We love our heroes!

Last weekend was a busy weekend in the Aleksza house!

Saturday morning Katherine and I went to our first Mommy & Me class at the pool. Katherine loves the pool. It's a huge bathtub to her. Splashing is a-okay! She even jumped in! Okay. Maybe she didn't "jump" but her head did go under water! Don't call child services on me! The instructor said it was fine. She was under for about 1/4 of a second! What did she do?? She came up and did something like this "pfew pfew pfew... {clap, clap, clap}" I took that as a good sign. She then clapped as each of the other kids jumped in. Katherine is by far the youngest one in the class.

All in all the class went really well. The only hiccup occurred when the instructor had babies (kids) on their bellies attempting to kick their way to their way to the other end of the pool. The "deep" section of the pool is 4'6". No big deal you say, eh? Remember I'm 5'3" (minus 4"). 4'6" is a non-starter for holding a baby at my side. She was more like at my HEAD! The instructor finally noticed we had stopped and said - "ooops, we need to go back a bit, some mommies can't go that far." Nice. Very nice.

Saturday afternoon we went to a "Taste of Wake Forest". Generally, "Tastes of..." involve food, vendors, some wine, etc. Apparently Wake Forest tastes like hot dogs. That was the only food at the "Taste of Wake Forest". The best part was there were tickets that you had to buy in order to "buy" a hot dog. You couldn't just give them your $2 for a hot dog... Nooooooo, you needed to buy a ticket (2ft away from where the hot dogs were being prepared & made). Seriously. No joke. There was a high school band playing that was pretty good. The conductor thought he was at the Philharmonic. We don't know whether he knew he could be heard through the microphone or whether he wanted to be. Unique is how we'll describe him.

Sunday we went out for breakfast at the farmer's market. For those that recall my life/sleeping habits pre-baby what I'm about to tell you will shock you. Are you ready?? Sit down. I don't want you to get hurt - Here we go... We were eating breakfast, at a table, by 9am. Go ahead. Pick yourselves up off the floor. I know. Before baby I didn't know 9 came in the variety of AM. Amazing what this kid thing does to ya. Something I learned over the last two weeks: Katherine & Daddy share their eating habits. Both think that what's on Mommy's plate is up for grabs and often tastes better than what's on their plate. Katherine had a whole mickey mouse pancake. What did she eat? My french toast. What's up with that?? And of course I can't tell her no, eat your own food. She just looks at you with those big blue eyes and opens her mouth wide and goes aaaahhhh and you fork over your food. And another thing... I'll just tell ya - baby slobber does not phase me in the least. Honestly, I used to think it was kinda gross. Now? Whatever. Bring it on.

Sunday evening we went to our friends house for a barbecue. I think Katherine and their daughter had a good time playing. Katherine didn’t understand marbles weren’t for eating and I had a small panic attack trying to get it out of her mouth but otherwise all went great! Yummy food, even better company… Excellent evening! Katherine even went outside to play on the swings. Her first time on a swing!! Weeeeee!!! She was terrified. Shaking the whole time. Not so much a weee… but an eeeeeekkkkk. She enjoyed watching our daughter’s friend swing but she wasn’t into doing it herself. We also went down the slide on probably the coolest playhouse ever. Mommy forgot how to slow down going down a slide and I hit the ground at the end of the slide. We went WHOOOSH down the slide. Katherine wasn’t scared but she wasn’t excited either. Mommy was a bit scared after the first WHOOOSH but then the 3 yr old taught me how to slow down going down the slide. Yeah. I needed a refresher course.

The most amusing thing that I learned that evening is that Katherine is NOT a fan of grass . No ma’am. I sat her on the cushiest grass in Raleigh (our friend’s lawn) and she lifted her legs up and held onto her feet, with her hands, because she was trying not to touch it. When she did that she’d fall back, then try to flip over without touching the grass. All quite a sight. I’ll admit it had me in a fit of giggles at one point. So there daddy… We don’t need sod now. Katherine doesn’t like grass. No need to spend that money now!
Monday we decided Katherine needed some education so we took her downtown to the Memorial Day event. A Commandant introduced another gentleman (sorry – I missed the rank & name) who gave a very moving speech. Katherine clapped at the appropriate times and occasionally let out a yelp – although I’m not sure all of those were well timed. I was impressed that she didn’t flip out when the guns went off. Three times. She did jump each time but immediately after she’d go back to playing. I don’t think she was AS moved by the speech as we were. The pictures posted this week are from said event.

