Movie Monday

Just a few cute movies for you. 

The first two are from our recent road trip...

Entertaining herself with the sugar packets when we ate out.

Helping Grandpa scoop ice cream.

This one is an older video, that I feel like I shared before, but I didn't see it in my list of uploaded videos, so I must not have.  Its just delightfully random and cute.

And taking care of her baby doll. Whom she now feeds, burbs, changes her diaper, takes her shoes on and off, and just generally plays with. Its very sweet.

Big Girl Room

As I write this (which is not exactly when it publishes) we are exactly 2 months from my due date. Meaning it is time to get serious about Papillon's transition to her new room.  Thanks to Mon Amour's hard work, it is move-in ready.  Some of the finishing touches will come later as we find the missing pieces and get more confident that Papillon won't mess with things that we add to the room.  For now though, this is what it looks like. 

Note the super-sweet brown, floral comforter. (there are bright pink sheets under there!  With a back up set of neon green sheets!) 

Three of the walls are a very very light pink. With one bright pink wall!

The decorations are going to be from all over the world. So far she has some artist original pictures from Australia and one piece of wall art from Indonesia.   And a fox-shaped camping chair...probably from Wal-Mart. :-)

The door presently lacks a door knob. The one that was there locked with the push of a button from the inside, and then couldn't be unlocked from the outside. This obviously could not be.  Soon enough we will go get non-locking door knob.  Also note the sweet green bookshelf? Eventually she will have a bed frame and possibly a dresser that will be that same color green.

I am pleased to report that we have begun the process of transition to sleeping in her big girl room.  Today (again, not the day this publishes...but the day I wrote it) is day 3 of big-girl bed naps.    Day 1 was a smashing success.  2 hours of napping, without any fuss on either end. In fact she stopped me from reading her a book in order to climb into bed.  Day 2 was a little trickier, but that was Marge's fault. I put Papillon to bed, and Marge promptly barked like crazy.  Papillon decided to get out of bed, stand at her door and say "hush, Marge".  Then she wouldn't go back to bed. But, we did try again like 20 minutes later, and she fell right to sleep...again 2 hours, no troubles.  Upon waking she figured out how to open her door, so she came to find me when she awoke. Poked her head around the corner into the dining room and said "Hi" cheerily. So sweet.    Day 3, went right to bed again (hurrah!) but only slept for 1.5 hours (if that) before climbing out of bed to come find me.   I would say our transition to the Big Girl Room is going very well. 

While we are on the subject of Big Sister and Little Sister....check out these adorable matching dresses that a friend made.

Officially their first matching outfits. Complete with matching hair accessories.  Can't wait for the girls to be able to wear them together!

Fish!

I was very excited the other day to be able to take Papillon (who is officially a fish-detective. She spots them everywhere!) to the aquarium.  To make the trip even more exciting, the friend who invited us is one of Papillon's favorite friends. She is just about 1 year older, which makes her just enough older for Papillon to idolize her. Papillon sometimes just stares and her and takes in the awesomeness.  Her friend also thinks Papillon is pretty cool, cause she can tell her what to do and lead her around by the hand, and Papillon readily complies.

Here are some pictures of the two of them at the dolphin show.

And of course, Papillon's friend's little brother (and their mom, of course) were there too. Isn't he adorable?

Papillon, as always, was a little overwhelmed by the new situation (it is pretty dark in the aquarium and it was fairly busy) but she did very much like seeing all the different kinds of fish.  We will definitely be going back some day in the not to distant future.

Basketball Game

Last week, Papillon attended her fist basketball game.  She wasn't sure what to make of the game itself, though she did like to say "ball" and point.

What she preferred was walking around the arena smiling and waving at everyone. She would occasionally stop and peek through the railing at the game, and cheer when everyone else cheered.

Go Navy!  (we lost, but, that was sort of expected)

Road Trip Part 2, Niagra Falls

Day 2 of our road trip, we took a little trek up to Niagra Falls.  It was still cold, but sunny and pleasant none the less. 

Here is Papillon and Grandpa in front of Horseshoe Falls.

I had been to Niagra Falls once before, but it was a long time ago and we saw it from the Canadian side. This time we stayed State-side which provided a very different view.   It goes without saying that the falls are most impressive.

We walked from Goat Island (don't ask me which it is called that) where you can see Horseshoe Falls, around and off the island to the other side of American Falls. Papillon walked happily for a bit, but poor Little Brother's back hurt from bending over and Papillon wouldn't let go of his hand. So She ended up being carried by Grandpa most of the way.

We had to take the obligatory close-to-the-edge picture for Mom, complete with a "No Climbing Over Railing" Pose.

Little Brother taught Papillon "Where is Canada?" to which she enthusiastically  pointed and said "Eh!" like a good Canadian.

Grandpa taught Papillon "what a waterfall does" which involves a swoosh sound and a nifty hand motion. Papillon got very good at it.

