I have spinach sprouts! This morning when we were playing outside, I spotted four little baby sprouts reaching for the sun. Or else they are four baby weeds in a straight line. Then while Quinn was napping I went outside again and spotted six sprouts! Now if I can just keep them alive...

Update: Four hours later there are now thirteen sprouts! Must have been a good spinach day.
 

And this little munchkin has begun to play dress up. She frequently gets a running tank top out of my dresser and wears it around like a dress. If I had to guess, I'd thinking she was being a wizard with a rock and a pen wand shouting a spell. But I don't think she knows about wizards, so I really can't be sure.

I have a seventeen-month-old! Quinn wants to be my helper throughout the day. Of all her words, I think her favorite is "Upf!" lately. She wants up on the counter to help make smoothies (including a blender sound impression).

She helps me wipe the table after meals. She loads clean diapers into her wagon and takes them to her room to put away. She oversees garden construction.

And she rocks shoes to sleep. That's a pretty important developmental milestone right? I frequently find her in our closet or by the front door cradling a shoe in her arms, rocking it back forth and saying, "shh, shh." No clue.

We spent last week in Eugene visiting family while Jonathan was gone for work. Quinn was lovingly played with, fed, read to, and doted upon. We love our Eugene trips.

Jonathan built us a raised bed garden on his birthday weekend. (We also went out to pizza with some friends, so it wasn't all hard work.) What an awesome man! The finished product is beautiful. I'm nervous about the whole gardening thing though. I am quite the plant killer. But we had some green thumb friends over for a garden consultation a couple weeks ago so I think I'm ready. Today I put my spinach and kale seeds into the soil. Here we go!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Quinn was invited to her first Valentine's party on Monday. I had no idea toddler parties were so fun. Quinn's neighbor boy buddy and his mom had us and the other neighbors over for crafts, cookie decorating, and snacks. There was even an impromptu guitar performance and some dancing. Quinn's neighbor girl buddy was busting out her DJ skills. She'd play a song on a toy and the kids would do their strange toddler dance moves. Every time the music stopped, she'd say, "Again!" and push the music button. It was quite a party.

Yesterday, my mom came for a visit and stayed through dinner time so Jonathan and I could go on a date to our favorite restaurant. So nice.

Love one another from a pure heart - 1 Peter 1:22

I have to record all of Quinn's words lately because I don't want to forget. Her vocabulary has blossomed the past couple weeks. It's kind of amazing to realize she's been listening all this time. 

She now says (though not with perfect pronunciation) Mama, Daddy, No-ee (for Shinobi), doggie, more, no, uh oh, hi, bye, cheese, apple, banana, roll, nana (for her panda toy), nonny (for binkie, not sure why, but it's consistent), go, bath, bed, up, swing, pool, store, treat, ball, nose, mouth, toes, teeth, belly, ding dong, baby, Nana, Boppa, Boo, Mandy, and bubble. And her latest is kitty. After nap each day when I open her curtains, we see the neighbor's cat lounging in a sunbeam on their windowsill. She was looking at a picture of a cat in a book and said "kitty" and then pointed out the window and said it again. It's amazing to watch her make these connections!

Need a way to keep your toddler busy while you cook?

I got the idea from this great blog. Get some little pom poms, cardboard tubes, and tape. You could probably use wadded up paper instead of pom poms in a pinch. Tape the tubes to your refrigerator  and place a bowl beneath the tubes to catch the pom poms. Show your kiddo how it works, and, voila!