25 months old

Victoria TALKS and sings, reads (memorizes books verbatim), draws pictures for her friends, and even tries to do maternity photos shoots after looking at photos of when Danielle was pregnant with her. Miss Toria also enjoys playing pretend whether it's the rocking horse or rocket or boat going swimming (pieces of bread of cracker at snack time) or nursing her dolls and changing the stuffed animals' diapers. Speaking of diapers, we're slowly but surely entering the world of potty training.

          

Toria look at Mommy! Where's Mommy? "Right there!"

 Of course she had to try and eat the sign at some point.

 Believe it or not this is her face while saying, "Cheese!"

Below: She liked using the giant flower as a walking stick. In the far left picture she told me she was hiding as she refused to turn around.

    

 

Above: Climbing the ladder            Below: Sitting in her window seat

 Below: Nursing two of her teddy bears through her shirt (she's efficient and modest)

  

 This is what her face looks like when she says, "It's stinky (sh-ninky)!"

      

And...she still loves to play in her "exersaucer." It's nice that she has figured out 

how to comfortably get in and out unassisted.

Let's go fly a kite!

Our first scheduled attempt at flying these kites was just before Greg left for his mission.  On that day Rexburg had no wind whatsoever, so we just walked around Smith Park and talked.  Years later we tried again on Labor Day, 

                                 
                        

but Victoria's first experience did not involve much flying. She got more air than the kite I think. 

So we tried again on Saturday afternoon and it was such fun. Victoria was concerned when the kite actually flew and was no longer in reach. Greg found closure and I was surprised at how good the upward tug of a string could feel.

             

                      

September Sweetness (An August Update)

A week ago (Sept. 1st) as we got out of the car coming home from church Victoria wanted to practice driving--again. When Greg opened the door she said, "I need your keys Daddy," and then, "Daddy turn it."

Monday, we tried flying kites before Dad left for school/work--we believe in working on Labor Day ;-). Victoria enjoyed watching and then trying to copy Dad by running around with the kite. She likes to be involved in making decisions we've learned, whether it's deciding when it's time to leave church or whether or not she really needs a diaper change. She decided I needed to "change it on the [coffee] table." Our newest take our toilet training involves her changing her own diapers with necessary assistance. So far so good.

Victoria insisted on trying to eat the chocolate chips out of her cookie while holding it parallel to her mouth. She actually made some progress. Today we made some limeade with sweetened condensed milk:
M: Taste this and tell me if you like it. Is it yucky?
V: It sour.
M: Do you like it?
V: Yeah. It fun.
I think Grandpa Hart also likes limeade.

For those of you who have already enjoyed the photo album, here's an update on our little maid: 5 days ago she wandered around singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" while playing and cleaning. She discovered a copper scrubber under the sink and told me it was a "pretty flower" and then tried to "wear it in [my] hair." She likes polka-dot clothing, telling us things/people are fun, singing while she plays the piano, and giving knuckles. She also occasionally requests maternity photo shoots after looking through older photos (she lies down, puffs out her tummy as best she can, and requests her picture be taken.) She'll tell you she's "so silly silly." More recently I’ve caught her on film singing, “Once There Was a Snowman” and not on film she’ll sing “I Am a Child of God” or “I Love to See the Temple.” She calls “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” the “
Jesus song.”

Greg survived the Qual with moderate success. He nailed both statistical mechanics problems but struggle a bit with other portions. He has a year to study up and then take it again. If he doesn't pass this next time we'll be done with grad school and I think he leaves with his masters. We've got a few ideas for careers in our back pocket should this happen, but we're planning on a passing score this next time. The average passing score is something like 66-76% and the cut off is done by percentile mostly. 90% of students pass within their allotted two attempts and it's been 5 or 6 years since someone failed and got kicked out.

Danielle enjoys regular exercise of mind and body (as long as it doesn't involve riding the too-big mtn bike, especially across streets.) Consistently improving her mile run time has been a focus as well as preparing for her first calculus test are the current areas of focus. Thanks Carmen for the advice about running with plantar fasciitis! She also tends a friend's one year old daughter three times a week for most of the day.