They had a field day

truly.

This last month of school there is a lot happening, among them...Field Day. I recall my own field days with fond memories. Spending the day outside, just playing. And now my girl had her first one as well...and she had a ball.

I tell ya, this kid can run...and run, and run. And she's pretty fast too! Of course, she's not all grace. After I picked her up and she had her playtime in "the pit"* But in true form of their school, all of the children got a gold medal.

One thing CiBaby did not tell me in her brief of the day was what happened after she fell. I found this out later. One of her awesome teachers, Ms. G., captured this moment for us.

This is CiBaby's buddy, J. J and CiBaby bonded at the beginning of the school year over My Little Pony, and the bond continued. They are a great match.

During the Field Day race, when CiBaby fell, J stopped running, went back to where CiBaby was and started walking with her. Later, Ms G asked J why she did that and J said, "Because. [CiBaby] is mine friend." Well, I don't know about you, but that got my eyes to well up. I feel so blessed that I found such a great school that brought my girl together with such a wonderful being, who is no doubt the product of her awesome parents.

Preschool may cost you money, but it was a priceless year in my book.

*There is adjacent lot to the school that has a huge composting leaf pile that the kids love to run around and in...and they have lovingly dubbed it "the Pit." Not a day goes by that they don't want to have a romp in the pit after school.

The Santa Experience

Today was the day...the day that CiBaby decided for herself that she wanted to talk directly to the Big Man himself.

The first year CiBaby was with us, we didn't even consider bringing her to see Santa...we could barely get her to sit on relatives' laps without crying! Last year there were a couple of times that she saw Santa from afar...but that was close enough for her.

But this year was different. This morning we were talking about Santa and all of a sudden she said that she wanted to talk to him. Well...okay! So I did what any good mother would do and found out where Santa was that day, of course! And I was still able to get an appointment, that day, with the man himself.

So we hustled, and we bustled and got ourselves ready to get out the door. Thankfully there was a small line to wait in before talking with Santa. This gave CiBaby some time to fully take in the situation. She studied him. She saw what the other kids were doing. She noticed that Santa had CANDY next to him!*

Not knowing exactly what to expect from her when her turn came I stayed fairly quiet. But once the little boys were done in front of her...you would have had to have had a barricade to stop her. She was on a mission to talk with Santa. She marched right up to the little stool that sat next to his chair and sat down. She was serious. They had a discussion about being good, did lots of givin' fives and even willingly, and with a real smile, got pictures taken.

After it was over, I didn't have to pull her away, she walked away confidently and told me that she had talked with Santa. We picked our picture** and bought a frame*** and headed out for lunch. As we were looking for the perfect location to have our tidbits to eat we saw Santa having lunch. You would have thought we saw a mega star. She was giddy and Santa was so sweet. He talked with her again, gave her a piece of candy, and I swear she swooned.

Later that afternoon, I framed that picture...which was quickly confiscated and now resides on CiBaby's dresser.

It was a great day in this life.

*There's very little this kid misses.
**Not shown here...must scan for that.
***It was too dang cute to pass up.

The moments you wish you could bottle

Amongst the craziness and whining of this morning, I found CiBaby sitting, by herself, reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear aloud for the first time. At that moment, the chaos stopped, the world slowed and T-Daddy and I stood back in the wings and listened.

This moment bottle has been bottled, corked and labeled and, I predict, will age nicely.

Sledding!

Today, T-Daddy and I took CiBaby on her first sledding adventure.

To say she loved it is a little mild. She was so excited she had to do it by herself (of course). What we didn't get a picture of was her alone, riding that little purple sled like she was on a luge.

Watch out Olympics!

Inauguration day

What an exciting day. A ceiling has been broken.

CiBaby and I went to hang out with some friends for an intimate Inauguration Day party. While the kids screamed and ran about, we tried to listen to what was being said. The pictures were priceless and helped to cement an image of growth within our country...regardless of your color, you could be President!

Next ceiling to shatter...a woman President!*

*Under the current guidelines, CiBaby is not eligible to become President of the U.S. as she was foreign born. Who knows, maybe the rules will change. But at this point, she could ascend all the way up to Speaker of the House. Very cool. (And boy, does she have a lot to say!)

