I can't believe this was Marla's third Easter already. Crazy! I'm not big on encouraging obsession with holiday mascots, but I have to admit it was fun to see Marla *sort of* comprehend the idea of the Easter Bunny. We started talking about him about a week before Easter and she somehow got it in her mind that the Bunny was going to be involved in our little getaway to the Dells a couple days before Easter Sunday. No such luck, but of course he visited our house on the actual day.
Checking out her basket.
Is there anything more endearing than a little girl in an Easter dress?
Walking to the car with Dad following church. Isn't the snow lovely? (gagging noise)
This velvet coat was a hand-me-down from Jeff's brother's little girl. I remember receiving it when Marla was a baby and thinking she'd never fit into such a big piece of clothing, and here we are already. Funny how that works, huh?
Family picture at Jeff's sister's house after church.
Smearing her Easter cupcake all over her face. The cute ensemble was bound to be destroyed at some point, I guess.
Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of my grandma's passing. I write for a living, but I've had trouble talking or writing about her death, mostly because it still feels impossible to live in a world where she doesn't exist. This is a darker place without her presence. I struggle to find words that would come close to honoring who she was and what she meant to me.
Georgia Terwilliger was a truly special person, and I don't say that because she was my grandmother, but because it's true. She was kind, compassionate, accepting, curious, intelligent, artistic, and giving. In junior high, when we had to write an essay about our hero, most of my classmates wrote about historical or political figures. I wrote about Grandma. I can honestly say that in the 31 years I knew her, I can't ever recall her being angry or upset. She had a serenity and inner peace that I admired greatly.
Though she was eternally optimistic, she was also remarkably deep and thoughtful. She was an artist, a writer, and an avid reader. She was inquisitive and always wanted to learn more than she already knew. When she retired, the school district she worked for named a library after her. She loved to travel, sail, volunteer, and be part of nature. She collected hummingbirds. She was married to my grandpa, her true love, for over 60 years. At family gatherings, she used to watch her three children, ten grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren and remark with satisfaction, "Look at what we did!"
Grandma was my mother's mother, and something about this makes her life and death very poignant for me. She suffered dementia in her final years, but time seemed not to matter when she was around Marla. When she held her, she was the same proud grandmother I'd always known. She didn't always know or remember us, but she always remembered how to love.
I miss my grandma terribly, but I'm grateful she left such a robust legacy behind her. Poetry was one of her many interests, and reading her own poems helps me to feel her presence and hear her voice again. A couple of my favorites are below. Grandma, you have left a mark on this world that can never be erased. I love you.
I'm still trying to catch up on the last few months of blogging, so this post will be long. Just a few of Marla's latest "firsts" that I wanted to share.
First donut with sprinkles.
First visit to the Minnesota Zoo. Trying to join the penguins in their tank.
Checking out the tropics with Auntie Alisa and Grandma.
It was one of the many below-zero days around here, so the semi-outdoor Minnesota Trail exhibit was chilly. Actually, it was only chilly for those of us not bundled up in a down jacket and being pushed around in a stroller.
This actually wasn't Marla's first time at Mediterranean Cruise Cafe to watch my sister bellydance, but it was the first time it really made an impression.
She now talks about Auntie Alisa's dancing and pretty dress almost daily.
First bubble bath!
First time making and decorating cut-out cookies for Valentine's Day.
First Valentine exchange at daycare.
First time helping clean up after she emptied an entire box of tissues all over her room.
First time finger painting at home. Might be the last...
First Oreo cookie. She needed no prompting to break apart the halves and eat the cream out of the center. That's my girl!
This is old news now, but I wanted to make sure I documented it all the same. We all know Marla is somewhat accident prone. Fortunately, most of her bumps and bruises have been pretty minor. In December, however, we got a call from daycare in the middle of the day. She had tripped and hit her head on a chair, then had trouble staying awake afterwards. I was out of town for a meeting, so Jeff raced over to daycare to bring her to the ER.
This was a rite of passage I could have done without, but I guess it wasn't really a surprise. Here's her first ER hospital bracelet.
The doctor determined she didn't need a CT scan and prescribed close monitoring for a couple of days. These pictures don't really do it justice, but she was sporting a giant bump and bruise for a few days.
Well, that's that. Hope we don't need to do that again any time soon. Oh wait...
Exactly a month (to the day!) after her first trip to the ER, Marla was jumping on the couch and cracked her head on the corner of a wall. This time there wasn't a huge bump or any concussion symptoms, but she got a gaping gash on her forehead which bled a lot. Best part was, it was in the exact same spot as her previous head injury. I swear, this child is going to make me go prematurely gray.
Back to the ER we went for another two-hour visit. Bracelet number two!
The doctor didn't think she'd sit still enough for stitches, so she used Dermabond to glue the cut shut. Marla requested a puppy bandaid, but Tweetie Bird was the best they could do.
