Growth spurt

They say that children will have sleep disturbances as they're moving through phases of developmental maturity; they'll wake up several times a night either from the stress of being on the verge of some new skill or awareness (ever have trouble falling asleep during stressful times because your mind won't settle down?), or from the drive to keep practicing. Well. Miss Carmela just went through a wretched period of sleeplessness that was very trying for Mama and Daddy because it seemingly had no explanation. She wasn't really sick. She wasn't teething. She must have been just growing up, because all of sudden, she's another giant step toward being a big kid.

Several months ago, Carmela was great at using the potty, and Mama and Daddy thought we were well on our way to potty training. Suddenly, something happened, and Miss Carmela refused to go at all anymore. Mama and Daddy got to spend several weeks helping Carmela cope with constipation, during which time we used laxatives, softeners, natural food remedies, suppositories, encouragement, benign neglect, and everything else we could think of to help Carmela go. Eventually it worked itself out, but Miss Carmela had seemingly lost any interest she had in using the potty. If we asked her whether she wanted a diaper or underpants, she always answered diaper. However, Mama and Daddy are happy to report that it appears we have turned a corner. Yesterday, Carmela went pee-pee in the potty for the first time in I don't know how long, and, today, she went poop in the potty! It was such a giant achievement, and she was so proud of herself. She figured she was ready to give it a try, and she did.

Another big deal: Daddy took the front bars off of her crib last week, so Carmela is now sleeping in a big-kid bed. He did it so Mama could lie down in bed with Carmela and help her fall asleep because sleeping was such an issue over the past couple of weeks, but now Carmela seems much more well-adjusted about going to sleep. Mama just lies down with her for a few minutes, Carmela says, "I love you, good night," and gives Mama a kiss on the cheek, and then she rolls over and lets herself relax. Mama usually lies with her for a few minutes, then gets up to leave. Carmela says, "Can you leave door open?", and after Mama says yes, Carmela drifts off to sleep, all by herself. Which brings us to the next major milestone: Last night, Carmela went to sleep without nursing for the first time ever. She and Mama read some stories and then walked hand in hand to bed, Mama lied down with Carmela for a few minutes, and then got up and left, following the routine above. Carmela was only up once last night, and, today, she went down for her nap without nursing. It's so amazing to see this little baby become a big girl.

Carmela also has more or less grown out of her booster seat at the table. She stopped using the tray a couple of weeks ago, and now seems to prefer sitting in a regular chair, too. Mama and Daddy aren't sure she's quite ready for that — it's still a little bit of a reach — but we are steadily moving out of the world of little kid things, aren't we?

Finally, Carmela is getting better and better at dressing herself. She still struggles a little bit with things like tights and leggings, and shirts are a challenge, but she can do her own pants and shoes and just needs a little help with the other things. We've moved into the world of letting her pick out her own clothes and jammies, which sometimes helps alleviate the anger and frustration she feels at having to wear clothes at all.

A few more (and better) pictures

My old iPhone doesn't have a very good camera, so the pictures I take with it lack the depth and scope of just how great Zoo Lights is. So, I am adding a few Zoo Lights pictures taken last year by Nana. These ones give a better sense of the magnificence of Zoo Lights. Enjoy! (And thanks, Nana!)

Zoo Lights 2011

The line of cars to get in was outrageous, the parking lots were packed, cars lined the side streets, but the Doctors, through force of will and abject terror at the anguish of canceling a much-promised and much-hyped adventure, elbowed their way into Zoo Lights again this year. And it turned out to be everything they hoped: Carmela was dazzled by the lights and just loved it. She paused at the overlook, gazed at all the shining lights below, and then literally squealed and ran around and around, grabbing Mama and Daddy's hands to pull them down the pathway. The shark tank happened to be open, so we ducked in to see the big, shadowy sharks gliding through the water. Then back into the outside to see more lights — we saw the trippy blinking lights (that seem to have been absent the past two years), our favorite animals, and the Pink Tree. It gets bigger every year.

We walked a sleepy Carmela up to the car and changed her into her jammies on the side of the road (we were one of the cars lined up streetside), and then she fell fast asleep as we headed off down the road toward home.

Getting dressed

Carmela is getting better and better at getting herself dressed. She can do pants, underpants and socks by herself, and needs just a little bit of help with her shirts, sweaters, sweatshirts. Tights remain a huge challenge, and usually result in big outbursts of frustration. Especially because tights make your toes slippery, and that makes it harder to climb on things.

