Visit from Nonna

Last week, my mom came in from DC for a visit. Unfortunately, a few days before her arrival, Alice threw herself down onto the corner of a footstool in a fit of rage and gave herself a black eye. Can't accuse us of trying too hard to impress visitors when we show up to the airport with a shiner on our toddler!

While my mom was here, we tried to be productive. We really did!

 

We were all set to spend a morning at the Botanic Gardens. We even pulled into the parking lot and pulled the stroller halfway out of the car.  But, then we noticed that Alice was conked out in the back so we just drove around town pointing out houses we liked and chatting while she slept. You should know that we definitely considered going back once Alice woke up, but by then it was lunchtime, you see, so we thought we'd better get lunch instead. For the child, of course. 

We spent an inordinate amount of time at Target and then at Target.com looking at sippy cups and patio furniture.  At Target, we rested in some patio chairs too, since we were tired from all the sippy cup selecting.

You should also know that we did have a whirlwind day of sophistication. In the morning, we hit the art museum and were deeply moved by the selection of items in the gift shop and the quality of coffee that the hungover barista produced for Mom. I think there was one room of art that spoke to us too. I think?

 

Then, that afternoon, we went out for a ladies' tea party.  Alice only spilled one cup of tea and stopped at sugar cube number ten while we were waiting for the snacks to arrive. 

 

It was exhausting! Why, we were so busy that we didn't even notice that Alice's black eye was all but cleared up by the time we dropped my mom off at the airport.

Spring Mornings

Alice and I have established a morning ritual over the past few weeks.

I usually come downstairs to find her in her pajamas, sitting at the table with Matt, in front of a plate of breakfast that he has prepared for her. Usually, she's scraping the cream cheese off the top of a bagel with her teeth, anointing Matt's orange juice glass with peanut butter, or ignoring a plate of scrambled eggs.

I get out the blender, and Alice proclaims, "Shoobie!".

I get out frozen berries, yogurt, milk, honey, and even spinach (you can't taste it, I swear), and dump it into the blender.  Right before I push the button, Alice yells "Noishy! Noishy!"

By the time the noisy portion of the preparation is over, Alice is usually out of her high chair and observing the action up close.  She eagerly points to the two glasses I have set out, establishing which one is for her and which one is for me.

As I pour the smoothies, she reminds me, "Straw! Straw!".  I top each smoothie with a straw as Alice makes her way over to her preferred smoothie-drinking location: the second step of the staircase.

We both sit on the step enjoying our smoothies and reviewing over and over which is hers and which is mine. We drink for a while, as Matt finishes getting ready for work.  Every now and then, she picks up my glass, threatening to spill the smoothie all over both of us, brings the straw to my lips, and insists that I take a sip.

We say our goodbyes to Matt, and the split second he shuts the door behind him, Alice leaps up and runs to the window, pointing fervently and asking "Down?! Down?!".  I can't bear to correct her word usage when her request seems so urgent, so instead I lift her up to the window ledge so that she can wave energetically, shouting "Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!" until Matt disappears from view.

Then she asks if there are any birdes.  Sometimes, just to keep things interesting, she points off to the empty sky or a patch of grass in our yard and yelps "Look! Look!", which is just as entertaining to me as if there were actually a bird there and not just her mimicking my reaction when I see one.

Then, I help her down and we get ready for the day.

Garden of the Gods

I guess I have some catching up to do.

After our friends from New York left, the three of us took a drive to the Garden of the Gods, near Colorado Springs.

We could not have chosen a more perfect day to check out the landscape.

The clear, sunny skies made for some breathtaking colors.

 

I'll let the photos do the talking (in other words, I'm too lazy to come up with text about a trip we took last month).

 

Inside Out

 Good Morning!

 

What? Do I have something in my teeth?

 

Is my fly down?

Oh, that?

Get used to it! Diapers over jammies are the next big thing! Go grab yourself some Depends, make sure you put them on after your P.J.s, and get ready to turn heads.  You can thank me later!

 

New York Invasion

A few weeks ago, we had a visit from the most adorable little New Yorkers you've ever seen (and their equally adorable mom and dad).

Alice did her part to be the hostess with the mostess and make our guests feel at home. 

But, of course, she had to make sure there was no confusion about whose toys everybody was playing with. 

"My. My. MY!." 

I don't think it gets any cuter than this. 

Butterflies

This morning Alice and I went to the Butterfly Pavilion in nearby Westminster.

As soon as we walked through the two sets of doors and into the butterfly garden, my camera fogged up from the humidity.

The light kept changing and the butterflies were moving fast.

In short, taking pictures was haaaard.

 

But I persevered.  And I relied heavily on the iPhoto editing features to fix things up for me.

 

We wandered around the butterfly garden for a while, looking at the little creatures flying all around us and stopping to admire the water features and the turtles.  It was a nice way to spend the morning. 

 

Matt taught Alice a great word today: "happy". She says it exactly right, pronouncing both syllables correctly.  When I hear her say it, I feel like we're getting a sneak peek into an older, more verbal Alice.  An Alice who will tell us exactly what she wants instead of just pointing urgently and whining "uuuuuuuh".  One who says "water" instead of "wawa", "noodle" instead of 'nunu" and "milk" instead of "milk-a". 

