Wtf?

I got shot in my arm by a neighbor kid with a BB gun today. Ouch! The part that scares me though, is that if I was not on our swings with Sasha at the time, the BB would have hit her in her head instead of my arm. Fortunately, it was just my arm, and it was just a bb gun.
The story goes like this.
Sasha and I went outside to play. We were content to sit on lawn chairs, but I kept hearing a strange sound coming from our playset. It sounded like someone was either throwing rocks at it, or it sounded like it was raining an occasional rock onto the playset. I couldn't quite catch what was going on, as the intervals between when it happened was over 5 minutes between each time. There didn't seem to be anyone around, so I walked over to the playset to investigate after about the fourth or fifth time.
Sasha is my little shadow. She followed me to the playset, and since we were at the playset, she wanted to play. I couldn't find anything wrong with the playset, no explanation for the strange sounds, and dismissed it as maybe my imagination.
Sasha demanded I sit on the swings and swing with her. I enjoy swinging with her, so I complied. I sat in the blue swing closest to the slide, and she sat in the red swing next to me.
We were having fun, playing and swinging. We stopped swinging and we were just sitting still in the swings. The swings are comfortable to sit on, and I enjoy just sitting on the swings while reading. I read a book for a little while.
Then suddenly, BAM. My left arm hurt like heck. I looked at my arm and there was a red mark where I got shot by something. I wasn't quite sure what. I screamed and realized that the noises I heard earlier were probably bb gun shots from the neighbor kid (a friend of Cassie's, honestly a good kid), and that he shot me. I yelled loudly to my husband in our house, "Ow! They shot me!". But Jon couldn't hear me since the house was closed up so I ran up to the window of the room he was in and yelled for him. Then I panicked because Sasha was still at the swingset, so I had to run back to get her the heck out of there.
Jon, fortunately, didn't hear the "They shot me part", or he probably would have come out armed. He took Sasha, still unaware of what happened. I wasn't exactly stopping to explain. I was livid.
I marched myself out the yard and to the neighbor kids two houses down. The neighbor kid was laying on a mat, in a prone supported position, with his bb gun. I yelled at him, "Hey! You shot me!"
He looked at me horrified. I showed him my arm. He seemed really surprised and confused. I looked at his setup. He was laying down, bb gun pointed toward our yard. Between him and the yard, there was a target, some trash cans and boxes (he lined them up to catch the bb pellets), and then some bushes obscuring our playset. Well I guess he thought his trash cans and boxes would catch the bb pellets after he shot them. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. Either his aim was off, or something was wrong with his system. He really did think that his trash cans and wooden boxes would prevent the bb's from going beyond his target practice.
I felt better knowing that at least he didn't intentionally shoot me. My arm hurt, but it was just a bb, not a real gun. It'll heal.
The part that scares me, however, is Sasha. If I was not in that swing, my wound was at her head level. I was DIRECTLY between her and the incoming bb round. If I was NOT sitting at that exact spot. If I had said, "No sweetie, I don't want to swing today. You can swing by yourself like a big girl", she would have been shot in her head/eye level with the bb pellet. And that would have done a lot more damage to her than to my arm.
That's the part that pissed my husband off. He was very upset and went over to the neighbor's kids house. He talked to the kid's mom and told her she needs to take away his bb gun. She said she would take care of it immediately, then the neighbor kid came by our house a few minutes later to apologize again (presumably under his mother's orders).
I know the kid was sorry. He truly was. For that, I feel bad that he probably got in trouble. I still can't seem to calm my husband down but he's very protective of Sasha.

Catering in the middle of nowhere

My mother-in-law owns a restauraunt, and she frequently does catering as well. Sometimes she has to go to some odd locations. In this particular case, she was catering for a dog show for a bunch of sheep-herding dogs, and it was held on a ranch out in the middle of nowhere. She invited us to come out for an hour or two to take a look at the scenery. So when I saw that covered wagon sitting out there, I just had to take a pic.
The grass was quite tall, but Sasha didn't mind. She and Cassie searched the grasses for all sorts of strange bugs.

Cassie posed with some grass :P

Mud

After a good quick rainfall, we stepped outside to do some yardwork. Sasha couldn't resist the puddles. Oh she got so dirty and it took a bit of restraint on my part to grab the camera instead of snatching her out of the mud.




This puddle was in our front driveway. The high school is across the street.

