Three-year-olds get to go on field trips at school and today I got to go to the pet store. My friends and I got to pet a bunny, guinea pig and a turtle. And we saw lots of other animals. I was especially interested in the tarantula. I kept coming back to check on him to see if he moved. Mommy let me pick out a kitty toy since Hero doesn't have any. I chose a fishing rod with a sparkly fish on the end. Then when I got home I put on my kitty costume and Daddy casted for me while I chased the fish. I giggled and giggled when he would pull the fish away. And Eliana would smile when she heard me giggling. It was a fun game! So far Hero hasn't gotten a chance to play with her toy.

After Daddy got tired of casting, Mommy played games with me. I beat her at Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land. She thought she was going to have a chance to win when it came to Memory, but I've finally got that game figured out. And I have a really great memory, so I won big! Mommy said, "Now you're going to kick my butt every time we play this game, too!" Then I ran around behind her and kicked her butt! She laughed and said, "That's just an 'expression'!"

Then it was time for bed. Mommy read stories to me and then lay down with me for a few minutes. That's the time that I usually like to tell her things I've been thinking about. Today I told her about the baby kitten who was inside it's mommy's belly and then she "BLEW him out!" Kittens come out of the mama cat's "poop spot." I told Mommy that I learned that at the pet store. She didn't remember that part of the tour.

I went ice skating for the first time on Sunday evening at Lake George. I used the double bladers from Grandma Lanz and I was skating all on my own right from the start. Mommy forgot the camera, so it was a good thing her cellphone takes pictures. My favorite part was jumping while holding Mommy's hand, or was it Mommy swinging me around, or what about falling on my butt! That was funny! Mommy's a really good skater. She looked "just like on tv!"

It's good that we went skating when we did because today it was really nice out! Some kids were even riding their bikes in short sleeves, but Mommy still made me wear all my winter clothes. They got pretty wet from jumping in puddles!

Today was a big day. I turned two months old! There's not a lot of fanfare for a two month birthday, so I'm not sure what to tell you. My morning was pretty crabby because I was being dragged around to school and to the store when all I wanted was to be in my bed sleeping. So guess how I spent my afternoon... sleeping! And then my night? Sleeping. I must be really growing this week. I've started going seven hour stretches at night between feedings and sleeping for six of those.

I did spend some awake time today with Daddy. He played with me in the morning when I woke up and then at night while Mommy went scrapbooking again. Yesterday I was awake and visiting with Grandma Lanz and the kids while Mommy caught up on William's scrapbook. Tonight she was starting on my book! Yay! I know I will like to look at it when I'm a little bigger.

I hear that I'm supposed to visit the doctor for my two month birthday, but Mommy was having some issues with scheduling my appointment - something about the online appointment scheduler. So I didn't get an appointment until March 17th. That's okay by me. I'm not in any hurry to get those shots anyway! The only thing Mommy's curious about is how accurate our scale is because it says I weigh 10 1/2 pounds. But based on how much I'm eating and sleeping lately, I'm sure I'll be even heavier in ten more days. We'll see!

Today I went for my preschool screening. I got to see my favorite teacher, Janie, when I first walked in. But then I got pretty shy because the lady who did the screening was someone I'd never met before. We went to test my hearing and I was feeling so shy that I didn't play the game at first, so we moved on to other activities like throwing and hopping. Mommy had warned me that they would ask me to do some things that were easy and some that were hard, but I was still sad when the lady asked me to skip and I could only gallop. And I was really discouraged when she told me she wanted me to cut out that entire dinosaur! I'm a really careful cutter and it's hard work, so I skipped that activity. Then the activities got much easier. I breezed through the counting and the letters and telling which thing was big or short. My confidence level started to go way up and I was able to go back and do the hearing game again. I did really well that time. And my eye sight was 20/20, too. Mommy was a little disappointed that the lady didn't ask me rhyming words. That part was for four-year-olds, but we know I'm good at rhyming. At the end, the lady talked with Mommy for a while. They were talking about when I should go to kindergarten. My height is still coming in at the 90th percentile (I'm 41 inches) although my weight was down to 75% (39 lbs), so I'm still big for my age. I'm also pretty smart for my age, or so everyone tells me. So the teacher suggested I go to four-year-old preschool next year and then my parents and the teacher can decide. Mommy said she was glad to hear that because it matched what she was thinking! So there's no decision yet about kindergarten and that's just fine. I was more excited about the blocks I was building with than anything about kindergarten anyway.

Well, folks, I may be opening up the adoption blog again just as a place to vent and share our adoption story. We've decided once again to take everything adoption related off the front page. There seems to be some competitive feelings among some members of Eliana's birth family. So in order to keep everyone's emotions on an even keel, we're going to avoid mentioning them or posting pictures of birth family members on our main pages. Hopefully as things calm down and everyone settles into their new roles, things will be less raw and emotional. I guess everything was going too smoothly and we had to have some excitement to keep things interesting.

Here's what I removed from William's weblog:

I brought Button with me to Skip and Mary's house today. They are Dani's mom and dad and they said I could call them Grandma and Grandpa. They had some fun toys for me to play with and furniture that they let me jump on, just like my other grandparents. Grandpa Skip did magic making coins disappear and reappear in my ear! He even made Button disappear! But I found where he was hiding. You can't fool me all the time. They gave me a bag of oyster crackers to bring home for a snack, but "I can't eat all of them at once or I would get sick. I need to eat some each day." That's just what I plan to do!

