I knew I bought that baby jogger for a reason!

Up until now, Amy's verbal expression has been limited. Don has been able to pass the baby jogger (seemingly without even seeing it!) as he goes through the garage and out for his many runs in the park. But now, as soon as Amy sees Don in running clothes, she can express herself. And she wants to go with Daddy to the park. And she gets what she wants. And Daddy sees the jogging stroller. And Mommy gets free time!

I can't use my newest tech toy at all. I bought Don an i-phone for Christmas. Don bought me an i-phone for Chanukah. The dern device is soooooooooooooooooooooooo slick. It is an amazing combination of camera, photo viewer, video player, i-pod, phone, email device and web searcher. The problem is, I can't use it in Amy's presence. She wants to dominate it, and it is pretty hard to say no, when I myself am salivating about it. I gave her my previous phone as a potential distraction, but she wants nothing to do with it. She wants the i-phone!

Amy had her 3 year, well big-kid MD visit. I'm proud to say she is full of 3's. Three years old, 30 lbs in weight, and 3 feet tall on the nose. I feel like I have 3 hearts now with her in my life.

Our angel is 3: and here are the Princess Party Pix

Here are the Princess Party Pix. And there's one of the SPECIAL DAY that Don and Amy made Christmas cookies. It was SO special, that I got to go to my all time favorite Jivamukti yoga class by my all time favorite instructor Lisa at My Yoga Spirit in Norfolk, and then to MacArthur Mall with no time frame. I also had lunch with my new yoga friend, Carly.

The party was a hit. Amy was honored to have Lindsey, Mallory, Bella, Victoria, Gabriella, Keri, Zoey, Selah, Naomi, Jaedyn and Eva at the soiree. Pigtails and Crewcuts did a fabulous job transforming toddlers into glamourous gals. They had hairdos done, nails polished, and were able to select the gown and elegant shoes of their choice for the event. Amy has so much loot to open (on top of holiday seasonal gifts), that I'm expecting many days of tantrums. It is easy to see that material wealth doesn't create happiness, when observing the toddler, post-showering of gifts. Despite the best wishes of the gift givers, the toddler's happiness does not increase. Rather, the bossiness is awakened, in direct correlation to the number of presents. Wish us lots of luck and thanks for looking at the blog!

Our little angel

If I knew the joy of motherhood in my 20's and 30's, I'd probably have 20 kids. Yes, it is tiring. Yes, it is frustrating at times. Yes, this little girl of 3T can press my buttons more than Don can or any difficult situation at work. But the joy is fabulous. I never understood why busy people purposefully procreated. I do understand. All it takes is one, "I want to be a mommy some day, mommy", and you want more sweet children.

Gift from Aunt Linda

Aunt Linda gave Amy a sweet barrette and hair tie kit with hello kitty ribbons and beads. It was aged for 6+, and she was in the choke-alert stage, so I packed it away for a later day. On top of that, she has been hit or miss with her tolerance for hair accessories. Well this week, she has been crazy for barrettes, hair clips, etc. So, I whipped out the gift from Aunt Linda, and voila!

Amy and Mommy had Dim Sum today. Amy is starting to expand her repertoire at Dim Sum. She likes the noodly shrimp things as always, but she also ate Mommy's favorite, turnip cake. We also went to Starbucks for one of us to have coffee, and one of us to have hot chocolate.

I love these relaxed and simple times with Amy more than I ever could have imagined.

Jingle Bell Run

A good time was had yesterday. We went to Conte's to size Amy for a bike. She rode it like crazy. It was pretty natural for her to pedal and steer, thanks to the vehicular play at pre-school. It will be a birthday or Christmas gift.

Don's still got it going on. He did the Jingle Bell 5K in 24 minutes. He downplays this, but I think at any other race, he would have ran under this time. For example, any other course would not have been on a sidewalk, requiring slalom around walkers.

Enjoy the sweet Daddy/Amy pictures.