Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Singing away the summer

Well, I can't believe summer is almost over or that Bea is so big already! (See pictures at the bottom this post.)

Yesterday we had Bea's last NICU follow-up appointment. They had her do all sorts of puzzles, brain teasers, and physical activities. She had to put pegs in holes, identify colors, answer questions like, "The baby is hungry, what should you do?" She had to jump on one foot and walk backwards. On this standardized test, for each activity they make the child do harder and harder tasks until they get to the ones she can't do. So, the smarter the kid, the longer the test. We were there for almost two hours! Bea scored anywhere from 3-5 years old on every task. So, she was a smartypants.

They also told us that at this point she is really cleared of all the risks of being a premature baby. The doctor was just telling us we'd have to wait until she goes to school before we knew for sure if she had any learning disabilities... when the little showoff started rattling off the U.S. states in alphabetical order (they sing a song about the states in daycare). The doctor told us we didn't have anything to worry about. ha.

I know I've mentioned that Bea loves to sing songs before, but recently it has reached epic porportions. She knows so many lyrics it's mind boggling.
-As I said, she loves the state song. She has even started to name her stuffed animals things like "Arkansas" and "New Hampshire."
- She knows all the words to "Love Me Tender" by Elvis (again from school). Nothing like hearing your 2-year-old singing "Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulllllfillllllllllled...."
- We have songs for tidying up, going potty, washing your hands, etc.
- There are many iterations of "I'm a Little Teapot" and perennial favorite "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." We've moved on from the "Itsy-bitsy Spider" to the "GIANT, GIANT Spider!" (which she thinks is hillarious).
- She likes to sing "All Through the Night" ("Guardian angels God will send thee!")
- Matt's parents taught her "New York, New York" when we went to the U.S. Open
- Broadway tunes are also in the repretoire. I taught her "Oklahoma" after we got an advertisement for a local production of the musical in the mail... and she already knows "Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," "I Could Have Danced All Night" and most of the songs from Sound of Music
- Her favorite of favorites, however, is the Beatrice Song which we sing to her before she goes to bed each night. I wonder how long it'll be before she realizes it's Edelweiss with slightly different lyrics.

And she's even started making up some of her own songs. (Today in the car: "l loooooooooove Bullet, and Mommy, and my shoes have sand in them.") And she is really good with medleys... this is my favorite so far:

(singing state song)... Nebraaaaska, Nevada, New Hampshire, OOOOOOOOOOklahoma! Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain! O! K! L! A! M! N O P Q R S Teee a drink with jam and bread.....

In other news, Bea is also doing really well with potty training. (Sing along with this Beach Boys-themed hit: Let's go potty now, everybody's learning how, sit on the potty with meeeeeee!)

Along with potty training, she has discovered the Disney Princesses (they are on the pull-up diapers and her fancy new panties). She can now identify Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping "Booty," Ariel the Mermaid, and Belle (from Beauty and the Beast). She picked out Snow White for a Halloween costume.

So, a couple weeks ago for a treat I thought I'd show her some clips from Oklahoma and some of the Disney movies on You Tube. Oklahoma didn't disappoint, we watched it several times. I also showed her Little Mermaid, but she got bored with the singing fish super quick. Then, I showed her Beauty and Beast. Belle is her favorite princess and I thought this would be a slamdunk. But after awhile she said, "can we watch Oklahoma again?"

If I could get Shirley Jones-themed panties, I think we'd have this potty training thing in the can (har, har, potty humor)!

I have to admit, though. It's not all rays of sunshine. Little Bea has certainly hit the terrible twos. She is all about the tantrum. And, she loves to turn into a wet noodle when she doesn't want to do something... she just collapses onto the floor and won't get up. You know that kid laying on the floor at Target? Yeah, me too. She's with me.

She's also in a really big Mommy-only stage. Only Mommy can buckle her high chair, only Mommy can tie her shoes, etc., etc. It's flattering and exhausting all at once. Poor Daddy and grandparents are not allowed to help without considerable fuss. Although this is not ideal, I have to admit I like it when she says, "Mommy, you're my best, best friend. I wuve you best." I be sure to keep this post and show her when she is a teenager.

More later,
-M

p.s. here are pictures from two different trips to the Babies 'R Us photo studio. Long story. Cute pics, though.




















More summer pictures!


As promised, here are a few more pictures from our summer!

Bea showing her uncanny flare for fashion.



Bea and Gwen playing in the bubbles.



