Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

Chugga Chugga Chew Chew!

Ever since we stayed in San Clemente last May Amelia has loved trains. There the tracks follow the sand's edge and engines run all day and through the night. It actually gets a little annoying but if you're newly two and just discovering the marvel of rail transportation, it's pretty exciting to see real trains like that.
Ever since that vacation, she'll turn herself inside out to catch a glimpse of a train. And every time she sees one she yells "Look Mama, I see a train over there! CHOO CHOOOOOOO!"

So we decided she needed to ride on a train. Or the closest, most accessible likeness of a train--Light Rail. We took it into another part of town to have lunch.

I could tell she was excited because she wasn't saying a single word and was very serious.




And I couldn't take a great pic because she was in my lap and with a death grip on both my hands. "We're going really, really fast!"


After lunch, we caught the train headed home and by then, she was a pro. She even sat on her own seat.



But still held Daddy's hands.


And her ticket!

Hey Amelia, do you like the train?



It was a fun, cheap adventure and she loved it. "I ride on the train Mama! Let's ride the train AGAIN!"
I think more trains are in her future.







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Fall-ish Tales

It was just another week in the life of Amelia.

There was preschool . . .

 

This is what she does as soon as she’s released from the car. I’m pretty sure if they had curb-side service at her preschool, she’d prefer to get passed through the window, throw me the peace sign, and be on her way.

 

She’s totally got the whole photo-shoot-before-school-routine. I tried to get her with a different background, but she’s all about this tree. And I wanted you to see her shirt, but she’s a tree-hugger like that. “The witch on my shirt matches the witch on my skirt” ((pointing))

On Thursday, I took her to MY school before dropping her off at her school. It was amazing—she walked right up to my work friends and talked like her little cheery self. The last time I took her to work, she hid behind my legs and refused to speak and I had to say things like, “I swear she’s a great talker.” Preschool is doing her wonders already. It’s so great to see her coming out of her shell.

Between our school days, we made a park run.

And by ‘we’ I meant Amelia, Minnie, and me. We really should just get the Babychild a doll. Minnie is her little pal, with whom she acts like me, and says in her best mama voice, “You can sit right here, Minnie. I’ll buckle you in and we’ll have a lot of fun at the park, okay? Oh, you’re so cute Minnie. I love you.”

 

 

And like all good Californians, we hit the beach for a beautiful fall day on Friday. We went with our friends Megan and Molly and had a pretty great day of firsts. It was the first time Amelia was in the car with another kid, the first road trip as a mom/daughter/friend day, and the first time Molly slept better than another child, I *think.*

That’s right. Even the tough sleepers got nothin on Amelia. She’ll go all day on a loooong road trip, playing her heart out at the beach, and NOT nap on the way home. . . even as it got past her bedtime. She’s gangsta like that. I’ve long said that Amelia doesn’t sleep anywhere but her crib. She’s not the kid who will just pass out when she’s tired. She just doesn’t. And I felt completely validated in this assertion on Friday. For better or worse. At least I know my kid—even when all the rules, books, and others say otherwise. ha

BUT, she did have a 2-hour meltdown on the way home, so there was THAT. I am pretty sure she felt betrayed by Molly’s blissful slumber. She kept glaring at M and saying, ‘Molly WAKE UP!” Once Molly woke up (I’m pretty sure due to Amelia’s screaming), A was just fine.

((shaking head))

Still it was a pretty rad day.

This is the closest they got to each other at the beach for a picture. I’m pretty sure it’s easier to photograph our dogs together.

Megan tried too.

There was lots of sand play.

The weather was perfect. Could not have asked for better.

It was super fab to be with another mama and little girl. It felt communal taking care of each others’ kids and refreshing to have another mom around to laugh with and have conversation. It’s a rare mama friend who can share your day and not judge/compare/compete.

And who will take your kid to the potty.

 

On the way home, I had to smile as I remembered how lucky we are to live right next to the coast.

 

California Gurls.

 

And fall in NorCal wouldn’t be complete without a nod to Game Day.

 

She may be a California Girl, but she’s also her Dad’s football buddy.

Amelia’s well-rounded like that.

Back in Action

Amelia missed school again last Thursday. The cold that appeared to linger turned into a whole other illness that made the whole family sick. Holy hell. Preschool is some seriously germ infested shit. The doctor put her on antibiotics for the mystery illness that lingered and/or reappeared and/or disappeared and made room for another—largely because she’d been coughing for three weeks and hadn’t slept through the night for two.

