Twice the Birthday

At the beginning of the month I had my birthday, and it was so overwhelming, I don’t know where to begin. I turned 2! That means I’m twice as old as last year, twice as tall, twice as heavy, twice as good looking, and I have twice as many cats. Haha, got you on that last one – I had 2 cats last year too! It also means that I got twice as many birthday parties, with twice times twice as many people!

The first party was on my real birthday with my daily peeps – there was Mama and Daddy and D and his parents. Nanny, Sister Nanny, and Nanny Husband also came. This last guy was my guest of honor. He is so cool, he just makes me feel cool being in his presents. He’s tall, plays in a band and wears cool hats. You really can’t get much better then that.

Twice the Love

Twice the Coolness

Then TWO days later, I had a birthday party with more friends. I wish that Nanny Husband had also come to this party to boost my coolness, because there were a lot of ladies at the party and they made me a little nervous. I mean they were older ladies – like 5 and 6 years old!! It made me feel shy because they were so pretty. Fortunately Didi also came to this party and Buddy J was there too, so I wasn’t totally surrounded by the Niñas . And my cousin came too. She’s my age, and I like her a lot even though I don’t get to see her as often. She was the first to arrive and played quietly in my room while I made the decision whether or not I wanted to get out of my crib to attend the party.

Fortunately I decided to get out of the crib. Look how much fun this is!!

Mama and Daddy were so excited. They made the house look pretty with Elmo all around. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that my favorite is really Dora, so I kept that news to myself. But, I wouldn’t let Mama put on the new Elmo shirt they bought me because I didn’t want to betray my love for Dora.

"I will NOT wear the Elmo shirt! I don't care what goofy shirts you choose to wear!!"

During the party, I got to draw, eat cake and watch while my guests picked up toys that fell out of Elmo’s bottom. (haha, just kidding – it was really a piñata!) Then at the end people wanted me to open presents. Luckily some of my girlfriends helped me because it would have been too much to do it myself. I got some really great toys and clothes. The biggest gifts were a wagon and a tricycle!

The Niñas look fantastic in their hats don't they?

Seriously though, doesn't it look like things are coming out of his bottom?

My California Grandparents came over after the birthday party and we went out to pizza. I really wanted to be more entertaining for them, but I was so tired from the day, that I could barely move. I just concentrated really hard on keeping my eyes open so they’d think I was awake, while I dreamed of being asleep back home. Finally we went home, and I was asleep twice as fast as usual, and my big double-party fiesta-filled time was over.

My favorite part of all the birthdays was when people would sing to me, I loved that! In fact you can sing to me all year if you want. But, I think I’ll stay 2 for awhile, because it will take me a long time to build up to three birthdays next year.

A Birthday Kiss from My Cousin

Twice the Man at Age 2

Jingle's First Haircut

For those of you who may not remember, I was not born with a lot of hair. Of course, this has never bothered me, I mean why should I care? I’ve always been given lots of cool hats, so people didn’t see my head much when I was outside anyway. But then as I got older, I noticed that I was getting more and more hair, and I kind of liked it. I got to brush it, and I don’t even mind when it’s washed.

Me and my hair were growing along just fine until I started to hear whisperings of ‘haircut’. My mama tried to make it sound fun by calling it "snip snip" and talking it up like we were going to the park, but I was onto her. The problem was, I just didn’t know when. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t scared about it –no, not me – but I just didn’t understand why I had to cut it in the first place. I mean look at how great my hair was looking!

But then, the day came…

A couple weeks ago, my parents got up early on a Saturday all excited. They seemed to be hush hush about it though which always makes my alarm bells scream. Uh oh… what were they up to. And then I heard mom say those words…”snip snip” and I knew my life would never be the same. Suddenly she had the camera out and was saying something about “pre-photos”.

And then we went to the place. My parents were definitely more excited then me. I know they thought the place was so cool with its car-shaped chairs and mirrors all over the place, but I was not impressed. The only thing that I liked was the fact that I got to watch Sesame Street the whole time. As long as I watched the TV, I would try to forget about the haircut. But if I didn’t watch TV I’d get really sad that they were cutting off all of my hard-earned hair. And ok, I’ll admit, I did get a little scared when I heard the ‘snip snip’ around my ears.

Thank Goodness for Sesame Street, you know what I'm talking about?

Honestly, who needs this many mirrors? If the TV is on, who cares!

Here's my post-photo.

(Don't tell Mama and Daddy, but I'm pretty proud of my new hair)

I kept my wits about me and knew that I could probably get whatever I wanted for this, so I played my cards right, and as soon as she was done cutting my hair, I said that magic word… “cookie”.

How could they resist this face?

Jingle Does Italy

Ciao! It's taken me awhile, but I'm finally posting about our vacation to Italy! I'm very excited about this one because I was able to use the new computer my parents bought for me to create a special video presentation of our trip. People have been asking me what my "favorites" are recently, and I hope you'll be able to tell my favorite parts of this trip by my video. I think I understand what 'favorite' means now...

Please let my Mommy know if you can't view this video, she'll figure out some way to get it to you. (The embedded video above might be cropped a little on your screen, but if so, you can goto You Tube directly to watch too: CLICK HERE)

I Am In Love

This entry is dedicated to the nina I heart.

