It's toad time! Malaya found a toad that lives in our drain spout and of course, she adopted it for the day. The toad took a ride in the stroller, went down the slide, and hung out in Malaya's hands. Malaya decided to dig a home for the toad in the mulch, so she put it down on a rock. All of a sudden I hear her sobbing! Well, the smart toad saw his escape opportunity and took it. As I was giving her hugs and kisses, I noticed that the toad had hopped under a bush and was quickly digging itself down into the mulch to hide. I was relieved that it was safe and decided that Malaya had enough toad time for the day.

Jolie started saying "Malaya". Of course she won't say mama or dada, but she is Malaya's biggest fan. I first noticed it after Malaya woke up from a nap. Jolie went right over to her and smothered her with kisses and started saying "Alaya". It took me a few minutes to realize what she was saying. Now I hear it so clearly. The video isn't very good because Jolie has the hiccups, but if you listen carefully, you'll hear it too.

And what does Malaya want for her birthday...a baby doll of course! Because, clearly, she doesn't have enough :)

Easter

Last year, we had just moved into our neighborhood, and we had a community Easter egg hunt. Malaya was not yet 2 and had certainly never had candy. I thought (since the egg hunt was broken up into age groups) that I would put "baby" treats into the eggs. Well, I was the neighborhood dud. Everyone else put candy in the eggs. Malaya found 1 egg and was happy to open it and eat it. That was Malaya's first experience with candy. Since then, she has called all small pieces of candy "jelly beans".
So this year, we had a neighborhood egg hunt again. Malaya and I were both wiser. I put candy in the eggs, and Malaya collected as many as she could as fast as she could. Jolie, on the other hand, was just happy to shake the eggs and hear the rattle.

Painting the kitchen

So, I thought that my kitchen would be a nice tan/orange color. I had picked it out months ago and lived with a sample of it on the wall for a long time. Then one night Sean picked up some swatches and we chose this color. It is a brownish/redish color. It took me awhile to get used to it, but it is great. We have now painted the dining room and trey ceiling the same color.

One night Malaya wrote on a piece of paper and hung it on her door. At first she said, "You can't come in." I laughed and cried to hear this. I thought it was so funny that she would do such a teenager thing, but it also broke my heart to know that she is getting so big. It also scared me to think of the future too :) Anyway, when I started filming her, she changed her mind about the sign....of course.


Opposite day!