gold on the other side – the cat food. When I saw her, she looked up at me with a mouth full of Iams and said “Hi Mommy. Cat food yummy!” Blech. After I had finished gagging, I picked her up, put her in the kitchen, put the gate back up – lower this time, and explained to her that no – Cat Food is not Yummy…Cat food is gross.

Once I had her sitting and drinking milk (Iams and Milk…what a faboo combo…), I took a minute to pee. I can see pretty much the entire family room when I leave the door open, so I can keep my eye on her and she can easily find me.

Well – she sat for about 10 seconds then was up and running in the direction of the dining room. Confident that I had lowered the gate enough to prevent her from getting through, I took my time washing, drying and applying lotion to my hands. When I walked into the kitchen, she wasn’t where I expected her to be…she wasn’t in the room at all. I made a beeline for the gate to the dining room.

Somehow – she managed to fit under the gate again. Instead of eating cat food this time, she was on all fours, drinking out of the cat’s bowl. When I said her name, she picked up her head and said “Good wady, Mommy.” At least is was fresh wady, Rosie…
Messier...Rosie's favorite dining companion. Rosie actually took this picture with our camera - which is why Mess is so fuzzy and out of focus.

Chewing Gum

I’m not entirely sure where Rosie’s fascination with gum chewing got its start. Rich & I are not huge gum chewers – and she isn’t around anyone who chews gum on a regular basis. But – in true-to-toddler form, Rosie has picked up this habit in the best way that she knows how.

A few weeks ago, I noticed her chewing on something intently and not swallowing. Upon sneaking my fingers past her sharp little teeth, I found a wad of paper towel wedged in between her molars and her gums. I removed the wad and tossed it immediately. I did not know that this was the start of an ongoing habit.

Rosie is now on a mission – a mission to find any tissue, paper towel, cotton ball, q-tip or piece of paper accidentally left around the house. She bites off a piece of whatever she can find and starts chewing. When you ask her if she has something in her mouth – she proudly tells you “I chewin’ gum!”

Here’s the best part – she’ll spit out whatever is in her mouth without a problem…only if you hold out your hand and say “can I have your gum, please?” If you try to take it out – you will get bitten – so save your fingers and ask her nicely to spit out her gum!

God Besh You, Mommy

One of my biggest goals with Rosie has been teaching her appropriate responses to the things that happen in every day life. Please…thank you…you’re welcome. Things like that. Daddy taught her how to fake burp…when I realized that for a toddler, fake burping is fun, I taught her to say excuse me (shoo-me) after all fake and real burps. All of these things sound adorable when coming out of a toddler’s mouth – even the burps. My favorite, however, is Rosie’s “God Bless You.”

Whenever she sneezes, I follow it immediately with a “God bless you, Rosie” and then I remind her to say “Thank you,” hoping that it will one day sink in. Tonight – I got some proof that my work is paying off.

I was putting her down to bed, and I’ve had a little bit of a sniffle and a cough for the past day or so. As I’m snuggling up to her, I cough. She takes her binkie out and says “God besh you, Mommy” and pops the binkie right back in. I am surprised to hear this – but respond with “Thank you, Rosie.” Binkie comes out again so that Rosie can say “you welcome, Mommy.”

Experiment successful! She is learning manners! Unfortunately, this went on for about 20 minutes. Every minute or so I would clear my through or cough and Rosie would start our little routine. I had to quiet myself down and stifle any sounds to actually get her to sleep. I wonder if she will keep this up?

More Maryland State Fair Pictures

Rosie pets some other animal...lamb...sheep...not sure which. It smelled.

We couldn't get close enough to touch the miniature horses - but they were fun to look at!

The most disturbing part of our trip for me. Wanted - Dead or Alive! This piece of paper was posted above the turkeys in the "poultry" section of the fair. "For your freezer or as a pet!" Seriously? That scares me...

The 11 Best Days of Summer

Cows and Pigs and Chickens, Oh My!

The “11 Best Days of Summer” is the local lingo in reference to the Maryland State Fair. After listening to weeks of radio announcers talking up the “11 Best Days of Summer” – I had the brilliant idea that we should take Rosie. After all – they have animals and she loves animals. Could be a match made in heaven, right? Wrong. Once again, it is confirmed that I am indeed a city girl – and farm livin’ is NOT the life for me.

We drive up to the Fairgrounds and there are tons of people just everywhere. We load Rosie into her umbrella stroller and start walking (er…waddling for some of us) through the crowds and in the heat towards the entrance. Parking cost us $8. Which wasn’t terrible until we realized that admission was going to cost us $8 each as well. Not a big deal – but had I thought this plan up two days earlier, Rich could have gotten free tickets from work. Free is better than $16 any day!

So we walk through the entrance gingerly…trying to avoid the various piles of poo from the cows and horses that have gone before us. I am almost immediately cranky. It is hot. There are a lot of very rude people pushing and shoving. It is stinky…and I am feeling very pregnant and not up for this adventure. But – I want Rosie to see the cows, so we carry on.

We follow our noses to the cow building. Cows, flies and cow poop everywhere. Unfortunately, they are packing many of the cows up for the night and others are heading over to a cow-judging contest – so we wander through trying to find a cow that Rosie can see close-up. We finally find said cow, and not only do we get close to her…but Rosie got to pet her too! Oy – the germ-a-phobe in me is going wild. I resist the urge to hose her off – but I do get her shuttled over to a hand washing station ASAP so I can scrub her down before she puts her hands in her mouth.

All told – we spend just over an hour at the fair. The highlight of my trip is getting up close and personal to the “2008 Lamb and Wool Queen” (pictured below) – a woman who was just BEYOND happy to be pinning ribbons on lambs…We decided that we can pretty much skip the Maryland State Fair for the next decade or so until Rosie is old enough to ride some of the rides.

To top off our experience, I started having some Braxton-Hicks contractions while we were walking around. Now – that just ads some fun to the whole experience. We were all happy to get home, showered and disinfected! I can think of 11 better days from this summer!
Rosie pets the cow...
Rosie sees a lamb...

The Happiest woman at the fair..."2008 Lamb and Wool Queen."