Little Peanut

We were on pins and needles a bit about Carys' 18 month appointment.  Despite all the results from the bloodwork and testing being normal, I still can't shake a tiny bit of anxiety about Carys' inability to gain weight.  She looks proportional and is meeting her developmental milestones (excepting the growth ones, natch), but I can't help but be a bit anxious over her only gaining a couple of pounds this past year.  Sure enough, she hadn't gained, but about 3 ounces since our weight check in May.  This gain puts her at a whopping 18.75 pounds.  She's still on the charts for her age, but just barely.  She's just about 2 and a half feet tall - again just clinging to the bottom percentiles for height.  Strangely enough, though, I think the combo of her itty-bitty size, plus the fact that she just insists on keeping up with her uber-active sister makes her a double threat.  We call her baby ninja because she is quick and quiet.  One minute you think she's playing in her room, the next minute she's staring at you from places such as the top of the coffee table.

Caught!

Don't worry!  I removed her after I took the picture.  (Hey, I'm a bloggin' mama!)  Don't worry about the coffee table either.  It took it's revenge on Carys a few days ago when she thought she was an Olympic gymnast, but flubbed her dismount from the couch.   We thought Cora was going to be our drama mama, but now I'm pretty sure it's going to be Sissy.

Here we are waiting to get glued.  That giant cotton ball is full of numbing gel.  This was in the calm before the storm of trying to glue her head!  God bless those nurses and the doctor! Only 24 hours after getting her injury glued (thank goodness for that stuff!!), she had ripped the glue suture off.  Oy vey! Now, we're just trying to keep her from bumping into things to make sure she doesn't open up her old injury.  I think she might need a padded house!

So besides incredible feats of daring, Carys' other favorite activities are running and enjoying/terrorizing Penny.  Don't worry about Penny, she definitely benefits from the relationship.

Carys' affections are not limited to Penny.  Any dog Carys sees is subject to a raucus chorus of "Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!"  This is not limited to real dogs.  We hear this song often!  One of her favorite things to do is to give Penny treats.  Though she's not as verbal (at least in proper English) as some kids her age, she definitely thinks she's saying the right things.  She will put her little hand out (our sign for Penny to sit) and say something that inflected sounds like a command.  Then, she gives Penny her treat and says something that sounds a lot like "good girl!"  as she pats her on the back.  Fortunately, Penny is an infinitely patient doxie.  It took Carys a while to understand the word 'gentle.'  Now, if we could just keep her out of Penny's food and water...

So, in summary, she's still a little peanut, but she sure is a fun one!

