Weekend in Connecticut

Just got back from spending some quality time with Papi & Grammy up in their neck of the woods in Connecticut. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by not one, but two rambunctious doggies!! I was immediately in heaven. Elvis the Rottie and Tonka the Bulldog (Uncle Johnny's dog) are quite the pair when they're together. It was already past midnight by the time we reached our destination, so I said a quick hello to the doggies and to Grammy & Papi, but then it was straight to bed for me. I woke up Saturday morning and decided Papi could use some help putting my new set of wheels together. (note-I am not the only one with a new set of wheels in the fam...check out Uncle Johnny's new ride in the pic below) I guess word got out that I was in town, because my Great Grandparents, Art & Pat PLUS my Great Aunt Candy showed up to see me! We all hung out at the house and everyone watched me as I played with my bubble maker, swung in my swing and drove my new car around everywhere. As an extra bonus, I woke up Sunday morning to find Uncle Johnny had come all the way back from Costa Rica just to see me (okay, he was scheduled to come back Sunday anyway, it just happened to coincide with our trip). I was feeling generous Sunday morning, so I offered up lots of hugs and kisses just for him. I think I made his day :) As always, I left Southington with a suitcase full of new clothes...thanks, Grammy!! See you in three weeks!

Take note of how long the rope on this swing is....do you think I was rattled by this? Yeah right!...I was up to the challenge...I wanted to higher!!

Johnny's new wheels...

My new wheels....hmmm, something doesn't quite add up. I bet he doesn't have to paddle his feet to make his car move and he probably has heat and power windows. But he doesn't have those big eyes on his dash. BMW must've been sold out when he ordered his car.

It's All About Me!

This winter has been pretty much been all about me. Me and the Canton Car Wash that is. In fact, my favorite song even starts out with "Me, me, me, me, me, me, me..." My favorite word at the moment also happens to be "mine." Furthermore, I've become very territorial over my mommy, my toys, sometimes my daddy, but especially my fruit snacks. I love to play the game where I pretend that I'm going to give Jacob a fruit snack, and I bring it over to him and put it near his mouth, then I pull it back right as he opens his mouth and say, "Mine!"

Well, lets see...what I have been up to over the last couple of months? All my grandparents came to visit me at least once since Christmas (Gigi several times), I have been attending a music class with my buddies on Friday mornings, I have learned close to 200 words (if you ask Mommy, 1000 if you ask Daddy. Although within the last week, I think the count has doubled), I made a trip up to Michigan to see the gang up there (and started a GI Virus pandemic), and I just got back tonight from a weekend in Connecticut with Papi and Grammy.

I had my 18 month check up this week. Here are the stats:
Height: inches, 97th percentile
Weight: 25 lbs, 10 oz, 70th percentile
Head: cm, 50th percentile
Dr. Goldstein said I was "perfect,"...his words, not mine. I don't like to brag.

My favorite words right now include no, poop, water, doggie (this has been a favorite since I was 10 months old), and mine. I tend to find ways to fit these five words into almost every course of conversation I have, be it with myself or with others. When I'm riding in the car with Mommy & Daddy, and we drive by Butts & Betty's, I say "home" to let them know we're almost there! I think they appreciate the heads up.

So, I happened to catch a glimpse of a little pink potty today next to the big toilet in our bathroom. I've heard a lot of chatter about how fun and cool it's supposed to be to go pee pee or poo poo on the potty. Seems like a lot of work if you ask me...the method I've got going on right now is working just fine. I do a poop in my huggies, and then I just let someone else wipe my butt and put a clean diaper on. However, if there are fruit snacks involved in the process, I may consider it. Stay tuned for my progress on that front!

Enjoy these adorable pictures of my most recent activity. Like I said, folks...it's all about me!

Here I am with Papi & Grammy at the car wash. It looks as though they can't decide who should hold me for this picture. More than likely, they are both trying to.

Just a fun play date with Daddy in the Fells Point park.

You can see how long my hair has gotten (which Daddy calls my rat tail) in this picture. I'm well over due for my first hair cut actually. Mommy can't make up her mind as to whether she could cut it or let my curls become even more out of control.

Here I am snuggling up to Gigi.

I like to call this my reflective pose. More than likely I am contemplating who or what the next victim of my destruction will be. (destroying property, especially books, is still one of my favorite past times)Enjoying a compelling story about how the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round...

Viva la Puerto Rico

Hola amigos! Well, I spent Christmas 2008 in the sunny Caribbean, getting in touch with my Puerto Rican roots. I met about 75 family members that I never even knew I had! Since our return back to the continental US, I've been wondering why my parents ever decided to settle down in Baltimore. Puerto Rico was sunny and warm every day, I could walk around nude on the beach and nobody cared, I was constantly opening presents, there was always a party to attend, and I practically stayed up until midnight every night. It doesn't get much better than that. Although, the lack of sleep definitely started to become an issue. If I don't get my beauty sleep, I can become a real grouch. I really put Mommy and Daddy through the ringer on a couple of occassions....especially Christmas Day at my Uncle Dennis' house. (you can see from the pictures below that I was not a happy camper) All in all, it was a great trip.

