Out For A Stroll

Nia in her pretty dress and a purse...

Nia Rocking Out Part 1000

These pictures don't really need a caption...

Papa, Papa, Paparazzi

Nia lately will go nowhere without her purse, which usually has her sunglasses and phone inside.
This first picture looks like she was caught by the paparazzi...

Bubbles and Trees

Nia L O V E S bubbles, who doesn't?


Nia likes to hang out in the tree, of course with close supervision.


Nia loves to jump and hop everywhere now that she can do it with both feet off the ground.

Nia And the Water Table

We got Nia a water/sand table the other day and it was a hot day so I put it outside, put her in her new bathing suit, put water in and set her free. After showing her what everything did, she thanked me, then preceded to climb onto the table and into the water and have herself a good old time. It was hot out, she's no fool. After some time IN and OUT of the table, she decided that the backyard had turned into a nudist beach and took off her bathing suit and ran around while I chased her and then she got back in the water and yelled "BATH TIME!".

Then we played with bubbles.

Catching Up

It's been crazy, and I didn't even post for Nia's birthday a parental blogging sin. I apologize. Let's catch up shall we...


Hard to believe it's that time already, but on June 2nd, Nia turned TWO! Yes 24 months have come and gone in the life of this toddler.


Nia we have learned has no fear, and once she saw the big girls swinging on the swings the baby ones had no appeal. We were a little nervous, but seeing her hang on the bars for 12 seconds we were pretty sure she could hang on, and she did and loved it! Didn't fall off once, although we had to keep reminder her NOT to jump off.

We had though as she got older, her fascinating diverse palette would dwindle but it's only gotten larger. She continues to be willing to try anything at least once, and even if she doesn't like it she will still try other things. It never get's old watching her go to the refrigerator and pick out healthy snacks when some delectable treats are sitting right next to them. She even knows all her fruits and can ask for them by name such as "Daddy I want some berries please" or "Can Nia please have an apple?". Too cute. She actually took a bag of salad out of the drawer and got a huge bowl out and brought it to me still unopened and just smiled. At night, when she wants a snack she will usually come to one of us and say "Mommy, can I have a snack?" and when we ask what kind, she will rub her chin and go "hmmmmm..." and half the time go "pizza?" and the other half it's usually veggie chips, prunes, or pickles. Don't ask, Nia must have the weirdest dreams.

The best part of all of it, is actually her little voice, which is deep for her age/size but my mom has a deep voice and Gillian has a deep voice. Not James Earl Jones deep, but not high pitched like you would expect a little girl to have. She knows how to ask for things in just the right way to be extra cute when she wants something. She does wine often, and we are thwarting this by telling her we can't understand her when she wines and to use her words.

She is very into dressing, and undressing herself. Sometimes one right after the other. She is not very picky about shirts and pants, but she insists on picking out her socks and shoes. She has at times, gone out with unmatched socks, but she is very proud of it so who are we to curb that enthusiasm. She likes to look at herself in the mirror and go "I'm pretty". We agree but were probably in trouble... In related news, she will sometimes get my attention, pose and go "Daddy take a picture". Like I said, we're in trouble.

"Breakfast"

Getting up and having breakfast is really no big ordeal and nothing to write home about. Lately however, Nia has been exerting her 2 year old independence and is no longer satisfied with cereal in a bowl in this new phase of Nia.

First it was a bowl of turkey, a plate of strawberries (she methodically switched the contents of both), 2 pickles and a cup of milk tainted with coffee. Next came the desire to try every salad dressing in the refrigerator (and she did try all 11), followed by a pickle. This morning, on her birthday, she actually had a bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal (no pickle).

Nia also loves to "cook". She takes all the pots and pans out, puts them on the table and with a spoon pretends to make dinner. We got her a little play kitchen for her birthday.