Perhaps it’s this loss of sleep that led to mom and dad falling vulnerable to said illness? Either way, the medicated kid is doing much better than her parents today since we haven’t had the time to take ourselves to the doctor. Isn’t that how it always goes?

In any case, as of last week, Amelia had attended the same number of days as she had been absent from preschool in 3 weeks. Not awesome.

Last Tuesday

 

Blurry, partially-sick-probably-shouldn’t-be-in-school-Bug.

She was so upset to miss school on Thursday. I sat her down and said, '’Sweetie, Daddy’s going to come home and stay with you. I don’t think you should go to school today because you’re not feeling very well.” To which she replied, “No. I go to preschool today mama. I’m not sick. I go to school. Sound good to you? Sounds good to me!”

Mmhmm. It was like that.

When she woke up this morning, I asked her where she was going today and she said “PRESCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!” And then later, ‘Come ON mama! I’m all ready to go to preschool today!”

Today’s stats: no accidents AND a nap. Yes.

Doesn’t she look excited? About 1 second after I took this picture, she said, “Let’s go INSIDE mama!” Ok, ok.

When I picked her up today, she just a little happy girl. She has such a happy energy since starting preschool. She looks like a little ragamuffin by the end of the day but she’s as happy as a little bug. She does run up and wrap herself around  my legs, but she does not run out to the car to go home. Instead she gives me a hug and then runs back to the activity at hand or the snack on the table or to her friends. It’s a great feeling to know that she’s happy there. We were forced to move her to preschool when our *^$#! nanny quit unexpectedly, but it’s making her so very happy.

Oh but the illness sucks big time.

Still worth it.

On the way home, Amelia informed me that “When I get home, I’m putting my jammies back on.” To which I said, “But aren’t your clothes super comfy?” “No I put my jammies on at home. Super cozy mama.”

I laughed it off. And then we got home and as she walked in the door, she ran and grabbed the jammies she WOKE UP in and put them on.

And wore them all evening and then to bed tonight.

Awesome.

Sew ready for Halloween!

Somebody has a new, festive skirt! It only took me a couple of afternoons (including the standard array of interruptions) and was pretty fun to put together.

She loves to ‘wiggle wiggle’ in it, which means twirl and hip-shake. And she can tell you what is on every patch.

Meh. She needs a better top to go with, right?

See my new skirt?!

Yeah, she is that long.

She likey.

And she’ll be able to wear it all month to any/all Halloween functions or just about town (read: preschool). LOVE it! (pink fig pattern)

 

Nooooow, let’s just see if the actual costume comes together as well. eek.

I double-dog dare you

To look at this picture without even the tiniest giggle.

We got to hang out with Amelia's baby cousin, Sage last night! Sage is 4 months and was born only 4 days before her big cousin Amelia's birthday. She's just a little doll and Miss A couldn't get enough of that little baby girl. She wanted to hold her hand, give her hugs, and share her toys. I don't know . . . but . . .

something tells me that these little girls are going to get into some trouble together.

And I can't wait!

I need another baby

Because I really want to use these! Seriously. What a great idea! I SO wish I had those when Amelia was a babe. Much better than stupid printer signs. (see right)

And while we're on the subject, I'd also have lots and lots of these if there was another baby around.

And no, there is no other baby on the way--or even on the horizon for that matter (so please don't ask). Why not? Well, it turns out that things like this and this have a long recovery period.

I'll just have to settle for spoiling the babies in my life.

Day 2

Day two in preschool was another success! I worried that if Amelia were to have separation  anxiety it wouldn't be on the first day, but instead on subsequent days. I figured once she realized that preschool means mom going away all day, then we'd have problems. So today was the test. She seemed excited to go to school again as we got ready and even on the way. Then we pulled into the parking lot, me wincing in anticipation of a meltdown. Nothing. And when she went inside, she sat down and went right to it with the other kids and the activity at hand--which, fortunately for Amelia, was snack time. I knelt beside her, told her I had to leave and to have a good day. She looked at me and said, "I love you. Have a good day mama." And there it was. Day 2.

On another note, I thought it would be a great idea to take a picture of Amelia every day before school.

