Puddle Jumping / ROCKIES GAME!

Been a rainy few days here in Colorado - making the most of the weather......

Nevi at 26 months

A little about Nevi at the age of 26 months... *All of her baby teeth are, including her 2 year molars *She is fiercely independent and is often found saying, 'I do it! NO, I DO IT!' *She weighs 28 pounds and just in the last 2 weeks hit a growth spurt in height - she's looking long and lean, just like her daddy *She loves SWIMMING, throwing rocks /sticks in the creek and jumping in puddles more than anything in this world *She has no desire to do anything except exactly what she's doing in the moment - if she's outside, she doesn't want to come in... if she's inside, she doesn't want to go out. I suppose this is a gift in some ways (to be totally content exactly where you are and have no need for anything but what you have). However, trying to make transitions with Nevi can be a challenge. She needs a 5 minute warning before a transition will take place. *She is starting to let momma put barrettes and hair ties in her hair now, to get the hair out of her face *She loves trying on clothes now which is a HUGE change from last year when changing her clothes/diapers was such a struggle. She actually woke up last night around 10pm asking if she can change her pjs...she just wanted a change...no particular reason. I gave her the option of no pjs or the keeping the ones she has on. She chose to stay in her current dinosaur pjs. When Grandma Pat sent some new summer time outfits for Nevi, she chose to put nearly every outfit on AT ONCE. SHe was bundled up in 5 layers of clothes and pranced around the house like a queen, so proud of her new attire. *SHE IS DOING GREAT WITH POTTY TRAINING! Something clicked in the last week and now she does all of her pee pee and poo poo in her potty chairs at home. We have a potty chair on every level of the house and now when she has to go, she just says, 'I have to go pee pee' or 'I have to go poo poo' and we waltz into the bathroom to take care of business. She ONLY wears big girl underwear when we're home now. When we're out and about, it is a different story. She doesn't seem to like toilets - she's more comfortable right now with her potty chairs. I have a toilet insert for regular sized toilets so that she doesn't fall in - one for the house and one for public bathrooms. She doesn't like either and has had no success in our home toilets (with the insert) or in public restroom toilets. She tries but nothing happens. We we often wear our pull ups still when going out on adventures for this reason. One milestone at a time. I am not sure why so many parents are eager to potty train their children so young because it is actually MUCH easier to change a diaper than teach a child to use the potty. Valuable lessons, yes, but LOTS of consistent and diligent work. * She can blow her nose with a tissue or hanky and yes, she can even pick her own nose now. *Her favorite movie is POTTY POWER and she also still likes BABY SIGNING TIME, CURIOUS GEORGE, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, DORA THE EXPLORER, SESAME STREET/ELMO'S WORLD, BERENSTAIN BEARS, CAILLOU. Nevi really likes watching tv/movies but we limit it to 1 -2 hours a day of tv (some in the morning and some at night to wind down) and the rest of the time we play. *She loves her babysitter, Stephanie, who sees her every Friday while Robb and I are work. They are becoming very close and I love hearing the things that Stephanie teaches her when I come home on Friday nights. Nevi picks up on everything! Stephanie is a colleague of mine at Home Instead Senior Care and has 2 grown daughters of her own so she knows the power of little girls and has a loving yet stern approach with Nevi, which is really great. *Nevi NEEDS boundaries and is testing them daily. Once they are established, however, she respects them and thrives within them. *Her vocabulary is off the charts! She is starting to make attempts at long winded sentences and enjoys a good conversation these days. I have to admit, though, sometimes I get lost in the direction she's going with her stories. She likes to make up stories when 'reading' a book and does this based on the pictures that are available. She doesn't really like being read TO - which is interesting because my mom says she same about me when I was her age. But we continue to keep books as a daily activity, establishing a positive relationship with them in whatever capacity she will allow. *We are in the process of registering Nevi for preschool beginning this August 2011. This preschool is only blocks away from our house and is owned and taught by a previous colleague of mine (www.kiddiekopia.com is the website if you'd like to learn more). It is a neat program that divides the 2-3 years old up from the 4-6 year olds. We will be registering Nevi for Tues & Thurs mornings from 8:30a-12:30p. Nothing is final yet but these are our informal plans as of yet. *Nevi sleeps around 12 + hours each night and still naps for 1-2 hours every afternoon. She almost always wakes up happy! * We are very active - fun adventures daily! Yesterday, we went to Little Monkey Business and played our hearts out on the jumping castle, the slides, the bouncy swings and the basketball hoops. The only time that Nevi gets REALLY grouchy these days is when she's tired or hungry. Too bad she doesn't just say, 'Gee, I'm hungry momma. Can we eat?' It usually looks like whining and crying with 'NO' being shouted all over the map. Emotional maturity and body awareness/recognition will come soon enough..... and I will be ready. After she eats, she returns to her pleasant and happy and curious self. Amazing to watch this transition. *She loves to sit on my lap while we watch movies at night. *She loves to sing, play the drums and also play the piano. *We often dance at night to our favorite CDs. *She is still a good eater but is definitely developing preferences now - not much of a meat eater (though tonight she ate my meatloaf, horray!), and loves fruit and cereal and toast and cheese. Probably her favorite food is cottage cheese with avocado and a banana on the side. She only drinks milk and water. *Nevi sucks her thumb and often asks me if I will suck my thumb with her. I politely decline. *Everything that I teach Nevi (or do to Nevi), she tries to teach (or do) to me right back... ex. She often rubs my back and tells me that everything will be OK.... One time she actually checked the back of my pants after I let one wrip and told me I was clean and had no poop (ppphhhheewww). I can't remember a time I laughed harder. * She LOVES her baby dolls. She has Baby Daughter, Baby Lily, Bathtub Baby, and Baby Drew. She takes on and off their clothes, puts them in her pull-ups, feeds them, brushes their teeth and does everything to them that a good mom would do. She has many other favorite stuffed animals too, like Big Pink Bear, Tucker (teddy), Carsten (lamb) and Pooh. * She loves to organize her barrette tray, separating them by colors and by favorites. I AM DOCUMENTING THIS STUFF MOSTLY FOR MY BENEFIT, SO I NEVER FORGET NEVI AS A TWO YEAR OLD, BUT ALSO TO SHARE THE PERSON NEVI IS BECOMING WITH ALL OF YOU. Ahma & Ahpa probably know all of this stuff already as they has taken on a 4 day weekend with Nevi recently while Robb and I took our first trip away - went to NOLA.

