Thursday Tidbits

Just a few random thoughts about the past few days…

The Good

- We’ve been able to spend a lot of time outside playing with neighborhood friends, building castles in the sand box, watering the plants, listening for woodpeckers, and jumping in puddles.

- We started a great nature class at a local park.  So far we’ve learned about all kinds of birds and frogs.  We even got to see a toad eat two worms this week!

- Julia has been getting better about trying all the food on her plate for dinner and seems to really like spicy food.  Her all time favorite meal is still steak and peas but I’m finding I don’t need to omit the red pepper from my pasta sauce or anything else, she handles it just fine.  She also has developed a taste for popcorn and especially likes it when I make it with a little Tabasco, onion powder, and garlic powder!

- While it’s been raining we’ve been “cooking” a lot in her play kitchen.  Here she is practicing her flipping technique – a la Julia Child.  I, of course, did not get the successful attempt on camera!

The Bad

- whining, whining, whining…. I don’t think I need to say more.

- Julia and I still have the cold that we came down with last week.

- Andrew traveled for work a couple of days this week (and will again next week) and it really threw Julia off.  She likes her routines and missed him a lot (so did I).

and The Random

- weird food combo of the week: Julia’s lunch yesterday was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich dipped in hummus. yum.

- Julia doesn’t care which clothes I pick out for her to wear but she has definite opinions about what I put on.  Yesterday she vehemently opposed 5 pairs of socks I picked out before she agreed with me on which ones I should wear.  White apparently was not a good color…

- Julia is obsessed with eggs… and she can’t eat them.  This drives me crazy which is probably why she is so obsessed.  She is fascinated by all the displays of Easter eggs that are around, she points out every single egg she sees on TV, magazines, books, signs, etc. and, of course, her favorite book is Green Eggs and Ham. 

Milestone: Hide and Seek

Today was a big day – Julia and I played our first REAL game of hide and seek.  Julia insisted on counting and then came to find me.  In the past she has always either followed me around as I tried to hide or stayed with me as I counted which kind of limits the “seek” aspect of hide and seek.  But today she stayed in the family room and counted to five as I hid, then I heard her going through each room and saying:

“in the kitchen?… no, not here”… “in the hallway?… no, not here”… “in the dining room?… YES! there she is!”

Things are getting more fun by the day!

Ahmmas and Ahmpa!!

(Title translation:  Grandmas and Grandpa)

Last week was a lot of fun because we had visitors!  As we haven’t seen folks in awhile I’m not sure that Julia knew what we were talking about when we kept telling her that her grandparents were coming.  But she caught on fast and was very happy to more people to play with!  First, Grandma Laurie came from Monday to Thursday.  She and Julia played games of memory, played in the sand box, and had egg hunts (plastic eggs, of course).

Julia was also playing around at lunch one day with her napkin and I got this picture:

I thought it was pretty cute because when Mom visited when Julia was about 5 months old she (my Mom, not Julia) was playing with the same napkin and putting it on Julia’s head as a kerchief:

Adorable… then and now!

Unfortunately Grandma Laurie had to leave on Thursday BUT Grandma Lesley and Grandpa Rick arrived on Friday. (There was quite a bit of explaining in the 24 hour gap over Grandmas leaving and arriving).  Julia was now in the swing of visitors and happily showed everyone her new big girl bed, potty accessories, and toys.  She also enjoyed introducing Grandma and Grandpa to Bob the Builder!  Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed introducing her to baseball!!

We have a few details regarding technique to work out but it was an enthusiastic beginning!

On Sunday morning Julia and I got up and made breakfast – sausage and homemade biscuits. Can you tell who liked the biscuit dough????

Unfortunately, Grandpa Rick and Grandma Les had to leave Sunday night and Julia was very sad to see them go.  But we are headed up to RI in a few weeks so no one will have to wait long for a reunion.  AND they left a lasting impression on the baseball front because the Nationals homeopener was on TV when Julia woke up from her nap this afternoon and she chose to watch the last three innings instead of Bob the Builder! Wow!  She might really be an athlete in the making!

Julia-ism: Snug

Frequent uses:

“Mommy snug please”

“One more snug”

Translation: to snuggle close (usually with Mommy)

The Wearing o’ the Green

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  We celebrated with story time at the library which also included marching in a parade with instruments and making a shamrock crown. 

 

Then we came home for lunch and put our corned beef and cabbage into the pot to cook. After naptime we played outside in some really nice, warm weather and spent a long time looking at all of our seedlings that are starting to pop up.  Julia received a special surprise when she got a last birthday present in the mail – her first remote control car… with a BUNNY driver! It was a big hit!

We ended the day with our delicious dinner.  The corned beef came out great and I’m looking forward to sandwiches tomorrow.  Julia wasn’t so impressed with the corned beef but she did eat several spoonfuls of spicy brown mustard by itself!  So I guess I don’t need to limit the spice level in our food on her account! 

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Random Events

Here are a few random happenings from the past week.

On Thursday Julia and I started some seeds for our garden.  She was a big help, scooping the dirt into the container and planting the “tiny” seeds.

On Friday, Julia and I were pretending to be one of her new favorite TV characters, Bob the Builder.  Bob, being a builder, is usually wearing a hard hat.  This is our version:

Today, Andrew and Julia were practicing some yoga (an activity that I have found to be a great diversion from temper tantrums!) and I got this video of Julia doing tree pose:

And here’s a still shot of the yogis:

Namaste!

Erin Go Bragh

Julia has a very small amount of Irish in her and it shined through today.  We took her to the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Old Town and she had a fabulous time.  She loved watching all the people, the dogs (there is a dog show prior to the parade), and all the cars and music.  She was particularly impressed by the Pipe and Drum Corps and the Irish Dancers (these being the only factions she clapped for) and the miniature Shriner cars which she laughed out loud at (they were pretty fun!).  She hasn’t stopped talking about the “rade” since we got home so we may have to find a couple more St. Patty’s events to attend before the 17th!