Instead of barbecuing that night we cheated and went to 5 Guys. We had burgers so we thought it might count. Yeah yeah, I know – we cheated. We’ll do better on the 4th. Promise. (Maybe.)

Now off for another fun-filled weekend. Tomorrow Katherine is going to go to her second Durham Bulls (baseball) game. She went to her first one last summer. I don’t know that she ever saw the field, but she did like it. Lolly and Daddy gave her ice cream. Yeesh. What will they feed her tomorrow?? I’m thinking (hoping) funnel cake! She can’t eat the whole thing, right? Mommy can help her then. :)

Pictures from our Memorial Day festivities: (I’m trying some new software this time – the old site was going to start costing money b/c we had so many pictures… Let me know what you think of this one… unless you don’t like it – then zip it. :)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Funky School Picture

Look - bonus material! :)

I thought I'd post another link of pictures. This one includes Katherine's "spring" school picture & some pictures I took with my phone while we were at the beach. (Long story short - the camera batteries went dead and all I had was my phone.)

The school picture - Don't ask about the background. I have NO idea what on earth they were thinking. They said it was a "greenery" background. Looks more like Christmas to me.

Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/daleksza/BeachPictures#

Is it Myrtle Mother?

I’m going to stop making excuses for why it’s been so long since I posted. I mean, do you really care WHY it’s been so long? You really just want a post, right? So on with it.

What’s happened over the last two weeks? It’s going to be a bit long (Arthur) so grab some popcorn or something.

- Running with Katherine continues, albeit, slowly.
- We took Katherine to her first Air Show (and I do use that term VERY loosely)
- We celebrated my first Mother’s Day.
- We took Katherine to Myrtle Beach for the first time. Ok, it was our first time there too. We were all first timers!
- Katherine and I have officially signed up for our first class together: Mommy & Me Class at the gym pool.

I’ll start with running. I realized that while Katherine really enjoys the wind in her hair, the waving to “her people” and giving of the finger that I’m not really going to be ready for a triathlon (6 weeks away) if I only continue to run pushing a stroller. You’d think that just by nature you’d go faster, farther, etc by not pushing a stroller. Well, yes and no. Faster, yes. Further, not so much so. And I really need a bit of a boost on both so alas, I started working out at the gym during my lunch breaks. 30 minutes of running just about every day. (Occasionally, Stephen’s powers of persuasion work their magic and I go eat a lunch that makes me think I should have run for 60 minutes!! Hehe) Katherine and I however are still doing our Saturday runs and sometimes in the evenings, while Stephen does some house tinkering. She’s now starting to get the idea that when there’s a hill she should “help” Mommy. I’m not quite sure how this all started, but I know I do say as I climb what I fondly call “the mountain” that I say OK Katherine, time to help Mommy get UP this hill… It’s at that precise moment that more often than not she begins POUNDING her whole body back and forth in the stroller. So what you see coming up the hill is a bit of PUSH THUNK PUSH THUNK PUSH THUNK. The THUNK is combined with an UG from Mommy and a hehehehe from Katherine. Yes, yes, we make quite a scene. And no, as one of my friends asked, you may NOT follow us with a video camera. I don’t care how funny you think it would be.

Next up, the air show! Alright, so I knew it wouldn’t be the Blue Angels. Really. I did. I’ve seen that show and it doesn’t happen at the local county airport. I did think there’d be more planes taking off/landing and just… well… more planes! Apparently, there had been more planes earlier in the day but by around 2pm when we arrived they’d all “gone home”. I’m not sure where “home” exactly IS, since we were AT the airport, but okay.

The air “show” itself, while weak, did provide a great learning opportunity for both Stephen and I. You see, Katherine is like a flower. She wilts in heat. Honest to goodness it’s the only way to describe it. Our daughter was fine when the wind from the tractor ride was blowing her hair. All smiles, giggles & waves. As soon as she was put into her stroller and we started walking around the tarmat… she wilted. Flat out wilted. Her head went down and she just sat there. Eyes open, looking ahead, occasionally grabbing her sippy cup for a much needed slurp of water. When we pushed her into the air-conditioned “terminal” she sat right up and started waving and chatting to people. We walked back outside again. Wilted. Back inside, Flower Power. Outside… yep, you guessed it, wilted. We now officially know she is her mother’s daughter. (Sleeping is a favored past-time, the heat is not her friend, she dislikes peas, and loves green beans and French toast.) The highlight of her trip to the air show? The tractor ride to and from the parking lot to the actual airport. Just think country song… “She thinks my tractor’s sexy…” Hehaw, folks. Hehaw.

