Beauty light

I caught some beauty light today. And I can't decide which photo is my favorite. I need to pick one for my Daily group. Which is your favorite?





I like this one as a close-up too.


Kylie learned how to play hide-and-seek today. She played it at Gymboree this morning with the other kids. This afternoon I got her to hide her eyes on the couch while I count to ten and "hid" one of her Little People sheep.

Ready or not, here I come!


I saw a fun tag over at Em-il-ie. You make your own album.

My band name was: Cyberspace Communications.
And my album name was "less than perfectly polished".
How cool! If you want to try it follow these instructions.

1 - BAND NAME Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random article”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - ALBUM TITLE Go to "Random quotations"or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - COVER ART Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar software to put it all together.

5 - Create a mix CD you feel reflects your band.

I didn't do 3,4,5 but I really like my band and album name!

Sheep and pages

Yesterday Kylie and I played a fun game that we found at toddlertoddler.com.

I cut out 8 sheep, taped them to pillows and asked Kylie to find them and hand them to me. She followed the directions beautifully and had a big time turning over the pillows. Delightfully, the game continued when Kylie decided to tape the sheep to the couch, then onto me, then onto herself, onto the windowsill...well you get the idea. And then we had running sheep and jumping sheep. It was fun!



The only other site I know that shares toddler activities (mostly crafts) is Skiptomylou.org.

If you have some favorite toddler sites like these, please share them in the comments. Activities like this really help on rainy days!

Here are some recent scrapbook pages.
Nice Try


Teething sucks


Kylie's big snow

Finding my silly

Yesterday started out as a good day. We had some wonderful fun at the playground. Kylie would go down the slide and I would catch her before she hit the puddle of water at the bottom and then twirl her around. She would laugh and would run to the slide stairs to do it again.

But then Kylie missed her usual nap. I put her down but she refused to sleep. And our normal schedule went careening off the tracks. At one point around noon Kylie gave me this look like, "What do we do?" and I answered "I have no idea". Should we go out to eat? Should we try the playground? Should we try someplace new? My mind bounced around and couldn't decide. I was frozen with indecision.

I was also reeling because Kylie woke up at 7am instead of her usual 6-6:30am. So my mind was filled with panicked thoughts like, "Oh no! She's going to give up her naps and decide to stay up all day! Wouldn't it just figure that she would decide to do that while Karen's away on business and I'm by myself. All of our routines are going to change!"

Can't you just hear the chattering, panicky monkeys screaming all at once in my head?

So we stayed at home and made half-hearted attempts at eating and playing. Finally, at 1:30 Kylie and I both got naps. But instead of waking up refreshed, we both woke up feeling sluggish and churlish.

Late in the day, she asked me for "Elmo" and I though "Heck yeah. You escape into the absorbing world of Bert and Ernie and I'll escape into my book". I know it's been a bad day when I use television as a babysitter.

At 6:30 I crashed on the couch with my knitting. Usually when I have a bad day, I'll watch a Austen movie like Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice. Those movies are like a sweet balm to my spirit. But I was too dang lazy and despondent to even get up off the couch.

So I ended up hitting the DVR button and turning on a recorded Supernanny. Which was exactly what I needed.

As I was mentally reviewing the day, I kept thinking, "What could I have done differently?" And I just wasn't coming up with any good answers.

But then I heard Supernanny say, "She needs a parent who will be fair, funny and silly with her". And that was it. That was the answer. I had completely and utterly LOST MY SILLY.

This revelation brought a big smile on my face. Already my mind was putting down the self-deprecating thoughts and was filling up with ideas on how to be silly.

What a relief to have found my silly again! So in the spirit of silliness, here are some pictures of me horsing around at the Olympic Museum in Toronto back in 2004.


At Disney in 2005

And with my darling girl in the Fall.

Now go out and be silly!

Such fun stuff

Here's some new fun stuff about Kylie.

Kylie has started scootering down the stairs facing forward instead of with her belly to the stairs.

For the past two mornings, Kylie has picked out her breakfast. On Friday she opened the pantry door, took out the container of cereal, marched it to the table and said, "Cereal!". On Saturday, after I made her a waffle and veggie sausage, she asked, "Peanut butter?" She ate a teaspoon of it with her waffle. Who knows what Sunday will bring?

She's determined to see me be a better housewife. When I sweep or mop the floor she "helps" me with her broom. When I'm done she demands, "More clean Mommy". As I was folding laundry in my bedroom, I asked Kylie to take one of her shirts to her room. She left, came back and asked, "more?". I gave her several more things and was very pleasantly surprised to find the stuff I gave her was on the nightstand by her bed. Way to go, Kylie!

Tonight I pulled out two outfits for Kylie to choose from tomorrow morning. It doesn't work for her to stand in the closet with me in the morning as I pick something out. She's had a fit the past few days wanting to wear short-sleeved shirts. Hopefully, the two-choice thing will work. Power struggles at 7am aren't fun. Although, dude, I love the hat!

Some mornings Kylie plays the "back to sleep" game. She will want me to turn off the lights and sit beside her in the darkness as she pretends to sleep for a few more minutes. "Get up Mommy. Lights off. Sit down [on the] floor Mommy"--lots of early morning orders from Miss Kylie.

On Thursday morning, Kylie went up the stairs. When I started to follow her she said, "sit down [on] couch Mommy". She played upstairs by herself for about 15 minutes. I spent the larger portion of Thursday afternoon reassuring myself that everything upstairs is completely child-proofed. This got me started on a Spring cleaning kick.