What Has Been Up

Well, there went July, huh?!  You would think that my lack of posting would be due to lack of activity.  But strangely enough, we've actually had many fun adventures over the past couple of months.  I'm going to do my best to get this online scrap book up to date.

~~~~~~Wavy Going Back in Time Lines~~~~~~

So, back in May, we celebrated John's birthday.  We are kind of big kids at heart around here.  We love zoos and theme parks.  So, for John's birthday weekend, we decided to take Cora to Sea World for the first time.  For some reason, we thought it would not be crowded because school was still in session.  Yeah, that was definitely a bad assumption!  Thankfully, we left the bebecita with Yiayia and Dado.  I doubt that she would have handled the heat and the stroller all day.  Here are Cora and I at the entrance to the park.

We got there shortly before the Shamu show was to start.  So, we headed into the arena to see it.  Cora wasn't too sure about the whole situation, but by the time the show started, she was enjoying the spectacle.  It was funny to listen to her practically cackle when the orcas would do the tricks.  

 After the show she wanted to take a picture with the Shamu statue.  She insisted to stand right in front of Shamu, so this was the best picture we could get.  (Note the map rolled up in her hands.  She insisted on 'reading' and carrying that map all day.  Actually, we still have the map.  And, she will get it out to play with often.)

After the show, we walked by the roller coasters.  Cora really wanted to see them, but she also wanted to make sure that we knew that she was 'too big' (her words) to ride them, lol!  We even took her to the Sesame Street Bay of Play where they have kid sized rides.  Not interested in that either.  Believe me, you cannot convince her otherwise.  (I think she gets that stubborn streak from her father. ;-)

Instead of the rides, we took in the next show, Azul.  This is the show that combines the marine animals with Cirque du Soleil type acrobatics.  It was really enjoyable.  Cora liked seeing the beluga whales and selected a plush one as her souvenir.  

After lunch, we saw the penguins and some other animals.  Then we played on the playground before going to the sea lion show.  Here we are sweaty and tired waiting for the show to start.

 It was a really cute show, but I don't think any of us enjoyed it as much as the others.  By that time we were hot tired and ready to go. I am glad we did the season pass option.  Cora definitely wants to go back again. (Some others in the family want to, too!)

Cora's Kidisms - Danielle Steel Edition

A few weeks ago, Yiayia bought Cora a Ken doll.  She felt bad that all the princesses had no boys to dance with.  This particular Ken doll has blonde thick hair and is in total Australian beach attire.  Cora christened said doll 'Patrick' after I listed every (EVERY) single (SINGLE) male name I could think of.  So, I was pretty disappointed when Patrick turned up missing shortly after that.  Well, much to Cora's delight, Patrick returned this past weekend.  He must have been on walk-about.  Apparently, Cora's Belle doll was pretty excited to have Patrick back.  Witness the conversation that Cora orchestrated between Patrick and Belle:

Belle:  Oh, Patrick, I've missed you!
Patrick:  You missed me?
Belle:  Yes!  I missed you so much!
Patrick:  Awww!  Come 'ere!  *SMOOCH*

Later, I found Belle and Patrick spooning on the guest bed.

sigh

Birthday Girl!

Cora, how is it possible that you are 4?!

Without knowing it, we passed over a milestone last year.  You see, last year, was the last time that you really had no clue about when your birthday was and what to expect on it.  This year, you know that your birthday is June 24th.  You did not hesitate to tell anybody and everybody that fact and that you will be 4 months (lol!) old.  You also informed Auntie Linda that you will be having balloons and chocolate cake for your birthday.  I'm thankful Auntie Linda also informed me of these expectations!

So, Sister, what's new?

You are about to begin reading.  You have been showing signs of readiness for some time now, and we are going to start schooling in the fall.  One of your favorite things to do is to read things for me.  You love to read the box of goldfish, the store signs around town, the stop sign, and your favorite board books.

You love physical activity.  You are learning a lot of new things in gymnastics.  And, now that you are in the next level, you seem to be learning at a more rapid pace.  I guess it's a bit easier to concentrate without mama and bebecita on the floor distracting you.  You also love to run.  You're more of a long distance runner than a sprinter.  And, you can definitely run for quite some time.