Diaper Dash

A few weeks ago, Nevi competed in the 2nd race of her young career, the always scintillating “Diaper Dash” at the Frank Shorter "Race 4 Kids Health" in Broomfield, CO. Her first effort was the DD2010, almost 1-year ago, when she shuffled to a noteworthy finish, being beaten out by only kiddos with more than 3 months' experience on their legs. This year, she was hungry for another blue (participant) ribbon.

The race occurred in two heats. The first was the entire length of the football field, a veritable marathon for tykes under 2, who mostly opted for the short-course version, a 50-foot sprint, to be run shortly thereafter. So, in culmination of 25 months of intense psychological and physical conditioning, she toed the starting line.

The Applebee’s Bee, a charming but daunting character (hey, I’m a little scared of anybody with a 3-foot stinger) was the grand marshall. Wordlessly, he coaxed the field to the starting line, and then sent them off, whizzing down the gridiron himself, toward the finish line as a hungry pack pursued. Nevi’s start was a bit tentative....actually reversed would be a more appropriate term. It was less due to pre-race jitters (I think), and more a case of no-clear-idea-of-what-she-was-supposed-to-do. Kate’s hair appointment had been scheduled a month in advance (before either of us had even thought about entering this race) so I was flying solo as coach, photographer, and “seeing-eye dad” all rolled into one. But enough with the excuses. After we got going in the right direction, Nevi’s furious footfalls had her pulling away from the stragglers, and making a real push to advance to the rear of the lead pack! As the race’s first finishers crossed the line, The motivational music faded, and our ferocious little athlete suddenly slowed in her tracks.

“The music stopped,” she said.

“Keep going, keep running,” I prodded, “you’re almost there!”

Darting back & forth to avoid the previous finishers, she made it to the end, and there was much rejoicing!

Heat 2 was just as fun. Again, there were some problems at the start, but she finished respectably against a strong field of 2 & unders. Our neighbor, Powell, was Particularly Powerful, and according to my observation, bested all-comers. An awesome event as always, all the kiddos were supplied with ample finisher “schwag,” including a stuffed bear, books & stickers, and restaurant coupons. Well worth the no-charge entry fee!

SPRING! Another green thumb...

Aside from the insane WIND we've been having it's been a pretty nice Spring thus far here in Colorado. Boulder Farmers Market had it's season opening last weekend and IT WAS PACKED! We mostly stayed away from the crowded market and blew our bubbled in the grassy space surrounding it. It was also warm enough to splash our hands and feet in the Boulder Creek. Let me rephrase...the air outside was warm enough, however the creek was almost painfully cold. Nevi's internal thermostat is always high so she didn't mind the cold water one bit. Her newest favorite activity in the WHOLE WORLD is throwing sticks and rocks in the creek. We usually walk out back to the Coal Creek where we get crazy muddy and explore the ground for fun things like ants, rocks, tracks, leaves, etc. It is hours of entertainment for the both of us and much warmer than the Boulder Creek for me.

Nevi also helped me get the back cleaned up a bit. I raked the leaves away and she helped me place rocks and manage the compost. She spent about an hour making a mulch/rock/dirt display in an old terra-cotta flower pot. She was trying to put the rocks to sleep, with the mulch being their blanket. She kept saying, 'shhhh, it's OK baby rocks....go to sleep now.....' I think we've got another nature lover and green thumb on our hands.

Fun Stuff

We've been having nothing but fun lately.... Had a get-together with our Bradley Birthing friends, Peter, Dominika, Pavel and Dawid. Nevi LOVED playing with the boys and staying up late! And the adults had a nice time eating, drinking and being merry.

It was a Wednesday morning in March.....I was showered, ready for work, making sure the animals had their food and getting my lunch ready for work too...Robb marches down the stairs and says 'Why don't you stay home from work today and play with Nevi & I...', something he says on occasion. My usual response is...'but I've got sooooo much work to do...'. That morning I responded differently. It was the first day I'd EVER taken a personal day from work. I called work and told them that I wouldn't be in and man were they shocked but I had full support and a few, 'Good for you's.' Anwyay, we headed straight for the Erie park and played and danced until our we could no more. It is a newer park with your basic kiddo recycled play materials but it also had a pretty awesome solar powered musical dance and game arena. WE LOVED IT! We also basked in the grass under the sun and played kick ball for a while, rolling down grassy/hay-y hills and reminiscing about life. We were all starving after a glorious morning of laughter and hard play so we headed to Smash Burger for some burgers and fries. Nevi had a hot dog and fries - this was the very first time I have ever seen her dunk anything in ketchup. She dunked everything in the red stuff and to this day, she still loves to do it, only at home we're dunking 'healthier' things in it like scrambled eggs. We eventually made our way home and all took a nice nap. Again, glorious. That evening Robb joined me in a yoga class at the YMCA while Nevi played with the kiddos in the day care. Hiked our 'sunset loop' that night with Dylan and played sidewalk chalk until there was no more daylight. The day could not have been more perfect.

Cute Pictures