Putting Grandma to Bed

Poor Grandma.  In trying to watch Little Miss so that hubs and I could get away for a weekend, and then work on house projects for a week, she had no idea what she was taking on.  I had Mother's Day Out, music class, and all sorts of activities planned for her to keep them both busy and still give my mom breaks.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature had different plans.  Hubs and I got stuck on our weekend away, and all the activities were canceled due to ice storms.  Poor Grandma had Little Miss with no breaks from Saturday morning until we were finally able to get back on Tuesday afternoon.  Not only were there no breaks, she was stuck inside the apartment because of the ice and Little Miss decided she was not going to nap for Grandma.  Poor, poor Grandma.  

Hubs and I were able to get to the garage on Wednesday, leaving Grandma with Little Miss again.  Thursday night we had a meeting and I told my mom not to worry about putting Little Miss Nap Strike down for bed because we would be home in plenty of time to do that ourselves.  Except the meeting ran long and we missed bedtime.  This is what we found when we got home.

So, so sweet.  We woke my mom up enough to get Little Miss transferred to the bed.  My mom opened her eyes, moved her wrist out of the way, and rolled over as I turned out the lights.  What a tiring day.  However, there's not much better in life than having a small child fall asleep next to you.  I'm really going to miss that someday.

Happy Valentine's Day 2015!

There is no denying that we're totally in love with our Little Miss.  However, this year for Valentine's Day hubs and I scooted out of town for a couple's weekend away while Grandma and Little Miss spent the day together.  Before we left, we were able to give her our gift- a Love balloon.  It was a hit.

It's fun to find a small gift that has a big impact. Speak of big- my little girl is growing up too fast!  Here's a picture from Valentine's Day 2014 as a refresher:

Can someone please make time stop?

What do you cuddle?

Dinosaurs?

Maybe you prefer something soft?  I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but Little Miss has finally taken a comfort item.  Pacifiers, dolls, blankets, and any other attempt at comfort were rejected until recently.  Why take an object that is new and designed for for comfort, when you can just take a used toy out of the dog's basket?  Little Miss picked up Tigger one day (complete with partially chewed ear) and hasn't really put him down since.  He even gets to enjoy special Daddy cuddles.

In terms of affection offered by Little Miss, here are the current rankings...
5.  The playground dinosaur
4.  Mama
3.  Daddy
2.  Tigger
1.  Huckleberry

I'm glad that she has something that brings her comfort, and even more glad that she doesn't freak out if we have to leave Tigger in the car or forget him in the bed.  It's nice to finally see her start to build some relationships with some toys we have for her.

Roos at the Zoo

I haven't gotten around to buying a zoo membership yet, but it hasn't mattered because we always go with friends who have extra passes.  One morning we met a friend at a zoo.  It was a chilly morning and we had almost the entire zoo to ourselves.  When you go to the zoo with toddlers, you tend to hit up the same places each visit.  This time we went to a new exhibit to us- the kangaroos.  It was warming up nicely by then and Little Miss had a blast checking out the kangaroos.  There were even a few mamas with baby Joey's in the pouch.

She wanted to pet them, but I had to keep reminding her to stay on the path and let the kangaroos come to her.

What a special treat.  Hopefully we'll get to explore that exhibit and see the others more as the weather warms up.

Museum Fun

One day after MDO it was rainy and yucky.  Instead of heading to the greenway or a park, we took advantage of a museum membership we were gifted for Christmas.  There were lots of fun things for Little Miss Adventure to explore.  There was a toddler area with a little train:

Little Miss especially loved watching the video.

A light table:

Some foam pieces that were meant to be assembled into an arch, but were more fun playing Spiderman on:

They also had a shape-sorting game, but Little Miss simply enjoyed feeding the shapes though the same hole.

The best part of the entire museum was a very large play structure with lots of climbing.  Little Miss Adventure was in heaven.  I was cool with going up and up as it was a very stable structure.  Suddenly I noticed that there was daylight and my mind shot to the view of the building with large pyramids on top and I realized that the play structure was designed to go up to the top of the pyramid.  I won't lie when I say that I had a mini-panic attack at the realization of how high we were actually climbing off the ground, but I quickly got it together because I don't want to pass my fears along to String Bean, and she was clearly having a ball.  In the end, Little Miss successfully made it to the top independently, while I carried 2 coats, Tigger and my purse up the entire structure.  Here's a picture from the very top of the pyramid with the skyline in the distance.

Doesn't she look so darn proud of herself?  It was totally worth a little anxiety on my part.  I've also learned to travel very lightly at the museum in the future.

Heading to MDO

This fall, we began sending Little Miss to Mother's Day Out.  It was only last month that she stopped crying and clinging to me when I dropped her off.  Now she's totally happy to go and there's no more drama.  One morning, she grabbed some granola bars and her nap mat and was ready to go.

Being the debby downers that parents can sometimes be, we insisted that she put on some real clothes first, but she was still happy to carry her own nap mat down the hallway to the car.

I hope she always loves school this much.

How Many Ways can you Wash Your Hands?

Little Miss loves her special time with Daddy on Sunday mornings.  They get up early together, go to breakfast and then play somewhere.  Since it's winter and the weather tends to be cold and yucky, they often go to the mall.  After playing in the play area, Little Miss Hygienic loves getting her hands clean- doesn't matter how.

It can be by antibacterial:

Or washing her hands in a sink just her size:

At the mall, life for toddlers is good!

Sleeping Through the Ages

In honor of Valentine's Day coming up, here are some pics of my two loves over the last 21 months.

Newborn (May 2013):

Baby (January 2014):

Toddler (November 2014):

My heart is about to burst, seriously.

What Up, Homes?

Me?  Not much.  Just hanging out with Daddy, waiting for my nose to be wiped.