Her Royal Highness

Greetings my loyal subjects! I am sorry I wasn't able to blog last week but I was in a land far, far away (also known to some as Texas).

On Christmas Eve morning we got up early to head to the airport. I grabbed my backpack and Dora and was all set to go! Vamanos!

Since I am two now, I get my own seat on the plane. Knowing that there was no way that I would sit buckled into a simple seat belt on the plane, my parents decided to bring my car seat. Then they started imagining hauling my car seat, and our luggage, and me through the airport. That seemed like a nightmare so Mommy started searching on the Internet. She was sure that someone else has been in our situation before and probably came up with a good solution. Someone did! We didn't get a good picture of it, but we found a contraption that my car seat hooked on. It has wheels and pulls like a roller bag. Check out this website http://www.gogobabyz.com/ and look at the Go Go Kidz Travelmate. I LOVED IT! It was so much fun buzzing around the airport. And we didn't need to bring a stroller either. I kept saying "More Ride! More Ride!"

This is me in my very own seat! I felt sooo grown up. We were thinking our traveling was going all too smoothly when the pilot came over the loudspeaker saying that we were just waiting for a tug to pull us back from the gate. That took awhile. Then it was announced that the tower wasn't letting anyone pull out from the gate because the runway was backed up. Then we finally got to move and had to go de-ice. That took about an hour. All in all, we hung out on the tarmac for two hours before we took off. My parents didn't bring with an extra two hours of things for me to do and you can't use portable electronic devices once you pull back from the gate so no watching Dora for me. It was all a bit stressful for us all.

But once we got to cruising altitude it was smooth sailing! I stayed in this position until we had to turn off electronic devices to land. Mommy even got to read her book. She hasn't gotten to read a book on a plane in ..oh about two years!

When we got to Nana and Papa's house I had to check everything out. At their house you don't get stockings...you get a boot. It's Texas, you know! Since we got in late we didn't make it to the Christmas Eve service. I never got a nap so no one wanted to test my limits.

The next morning was Christmas! I wanted Papa to help me open my presents. I really really like Papa Vance.

Oooooh! I got a Boots doll!! I love him so much!! Big hug!

Merry Christmas from us!

Nana put up a little tree for my cousin Lauren and I to decorate and un-decorate, and decorate again, and un-decorate. You get the picture. It was great fun. We each had our own basket to put ornaments in. I liked to carry them all over the house. Then I liked to go to Nana's tree and try to add to my basket but Mommy said I couldn't take those.

The nice thing about being in Texas at Christmas is that you can play outside! It was actually pretty cold for Texas while we were there so we still needed jackets and hoods. But we could run on sidewalks and not worry about slipping on ice. Of course since we're toddlers, we fell anyway!

Mommy, Daddy and I stayed in Nana and Papa's room, so I got to take my bath in Nana's soaking tub. It was very luxurious! This is me doing my "Isa turn the wheel" dance. It's a Dora thing. Check out Dora's Pirate Adventure and you'll get what I'm doing. Christmas was all going swell up to this point. I was entertaining everyone before bed. Then about ten minutes after Mommy put me in my crib to sleep I started throwing up. Yup I got the stomach flu again! Mommy, Daddy and Nana all worked together to get everything (and me) all cleaned up and put me back to bed. And then I threw up again. And again. Mommy remembered that I still had more refills left on my anti-nausea medicine so they started looking for a Walgreens that was open Christmas night. On the 2nd try they found one and called in my prescription. Daddy and Nana went to get it and Mommy and I just laid in bed watching Dora as Mommy didn't want to clean up any more puke and I was out of clean jammies and sheets at this point. After I got my medicine I went back to sleep and slept all night. I woke up good as new. Mommy and Daddy are VERY thankful that my doctor gave me extra refills in case this sort of thing happened. Mommy says she is going to bake him cookies or something.

All was well until Mommy woke up Monday morning with my flu. There I go sharing my illnesses again! My aunt Gel also woke up with the flu so the Mommys stayed in bed and the Daddys (and grandparents) took the kids to the children's museum. Lauren and I had a blast!!

This is me driving the firetruck with Lauren as my passenger. We are really good at fighting fires!

Papa Vance gave me my first driving lesson. I think I did pretty good for a 2 year old.

The water table had fishing poles with magnets and you could catch little fish. I thought this was pretty cool.

Next it was time for a little shopping in the market. The produce selection in Texas is amazing.