While looking for a tourist shop to warm up in (note to self, Niagra Falls basically closes in the winter, so its probably best not to go in January. Oh well, you live and learn) we found this pretty sweet sign - you may have to click on the picture to see it.  It says "Unattended Children will be given an espresso and a free puppy". Clearly we had to get a picture of Papillon looking unattended next to the sign.

After failing to find a toasty place to thaw out, we opted to have lunch in the car before heading back.

After lunch, before officially returning, we stopped by the oft-forgotten, but equally-amazing-as-the-falls Whirlpool.  It's an impressively large pool along the Niagra river where the river takes a sharp turn to the right. It rushes in on the left side of the pool, goes around pool counter clockwise, but then to get out on the right hand side of the pool. In order to do this the current actually dips underneath the incoming flow.  It seems some people have ridden through the incoming rapids and around the whirlpool in a barrel. One poor chap tried to swim it, but he didn't make.

It was a pretty cool place. I would highly recommend paying it a visit if you ever find yourself in Niagra Falls. 

On the trek home, I swore that Papillon would take a good solid nap. It was, after all, a 2 hour car ride and she hadn't slept all day.  However, I was totally wrong and she stayed awake, the whole time. Crazy kid. 

Our day ended with a little dinner at a mexican restaurant. Papillon amused herself by arranging the sugar packets on the table ... .

..and drawing on a few with her crayons.

The next day it was time to make the long trek home.  We got up early and while we packed, Papillon sat in the bed having some milk and blueberry muffin for breakfast.

Papillon slept like a trooper on the way back! Her 2 hour morning nap allowed us to get 4 hours of uninterrupted driving in.  Miraculous!

On the second leg of the trip home I sat in the back with her (my arm was getting sore from reaching back to hand her things).  And we enjoyed a little peanut butter bagel for lunch. Peanut butter got everywhere...

...but it was worth it. Papillon was a happy camper as you can tell by her "smile for the camera" face!

When all was said and done, we logged 1200 miles on the road in 4 days.  Papillon was ready to be done with cars forever when we got back. But she really did a fantastic job with how much we abused her schedule all weekend long.  

Road Trip Part 1

Mon Amour was recently out of town for business again, and Papillon and I decided that we needed to take some kind of fairly significant trip to pass the time. We have gotten pretty talented and keeping ourselves busy locally, but it was time for a change pace.  

So, Papillon, my dad and I packed up the car and set off on a roadtrip to visit my Little Brother at college waaaay waaay off in the distant cold corner of nearby state.    We headed out early, knowing that the 6.5 hour trip with a toddler in tow would probably take a bit longer than that and we wanted to get there before dark. 

Papillon was a trooper and we only made 2.5 stops on the way out (the 1/2 stop was just for gas and we didn't even get her out of the car). When we arrived it was snowing quite significantly, and I was very thankful that dad was driving and not I. I trust his snow driving skills much better than mine.  We got checked in, paid a quick visit to Little Brother and then called it a night. 

The real fun started the next day which we kicked off properly with a big dose of pancakes at the appropriately named "The Breakfast Place".  Little Brother very kindly saved me from ordering the full "short stack" which would have been 4 fluffy pancakes the size of a dinner plate. He assured me that even he had never made it through the full short-stack.  I got a half stack (2 gigantic pancakes) and even my pregnant-self was slowing down by the middle of the 2nd pancake.

We got Papillon french toast, but she preferred Grandpa's Sausage Gravy.  Anything Grandpa was eating was obviously tastier than what was on her plate.

You know how restaurants give kids a paper menu and a couple crayons?  Well this place was posh, and Papillon got a whole box of 24 crayons to use! So many options, she had to share some with Uncle E.

On the way from breakfast to church, Papillon grabbed a quick cat nap. 

I had told dad he needed to sleep in later than his normal 2am wake up time lest he wake Papillon...he dutifully slept in until 6am. And at the first sound of him stirring, Papillon stands up in her pack n play and happily cries out "Hi!".  The 2nd day, at 6am, I thought Dad had succeeded in sneaking out of bed without waking her and I rolled over to take a peek...there she was, standing in her pack n play, holding on to the side with her nose peeking over the top. When she saw me move, she just lifted one hand and waved and smiled with out a word.  The cuteness melted me.     Side note about sleep: Poor thing, all weekend got no more than 20 minutes of nap at a time. She was sleep deprived for days after our return.  But she dealt with the lack of sleep admirably. 

After church, we trotted off to "Presque Isle" for some scenic touring.  It was very sunny and very cold.

The snow and wind of the previous day had blown the lake up on the branches, creating some pretty spectacular ice sculptures on the trees.

 

And on the picnic table, which of course Little Brother and his friend had to sit on...and get stuck to! 

After a morning of gallivanting about in the cold, we headed back to Little Brother's apartment to hang out for a bit.  Papillon was tired enough, and enough overwhelmed by all the new experiences that she was sitting perfectly still. So obviously I had to put her hair up in a pony tail. Carpe Diem!

