It's almost Christmas

It's been really fun introducing Aurora to Christmas. Last year she was way too little to understand, although she did enjoy hiding behind the tree. This past weekend we drove up into the Santa Cruz mountains to our favorite tree farm and wandered around until we found just the right tree.

We didn't pick this one, but it was too good a picture not so share.

Decorated and ready for Santa. Thanks Google for the bonus sparkles.

That afternoon, Aurora had a great time playing peek-a-boo behind the tree. We headed into downtown San Jose to the annual Christmas in the Park festival. We hopped in line to wait for Santa, and after about 30 minutes got into see the big man. Unfortunately, Aurora wanted no part of sitting in Santa's lap, so we got a family portrait instead. She warmed up a bit after Santa gave her a candy cane, evening blowing him a kiss and saying, "Bye, Santa!"

Next we headed over to the rides, where we learned that our girl may be horse crazy. Two trips on the carousel were just not enough and there were many tears as we left behind her beloved caballo. Next year we'll plan for more tickets.

It will be interesting to see what she thinks about Christmas day!

Until then,
Sarah

Two!

This post is a few days late because we were really busy over this Thanksgiving weekend throwing a big birthday party! We invited a bunch of friends and the kids from her sitter's family.  All told I think there were 12 kids.

We got a giant bouncy castle and set it up in the backyard. M jumped in there and tried to get Aurora to join her, no luck.  She was scared. Fast forward to 3:30 when the other kids arrived, she can't get enough of it.

We ordered some pizzas, fed everyone delicious cake M made and then sent everyone home.  It was a great time and we were totally exhausted when it was over.

I'm getting used to the fact that Aurora is now 2. Sure, we've entered the "terrible 2s." She's a smart kid and sometimes she gets frustrated, she can be stubborn like her Mommy, and just as easily a little snuggle bug. What's most shocking to me, is it seems still like just yesterday when she came into our lives. I can't think of a better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to cap it off with her birthday. We truly are thankful for our little ray of sunshine.

Happy Halloween!

Mmmm candy

In early September I found some awesome Bat Girl pajamas with a cape for Aurora at Target. They were so great I went back looking for more and found this fabulous Super Girl nightgown.  Rather than try to figure out something else for Halloween, I just picked up some red tights and called her done.

She loves "flying" through the house with her cape and of course, all the candy.

She wore her costume to daycare and went to the kids Halloween parade at the school nearby.

A B C D or something like that

Old friends

In trying to keep Aurora busy this weekend, I pulled out a bag of toys that I've been dragging around for over 20 years. Some old friends, like the Raggedy Ann my mom made for me when I was 5. It's amazing to me how much she has grown up in a very short time.  In just a few months she'll be 2.

Summer in Seattle

At the end of August we took a family trip to Seattle to celebrate our friends Laurie and Corrine's marriage at their house/mini-farm on Vashon. The trip also fell on M's birthday so she did some celebrating with our friends Scott and Beth and her brother Erik while Aurora and I got some farm time on Vashon. Aurora had such a great time on Vashon riding in the wheelbarrow, eating fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries from garden and visiting the chickens. Since we got home, she continues to ask to go see "Lawlie" and the "tickins" several times a day.

We also had a great time picnicking with M's family up in Everett. Aurora had a fantastic time alternating between aunts and cousins on the playground. After the picnic we all spent the night with our good friend Emily in Marysville before heading back to Seattle.


Our last day in town started with a visit with Grandma and Tapa in Everett where Aurora got to meet Grandma's bunny Bugs. We finished off our last night in Seattle with a fun dinner with Scott, Beth, and our friends Brian and Brooke. Then back on the airplane at 6am! and home to San Jose. It's always a little bittersweet to leave Seattle and there's never enough hours or days to connect with everyone we'd love to see, but it's always good to get back to our roots.

In the garden

Wheelbarrow ride

Congratulations Corrine and Laurie!

Adventures in solo parenting

Is Mommy home yet?

Before Aurora was born, M spent about 10 days in Zimbabwe as part of some work she's doing at the Medical School there. At the time I was 30 weeks pregnant and not super happy about her being gone, but was proud of the work she's doing. Well here we are in 2013, and M is back in Zimbabwe for a 10 day trip to continue her work there. While she's away I'm getting a tiny taste of what it's like to care for a child on your own, it's exhausting! Thankfully my parents and some friends have chipped in to make it a little easier.

Mommy has been gone for 5 days now, and Aurora definitely misses her. In the morning she points at M's bathrobe and asks, "Mommy?" and I explain that Mommy is in Africa. The one thing that's made this easier for her (and me too), I think, is that we've been able to see M via Google Hangout. So twice now in the morning here (early evening in Zimbabwe) we've had a video chat. Aurora says, "Hi!" to Mommy and leans in for a virtual kiss.

Aurora and I have had some fun together. She's learning to blow bubbles (instead of just dripping the liquid everywhere), she's doing lots of coloring, and we've read every book she has at least 10 times. She changes so fast, it's hard for me to imagine what it would be like to be away from her.  Tonight for the first time, she said, "Goodnight," when I put her to bed. While it is nice to get this time with her, I think we'll both be pretty happy when Mommy gets home.

Pee Pee

A few weeks ago, Aurora started expressing some interest in adults using the bathroom. We decided to order an Elmo potty chair (complete with flushing lever, sounds of flushing, and Elmo cheering you on.) Its mostly sat unused in the bathroom, with her a few times being willing to sit on it while one of us uses the big toilet.

