Peas Please!

Another weekend has come and gone, and with it, many more meals. I don't know why, but it felt like we did a lot of eating this weekend.

Here is Cara's dinner from Friday night. Yes, she is using a fork, and doing rather well with it too. However, it is apparently very difficult to get peas speared efficiently. She missed her mouth so many times, Maddie was having a blast waiting underneath her chair. Even when she eats peas with her hands, she eats them one at a time.... it is an excruciating process, particularly because she loves peas, so she will eat every single one of them on her plate before touching anything else. Grapes, we learned, are also difficult to get on a fork. The potato pancake worked much better - but she didn't really want to eat it herself, and ended up trying to feed most of that to mommy. Watermelon is easy to spear with a fork - but harder to get off the fork if it's a big piece. This whole learning to eat thing takes a lot of patience!

We also did some very adventurous eating out.... On Saturday night we went to a Mexican restaurant with some friends - well, 3 other couples with a total of 6 children between them (14 people in all). I thought this sounded like a complete recipe for disaster - but it ended up being really fun.

Cara had a chicken taco with beans and rice. She liked the rice a lot, and ate some of the chicken out of the taco - this was until she spied Bella's chicken fingers and fries. Now, you may wonder why we didn't order her chicken fingers and fries in the first place... well, up until now Cara wouldn't eat chicken fingers - she didn't like the breading - but, as seems the case fairly often, when she sees someone (especially an older kid) eating something, she's willing to try it. In any case, Cara ended up eating Bella's dinner too.

One of the mothers also had the very good idea to bring along a portable dvd player - so when the kids finished their food, the parents actually got to eat their dinner in relative peace while the kids watched toy story.

Actually, kids from other tables came over to watch as well. There is a great business idea in there somewhere!

Shoe-La-La

Ask pretty much any woman, and she'll tell you that there is nothing better than shopping for shoes - but who knew that shopping for little girl's shoes was even more fun than shopping for your own.

My friend Blair and I left the kids at home, and had a blast shopping for them at the "big" mall about 45 minutes away. Shopping for clothes for the kids was certainly entertaining, but the real fun was the shoes. Up until now Cara has pretty much worn the leather moccasin shoes called "Robeez" - which are wonderful and comfortable, and do a really good job of staying on little feet (no mean task, I might add) - not to mention that they're really cute. But now that Cara is walking all over the place, especially outside, she really needs tougher shoes.

When we were in Seattle, Grandma and Poppi took her to buy her first pair of shoes at the ultimate shoe paradise - Nordstroms. The pink and brown sneakers they got her have been very popular - and seem very comfortable. We also got her a cute pair of brown mary-janes style shoes - but they ended up being a little big, which became evident when I put them on her and she looked like a Clydesdale thumping around the house. So today's trip was partly to return those shoes and find something else that would be very wearable this fall.

Well, I really shouldn't shop with Blair, because she convinced me not only to return the shoes for another pair - but to buy an additional pair at the same time.

The brown pair was for the exchange - and the silver/gray pair was just a bonus. I wasn't even sure what she was going to wear them with - until we saw the new collection of clothes at Cara's favorite children's clothing store - "Janie and Jack". It was fate. And the silver shoes look so very, very cute on her.

Here they are in action...

We had lots of fun when we came home, as Bella, Max and Cara all gave us a little fashion show of their favorite new outfits

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Here is Max in his new car themed shirt and hat, and Cara in a lavender sweater and blouse with silver trimming.

And Cara, sans pants, showing off her first J-Crew t-shirt (yes, J-Crew now sells kids clothes).

And here is Cara in her lavender blazer, holding her purple jumper, and you can also really see her shoes in the next picture, as she isn't wearing any pants to detract from them.

I have to say that I really haven't enjoyed shopping this much in a long time. I don't know if it was just because we actually had 2.5 hours to actually focus on the task at hand, or just that kids clothes and shoes are really cute - in any case it was a good day.

Thank Goodness for "The Wiggles"

I would never have guessed that I would be thanking an all-male Australian band for helping me get through the day, but there it is....

For those of you who don't know - "The Wiggles" are 4 Australian guys (plus a couple of minor other characters) that sing silly songs, dance, and generally act silly for a half hour a day on playhouse disney. Unfortunately it's on at the same time as Sesame Street, but thanks to the magic of Tivo - I can record one-week of sesame street, and then the next week of the wiggles, and have enough episodes of each to get me through those rough days, like today. This works especially well since Cara appears to like the shows more and more when they are repeated. It's like when I was 8 or so, and watched "The Princess Bride" more than two dozen times one summer - it got better every time!

