a few things...

first of all, big thanks go out to gpas lub for the package that arrived last week for mary. as soon as the box was delivered mary went into a frenzy. she loves boxes, especially opening them. i tried to record her opening everything up, but you'll notice it's a little odd because she was asking me for help. and since brent was at work, he couldn't grab the camera while i helped her dig into the goodies from her grandparents. also, note mary's fascination for paper (or as she says it...caper). i'm pretty sure she thought that was her gift. and she was truly excited about it. the toys underneath were just an added bonus!



i tried to get mary to say "gracias abuela" but it came out sounding like "gracias dora." i don't know if that's a byproduct of watching dora the explorer...or if her sounds just slur together a bit. i'm hoping for the latter.

also, in case you haven't heard yet...
MARY WENT POTTY!!!
we're pretty excited about this new development. sunday, after church, mary got a hold of a marker and drew all over her face and arms. instant bath time. towards the end of it, mary started crying "change! change!" knowing she needed to go potty, i asked her if she would sit on the potty. she nodded and scrambled over to her froggy potty. and tinkled her little heart out.
hoping it wasn't a fluke, we wanted to try her on the potty later, but due to beautiful weather, we were out most of the day and mary just had to settle on peeing in her diaper. on monday however, mary not only peed, but POOPED, in the potty. i never thought i'd be so excited for poop (other than when mary was a newborn and jaundiced).
so now the training continues. she is reluctant to use it with brent. but i have my ways. hopefully soon you'll be hearing about her in pull ups and big girl underwear!

in other hilarious news, brent and i watched the jimmy fallon episode where robert pattinson (that's edward cullen to all those not in the twilight know) guest starred. we both laughed so hard at the "BOTHERED" skit. we taught mary to be bothered. i'm still laughing over it. jimmy fallon, you should get mary to tell you all the things that bother her.

**edited after post: it helps if you visit the website www.robertisbothered.com that should help clear up any mystery as to what i'm talking about.

our little star

mary has discovered her love of singing. well, she's always loved to sing, you can just understand her more now. as previously viewed, mary loves to sing her "please, thank you" song. but did you know she also enjoys singing another YGG song. it's the "i tried it, i like it" song and basically encourages children to try new foods.

Try it, you'll like it.
Try it, you're gonna like it.

I know it's new and you've never tasted it

You just have to trust in me.

Just give it a try.

and then, after consuming said new food, the YGG character (toodee, in the episode i'm thinking of) gets all excited and sings

I TRIED, I LIKE IT.

mary LOVES this. and even though it doesn't work for all foods, it does for some. so i consider it a big accomplishment. diss YGG all you want, but it certainly seemes to teach mary some good things.

CLICK ON THE LINK TO SEE VIDEO SINCE BLOGGER HATES ME AND MY VIDEOS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w81G-evGB0

she's also started "reading" all her favorite books. the library has provided mary with an endless supply of new and exciting books. her two top favorites come courtesy of an author/illustrator by the name of Bob Shea. his books Dinosaur vs Bedtime and New Socks entertain mary to no end.

please observe mary as she reads D v B. though, i admit the "reading" mostly consists of RAWRING.

AND CLICK THIS LINK BECAUSE BLOGGER FAILED AGAIN WITH THE VIDEO UPLOADING (i need to ask valerie how to use that one thing, which name i cannot remember, to blog better).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VA7JUE0img

and just for funsies, this is what happens when mary dresses herself:

tutu skirt, geico visor (i don't know where that came from), sunglasses, barbie flower ring, and evil halloween eyes ring.

Toddler Bed

So Steph is at work today but I wanted to get on and put up a few pictures real quick. Yesterday we decided that it was time to convert Mary's crib into a toddler bed. So we did. And boy does she love her new bed! She slept in it last night really well. She has been going back and laying in it all day today too. She will ask me to close the door and say "goodnight Daddy." Although in doing this, she has figured out how to open her bedroom door. So I'm thinking from now when she wakes up in the morning she is just going to open her bedroom door and go start playing with her toys.

Here are a few pictures of mary enjoying her new toddler bed with all of her animals.

As you can see in the picture below, she loves her stuffed cat and loves having it sit on her lap.

MAGIC

so, there's this song on yo gabba gabba. it's the please/thank you song. and it's annoying, repetetive, and fun to sing. lately mary has been paying more attention to the words in songs. one day when at work, i called brent to see how things were. mary got on the phone to say hello and started singing this song, totally unprompted (if that's even a word). i was laughing so hard i had to sit down.
here's the vid (hopefully) of the real song:


Please/ Thank you


Goon Holler by Parker Jacobs MySpace Video



and here's mary. please disregard me in the video. really. i was in the middle of writing up this post. originally i had another video to put up with mary singing, but i had the angle wrong so you would've had to tilt your head to the side. brent decided to record it again so you'd be spared the crick in your neck. also, please pay attention to mary. this video reminds me somewhat of one my parents took of me singing twinkle, twinkle, little star. gpas lub, you'll know what i mean when you hear it :)

you say it's your birthday...

or at least it was. the 7th was brent's birthday. and the superbowl. so we got to celebrate double. tyler, jessica, kyle, stacey, and londyn all came over to eat junk food and cake. pizza, wings, chips. ugh. junk food overload.



i attempted to make an amazing cake for brent. and failed. so i just did a quick job of making a "football field." brent said it was awesome. but he has to since we live together. he wouldn't be able to escape my wrath if he said it sucked. just kidding.
i'm pretty bummed because i missed out on recording everyone singing happy birthday to brent. because i do mean everybody. mary was very happily singing "happy to you daddy" but i was so busy holding the cake i couldn't do both. i did, however, get a video of mary helping daddy blow out the candles. so not a total loss then.

mary was doing her best to distract from the game. she wanted all the attention on her, and honestly succeeded quite often. probably because she did this:
sorry i've been a little fail at posting lately. i'll be better.

"thank you dumb"

title courtesy of mary. every night when we put mary down she says her "i love you"s and makes sure to say "thank you mom" and "thank you dad" several times. last night when we were going through our night time routine, mary said "thank you mom. thank you dumb." and i about fell over laughing. we're thinking she got a little mixed up and tried saying both mom and dad at the same time. thus, "dumb." either way, i had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud and disturbing mary. poor brent though. "she called me dumb." hahaha

in other mary news, last week i made milanesas for dinner. i worried how mary would like them, not because they aren't delicious, but because she doesn't like to eat meat really outside of chicken nuggets, hotdogs, and fishsticks. well, she was hesitant at first. but when she saw how much brent was enjoying it, she went and snatched one off his plate. and promptly got on the couch to eat it.

i tried posting a video of mary eating said milanesa but it wouldn't upload. surprise, surprise. so here's a link to the vid on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0KxDOou7wA

just for fun

last night jessica and tyler came over to play games. we ended up busting out the wii and bowling. now, mary LOVES bowling on the wii. whenever we go over to richard and julie's she wants to play. so anyway, after jessica and tyler left, mary was begging to play. she picked up a wii remote and start swinging it around. i stood behind her and actually played. but little mary thought it was all her.

and then, about a week ago while brent was chillaxing on the couch, mary decided to "play sleep." she does this a lot; where she says "night night" then lays down and makes her version of snoring noises. so while brent was resting on the couch, mary went up to him and told him that it was night night. she even covered them with pillows to block out the light. it was adorable.