 

It's funny how sometimes, she seems all baby.  Like today when our three-year-old neighbor walked right up and pushed her down.  And Alice just fell on the ground and started crying.  It was one of those awful cries that starts out just as a soundless, open mouth and shimmering, tear-filled eyes for a few seconds until she can get enough air to really begin to bawl.  But other times, like when I put on her coat to go outside and she eagerly instructs me to "zip!" and then reminds me to grab my "purse! purse!", she seems like a kid.  A kid with opinions and ideas and preferences.

Last week we were at a little art workshop with some other children.  I looked over to the corner to see Alice staring intently at a little boy whom she had never met.  She tenderly stroked his cheek and then leaned in for a kiss.  Other times, she's not so outgoing.  This afternoon, when another mom offered Alice an apple, her only reaction was to furrow her brow and look down at the ground, as if looking at the lady directly was too embarrassing or scary to contemplate. (And it wasn't that she didn't want the apple; she accepted it readily from me.)

When we put Alice to bed at night, as soon as we start to move from the rocker to the crib, and even before we've finished uttering the words "good night", she starts to cry.  She seems sad that the fun of the day is over and also indignant at having no control over the situation.  Even so, on some nights, mid-cry and as upset as she is, she manages to wail out "byyyyye" to Matt or me as we're tucking her in, and sometimes even forces her mouth to pucker into a kiss, and it's clear that she's trying so hard to fight her instinct just to give in to the tears and keep crying. 

I suppose as time goes on, I'll see fewer flashes of the baby and more of the kid.  Soon, the wordless whines will give way to worded whines and then, hopefully, to just words (followed by "please", please).  As for the other stuff, whether she'll be shy or outgoing, tender or tough, stoic or dramatic, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  

Snowy Weekend

If either Matt or I had harbored any doubt that we had moved to a city that takes its winter seriously, it was banished forever this past weekend.  The snow began on Thursday evening, and it was still coming down when we woke up on Saturday morning.

 

Even though we try to get outside every day to burn off some energy and soak up a little vitamin D, I welcome a forced day in every now and again, when there's nothing else to do but sit in the bay window and watch the snow fall, finger paint, and read a novel at nap time.  

 

We played a lot of "Good Night. Shhhh. Sleep."/"GOOD MORNING!". [The "Good Night" part is whispered and is accompanied by eyes closing, head resting, and the occasional fake snore; the "Good Morning!" part is always yelled and is accompanied by giggles, claps, and wide-eyed expressions of alertness.]

We played a Peekaboo/Hide-and-Seek/Chase combination game where Alice peeks from behind the curtain and around the french door in our guest room and Matt teases her by tapping on that door and then running to the other door, or by throwing a balloon in through one door and then running into the room through the other door to surprise Alice (who is still peering around the first door) by yelling "BOOGADA BOOGADA!" from behind.   Much screaming and laughter ensues.

 

But, it's not as if we didn't get out at all this weekend.  I mean, somebody had to shovel, and we had lofty aspirations of a Saturday afternoon spent sledding. 

We fortified with a large lunch, and went right to Target where we loaded up on gloves, an inner tube (should we have expected all the proper sleds to be sold out on the Saturday after the biggest snow of the season?), and new boots for Alice.  We did buy Alice a pair of boots at the beginning of the winter, but, judging from her reaction when we would try to put them on her lately, either the the boots were filled with boiling oil or they were too small.  We took a guess and went two sizes up on the new ones, and haven't heard a complaint yet.

In preparation for a long afternoon in the snow, we stuffed snacks and tissues into our coat pockets and had a tube of Vaseline at the ready to rub into red, chubby, chapped, little cheeks.  We let Alice put some on her cheeks too.  Ba-dum Ching! We drove to Commons Park, waded through the knee-high snow drifts, hauled ourselves, the inner tube and Alice up to the top of the hill, and enjoyed three trips down, rear ends sagging through the hole in the tube and dragging the whole way down.  On the fourth trip, the tube decided it had suffered enough and popped halfway down.  It found a new home in the trash can at the bottom of the hill next to a cracked plastic serving tray.

Back at the house, we figured that we'd get the most out of our snow gear and enjoy a little more fun outside.

The snow definitely brings out the kid in some of us. I'm referring to the Hoosier one of us, in case you were wondering.

On Sunday, we experienced another perk of living out West: the Super Bowl was over and we had vacuumed the last tortilla chip off the rug by 9pm.

This weekend, Alice discovered an absolutely precious mealtime activity: blowing bubbles into her drinks.  After months of drinking through a straw, only in the past few days has she discovered the fun of blowing out instead of drinking in.  She has also added a new twist on her old favorite guilty pleasure of writing on the walls.  Now, after she scribbles on the walls with her crayons, she points accusingly at the mark and shouts "NO! NO!".  On the bright side, at least she realizes that there is something naughty going on, and it is pretty clever to try to place the blame on the wall, no?