Thank you for telling me that

Kaia has had an obsession with smoke for a long time. We were recently driving on a cold day and she observed that there was a lot of smoke outside (the exhaust from cars). I decided to try to explain the difference between smoke and steam to her. (Don’t quote me on this; I do not claim that this description is scientifically accurate!) I told her that smoke is when there is fire and steam is when hot and cold mix. She thought about it for a minute and then said, “Thank you for telling me that, Mommy!” We were recently going through pictures on the computer. As we were browsing through pictures of when Asher was born, Kaia observed, “He was naked!” I explained, “When babies are in their mommy’s tummies they don’t have clothes on; so, when they’re born, they’re naked.” Again she said, “Thanks for telling me that!”

Asher then and now:

Freebie!

This green chair was recently left in the lobby of our complex with a note to this effect: “Free! There is nothing wrong with this chair; we just wanted a change.” I immediately knew it would fit perfectly in our living room. The color is perfect, and I thought it would make our living room a tad bit more upscale than its predecessor, an IKEA chair smeared with Vaseline and lip gloss, among other things.



Peter, good man that he is, carried the chair all the way down the long halls to our home, not grumbling a bit because he completely trusted in my vision. =) A side benefit to getting the chair is that it motivated me to finish a throw I’d been working on sporadically since March. My vision of where the throw would end up had begun to dim, so I hadn’t sewn the squares together and I had almost stopped any progress on it. But as soon as I saw the chair, I knew the throw had found its home. So I worked like a madwoman over the next several days and this new addition to our living room was complete!

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The weather was exquisitely beautiful here today - in the mid-60's for Thanksgiving! We figured we couldn't miss this opportunity to head into the city for the Macy's parade. We haven't been since before the kids were born, and they're at an age we thought they'd really enjoy it.

I digress for a moment for another Kaia-ism, or should I say duck-Cinderella-bird-horse-ism? Let me explain. Recently I've gotten into trouble when I've called Kaia "Kaia." I get corrected with, "No, Mommy. I'm Cinderella. And you're Anastasia!" Lucky me! I get to be the less attractive, whiny stepsister! But at least Kaia has been far more willing to help with housework around the house! Well, I slipped up this morning and called Kaia "Kaia." She said, "No, Mommy. I'm not Kaia. I'm duck-Cinderella-bird-horse." Okay.

An amazing self-portrait.




Duck-Cinderella-bird-horse enjoying her favorite part of our Thanksgiving meal - butter, plain old butter.

Science Center Fun

We went to the science center while Jordan was here. It was nice to have someone else to help take photos of the kids. Asher took the opportunity to make lots of goofy faces.



Asher was getting really involved with helping Jordan blow a giant bubble.

Kaia loved this contraption that blows air really hard (you're supposed to blow a beach ball in the air and see what happens when you move the air blower to different angles - but that would have been much less exciting than blowing it right in your face!).

Stylin'!!

Note: this post is going to be a little long. I've been meaning to sit down for a while, so this is essentially 3 posts rolled in to one. Now you can't say I didn't warn you. =)

A few Saturdays ago, we traveled to southern New Jersey to visit REI - a sporting goods store that Peter LOVES. In fact, I'm not even sure which would win out as his favorite store of all time - REI or the Apple Store. That's really saying something because he really LOVES the Apple store. Since REI is about an hour and a half drive from us, we tend to only go about once a year. The kids needed new coats and so we headed down. We didn't actually keep track of how much time we spent there, but we think it may have been 4 hours! I'm not sure what we did that whole time. The kids both loved trying out bikes, sleds, shoes, etc. And Kaia kept asking us if we wanted to come to her cottage (e.g. hang out on the floor under a display of coats) for some almond cheese strawberries and cream (e.g. a very fancy imaginary creation). We left with way too much but at least we'll be warm all winter! When we saw the kids in these vests we just couldn't not buy them.




