Cooking Dinner Solo

Last week I was alone with Little Miss and it was time to start making dinner.  She seemed to be playing happily by herself, so I didn't pay much attention to what she was doing.  I was chopping away, sautéing, measuring and just working in my own little world.

I think that I waited too long to make dinner because Little Miss fished out her lunch container from school and opened it.  I thought to myself, 'Great, she'll get herself a snack. How resourceful.' I didn't think twice when she came over to the drawer, pulled out a measuring spoon and ran off.  I assumed that she was using it in her play kitchen.  It didn't make me bat an eye when she opened the drawer below the oven to pull out a frying pan.  'She must be making something really special in her kitchen' ran through my mind.  It literally never occurred to me to turn around and check out what she was doing because whatever it was, she was quiet and engaged.  And that, my friends, is a rookie mistake.  A quiet toddler should arouse immediate suspicion.

When dinner was ready and I finally did head to the bathroom to wash my hands I finally glimpsed what kept Little Miss quiet for all that time.  She was making dinner herself.  

She took leftover rice from her lunch, transferred it to the frying pan and was calmly stirring it around so that it wouldn't burn.  Sometimes I'm absolutely floored by what she imitates that I do, even when I think that she's not looking.  She made a huge mess but I was way more impressed by the endeavor than irritated by the impending clean up.  Sometimes I'm reminded in the sweetest of ways that little eyes are always watching.

The Great Trip North

Two words can best summarize progress on the garage renovation:  veerrry slow.  Losing our builder crippled the project and we still haven't been able to recover.  Add to that the fact that I need to shop and price things and make decisions with a little one in tow and that slows things to a glacial pace.  We were entering a phase where decisions needed to be made and I just couldn't get anything done.  Grandma graciously volunteered a week of her time to watch Little Miss so that I could focus all my attention on the renovation.  They headed up north to the farm.  We got them all loaded up, kissed Little Miss goodbye, waved and the second that she drove off and I couldn't see her anymore, I burst into tears.  I was so excited to get to focus on this project for a little bit that I wasn't expecting that at all.  Good thing I had hubs there to calm me down.  While there were a few stops along the way, the pictures I have from that week are all playing at the farm.  Let's see, there was riding the Barbie car:

Walking her dinosaurs around: (please tell me I'm not the only one singing the song in my head- 'open the door, get on the floor, everyone walk the dinosaur...'  No one?)

Riding a bike:

And even naps al fresco:

Since she was visiting a farm, it's only fitting that she chose a tractor to ride at the mall as well.

(I just love her expression in this photo.)

She had a great week and didn't seem to dwell on missing Mommy or Daddy.  We enjoyed nightly FaceTime chats and loved seeing what she was up to.  It was so good to have her back and get her cuddles, though.  Throughout the week hubs and I kept finding ourselves talking about all the cute things she does and saying her little expressions.  It was nice not having to deal with naps and getting to sleep in in the mornings, but I wouldn't change life with my little girl for anything.

2 Year-old Family Photos

I really struggle with planning family photos.  Little Miss often has a smile on her face, but immediately removes it when a camera is nearby.  If she's doing something really cute and you bring out your phone and dare ask her to smile, she'll say, 'no,' look away and then immediately stop whatever she's doing.  I thought her one-year photos were cute, but not special and I really analyzed why that might be.  Besides not wanting the camera around, we also took her to a new place that she wasn't familiar with, tried to stay out of the camera and didn't give her much to interact with.
I really wanted to do 18-month photos, but that just never happened and time just slipped away.  Finally, I decided that for our next photos we would just do a lifestyle shoot, or capture her doing something she's already used to doing in a place she's used to being.  Our local park seemed like the most logical spot.  We played like usual and while the lighting never worked to get a picture of her favorite activity- swinging- we were able to capture some stunning photos.  Having puppy there and just hanging out doing the things we were used to seemed to do the trick and Little Miss Photogenic became more relaxed as the shoot went on.  Here are just a few of the great ones captured that day.