Fun times with sharing her water and playing silly games with the fun family.

That evening, we headed back out to Little Brother's other church, affectionately known as "Church in a Bar".  This was a pretty nifty experience. They are very focused on the inner city crowd and they keep their service very "real".  Papillon even tested out the nursery which was most impressive, considering the church takes place in an old bar building and a good portion of the church go-ers are homeless. Papillon enjoyed herself despite being sleep deprived and in a new place; she didn't cry until I came back to pick her up at which point she took one look at me and just fell apart.  One of her new little toddler friends gave her a hug. So sweet. 

At the end of this very busy fun day, Papillon wouldn't even let me sing her a song before bed, she pushed me away and dove right into bed.

Scraped Knee

Papillon's first scraped knee happened about 2 weeks ago. It seems like one of those childhood milestones worth documenting.  For some reason it made me smile happily every time I saw her little "boo boo". 

The story went like this. We were preparing to take Marge for a walk and I got the stroller out and asked Papillon if she wanted to get in. She said "no" decisively.  Did she want to walk? I asked. "Yes" she said confidently. Just to make sure she knew what she was saying, I asked a few more times and even tried to put her in the stroller anyway. But she was determined.   So with Marge leading the way, an empty stroller in tow and Papillon toddling just behind me, off we went. 

Papillon was very good at following me and staying on the sidewalk when I asked. Unfortunately one little road goes slightly downhill and has no sidewalk. In her attempt to dutifully walk on the "sidewalk" she walked on the slightly angled and rather narrow drainage gutter on the side of the street (its a different color pavement).  The combination of the two angles made it treacherous and she got going fast and then tripped and landed on the ground.  

Hand in the mud up to her wrist, knees getting the brunt of the fall, but her nose definitely scratching the pavement as well. There was about 1 minute of crying, and a little lip bleeding. But she quickly calmed down. 

"Do you want to ride in the stroller now?" I asked

"No"

"You want to walk more?" 

"Yes"

And off she went. 

We made it almost a full half-mile before Papillon sat down on the curb, stating matter-of-factly "sit".

She rode in the stroller the rest of the way.

She was very clearly pleased as punch with herself for her walk when we got back. 

And, I'm not going to lie, when I later discovered her bloody knee (didn't notice it until after we got back) I was pretty proud myself of her  for being so determined.  

Baking Lessons

Possibly Papillon's favorite activity these days is to "hap"  (aka "help") me with whatever I am doing.  If I go downstairs to get something from the pantry or grab the laundry, etc, she used to fuss cause she felt I had left behind. Now I ask her to help by closing the door behind me and she is perfectly happy to see me go.

She helps me sweep with a broom twice her height, helps me put things in the trash, but most of the time "helping"  means sitting on the counter while I do kitchen things.  She can't help much with dishes yet so she just watches. But she is a very good helper when it comes to baking.

She holds the measuring spoons.

 

And listens intently while I tell her what we are making. 

And when told, sits perfectly still while I dash to the other side of the kitchen to grab something.

She loves to taste test things (insisted on trying the salt...not a fan!)

She loves dumping ingredients in.

We made brownies the other day (not pictured) and she was so insistent on stirring that she wouldn't give up the spoon for and second and I had to get my own spoon and stir around hers.

I love my little helper!

She loves the snow

This is not yesterday's snow. Rather it is that bit of an intense snow shower that happened roughly two weeks ago. It was impressive looking snow, but didn't last long.   Anyway, the point of the story is...

Papillon loves the snow! This is not her first official experience with snow (there was less enthusiasm with that experience. ) but it was really her first time learning what it was. She now says "snow" and recognized it (excitedly!) yesterday morning when she got up and looked out the window!

Grandpa was kind enough to take her out and teach her how to catch and the blow the snowflakes away.   Grandpa got cold before Papillon did and so when they came back in the had to watch out the window for some time.

Snow is so much fun, she even had to stand on her tip toes to see it properly!

Tiny Baby

Thanks to this little kid for arriving a little early so that Mon Amour and I could make the little trek over to our old "haunt" to meet him before Mon Amour left for another business trip.  Added bonus - he shares Mon Amour's birthday! A good day to be born Little Guy, a very good day.

I love meeting new babies. Aren't his squishy little cheeks so cute?

He was totally zonked for most of our visit, I laid him in my lap and he just flopped. How sweet!

Papillon was intrigued by the baby. She wanted to point to his eyes and nose and such. We had to watch out and make sure that pointing to his eyes did not equal poking his eyes, but other than that, she seemed to take pretty well to the tiny-newborn-ness. A good sign for things to come, hopefully.

And of course, we can't forget the adorable older brother, who, himself, seems to be adapting quite well to the new addition. Look at those eyes!!

I think this is a "smile for the camera" face. Down right, hilarious!

Congrats to our good friends! The new little one is precious!