My brother Jordan has been visiting for about the past week. He's been trying to talk me into running the New York Marathon with him next year. Keep in mind I haven't consistently jogged in at least 4 years. But after giving birth naturally to Asher, I knew that a marathon was the next big item on my list of life goals. His presence here has inspired me and I took advantage of his babysitting to go jogging by myself a few days ago. Today he was gone visiting a friend, but by the end of the day I was just itching to get out running. SOOOOO I mustered up my courage and bundled the kids up for our first official jog together. It was only in the 40s today, and I didn't want them to freeze so I layered their clothing, and then some. Aside from their hands and noses, I'm pretty sure neither of them got cold. Asher was dressed to impress with socks & shoes, 2 pairs of pants, a long-sleeved turtleneck, his REI vest, his winter coat, and his hat from last year (somewhat cozy on his head now). Kaia was definitely stylin' in her princess shoes, tights under her favorite turquoise pants, the qipao (yes, she wore a Chinese qipao on our run), Winnie the Pooh jacket, her REI vest, her winter coat, and her purple hat from last year. I was very proud of myself for getting out the door even after taking all the time to get them so bundled up.




Finally, a couple of stories. We're thinking we may have lived in an urban area for too long. That's all Kaia's known except when we've been on vacation. She was pretending to be a whale a couple of days ago and she said she "came up for air, but there were no parking spaces!" Who would be concerned with that in any normal part of the United States? Only in an urban city do you have to worry about finding parking when you go grocery shopping, go to the mall, go to church, go to friends' houses - okay, you get the picture. At least we now have a parking spot of our own at home.

Another disclaimer regarding the following story: we did not teach our daughter any of what she says in this story, but if you're the type to think we're awful parents please stop reading here. =)

After one of Kaia's trips to the "potty," she ran out and the following conversation ensued between Jordan and her:
Jordan: Did you wash your hands?
Kaia: No!
Jordan: Why not?
Kaia: I went pee. You only wash hands after poop.
Jordan: You're supposed to wash your hands any time you go to the bathroom.
Kaia: That's crazy. I've never heard of that before.
Out of the mouth of babes!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get more candy, of course! Today we journeyed to Hoboken to be part of the Hoboken Ragamuffin Parade along with several of our friends from church. Unfortunately, Kaia fell asleep about 2 minutes before we met up with all of our friends, so she missed the pre-parade trick-or-treating.

Allow me to digress for a moment to give context to one of my favorite things about the day. Kaia began calling Asher "our baby walrus" recently. I have no idea where this originated. Then the rest of us were assigned an animal as well - Kaia's a penguin, I'm a seal, and Peter's a lion. All afternoon before the parade Kaia referred to me as "Seal" - "Thank you for coloring with me, Seal," "Can I have some popcorn to eat, Seal?" etc. She's not much of one for spontaneous affection, but a couple of times while we were coloring she threw her arms around my neck and said, "I love you, Seal!" Every time Peter would call on the phone or when we would talk about him she would ask, "Our lion is calling?" or "Our lion is at work?" Back to the parade...Kaia woke up just in time to catch part of it. I didn't think she was really paying attention because she looked rather dazed. After some insane trick-or-treating (due to the ridiculous crowds on the main street of Hoboken), we headed to the residential side streets for some more enjoyable strolling. True to her style, Kaia wouldn't say a word to anybody she got candy from but then she became a little chatterbox with me in between houses. She kept saying, "There were penguins in the parade, Mommy. They were penguins like me!" She sounded like she was just thrilled she'd found some of her kind. Kaia really cracks me up. She's such a character! Lani made the trip with us in a princess dress again!

Asher caught on very quickly to the concept of getting candy from people. He loved this sucker and kept trying to wiggle out of my arms to go get another one when he finished it.

Lani!

The morning Kaia broke her collarbone, she suddenly became extremely attached to her stuffed animal tiger. She asked me, "Mommy, what's my tiger's name?" I told her she could name it anything she wants. She looked like she was at a loss, and Peter came to her rescue suggesting the name Lani (I've chosen to use the Hawaiian spelling; for pronunciation, think "Lonnie"). Kaia decided that would be a good name. She brought Lani with her to the doctors offices and told me all about the adventures she has planned to take Lani to the playground and the science center! By the end of the day Kaia was repeatedly telling me, "I really like Lani. Mommy, I just really love Lani. I really love Lani's name." These exclamations of adoration are still continuing 2 days later.

Yesterday Lani had some fun adventures with us. She did get to go to the science center with us. And she got to be a princess! Kaia decided she wanted her in princess dresses so she (or I) dressed and undressed her all day long.

Aside: the tough girl who didn't shed a tear over her broken collarbone, cried ever so dramatically in the bath last night about having to get her hair washed. Go figure!

Turquoise Terror!

