THE GREEN(wald) HOUSE … (growing rosemary & raising a little wolf)

This is it - the last month before Rosie is officially 2 years old! And the last month (weeks?) that she is an only child. She has been such a big girl lately - but she has definitely been much more of a handful - saying “NO” a lot and asserting her independence and her own ideas…

Getting dressed is still somewhat of a battle - she is still insisting on wearing dresses mostly - and she usually chooses one of the most fancy dresses hanging in her closet - and then she changes her shoes several times, resulting in shoes that rarely match the outfit, sometimes even wearing 2 different shoes! I am trying to pick my battles, and if she insists on dressing in a crazy mis-matched style - I don’t have enough energy to battle with her over something so simple..

She still loves taking a bath, and usually insists that mommy and daddy accompany her in the “big bath”. Occasionally we use the sink or the “little bath” when Mommy is feeling too tired or worn out for the whole bath routine. She loves playing with bubbles and putting them on her hair, our hair, our faces, etc. She also has to have EVERY single bath toy in the tub at the same time, making it quite crowded with all 3 of us and all the toys in there.

We have been spending a lot of time outdoors enjoying the nice weather. Rosie loves it when we blow bubbles and she can run around and pop them. I actually bought a battery powered bubble gun as I was getting so out of breath and felt like I was going to pass out with all Rosie’s requests for “more bubbles”. We have been playing a lot in the garden too. Rosie loves to pick the strawberries and eat them right off the plants. I can’t wait until the tomatoes and other veggies are ready to pick and eat fresh from the garden. I love being able to show Rosie how food grows and giving her the freshest possible things to eat.

We got Rosie a little pool a few weeks ago to splash in since the weather has gotten so hot. This usually results in a lot of naked time too…

One of her new favorite games is to take all the toys from the sandbox and throw them into the pool (along with a bunch of sand), and then bring them all back into the sandbox (with a bunch of water) and then throw everything off the deck onto the grass.

I think we are just going to end up with 2 containers of wet sand by the time summer is over.

Another one of Rosie’s favorite things is going to the park with Mommy and Daddy. She loves climbing on the playstructures and playing on the slides and swings.



She is such a big girl now that I rarely have to accompany her up the playstructure, she can climb up and navigate everything on her own. I usually just have to supervise from the bottom to make sure the bigger kids aren’t playing too rough and getting in her way or pushing her around.

We just finished our nanny job for the year as school is out now and so we will not be watching Rocco 2 days a week anymore. However, Rosie and Rocco have become such good friends, almost like brother and sister, and I have become good friends with Rocco’s mom- so we are planning on getting together on a somewhat regular basis throughout the summer so Rosie and Rocco can still hang out and play.

Rosie also has a new favorite game where she likes to sit in the drivers seat of our cars and “peetend” to drive. She looks so funny sitting there all serious - pushing buttons and trying to turn the wheel…

Her vocabulary continues to astound me. She talks in full sentences, sometimes almost full paragraphs, and she is constantly coming up with new phrases that crack me up. Some of the new things Rosie has been saying this month are:
“Where could it be? - oh THERE it is!” - she says this when she drops something behind her back and pretends like she doesn’t know where it is - it is accompanied by the cutest expression and her holding her hands out and palms up.
“I love Dora” “I love kitty” “I love dolly” - she has been professing her love for anything and everything - and usually it comes with her holding the item up next to her face and nuzzling it.
“I’m funny” “I’m silly” or “I’m goofy” - she says whenever she makes me laugh - which in turn just makes me laugh more…
“I’m back!” she announces when she walks into a room
“I did it myself” - she loves to be independent
“hi mommy, I wake up!” she says in the morning and after her naps
There are also phrases I could do without - like announcing in a loud voice when Joe walks into the bathroom “Daddy’s crappin!”
She is really loving music lately and singing along to “little lamby” (mary had a little lamb), “o matdonno farm” (old macdonald), “pickled peppers” (peter piper) “unda bridge fall down” (london bridge - not the Fergie version) and of course the “rosie song” (ring around the rosie). In between songs, she always says “what comes next?” and when I say “I don’t know” she says “I don’t know either”.

I am really trying to give her a lot of attention and love lately - because I know things will change once the new baby gets here. I hope that Rosie doesn’t feel too neglected or ignored and she adapts well to being a big sister. I know I will always look at her as my “baby” - my sweet first born, my angel. I love her so much and it is hard to believe I will feel this much love for another child too. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter, and I am so looking forward to our relationship growing and changing as the years go by - as she becomes my big girl, my helper, my friend.