The beginning of March was uncharacteristically cold here in southern California, so you could say that it came in like a lion. Or, in A's case, like two fierce baby kittens. Bonnie and Clyde have continued to occupy and amuse her. She loves her baby kitties and is generally very gentle with them, though she does hold on to them longer than they would like. My husband bought them a huge cat tree and much to A's dismay, they are able to escape her for a time and love playing and napping together on the top perch.Ever since I have started making her breakfast, it has been pancakes or eggies with milk and fruit. This month, she discovered that she could ask for both and they would be magically delivered. This made her pretty darn happy, as evidenced by the photo below. And making her happy makes me happy.
I went to her St. Paddy's day lunch and she was so excited to see me walk into the class. But not nearly as excited as I was to be greeted by her "Mom!" exclamation and warm hug. Immediately, she led me over to the are she had just finished, pointed and telling me "See! I made this." I sat down next to her in a chair way too small for me, as she proudly began telling her friends "That's my Mom!" Have I mentioned that I love having her daycare so close to my work?The weekend started as it always does; with 8:30 am dance class, which I love. We are finally through the "Mommy sit with me!" phase that lasted 3 long weeks. It all started with the addition of a new student, whose Mom broke the cardinal rule and went into the dance room, rather than watching through the glass doors. How did I get out of this? By shamelessly bribing her with ice cream. Now, when I mention dance class, she shows her understanding of "Mommy sits with other Mommies" and I thankfully don't still need to use ice cream as a reinforcement. The current students in her class are Iyla, Betty and Aria, and I cannot wait for pictures in May followed by their performance in June!
We swung by home after class to pick up Daddy and GranpaGlennie before heading to Irvine Park Railroad for opening day of the Easter Egg hunt with her cousins. The slight drizzle kept the crowds away, which was nice.
The following weekend, we did the egg-hunt again, with the Carter's and Tommy. It was a bit more crowded, but she still had a blast. I love seeing her hunt eggs and seeing little friendships develop.
Later in the week, I had my anatomy scan for baby "Chaw-wals" (as she calls him) and everything looked perfect. Relieved and elated, we headed back to Disneyland to celebrate. We were seated in time for the 4:30 pm showing of Frozen, and she was able to meet both princesses afterwards. Then, we rode the Little Mermaid ride six times in a row without getting off! This time, it wasn't the rain that kept people away but the (false) promise of rain.
Later in the week, we attended a tea party with Alice in Wonderland on a Friday night at Le Petite Princesse to kick off the weekend. She had fun changing into different princess dresses, painting a little tea pot, listening to stories and playing hide-and-seek with a friend. I had fun watching her, and of course, taking pictures.
Baby A is a dream come true yes, but she is also a toddler. While my monthly accounts focus mostly on the amazing, heart-warming times, I do not mean to give the impression that parenting her is always easy! As with any toddler, there are difficult times, especially when either one of us is tired. Lately, transitions can be hard for her, especially when going from a preferred activity (the park) to a non-preferred activity (leaving the park). To help with this, we started giving her several prompts such as letting her know we just have "One more minute." While it generally doesn't work, it has taught her some great negotiating skills, with her adopting our own system: "Peeeeeeease! One more minute, Mommy!" Or even an order: "ONE MORE MINUTE!" It can sure be trying. To lighten the mood, make us laugh, and also introduce her to awesome music, we have proudly taught her to ask for her one more minute to the tune of Phil Collins' "One More Night." When she pulls out her demanding "ONE MORE MINUTE" order, we will often counter with That's not how you ask for it... to get her to sing the verse twice. When belted out properly, she usually ends up with 5 or 10 more minutes.
I hear "One more minute" requests now daily, and even her best friend at daycare told his Mommy that she says "One more minute" a lot. As with anything parenting-related that can be difficult, I remind myself that sadly, it won't last. I remember Mom's parenting philosophy was not to worry if a child was not off the bottle, potty trained or (fill in the blank) by a certain age. "They won't be walking in to a work meeting when they're an adult wearing a diaper or still sleeping in their Mom's bed." I can hear her say. It's all temporary, and sometimes, we find ourselves nostalgic for a time or place that was difficult when we were in the thick of it. Like Mom's treatment. Her chemotherapy was, at the time, my most difficult trial. But what I wouldn't give to relive one of those days right now.
I don't ever want to forget this "One more minute" phase with Baby A. For that reason, when I heard this song on the radio, I couldn't help but think of her and how, when she's grown, I will want nothing more than five more minutes with her as a toddler, or five more minutes being directed to "Say hi, hi" with a princess figure in hand, sitting uncomfortably on the ground playing with her at her princess castle.
We had another fun weekend sticking close to home. Dance, local bookstore, play-date with her cousins, trip to the park, visit from Uncle Glen, visit from Uncle Kevin and we discovered a new-to-us local library. I used to take her to the library a lot, but it closed down when she was about 6 months and still has not re-opened. When we went to a local bookstore for a free mini photo-shoot, we purchased the new Fancy Nancy book and I realized just how much better it is for me to read a children's book that I don't already know the outcome of. Even though she has quite a collection, I have read all of her books multiple times. So we went to a new local library and checked out 5, which wasn't enough. A week later, we checked out the huge children's section at the Orange city library, at the suggestion of a co-worker. She had a blast. Falling more in love with reading than ever before, she has now developed book awareness and will "read" to herself or out-loud to me. She usually starts with "Once upon a time..." and then babbles on, sometimes describing what's happening in the pictures. For Rapunzel, "Took witch's lettuce; prince didn't hurt me!; cut off her hair; pushed down" etc. She also really likes audio read-along books in the car, and surprisingly, is usually on the correct page.She has also started walking more and more on our 2-3 mile daily walks. In order to speed her up (toddlers can get distracted by anything!) Daddy has taught her to race. They will pick a starting line, and race to a physical marker. Little does she know, she's doing a fartlek, speed play that will come in handy when she trains for a race someday. Girl after my own heart. I can't wait to be able to run with her again, but for now, I trail slowly behind. This too is temporary, and I want to enjoy every minute of this pregnancy that doctors said couldn't happen.
The month ended with Bubble Fest and dying Easter eggs. She was having so much fun mixing up all of the colors, dying her hands and arms a hulk-shade of green, that I didn't have the heart to try and explain the "correct" way to do it. I guess the way she was doing it was correct, and she was sure having a blast.
Of course totally prompted, I managed to get Bowen to say "love you mama" so far only once, but oh my goodness my heart :)
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