Hanging Out in the Tent

Every once in a while I feel guilty about not offering many toys at home.  One local mama was selling a tent for a good price, so I snapped it up for Little Miss.  It takes up a fair amount of space and I get tired of walking around it, but just when I'm ready to break it down, Little Miss goes and hangs out in there.  

Yesterday she randomly took her snack and water bottle in there.

Huck was desperate to join her (and try to get some snack as well), but each time he approached the door, Little Miss screamed, "No! Mine!"  He knew it was a no go and had to settle for laying down at the doorway.  Guess the tent gets to live another day.

Water Hike

I love hiking and I love babywearing while hiking.  It brings me joy having my daughter snuggle up against me and it adds more resistance and gives me a better workout.  Yesterday I decided to take Little Miss on a  hike before a playdate.  We quickly became immersed in the woods and took a selfie.

She saw herself in the phone and beamed this huge smile.  I couldn't believe it...what a great photo.

I guess I should've looked at the weather on my phone, because while it's been threatening rain all week, it hasn't actually rained and I stopped paying attention to it.  Not too far in we heard thunder.  I decided to keep going.  A little while later we could hear light rain around us, but we weren't getting wet because of the tree cover.  I was feeling a bit smug.  I remembered living overseas and how a light rain often fizzled out.  We kept going.  The light rain turned into heavy rain and we were nearing the end of the tree cover.  I decided to turn around and walk back under the trees rather than put us out on the road.  This made the hike longer.  I didn't realize it then, but it didn't matter at that point because the rain was so heavy that the trees were no longer offering protection.  Little Miss and I were getting wetter and wetter and I realized that we were going to be soaked by the time we reached the car.  She took it in stride- I am one lucky mama.  To commemorate how wet we were, we decided to take another photo.

There's my Sunflower still beaming in back.  I offered to let her down since we were totally wet anyway and it didn't matter how fast or slow we went, but she wanted to stay up.  By the time we reached the car we soaked to the core.  She didn't complain once.  Rather than calling it a mama fail, I'm going to celebrate that I gave her the new experience of hiking in the rain.  I was shocked by how many people were still out on the trails.  Maybe I need to get her out there more, no matter the weather.

Tot Shabbat: Then and Now

Since I used to work at a Jewish Preschool, I'm aware that they have a celebration geared towards the young kids every Friday morning.  It's a bit chaotic, but the kids love it and there's lots of singing and dancing, which happens to be two of Little Miss' favorite things.  We came across a cd the preschool kids made and Little Miss enjoyed listening to it, so I thought she might like dancing to the live version.  This also allows me to visit and get a little catch up with some of the teachers I used to work with.  

When the music started and all the kids immediately jumped up to dance, Little Miss froze and stared for a moment.  You could tell she was utterly confused and trying to process what was happening.  It didn't even take a full song before she was right in the thick of it dancing with the rabbi and some of the kids.

After that song, she was hooked and stood front and center, wanting more.

She danced and hung out and wondered off with new friends for the rest of the time.  At the end, she was happy to take a picture with the canter.

This is a far cry from her first Tot Shabbat when she slept through the entire thing.  No joke.

(May 2013)

Making Dough

Last fall Little Miss helped me make play dough.

There wasn't a ton she could do, but she enjoyed stirring.  It's been way too long and it was time to get more made.  This time she was able to take a much more active role.  She had to add the ingredients, stir, and then knead the dough until it was the right consistency.  She loved it.

Recently, she's taken more interest in play dough.  When it was finished we brought it to her art table.  She got out the fun factory like she usually does and made some different shapes.

We used the cookie cutters.

Then we pulled some of her tools from the kitchen to see what they would do.

In the end we used all our skills and tools to make a play dough pizza.

This one had some pepperoni and a few cheese slices on there.  She played for a long time and I'm going to assume it's because she made it herself.  Next time we may add some essential oils and see if we can add some smells to the sensory play.  Poor kid- she's going to wonder someday why we can't be normal and buy it at the store like everyone else.

Cousin Shot: Then and Now

We try to be good about getting cousin shots together when we're all in one spot.  Here's the original cousin photo.

THEN: (May 2013)

And our most recent shot: (July 2015)

I love seeing how they've changed.  Someday we'll go through these photos together and have a laugh at all the stages they've all gone through.