My first Mother’s Day I didn’t spend much time “mothering”. Katherine was so tuckered out that I think she was awake for about 4-5 hours all day. So I decided it would be a perfect time to practice making her birthday cake. So I did. Sort of. See the picture link for photos of my masterpiece. It was my first foray with fondant. Katherine will have a ladybug birthday cake for her party in FL. For the party in NC she’ll have a Winnie the Pooh cake. The Pooh cake I will not be making, but the ladybug I am going to take a stab at. The one question I do have is – Who eats fondant?? It looks so pretty and you can do such neat things with it, but does anyone really EAT it?? I can tell ya, this girl doesn’t!!

For Mother’s Day Katherine & Stephen gave me a dozen chocolate covered strawberries (of which I tried very hard to be a good sport and eat as many as possible… I mean they were a gift. And from Edible Arrangements… That means they removed the calories for Mother’s Day!) And Katherine made me an oh so pretty pillow at school. I’m not sure (again) how they gain such cooperation with the paint on the hands/feet as I tried a similar craft and it did not create such remarkable results. Do you think the used another kid’s feet?? Hm. Curious. Stephen and Katherine also made me dinner. Honey Baked Ham. Yum. I’d never had it before, other than the little sample at the mall just before Easter, and it was SO delicious.

Next up – our trip to Myrtle Beach. Stephen received an email two weeks ago with a super deal on hotel rooms in Myrtle Beach. By the time we booked all of the rooms were sold out. So did we just say oh well and move on? Come on, you know us. No! Stephen searched and searched and found a hotel with a “manager’s special” which was $90 per night. Woohoo… Room reserved, let’s take a weekend trip to the beach. (Note, in NC it is NOT called the shore. Also note, our Jersey based family/friends, there are no “boardwalks, promenades or amusement parks” on said beaches. I know. Shocking, right? There are also no French Canadians. Just in case you were wondering.)

We headed to the Beach on Friday evening. We arrived around 9:30pm. Katherine was sleeping peacefully in the backseat. I figured we’d get her into the room, into the pack and play and bing, bang, boom, she’d be back in slumber land. This was the first mistake of the trip. Bing, Bang, Boom, turned into AAAHHH, WWAAAAHHHH, MOMOMOMOMOMOM. The neighbors were NOT pleased. The only way to stop the racket? All lights had to be turned out and we ALL had to go to bed. I know. But I took one for the team. I mean, Katherine NEEDED the lights out. What’s a mother to do?
Saturday we headed to the beach. Katherine didn’t quite understand why the sand kept sticking to her chubby little hands. She’d squeeze her little fist SOOO tight thinking it would pop out the sides, only to open her hand and look in shock that it was stick there. She’d then take her other hand and poke at it, as if to say, maybe it isn’t really there. She later resorted to trying to eat it. The sand was filled with little shells and rocks so eating the sand wasn’t such a great plan. Eventually Katherine got the idea when she just started picking pieces up and handing them to me as if to say, “don’t even bother saying it Mom. Here. Just take it from me.

After the beach Katherine also had her first dip in the pool. She liked that much more than the Ocean. She isn’t a fan of waves that crash into her (and I say crash as in we were in 2 inches of water) and she doesn’t like the taste of salt water. No shock there. Who does?