I know, I know, I'm a horrible mother for letting my daughter watch any television at all... but hey, it's not like I'm letting her watch "Deadwood" - although I've been tempted some days... there are times I feel very much like talking like Al Swerengen.

And Cara absolutely loves the Wiggles, but then, what's not to like for a one-year-old. They wear bright colors - the songs they sing are very repetative, and about things like drinking water and driving a red car - and they have a pirate who wears magic buttons (whose theme song I can't get out of my head --- ever!).

So, why am I thanking them today? Well - Cara had a bit of a rough night. She woke up around midnight, and couldn't get back to sleep for a while. Whenever she has a bad night, the day after is usually a wash, if not worse. We did go to the music class -which she enjoyed - and then went down for her nap. But for whatever reason she only napped for 45 minutes (her usualy nap is at least 2 hours, and sometimes as long as 4 hours) - so this meant that she was super cranky by late afternoon. This is not a girl who does well without sleep. I would have put her down for a second nap - but she wasn't really tired until after 4:30 - and if she napped then, she's be awake until 10 o'clock at night - throwing schedules off world-wide.

So, in order to keep her happy I tried all the tricks - we had snacks, we had friends over, we went for a walk (which included a 10 minute crying session after she bonked herself on the head with her sippy-cup) - but she was just not happy. When we got back from the walk, I sat her down on the couch, got her some goldfish (the ultimate one-year-old comfort food), and turned on the wiggles. We watched 2 episodes (about 45 minutes worth), which managed to get me to dinner time without a major tantrum. It may not seem like much, but when you have a cranky baby, this is a major accomplishment.

So, if it takes me a wiggles episode or two (or 5), to make sure I have a relative tantrum-free day - it's totally worth it.

The Complexities of "Ring-Around-The-Rosie"

What do you do with a cranky one-year-old on a very rainy day? You bring over friends to play of course. Today was particularly gross, with heavy, cold, rain all day. So we invited Cara's friend Evie over to play. The girls had a wonderful time taking everything out of every drawer and cabinet they could find - they particularly liked the pizza and cookie pans - they made wonderful bangs when hit on the floor.

At one point we tried to play "ring-around-the-rosie" but ran into a stumbling block when Evie refused to hold Cara's hand. Cara was most insistant that you couldn't do the song, unless Evie held her hand. She basically ended up chasing Evie all over the family room, trying to grab her hand and hold her in one place for the song. When they got to the part of "and we all fall down" - Cara gave Evie a little help (not exactly a shove, but definitely a strong suggestion) that she fell down. Then Cara was equally perturbed when Evie would not get up (despite much pulling on her hand) to play the game again.

Luckily, Evie is very forgiving, and didn't seem to mind too much being manhandeled by Cara.

This is a picture of Cara giving Evie a "hug" - Cara's hug basically consists of her resting her head on whoever is on the receiving end of the hug. Still, it was a very nice gesture.

So we managed to survive an entire rainy day inside. We're trying out a music class tomorrow - which could be a riot. I don't know if I'll have pictures from the class - but I'll try.

The trouble with orange

Orange is a great color - but when you dress a little girl in orange, there arise some minor issues.

Here was Cara's outfit today (see picture):

An olive sweatshirt (with orange, hot pink and yellow flowers on it), an orange polo shirt, olive khaki pants and pink sneakers.

Now, I admit that olive is a very neutral color, and apparently, so is orange - since everyone on the playground today thought she was a boy. No one seemed to notice the flowers or the sneakers - and I really think it threw me. I mean, I like pink and all, but it is nice to be able to dress kids in more than one color. Ok, I could get away with purple too.

There was another little girl in gender neutral colors at the park - but she had lots of cute curly hair - and just looked like a girl. Cara's still at that age (and hair stage) where you can't really tell. It didn't really bother me that people thought she was a boy (she was trying to play with the toy trucks and cars after all) - especially since I've spent most of my life being confused for a boy (because of my name, hopefully not because of how I look).

Other colors that are hard to distinguish if a baby is a boy or girl: green, red, tan, white, orange, brown and black. I think in the future I will also try to put a girly hair-clip in Cara's hair - maybe that will help. On a side-note, Cara has graduated from the itsy bitsy hair clips, to larger ones. If anyone has good suggestions for where to find good barrettes (the ones that flex open and closed) I'd love to hear suggestions. The best ones I've found so far have been in H&M - not a store I would have guessed, but one of Cara's friends gets her clips there.