And Eliana's weblog also said:

I had the chance to visit with lots of family this weekend. Grandma Barb and Grandpa Ron had us over on Saturday. I got lots of snuggling and visiting there. On Sunday we went to Maple Grove to visit with Dani and her family at my other grandparents' house. Some of them hadn't seen me since the hospital. And for most of them it was the first time they had seen me awake for any amount of time. I gave them lots of coos, smiles, cries, and even a blown out diaper. They got the full Eliana experience!

Mommy and I went to the radio station this week to pick up the trivia traveling trophy that now has "Pull-start Diesel" written on it two times in a row! I was really excited. I held it up over my head like a real champion and then Mommy held it, too. I guess she didn't want another chip taken out of it. I got to see the radio station, which was pretty neat. I introduced my baby sister to Jo, the station manager, and I even spelled Eliana's name for her. Jo was very happy for me that I'm a big brother and a big winner!

Daddy took me to the Woodworkers Swap Meet on Saturday. I got a hamburger for lunch and paw print stamps on both hands. But the best thing I got was my little wooden dog. I was pretty sad when I broke his ears off, but Daddy and I glued them back on. Then I named my dog "Button." He's nice and small like a button, so I can keep him in my pocket all the time.

I had to add this recent photo of me "rockin'!" I don't wear a shirt or socks - just like the rocker in Guitar Hero. I'm rockin' out to the Weezer CD!

I'm now returning the love that everyone gives me with smiles and coos throughout the day. It took a lot of practice to figure out how to make those sounds, but I finally got the hang of it. It's lots of fun talking to people and making them smile and laugh. I even giggled for Mommy a couple times this morning. As soon as they manage to capture a smile on camera, my parents promise to post one!

I am crying more these days, but it's still a small amount for a baby my age. Once place I cry a lot is in the car seat. My parents were glad that, on our last car drive, I slept most of the way. And then they were happy that they'd brought a bottle to keep my content for another good stretch. Because if I'm awake, the carseat is the last place I want to be. William thinks it's funny that I have to sit there facing nothing but the back of the seat, but I see nothing funny about it!

** Editor's note: I'm thrilled that Diablo Cody just won the Oscar! Juno is pure genius! Go see it!

Trivia is over. I was so excited for trivia this year. On Thursday of last week I asked Mommy, "When is tomorrow?" I really wanted it to be Friday so I could go to Grandma Lanz's and play trivia. I had a really fun weekend full of snacks and "trivia pop" aka Fresca. I played really hard all day, jumping around, playing cars, watching video games, talking to people and helping with the whiteboard. When it came time to sleep, I just crashed. I didn't mind the noise. On the way home from the weekend I was pretty disappointed that trivia was over and I didn't win. Mommy and Daddy tried to explain to me that we didn't know if we won because they had to go to the awards ceremony to find out. Then I was disappointed that I couldn't go to the awards. Grandma Barb and Grandpa Ron got me ready for bed and we listened to the radio to see who the winner was. Guess what?!?! They said "In first place with 13525 points, Pull-start Diesel!" So I guess I did win after all. Mommy and I will go in to the radio station one of these days and get our "golden trophy" back with our name written on it twice in a row. I can't wait!

I got to experience my first trivia weekend only one month after my birthday! It was pretty exciting. Everyone was amazed that I barely made a peep all weekend. I saved all my crankiness until we got home. But really, I'm quite a happy baby. As long as someone is holding me, I'm happy. And there were lots of people there waiting for a turn to snuggle me. I even got to play a little trivia while Mommy was wearing me in the Baby Bjorn. But it was so warm and cozy in there, that I mostly just slept. I would sometimes get startled when everyone would cheer real loud. It was an exciting time with lots of new sights, smells and sounds to keep me entertained!

As for what's new with me, my baby acne is clearing up! I'm also talking a little, especially to William. I really like to smile and coo for my big brother! It helps that I'm staying awake more these days.

Can you believe it's been 4 weeks since my birthday? So much has happened in that time! I'm really smiling these days - for Mommy, Daddy, and William. And I can definitely recognize people I know. Today Daddy came home from work and with all the voices in the room (we had visitors), I turned to look for him. I'm also tracking objects even better now. When I watched Mommy walk past me today I followed her with my eyes and I even turned my head! I get stronger and more coordinated every day.

I met even more people in the past week. Mommy's cousin Hallie visited one night. Then we went to meet the aunts at Great-grandma's house; I got passed around during Maggie and Marty's birthday celebration. I was a very good sport about it! Today Uncle John stopped by. He was in MN to go ice fishing. Auntie Leah made sure he came to meet me and took lots of pictures! Too bad I've broken out with baby acne in the past week. I'm not my cutest self right now. But I was wide eyed for lots of the pictures, so that will have to make up for the splotchy skin.

Well, I'd better let Mommy get to bed because she's having to get up with me a lot these days. It seems that some nights I sleep really well and go five hours between feedings. Other nights I get up in the middle of the night and decide it's time to be awake. I never know what kind of a mood I'll be in. Maybe I'll let her sleep tonight... maybe not.