Happy Halloween!

This year we celebrated our first Halloween! Last year we had been home only 5 days when Halloween rolled around and between jet lag and pure over stimulation we took a break from it...we were one of those dark houses.

Not this year, no sirree! We whooped it up! We went to 2 Halloween parties and Trick-or-Treated twice, once at a Senior Living apartments and then on Halloween night.

We practiced and practiced our "Happy Halloween!" "Trick-or-Treat!" and, of course, "Thank yous." She also didn't want to keep her hood up at first either, as evidenced in the above pictures. But once we were out on Halloween night, every time we went up to a door she put up her hood and practically whispered "trick-or-treat." Most of the "thank yous" were a smile and a wave. It was so cute. She totally got into it and wanted to keep going and going for "more candy?!"

But by 7:45PM we were done and she had plenty of candy. She got to have one piece tonight and then it was off to bed to dream of more candy.

The Costume

"Mingos," as CiBaby likes to call, them are her most favorite animal, so it was appropriate that she goes as one this Halloween. As costumes go, a flamingo isn't one that is easy to find for a reasonable amount of money, so Crafty CzaMama got her thinking cap on (and consulted with her very crafty friend, Hippy Goodwife) came up with a plan on how to go about attacking this one.

First, I found a pink fleece jacket at Old Navy, then off to JoAnn's for matching fleece. Each "feather" was cut and individually sewn onto the jacket.

Recently, CiBaby received a Miss Mingo "Build-a-Bear" from Grams. Using that beak as a rough pattern I drew out a pattern on one of those annoying pieces of campaign junk mail and cut the pieces from fleece as well.

Before sewing and stuffing the beak, I added cording to the bill to make the "opening." The whites-of-their-eyes are done with white fleece and the pupils are large black buttons (that idea came from my friend M, thanks dear!)

To top off the outfit, I used a little fabric paint I had in my stash of crafts and made a coordinating bag for her loot.

I also made a pair of fleece pants, but the weather was so warm they weren't needed. She wore some pink velour pants instead.

There were some loooooong nights of stitching and cutting, but in the end it was well worth it. She was the cutest Mingo ever! And she loved it too.

First Haircut!

We finally bit the bullet and took CiBaby in for her first haircut tonight. It had been needing it for awhile, but I was hesitant on a few fronts. She's not exactly thrilled with strangers doing things to her (like the doctor, etc.), I'd hoped to be able to actually style her hair as it looks so cute in barrettes and ponies, and it took so long for her to get a full head of hair, so I was a bit nostalgic.

This picture was taken almost a month shy of a year ago. Boy how time flies and hair grows! This was Day 2 of our newly expanded family...our little toupee baby.

And now. CiBaby's a wild woman with long flowing hair. Her bangs had gotten so long they were going past her nose. I knew it was time when, this morning, she slicked back her hair with her soy milk to keep it out of her eyes.

With a good nap under our belts, I rang up a local kid's salon to see if there were any openings. There were so we took the 6 PM slot. Armed with a camera and an extra pair of hands we went down for the big "trim."

As you can see, she doesn't like to be confined.

Dora kept her attention for most of the cut.

Then for the big bang trim...

and blow dry, like Mama.

Considering everything, she did really well!

Tah-dah! Where did our baby go??? We think her new haircut and found courage made her feel like big stuff and really sassy.

To celebrate this occasion we walked over to one of our favorite haunts and had a great supper, and then off for some lactose free ice cream and raspberries at home. What an evening.

First Day of School!

CiBaby went off to her first day of school today*. She goes one day a week for the morning and into the early afternoon. They did an art project, had gym and music time and lots of play time in their classroom. She and her classmates even had lunch together. Of course she didn't eat her lunch but helped herself to everyone else's, deeming herself the official Lunch Taste Tester in the room.