In addition to our trip to the park, we also registered for fall swimming today. Cara loves the water, and has recently learned to hold onto the side all by herself. She saw a friend of hers do it, and was determined to try. I was actually really impressed, as I didn't think she would understand to hold on and not let go.

It will be interesting to see what she learns in her next swim class.

It's good to have friends

Even when you're only one-year-old, it's good to have friends. It's even more important in you're the mom of a one-year-old.

I'm lucky in that my next-door neighbor is also one of my best friends. And she has two adorable children, who are 4 and 2, and perfect foils for my little terror of a daughter. So tonight, we had our neighbors and their children, Max and Bella, over for pizza. After some minor squabbling between Bella and Cara over who owned the princess sippy-cup with the straw, everything settled into a normal rhythm.

Cara simply adores the older kids, especially Max, who, at 4, is the sweetest little boy I have ever met. He is so good to Cara, and takes especially good care of her. They all enjoyed chasing each other around the house, putting various amusing inflatable toys on their heads, and getting "airplane rides" from the mommies after they'd had a couple of glasses of wine (the moms, not the kids).

Bella and Cara are so much alike, although a year apart in age, which is why they ended up near fisticuffs over the sippy cup. When they get older - watch out... these are two kids who are destined to think up all kinds of trouble together. I'm hoping Max will be there to keep them under control.

Pizza was great fun, and Cara and Bella's dad discussed business ideas that would get them both out of the rat race. Ideas ranged from running a cheese/chocolate/pastry business (well, we all like to eat), to creating the next children's toy boom, to winning the lottery. Although I'm not sure winning the lottery really counts as a business plan... although it would be nice.

Baby Tornado

It is amazing how much trouble a one-year-old can get into in just seconds. Here is the little miss, playing inside the spice cupboard. I was attempting to make dinner, and she was playing at taking out the spices and putting them back in again. I also thought that everything was sealed. Not so...

That is vanillan sugar all over the floor, which, by the way, gets very sticky when it gets wet.

Not to mention I am now out of vanillan sugar, the key ingredient to everyone's favorite Christmas cookie - brunkaka.

This "before" and "after" literally took about 30 seconds. The time it took me to cut up an onion to put in the chicken piccata I was attempting to make for dinner. This is why I don't cook often anymore.

It seriously is simply exhausting to try and keep her out of trouble. I literally need to follow her around all day just to make sure she hasn't gotten into anything. It is a wonder we ever manage to eat, let alone get anything cleaned up. I really need to find another child lock for the spice cabinet that she can't break into. That is one messy cabinet. She also found the garbage the other day. She thought is was very amusing to put all of her toys and cups into the garbage. Life certainly isn't dull.

Suburbanhood

Why, you might ask, does the world need another blog. Well, I'm not sure it does. But I have had such fun this summer reading my sisters blog (http://www.summerofalana.blogspot.com/), that I figured there might be a few people who could be interested in the daily goings on in my little corner of the world.

So, what will I write about? The ever changing, and always exciting life of a suburban mother. For example - today Cara and I went for a morning walk in town, which culminated in my darling daughter stealing the clucking chicken toy (which is hysterical) of another child and refusing to give it back. I mean, I can understand her interest, this toy looked just like a miniature rubber chicken, and made a hysterical noise when squeezed.

A number of us asked where my friend bought it, since it was such a hit with all the kids, and I was not surprised when she said she found it at that bastion of random shopping - the Christmas Tree Shop.

For those of you who have never been in a Christmas Tree Shop, it is almost worth a trip to the east coast to find one. It's not just for Christmas stuff. They carry lots of seasonal merchandise (I bought a ton of luau gear for Cara's first birthday party there), and have everything from food to toys. But half the fun is never knowing what you'll find. The stuff isn't usually very expensive, and I've bought tables for $15 that are shaped like fish, and fold flat for storage. I can totally see taking Cara there in the future on a "shopping spree" the kind of thing my siblings and I would do at Stewarts Pharmacy when we were little and had $5 to spend. Ah, to be 7 again and happy with a handful of laffy-taffy and multi-colored glitter bracelets (yes, it was the '80's).

In any case, the rest of the day included me fixing the drain lever in the downstairs bathroom (not nearly as complicated as I thought it would be), and having Cara's friends Tad and Evie (along with their moms) over for pizza. The kids had a great time destroying the kitchen - which luckily Cara has destroyed many times before, so I was prepared. As an example of her wanton abandon with kitchen goods, check out this picture of her in the remains of an entire box of cereal at her grandparents house... Priceless.

See, never a dull moment.