"There was a man. And he was a bad man. And he was a daddy. But he...he....he...."

"The bear. He flied away. The bear. He was a friend. It was sad."

"Darth Vader. He was a bad man. And a other (sic) bad man hurt Luke. But he frowed (sic) the bad man down the hole."

"It was ending and the bears got to dance. The bears got to dance. Bears say 'rawr'. They also were her friends. And Sophie got to stay at her house. " (smiles and nods vigorously)

"Mommy........Um.........What's ponda (sic) bears say? "

Evidently, this is what your almost three year old says after three weeks of rumination on The Return of the Jedi. Crazy, slightly impressive non-sequitors... perhaps we should no longer pause to watch such films...

Playgroup was at Miller Park, today. In spite of all of Caroline's efforts to laugh at the family motto ("Protect the Noggin"), she escaped unscathed.

Caroline commemorated the lovely spring afternoon by purposely flouting all concern for safety. Here, she is precariously perched atop our portable storage unit/seating area. She was removed quickly after this shot was snapped.

Good times at The Little Gym.

Caroline was in rare form today - woke up very early and never stopped moving. She also demanded tons of attention, and if things weren't going as she directed, she let me know. Loudly. I'm beginning to side more with Cheryl in her no more children stance.

Caroline is enjoying her St. Patrick's Day dinner of guacamole and pretzel twists (her choice). Little known fact: In the U.S., St. Patrick's Day is the second largest day of guacamole consumption behind Yom Kippur.

For the holiday, Caroline is drinking her soda with some green food coloring. And she's 1/8th Irish, in case anyone was wondering.

We didn't add any coloring to this beer - it's just really old.

This is a very dark camera phone picture of Caroline and Emma at the Children's Museum.

Caroline had another rockin' day. She got to attend a Mommies/Daddies brunch this morning after most of her toddler pals with younger siblings went to pre-school. She then took a nice nappy nap. Post-nap, she headed over to Aaron's house while Jay went for his once a decade physical. (He's now up to date on his tetanus shot, and is apparently in excellent health.) Despite her sleepiness during dinner, she managed to stay awake through some Blue's Clues and a quality bath before demanding cuddle time with Mr. Bear.

This is Cheryl - Caroline is wearing yet another Cutie shirt today. I bought this one at Chicago's O'Hare airport. She has a another new one from Grandma Z. These purchases were brought to you by the fervent desire to wean Caroline from her fave, tiny, stained Cutie shirt. So far so good.

Also, overall, this was a good day for Caroline - a Costco trip, tons of Emma time, and park trip this evening with Mom and Dad. I'm really glad we've moved to DST - so much more time to hang out in the evenings - and in time to take advantage of some unseasonably warm weather. We even had our second patio dinner of the year. Sadly, this weekend we'll be experiencing temps back in the 40's. This should give us plenty of non-fun outdoor time to bundle up and spread pine needles.

With temperatures rising over 70 for the next few days, I could no longer deny Caroline a berry sundae at Costco. Of course I got to eat my fair share too.

Playgroup was at Polo Park this morning.

We had our first patio meal of 2007 this evening. We learned that Caroline doesn't like her burgers as rare as her parents do. Shortly after this photo was taken, I got to finish her burger - never something I complain about.

Caroline showing off her basket hang at the slide at Polo Park.

Caroline's new food loves - poptarts and popsicles. At least the poptarts have a bit of nutrition -

After months of pestering, Caroline finally walked backwards on the balance beam at the Little Gym (apparently this is an advanced skill for her age). Here she's contemplating her next conquest.

Caroline went to the dentist for a routine checkup this morning. Her teeth are looking pretty good. She behaved perfectly until she realized that she had gotten only one sticker when she could have taken so many more.

This is Cheryl - It seems that this park episode done tuckered our wee one out. When we made our much-anticipated visit to The Little Gym tonight, Caroline walked in and then crawled out. Yes, she got down on all fours and crawled across the gym and out the door. She then sat whimpering on my lap for about 10 minutes before demanding a popsicle. Despite the entreaties of Miss Jessie (her teacher) and Emma (her best friend), we ended up leaving early to to buy some popsicles. How bizarre.

Caroline's in NJ with Cheryl, but somehow I got tricked into going to Chuck E Cheese with Mikey and Bobby (along with their dad and Alex - pictured here with Bobby).

To slow down her speedy eating, Caroline is only allowed to eat with chopsticks.