Heading West

We got a lead that Aunty Judy was visiting a friend a couple hours west of here, and since we hadn't seen the cousins in a while we thought we'd make a fun weekend trip out West. When we saw Aunty Judy and her friends, they were very kind about accommodating a toddler.  They indulged dance parties.

And then they turned on the hose so Little Miss could play.

She had a blast.  When she was done and everyone felt like they were melting, we moved the party back inside.  There were babies throughout the house with dirty diapers that Little Miss needed to attend to.

It was a really fun pitstop and even though Little Miss napped on the way there, she was so worn out she took a second nap on the way to the cousins.  

She loves seeing her cousins, but this time she played with the youngest cousin more than she ever has before.  They had so much fun playing together and watching each other do yoga.

They worked at a desk together

and enjoyed the water table outside. 

I couldn't believe how well they got on together and how little fighting there was.  What a fun weekend- I'm glad that we live close enough that we can get over there on a semi-regular basis.

Happy 5th of July!

Our first 4th of July with Little Miss was a wash- literally.  We had a 2 month old and it was raining.  We dressed her up in a cute dress, did a Sonic run for milkshakes (for us, not Little Miss), watched fireworks on television, and called it a night.

(2013)

Last year we thought was the best situation we could ever have.  The neighborhood had a potluck dinner in the park right across the street, there was a kiddie parade and then we watched the fireworks from the same park, folded up our chairs, walked inside and went straight to bed.  It was amazing.

(2014)

This year was another washout.  We thought about going downtown to watch them as they were supposed to be the biggest in the nation, but we didn't want to keep Little Miss up past bedtime in the rain for a show that might be too long to hold her attention.  We skipped it.  Luckily, one of the suburbs also canceled theirs and we were able to go there the next evening.  There was a band in the park that Little Miss enjoyed dancing to.  There was also an amazing playground that we could play on while we were waiting for dark.

(2015)

The fireworks were close, we had a great view, and they were short- only about 10-15 minutes.  Honestly, about halfway through Little Miss lost interest so we began moving back towards the car to watch the end of the show.  It was an event designed for young families and it was much easier getting in and out than I anticipated.  Next year we'll be living downtown again so we'll have to decide if we want to do the big show or head out to the suburbs again.  Nice choices to have.

Chevron: Then and Now

When Little Miss was a baby her Mamaw made her a chevron dress/shirt.  I had her wear it to the pumpkin patch the first year.

THEN: (October 2013)

Aw, look at that adorable chunk.  My ovaries are swelling.

Mamaw mentioned that it would make a shirt eventually so the shirt remained in the closet until I recently pulled it out, wondering if this summer the timing was right.  We tried it on, and while Little Miss Camera Shy wouldn't look, the shirt now fits perfectly.

I love when things have an extended life and it's fun putting on the shirt that Mamaw made.  She enjoys knowing the story behind her things, and it's nice that this shirt actually has a story.

The Science Experiment

I realized that I haven't been doing much sensory play with Little Miss, so one rainy afternoon after nap I decided to get back to it.  I found a recipe for rainbow goop/gak.  It called for corn starch, water and food coloring.  You could make it in rainbow colors and then mix them together.  I had the materials on hand and thought that Little Miss would enjoy it.  We made the stuff once before a long time ago and it was fun.

We sat down at the table with some water in a water bottle, a box of corn starch and the food coloring.  Not really sure of the exact proportions, I just guesstimated and let Little Miss do a lot of the pouring.  It was really difficult to get the right consistency, but that didn't matter because Little Miss Mixer was obsessed with pouring more of either the corn starch or water.  

At one point I acknowledged that the experiment was not going to end as planned, but Little Miss was so engrossed (notice the thinking tongue) that I decided that corn starch was cheap and just let her go for it.  It quickly devolved into water play using lots of different containers for scooping, pouring and transferring.

It didn't make too much of a mess and she had a blast, so I would call it a successful afternoon.  I particularly liked that I didn't know exactly how to do it or how it was going to go so she and I were in it together adding the ingredients and then changing the play.  I wish for more afternoons like that- it was fun.

The Mulch Princess: Then and Now

When Little Miss was just starting to toddle, I took her to the petting zoo at our local zoo.  She was more interested in the mulch.

THEN: (May 2014)

On one of our rare outings to a playground this summer, Little Miss resumed her mulch curiosity and played with it for quite a while.

