Working the Crowd

We went shopping with Caroline this morning. That Grace was very interested in the infrastructure of the store and spent a lot of time exploring it! After determining the racks were indeed sturdy enough to hold the clothes and didn't pose a safety hazard to innocent shoppers, she was satisfied. Tonight we went to a birthday party for a good friend of mine at her parents' house. Her oldest is a little younger than Caroline. Because she was the first grandchild, they let her decide what to call her grandparents. Apparently she ended up calling them what they called each other, so she calls her grandmother by her first name and her grandfather "honey." Now all of the grandchildren do the same. It's really cute to hear these almost-grown boys calling their granddad "honey."

That Grace was captivated by this doll chair and just had to sit in it. She was so intent on sitting in it that she willingly sat this close to my friend's husband. She had birthday cake again tonight. I thought, "Oh well, we're just going home and going to bed; what can happen?" Well, it's 12:28 a.m. and she's up playing babies with daddy. So much for that line of thinking! My friend's mother grew cherry tomatoes in her garden this year much like ours. That Grace saw them sitting out in a bowl and got very excited. She ended up eating four of them in a row. She wouldn't eat the little grape tomatoes on the vegetable platter; she wanted the home grown tomatoes. She turned out to be quite sociable tonight. She was a little clingy when we first got there but once she realized there was plenty of party food and lots of people willing to share, she was quite the social butterfly!

Stormy Friday

We had quite the storm this morning. We were scheduled to go play with The Moms at a local gym. I thought about staying home. That Grace is pretty calm, even if she stays inside all day, so I don't really feel like she has to get out and burn off energy like some kids her age. However, I had some errands I had to run so I decided we may as well have some fun since we had to be out in it anyway. She had a great time. There were a couple of babies there, so I had to keep a close eye on her. It's a shame we're not having any more children because That Grace would a great big sister. She is just fascinated with babies and when she sees one, she does her "gentle hands" and "baby" signs. She is also very helpful and tries so hard to be good and do the right thing.

One of The Moms had a baby this week so I took her dinner tonight. I know That Grace would have loved to have gone with me but she stayed home, since I didn't think they would appreciate a germy toddler who was fascinated with their baby! After I got home, we took That Grace to eat at Salsaritas. We have been mostly cooking and eating at home so this was a rare treat. She loves to color these days so this kept her happily occupied.

The Big Blue Chair

Replacing the rice with the sand was a big hit with That Grace. She immediately started trying to empty the sand table 1 scoop at a time.

I was thinking about using these pictures for our Christmas cards but I'm going to try to get something a little more wintry, so I thought I'd share.

That Grace has a new favorite game. She turns on the alarm clock radio as loud as it will go and then runs over to me like she is scared of the noise. Then I say, "Ooh, that's loud music!" and she laughs hysterically. Then we repeat until I unplug the clock radio.

Grandma came Wednesday to stay with That Grace because I had a meeting Thursday. They had a great time. That Grace has discovered that Grandma is a sucker for her little chubby cheeks and is willing to play with her all day long!

Veteran's Day

We went to the Veteran's Day Parade with some friends today. That Grace loved the bands -- she was dancing as they came down the street. She had a lot of fun waving at all of the soldiers as they marched by.

After the parade we had a picnic in the park. She's helping herself to the best hummus in the world. She just gnawed on the apple and ate the hummus straight from the jar.

I finally got a sliding picture. This was a new park for us. They had a slide that was perfect for her. She was able to climb up and slide down alone. She was so funny. She would climb up to the top and then sit there giggling in anticipation before she slid down.

Monday, Monday.

Driving the car buggy in Lowe's. She had a lot more fun than is apparent in this picture. We bought sand for her water/sand table. The rice is not a good idea if the table is going to be outside and the cover is not watertight. Just in case you were wondering.

That Grace loves applause. She was singing after supper and we started clapping for her. She joined in and sang some more just for the cheers.

That Grace played with shaving cream in the bathtub tonight. It's something we used to do when I taught preschool. She loved it once she got used to the idea. She would smack her hands in and then rub it all over her stomach.

Sunday Best

All dressed up for church. We had communion this Sunday. Last time we had communion, she didn't respond to it well. She spit out the bread and Daddy had to offer it to her several times before she took it. She has a "slow to warm up" personality. This time, as we were walking toward the front of the sanctuary, I told her we were going to get bread and eat it and told her to watch the other people. She did the sign for eat, so I felt like she understood. Sure enough, when we got to the front, she even let the pastor give her the bread.

After church -- eating corn on the cob. This was so funny. Speaking of being slow to warm up. This was the 1st time she had ever eaten corn on the cob. She has gotten to the age where she does not like to eat with her hands. She is getting really proficient with utensils and prefers them. Remembering our communion experience, I told her she was supposed to eat it with her fingers and demonstrated it. She wouldn't touch it at first. She let it sit there for a long time. Then she leaned over and without touching it, tried to take a bite of it. Finally, she picked it up and then she really got into it.

Oh where, oh where have we been?