This past year, you've gotten in touch with the princess within.  You love princess stories and movies.  You have your own collection of princess dolls that you like to play with. Often, you will dress up in your crowns and princess dresses to play. Not to worry, though, this princess side is just one more facet of your personality.  You still adore dinosaurs.  The other day as you played in your room, you informed me, "This is my best dilophosaurus."  Mmmmkay!

Girlfriend, you love to sing!  I'm excited that you are now old enough to join the children's choir at church.  Starting this fall, you and daddy both will get to go to choir on Wednesday nights.  Your VBS teachers commented to me repeatedly about how much you loved singing and dancing to the music at the worship rally.  I can't wait to see you performing!

You love to talk on the phone.  It doesn't matter who I'm talking to; you always want to get a few words in - even if you don't know the person.  It's funny though because you have come up with your own 'out' on the phone.  You will suddenly say "Gung gong gung gong!  That sounds like the clock. It's getting close to 4.  I gotta go!"  Crazy girl!  I wonder how this skill will translate if you are ever on a bad date!

You crack me up with the way your mind works sometimes.  You are very much a black and white kind of girl.  If I mess up and tell you we are going in Daddy's car, you will insist, "No, it's Daddy's truck!"  You also very much see things in your own special way.  You have many (MANY) toys, but often I will find you playing with a strip of paper or one of your lacing strings.  You will tell me "This is Aladdin and Abu!"  I love your fantastic imagination!

Like Sissy, you're a bit of a petite thing.  You are SKINNY minnie.  I am wondering where your got this metabolism because you can eat 5 donuts in one sitting and still maintain your girlish figure.  We'll find out your exact stats at your well check coming soon, but you are around 30 pounds and around 40 inches.  You are still wearing all of your 3T clothes though the long pants are almost too short.

We are so thankful that God gave us you!  We love you so very much!

18

Sweet bebecita is 18 months today!  People always told me with Cora that the time will go by super fast.  What they don't tell you is that with your second, it's more like warp speed!

So, sweet Miss Carys what is new with you?

You are a little mamacita.  You love your babies.  One of your  favorite things to do is to give your dollies a bottle.  This cracks me up to no end because you were a little turkey as an infant and would never take a bottle yourself.

Like Sister, you love animals and dinosaurs.  You know that dogs say "Woof!"  So, you will hold up Perdita and shout, "Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof!"  You also know that dinosaurs 'say' "Rawr!"  What you don't know is that not every other animal says "Rawr!"  I love to watch you hold up one of Sister's giraffes and happily shout "RAWR!!"

You say several words, but only on your terms.  I have a theory about you, little one.  You prefer to wait until you are completely comfortable and confident in your ability.  You took some steps at around 12 months, but you didn't decide to walk until several months later.  It was almost as if you decided to give up crawling cold-turkey.  I have a feeling that one of these days, you are going to shock us with how many words you know.  Until then, these are the words that you use most frequently:


mama
dada
pup-pup
hi
uh-oh
all done (ah duh)
thank you (tachoo)
ball
bath
baby
Perdita (dita)
bye-bye
night night (nigh-nigh)
banana (nana)

You also shake your head no, wave and use the please, milk, and up signs.

Your receptive vocabulary is getting bigger and bigger each day.  You understand almost everything.  It's so fun to be able to give you directions and to watch you follow them.  

You have a very healthy appetite, despite your size.  You and Sister both must have such amazing metabolisms.  You love to eat.  You enjoy trying new things, and you will eat pretty much any kind of fruit.  You also love cheese, eggs, and pasta, not to mention the usual kid favorites like pizza, goldfish, and donuts.  

Strangely enough, you remain quite the little peanut.  At your weight check a few weeks ago, you had finally crossed over the elusive 18 pound mark.  Your weight puts you in the 3rd percentile, and accordingly, you are wearing 9 month size clothing.  The unexpected benefit of this, mon petite pickle, is that you can wear all of the same clothes that Sister wore.  It's fun to see some of those cute outfits again.  

I suppose your diminutive stature has to do with your activity level.  You love to run and climb.  I love to see your little face peek over the pass through when I'm cooking in the kitchen.  You know that standing on the back of the couch is strictly verboten, but you also know that Mama can't resist your triumphant smiling face!

My very favorite thing that you've learned thus far is your prayer hands.  Every night when I put you in your crib, I pray over you.  You've been watching me with your big blue eyes.  Now, when I pray, you fold your hands, too.  It blesses my heart to see you already learning and growing in faith.  