2 years-old, By the Numbers

We kicked off turning 2 with a trip to the Dr.  Little Miss really has it in for that place because the second the nurse opened the door and invited us into the back, Little Miss immediately started saying no and crying.  It was good that we were at the Dr, because suddenly her legs stopped working.  She was no longer able to stand or hold herself up on the scale.  Daddy had to weigh himself both with and without her.  She was also unable to stand long enough to get her height taken and doing it laying down in the examination room was nothing short of comical.  

She screamed, cried, and carried on just about the entire appointment, no matter how nice the nurse or the Dr were.  Fortunately, when all was said and done, we were able to get some numbers for her.

length- 35.5 in.  88% (How is she almost 3 feet?? How???)  birth length: 21.25 in.

weight- 30 lbs 91% birth weight: 8lbs9oz  (she nearly quadrupled her weight? What??)

head circumference- 19 in 78% birth circumference: really big! 

Her percentiles are still holding strong and she's doing great.  There was nothing of concern to the Dr.  Great!  See them in another year.

Happy 2nd Birthday to my Sweetest Girl!

Little Miss recently celebrated her second birthday.  I'm still in shock about the whole thing.  I was going to throw her a party, but then the whole thing got to be really stressful.  Should we invite family? Friends only?  Weekend party or do a playdate during the week? Invite everyone or just close friends?  Without Little Miss being able to give her input, and based on the fact that she didn't really know what was going on anyway, we decided to make our lives easy and opt out of parties altogether.

Instead, hubs had the day off of work and we dedicated the entire day just to her.  It was a rare family day where we all spent the entire day together.  We kicked the day off with breakfast at one of our favorite spots.

On the elevator ride down, she wanted to show us her tick bite:

Then we went to the children's museum we found a few weeks ago.  We had more time to explore the whole thing.  It was good that Daddy was there so that he could show her how to top off the fluids in the car.

Then there were all sorts of fun exhibits and fun things to play with, but Little Miss really enjoyed making the little balls float on the air from this thing.

We came back and had a failed nap time, so we sang her Happy Birthday with cupcakes instead.

She was quite serious, but loved it when we sang to her.  We then went to an indoor playground and topped off the day at her favorite place on Earth- the park.

It was a really fun day and it was spent completely dedicated to her and being a family.  I'm really glad we chose to celebrate this way.  In the future if she asks for a party we'll do it, but until the pressure gets to us, we're much happy for hubs to take the day off work and make a really special day for her.

Park Friends

When we moved to the apartment, we moved pretty close to one of my close mama friends.  Our kids also tend to be on earlier schedules.  Unfortunately, we go to mother's day out on different days, but we quickly realized that we could get together in the afternoons after MDO.  Several times a week we try to meet at the park.  Playing 'together' is a relative term at this point, but they kids do interact well together and treat each other nicely.  

One afternoon we were leaving the park, when they spontaneously took each other's hands and held them most of the way back to the cars.

I think both mamas' hearts were melting at this sight.  These two generally hunt the other one out when they leave even a crowded playdate and are sure to give each other hugs or cuddles.  What's even better is that her friend has a baby brother.  Little Miss is in love with the baby and also tries to give him hugs as well.  I know that she's friends with the kids in her class at school, but I'm glad that she's also developing friendships with other kids.  You can never have too many friends.

Like Mommy, Like Daughter

Reason #4- She also likes to put her sunglasses on top of her head.  I'm still trying to convince her they're actually useful instruments.

I'd also like to showcase her 'mouse' shirt.  That's what she calls it and wears it whenever it comes out of the wash.  She also loves that it has a bow on it's ear and often points to it.  I'm starting to recognize that she likes clothes with animals... her mouse shirt, her bumblebee outfit, her giraffe pjs...you get the idea.

Pretty as a Picture

Little Miss enjoys looking through her clothes hanging in the closet when deciding what to wear each day.  One day she chose this dress that was given to us at her baby shower.  It was absolutely adorable.  I tried to get a picture of how cute it was to send to Aunt Suzanne.

Unfortunately, I tried to straighten out the dress and asked her to smile.  Big mistake.  Big.  Huge.

I should probably submit this to the reasonsmykidiscrying website.

The dress is cute.  She looks adorable in it.  Trust me.