A few things seen and heard around the house lately:

1. Vi loves to play her computer games. I found this cool site that has games easy enough for a 20 month old. It's fun until after 3 seconds she hits the control key and any other key and a pop up comes on the screen and freezes her play. The "MOMMY!"'s ensue. So basically, my original thought that this could be a diversion for her when I need to get some work done is completely shot. But I love watching her get excited that SHE just made the train say 'choo-choo' or a fish swim by pressing a "button".

2. Now that Vi is enjoying the computer - she and Rich have letter time. Rich says a letter and Vi finds it on the keyboard, strikes the key and then smiles proudly as she sees the end result on the screen. The other night they were sitting on the couch together and every time she found the right letter and successfully made it render on the screen she'd look for me (in the kitchen) and scream, "I did it! Found the X!"

3. Along with this new computer obsession is the obsession with her keyboard. She drags it around with her like a new puppy and pulls it behind her by the 'corn' (cord).

4. Vi has always loved her cell phone, but it's recently turned into an infatuation. She walks around with it in the crook of her neck (while also pushing her doll in her stroller and balancing her purse on her other arm) and she has a conversation with either Grandma, TT or Lauren and it usually goes something like this, "Hi (insert name here)! Upstairs...(pause)...ummmhmmm. Coloring...ummmhmmm. Hannah crying...ummhmmm." Then every few seconds or so she breaks into a deep, fake belly laugh. It's hilarious.

5. Saying her prayers has become a new nightly ritual. She always reminds me that we need to pray by interrupting our nightly song by saying, "Bless Daddy!" and then looks at me like - okay it's your turn. We ask God to bless all of her family and friends (by listing all of you separately!). She then insists that we sing one more song and it begins again. "Bless Daddy!" Friends and family...consider yourself extremely blessed. ;)

Being cheeky

Walking down the stairs today...

...hand in hand.

V: Step
L: Vi, you're such a big girl!
V: Good girl.
L: Well, sometimes. You're a BIG girl.
V: Viley, big girl.
L: Right
V: Big Viley
L: Right
V: Big Mommy

hmmm...

Letters

Vi knows most of her letters now and has fun running back and forth from the living room to the fridge to grab the letters we ask her to find. It's a great game because it's good practice for her and I get to sit on the couch. ;)

New faves

Vi's new favorite toys are a baby stroller that I got..ughm...on the side of the road on "big" garbage day (and proceeded to scrub down with Clorox) and a little stuffed fox christened, Foxy.

Convenience items

Yesterday was a sad day. It was the day I realized my 'go to' snacks on the go no longer cut the mustard. Said snacks = rice cakes and apples. At one time a rice cake would cure all ills, hunger pangs in the middle of a grocery store, a slow short order cook, the long ride home from a busy toddler time class, etc. Today the rice cake takes a certain second chair to ANYTHING. Vi takes two bites and sets it down and says, "SNACK!"

Apples are a different story. I noticed something was up when she started randomly handing me pieces of half chewed apple skin here and there over the past week. Yesterday she sat on my lap at church and proceeded to bite her apple, spit out the skin, and place it atop the rice cake sitting on the empty chair next to us (and yes, that rice cake was minus two bites). I think I was just curious because I didn't stop her from doing it until the entire rice cake was covered with nasty, masticated apple skin. (I'm sure the people behind us began questioning my parenting skills at that moment).
Later in the day we went to a cider mill and of course Vi was eating another apple. As I was shopping I could hear her walking around the shop saying, "Up here." She was discarding the fruity remnants upon anything she could find (until Rich started to follow her around and collect them). Finally we convinced her to begin to EAT the ENTIRE apple. We'll see how long that lasts.

I'm hoping Vi changes her mind about her two old favorites. In the meantime, I'm going to have to find a few more convenient, healthy snacks to get us through when we're on the go.