Rock a bye baby

Nona had the day off today and picked up Cara. Such fun! I came over after work and we all had supper. Cara was a little pig tonight; she cleaned her plate and then some.

Nona brought down Meg's old rocking chair (I think it was Meg's.... maybe it was mine. Hmmm.) and Cara went NUTS for it. She had a ball. Mom had to hold onto her because she was rocking herself out of the chair. The pillow that she insisted on sitting on didn't help there either.... pretty funny.

She was so tired tonight that she got pretty upset getting ready for bed. Hopefully she will nap better tomorrow... it's been a tough week sleep-wise, but it's to be expected with the new daycare. And since otherwise she is doing great, I really can't complain.

I had a busy day... and a busy night ahead of me... no time for slacking here! I love Christmas but I always have too much to do. So off I go to finish cards and calendars and other such fun things.

Ponytail!!

This should have been posted yesterday but hey, better late than never, right?

So the good folks at Primrose have discovered that Cara can wear her hair in a ponytail! I didn't recognize her when I picked her up... I was looking for long blonde hair and had to do a double take. Pretty funny.

We went and did our civic duty and got a sticker for our efforts. Very exciting. Yup. Actually Cara charmed everyone at the polls by declaring loudly "Vote! Vote!"

We had a good dinner and then spent some quality time with a paintbrush. Always a popular activity : )

Slippers

We were rambunctious tonight. Ran all over, with and without my slippers and the kitty cat's ball. As Noel can attest, she did not use her "inside voice" either : ) Everything was LOUD LOUD LOUD.

A good evening overall.

Leaves!!!

Cara enrichment activity for today:

Play with leaves. Many leaves.

Run back and forth through said leaves many times.

Pick leaves up and pile them next to Max, who is very bemused by this interesting present. Then run back to get more leaves in order to make a bigger pile in the neighbor's lawn.

Wow! Leaves!

We also had a good time with blocks today. But the leaves were the best.

Three cheers for happy toddlers!

So, it took two nights of crying, but tonight Cara got into bed, laid down, let me tuck her in with Blankie, patted Bear a couple of times, and went straight to sleep. Before 8pm. With NO crying. Will wonders never cease. I think the threat of taking her Bear away worked.... Hopefully this will be a trend and we will stop the "let's play with Bear until 9pm" thing.

We had a good time with Poppa and Gigi tonight, although she was somewhat confused that she couldn't find Nona (Mom was on call tonight). She kept calling her: "Nona! Nooooooona!!" She had a good supper (eggplant parmesan, but she thinks it was pizza, and she ate almost all of it) and really enjoyed herself. To my entertainment, when she finished her supper, she started feeding it to Dixie (Grandma brought Dixie and her bird down with her) who very gently took it out of her hand. It was pretty cute. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Cara or Dixie. (Before you ask, YES of course we washed her hands afterwards.)

Poppa is growing his beard again. I'm amused.

Then we came home and had a nice although short bath.... she discovered the whirlpool that happens when the water drains out and was fascinated.

An outstanding evening overall. Yay for happy toddlers!!

I could have danced all night

Cue music from Philadelphia Chickens as we bop with Rabbit and Froggie. (Yes, it's a turtle, but I've given up convincing her of this.) A fun time was had by all. Although I think Rabbit and Froggie were a little dizzy when she was done.

Belly, Belly Button, You're Oh So Fine

Ooooooooo belly button, I'm so happy your mine....

Rock star

Nuff said about this one.
We had a good time at Nona and Poppa's tonight, as evidenced by the grin.

In the spirit of voting I am letting her choose more stuff and lo and behold, it is really helping with the tantrums. So we had a REALLY good day today.

However........ I will be really glad to have you home tomorrow : )

Lots of photos today

So, we had a photo packed day, starting with a happy wave to Daddy this morning:

She was in a really great mood this morning; no tantrums. We read some books, got dressed happily, and got to school without Mommy pulling her hair out. Life is good.

Even better, we had a great evening! Played outside for a bit, ate without a fuss, played and took a bath happily, and went to sleep happily!

We blew kisses to Daddy: insert "mmmmmm-wawh!!" sound effects here.

The blog is posting these in the wrong order and making me crazy, but you get the idea : )

And we discovered the camera takes waaaaaay cool photos of Cara.... I have about a dozen more like this, because she kept insisting that I take her picture and she take mine. She grabs the camera, looks at it, says "Ca-wah!!" and then "'Gain! 'Gain!" Goofiness. She declared, by the way, "Camera broken!!" while looking at the screen. Sigh. I didn't bother telling her that she's the one who broke it.

Mommy is brave

Yes, brave. Because I sat her on the chair by herself so I could get the camera and take the picture.

No damage done. Thank goodness. Equally fortunately, she did not cover the camera lens with paint. Whew.

We had a very good time tonight;. We played outside for a few minutes, then came in happily and ate a great dinner - Italian pasta casserole and strawberries. She had only 1 tantrum - and that was just a category 1 - almost not enough of a tantrum to count. She slept 3 hours today so maybe that helped. We had a nice bath - splashed like crazy and got water everywhere. And she went to sleep happy! All in all a great night. Kind of makes up for the category 4 tantrum this morning on the way to school. Sigh. Good to know that life has balance, huh.

Halloween

A Halloween and pumpkin farm recap for your viewing pleasure : )

And happy boo to you too!

We are about to wash our hands with Mimi.... which is apparently VASTLY entertaining to a 19 month old. Go figure.

Only 1 hour nap today and ran around like a crazy girl at Mimi's so she was both tired and grumpy tonight. Oh, and then she didn't want to eat. Lovely.

Early bed..... hopefully tomorrow will be more fun.

Happy Thursday!

We woke up early (6am!!) but nevertheless happy. Note the red nose. Poor kid.

The early morning wakeup gave us time for a couple of books before leaving... that was nice. We talked all the way to school about it being dark and the sun coming up. Cara apparently thinks you turn off all the lights, including the sun. "Dark. Daddy off?" she kept saying. Isn't it nice to know you are all powerful? We should remember this when she hits 13 or so.

A good day overall. She will be very happy to see you tomorrow!

I spent a somewhat exasperating 45 minutes at Stride Rite at lunch trying to find Cara dress shoes. Apparently size 7 extra wide is not a popular option unless you are a boy. We had exactly one option that wasn't patent leather or sneakers. I ordered them..... hope you like them.... pray they actually fit...

Have spoon, will eat

I was pretty impressed with how well she did with a spoon. Please note this is the EXACT same stew that she would not touch yesterday. Somehow it tastes much better today.

I don't know if you can see it here, but her nose is pretty rough. They are putting vaseline on it at school. Hope this cold gets better soon.

We had a pretty uneventful evening. Of note:

- The phrase of the day was "Pumpkins everywhere!"

- She was a little put out that Mommy did the bath tonight and said "Daddy bath?" a couple of times. She also wanted to give you a kiss goodnight and apparently decided that you must have gone to bed, because she told me you were sleeping.

- I put her down a little early tonight; despite a great nap today, she was pretty tired.

Welcome to your Daily Dose of Cara

So, Tim.... remember when I went to Budapest last year? You sent me daily photos of our darling girl. Every morning I'd wake up, open up my email, and get to see her smiling face. It was one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done. It made being away just a little bit easier.

Today is your first day on the road. It's going to be hard being away sometimes, for all three of us. So to make things a little better.... I'm starting this blog. Yup. It's your daily dose of Cara. And sometimes me. And sometimes the cats. But mostly the star of the show, your darling girl.

I hope you enjoy it! (And I hope I remember to keep it up!)