Bea and Gwen crusing around town

(this is before Bea drove them into the garage door).






Bea with her friends Reese and Nicholas at Denise's house.



Aunt Sue came to visit and we took her on the Lake Harriet Trolley,
one of Bea's favorite things of the summer.


Aunt Sue, my parents, Matt, Bea, and I on a sculpture
at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

Me with Roger Federer (he's right there in the red shirt)

at the U.S. Open in NYC.


Matt on the U.S. Open Grounds


Bea and I at the Lake Harriet Rose Garden in Minneapolis.





Matt and Bea looking at a fountain in the Rose Garden.





Bea and Bullet... best buds. Poor Bullet is getting so old but we love him all the same.

Playing in the sprinkler is always fun!

Friday, July 31, 2009

July Blog with Pics!

Well, I'm trying to do one blog a month, and I'm glad I remembered it was July 31st today or I would have missed one. Summer is going so fast and we have been having so much fun. We've spent lots of nice days at the beach, playing with our deluxe swingset, and so much other good stuff.

Bea is just the coolest kid. She's at the age where she is ready to tell stories. For example, in the car today she said, "Mama, last night I went to bed and then I woke up and I was scary [sic] because I couldn't see you [her nightlight burned out], and I made noise, and then you came to get me!" She also is full of funny things to say these days, for example today she told her teacher, "Miss Hannah, I like your butt." Nice. She loves playing with her babies, feeding them, and saying things like, "Baby, I so proud of you for eating your toast! Well done." She knows who President Obama is and she yells "OOOOOOOBAAAAAAMMMMA!" whenever she sees him on tv or in a picture. Obama is a great name for a kid to say, regardless of political party! Somehow I don't think "McCain" would have been as enticing to her.

She likes to "read" her books to us now. She says, "Mama, close your lips and open your ears" then, she holds the book up like they do at school and just talks a bunch... about whatever she thinks of. She also sings and sings. She now likes longer songs, like "If you're happy and you know it," "You are my sunshine," and my personal fav, "Row, Row, Row your boat, gently down the streeeeeeet!"

She's an extremely social kid. She says "hi" to everyone at the grocery store.Last week we went to a party at my office and when we got there she went around kissing the kids. Later, when there was a pinata, she passed out candy to all the adults. (note: she doesn't actually know what candy is... and we didn't tell her!)

We're also working on potty training. She gets a jelly bean when she "goes" which is pretty exciting stuff.

Well, now here's what you're probably here for, some pics! As I was putting these together I realized I needed to take some better pictures for the rest of the summer. I know my parents have some good ones on their camera, so I'll try to post some others when I get them.

Here's Bea proudly displaying her 101 Dalmations bandaid. Owies are big bragging rights these days. Even the slightest scratch is discussed for weeks and shown to everyone she meets.


Bea loves playing in the yard and hanging out with Bullet. Here she is opening the gate for him.


Grandma Liz and Grandpa Dick built Bea a very cool playhouse under her swing set. I'll post more pictures of that later (when I get them off their camera). But, here is a picture of Bea "helping" with Grandpa's hammer. She has a set of kiddy tools from Aunt Diane and her own tape measure, which she calls her "major." She goes around hammering, screwing, and majoring things all the time. A girl after my own heart. Just a note of caution, though, don't trust her major-ments. When she majors things and someone asks her "how big was it?" The answer is always three.


Bea also really (REALLY) wants to drive the car. She's got a few years to wait yet, but lately she's been getting a lot of practice on other vehicles. Here she is "driving" Grandpa Dick's tractor. She also drove an electric kiddy jeep at her "cousin" Gwen's house and attempted to drive Grandma Pat and Grandpa Steve's pontoon. We're going to have to start putting the car keys really high up.


For 4th of July this year we went back to Grandpa Steve and Grandma Pat's cabin. Grandpa Dick and Grandma Liz came, too. At the cabin there were lots of activities. Races for the kids in the community, a boat parade, etc. It was a ton of fun. Bea participated in the race for her age group, but got kind of freaked out and didn't do too well! ha! maybe next year. Here she is after the race walking back to the car between Grandpa Steve and Grandpa Dick, with Tio Jorge and Aunt Karyn in the background.


Here's Bea later in the day on the 4th lounging on the pontoon...


For my birthday in mid-July we went mini-golfing. Bea actually did really well and made it the whole 18 holes! She started out trying to golf...


For the majority of the course, she was in charge of the flags. She loved the flags.


