keeping grandma on her toes!

after our trip to Minnesota, i was out of vacation time and Zero needed to stay behind to help with some things, so Molly and i returned sans Zero and Grandma Nancy came up to help us out for a week and really saved the day. my mom planned it perfectly and we all landed and met at the airport on Friday afternoon and headed home together.

i have to admit, i was a bit concerned that living that crazy toddler lifestyle for five days in a row might be a bit too much for grandma - i mean Molly is the cutest and most precious thing ever, but she's exhausting too! but i misjudged the power of The Grandma, and not only was my mom totally and completely up for it, she was totally and completely awesome too! Molly had the time of her life AND i got updates via text message and pictures (why can't Zero do that?!). it would make my day to get a little picture of Molly in front of the local coffee shop having her milk and muffin with Grandma (left), or eating her Mac & Cheese with hot dogs for lunch, or an her way to the park sporting an adorable ponytail...my favorite pic was the one of her sitting on the potty...did i tell you all how great she is doing on the potty? i don't want to jinx anything, but she's been using the potty for #2 consistently since Minnesota, boo-ya! (another blog comment she's gonna kill me for later in life)

so yes, they had a great time together playing, reading, singing and dancing! not to mention the fashion shows...Molly's never dressed so well as she did during her week with grandma. the poor girl is used to getting thrown into a t-shirt and sweats pretty consistently by her dad...but with grandma it was cute skirts, tops, and sometimes even hats!

but the best was how every morning, Molly would wake up and the first thing she would ask about was Grandma, and then she would run out to see her, and usually crawl under the covers with her. big smiles on both their faces!

on my day off, we all went to the zoo! we mostly went for the train - Molly came back from Minnesota totally into trains - but we also got to see some pretty birds, and feed them, and pray they didn't poop on our heads. and we saw a tiger, and some farm animals, and the elephants (including the new baby, Samudra!) from the train. but other than that, we stood around at exhibits looking for animals that weren't there...we couldn't find a monkey or ape to save our life! ah well. Molly did find a very cute squirrel to pet (right).

the following Friday afternoon, Daddy came back. we all went to the airport to meet him and as soon as he rounded the corner and was within sight, Molly took off like a flash and ran to greet him. i wish i had gotten a little video of it, so fantastic. she so loves her daddy! and he so loves her (it was breaking his heart to be away from her for so long).

and look at the two of them, with their silly faces. this isn't the best quality picture, but you can see how they are two little peas from the very same pod. my family!