No longer 2, not quite 3

Carmela turned 2 1/2 on November 30; what a momentous six months it's been. On May 30, Carmela was an active, funny girl with a few words, some big movements, and lots of big feelings. Over the past six months, she's had some pretty amazing experiences (some not so great, thanks to Mom ... ), she's learned to express herself more clearly, she's learned about opposites, she's improved her manual dexterity, and much, much more!

Carmela really enjoys being out and about, and now that she's a bigger kid, it's much easier for Mama to take her on great adventures. Carmela loves to ride the bus, so she and Mama have ridden the bus to the Seattle aquarium, to the Ballard Farmers Market, and, most recently, to Seattle Center to watch ice skaters. She also rode the Monorail (!!) to Westlake Center. She loved the Monorail so much she cried when it was time to get off, but Mom's going to take her again tomorrow, and she's going to try ice skating, too, so that'll be so exciting! Now that she's getting older, she seems to retain memories of what she's done, and she'll recall (kind of out of nowhere) that she saw a mummy (at the Olde Curiosity Shoppe when she went to the aquarium), or that she saw a choo-choo train and ice skaters and had hot cocoa when she went to Seattle Center. It's neat, and Mom and Daddy are hopeful that she'll form some really wonderful memories tied to the seasons.

Carmela is still very much a 2-year-old when it comes to her favorite activities. Painting and coloring are still favorite activities, and Mama has a huge stack of beautiful pictures she is using as stationery (so look forward to that). The only problem Carmela has encountered is leaving the caps off her markers, causing them to dry out; otherwise, Carmela is a big fan of art. Incidentally, she loved a book called Setting the Turkeys Free, in which a little boy draws turkeys, and they come to life on paper in his imagination. Carmela proceeded to try to make a few turkeys of her own, but she's still too little to really get it.

Carmela finally loves books!! It's very exciting for Mama and Daddy, who admittedly had a warm, fuzzy idea that the family would all snuggle down together each evening for some story time, and were a little disappointed when it turned out Carmela had no interest. Now, she'll pick out her stories and ask questions about the pictures, or will "read" to Mama and Daddy. Mama and Carmela like to go to the library to pick out some books; Mama picks hers up, and Ela gets to pick out a few, too. Sometimes, Carmela and Mama go to the library and pick out books, and then walk a few blocks to the coffee shop to get a hot cocoa and sit on the couch to read our stories.

Carmela is pretty excited that she is learning how to play catch; she holds her arms out, and Daddy tosses a mostly deflated rubber ball to her. It happens to land in her outstretched arms, and Mama and Daddy clap and cheer. Carmela also loves chase (that's been a favorite game for a long time now), and she loves climbing and jumping and dancing. (After the Thanksgiving parade on TV, Carmela is very interested in kicking her legs like a Rockette.) She loves to roughhouse with her Daddy, and she loves to kick leaves. Nature hikes also are fun: She enjoys crouching down to investigate leaves, sticks, slugs, and worms, and she is always game for digging in the dirt. She's getting much better at controlling her body; she's taking stairs one at a time in succession, instead of one-foot, other-foot, one-foot, other-foot. She and Mama have started doing some "yoga" sometimes on yoga mats in the living room; that usually involves throwing their hands in the air, and then bending over at the waist and stretching, and then climbing on Mom and trying to choke her out whilst squealing and giggling uncontrollably. Fun for all.

Carmela has a cautious love of her kitty cats (she knows they swipe sometimes when they're frisky), and she loves to give them treats and cat nip, and to give them pets. She likes to play with them with their cat toys, and while she doesn't understand that they don't like to chase, she's never intentionally mean to them.

Carmela's language is becoming much more clear and easy to understand. She uses pronouns, but doesn't understand yet that "him" and "her" are gendered. She uses funny expressions appropriately; for example, the other day, Mama balanced some playing cards together in a very simple card house, and Carmela said, "That's amazing, Mom!" She's pretty good at expressing what she wants, but sometimes will resort to playing baby and gurgling and making baby talk and pointing. She generally has the words to express whatever she needs to say; as her world isn't very big yet, she's a pretty good communicator. Mama and Daddy are still working on communicating feelings, which admittedly are hard even for grown-ups to identify and communicate sometimes. Carmela also is figuring out opposites and qualitative relationships — some things are big and others are small, some things are fast and others are slow, Mama is tall and she is short, &c. It's all part of organizing her world into manageable categories, and it makes it much easier to understand what she wants ("I want big one!", as opposed to pointing and grunting and crying when Mama or Daddy doesn't grab the right one.)