Eventually, she became part of the gallery...


I just like this picture, because she is so cute. This is just a random day before school.


A couple weeks ago, Grandma Liz, Grandpa Dick, Bea, and I went to Wisconsin for "Acation." (Vacation.) Bea was very excited about Acation. And during the six hours to Appleton she kept asking when Acation was going to start. When we told her it already did, she started to cry and refused to accept that riding in the car was Acation. Luckily, when we got to Aunt Diane's house (which has more toys than Santa's workshop and built-in playmate her age, Gwen), Acation had finally began! I used my parents camera when we were at Diane and Mike's so I will have to get some pictures from them. There were lots of adventures.

After Appleton, we continued our trip by visiting Brian, Denise, Molly, and Zoe in Sauk City near Madison. Brian and Denise have been friends of my parents for 35 years or so. Molly and Zoe are their cocker spaniels, which Bea adores. They live in a big house out in the middle of a farm that is just gorgeous. They also have grandchildren -- Nicholas and Reese -- to play with so there was more fun to be had!

On the way to Brian and Denise's house, we took a car ferry. Here's G.Dick, G.Liz, and Bea on the boat.


Here's Bea swimming in Brian and Denise's backyard pool!


Bea picked many wildflowers in the fields around the house.


And she walked in the TALL corn fields!


Well, I will post some more in August. Hope you summer is going great!
Melissa

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Swimming at the lake

This was probably the first true "lake visit" for Bea. My parents have a cabin and we went there last year, but she only hung out in a toy pool, not the real thing as she was just over one at the time.

With the unusual heat today (it actually went over the average high) we ran off for an hour to take a splash because Bea has been asking us to go swimming since her swim lessons (with Melissa when I was at school) ended about 6 weeks ago.

We went to Lake Nokomis for an hour or so after her nap. From a two year old's perspective, it was perfect. Good people watching, lots of dogs, dogs swimming!, ducks, low flying airplanes (from the nearby runways at the airport), boats, occasional motorcycles and a lake!

I have the primary role as the "parental kid tosser". I took turns throwing Bea up in the air (and catching her of course) and jumping up together and splashing (without going under). She liked them both equally. Since it's been a cold summer and it's mid-June the water temperature was cold. Thus Bea was shivering uncontrollably and her lips starting turning blue but she didn't want to stop getting tossed in the air or get out of the water. Having her cling to my chest with a huge grin and laughing consistently was a memory I hope to cherish forever.

We did make her take a couple of breaks (and a mandatory beach timeout from the lifeguards helped). We focused on making our first sand castle as a team. Mostly it was Dad running water for making the sand moist, Melissa was the sand scooper and I unpacked the sand from the forms. Bea was an assistant waterer and we did our best to keep her from washing out our creations. Bea was interested in pouring water anywhere, the sand castle didn't matter much.

There were kids running into the water from the beach and diving in. Bea decided to do that and did a great face first dive, with a full spread eagle (arms extended out right), in about two inches of water. The crying was quickly subsided by some quick tossing in the air and into the water. Melissa and I did our best not to offend her by laughing too loudly. I don't know if she was crying because it hurt or her ego was hurt. It was extremely funny because the form was perfect but the location, not so much. She just froze there, laying on her stomach, arms outstretched, and was trying to figure out what just happened and what went wrong.

It all lasted probably a little more than an hour, but the memories and fun were bountiful.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Bea is 2 and 1/12th

Well, it's been more than a month since Bea's birthday, and I'm just getting these pictures up now. oops.

So, Bea is now two, but if you ask her how old she is, she'll say "three." (She always does.) Bea has definitely entered the "terrible twos" stage and is quite talented with the tantrums, but other then that, she is tons of fun. Currently, she really likes to sing Happy Birthday (to whoever) and loves to play ring-around-the-rosie.

She talks so well now, here are some recent quotes:
-"Mommy, I wuv you." (Awwwww!)
-"The wind makes my hair so cold!"
-"Bullet, you're a good dog, big dog...I pet you. You need a hug?" (then tackles Bullet)
-When asked what happened at school one day: "Alayna threw rocks at Miles and she was in trooooooble. I ate beans."
-"Mommy has a big nose, Mommy has a big nose." (Matt told her to say that, nice.)
-When there were no geese in a pond near our house: "The geese went on vacation to Wisconsin to see Denise and Brian and Molly and Zoe." (Denise and Brian are friends of my parents, Molly and Zoe are their dogs...)
-When her daycare teacher asked her why she took another child's artwork off the wall: "Because I'm naughty"

BIRTHDAY PICTURES


Here we are at Bea's birthday party. Not a great picture of any of us, but we all have our eyes open, which is a rarity. This is before Mommy's big haircut.