We are thankful for you, sweet bebecita!  You bless us more and more everyday!

Cora's Kidisms - Gun Control Edition

This week, Cora has started inventing toy guns.  I'm not sure where this is coming from considering we are a princess/dinosaur family all the way.  To my understanding, princesses/dinosaurs and guns are kind of mutually exclusive.  Anywho... last night, Cora was chasing John around the back yard with a large stick.  She stopped, pulled the trigger, and made a nice, albeit girly, 'piew, piew' sound.  She then proceeded to yell, "I got you!"  To which John perplexedly replied, "You just shot me at point-blank range!"  Cora's classic response, "Ya!  I just shot you at boink-boink range!"  Permit me a tiny lol.  This kid cracks me up!

Pushin' Cookies

One afternoon when my brother was maybe two or three years old, he was helping my mom make some sugar cookies.  You know the kind that have Crisco and sugar and vanilla and lemon and all kinds of good stuff; the kind that you press with the bottom of a cup dipped in sugar.  My grandparents called around that time, and when they asked Scott what he was doing, he responded, "Pushin' cookies!"  And now, it's hard for me to think of them any other way.

The other day, Cora and I decided to make some pushin' cookies.  She hasn't ever really shown much of an interest in cooking, but this kind of recipe was a good place to start.  She was my expert 'pusher.'

I should add that she chose her outfit.  Yes, my friends, we are in that phase of childhood.  Her go-to clothes are brown boot-cut stretch knit pants. We somehow ended up with three or four pairs of them among the hand-me-downs that were generously shared with us.  She likes to pair said pants with a brown ladybug shirt.  Due to the ladybug shirt being in the clothes hamper, she chose her Christmas tree shirt on this particular occasion.  Mmmmkay.  I guess this is just a case of it all coming full circle.  I had the worst fashion sense as a kid.  I'd like to think I've improved a bit...at least I hope I have.  So, there is probably hope for my little cookie pusher.  At least we know that her cookie sense is well developed.

Wordless Wednesday

It's a Tricycle Chariot

And, guess who gets to be the horse!

We've had this big wheel for probably two years now, but my little shortie's legs aren't quite long enough to push the pedals.  So, I came up with a creative solution involving some rope and a certain trusty steed.  

My other little shortie likes to get in on the action, too.  

We just have to remember to watch out for the divots!

But, I'm pretty sure big shortie didn't mind the wipe outs too much!

Better in Theory

After the fun we had with the Christmas stroller, John decided that the wagon Santa brought our girls could use some sprucing up.  If you remember, the lights on the stroller were something of a power drain - an expensive power drain, I might add.  So, John spent the good portion of several days rewiring a set of red Christmas lights - something about parallel and wiring and current and blah, blah, blah  (Clearly, I am a science goddess!) - so that they would not eat our grocery budget in 9 volt batteries.  Folks, it pays to be married to an electrical engineer!  And, after soldering his fingers and the wires, he meticulously attached the franken-lights to the girls' little red wagon.

Notice the giant battery pack attached at the back.  Even with rewiring them, they still required some heavy duty battery power. Who knew Christmas lights used so much power?!

We did have fun walking around the neighborhood and on the trail by the creek.  But, it was tricky to keep the stroller from brushing up against things.  One wrong move and the lights could be knocked off.  And, then the bulbs would burn out.  It's a lot more difficult to find replacements mid-February!  (Things to keep in mind come Christmas time...)  So, by March, the lights had to come off.  It was fun while it lasted.  And, I'm not naive enough to think that there's not something even more spectacular cooking in John's brain.  Stay tuned!

Carys' Many Faces

When Cora was younger, I did a couple of posts with pictures of her cute/strange/funny faces.  It's about time that Sissy gets a post of her own!

Can you tell that we just love this sweet little girl?

Wordless Wednesday

The Perfect Storm...

...of adorable-ness!

The Monday after the time chance this past month, the girls let John and I blissfully sleep in.  It was amazing.  We didn't get out of bed until after 10.  The girls had been up for a little while.  We could hear them giggling on the monitor.  But, I was not expecting what I saw when we opened the door.

