Summer Fun!

Summer is not officially here for another week or so, but it felt like summer today!  We made use of our pool in the backyard for the first time this year.  Meredith is so much more comfortable in the water this year (as opposed to last year - refer to "First Family Vacation" post from May 2012, with the Wisconsin Dells experience), so hopefully she will do well when we get her in deeper water at the public pool.

Here are her action shots, with the contraption Mommy set-up, which makes use of both the slide and pool:

Oh, and we can't forget Luke!  Here's Luke chilling out with Daddy, watching Sissy in the pool:

The Many Sayings of Meredith

Meredith is getting to be such a little talker.  As she's learning to turn phrases into sentences, it's really funny some of the things that have come out of her mouth.  Here are some things she has said recently:

• She can now say her "L's" and "K's" much better, so instead of just saying "hi boy" or "hi ute" (her version of Luke), she can say his name very clearly.
• The other day, she told me that she missed daddy.  I asked her where daddy was (he was at work) and she said, "in the phone".  Daddy calls us everyday when he is leaving work or just walking a long ways to a meeting, so she's used to him being in the phone during the day :)
• She often takes the "t" out of stuck. 
• Recently, she will come up and say, "hold mommy" or "hold daddy".  I thought she was wanting to give me a hug, but she wants us to hold her, not her hold us :)
• About 6 weeks ago or so, I noticed when I was singing songs to Luke that she was watching me.  Turns out, she knows several songs, so I will sing some of it and let her finish a word or two of the phrase.  She says "Jesus loves me....Bible tells me so".  I also taught her the Barney Song (I love you, you love me...) and she loves it...what was I thinking (not a Barney fan, but the song was stuck in my head)?
• At the end of this year's Bible Study Fellowship, Meredith's teachers gave her a list of the main points of Genesis that they learned each week, so one truth for each week.  We have been going over these during breakfast and she has caught on very quickly.  I will hear her say "the Bible is true" at various moments throughout the day and she thinks it's funny to say "two days" instead of six days when we ask her how long it took God to create the heavens and earth.
• Her new thing is to say, "where daddy go" or "where mommy go" when one of us leaves the room.  Cute, but kind of redundant when she keeps asking it after we tell her where they went :)
• While doing tummy time with Luke, Meredith likes to run over and say "tummy time" and proceed to roll from her belly to back.  This is a very dangerous activity, since she has no sense of personal space.  Poor Luke!
• One of the cutest things she does is come up to Luke, give him a hug, and say "I big sista now".  She has a Big Sister book and this is the phrase that is repeated through the book.
• She's been talking a ton in her crib lately before she finally falls asleep.  When I go in to check on her and tell her it's naptime or nighttime and she needs to sleep, she looks up and says "close the door".  In other words, she doesn't want mommy around and once I leave and close the door, I hear her restart the conversation with herself right where she left off.
• A week or so ago, Chad was changing her diaper on the floor and halfway through, she walked over to the window and says "I have no clothes on" as clear as day.  Oh dear!

We Have a TWO Year Old!

Meredith turned two exactly one week ago.  Once again I'll say, "Where has the time gone?".  I am such a nice Mommy, that I scheduled a doctor visit for her on her birthday.  Well, at least she didn't have to have any shots :)  This was a big event for Meredith.  She was now a big girl - she got to step on the scale to be weighed instead of laying on the baby scale.  Big moment!  She was scared to get on the scale and wouldn't stay on it very long for the nurse and also didn't like being measured for her height.  Of course, after the nurse left the room, Meredith kept going back over and repeatedly stepping on the scale, no problem.  Overall, Meredith is in great health, which we are so thankful for.  Daddy took the day off work so we could spend the day with the birthday girl (and, because we were out late the evening before at the Carrie Underwood concert), so after the appointment, we took her to Culvers for lunch.  Meredith loves looking at the tropical fish they have there:

Drinking from a big girl cup with a straw.

Fish!