On Friday, Kylie put two of her stuffed animals together and announced, "Friends".

She handed me a napkin and said, "Wash fingers". When I wiped my fingers and put down the napkin, she handed it back to me and said, "Now thumbs". I almost choked on my Diet Coke snorting with laughter. I've never said that to her. I've no idea where she got it.


Kylie gifted me with a lovely toddler poem. At breakfast she said:
sunshine
apple
mommy's eyes
mmmmm good.
(You probably had to be there but I was touched).

She really liked the Children's Playground next to the Rose Garden. We went to it for the first time on the 18th. This photo doesn't do it justice but the playground has lots of interconnecting ramps with bunches of activity centers and slides.


She really enjoyed walking on the playground's balance beam.


The pots/pans/oven mit kit that I got her on Thursday has been a big hit.


She's such a delight. Now here are some pictures of her in her bed to make you go "aawwww".

Sliding off the chair

Something fun for our Friday. The sliding off the chair happens at every meal. Today I felt like capturing it.

First we lean down and play a few rounds of peek-a-boo with Mommy or we check out the crumbs under the table. Plus we show off our dimples.

We begin our descent but then we decide to check our core body strength and hold this position.

And then we do some wacky, toddler gymnastics. ARCH!

Continue sliding down.

Turn and grin at Mommy who is practically laying flat on the floor to catch these shots.

Touchdown. But what's this? Oh my goodness! I've stolen an apple slice from the table. I shall now do the toddler dance of joy.

Strike a photogenic pose in the hopes that Mommy will be distracted with her camera and won't ask me to finish my apple at the table.

Capture Life!

The color green and more

I've been drawn to the color green. So much so that I'm taking pictures of Kylie eating peas

and pears.

and making scrapbook pages like this. 21 months

I guess I'm just longing for Spring.

A few more pictures. Yesterday while Kylie was napping, I made this.

Just so I could watch her do this.

and this.

It was fun though. She played with the blocks for 30 minutes.

Oh, and I have a new camera lens. I got a great deal on a 50mm 1.8 for my Nikon. I'm still learning about it but on the first day I had her I shot this--this is straight out of the camera--shot in very low light without a flash.

I notice that that the whites are whiter, Kylie's skintone isn't as ruddy, the overall image is sharper and I'm "getting more" without the flash.

Here's a picture of my baby. She really wants out.

Yep, she really, REALLY wanted out. I'm the mean old mommy who won't let her go out at 7:30am in her pajamas.

How sick is it that I cheerfully take pictures of my daughter crying. On a scale of 1-10? Come on. You know you do it too.

22 months

Dearest Kylie,

Today you are 22 months old! This past month as been all about climbing, counting, colors and kisses.

You climb all over the furniture in our family room. Your favorite is to climb from the floor to the toy piano, then up on the black chair, then slide down to the floor and do it all again. You also like to slide your matchbox cars and your stuffed animals down the chair slide.

You moved from a crib to a toddler bed this month and you climb easily in and out of it. You still wait for one of us to get you in the morning and after your naps before you get out of bed.

You no longer sit in a booster seat at home; you sit in our regular dining room chairs. You are squirmy but well-behaved. You no longer wear a bibster at meals.

You started swim class this month. You can calmly do a cheek-to-cheek backfloat and have blown a few bubbles. You are extremely happy in the water.

Throughout the day, you recite numbers as you play. I’ve heard you recite 3-9 correctly many times. Two remains your favorite number and you love to have your toys in pairs.

You are working hard to learn your colors. You constantly name the color of what you are holding and then look to us to either verify or correct you. You still make lots of mistakes yet you consistently try.

You are developing a sense of time. You understand and say, “later” and “in a minute”.

You’ve started making faces at the camera.

You are learning new words at too rapid a rate to record. But some new words and phrases we’ve heard a lot of this month are: “hold it”, “this is stuff”, cute, pretty, okay, and new. You are infatuated with new toys and books. We hear a lot of “Read Kylie’s new book” and “Hold Kylie’s new toy”.

You like to sing “Old McDonald” with me. Your parts are “ee-i-ee-i-oh” and picking the animal such as a cow and then singing “moo, moo here” and “moo, moo, there”. You can be quite inventive and have put an elephant, a snake, a lion and a fish on the farm in addition to animals like cows, sheep, ducks, dogs, cats, and such.

You enjoy helping us empty the dishwasher. You know where to put your toddler plates and the Tupperware. And you love it when one of us hands you something and asks you to throw it away for us. You really like to sweep.

Whenever you want comforting from a bruised knee or a bumped lip, you request, “kiss it, kiss it” as you cry. And it is wonderful that once we’ve kissed it, you calm right down.

You are a delightful little girl and we love you!

Conned, but who cares

Yesterday, Kylie told me that she wanted to go "out on mat" outside our back patio. I obligingly opened the door for her thinking that she would come right back in.

But it turned into an 1 1/2 hour romp outdoors.
First she tells me she wants to sweep.

And then play in the grass.

And this was my favorite--playing in rain puddles.

All the while, she's wearing her house shoes and not wearing a jacket. So yes. I had been conned by my kiddo. But I didn't care because it was delightful to see Kylie enjoying herself so much.

Saturday, we went to a new indoor playground. It had a very cool trike area. Kylie sat on her trike and moved around a bit while these older kids went zooming around her. She squealed with laughter the entire time. Karen and I kept looking at each other and then looking at her, amazed and delighted that she wasn't scared or intimidated by it all.


Lastly, here are two scrapbook pages.



Hope you have a great Monday.