Kaia celebrated her 3rd birthday on Tuesday. She is so proud to be 3. She started the day with oatmeal and toast, her favorite breakfast. She got to open a present right after breakfast - ballerina dolly clothes from Grandma Vickie. She decided to dress like a ballerina herself for the day (see next post for picture). I decided not to do a party this time - Kaia's already been getting presents for the past couple months; I didn't want to also add in the expectation of birthday parties when she hasn't thought of them before. She was so excited to get mail - a card and Aurora necklace from Sienna & Brandon - in a turquoise envelope, which just so happens to be her favorite color!

Kaia's had a fixation with big bad wolves, foxes, and pigs ever since she saw a little cartoon about the big bad wolf and the 3 little pigs. She originally told me she wanted a big bad wolf cake. Here's what happened in her words as she explained it to Peter on the phone when he asked if she was getting a big bad wolf cake: "We didn't figure it out. We're making a piggy cake instead!" It wasn't until the cake was cut into pig shapes that I realized we were out of red food coloring. I asked Kaia if she wanted a blue or green pig instead. She chose blue. I had already added a couple drops of yellow food coloring and lo, and behold, we had turquoise frosting! Kaia was very pleased to get a turquoise pig cake. I am sort of mortified by this turquoise terror - it looks even worse in pictures than it did in real life!


Kaia and Asher were both EXTREMELY helpful making the cake.


And Asher really dug into this cake. I think he must have remembered his own birthday cake from a couple months ago. He just dug right in!

Banana Peel, Anyone?

Peter and I were awakened by Kaia's cries in the middle of the night last night after she fell out of her bed. She joined us in our bed and we thought nothing more of it until the next morning when she said, "Mommy, my shoulder really hurts," after trying to sit up. We ended up spending the day driving from one doctor to the next. Kaia was very excited to get a "bone picture," aka an X-ray, that would show her bones like the dinosaur bones at the museum. As it turns out, her middle-of-the-night fall broke her collarbone. My poor baby! But this kid is as tough as they come. She hasn't shed a tear about it. Every once in a while she'll just say, "My shoulder still hurts, Mommy."

This morning she ate a banana while she lay on our bed. At one point I peeled the banana; I meant to hand the peeled banana to her, but I accidentally handed her the banana peel instead. She started giggling and said I was "silly." Then this evening, trying to delay bedtime, she kept saying, "Mommy you gave me a banana peel when I hurt my shoulder. That was so silly!" She really is one tough cookie.

I didn't have a picture from our excursions today, so here's one showing how she was dressed for her birthday yesterday:

Aunt Anneke

Anneke visited this last week. The kids both had a wonderful time with her. They spent a lot of time at this table together. Kaia and Anneke colored for hours with markers, crayons, colored pencils. And Anneke has real talent! Asher even got in on the action whenever he could. He LOVED being part of the fun.

We also journeyed in to the American Girl Store in New York City to pick out a birthday present for Kaia on behalf of Grandma Vickie. Both the kids had a blast. Everyone in the store thought Asher was adorable as he walked around the store pointing at dolly ears, eyes, and noses in fascination and calling out, “Bah! Bah!” ("Bah" is his exclamation for anything from “give me that food you’re eating” to “look at that dolly!”)

Halloween Preview

We headed to Old Navy recently to pick out Halloween costumes. Considering what a girlie girl Kaia is, I thought she would want, well, something girlie. But she set her heart on the first costume she saw – a chicken! “Mommy, I want to be a chicken for Halloween!” She tried the costume on right in the store. We’ve already gotten great use out of it – she wears it a number of times each week until she gets “too sweaty.” And Asher will be a most appropriate thing – a monkey. He’s learned all kinds of tricks from having an older sibling and gets into all sorts of trouble.

Grochowicz Farm

We spent the day yesterday at the Grochowicz Farm, where we enjoyed some outdoor fall activities. Following are some of the highlights:

• Asher got his jacket wet playing in a bucket of water, so he got to wear my jacket the rest of the day. Of course, it was huge on him. Not wanting him to feel bad about his fashion faux pas, Kaia told him, “That’s a pretty man dress, Asher!”
• Asher was a little nervous of the animals, but Kaia was surprisingly calm around them. She sat down on the ground right next to a baby cow that she initially thought was a dog. He snuggled right up next to her, which was fine until she realized he was trying to eat her princess dress, which she insisted she must wear to the farm.