It was a great idea--until I realized that she'd had a pee accident on the way to school. Ack. Then I'm stuck with what to do. Change her in the car? Take her inside? What about the picture? Why change in the car when there's a bathroom inside? Snapped the picture and took her inside. So yeah, here she is in wet pants, smiling that smile--the one just for the camera and her annoying mother. Poor thing. Look at her feet. Wet. Pants. Mama.

So stripping down to her naked baby form was not the smoothest way to start the day, but she rather enjoyed standing in front of her classmates (4 other 2-year-olds) and playing with her belly button for all to see. It was a rough start, but the rest of the day appears to have been great. When I picked her up, she was happily playing with a puzzle, looked up, and said, "Hi Mama!" The teacher told me that she had fun with the water table, made a hand print painting, and had an all-around fab day. Then she whispered, "She's just sooo sweet." To which I smiled and nodded and wondered what made her say that specifically, but figured it would be digging too much for praise to ask.

Although I did notice that she was wearing somebody else's pants when I picked her up. They were baggy around the waist and too short. ha. There was another accident on the playground. Boo.

But I've been saving the best for last. I was also informed this afternoon that Amelia . . . our Amelia Jane . . . the child who doesn't sleep anywhere but in her bed . . . the one who has to have her shades closed, sound machine on, and an entire gang of loveys . . .who won't even snuggle up in her parents' bed, EVER . . . fell asleep during nap time. On a mat. In a room full of other kids. Gang in tow.

And speaking of sleeping, I'll sign off with how I signed on this morning.

Good Bye Summer!

Summer went to sleep with the sun tonight. My best girl and I decided to send it off with one last summery kind of day.

We went to the zoo! It’s actually a sanctuary, which is different. It’s better than a zoo because the animals are all rescued and unable to live in the wild. They are not in captivity for the sake of human recreation and most of them are animals local to our area (the above lady excepted). This makes them a little less exotic of course (above lady excepted), but still fun to see and in most cases, not hiding behind weird glass boxes. (The above picture was not taken with zoom!) It’s not as great as a zoo in the way of mama conveniences either. The only bathroom is outside the entrance, all the way to the front.  Not awesome.

Anyway, it was a new place for us and a fun way to spend the morning.

Um, someone missed the concept of acting like a big, scary bear. RAWR. Or, “Hi Mama!” as the case may be.

We had fun learning about the animals and seeing them in a natural-ish environment, but the allure wore off fairly quickly. It was a lot of walking and not a lot of sightings. . . and the whole potty thing.

Luckily, we’d scoped out a park right next door. We’d also packed some food for a picnic so we headed over to play, relax, and snack.

Our lunching, relaxing plans were disrupted as soon as Amelia saw this park.

A really awesome park! All of the structures (wagon, hotel, steam coach depot) had various park playthings like bells, puzzles, etc. The covered wagon had a steering wheel that Amelia LOVED.

“I’m turning the WHEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLL!” There were even gear shifters off to the right. So cute.

Then there was this

“I see everybody swinging, mama!!!”  She looks like some kind of pioneer, wagoneering, westward bound spy. And I should know, as an historian and all.

And speaking of swings, Amelia can swing all day long. “I’m flying in the sky with the birdies!” She swings at the parks near our house all the time.

But these swings? They took swinging to a whole new dimension.

Yep. A CHAIR swing! How cool is that? Well, look at that little face. I mean, if that doesn’t say cool, I don’t know what does.

It was a good day, but we were beat by lunch. Still recovering from yesterday, we were both ready to head home and take a nap.  I asked Amelia if she wanted to stop and get some tacos or eat somewhere on the way home since I had to drag her away from that park. To which she said, “No mama. Let’s just go home and eat.”  Um, okay?

After lunch, Amelia slept for THREE hours. The poor thing. It really was a big day yesterday. Part of me probably was just trying to recover myself in taking her on an outing today. To reclaim the mommy/baby days, I guess. Now that she’s all academic and whatnot.

By evening, I’d decided that Wednesdays shall be for staying around the house and playing it easy. Preschool is seriously tiring stuff and Wednesday is her (read: OUR) day to rest in between. She went to bed on time tonight and went right to sleep, even though she’d only gotten up from nap a few hours earlier (when I finally went in and woke her!) and typically talks and sings to herself for a long while.

Tired Bug. Good news is that tomorrow is our whole family’s Friday! (Yes, Thursday is my Friday. Don’t hate.) Weekend!

Wish us luck for another great day at Preschool tomorrow!!

And so long summer. You’ve been good to us and we love you so. And it’s time for you to go. Until next time, friend.