Here I am with my cousin, Adrianna, on Christmas Day. We are exactly 7 days apart. She seems happy as a clam. I on the other hand, not so much. I mean, can you blame me? I had just travelled over 1000 miles, adjusted to a different time zone, and everyone was speaking a language I couldn't understand. Once the karoake machine came out though, I was all smiles.

This is El Morro, aka the windiest place to stand ever....hence Mommy's bad hair in this picture.

You can see from our blinding white skin that this was our first beach day. Also my first smile of the trip.

Uncle Richie, Lynne, Mommy & Daddy and I went down to Old San Juan for a few Pina Coladas after the beach.

Daddy likes to call this my Kid Rock look...

How come I am the only nude one on the beach?

Holiday Season 2008

Hi everyone! My apologies for totally slacking on the blogging recently. I've just been so busy with all of my holiday socializing, but now I'm getting back on track with everything. I spent Thanksgiving this year up in Michigan at Grandma Dar's house (aka Gigi). I enjoyed a lot of quality time with Gigi and the whole gang. There was a ton of snow up there, and from what I've heard it hasn't stopped snowing since we left! Basically, any time that I show up in Michigan, there is usually a big caravan led by my great-grandparents that follows me around wherever I go. You can see from the photo below that Grandpa Galko and I are good pals.

As soon as we got back into Baltimore, my mom dragged Daddy and I out into the pouring rain early on Sunday morning to cut down our Christmas tree. (Daddy calls Mommy the Christmas Nazi-among other names ending in "Nazi"...but we won't go there) We drove over an hour to get to the Christmas tree farm, then we picked out our tree, cut it down, had it shaken and wrapped and loaded it on the car in 15 minutes because it was freezing and raining outside. I don't really understand why we didn't just drive to Home Depot to get a pre-cut tree like everyone else. Oh well-it was one of our best trees ever (according to mommy).Here I am giving Daddy specific instructions on how to cut down the tree. "A little more angle, Daddy!"

Lucy had us all over for a Christmas party one Saturday morning. You can see how adorable we all looked in our holiday gear sitting on the sofa posing for the picture. (note-don't think I didn't notice Robbie rubbing my leg the whole time

. Why do you think I've been saying his name over and over again after that party?)

Lucy also got to spend a whole day with me at my house. Now, I love Lucy and everything, but she sort of started making me look bad after that day. She was so well-behaved that now my parents are expecting me to be on my best behavior at all times...hence this new thing they're using called "Time Out" I'm not a big fan of the "corner" or "time out" so far, so lets see what else they've got up their sleeves.

Oh yeah, we also went to see Santa together. You can see by the expression on our faces how much we liked him....

Stay tuned for more pictures and stories from Christmas with Gigi and my trip to Puerto Rico with the Riveras!!

Just Hangin Around...

In case you were wondering what a typical day in the life of Maria is like, here is a little snippet: I usually get up anywhere between 6:45 and 7:30 a.m. I throw back a bottle of milk before I do anything else and then I usually floss and brush my teeth for about 1/2 hour every morning. Most days I spend taking things out of drawers, trying on every pair of my mom's shoes, taking every book off the shelf and ripping out the pages, and trying very hard to get a cookie. Here are just a few pictures of me just "hanging around"...

Grandma Dar was here a couple weeks ago...as you can see from the smile on my face, I LOVE Grandma Dar!

A large part of my day also consists of chasing after Jacob. Is it just me, or does he look slightly annoyed here in this photo? I think he was exasperated with all the kisses I had just given him...

Did you say "Cookie?"

I am my father's daugher, there's no doubt about that...nope, none whatsoever. If it weren't obvious to you before with my big eyes and curly hair, then my newfound ability to exclaim my love for cookies has to prove it to you! I have discovered that if I actually say the word, "cookie," I am rewarded by, you guessed it, a cookie! I LOVE this game! Here I am with spaghetti all over my face practicing a few words.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween 2008 was a huge success in my book. Why you ask? Well, for starters I was allowed to skip my afternoon nap (which actually ended up being a problem later on that night). I was also allowed to stay up way later than my usual 7:00 bedtime, eat way more candy/sugar in one evening than I've consumed so far in my entire 14 month existence, and I got to hang out with Lucy the Piglet and Jacob the Dragon!! I kicked-off the night by strolling down to Fells Point to meet up with about 1000 other kids and their parents, all dressed up in their costumes. It didn't take me long to fall in the dirt, rip my tights, and figure out how to rip my bear hat off! Then we came back home, and I made the rounds of the neighborhood.

Here I am with JJ on his Grandma's lap. This was the only way Mommy and Josh could contain both of us long enough to get a picture.

I recently started passing out hugs and kisses, and Lucy is my favorite target! Lucy also likes to pass out hugs and kisses, so she doesn't mind! Here we are hugging in the park in our costumes, although a balloon got in the way right as the camera flashed, so the picture isn't perfect.