Here's Bea reading one of her birthday cards. She has all of the greeting cards she's ever received in a bucket in her playroom, she takes them all out and looks and them periodically.


The birthday girl blowing out her candles. We didn't even practice this ahead, so I was really surprised that she did it. Bea's party was bunny themed, mostly because I call her "Beatrice Bunny" but also because Easter was a week later and the decorations could serve a dual purpose! I was pretty proud of the cake, which I made myself.

During the cake and ice cream, Bea and Sadie had a conversation that went something like...
Bea: Sadie, you need a bib.
Sadie: No, I don't need a bib. You're a baby. I'm a big girl.
Bea: Yes, you do, you're dirty.
Sadie: No, I'm not (wipes hand on shirt)


We got Bea this toddler fort/tent and it was the hit of the party. Bea and Sadie giggled in it for almost an hour. Some of the adults tried it, too.


Here's Bea coming out of the tent's tunnel.


Grandma Liz and Bea trying out the tent the day after Bea's birthday.

EASTER


One week after Bea's birthday came Easter. I think Bea was beginning to think gifts were going to happen every day by the end of all the celebrations. Here are Bullet, Bea, and Matt at Grandma Liz and Grandpa Dick's on Easter morning.


Here is Bea showing off some of the jewelry the Easter bunny left for her at Grandma Liz's house. Bracelets, in particular, are some of Bea's favorite things. The Easter bunny left things at our house and both sets of Grandparents' houses. Bea was spoiled indeed.


Bea, Sadie, Grandma Pat, and Grandpa Steve at Pat and Steve's house in Princeton. They had a big egg hunt all over the enormous front yard.


Here's Bea in serious egg hunt mode. This was her fourth egg hunt in three days, so she was well prepared and very excited. She was running ahead of everyone saying in a creepy gremlin voice, "More eggs, more eggs, more eggs!". She was also covertly stealing eggs from Sadie. I guess she's a little competitive. I wonder where she gets that from?

SPRING HAS SPRUNG


Here is Bea in our front yard with a flowering shrub, we have all enjoyed getting out now that the weather is nicer!


Bea also got a fancy new swing set for her birthday (but it didn't come until a couple weeks later). Here we are just yesterday playing on it -- and there's my new haircut!

Hope you're having a great spring!
Melissa

Saturday, March 28, 2009

New Pictures - Jan-Feb-March

Well, we are really getting bad about updating this blog, but as Bea gets big, we just have too much to do!

Bea is just bursting with energy these days. She runs fast, talks a mile-a-minute, and more. She learns new things everyday that just amaze us. She also likes to sing a lot. Her repretoire includes:

-ABCs
-Twinkle Twinkle
-Rock-a-Bye Baby
-People on the Bus
-Little Bunny Foo Foo
-If You're Happy and You Know It
-Two Elephants Went Out to Play
-Itsy Bitsy Spider
-London Bridges
-Ring Around the Rosie
-Row, Row, Row Your Boat
-On Wisconsin (I'm not joking-she even marches like the band)
-And much, much more...

She really started talking in sentences in January when one day she said, "Mommy, let's go tell Daddy I tooted." (Classy.) Since then she's just exploded and comes out with some of the funniest things.

She loves anything to do with animals. She loves doggies -- Bullet of course and Sadie (the dog) next door. She loves the birdies, squirrels, and deer that come into our yard as well as books about animals -- some of her favorites are "Is Your Mama a Llama?" and "Going on a Bear Hunt."

She also loves going to the zoo. We have a year membership and we go often. In fact, we were just there today. Bea and Sadie (the human cousin) were just inches away from an enormous grizzly bear who was looking at them through the glass. They were literally nose to nose. Even though I know it's safe, I still shuttered! Bea, just looked at me and said, "Mommy, a Bear... Rarrrrrrrrr!" (Today at the zoo, we also met another little girl named Beatrice who is just a week younger than our Bea!)

Bea also likes to immitate us a lot now. You might remember that Bea got a kitchen set for Christmas -- now she likes making everyone "tea" and "applesauce". She likes to stir things in her pots and pans, and running around the house pushing her babies in the stroller.

