The little one got her first toothbrush yesterday and we brushed her teeth last night. She was very excited about it.

Toothbrush

With all of her new teeth coming in, we bought a toothbrush for the Tiny Overlord. She thinks it is great fun. Every night Minion #2 and I get her ready for bed. While Minion #2 gets some well deserved hugs, I get her toothbrush and bring it in to her room, she runs up to me, yelling "Teeth!" We're still negotiating the amount of toothbrushing vs. toothbrush biting, but it's starting to lean more towards brushing. After I brush her teeth, she takes the brush and shows me how well she can brush. Then she says night night to her toothbrush, after we promise that she can brush her teeth again in the morning.

New Ride!

Today a coworker of Minion #2 donated some toys that her daughter had outgrown. This included a play set with a swing, a slide and a climbing wall, and best of all, a car! Well, actually a plastic truck that the Overlord can ride in and use to carry materials for her nefarious schemes. It has a Flintstones-style open floor, so that she can propel it with her feet, but they don't quite reach the ground yet. So for right now, it's minion powered. It's one of her favorite toys.

Grin!

The Countess of Cuteness has long known what a camera is. She's learning how to pose, so that she can increase her cuteness quotient. It's her best weapon, and she knows how to use it!

As usual, she and Minion #2, aka Daddy, had just arrived home. She likes to run around and explore for a while. She will proudly exclaim "Daddy car!" and "Mommy car!". She knows that tires and the exhaust pipes are hot, but she's not convinced that we know, so she points to them and tells us "Hot!" repeatedly. She's not happy until we agree and repeat hot.

She also insists on carrying her own lunchbox and/or sweater up to the house. She often slings the sweater over her shoulder just like a little executive. Daddy was trying to get a picture of her doing this, but as soon as he brought out the camera, she struck this pose.

Grandma and Grandpa H come to visit

This weekend, Grandma and Grandpa H were coming up to visit, but they had to turn around when Grandma got sick. Everyone was sad about it, but traveling so long and being away from home when you're sick is no fun at all, not to mention Grandma didn't want to share germs with the Marvelous Mite.

Monday night we got a call - Grandma and Grandpa were in Georgia and on their way to visit us! They spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night with us. We really enjoyed our evenings together, and as always the Tiny Overlord basked in having extra minions to serve her.

In addition, this time her Grandminions brought her a set of wheels. She quickly figured out how to make it go - there's one big red button. Buttons and the Tiny Overlord go together like toast and jelly, so it didn't take long at all before she was riding around the house.

Now we just have to work on steering.

Corn on the Cob

Since the Tiny Overlord's biting teeth are all in and she has demonstrated her ability to take bites out of things, we decided to give her some corn on the cob. She ate most of it just like we did, but when we brought the camera out she decided to nibble on the ends.

More Words

Hug
apple (she calls them Bop Bop)
remote (mote)
belly
ear
hair
pee
poop
potty
bite (this means she wants a bite of what you're eating)

Potty

For a while now, the Tiny Overlord has been telling us "Poop" in the cutest, most adorable little voice. She doesn't always get it right, so we've had some false alarms and we check. She's started to check other people for poop, mostly the other children that stay with her caretaker, but this morning she checked my pants.

She's also started to tell us "Pee." She's taken her caretaker by the hand and brought her into the bathroom and pointed at the toilet while saying "Potty." She's started doing it with us, also, so today we all went to Target and bought her own special seat that goes on the potty.

I think toilet training may have started.

Car!

I think we have a gear head on our hands.

Every afternoon, when she and Minion #2 get home, she has to explore. She starts out by checking out the cars, and naming them just in case we forgot they were called "cars!" She knows the handles open the doors, although she isn't quite strong enough to open them herself. Some days we open the doors for her and let her climb in and explore the interior of the cars.

She loves the sound of engines and machinery - the tiller we bought for the garden was great fun and made her smile and clap. I held her and we sat on the hill to watch Daddy as he tilled the garden. When the tiller wasn't running, she and I would come down the hill to look at it. She was pretty good about not touching it when we told her it was hot.

Inside, she plays with her dolls and stuffed animals, but she plays with her cars, too, pushing them all around. Her Grandaddy H said that next year he'd get a car seat for his race car. I think he thinks he was joking, but the Tiny Overlord would love it. She's going to love the battery powered four wheeler that he got for her. Once she gets her wheels, watch out world!

Outside!

With the weather warming up, we're spending more time outside, and our Overlord approves! She loves wandering around the yard, investigating things, picking up pine cones, shredding leaves and exploring her world. She has, somewhat reluctantly, agreed to our rule that if she's walking downhill she must hold our hands, although she isn't happy about it. We follow right behind her when she's going uphill, with a hand ready to catch her if she starts to tumble. Other than that, we let her wander and explore. She's spending 20-30 minutes each afternoon doing just that.

She smiles and giggles and names everything that she can. We blew the fluff off of a dandelion one day and she thought that was the best thing ever! We head down to the garden to see how that is doing, and while we're there she finds rocks for us. Unfortunately sometimes she finds them from the little rock wall I'm building to cut down on erosion, but I can replace them quickly enough.

She's very good at finding "gumballs" - the seed pods from a sugargum tree. She fell on one once, and scratched her face up. Now she seems fascinated with them. She was fascinated with the blackberry bushes too, for a while, but we told her to be very careful, because they bite with their thorns. She pulled back her hands, looked at us, looked at the blackberry, and went to go find a gumball.

After a while, she heads to the house and slowly climbs up the front steps. Right now she's still crawling up them on all fours, and of course we're right behind her, but as long as we're patient, she can make it up the steps on all on her own. She explores the porch for a while, then she sees her kitties through the glass door. She says "Kitty!" and "in!" so we open up the door and head inside for dinner and more family play time. Evenings at our house are great.

This weekend the Grandminions K came to visit. Her Overlordship greeted them with some distance at first, but quickly warmed up. Soon she was back to her usual self, with that unique mix of extreme cuteness, charm and ability to create complete chaos. She enjoyed playing inside, and spending some time outside. She truly enjoys visits and each time it takes a shorter period of time for her to warm up. I think she's starting to remember her extended family, which makes me happy.

I bought a recordable book and had her Grandma K record it, so now she has books read by both grandmas. She loves turning the pages and listening to them.

Our Little Chef

A few months ago, while I was cooking, I gave the Tiny Overlord a plastic mixing bowl and a wooden spoon, expecting her to use them like a drum. But instead she turned the bowl right side up and started using the spoon to stir. She helps us with cooking now, whenever something needs to be stirred. She's quite enthusiastic about it, but her enjoyment is worth the extra clean up needed.

(note: if the video below doesn't work, click here)