Sunday was shopping at the outlets. We had a fruitful trip. I didn’t even have to get Katherine to lick the Coach bag that I liked. Stephen offered to buy it sans licking. Alas, we save that weapon for another time/place. It is good to know however that it’s part of the arsenal. Hehe
So things I learned on our trip to Myrtle Beach:
- The volume of things you pack has a direct correlation to the size of the person. The smaller you are, the more you need. (Katherine & Jacki are examples of this. Hehehe)
- Do not have an expectation that just because your child’s first time of sleeping through the night occurred at a hotel, that all nights spent in a hotel will have such success.
- You should not laugh at the sight of your daughter’s hand sneaking up over the top of the pack and play. Apparently they CAN hear you even if your head is turned.
- Even if you’re not tired you will turn off the lights in an effort to stop your child from crying and the hotel neighbors from pounding on the floor/ceiling in an effort to tell you to get your child to stop crying. (Because apparently it’s not obvious to the parents sitting in the room… You must bang your feet, shoes, etc. on the floor to tell them you’re displeased at the sound. That clearly helps the situation.)
- We need a hotel room with two rooms. One for sleepy darkness for Katherine and one so the grown-ups can stay up past 8:00pm.
- Sand can be crunchy.
- Ocean water apparently does not taste like bathtub water. (Or so I gather from the face Katherine made.)
- Lemons are still a favorite fruit. (And who doesn’t laugh at the sight of a little girl eating a lemon and pooping at the same time… I mean THAT’S funny.)
- Trying to keep an 11month old off of the floor of a hotel room is VERY difficult.
- Trying to keep an 11month old ON the bed versus nose-diving OFF the bed… Also very difficult. (She’s a quick little bugger.)

And finally – Mommy & Me class!! Katherine and I will be taking “lessons” on Saturday mornings at the gym. I signed up for my own swim classes so in the triathlon I can do better than a modified flail (it’s a new stroke… you might not have seen it before). I’m not quite sure what we’re going to do in Mommy & Me pool classes but whatever it is, I think it’ll be fun.

Till next time!! (Whenever that is!)

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/daleksza/IsItMyrtleMother#

Sign Language

Since before I was pregnant I said that if/when we had a child I was going to teach them sign language. All of the books say that it helps children who aren't old enough to talk yet, tell you what they want, thereby there's less crying. How awesome is THAT? I'm totally sold. Sign me up. My baby's going to sign. Yep.

Ok. So it's not that easy. We're trying. So far Katherine knows maybe three signs. Allow me to elaborate.

Sign #1: Waving. Check... got it. We wave to ourselves, wave to others and generally think waving is just fun.

Sign #2: Clapping. Okay, so it's not quite a sign but if you say YAY!!! She'll clap. With a big goofy grin, just like her Daddy. Who wouldn't melt at that?

Sign #3: The bird. No, not as in cute tweet tweet, birdie. I'm talking - THE BIRD. As you can imagine, this is not one we're proud of. Not one I'm even sure is a "sign". At least we hope not. You see, Katherine points with her middle finger. And she likes to point. Particularly at people. Last weekend we were running. Katherine in her sporty new stroller, Mommy pushing said sporty new stroller with my cool Nike+Sport... woohoo... Diggin it... Can't breathe... but we're both happy. Then it happens. Katherine starts pointing as people go by. The lake we were running at is quite busy on a Saturday morning. There were lots and lots of people to "point" at. UG. Reactions ranged from looks like "did that kid just give me the finger?" to laughing to "I'm reporting that mother for sign language abuse."

I've tried to show her how to use her pointer finger. She just sticks the middle finger right back up. I've decided now I'm going to ignore it. I'm enacting the age old parent rule of - if you pay attention she'll continue to do it because you're drawing attention to it. So I ignore (and pray) that she'll learn to point with the appropriate (pointer) finger.

In other news, Katherine had her first sleep-over!!! So I may be stretching that a bit. Her big cousin Kyla (19months) stopped by to catch some zzzz's on the way to Florida from Pennsylvania. Kyla brought Aunt Betsy and Uncle Ron with her. The girls had a grand time playing. I didn't get pictures of the "play" as I was busy trying to teach Katherine to share. Apparently, we need to do a little more work on that. She is doing better sharing at school but her toys at home... She had a look like, ah, maybe you don't know it, but that's MY toy. Especially the Top she got from Grandma for Christmas. Both girls wanted to play with it. And they both took turns grabbing it from the other. Katherine again giving the look like... Hey, that's MY top. She did invoke the I'm going to put it in my mouth so you can't have it rule... (Mommy taught her this so the next time we're at the Coach store we can invoke said rule). Kyla didn't much care about the slobber rule.

Things we know we need to work on:
- Stop flipping people off
- Sharing
- Continue sign language efforts

And all I wanted to do was teach her to sign things like Mommy, Daddy, bottle, more...

Pictures for the week:
http://picasaweb.google.com/daleksza/Playing#

PS - Yes, I did give the blog a new look. I thought it needed some sprucing up! :)