Curses!

When we speak, we have to be careful what we say. Sasha hears and remembers everything, and she'll repeat it all eventually.

A week ago, Cassie was teasing her little sister. Sasha was getting frustrated and angry. She glared at Cassie and exclaimed, "Cassie! You're pissing me off". She then spent the next few minutes scowling and repeating, "I'm pissed off".

A few days ago, Sasha was following me around the house as usual. I went up to the master bedroom for something, and along the way, Sasha found her favorite pair of pink flip-flop shoes. "Holy Crap! There's my flip-flops!", she exclaimed loudly.

"Holy crap" is one of her favorite phrases. We never know when it'll come out of her. I can't help but laugh when she says it, even though I know it's so wrong. She sees the reaction she gets out of people and it makes her do it even more.

She's said a few other bad phrases, but they're usually immediately after someone else says them. At that point, we can scold the original potty mouth.

Moving update

We have successfully moved to our new house. I was without internet until it got hooked up today, so now I have a lot of catching up to do.
I will start with pics of the new place. All pics expand when clicked.

Cassie's room
My mother-in-law used to be an interior decorator. Here's what she did with Cassie's room. Cassie's room is the only finished room in the house so far.


Living room
Living room and you can see the entrance to Cassie's bedroom off to the left.
We lost our entertainment center in the move and got rid of our tv, so uh, we have nothing to put in here yet except the sofa, chair, and tables.


Guest Room
We had four bedrooms and only need three so this is just a guest room in case we get visitors. For now, just a twin bed and some spare furniture.
This room is actually green.


Sasha's Room
Curtains are temporary and will be replaced soon.
Sasha's bed, armoire and her toy box/bookcase in her new bedroom


Master Bedroom
Master bedroom. We repainted it because it used to be yellow. So we painted tan and we're going to decorate with navy blue.
The french doors on the left side are the entrance to the master bedroom office. the middle door is to the master bathroom. And the white doors to the right are to the closet.


Den/Computer Room
Downstairs den. We will line the wall with our computer desks. Then Sasha will have a play area off to the right side.
There is a wood burning stove in the foreground of this first picture.
I hate the wallpaper. It has ducks and cattails. I will get rid of it someday. I don't mind the blue paint at the bottom.

A view of the den/computer room that shows Sasha's play area. This room is HUGE.
Dining Room and Kitchen
This is our new dining room. We have not finished painting. The house previously had seriously ugly wallpaper and we are getting rid of that. So ignore the walls for now as they are unfinished.
Kitchen View 1- from the dining area looking towards the kitchen
Kitchen view 2- The white door goes to the laundry room.
Kitchen view 3. You can see two stairwells here. The stairs on the left go UP to the master bedroom, and the stairs on the right go DOWN to the den/computer room.


Backyard
Sasha enjoys her new yard. It's actually bigger than it looks as the yard extends to the right quite a ways in front of and beyond the garage. Here she played with her pool on a hot summer day, but that playset behind her is a lot of fun too.

Moving again

I know I've been slacking since we moved. We've officially been in Montana for a month now. I didn't take any pics of the house we moved in to, but it appears we will be moving again very soon. Maybe next week?
I love our apartment, but we got an amazing offer that we just couldn't refuse. Sasha has been here a while already and has made a ton of friends with the locals. One particular fan of hers is a regular at the deli (my mother in law's restauraunt), and is the president of a bank chain. Well he has a house in town here, one of several he owns. He likes to control the people he lives next to so he bought the neighboring houses and rents those out to people he likes. One day he asked my mother in law what we were paying in rent for the place we are living at now. She told him and he offered us the 4BR 2BA 2 Car garage house next door to him for an extra $25 a month. He said Sasha needs a yard and a playset to play on. (We have NO yard currently as we are above a store).
The people that live in the house currently bought a house of their own, and they had 2 children. They put a huge playset in the back yard. It's like one of those dream playset, and retails for over $2k at costco. The yard is fenced.
The house itself is amazingly nice. It has more room than I know what to do with and the kitchen is a dream. There's even a jacuzzi in the master bedroom's bathroom.
So yeah, I guess we're moving. The current residents just moved to their new home this week and the place we live at now was only a month-to-month lease so we are now free to move. The current landlord understands.

