a title I couldn't think of

I realize we've made much of Kiddo's love of books lately, but it really sort of defines who she is at this very moment. She reads them, carries them around, sleeps with them, makes her darling parents carry them around from one room to the other, keeps some in the car, falls asleep with entire volumes of them in her lap ...

Some people like sleeping under bookcases. Don't you judge.

It's quite delightful and makes us feel a little less bad about granting her back-to-back viewings of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" or "Wonder Pets" when she gets home from daycare (sadly, "Yo Gabba Gabba" has moved to a channel we don't get and, yes, Dadoo is more disappointed than anyone).

And because her Dadoo is who he is, you can be assured that a regular stream of kid-friendly comic books makes its way into the mix. Aforementioned Dadoo is thrilled to report that she enjoys those, too, and has even been known to get out of her new big-girl bed, when she is supposed to be napping, to get a stack of them and make from them a pillow.

She pretty much sweated through that issue of The Muppet Show.
Hulk vs. Silver Surfer, directly underneath, escaped unharmed.

She is also cuckoo for counting and can usually get all the way up to 12 before it devolves into a string of "sumpteen, nunteen, tooteen, fuffteen, ELEVEN!"

She is showing a great interest in numbers and letters and often asks what specific letters and numbers are. And just the other day (and this might be old news for anybody who tags along with Mimi on the facebook) she pointed to the number 5 and proclaimed "That's a 5." We decided to call that reading. It's a start, at least.

When not dazzling her easily-dazzled parents with her burgeoning literary skills, she is also up to a lot of toddler boundary-pushing. We are trying to channel her ... shall we call it "independent streak" by letting her pitch in on some grown-up stuff. Just yesterday she helped out with yard work. She lasted about three minutes before announcing "All done!" and ran off with her bucket of sidewalk chalk. It was a productive three minutes, however.

Also, lately, she has been helping out in the kitchen. She takes her role as sous chef very seriously. It's neat to watch.

I have no glib commentary for this one.
This picture just fills me with joy.

We even got her a pair of training chopsticks which she loves and is getting better at using.

eh, sort of ...

And her capacity for imaginative play continues to grow by leaps and bounds. She stages elaborate dramas with her toys which, most of the time, we can't really follow but that's okay. And then sometimes she just likes to dress up.

Princess Daisy.
You shouldn't have to ask.

And that was the week what was. More soon!