On Saturday, she went voluntarily, and peed twice in the potty chair. The first time she got so excited she jumped up and pooped on the floor nearby, but close enough. :)

So yesterday as a reward/future encouragement, she and I went shopping at Target. She got a pack of Dora the Explorer (new favorite Spanish/English bilingual cartoon kid) pull-ups, some training pants, and a small plastic box with Abby from Sesame Street on the lid. I filled up the box with Reese's Pieces, and she's already associated successfully going pee pee in the potty with getting a piece of candy. Yesterday she went twice more in her potty chair, and had a little tinkle this morning after a naked run into the kitchen turned into a little extra cleanup there.

Yes, this is a bit early to be potty-training, but not excessively so. She's been watching the little boy who is with her sitter part-time go through training now, and wants very much to emulate. She's been making it clear she's ready to start being a big girl. She's super excited about the prospect of not wearing diapers soon.

And yes, both of us are very proud. As always.

Dancing queen

Over this past weekend we went to our good friends Asanee and Scott's wedding down in Redlands.  We've seen Aurora dancing at home, and we know she really likes it.  What we didn't know is this kid can really cut a rug and she doesn't care what's happening while she's doing it.

Happy half-birthday baby

Aurora is 18 months old today.  I can't believe how fast she is growing. It seems certain she'll be busting out of her 24 month size clothes any day (especially since I just bought a bunch of them).  She is just non-stop go go go. She loves nothing more than to RUN as fast as she can (especially if we're trying to catch her).

Anyhow, this is just a short note to wish my baby girl a happy 1/2 birthday.  Seems like just yesterday we were celebrating her 1st.

Hoppy Easter!

So over the past weekend, we took a 5 day trip to Georgia with Aurora to visit her godmoms.

They live a fair distance from Atlanta, so it was a bit of a trek to take a toddler and her accoutrements. But quite worth it, and we all got to spend some great time with good friends and family.

First daylight Saturday found us trying to rapidly adapt the house for toddler semi-safety, or at least making it so we could herd her to safety periodically. Aunt Heather, Aurora, and I made a rapid dash for some place 20 miles or so off down some crazy country roads. Aurora was delighted to find an incredibly friendly boxer dog (she kept calling her Toby), a tractor to play on, and even better, a borrowed high chair and one of those little plastic push cars. That saved the sanity of all the rest of us. She loved being outdoors in Georgia springtime (one of my favorite times and places too.)

A john deere tractor, a dog, what else could a country girl need? 

Aunt Monica promised to teach me how to make hollandaise

All sweet surprise finding eggs

Aunt Monica boiled up a big kettle of eggs, Mama and I dyed them up, and Aunt Heather and I dodged intermittent raindrops to get them put out quickly. Aurora loved the whole thing, and Heather took a few great photos shown here while I managed to grab a little video of her egg hunting skills. 

Hunting for Easter Eggs

We went off to Atlanta on Tuesday, had a rapid visit with Mommy's old friend Kat, and a whirlwind drop by with friends B, K, and their new little A-man. Then a long trip home to sunny San Jose, and back to the usual week. 

Mommy's old Army friend Kat lets Aurora catch the motorcycle bug early

Time with toddlers goes by fast!

It's been a busy few months. Aurora is growing and changing seemingly every day.  Some recent feats include: dancing, jumping, plus an increasing ability to communicate.  We're able to talk to her more, and while she may not be able to reply, she seems to understand more and more.

Yesterday I picked her up from the sitter and kids all had "wings" taped to their backs.  Aurora really wanted to see the ones on her's and the video below shows what happens...

Happy New Year!

Oops, it seems that a great deal of time has passed and this post is really overdue.  Suffice to say we've been so busy having a good time with Aurora we just didn't have time to write a blog post.

On November 30 Aurora turned one and on December 1st we had a big party!  Would it be enough to say she enjoyed her cake, no, so here's a picture.

This stuff is awesome!

We had a great celebration with several friends flying in just for the occasion, it was a blast!

Aurora and Auntie Joy

After her birthday party we piled into a couple cars and went to San Jose Christmas in the Park to see Santa.  It was wet and cold and we had to wait about a half hour to get inside.  Aurora was not impressed by the big guy, maybe next year.

Can we go now?

Fast forward just a few weeks and we headed out to a tree farm to find a Christmas tree. Aurora thought the tree was fascinating!

It's so fuzzy

I see you!

She especially enjoyed biting the tree branches when she thought we weren't looking.  Good thing fir trees aren't poisonous, although I can't imagine they taste that great!  

As usual, we had 2 weeks off for the holidays.  We spend the whole first week just playing and having fun with Aurora. We had a quiet Christmas day with just the three of us, we didn't have her open presents, just put a few things in her stocking.  We hear 3 is the magical year for all things Christmas.  

Meggy Christmas!

I want those stockings

The day after Christmas we took a trip to the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum.  It was a zoo, and not as fun as we had hoped but Aurora had fun playing in the splash zone (note to self, bring extra dry clothes and a towel next time) and blew our minds by returning a ball she found in one room to an exhibit 3 rooms away (somehow she managed to remember exactly where it was). 

Splashing!

To wrap up the holidays we hopped on a flight to Seattle.  Uncle Craig and his family were in town visiting from The Netherlands and we didn't want to miss the chance to see Aurora's Aunt Tish and cousins Makai, Maya, and Simon.  The kids had some fun and we had a few days to catch up.  Then we headed for a much needed rest and New Years Eve celebration with our good friends on Vashon.  Aurora was super excited to see the chickens again and our friends Corinne and Laurie did a great job of clearing the decks to minimize how much Aurora got into (really is there truly such a thing as child-proof?)

Chilling at Laurie and Corrine's

Aurora and her cousin Beth

So here we are 2013. Aurora is 13 months old and into exploring everything she encounters.  On our flight home the friendly older man sitting by us told us she was destined to make people happy.  We're certain she already has!