Misheard lyrics

Each night, I sing a song to Sasha as part of our bedtime routine. She usually chooses between Twinkle Twinkle, Mary had a little lamb, 5 Little Monkeys, the ABC song, or a few other songs.
Yesterday she was playing in her bedroom and singing to herself. I smiled. It was Mary Had a Little Lamb. Then I heard her version:
"She made the toilet laugh and play."
Oops! I can't quite figure her version out.

She has a bunch of funny little sayings. I wish I could remember them all. I don't know where exactly she picked up the phrase "Close the gate man", but I've been asking around as to the origin where she picked up that phrase. I'm sure it must have a story.
Her favorite things to play lately are Tea Party, and Doctor. She has a little doctor set and enjoys making each of us play the patient while she injects us with her syringe, listens to our hearts with her stethoscope, hammers on our knees, and takes our blood pressure with her toy sphygmomanometer.
There is a school playground a block away, so we take her to that for a few minutes each day. We can't stay long. Although I do slather each of us up with sunblock, the sun is very harsh and still manages to burn us quickly if we don't take care to limit our sun exposure. My husband is burned beyond lobster right now. I prefer to avoid sun damage on myself and on my kids.

Oh and Sasha really does have a huge fan club. At my mother-in-law's restaurant, there is a group of ladies that go there daily in the hopes of Sasha being there. They all absolutely adore her. They make special crafts and presents for Sasha. Sasha knows them like family and hops into their laps the moment she sees them.

Dad is busy!

Above is a picture of the new bed and toybox/bookshelf that my husband has built for Sasha. And here is Sasha checking her new bed out.

Everything still needs paint. The bed and toy shelf will join the armoire in Sasha's new bedroom once we get moved in. Move in date is less than two weeks away.

Meanwhile, my husband has been painting the new apartment. Here is a before and after shot, still in progress:
Before
After
I did not like the yellow and that yucky brown that it was originally.
Now it's not done, because actually my mother-in-law is going to do some rag-rolling to that blueish grey wall. That's where you take a rag and stick it in paint, then blotch it on the wall in a pattern. So the blue wall will have white rag rolling done over it and it will probably look something like this.

Less than two weeks and our family will be reunited again. These next two weeks will definitely be busy though.

Miss Fix-it

Sasha has seen her grandma, grandpa, and dad doing a lot of 'fixing' lately, and it shows. She found the nails in the window screen at her grandma's house, and promptly grabbed her toy hammer.
"Don't worry Dad, I'll fix it," she announced to her father and went to work.


And here are a few pictures of Sasha at the new apartment in Montana:


Talking to grandma.

Working and Waiting

One very long month down, and one very long month to go. We are definitely making the move to Montana in early June. A lot of preparation has gone into this so far, and there is still a ton of preparation to go.
Jon and Sasha have been out there for the last month. We all miss each other terribly, but we all believe it is for the greater good. The environment has been so incredibly healthy for my husband and for Sasha. They are thriving and happy out there. In contrast to the environment in the city, where my husband's physical and mental health were deteriorating. They spent the last three years holed up inside a small apartment, and it was really taking a toll on them both. But now they're free and taking advantage of the great outdoors, and the great family support system set up out in Montana.
And a few pictures above. On Mother's day, Sasha helped everyone relay the bricks on the deck at my in-law's house. Sasha was a very helpful observer. And yes, my husband has put on some weight out there, thank goodness! :)

Speech Improvements

Sasha's undergone quite a speech improvement in the week she's been gone. Probably coincidence, but she has had a ton of new people to talk to so that could have something to do with it too. She is loving all the attention she is getting from her devoted family and friends in Montana.
Most notably, her pronoun usage and sentence grammar has improved. For example, a week or two ago, if she had wanted to go to her beloved store, Ikea (she could seriously identify the Ikea building while we drive by and point it out from like a mile away), she would say, "go Ikea!!". But now she can say the complete sentence, clearly enunciated: "I want to go to Ikea!".

Sasha has a little group of family and friends that visit daily specifically to see and play with Sasha. They are older ladies, and they do adore her very much. Sasha was cracking them up. They would ask Sasha a question that they knew Sasha would answer "no" to. Like, "Do you want a nap?", and she would reply. "Ummmmmm, NO!". It's hard to explain exactly how she said it, but just the tone and way she replied was really funny. The "NO!" part was quite forceful, but combined with her little "ummmmmm" made it sound like she was almost considering it for a moment.