Her style inspires me!

And she gives the best hugs.


She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that?



"Oh, Miss P, why do you have to live so far away in Sailing, Oregon?"

Jingle Takes Cago

Oh wose me, how time flys away! Here I am approaching 2, and I haven't even told you about the last few months. That's like dog ears in my life!

So, what I wanted to share is about my trip to Chicago last April. I like to call the city 'Cago' because I feel so friendly with it now. My mom, dad and I flew there on an airplane where we met up with Grandma. I didn't remember Grandma from when I was little so was a little scared at first, but I quickly realized that she was important. By the first day I knew that Mama, Daddy and Grandma made up my circle and I had to keep track of them at all times. That was my job. Mama made it difficult because she would leave for work but as long as I knew she was coming back I was ok. I never let Daddy and Grandma out of my site though. We even all stayed in one room together at night! I had a very special place all for me, called the "closet", which I loved!! In the morning I would peek out and see all of them sleeping soundly. They looked so peaceful, I just couldn’t resist waking them up.

The busses in that city made a great impression on me – I will always think of them. We took them all over the place – to the zoo, to the park, to the museums. In fact they inspired me so much I said my first sentence. Grandma was singing my favorite song, Wheels on the Bus, and she sang, “The driver on the bus says…” when all of a sudden it occurred to me that I knew! “MOVE ON BACK” I shouted excitedly. I even did the important hand movements to show I was pushing people back. Man, bus drivers have the best jobs…

Like I said, this trip was dog ears ago, it’s hard for me to remember everything, but one thing I won’t forget from now on is Grandma. Every time I see her pictures fly up on my computer I say “Grandma!” I hope I get to see her again soon.

"Good Mooorning Everyone! Wake uuppp!"

"Oooooh ... I Love Flowers..."



"What? Haven't you ever seen a guy getting his wallet together before the big night out?"

Mama and Daddy look so happy.

We should go away together more often.

This is my favorite picture because the whole circle is complete.

Me and my groupies.

Superstar

I’m a superstar! I know it’s not right to brag, but if my parents tell me this all the time, then it’s the truth right? But don’t get me wrong… I don’t think a person is naturally born a superstar – I think you become one. It takes hard work, a good personality, many smiles, and most of all, style. Because without style Bub, you ain’t got nothin’. Oh yeah, you may be wondering where I got my hipster attitude all of a sudden, but I’m a year and half old now. And that means I know things. Lots of things. I know hats make you cool. I know that butterflies fly and bubbles float. I know the difference between my two black cats. I know how to get pretty much whatever I want. Oh yeah. That’s how cool I am. Like I said – I’m a Superstar.

You may think my Mama dresses me, but you'd be mistaken.

I pick my clothes out all. by. my. self.

Even Superstars like to have fun with bubbles!

Check out me and my ride!



P.S. To my Grandparents: I finally updated the link over to the left there with more photos!

Chillin with the Dancer

I have been in a really good mood this week and I think it’s because of the sunshine. It has rained a lot this year and we were trapped inside for weeks! And the very least it was many hours! Nanny thinks of fun stuff for me and D to do indoors, but when we can’t go outside, we get so fidgety and frustrated. I have been taking advantage of this time to learn more things however. Did you know that the things you put on your legs are called “pants”?? And butterflies are pretty colors and make a “ftftft” sound? These are just two of the many things I’ve learned recently. I think I have also figured out why my buddy is called “D”. I used to think of him as “D’man” or “D-monster” but do you know what the D really stands for? Dancer!! Man, that guy can move! I wish I could have half the rhythm that he has. He wiggles his hips and waves his arms in the air. When I feel the groove I bounce with my knees a little bent. I think I’ve inherited my parents’ dancing skills. No. Seriously. I’ve been watching them dance around the house – and they dance nothing like D. Besides taking dance lessons from the master Dancer himself, we have done some other fun things together lately.

One of my favorite days recently was actually when it rained and we were trapped inside. Nanny decided that it would be ‘fun’ to wash all of our toys. “Really?” I thought, “that sounds nothing like playing on the slide”. We were at D’s house, and watched as Nanny stuck all of our toys in a huge plastic bucket and started filling it with water. What was she doing?? But then, oh, and here’s where it got even stranger, and yet exciting, she let us help!! We cleaned and splashed and made sure that everything was soaking wet including ourselves. It was a blast. We had so much fun that the next day, when it was still raining, we asked Nanny if we could wash the toys at my house. My Mommy and Daddy don’t have a huge bucket like D’s parents do, so we used the bathtub. And, well, here’s the bestest part… we got to take a bath with the toys!! Oh wow, oh wow…. Maybe the rain isn’t so bad.

This week the sun finally came out for more then a couple hours at a time so we’ve been spending a lot of time outdoors. I still love the slide and playground, but lately we’ve also started playing with balls and just running around like crazy kids. And then we come back to the house and have dance parties in my crib. Life is so fun these days – can it get any better??

"Seriously, it's raining again?"

The Race Is On!
(This was so last week)

This week we're hanging in the big kid's playground.

"Oh Wow!"

"Oh Wow!"

At the end of the day, we chill with a drink.