As you can see from the below photo (taken that same night), she was real broken up about the whole ordeal. It's amazing what a bandaid can do for toddler pain management. She still has a scar and probably will forever, but it's been over a month and we haven't been back to the ER, so we'll take what we can get!
Since Christmas was so crazy this year, we kept Marla's birthday pretty low-key. On the actual day, we spent a lazy day playing with all her new Christmas/birthday gifts.
She woke up to her birthday gift from us... a kitchen! (All we needed was another gigantic toy taking up precious space in our living room.)
Sharing a kiss with her bouncy horse, named Red.
Later in the day, she opened some more presents. Believe it or not, after five Christmas celebrations and a birthday all crammed into a week, even a two-year-old gets bored with unwrapping gifts.
We did a practice run with birthday cupcakes in preparation for her party later in the week.
We tried to keep her party small, but just inviting our immediate families brings the guest list up to about 20, so we'll just say it was a smaller-than-usual gathering for us. If there's one thing I've learned in two years, it's that I'm perhaps not cut out to make a homemade cake for each birthday. Last year's cake was a success, but only because my mom was responsible for about 98% of it, including the decorating. This year I tried it on my own and the results were... mediocre. The big cupcake looks ok in the picture, but it was pretty sloppy up close, and looked absolutely nothing like the picture in my mind. As for the small cupcakes, let's not even talk about it. At least it all tasted good!
The birthday girl took a snooze on the couch before the party.
I'm thinking that since cake decorating doesn't seem to be my strong suit, maybe I should go into preparing meat/cheese trays instead. Check out that symmetry!
Along with her cousins Brennan and Graden, Marla's buddies Sydney, Lizzy, and Isabella all came to celebrate. Apparently a houseful of toys is no match for a set of stairs, which somehow kept the kids occupied for most of the party. Who would've thought?
Hanging out with her cake while we all sing Happy Birthday.
If this picture isn't proof that we need to buy a house ASAP, I don't know what is. I'm so glad our families and friends are such good sports and don't mind being crammed together like sardines. Would you believe me if I said this shows only about a third of the people in our apartment that day?
It took her about an hour to open all her gifts. It's hard to stay focused when every present needs to be played with immediately!
All in all, Marla had a great birthday party and we all had a lot of fun. Can't wait to do it again next year. I'll end with a video of the crucial moment.
Now that it's nearly spring, I thought it was about time I wished everyone a Merry Christmas. Yes, I'm a little behind in blogging, but I'm going to do my best to make up for it now.
Our Christmas this year was BUSY. We had five (5!) separate family gatherings, so there was a lot of hustle and bustle. Also, we took a family picture in front of *almost* everyone's Christmas tree except our own. In the interest of saving some time and sanity, I decided to simply put together a slideshow of some of my favorite photos from the holidays and let them speak for themselves. Enjoy!
You are two years old. I can't believe it. It seems impossible that another year has gone by even faster than the first one. A year ago, I was writing your birthday post and feeling bittersweet about the end of your babyhood. You were learning to walk, saying a few words, and sporting a whopping two teeth. I don't know how it happened without me noticing, but at some point during the last year, you became a toddler. This morning I told you happy birthday and you responded, "I so HAPPY!" Now you don't just walk, you run and dance. You speak in full sentences. You draw and pretend that your scribbles are words and pictures. You sing. Sometimes I can almost see the wheels in your head turning as you make a new discovery. It's so amazing to watch you soak up the world around you. You know your ABC's, can recognize some letters and numbers, and can count to 30, if you're in the mood.
Speaking of moods, you have a lot of them. And they change faster than the weather. You can throw a mean temper tantrum. But most of the time, you're sweet and loving and energetic. I can't tell you how many people have described you as "full of life." Your personality and spirit haven't changed over the last year, but they've crystalized somehow, and I feel like I know you so much better now. You love to play with baby dolls, put together puzzles, watch videos (mostly home videos of yourself, but also Shrek 2, Elmo, and Dora), read books, dance, play music, ride piggyback, and bounce on just about anything (couches, beds, yoga balls, trampolines, you name it).
You bring us more joy than I could ever express in words. I love that you understand so much of what's going on in the world, because it means that you can give more back to it. You are funny, intelligent, compassionate, and creative. I know I'm biased, but I believe you're going to make a difference in this world. Tonight you blew out your candles on your cupcake (with some help) and we told you to make a wish. As you grinned back at us, all I could think about were my wishes for you. I wish for you to be confident in who you are and content with your place in the world. I wish for you to feel challenged and fulfilled in whatever you choose to spend your time on. I wish for you to find true love, make the best choices, and get the most out of life. But above all, I wish for you to be safe, healthy, and happy, and for you to know how very much you are loved. Happy Birthday, sweet girl.