Carmela's still pretty attached to her diapers, and has not expressed any real interest in potty training. Mama and Daddy are perfectly content to let her do it in her own time. Carmela also still wakes up a couple of times a night for a number of reasons, the most recent of which has been an expressed fear of the dark. She's still a willful little girl, and has taken to scolding Mama and Daddy right back with a stern, "Be nice to me!" when she gets disciplined for something. She has temper tantrums now and then, but, to be honest, not as often as Mom and Daddy thought she would, and they usually accompany sickness or teething.

Like many toddlers, Carmela likes to pretend that she's doing the same things that Mama and Daddy and the other grown-ups in her world do. She loves to help cook, and actually got to help bake cookies on Thanksgiving morning; for some time now, she's helped her Daddy stir and scramble eggs for breakfast. She has a little toy vacuum that she uses after Mama vacuums, and she really loves to play doctor with Daddy's EMT gear. She pretends she's Daddy or her doctor, and she peers in Mama and Daddy's (and Bear and Kitty's) ears and mouth with a pen light, and she listens to their backs and chests with a stethoscope. Will she be the first Dr. Doctor? Who knows?

Halloween 2011!

Carmela would like you to know that she tried trick-or-treating this year, and she loves it! She wasn't sure she wanted to wear her octopus costume, but in the end, decided to go for it. Also, trick-or-treating can be kind of tricky! It took some practice to do it right, but after Mama and Daddy showed her what to do a few times, and after watching some big kids do it, Carmela grabbed her bucket and was ready to go! It turns out "trick-or-treat" is actually kind of hard to say, but Carmela was very, very good at grabbing some candy bars and putting them in her bucket. She also was pretty good about saying thank you. Happy Halloween!

Accident

Carmela had her first big accident recently, and it was definitely all Mama's fault. Mama shut Carmela's finger in the back door, and nearly cut off the tip of the ring finger on her right hand. It was horrible for all involved! Mama raced Carmela to the emergency room while Carmela screamed in the back seat, but the doctors took good care of her once they were there and sent her home with a big bandage and a popsicle. Carmela went to a pediatric hand specialist a few days later who recommended hand surgery to repair the bone and, just as importantly, to make sure the wound was cleaned out so Carmela wouldn't get a bad infection. The very next morning, Mama, Daddy, and Carmela were back at the hospital for surgery.

Because she's so little, and little kids are so hard to work on because they won't sit still, Carmela had to go under general anesthesia. She was very brave about the whole thing and surgery went great, but she had a hard time coming out of the anesthesia. She cried hysterically for awhile, drifted in and out of sleep, threw up a lot, screamed some more, and finally fell into a deep sleep after the nurse gave her an anti-nausea medication. When she woke up a couple of hours later, she was much, much more herself, and Mama and Daddy were so happy to finally be able to leave the hospital.

Mama and Daddy were a little anxious about life with a toddler in a full arm cast, but Carmela was amazing. She didn't waste a single minute feeling sorry for herself. If her finger hurt a little bit, she told Mama, and Mama gave her some Children's Tylenol. Carmela went right back to playing, visiting with her friends, and exploring ... but with a little help from Mama and Daddy with things like climbing, and holding onto things. Mama and Daddy took Carmela to see the doctor again last week; he decided to take the cast off on November 9. Carmela thinks she'll save it, in part because her friends signed it, and in part to remind Mama of how important it is to be careful!

Carmela at home with her big owie, after her trip to the emergency room.

Riding to the hospital on the morning of surgery.

Prepped and waiting for the paperwork to be finished and the operating room to be available.

Carmela got to pick out a Chapstick flavor to make her gas mask smell nice.

Getting familiar with the gas mask.

Not liking the hair net. Or someone else holding the camera.

Coming out of anesthesia. Carmela had settled down a little bit, but would later throw up all over Mama and cry some more before some anti-nausea medication made her feel much better.

Back at home. What a trooper!

Evergreen State Fair 2011

Carmela had the best time today at the Evergreen State Fair; it was so much fun!

First she went on the carousel. Unfortunately, much like real pony rides, they look like more fun from a distance. After another little girl snaked the kitty cat, Carmela chose a horse named Sydney. She stuck it out for the whole ride, but she didn't smile very much, and she clung to Daddy a bit.

Riding Sydney with Daddy.

