Lake Lagunita

Little, her way awesome friend Mason, and Littler went with Daddy yesterday to Lake Lag to go see some frogs. 

Mason really, really likes Little:

We waded to catch some tadpoles.

Littler saw a "little thing" [which is a Littlerism for "something that's creeping me out"] in the water and tried to splash it to death.

Little proudly shows off a tadpole.

At one point the little ones were wandering into a deeper part of the lake. Daddy suspected that it would be too deep for Littler, so he told them to turn around and come back.  In the process of turning, Littler tripped and fell and started... swimming.  Like, complete doggy-paddling swimming.  Daddy, being the responsible man he is, stood and took a couple pictures then ran off to help her up.  She got completely soaked but was proud of the fact that she went swimming all on her own.

We took Littler's clothes off and had her wear Daddy's jacket, which she thought was awesome.  She liked making a hand-monster come up out of the jacket and attack her nozzle.

Little was sad that she couldn't get Littler out of the water, but she was very happy that Littler was safe.

This picture is Littler in a nutshell.  She's always adorably disheveled.  She can be feral-looking within a femtosecond of getting out of the shower.

Little and Mason can make each other happy for hours.

[Look at Little's buff quads [and her ups, which are at least twice as high as Mommy's]. It's all the biking :o) ]

Then we went home.  Little and Mason walked about 4 miles [and Littler about 2.5] without complaining, and everybody had a blast from start to finish.  Next time: frogs!

Montebello 2010

Just a little exploring around our favorite exploring place:

















A couple miles in, Littler decided to just head up a hill. So she took off without a word, straight up. She was totally determined. We eventually caught up to her, but she just kept on going up and up like it was completely the thing to do at the moment.

















For St. Patrick's day, the courtyard had a little party which promised to contain a competition for the greenest costume. Little was determined to win and spent much of the day preparing her winning flair:



It was a vote-by-applause deal, and Daddy screamed the loudest so Little won. She rocked it!

Also, there has been a bit of warm weather, so this type of thing seems to happen:

Swingy Day

Valentine's Thingy

1. How do you know when you're in love?
Littler (2): Uh, Ella in the car, I know Mommy working. Mailbox, my mailbox out again.
Little (just 4): I cuddle!

2. Why do people get married?
Littler: Um people get married. People get married. People get married. Blahgoiahglhahglahglhag.
Little: 'Cause they need to grow.

3. How old should you be when you get married?
Littler: Um, I guess, I get married. I color, Dad.
Little: I don't know. Ummmm, I think, 8 years old.

4. Where do you want to get married?
Littler: Uh, I get married.
Little: Ummm since Mason is going to marry me then he's the one that's going to marry me, right? Mason's the one that's going to marry me, so... at his house.

5. What qualities do you look for in a boy/girl?
Littler: Um, oh no.
Little: I used to like Oliver very much but now I like Mason very VERY much. 'Cause I didn't really know I liked Oliver before Mason.

6. What's romance?
Littler: Romance. Uhh... I... know... romance...
Little: I don't know!

7. What would be a fun date?
Littler: Fun date. Um, a balloon. There's another balloon. Another balloon. Another balloon. Another balloon. etc., etc., etc.
Little: Um, *high pitched* Ca-li-for-nia!

8. What do you want to get for Valentine's Day?
Littler: Ban-times day. Uh, get a Ban-times day.
Little: Sweet tarts.

9. Why do men give women flowers or chocolate?
Littler: Chocolate!
Little: Because that's what's love.

10. What do you think about kissing?
Littler: Kissing.
Little: Mmm. I don't know.

11. How many kids will you have after you are married?
Littler: I get married. I get married. I get married and get kids to have.
Little: Two, or one. One.

12. What will you wear when you get married?
Littler: I get married.
Little: Mmm, I don't know. Um how about these clothes? [sweat pants and a sparkly shirt]. But Mason has to look very cool when he gets married, right?

13. What will your husband/wife look like?
Littler: Um, I want the yellow sippy-cup.
Little: I think my husband will be Mason, then there will be two Masons in our courtyard. Will we live far away when I'm an adult?

14. How can you tell your parents love each other?
Littler: Mommy, Daddy love eachother.
Little: 'Cause they kiss! Because they hug.

Little: I'm done for the day!
Littler: I want a yellow sippy-cup.

A Little Week

Little turned 4 on Friday! Of course, what that means is that she now wipes her bottom on her own. Here are some pictures from the festivities:

Little's friend and neighbor T-bone was nice enough to have his 3rd birthday on the exact same day Little did. So we had a combined courtyard cake shindig:

Later, Little became accessorized as she opened her presents with ARod and Olivander, her friends:

They all played in the courtyard, riding their bikes up and down hills and playing with kites [Little's friend Cason gave her a cool fire-engine kite for her birthday and his brother Maleb decided that he didn't want Littler to feel left out so he made her a hot dog kite. Yes, it is the size and shape of a hot dog [and just as air-worthy!].]

The next morning, Daddy took Little and Littler and Cason and Maleb on a couple-mile walk to go find grubs to feed our new newts.

It was super fun! We also found some leaves to play in:

That's it.

Oh, yeah, did I mention that Cason decided that he's going to marry Little? He made sure to ask her before her 4th birthday so he didn't get pre-empted.

Wuf

Littler has decided that she really is a dog, all day long every day. So the most common word she uses now, whether it serve as a verb, noun, adjective, pronoun, expletive, clause, diatribe, discourse, etc., is the word "wuhf." Thus:

"I want to play with [Little], wuhf."
"Daddy, Daddy, wuhf."
"Wuhf."
"I wuhf, I wuhf, I wuhf!"
"[whine, whine, whine] whuhf [whined]."
"Wuuuuuuhf!!" [meaning "I can't open the door"]
"Wuhf!" ["I did it!"]
"Wuhf, yeah."

Her stamina is remarkable, she's been doing it consistently for about 72 straight hours, and it took us about half that time to figure out what she was doing.