NOW: (June 2015)

Maybe she liked it because it was shady over there?  Not sure.  Apparently it was also tasty because it warranted a sampling, no matter how much discouragement she was given.  Hopefully she doesn't catch some rare disease from it.  It's amazing both how similar these photos are and how much she's grown.  I love that little mulch-muncher so much.

Our Planetarium Date

We've got things a little switched around over here.  We played solo on the playgrounds all through the winter, not the least bit daunted by the cold.  Unfortunately, the heat is another story.  I rarely take Little Miss to playgrounds anymore because I think that the air and the apparatus just gets too darn hot.  As an alternative, I saw that our science museum had a program for preschoolers complete with a show at the planetarium.  It claimed to be appropriate for kids 2 and up so I decided to take Little Miss.  We walked around the museum as usual and then were first in line to get into the planetarium.  Before the show began we had fun taking some selfies.

I kind of love that her first experience 'watching a movie' was at a planetarium.  She enjoyed the novelty of it, but it was nowhere near age appropriate so we won't be going back.  At least we got to try something new and stay in the air conditioning for a morning.

Underwear!

Little Miss loves sitting on the toilet.

 She really  loves taking copious amounts of toilet paper and throwing it in the toilet.  I suppose it was only natural that she would love underwear next.  After putting mine on for a while, I finally pulled out some of hers and she was thrilled.  It was one of the few times she actually wanted her picture taken so that she could check out how great her underwear looks.  She even says 'unnerwear' and gets excited whenever she sees it.

 Sometimes she wants to show you even when she isn't wearing any!  Thank goodness for diapers.

Loves sitting on the toilet and putting on underwear? Oh my, toilet training may be coming up much quicker than I'd like.

Scenes from the Dinner Table

Recently we've taken some cute pics at the dinner table.  One afternoon Little Miss and I made popsicles.  She was thrilled to have one at dinner.

 Another morning Little Miss woke up and had some greek yogurt.  The combination of greek yogurt face and bed head was too cute for Daddy not to snap a picture.

Happy Father's Day 2015!

This year on Father's Day I watched my Facebook news feed blow up with pictures of things that kids gave to their dads.  Some were homemade, some were expensive watches- but they were all things that Dad now has to figure out what to do with.  From the first year we chose experiences over gifts and I'm so glad that we did.  Our Father's Day started out like most Sundays- Daddy and Little Miss took off early for their weekly breakfast out and adventure.  After nap time, we decided to walk to a nearby, secret greenway and hang out.  Here's some pics of GhostDaddy and Little Miss checking out the stream below.

After that we took advantage of a local ice cream chain's offer of free ice cream for Dads.  It was a nice cool treat after a hot afternoon outside.

We've come a long way since our First Father's Day, but Little Miss is lucky to have such a great daddy and he's worth celebrating.

Father's Day 2013

Playing with Scissors

Last year Little Miss got tons of art supplies for Christmas.  One thing I bought and tucked away for a rainy day was a pair of beginner scissors.  These don't have holes for your fingers, but instead have a spring to reopen the scissors after you make a cut.  The idea is that the kids are just focused on cutting and not having to also learn the mechanics of opening the scissors back up.  One morning, just out of curiosity, I brought out the scissors and let her have a go.

She was enthralled watching me and enjoyed having a turn, but she did the typical kiddo thing and turned the scissors sideways.  Just watching her mechanics made me think that it's still to early for her, but at least she had fun.  What did we do with the extra paper we cut?  We practiced using glue sticks!

She was much better with that and enjoyed manipulating the glue stick and sticking her little pieces to the paper.  Not a single person (even her mother) would consider the end result a master piece, but we had a fun time working with two things we don't normally use.  I call that a successful art session.

Broken Legs?

We've been out a few times recently when Little Miss just decides that walking is too much for her and lays down.  It's not part of a temper tantrum; it's not about not wanting to leave a place, she just lays down and rests her head on the dirtiest surfaces possible.  She did it to my mom on a greenway (apologies for the shot of the backside).

She's done it walking down the sidewalk:

And, while I can't produce photographic evidence, she's done it on the elevator at our apartment.  I find this one the grossest, but am trying not to say anything so as not to make a big deal about it, encouraging her even more.  I truly have no idea what this is about, but having a toddler has taught me to just go with lots of things.