I love the way she still says some things. Like if I tell her "I miss you", she asks me, "You miss Sasha??? You miss me?".
Just small things, but they're very Sasha-like things that she says.

Oh and in a sort of related side note, I found this article on toddler speech, specifically "echolalia" or toddler repetition, very fascinating.

Luggage lost

This seems to happen a lot to us. Of course, when my husband arrived at his destination airport, his luggage was not there.
Fortunately, I married that man for his brains :)
He cleverly packed the luggage to account for the likelihood that the main luggage would get lost. He packed a spare set of clothes for Sasha and himself in the carry-on baggage. And some extra pull-ups for Sasha. And anything really necessary to survive a day or two without the main luggage.
He also packed the toilet seat adapter in carry-on. This was wise, as Sasha's been day-time potty trained since before she turned two.

Before they left, my husband and I talked about Sasha and how she would fare with going potty during and after her trip. Every time I've ever tried to take her to a public restroom, she became anxious and scared. She's always refused to use a public toilet. Factor in the automatic flushing toilets they usually have at airports, and I feared it would be the equivalent of a toddler horror flick. (Hah, automatic flushers as a toddler horror film. I crack myself up.).
But I was wrong. At the airport, Sasha announced to my husband that she had to go potty. He took her and they did have those horrible auto-flushers. He put the adapter potty seat on the public toilet. She hopped on and went potty as usual. Everytime someone flushed, she asked my husband "What's that noise?". ("What's That Noise" has been a fun game of hers lately, especially when she's submerged in the bathtub). She also asked "What's that noise?" everytime someone washed their hands or used the hand dryers.
But she did fine.

They did find the lost luggage, but they refused to ship it to him. They claim they had it rotating on the carousel all along and that my husband merely failed to recognize his own luggage. Um, no. Totally untrue but whatever. So he has to go back to the airport tomorrow (which is not a short drive) to pick it up.
At least my husband and daughter made it to their destination safe and sound. And Sasha can go potty as usual :)

Flight

Sasha and her Daddy had a good flight to Montana this morning! We will miss them terribly while they are gone. Hopefully we can be reunited soon. I was quite emotional yesterday and this morning, as I hate to be apart from my husband, or especially Sasha.
Sasha had her own seat on the flight, and my husband brought the car-seat along for her to sit in. He had our iPod fully prepped with her favorite videos. He says she did really well. She was a perfect angel, gave my husband no difficulties at all, asked questions about what was going on. By the second flight (there was a layover in Denver), she was a pro and knew what to expect, and was telling my husband what the next step would be.

If all goes well with them on their trip, we hope to be able to move permanently. It should be very VERY good for our family if we do. We really hate it in the big city where we are now. I love my job but it would be healthier and happier for everyone if my husband could work in Montana, and then I could play stay-at-home mom for a few years. So far, it looks like the cards are lining up right for us.

Meanwhile, the home just does not feel right without a two year old underfoot.
My husband calls me to report all that she does, mostly to help me feel better. So I'll still have lots to report about her and her fun vacation!

I don't want to forget this

Last night, as I tucked Sasha in to bed, we had a very heartwarming conversation that I never want to forget. I knew that in the morning, I would have to take Sasha to the airport, so I was especially emotional and trying to enjoy my last "nini" with her before we are reunited again in Montana.
Sasha had been intermittently crabby all day due to her vaccination, which is very very out of character for her. She's usually darned near to a perfect angel. I guess it was a blessing in disguise to see how crabby she can potentially be, so I can appreciate how well behaved she is all the time. But I hated knowing that she wasn't feeling well.
At bedtime, I was tucking her in. She was a bit more antsy than usual. Normally, I ask her what songs she wants me to sing, and she makes song requests/demands like I'm some sort of jukebox.
But this night was different. She sang the songs to me instead.
She sang many songs, the usual night time songs: Twinkle Twinkle, Close your eyes and sleep (from Yo Gabba Gabba) and Nap Time (also Yo Gabba Gabba), 5 little monkeys, ABC's.
Then she started to wind herself down. We were laying down and she turned to me and said, "I want a hug Mom".
She gave me a hug, but wasn't happy with it. She kept tugging at me to move closer to her. "You're heavy mom!", she said and she wasn't happy until I put my head on top of hers. She gave me big hugs and kisses.
"I love you mom", she said.
"I love you too, Sasha", I answered back.
"You love me? You love Sasha?", she asked, and I replied that I really really did love her very much.
"I'm happy", she sighed. "Are you happy Mom? Be happy okay?"
I wondered whether she knew how anxious I was that she was leaving the next morning. It really seemed like she was comforting me and I found myself silently crying, making sure that she didn't notice.
I think I accidentally said aloud that I miss her already. She replied, "you miss me? You miss me mom." She repeated that about 7 times and told me to "be happy okay?".
She fell asleep hugging me.
I love this child so very very much.