Then we played in this fun fake dirt. It was rubber (I think from old tires) and it didn't get messy.

On the way home from the museum we stopped at Walgreens to pick up Mommy's prescription. She luckily had a refill left from her bout with stomach flu as well. Mommy says from now on that we're just traveling with the stuff because it is a miracle drug. In the meantime, Uncle Mark came down with the flu. So Lauren and I played together with Daddy and Nana. First order of business--water Nana's plants!

The next day everyone was feeling better (well Lauren ended up getting the flu too--but she got some of my medicine right away and did pretty good!). We went for a walk to get out of the house and I took the time to stop and smell the roses (or whatever type of flower they were). I've heard you're supposed to do that.

Since I'm royalty now, it's important to look the part, even at meal time. Nana made my queen outfit and it's great fun. I call my crown my "hat".

After my nap we took a trip to the park. I haven't gotten to play in a park in months so I was really excited to go down the slide and run around. This is me showing off my upper body strength. My parents had no idea that I could hold my own weight. I am swinging off the bridge in this photo. My parents weren't quite sure if they were happy with this skill.

This is a picture of me from my last visit to Texas in March 2010. I'm standing next to Barnibus the bear.

And this is me in December 2010. Look how big I've gotten. And I no longer look like such a baby. I'm officially a big girl!

On our last day in Texas it was finally warmer but rainy so we decided to go back to the children's museum. Apparently a lot of people had the same idea as it was packed! But I got to show Mommy all the things she missed when she was in bed puking all day.

This is me and Papa. I have a special affinity for Papa. He really likes it too since the other granddaughters seem to be more Nana fans. I always want to show him things, and give him hugs, and tell him "Come on!" and lead him where I want him to go.

Our travel home was much quicker although a bit dicey as my DVD player didn't charge even though it was plugged in all night. My parents didn't know this. They assumed it was charging. So when Daddy took it out at the magic "you can use your electronic devices" message came and it was dead. So Mommy had to entertain me for two hours again. Luckily there was a baby behind us and that kept me entertained for awhile.

Now we're back at home. I decided to do a little cleaning up around my kitchen. I got a set of cleaning tools just my size for my birthday so those have come in handy. We went to a New Year's party at my friend Nolan's house. I call him "No No". That was pretty fun. Yesterday we went to a friends house to watch the Rose Bowl. I'm not a big football fan (especially Wisconsin!!) so I brought Dora.

This morning I whipped up some delicacies in my kitchen. I finally wore my chef outfit that Nana made me for Christmas. It's a Dora apron and hat!

Bon apetit!


What else is new with me?

• I forgot to tell you last week that I had my 2 year checkup. Here are my stats--Height: 34.25 " (75th percentile), Weight: 28 lbs 12 oz (75th percentile) and Head: 19" (75th percentile). So I'm perfectly proportioned! My doctor said I was tall for a national average, but for a Minnesotan I'm average.
• I also went for my very first dentist appointment last week too. I was a really really good patient! And my teeth are great. The dentist thinks I might be missing a tooth (as my parents suspected) but he said it's not a big deal if it is. I still have a lot more teeth to come in but according to my dentist that is a good thing. He said the later you get your permanent teeth, the better. Although I'm sure I won't feel that way when I'm 17 and still in braces!!
• I'm saying all kinds of funny things lately. I'm really into telling you when I'm happy or when I think other people are happy. One day in the tub while playing with my new Boots and Dora bath toys (thanks Nolan!) I said, "Happy Dodo (Dora)! Happy Boots! Happy ME!"
• I continue to be bossy. "Mommy do it" "Daddy do it!" "Me do it!"
• When we were leaving the Rose Bowl party Mommy told me to say goodbye to everyone. I took that literally and gave a personal "Bye! See ya" to each person there.

I'm looking forward to getting back on regular schedule! I can't wait to see my teachers at school and get my stamp at dance this week. It's been a few weeks!

Happy New Year!

Her Magisty, Megan


P.S. Below are a couple videos. The first one is me and my ornaments. The 2nd is me at the park. In Dora's Pirate Adventure, the wheel on the boat breaks (and Isa is driving the boat). I decided to reenact this at the park. I'd pretend the wheel was broken, say "OH NO!" and then call for "Backpack" and then fix it with tape like they do on the show. My parents didn't get video of me saying the tape part, but I did this over and over again.

**Note: the 2nd video isn't uploading and Mommy wants to go to bed so she'll post it for me tomorrow