It's been a busy few days. When I said the time change hadn't interrupted That Grace's schedule too much, I spoke too soon. She has been getting up at 6:30 - 7:00 in the morning lately. Normally she sleeps until 8:30 or so. This means an earlier nap and an earlier bedtime and just in general a complete upheaval of our previously smooth schedule.

On Wednesday we bought acorn squash to cook for our Thanksgiving Feast with The Moms on Thursday. We saved the seeds and roasted them like pumpkin seeds. They're very similar in taste.

After cooking, we loaded up in the wagon and walked down to our neighbor's house to play. She has twins, A, a boy, and B, a girl. They are such sweeties -- and just turned 2.

Thursday was our Thanksgiving Feast with The Moms. That Grace loves playing with other children but I have to watch her very closely, as she can get a little aggressive. It's odd because she is so sweet and so mild mannered in every other way. She's really an easy baby, but she will hit. And the other day she bit me.

Another neighbor whose daughters are in our Tot Class had a birthday party for the girls today. That Grace loved the big bouncy apparatus. She couldn't stand up in it very well but she enjoyed sitting in it and bouncing. She also loved it when the other kids would bounce near her. She got very excited and wanted to hit for some reason (I think it may have just been excited arm flailing). I talked to her about it and afterwards when someone came near her, she would look at me and do the "gentle hands" sign. She had a really difficult afternoon, though. I don't think she handles birthday cake very well.

Busy at Home

We did an activity with matching pots and lids today -- look at that concentration!

Reading Mother Goose.

Maniacal sweeping!

We roasted a butternut squash today. That Grace helped scoop out the seeds.

Soup that we made from the roasted butternut squash. I had several recipes but I didn't have all of the ingredients for any one of them, so we just made up our own. I sauteed 1/2 an onion in some butter and added some cumin seeds. Cumin is my new love. I used it in the black bean stew last night, too. We're a little soup obsessed over here these days. Then I added the roasted butternut squash, thinned it out with a little water and added some cream. What? There are no carbs in cream. It's practically diet food. I didn't blend it with the stick blender because I like a chunkier soup. That Grace loved it. She also loved gradually uncovering the picture on the bottom of the bowl.

The new Babybug came today, always very exciting. By the time the new Babybug comes, we are tired of reading the old one, although we then have to get all of the back issues and read through them all. It is a great magazine and, as you can see, she really likes it. She carried it around hugging it for quite a while before we got around to reading it. She looks a little rough in this picture because she just dumped a cup of water on her head.

Election Day

As part of the NY Times Polling Place Photo Project, I documented my polling place today. I was a little worried I would be asked not to take pictures, but nobody seemed to care, so I fired away. I had to wait in line for about 1-1/2 hours. Thank goodness Grandma was keeping That Grace. Otherwise I would have taken her with me. There were a few children there but I don't think That Grace would have done too well with that long of a wait.

Of course, she still wanted her voice heard. There was much post voting analysis of the green crayon scrawls. After a long debate, Caroline called it for Ralph Nader.

That Grace was just happy with her sticker.

And her lotion, of course.

Grandma's Visit

I was getting ready to publish this post last night around 10:30 when I heard That Grace crying. Some investigation revealed a severe diaper rash/yeast infection -- must have been the antibiotics. Poor baby, it was a rough night.

It was a great day, though. Grandma came up to spend the night and watch That Grace while I went to the doctor. Here she is eating boiled peanuts with Grandma.

She took the book away from me and gave it to Grandma. Apparently she wanted a fresh perspective on her bedtime reading.

Sleeping In

We had a lovely Sunday today and enjoyed our extra hour immensely. We even made it to Sunday school early this morning. That Grace loves her Sunday school teacher. He seems to be one of the few people exempt from her intense stranger anxiety these days. The time change threw That Grace off her schedule a little but not too bad. Daddy and Caroline, however, are snoozing away and it's not even 10:00.

Little Yogi

That Grace loves to do her yoga! Here she is doing "Down Dog."

Happy Halloween!

These are the last of the cute chicken pictures. We went to our church's Halloween festival. That Grace was a huge hit, although she is really not a "center of attention" kind of kid, unlike her big sister. People kept going on about her costume and how cute she was and she did okay with that. However, quite a few people tried to touch her or even, *gasp* pick her up, which she was not okay with! She really enjoyed the festival, though. Here she is playing with "World's Largest Rabbit (probably)." She loved the hayride and seeing all of the other children dressed up.

I tried to ply her with nutritious snacks before we left, so she wouldn't eat so much candy. She caught onto the grabbing candy notion really quickly. We didn't take a bucket for her, though, so we just got a piece of candy at one station and ate it a little at a time until it was gone, and then got another one. She had about 3 pieces of chocolate, 1 cupcake plus a few bites from another and shared a hot dog with Daddy. Not too bad, and we didn't bring any candy home with us. I'm sure this plan will have to be revisited in a couple of years, but it works for now.

Earlier today we did a big/little activity. It was very easy and required minimal prep time. I just grabbed a big and little object of several different items (shoe, cup, and spoon) and we talked about which was big and which was little and then I let her pick out the big ones of each. Cheap, easy, and educational entertainment!