Trip

Well, I haven't really mentioned this here lately, but Sasha and her dad are going on a big trip! They're flying out to visit my husband's family in Montana (especially his mom, Sasha's Grandma), and to hopefully get a job out there so we can move. Cassie still has school so we can't go with until school is out.

Today, we spent a good part of the day getting ready. It was very hectic, with Sasha's 2 1/2 year pediatrician exam, her crabbiness after her shots, and trying to get everyone packed and ready.
After Sasha woke up from her afternoon nap, I took her to her preschool program so that she could play with some kids her age, and so that my husband could pack and nap if he needed. As always, she had a blast! There are so many toys to play with, and kids and activities. She made an arts-and-crafts project, did some pretend play with the kids (they pretended they were grocery shopping). The teacher always has a story time, and Sasha sat well for story time, and participated by answering questions. The story was about birds, and the teacher (Chris) would point to a bird and would ask the class what color it was, and Sasha was quick to answer.
Then it was Open Gym time, where the kids got to play in the school gymnasium, with bikes and balls. Sasha still can't quite figure out how to pedal a tricycle yet. She sat on one for a few seconds, gave it a half-hearted attempt, then ran off to play with her beloved toy car instead.

We left a little earlier than usual so that we could get Sasha home in time for an early bedtime. Her flight tomorrow is VERY early, so we'll have to wake up about 4am, much earlier than her usual 9-10am wake-up time.

2 1/2 year exam

Sasha had her 2 1/2 year exam today. She was quite prepared for it. Months of playing with her doctor set, pretending that she was a doctor helped. I also let her know the day before in advance that "Tomorrow, you will go see the doctor!". She seemed to understand. We also let her know when she woke up in the morning, and when we were on the way. "First, we are going to McDonalds, then we will go see the doctor!".
So yeah, she was very ready.
She loves to play in the waiting area so she had a little fun with that. When we were escorted to the exam room, the nurse wanted her to take off her clothes and step on the scale in just her underwear and t-shirt. Sasha loves stepping on the scale at home too, so she was a pro at the scale. She did not, however, like it at all when the nurse tried to get her height. After a few protests, the nurse had to take her height the old fashioned way, by laying Sasha down on the exam table, drawing pencil marks at the top of Sasha's head and feet on the paper, and measuring the marks.

Sasha weighed 27lbs and was 37 inches tall. Yay. For a child who once had low weight issues, she's back on track. Her growth chart looked like a big "S", but we're back on the upswing and all caught up. She's even ahead on height, so maybe this girl got lucky and got her height from her tall daddy instead of her short mommy.

The doctor examined Sasha and all is well. Nothing new with the umbilical hernia. The plan is still to hope it closes on it's own by age 4-5, otherwise surgery will be required.
The pediatrician was concerned that Sasha drinks too much milk and doesn't eat enough iron-rich foods, so we had another blood iron test. Sasha's blood iron was fine, fortunately. No anemia. Not sure how she isn't anemic but I suppose it might be the Flintstone's vitamins helping :)
Sasha had a hepatitis vaccination and didn't cry one bit! I am amazed. She was just fine with the shot, and was happy to have a band-aid.
A few hours after the vaccine, Sasha got very crabby. She never naps anymore but we finally had to put her down for a nap.

No, I'm Sasha!

We were eating out at Applebee's for lunch together as a family the other day. There was a woman in a nearby table, and she was eating alone. I think she stepped away from her table to use the restroom. As she returned back to her table, she passed by our table. Sasha had already decided she was done eating and was singing and playing to entertain herself and everybody else, and was generally being cute.
As the woman passed by her table, she addressed Sasha:
"Oh, you are a cute little munchkin aren't you?", she said.
"No! I'm Sasha!", Sasha quickly corrected her.

She's been doing that lately with a lot of things we say.
"Sasha, are you running around naked again?", I asked today.
"No Mom, I'm Sasha!" she replied defensively.