My main goal during her time at school was to go to the gym, first and foremost (there is one close to CiBaby's school), run errands and do some housework. My first goal was derailed when I found the gym that I use to be able to go to in that suburb has become a "Gold" gym, therefore I can't go. BLAH! I'm not going to up my membership dues just to go one day per week, as our gym is only "Bronze."

Instead of getting a nice workout in, I got coffee and did a bit of browsing, as it was a "short" day at school today.

I talked with CiBaby's teachers before I went in to get her. She cried just a bit off and on during her time there, but nothing too bad**. Of course when she saw me she instantly broke down and did the squishy-face cry...you know the one I'm talking about. Once she calmed down she said "bye bye" to her teachers and we were off.

In the car she multi tasked by eating her lunch and taking a nap***.

My baby is growing up. Next thing you know she'll be off to college like Big Sister!

Stay tuned for round 2 next week.

*I had to get these pictures around the corner right before picking her up as she was crying as I left.
**I was actually very nervous about this.
***She wasn't blinking, she was actually sleep eating.

The Great MN Get Together

Today T-Daddy and I took CiBaby to her first MN State Fair! T-Daddy's group from work was there for "team building" so we tagged along.

Mama won her baby a honey stick with her vast knowledge of gardening...

less than 30 minutes after entering the gate CiBaby crashed in her stroller...

there was waving at animals and mascots...

a ride down the giant slide...

CzaMama found the ever elusive MN Grey duck*...


eating the 2 "Cs," cookies and corn...


new friends...


odd food...

groovin' to the tunes...

AND baby animals!!!

It was a great day in the life at the fair!

*Here in MN we grew up playing Duck, Duck, Grey Duck...which most people call Duck, Duck Goose...maybe that's because they don't have grey ducks! Who knew?!?

Bring it on!

CiBaby has recently added 3 word sentences to her repertoire.

This past weekend we were driving and we heard from the back seat "I love juice," very longingly. (I believe we had just told her she needed to wait until we were at one of the parties for more.)

Then yesterday evening we were having Baby Tickle Time in the bedroom. To our surprise, she holds out her little arms in the "T" position and says..."Bring it on!"

T-Daddy and I were both dying.

Let's go to the movies

This morning T-Daddy and I took CiBaby to her very first movie, Horton Hears a Who. Sooooo cute! Some of our local theaters are having early matinee movies for free this summer, so we thought it was a perfect time to see how it would go.

We got to the theater about 30 minutes before the show started. I went in to get seats and they stopped by the concession stand for pa-goom (popcorn, in CiBabyese) and drinks. Thankfully, as a few minutes later a hoard of children arrived from a summer program to take up 2+ rows of seats and throngs of people poured in.

CiBaby was wide-eyed at the big screen. Most of the time she didn't even take her eyes off the screen to grab some popcorn or juice (ssshhhh, we brought that in). She laughed in appropriate places even. She loved it. We got through about an hour and then she got antsy, we were impressed. It was almost harder to get T-Daddy out of the theater than it was CiBaby. This one is definitely on our "to rent/buy" list.

Let's celebrate!

Yesterday was definitely a celebration!

First off, T-Daddy came home!!! He'd been gone for over 2 weeks on active training for the Navy Reserves. Thankfully this time he stayed stateside. To say CiBaby and I were excited to see him is an understatement.

Second...CiBaby attended her first friends birthday party!* Her little buddy Aid just turned 2 as well. All of her favs were there...food, friends, food, cake, ice cream**, juice, swings, presents, Da-eeeee!, Mom!, and did I mention food? It was a great time for everyone. In my elation of the day I forgot the camera...but imagine this. CiBaby came all decked out in her party clothes. Red Elmo t-shirt and jean skort, she was dressed to kill. And she would have fit the birthday theme had it not changed from Elmo to Thomas, but what are you going to do? Toddlers change there mind faster than even women.

*We have another party coming up this next weekend that we're super excited for. Her crazy buddy I (wet t-shirt girl) is turning 2 also.
**Lactose free Breyers - so yummy! Thanks for thinking of us K!!!

(Music to blog by: Celebration sung by Strawberry Shortcake - I had to do it. I listened to this all of the time when I was a little girl...gotta love that sassy redhead!)