Next, Miss Ela went to her very first race track and saw the racecars go around and around; she even saw a (small and minor) crash! It was amazing! And the best part: After the heat was over, the racecar drivers parked their cars on the track and let all the kids come down and take a look at them. Cool! Carmela liked peeking inside the cars, and she climbed into a dwarf car, but she changed her mind about climbing into a bigger racecar.

With Dad in the stands at the race track.

Practicing her steering wheel control in a little dwarf car.

Checking out a big racecar.

After the race track, Carmela went to see horses compete in the barrel racing competition. She yelled, "Run, horse, run, run, run!" and clapped enthusiastically for every horse, because they all did very well.

In the seats at the barrel races.

Then, she saw some miniature show ponies. She thought they were pretty great, and wanted to climb into their pen. Mama would only let her stand on the fence, though.

Watching the miniature show ponies.

Finally, after eating a frozen, chocolate-covered banana and seeing a Youth Jazz Band concert, Carmela got to see how big real cows are; she also got to pet a sheep and feel some tufts of wool. What an amazing day!

Dairy cows with Mama.

What 2-and-3-months looks like from here

Carmela is fast becoming a little kid, but she still most definitely has moments of being a toddler. As with every transitional phase, this has resulted in a little bit of clinginess, a little bit of moodiness, and some unfettered joy as she masters each new skill in her amazing, big world.

Recently, she and Mama started attending a synagogue that has really terrific kids programming, including tot Shabbat once a month, babysitting during all the regular services, and a really terrific lunch after all of the regular services. Because the synagogue also has a school program, there's a playground outside and lots of toys and things to play with. There also are lots and lots of kids Carmela's age. This has been extremely cool for Carmela, and also a bit scary and intimidating. The first time Mama dropped her off, Carmela raced into the toddler room without even looking behind her. The next time Mama tried to drop her off, Carmela clung to Mama like a spider monkey; when Mama was finally able to duck out, the teacher had to come get Mama during services because poor Ela was crying and crying. This past Saturday, Ela started to get clingy, but because it was tot Shabbat again, and Mama stayed with her, Ela felt better and went to play. Same with the gym where Mama and Daddy go together on Tuesday mornings. The gym has a big toddler play room with gymnastics mats for tumbling and jumping; the first time we went, Ela literally ran for the mats without looking back. The next visit, though, Carmela wouldn't let go. Mama had to go to her class, so Daddy stayed until the hula hoops came out, at which point Miss Carmela was ready to go play because Miss Carmela loves a hula hoop. So, it's been a bit challenging getting her to let go and go play, but Mama and Daddy both recognize that new environments full of kids are a little intimidating, so one or the other sits with Miss Carmela for a few minutes to break her into the new environment and let her come to terms with it in her own time. (As an aside, we think Carmela's going to really like temple once she gets used to it. She already has made a little friend her age named Natalie, who she asks for and shares toys with. She also really loves the teachers, and asks for Miss Julie when we're not there. She also asks to see the Torah, and, when we're sitting together during services before babysitting or tot Shabbat, she "sings" along with the chanting and says "Ah-mein" after the congregation sings it during kaddish. Oh, and she also really likes picking out her dress to wear to temple each week. It's all pretty cute, and Mama is enjoying it.)

Miss Carmela still loves to run, chase, jump, climb and play, but she's also developing a greater interest in coloring and "drawing." Right now, her "drawing" consists of carefully executed little circles all over her paper, but she believes them to be "pitty, pitty pitchers," and Daddy and Mama have no reason to disagree. She seems to have the smallest understanding that pictures should be of things, and she can recognize objects that Mama or Daddy draw, but she definitely can't draw things herself, and when Mama asks what she's drawing a picture of, she usually responds with something like, "I draw pitcher." Carmela also enjoys painting and playing with playdough, especially rolling it into snakes (worms/slugs) and snails. Soon, Mama is going to introduce collage-making and working with glue (this could be a good idea or a very bad one) and small, manual dexterity crafts, like beading big wooden beads onto yarn.

Carmela loves water play still, and loves to make a big mess. Mama doesn't mind if she has towels nearby. Last week, after Mama canned salsa and peaches, she put the warm (but not hot) canner full of water on the floor and let Miss Ela play in it. Ela thought it was awesome, and used a measuring cup to transfer water from the canner to a smaller Tupperware bowl. Then, Mama threw a big, fluffy towel on the floor, so Carmela poured water onto the towel and got to learn about absorption and saturation. Miss Ela also really likes playing in sand, scooping and digging with shovels, finding tiny pebbles, and burying toys and finding them again. We have lots of fun with this at the park.