• We got to take a hayride around the farm. Kaia’s newest obsession centers on foxes and wolves, ever since we watched a cartoon about the big bad wolf. Throughout the hayride, Kaia told us she was looking for a blue fox – but this was a “nice one that doesn’t have sharp, pointy teeth!” I think she caught a glimpse of him as he ran through the woods. =)
• Kaia got to ride a pony. She’s wanted to ride a horse for a while and we’ve always told her she could when she’s 5. But the opportunity came up yesterday so she rode it in a circle. She said the pony was “fuzzy” and spent almost the entire ride stroking its fur and mane. When Peter asked her how the ride was she answered, “I’m not even 5 yet!”

"Oh my blippity!"

Last night Peter and I learned what a "blippity" is. We were chatting on the couch when we heard Kaia repeatedly call out from the bathroom, "My blippity is stuck!" We went over to help her unstick her blippity, which turned out to be our kitchen stool that she was driving like a train. She was stuck on a little raised portion of the floor trying to scoot out of the bathroom. Peter helped her get unstuck, and then Kaia pulled her blippity over to help feed our fish, Shakakan, while standing on her blipplity. All was going well until she took one step too far on the stool and fell off. Peter and I both gasped as we waited for Kaia's reaction. She just looked up and exclaimed, "Oh my blippity!"


On a separate note, a friend recently e-mailed me a picture of Kaia that she took at the preschool we did in the spring. When Kaia saw the picture she said, "I'm making a bad face, Mommy. I'm scary." I have to agree...

"I want to go to Katie & Chris's house...I love it!"

This is what Kaia said every time we got in the car to drive from one destination to another on our recent vacation to see friends in North Carolina. This is the first time I can ever remember her spontaneously saying she loves something except Asher (she likes to hug him and say, "I love you so much, Asher. I just love you so much, Ash!" We had a great time with our friends, and I think Kaia really loved having access to a backyard all day every day. We certainly saw the merits of having outdoor space that you can call your own. The first couple days of our trip, Kaia kept trying to break out of the yard because she was convinced there were animals just on the other side of the gate. I guess she thought we were near a farm because of all the trees everywhere. We went on a walk to find some animals and the only one we found was a dog being walked by its owner! Here are some of the highlights of our trip:
We went to the beach in Wilmington.

We enjoyed a baseball game in Durham, NC. Kaia loved pointing out the "animal" - the bull that was the mascot for the Durham team.

Kaia liked goofing around with these "rabbit ears" near a waterfront walk in Wilmington, NC.

Asher celebrated his 1 year birthday in NC! He loved his carrot cake!

Funny Faces

Asher has some of the greatest expressions. These pictures say it all:
Here he's enjoying a BIG mouthful of watermelon!

Some of the Italians in the neighborhood have been teaching Asher how to make his point. "Mamma mia!"

This is the face he makes throughout every day by pushing his lips out as far as they will go. Then he makes funny blowing sounds through them. He loves saying "Uh dah?" for "What's that?" and then making this face.

"No, you're not listening to me and how I feel inside!"

The Crayola Factory

As a family we enjoyed a fun day yesterday at the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. The kids loved the opportunity to make arts and crafts and draw on the walls! They also had a transportation museum on the top floors - Kaia and Asher both loved playing the part of the conductor in this model train.


Below see Kaia and Peter working together on a parrot. Notice who's actually doing all the coloring!

A big cheesy grin for all our fun working with clay:

We stopped by McDonald's on our way home to grab ice cream treats. Asher LOVED Peter's Mudbath Milkshake (a limited time only flavor!). He literally sucked on the straw for nearly 3 minutes straight!

Redecorating

My mom & sister recently visited us. Their trip was the catalyst for a few changes - we finally redecorated the kids' room and that has motivated me to begin a new blog to display our efforts. We made a trip to IKEA, where we found lots of inexpensive picture frames. My mom, Brianna, and I had a painting party where we painted all the frames, signs, and furniture to match. Thus a new color scheme was born - blue, yellow, green, and orange. I love the way it turned out. We also moved the furniture to make the play area more accessible and fun. And we painted the "frame" of the whiteboard right on the wall to make it stand out more. I used my friend Jess's awesome Cricut Machine to cut out the letters for the signs that say "Imagine," "Create," and "Laugh." And I bought wood letters and decoupaged patterned paper onto them, and then glued them onto wood to make Asher and Kaia's name signs.