And they sing, "Lalalalalalalalalalalaladedah..."

Elena had a nice visit to San Diego (aka San Ree-rego) to see Uncle Jeff and whoah, the times she had. She had some very nice bonding time over dolphins at Sea World, looking at sand crabs and dodging waves in the ocean, at the Hagopians in Laguna and during some plain old sitting time at Jeff's place on the beach. It was a nice visit for both of us and I think Jeff is smitten with his niece all over again. We laughed a lot at the "Elena-isms" that accompanied our trip. Though there were many, I'm pooped and can only remember this....

At the dolphin show in Sea World, the entertainer was singing "Brown-eyed girl." Elena listened to the lyrics and said, "Mommy, they're saying lala!"

My brown-eyed girl.

(p.s. Sorry for the photo quality this time - I took all of them with my Blackberry)

Goodness and light

I put Elena to bed the other night and she said, "You're my life, Mama."

Come on, kid. HOW did you come up with THAT? Are you TRYING to make Mommy cry? She is though, all goodness and light, I mean.

But she's also still very much her age. She's three next Saturday and very adament that today is HER birthday too (It is mine). She and Daddy woke me with songs, cards, egg(ies) and a beautiful ring. And I was spoiled by the Grandparents too, let me tell you. What a lovely way to start the day. And end it. Here's to 34 - let it be as happy as I am right now.

Happy Birthday to me (and Uncy J).

When I'm three

Elena will be three in a few weeks and her thought process is certainly maturing too. We constantly laugh at the things that come out of her mouth. And so I dedicate this entry to those ramblings. A few are highlighted below:

• We constantly ask Elena when she'll be ready to poop in the potty. Her standard response? "When I'm three."


• Elena asked for 'prubacy' because she was pooping and needed to be alone.


• I explained that we don't call people names (after one name-calling incident). She paused, looked at me and said, "But I like it when you call me Lala."


• Elena has gotten into a bad habit of coming into our bed for the last couple weeks and though we're ending that now, it's been so sweet having her there. And so she tells us... "Mama, this is so special." She puts her head on the pillow next to me and wakes me with a kiss on the forehead in the morning. Gee - I wonder why we were slow to end the sleeping arrangement?


• I tried to explain dying a bit the other day when she heard that something was dead (I don't remember what). I told her that dying was when someone went to heaven and we couldn't see them, but we could talk to them a lot and love them and that they were in a beautiful place. She thought about it and said, "Like Oregon?"

And because we have to have photos, here are a few from Gus and Isabel's beautiful new house. She LOVED the trampoline (and so did Mommy).

Pour some sugar on me

As I so often say, "FOR THE LOVE OF....(insert remainder of frustrated sentence)," Elena LOVES sugar. She doesn't just love it though, she LOVES it. The latest birthday party and of course, birthday cake, really proved it. She hovered over the birthday cakes (yes, I said cakes plural) for quite some time until it was time to dive in, which she of course, did. The picture that illustrates this is uber blurry as it is taken from my Blackberry, but I think it serves the purpose.

Elena's sweet tooth matches her demeanor. The kid is sweet. There's no doubt about it. She knows what to say and how to tug at heart strings. Some of it is orchestrated in her two-(almost three) year old brain, but most of it is from the heart. Case in point: Somehow I forgot to buckle her car seat yesterday and half way up the hill, she said, "Mama, you didn't buckle me." I shrieked a bit and Ryan jumped out to buckle her. I felt awful and thanked God for her brilliance, but almost immediately following, Elena said, "It's okay, Mama. You're still a good Mama." (melt, sigh, thank you Jesus for this child)