Carmela's language seems to be getting more articulate, and she's becoming more familiar with pronouns, tiny verbs (like "is"), and sometimes articles. She still mostly speaks in toddler speak, and a lot of the time Mama is the only one who understands her, but there are times when she speaks clearly enough that others also can decipher her language. For example, she told Mr. Richard, her housemate, that she saw an elephant have a bath at the zoo, and because she said "elephant" and "bath" clearly, he more or less got what she meant. Carmela almost always says "please" and "thank you" appropriately, and she's getting better at asking for help when she needs it ("hep pease"). She's pretty good at communicating what she wants, and will tell Mama, "I talk Gama," or "I see Maddie," or "I go outside," or "I coloring," or "I watch Elmo." She also can say, "Mama, where are you?" and "Mama, what doing?" And even when she can't say something herself, or communicate clearly, if Mama or Daddy asks her a question for clarification, she can understand the question and say yes or no in response. This growing ability to communicate has been enormously helpful for Mama and Daddy.

Ela's working on potty training, but we're not 100 percent there yet. She'll pee-pee in the potty if we're home and she's wearing big-kid underpants or nothing, but she forgets and pees in her pants when we're out and about, and she has yet to poop in the potty. Mama and Daddy are definitely not worried about it, though. Ela knows what to do and where it's all supposed to go, and when she's ready, she'll put all the pieces together.

Socially, Ela is a pretty affectionate girl who seems concerned for other kids, and will ask, "What matter?" and give hugs if someone seems hurt or sad. Like most toddlers, though, she's not super great at sharing, and can be possessive and territorial. Overall, she likes other kids a lot (she'll even ask Mama for kids when she wants to go play at the park or the playground), and she definitely does great in one-on-one situations. Her very favorite friend is Maddie (still), but she also had a great time playing with an older boy named Asher a few nights ago, and she seems to like Natalie and Georgia a lot, too.

Mama and Daddy are pretty confident Carmela will be ready to start preschool when she's 2 1/2, which will be a pretty big milestone for the Doctors. She knows her colors, and she can almost sing the ABCs; she can identify several of her letters. She also can "count" in short series, but can't go all the way from 1 to 10 yet. She also knows the concept of counting, but doesn't usually start with 1 and progress from there; she might start from 7 as from 1 or 11. She can do art projects or crafts with supervision, and she gets along with other kids and communicates what she wants and asks for help very well. She's still not great at sitting still and listening to a story, but Mama and Daddy are thinking at this point that it's a temperament thing; she'd much rather be running around, or, alternatively, holding the book and "reading" it herself. She seems to understand group activities, though, and understands the concepts of sharing and taking turns, even if she has to be reminded to do it. And she loves to sing and dance and play with percussion instruments.

Carmela still takes one solid nap at mid-day every day, and there's no living with her if she misses it. She still wakes up about once a night, and she still loves food, and will eat just about anything, though spaghetti and other kinds of noodles, chili, fish, and most fruits and vegetables are her favorites. She also will ask for steak specifically. Also, she is absolutely obsessed with Popsicles, and asks for them from the time she wakes up until she goes to bed at night.

Carmela also likes to help out around the house. She helps Mama vacuum by asking to be picked up, and then she helps hold the handle and push the vacuum. She sweeps after Mama's done to make sure Mama didn't miss anything. She helps water all the plants, and she helps water the garden and pick little weeds outside. When Mama does laundry, she helps by tossing socks and underpants into the dryer and then pushing the button to start it. When Mama's making the bed, she helps by lying in the middle of it and rolling around and laughing. Mama's really thankful for the help! She also helps to cook dinner by stirring, and she helps make cakes and things by licking the bowl.

Mama and Daddy both are pretty excited to see what Miss Carmela will come up with next. Hopefully, this fall will bring some good things our way, and Miss Carmela will have lots of exciting new adventures and experiences to blog about!

We've been busy!

It's almost the end of summer here, but it looks like we get a few more days of sunshine before the crisp days really set in. Miss Carmela has been busy making the most of the last few weeks, while also planning for a busy, exciting fall of Rosh Hashanah and apple picking, Halloween (Mama found a cute costume to make), Thanksgiving, and Chanukah, and visiting with her new friends at temple and at daycare. Oh, and maybe she'll start a new daycare in a few months. Mama's going to have to keep this blog updated!

