Olivia

Caroline has always enjoyed being read to and reading the same books over and over again. But recently she's started "reading" some of her favorites to herself - particularly Olivia.
She can recite almost the entire book and I caught some of it on video today (the new "Latest Video" above), although she got distracted by an airplane that flew over the house - but it's cute nonetheless.

Sesame Street Live

We went to Sesame Street Live this afternoon. Caroline really enjoyed her first "concert" (I guess that's what you'd call it?). It was an experience to say the least. An arena filled with toddlers and parents, and grandparents... Elmo head balloons flying, popcorn everywhere, the kid behind us screamed "Elmo" the entire time he wasn't on stage.... it was something else! That kind of sounds like it wasn't fun, but it really was.
Josh and I really enjoyed Cookie Monster & Rosita's number, "Crum-ba, Rum-ba" - for those Sesame Street followers you can imagine... a spanish number about cookies. We caught it on video so we may post it if it's not too long.
Anyway, I would highly recommend it. Caroline was completely intrigued until the intermission and then when we came back for the shorter second act, she lost interest and we left about 10 minutes early. But overall, a very fun time!
Josh found this funny "review" of the show online and it's a good summary of the experience. If you're interested, here's the web address (you'll have to cut and paste it):

http://www.parentdish.com/2007/02/19/music-review-sesame-street-lives-
em-elmo-makes-music-em/

Zoo Blooms

We made a visit to the zoo today since they have the "Zoo Blooms" going on right now. The flowers were very pretty so I thought I'd post a pic or two. Caroline's interest in the zoo/animals keeps growing, so I'm glad we'll have another great zoo in California to frequent once we move.

Our first earthquake

We woke up early this morning to windows rattling and all the furniture shaking (just at a tremor). At first I thought Maggie was scratching up against the bed and we both yelled "Maggie quit!"... but then I saw she was laying quietly on her bed. It was startling enough that we both got out of bed to investigate. It stopped after about 3 or 4 minutes so we just went back to bed. Caroline didn't wake up at all. I was surprised to hear this as the first story on the Today show this morning, but it made me feel better to at least know what it was. Apparently it was in southern IL - 250 miles away.
I guess we better get used to them if we're going to be Southern Californians for a while. But I never thought my first earthquake would be experienced in Ohio!

Spring is here!

I think spring is finally here! We've had several warm days in a row, all the trees are budding and blooming and the grass finally needs to be mowed. Horray!


We walked to our favorite park this afternoon and brought the camera. I have been bad lately about taking pictures, so we have some catching up to do. Josh got home early and we all headed out to enjoy the weather (even Maggie).
Caroline loves the playground - the swings are still her favorite but she will take a short break to slide a couple of times.
Her language skills seem to be exploding again. She's been consistently building her vocab, but now she's constructing full sentences and expressing emotions, which is pretty cool. Also, her love affair with the telephone continues. She'll talk to anyone willing and for as long as they'll listen. My favorite new development is that she's becoming very affectionate. She will spontaneously look me right in the eye and tell me "I love you, Mommy." Here's a picture of her cuddling with Josh in his leather recliner that we got him for his birthday.

Day trip to Keeneland

We made a day trip to Lexington yesterday to take Caroline to her first horse racing event. Mimi & Pappy came up from Nashville to meet us.



It was a little chilly and overcast, but we had a good time. Caroline especially enjoyed running around the grassy areas with some of the other children and liked seeing the horses up close in the paddock area. The actual horse racing was touch and go since she was missing her afternoon nap. All in all, a very fun day trip!