Stephanie's Colorful Breakfast

One of our favorite quick but warm breakfasts is 9 grain cereal.  Cook it up in a little bit of milk, add raisins or brown sugar (or, better yet, both), and it is a very satisfying breakfast that everyone enjoys.  Kevin made it this morning, and I noticed that it appeared to contain quinoa, not a grain I was used to seeing in my 9 grain cereal, so I asked him about it.  He said, "Oh, I decided to make 10 grain cereal this morning."  Stephanie piped up, "It's 9 green cereal, that's why I got my green spoon!".  Kevin and I then got to have one of those parent moments where we just looked at each to acknowledge the comedy of the situation.  Perhaps this explains why Stephanie is such a fan of the cereal... and all along, I thought it might be the brown sugar and raisins!

 

Our Tiny Hip Hopper

This morning marked Stephanie's first dance class.  I signed her up for tiny hip hoppers, mostly because there was no break-dancing class, which would really have been better suited for her style of dance.  I am really pleased that she is finally at an age that we get to do things like this and she was really excited about it, talking about it all week.  We have a really extensive Parks and Rec system that offers lots of classes and you get to invest in them with minimal time and expense to see how you like them (and that is how I know I can't zumba [why, oh why did I think I could?] , and why I am willing to try a 3 year old in dance classes).

  I was all set for her first dance class... bought her the required tennis shoes this week (she has worn boots all winter), video camera charged with space on the memory card, camera charged, ready to post my first video to the blog ever.  I had a vision of the outfit she might wear for the first class.  I typically let her wear whatever she wants, and occasionally try to find a way to get her in what I want, and I will say that I did put up more resistance than usual to her particular outfit choice, but she was very insistent that it was a good dance class outfit.  Frog pajama top, way too small giraffe pajama bottoms (but don't worry, she can just pull the socks up to keep her ankles covered, as I was told after pointing out the giraffe pant length issue), and a "dress".  This particular dress is a terry cloth bathing suit cover, which in no way matched either pajama piece.  And off we went to dance class.   

We arrived just as the teacher was coming out into the stairwell/hall of the "studio" to tell us parents the guidelines.  The first of which was no parents allowed in the studio.  My anxiety rocketed, as I had assured her that I would be at her class, and now I was certain she would NOT go in with out without me... she objected strongly when I insisted that Buzzy Bee could not come to class.  She won't even sit with the other children at the weekly library story time we go to, instead always choosing to sit in my lap.  She is actually generally very independent, but seems to be fairly shy about situations that involve new people and new experiences.  To make matters worse, she had also been quizzing me about whether or not her best buddy from school would be there, and I had told her, no, she probably would not know anyone, but that she could make new friends, so she was fully aware that she did not know the teachers or any of the other kids.  They eventually do a roll call, and she has to walk up the stairs to join the other kids.  Instead, she clings to my hand and I walk up the stairs with her to get her to go, and I am sure this is going to end badly.  They open the doors and the teacher starts to escort the kids in, and she just lets go of my hand and walks right in without me. At this point, I realize that I, too, must suffer from separation anxiety, as I had to stop myself from calling to her and asking her if she is sure that she is okay with out me.  I just bite my tongue and let her go.  It is pretty similar to how I feel about daycare... If she cries and screams when I leave, I just want her to give it a rest, but if she happily marches off to play with her friends, I sort of miss a bit of mama drama, so I can never win!  During her class, I could see her in the mirror through the window, and she had a great time.  For the record, she was the first one out the door looking for Mommy!  She got a sticker for being a "great dancer" and was thrilled to tell me about the class. I am so glad this worked out for her!  And, while there is no video to post today, the last day of class is "Parent Observation Day", and I fully intend on videoing heavily!  And won't it be fun to see what she wears?  

Introducing Baby Marshmallow Clementine

New Baby on the way has stimulated lots of entertaining conversation with Stephanie.  Oh, and if you didn't know about New Baby, surprise!
First off, we elected to not find out the gender, mostly because we enjoy the surprise, partly because it makes everyone else a little nuts, thus increasing the fun in the announcement after birth.  Since we don't know if it is a boy or a girl, we don't spend much time talking to Stephanie about having a brother or a sister, but more about getting a new baby.  But, of course, the terms brother and sister come up sometimes, and we tell her we don't know if it will be a brother or a sister, we have to wait to find out.  Stephanie originally would tell people, "I might be a little sister or a little brother, we have to wait and see", at which point, I would remind her that she was for sure the big sister, and she might get a little sister or a little brother", and then she would proceed to repeat her original statement.  She finally got it straight when Alaina was here, probably because Alaina kept telling her that she was the big sister.  Next comes naming the baby.  Kevin and I have always favored Sean for a boy, and she picked up on that right away.  After that, it has been all fair game in terms of middle boy names and girl names.  Some of her recommendations thus far:  Sean Clementine (Clementine was [accidentally] suggested as a baby name based on her love for the fruit), in response to, "What if it's a girl?", she suggested Lady Sean Clementine.  She has also recommended Marshmallow Clementine (I guess if one favorite food is good, two favorite foods is better), which I guess could be a gender neutral name, based on Sean Clementine for a boy.  So far, she has mostly rejected our girl names, and I fear her disappointment when we come home without Clementine.  There have been a few decisions that I refuse to have dictated by a three year old, including paint colors for rooms, which pants match which shirt (I do that badly on my own, thank you very much) and definitely New Baby names.  Now that I think about it, maybe we should stick to "New Baby", a la MWC's "New Hall" and wait to name "New Baby" in honor of an outstanding contributor to our family... which apparently worked out for them:  http://students.umw.edu/residencelife/arrington/.  In the meantime, Stephanie can seek out benefactors with the name of "Clementine".