Carmela has had quite a few adventures this summer. She got to be a good friend a few weeks ago, when our neighbors' babysitter had the misfortune of an electrical malfunction in the microwave, which caused a small kitchen fire. The house was fine, just smoke-damaged, and no one was hurt, but the babysitter was upset, and Carmela's little friend, Georgia, who was with the babysitter, was a bit confused by all the commotion. Carmela got to hear the sirens and see all six fire engines, ladder trucks, command vehicles, and medic trucks squeeze onto her little, car-lined street (it sounded like a hundred!). She and Mama went over and invited Georgia and her babysitter over to play so the firefighters could do their work and so Georgia would be safe. Carmela showed Georgia her new LightBrite and let her play with some toys until Georgia's Mama and Daddy got home and figured out what was going on. Then, Carmela lent Georgia some of her jammies, diapers, and supplies for the night since all of Georgia's jammies and diapers were smoke-damaged. It was an unfortunate experience, but Mama was glad that it gave Carmela the opportunity to be a friend and to care for her neighbors when something bad happens.

Also, one of the firefighters asked Carmela if she wanted to get into a fire engine, and to sit in the lieutenant's seat! Carmela was really excited at first — she got to play in a fire truck at the block party, when a fire crew came to the neighborhood to say hello and let all the kids see the truck — but, to be honest, all the commotion and stuff made Ela balk at the last minute, and she decided that, really, she was happy just seeing the truck, and definitely did not want to climb inside.

Just last week, Carmela and Mama decided to go to the zoo to see the elephants. Mom's been holding out because admission is expensive, and Miss Carmela sometimes doesn't have the greatest attention span for things like walking around a zoo and looking at animals. Turns out Carmela was totally ready for the zoo, and really, really loved it! The best part: The elephants. Carmela thought the elephants were the greatest thing ever. She likes looking at pictures of elephants in her books, but, as Daddy pointed out, she probably had no idea how big they really are. She got to see two Asian elephants "in the wild," out in the open, outdoor area where they can stand in the sun and play with huge balls and crates and things, but she especially liked the African elephant, who was getting a bath and some snacks in the elephant house. Even when Mama tried to leave to go see the monkeys, Carmela insisted on going back and watching the elephant some more. She's told just about everyone she's seen since that she got to see an elephant have a bath. Pretty great.

Carmela also got to see an orangutan in a tree, but he was boring because he was just lying there with a blanket over his head. And she saw some flamingoes, but they also weren't as cool as the elephants. The Doctors might have a zoo pass in their future, so that Miss Carmela can go and visit her new friends whenever she likes.

Big Adventure of 2011

Well. Carmela would like you to know all about her Big Adventure of 2011. Carmela has been on several airplanes in her young life, but she doesn't remember them, which kicked the Big Adventure of 2011 off to a great start: She got to board and ride two airplanes! In one day! She loved it. She held Mama's hand during take-off and landing because that part is a little bit scary for Mama, and the rest of the time she watched some of her Sesame Street DVD and ate some snacks on the way down to see Aunt Tauni and Uncle Justin. She and Mama had the best time. They went to the park and the splashpad, and the library, and they went to Zion National Park to see where Uncle Justin works, and they walked around a bunch and met some neighborhood horses and a few kids. They got to visit a whole bunch with Uncle Justin and Aunt Tauni and watch some movies, and, best of all, Carmela got to meet and pet Uncle Justin and Aunt Tauni's five rabbits! Carmela's favorite is Marduk, who she told Grandma about today on the phone. Carmela also got to try her first snow-cone, and she had some chocolate, too, from the candy store at the park. It was a little bit sad to leave, but Carmela was pretty excited to ride two more airplanes to come home (her fellow passengers were pretty amused with her antics, especially her post-flight dance moves while she and Mama waited their turn to get off the plane) and she was very happy to see her Daddy, and gave him a big hug when he picked her and Mama up from the airport.

Carmela cools her heiny off at the splashpad.

Carmela jumps and squeals when a water jet gets her.

Having a great time in the sun at the splashpad.

Carmela enjoys a shady walk with her sun hat, which she later used to scoop sand, at Zion National Park.

Carmela enjoys one of her favorite activities — riding the bus — at Zion National Park. The bus shuttles visitors up and down the canyon, and is a really terrific way to see the park when you're a toddler dragging around your Mama.

Carmela falls into a chocolate coma on the drive home after sharing Mama's dark chocolate covered honeycomb candy from the candy store at Zion National Park.