Swimming

As I previously posted, Sasha has been a serious water-bug lately. Two mornings ago, Sasha was watching a little tv and saw some puppet penguins swimming on Sesame Street. She started yelling, "Swimming! Swimming!" and danced around the living room like she was swimming. I asked her if she wanted to go swimming, and she said, "Yes please. I want swimming".
It reminded me that our park district has a really cool indoor water park, so we decided to take Sasha and the family swimming. As much as she's enjoyed water lately, we knew it would be a HUGE hit with her.
Sure enough, she had a blast! The water park was very crowded because the school kids are out for spring break. But despite the full crowd, it was fun.
Her dad took her down the water slides a few times, which she loved. She is a natural at floating on her back. In deeper water, she would naturally flip to her back and float. It cracked me up when she was floating on her back and flapping her arms like a birdy while chanting, "I'm FLYING! I'm FLYING!". Several times, she tried to get herself out of our arms because she was fully convinced she could swim by herself.
And she thought it was hilarious when her dad would submerge himself underwater and wave at her.
Sasha gets cold fast when she goes swimming, so I knew we probably wouldn't be there long. Last time we took her swimming, she got herself very very cold, uncomfortably so and shivered for such a long time that we worried. We were more prepared with extra towels to warm her up quicker this time. I was ready to leave at the first sign of any shivering. Once she shivered the tiniest bit, we teamed up to get her straight into some towels, warmed her up, dressed her in dry clothes, and left.

Fish in the tub

Slowly over time, Sasha became a water lover. Her baths were usually all about business. Wash up, play with a few toys, and she was done. She didn't like to get her face wet, nor her hair. Shampooing usually had to be done quick, and she usually threw a tantrum. Baths were tolerable, but a shower was completely unacceptable. She had a set of stackable cups, and usually played with those for a while, and maybe splashed a bit. If she splashed water in her face, she became upset and yelled for a washcloth.

But slowly the past few months, she's acclimated herself to water. I can't recall whether it was the shower first that she took to, or if it was laying down in the bath water. At first she'd timidly put her arms and legs in the shower stream (I use a removeable shower head so I can wash her hair and the tub easier). Every day, she got a little braver until one day she was able to stand herself completely under the stream of water, face and all.
She also started to lay herself down in the bath water, which was a complete no-no a few months ago. But she did it by herself, again slowly and a little more each day. Now she lays herself down in the water so that her ears are completely underwater. Then she enjoys the way the water makes everything sound funny. Every noise she hears underwater, she shouts at me, "WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?". Usually it's just dripping water, but sometimes I knock on the side of the tub to make a noise for her.
Now she is like a fish! She lays on her tummy and launches herself across the tub, chanting "I'm SWIMMING! I'm SWIMMING!". She can lay on her back with barely her nose and eyes sticking out of the water forever. She gets out of the tub when the water is cold.
I recently added some new fun to bathtime: bubble bath. Oh man, she loves those bubbles. She plays with bubbles with such glee, chanting "Oh I LOVE bubbles! I LOVE them so much! I'm so HAPPY!". She really says that and it cracks me up how she expresses herself.
I'm a bit torn on the bubbles. They make her so happy. But I get nervous about the chemicals in them. But that's for another post someday, as I've been working on avoiding some of the nasty chemicals in soaps and shampoos lately.
Anyways, that's my little fish!

Happy

Sasha is happy. She often tells us so.
Happy is a common word in her vocabulary lately!
For example, this morning, I tried to wake her up but she was just too sleepy. I picked her up and put her on the living room couch. I turned on her favorite show on tv. I made her favorite chocolate milk and offered it to her, and she sleepily accepted. She laid there, sipping her beloved chocolate milk through a straw, hugging the cup. And without opening her eyes, she murmured quietly, "I'm so happy".

I had to work tonight, so I took a nap before I had to leave. When Sasha's bedtime rolled around, my husband brought her to me so I could put her to sleep. He told me about the cute new thing she was doing tonight. She would sit down in front of my husband, face to face, and say, "soooooo...... Are you happy?". And since she's a toddler, she did this about a gazillion times but we laughed each time. She looked like a little psychologist, and the way she said "soooooo....." was amusing.
At random times throughout the day, she'll hug us and loudly exclaim, "I'm happy mama", or ask us, "are you happy?". And when she is with me, I always am :)