Lastly, Bea likes to dress up. Some days it's the fairy wings and tutu, some days it's the firefighter hat and sunglasses. It's a whole new world of fashion around our house.

Of course, it hasn't all been wine and roses around here. We've all been sick -- Bea had pneumonia. Bullet also had another cancerous tumor. And, Bea does not particularly like swimming lessons (she's afraid of water in general -- even in her bath). When the kids are supposed to blow bubbles "like fishies" at swimming lessons, Bea tightens her grip around my neck and says. "Bea no blow bubbles. Mommy do it." Greeaaaaaaaaaat.

But, overall, we can't complain. Here are some pictures for you from the last few months.


Although Bea had her hair cut a couple times by Grandma Liz over the past year, this is Bea's first haircut in the salon. She was a little taken aback by the water spritzer and the hair dryer. But, she loves the hair dryer now after swimming lessons, I think it's her favorite part of swimming lessons, actually.


Here is a picture of Bea and Daddy in our sun porch on the day Daddy took down the outside Christmas deer. Bea was very excited to see the deer up close when Daddy brought them in the house. Unfortunately, she was very traumatized when they weren't still on the porch when she woke up from her nap. I told her they went home to see their families, that they were happy, and they'd be back next winter... and for days after, her eyes would well up with tears and she'd say (bravely), "The deer happy, Mommy." It was so sad. We also had lots of real deer sleeping in our yard this year, and so every morning when the real deer would get up to leave, we'd have to go through the same "Deer are happy" routine.


Bea loves her sunglasses. She wears them all the time. Here is a picture from January with Bullet.


This is her glamorous look. This pic doesn't actually look too much like her... I think I caught her in the middle of talking.


And, here she is later that day, ready to go outside. Head-to-toe in pink.


Here's Bea wearing her fairy wings and tutu. We have two sets of wings, so usually Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, or Grandpa also has to put on a set of wings and "flutter, flutter" with her around the house. Fluttering consists of skipping, and saying "flutter, flutter." Grandpa Dick is a reluctant flutterer, but he looks nice in the wings. Bea loves this picture, and when she sees it she says, "There is Bea as a Butterfly. Flutter, flutter."


Here she is taking the stroller for a spin around the house with a lovely headband and gloves (and the sunglasses, of course).


Here are Daddy and Bea walking at the zoo. (Don't they look alike?!) In addition to the animals, Bea likes that she is often allowed to walk on her own at the zoo. Big girl.


One of the best parts of the zoo is this tunnel, which we spend 10 minutes going through every time. And, yes, I did say "we." Mommy is often summoned into the tunnel. It is v-shaped and in the corner of the V (but out of sight from the entrances) is a little cove where you can see some snakes through a window -- and Bea likes to show them to me.


Here's Cousin Sadie (left) and Bea at the zoo in February, by one of the fish tanks.


Here's Bea giggling for some reason at the dinner table.

Mommy and Daddy actually left Bea for five days to go to Mexico on vacation at the beginning of March. Mommy was a little hesitant to go, but it was wonderful for everyone! Bea spent half of the time with each set of Grandparents and didn't seem to miss us at all. In fact, when Mommy called to check on her, Bea got on the phone and said, "Hi Mommy. I eating goldfishes. Bub-bye." She also got to go to Daddy's old high school, where Grandma Pat and Grandpa Steve (that's Grandpa Steeeffff to Bea), showed her Daddy's picture on the wall as "Student of the Year 1990." I'm sure she was impressed.


Matt planned the whole trip without me, which was great. We went to the same resort that we went to on our honeymoon. It was the most relaxed we'd been in years. Here's the beach at our resort. Actually the hut we stayed in for our honeymoon is directly behind me in this picture -- we stayed a little further off the beach this time, which was a blessing, because the beach was a bit crowded with Spring Breakers.


Here is our "hut" -- actually a very nice one-bedroom, one-bath building. We spent lots of time on those hammocks on the front porch.


Here is a path through the buildings at our resort. We were lucky to be at the end of a path where it was nice and secluded.


Here's a flower I particularly liked. There was a tree full of them outside our hut's shower window.


And, lastly, here is Bea wearing a new hat... a sombrero from Mexico. Actually, to tell the truth, she doesn't like it that much. I guess it doesn't go with the fairy wings.

Well, that's all for now. I might not blog often, but at least when I do, I do it right. Hopefully, I will have time to blog again after Bea's birthday (next week!) and Easter!

All the best,
Melissa