We kept Meredith's party small this year.  It was great to have a big celebration for her one year birthday, but it was nice to just have a small get-together in our house this year.  I once heard some good advice about how to keep birthday parties under control: only have as many friends over as old as your child is.  It works out perfect this year.  We had Meredith's friend, Lauren, over and it was perfect!  They get along just like a brother and sister would.  Here are some pictures of the party:

We got a chance to use our new grill from Christmas!

My first-ever attempt at making cupcakes.  The strawberry cupcakes turned out pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

Elmo heads...custom made by Mommy.

Mer loved the Elmo balloons Daddy picked up for her.

Elmo made an appearance!

Cheese!

Not quite as messy as last year's cake-eating experience.

She's getting good at opening up gifts.

Grandma Prentice got her this step-stool.  Lauren started playing the game of "jumping" off the stool, and Meredith was soon a copycat.

Awww.....

Finally, one with everyone looking at the camera.  I think Luke is the most alert of anyone.

 

Believe it or not, this is the best picture I could get of Meredith with all her gifts.  She's so lady like :)

To continue Meredith's birthday weekend celebration, we also took her to the same park in town that we took her to last year when she turned one.  Here are some pictures:

Luke's not sure what to think of everything...

She was SO proud to have been able to cross the bridge on her own.

Visit to Flora

The first weekend in April, we made our first trip with Luke to Flora to show him off to family and friends.  It was a gorgeous weekend, one of the first nice ones of the year.  We also attended my cousin Shannon's wedding.  The kids did relatively well during the wedding and reception.  Here are some pictures from our trip:

Life's always better with Uncle Derek :)

She loves sitting on the porch swing at my parents house.  Oh, and she loves hanging out with Grandpa Perry when he plays his guitar. 

All ready for the wedding!

Mr. and Mrs. Prentice :)

Four generations on the Reed side.

Meredith "dancing" with mommy's cousin, Shannon.

Four generations on the Perry side.

My little angel!  He was amazing during the wedding/reception and slept the entire 2.5+ hour trip from Flora to Bloomington.  I couldn't ask for a better baby.

Toddler Years

We have officially hit a milestone....not a good one, though.  The terrible 2's are alive and kicking in the Prentice household.  We thought Meredith hit them a few months ago, but that must just have been a preview, because this is the real deal now.  It's kind of like when a woman has false labor.  You think you're in labor, but then later when you are really in labor, you know the difference.  Well, we know the difference now!

If you look at Meredith the wrong way, she ends up throwing her body on the floor in a fit of rage.  It's quite frustrating, to say the least.  Especially when we are outside and she has the potential to seriously injure herself doing that on the concrete.  At the same time she is going through this phase, she is also excelling in other areas.

One of Meredith's favorite activities nowadays is coloring.  She loves to sit for 20-30 minutes at a time and just color on the floor.  She is getting pretty good at it, too.  I'm finding it's a very educational activity, since she learns names of objects/shapes in the pictures and also can tell you what nearly any color is when you ask her.  She is also getting good at coloring objects and kind of staying within the lines:

We have also started potty training Meredith.  It's going okay.  We're not as intentional as we need to be, by taking her to the bathroom every hour for instance, so it may take a while.  I just find it hard to be consistent while also having a newborn underfoot.  However, she had her first pee in the potty on April 10th.  It took probably 15 minutes of her sitting there by Chad to do it, but she did!  I was so surprised.  Then, this past weekend, she went another 3-4 times (all with Chad, may I add) and had one accident while in the bathroom.  Not too bad for just a few days of trying.  We're not really sure if she understands the concept, since it takes her so long to go, but it's a start.  She just came up to me as I'm writing this blog and said "I poop" and sure enough, she did.  So, she's definitely ready to be potty trained!

Meredith's vocabulary is also surprising us everyday.  She is starting to put words together to make phrases.  I went out to eat dinner with friends earlier in the week and she told Daddy, "Mommy eat friends".  Some of her phrases are funny!  She has finally learned the word "grandma".  She has been able to say "grandpa" for probably two months now.  I'm sure her grandmas are very happy now.