For a long time ago

I would like to interrupt the still unfinished Christmas Series of Posts to post about my new favorite expression that Stephanie has been using for several months.  I fear that if I don't post it now, she will stop using it and it will be lost with time.
She has mixed the expressions "for a long time" and "a long time ago" to create the Steph's-pression "for a long time ago", as in "Daddy hasn't taken me to the pool for a long time ago" or "We haven't played the Scooby Doo game for a long time ago".  Against my typical policy, I occasionally use the expression as well, mostly because I'm not quite ready for her to unlearn this one.  There have been a few Steph's-pressions that we have held onto as a family, "blue-cycling" being a notable one.  "Blue-cycling" is her description of our household recycling efforts, which are always placed in a blue bucket, and now the term is a standard household word.  It seems possible that "for a long time ago" might also stick, at least for a while.  

Christmas and the days just preceeding

We had just about a week at Mom and Dad's after the birthday party, mostly spent just hanging around.  We stayed down on the river, and Mom had fully decorated for Christmas.  Mom had found some gardens in Richmond that had a special Christmas lighting display, so we loaded up the mini-van (Mom, Dad, Jared, Stephanie, Kevin and me) and headed to that.  It was super cool, and I was super glad at this point that Kevin had come to Virginia, as he toted Stephanie around on his shoulders the whole time, making her experience there far more fun than I would have managed alone.  They had a story time for kids, and Santa in residence (whom Stephanie wanted to see, but not really talk to or even get all that close to).  The gardens were pretty spectacular, I only wish we had gotten there in the daylight (we didn't head down until after Stephanie's nap) to see it all.  As it was, we got a good (cold) walk around the property to see the lights and got to visit the library on site for the story time and see the plants and trains in the Conservatory.  

Stephanie was NOT interested in having her image captured that evening

Bird of Paradise plant

The library had these really cool little terrariums on display.

We also got to eat at a favorite BBQ place in Richmond that night, which is a bonus to any family adventure.  Christmas followed a few days later, and Mom made sure that there was no shortage of gifts, so many in fact, that we had to leave some behind to play with the next time we visit.  We also got to spend Christmas (and a good bit of time before Christmas) with Tonya and Jared, which is an added bonus, as Tonya works a lot.  We ended up also visiting my Aunt and Uncle and cousin and wife and their two year old daughter, which I never seem to find time to do on my regular trips home.  

Additionally, Mom made a big deal over the special forks and spoons she had for Stephanie to use at her house and then gifted us a set.  We desperately needed new silverware for her to love, as her favorite set was my college set, and we were limping along with two or three forks and spoons each, and were getting very tired of washing silverware for every meal.  Sure, maybe they have Christmas trees on them, but her favorite cup and plate are from Halloween, so at least we are branching out.  

Good thing we drove, but we would need a bigger car for all of this...

It was nice enough a few days to get some outdoor time.

Took a few days, but Granddidy eventually became popular, and as a reward, got to enjoy some time watching Dora the Explorer.

Good news folks... Only one, maybe two, blog posts about our Christmas trip left!  I won't get to it today, but, spoiler alert, it will be about getting back across the country with Alaina in tow in a four door sedan PACKED, while stopping in several cities to see what adventures we could find. 

The second (and last) third birthday party

As Valentine's Day has come and gone, I thought it might be time to wrap up my posts about Christmas... After staying in New Jersey for about a week, we all headed together down to Virginia to see my parents.  Originally, Kevin was not going to come with me, but changed his mind at the last minute.  Ostensibly, he did not want to miss Christmas with Stephanie, but he did change his mind shortly after overhearing my conversation with my mother about what kind of ice cream cake she should get for Stephanie's birthday party she was throwing, so I am not entirely sure what his motivation was, because I would change my plans for Friendly's ice cream cake.
The birthday party was our first night at Grandma's.  Stephanie loves unwrapping gifts, but by far, the most exciting part was the helium balloon tank that Mom had bought and Dad had used to blow up at least half a basement full of balloons, and the ice cream cake was, as could easily have been predicted, plenty popular.  We even had Minnie Mouse hats, plates and party blowers.  Not too shabby for a second third birthday party!  Thanks Mom!

It's not a birthday party until Jared helps Didy put a party hat on!

In what I consider a great Thomas tradition, Mom thought of everything except birthday candles!  We worked it out!

Having some birthday ice cream cake.

Did I not mention the ice cream cupcakes, because Mom got those too!  Did we let her eat both? Yes, yes we did.

No Bueno!

At some point, Kevin and I picked up the expression "No Bueno" from Alaina.  I'm actually not sure of the standard context in which Alaina uses the expression, but in our house, Kevin and I use it exclusively to refer to something inedible, as in, "No, Stephanie, we don't eat the grapefruit peel, it's no bueno."  And, just as we picked the expression up from Alaina, it was only a matter of time before Stephanie picked it up from us.  At first, she seemed to be using it in our context.  The first time we heard her use it was at my Mom's house.  She got in the play oven and popped out and told Kevin that he could eat her, "but not my feet, they are no bueno."  Weird, yes, but it does make some sense.  Quickly, though, she started using the expression to refer to food she simply doesn't want to eat.  It is really comical to sit at the dinner table and be told, "I don't like that, it's no bueno."  I doubt her teachers at school have no noticed the expression yet, as it is unexpected, but I am waiting for the day that they catch it and ask about it.
Thanks to Dora, this is not Stephanie's only Spanish-  she also says, "gracias" and LOVES when you say "de nada".  Sometimes she says "Thank you for...." just to get you to say "de nada".  We can always tell by the tone that she uses that she is looking for "de nada", and are happy to oblige.  Kevin has a knack for languages; me, not so much, but thus far Stephanie is doing just bueno.

Just realized that I actually have pictures capturing Stephanie's first "No Bueno" moment!