Cora had grabbed a stack of books and crawled into Carys' crib.  They were sharing and reading together.  I think my heart may have exploded when I saw it! (The fact that they happened to be wearing their matching pajamas was the icing on the cake.)  I'm looking forward to the day when they can sneak into each other's beds for a secret slumber party.  So very thankful for their love for each other!

We're Zoo People

It's no secret.  We love us some zoos!  A while back (bad mommy blogger, bad, bad!), we took the girlies on an adventure to the Cameron Park Zoo.  I had not been there since college, but it did not disappoint!  It's a small zoo, but it is very well designed.  And, it has many of the major animals like lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, and an orangutan.

Speaking of the orangutan, Cora was not a fan.  He (she?) was right up next to the glass of his (her?) enclosure.  And, he was much bigger than we all expected.

It was hard to get a good picture beyond the glare of the glass.  It's difficult to tell, but that is his foot on the window!  Unlike Cora, I lurve the primates.

Cora did enjoy this little donkey sculpture.  She spend quite a bit of time on the donkey reading her map.

Carys mostly just enjoyed being out of the stroller. 

Notice Perdita made the trip as well.

My favorite part of the zoo was the neat river otter enclosure.  Next to primates, and Penny, otters are my favorite animals.  These otters were so playful and fun to watch.  This zoo even has a tunnel slide that goes through the enclosure.  Of course, Carys wanted to try it.  She is my crazy little daredevil, after all!

soft pants + slick slide = one fast ride for mamacita 

The zoo must have made an impression on the big girl.  Even a month or so later, she'll tell people "Last morning, I went to the Waco Zoo!"  ('Last morning' is Cora's word for 'yesterday'.  Not sure where she picked that up, but I love it so much that I never correct her.)  I'm sure we'll be making more trips that way in the future.

Green Thumbs or Possible Lack Thereof

We have lost our minds over here, y'all!  I do not have a green thumb.  In fact, what is the opposite of green?  Whatever that is, that is what color thumb I have.

The ironic thing about this is that I love house plants.  When we were first married, I loved to go to the garden section of the home improvement store and pick some plants to take home.  And, John would follow behind me humming the Funeral March ominously.  sigh  It's true, though.  We may as well have taken the plants home in a hearse.  I haven't purchased any house plants in the last few years, and the two that have survived (I'm using the word 'survived' very loosely) are on their last leaves.  Believe me, after the years of torture that they have endured, death will come as a sweet release.  

Yet, being the dutiful parents that we are, we of course got Cora her own set of flowers to tend after she showed a small interest in gardening.  After being overwhelmed by the variety of flowers to choose from and suffering from a grotesque lack of knowledge about which kinds of flowers would be suitable for our location, Cora chose zinnias.  Her highly scientific method of choosing involved looking for a plat of flowers that had 4 bright colors - one color for each member of our family.  

John helped Cora plant them in pots, and we've talked about sun, soil, water and air.  (The teacher in me refuses to die down!)  She was pretty gung ho about the flowers for approximately 2 days.  I even got her a brand new watering can for her to water them.  But, you can only do so much to overcome your genetics.  Turns out that plant care is not her strong suit.  The plants have sadly been left into my care.  And, we all know what that means...dun dun da dun, da da dun, da dun, da dun!

Fri-Deja Vu

Cora 2009

Carys 2012

Bluebonnets

I imagine if you are not from Texas, seeing bluebonnets is not a huge source of excitement.  But, around these parts we look forward to their appearance every year.  In Cora's short life, we had managed to get her among the wildflowers every year.  Unfortunately for Carys, Texas was in the midst of a crazy drought last year, so we had no luck finding a lush spot for pics last year.  This year, though, God has blessed our state with rain!  We found a great spot in a park near our house to get some traditionally Texas pictures of the girlies.

Behold, Sister:

And, Sissy:

(Oh, and, behold Perdita.  It seems that Perdita may be in all of her pictures for the foreseeable future.) 

Folks, I learned that I am not meant to be a children's photographer.  Out of 285 pictures, I found a dozen or so that were usable.  Don't worry; I won't quit my day job!

I call this shot Puppy Love.  (Couldn't resist the pun!)

I have to admit that I was pleased to get these of Carysita.  She is a girl on.the.go.

Cora was a bit easier to capture.

J'adore!  (Too bad about her missing feet!)

 You may or may not be surprised to know that out of those 285 photos, I have not one usable photo of the girlies together.  Alas, 'twas not meant to be!  Perhaps next year...