Brown Bear, Panda Bear…

Elaine LOVES the books by Bill Martin called Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See? and Panda Bear, Panda Bear What do You See?.  Grandma and Papa Cross found a game using the illustrations for the beloved books which works on matching and retelling the stories.  Elaine loves the game and is so excited when we all sit down for our nightly game playing.  

 

Helping Jerry set up

Getting ready to play

Her first ever match!!

Off to the Library…

Elaine loves books and has a hefty collection for a 2 1/2 year old.  It is also an ever-growing collection.  Consequently, I have relied too heavily on our own books and just recently took Elaine to the library.  She loved pulling books off the shelf and quickly found 3 she wanted to bring home.  She loved sitting at the table in the kids area, watching the big kids read and play computer games, moving stuffed animals 4 times her size around the area and putting puzzles together.  We plan on making this part of our weekly routine.  I’m thrilled she loves to read and was excited about spending time at the library!

 

Hope…

Over the past couple of days, I have thought a lot about what is happening to our country.  I can’t remember a time, in my lifetime, in which people seem so optimistic, happy, hopeful and so filled with possibility.  The level of patriotism is comparable to post 9-11.  I would almost say, that with young people, it’s even stronger.  As I reflect on the past couple of days, several points stick with me.  I am impressed with how Obama is seemingly so real.  I truly feel like he is an everyday guy with huge dreams for our country.  I’m not naive enough to think that all his “promises” will happen or that the next 4 years will be completely rosy.  I do, however, have hope that things will look up.  I am so glad that someone is willing to offer that up.  It gives me hope that my daughter will grow up in an America worthy of her and all the young people I know and love.

I was lucky enough to watch the inauguration with several classes at school yesterday.  Before we left the classroom I tried to explain what was about to happen–some got it, some didn’t.  My simple hope is that, at least, they will remember sitting in the school cafeteria in the second grade watching the historic day. 

Seeing the whole ceremony through the eyes of second graders was priceless and there are several things that stick with me (and will for years to come).  Here goes:

1.  Awed by Aretha Franklin’s bow

2.  Wondering how the internet knew to change to Obama 

3.  How cool it was that a musician named YoYo played for the new president

4.  Anytime there was clapping from the crowd, several members of my class would clap.  Then they would look around to see if anyone else was clapping.

5.  One little girl asked me why the poem read after the speech didn’t rhyme.  (Honestly, I was impressed she even caught that it was a poem!)

It’s days like yesterday I am so glad I have the job I do, that I am afforded the opportunity to have young people in my life.  If for nothing more than to remind me of the important things in life. 

Between Barack Obama and second graders, yesterday was a very good day!

The Big Slide…

As we do on lots of Friday nights, we joined the Chisesi family for dinner.  We went for pizza where they have a slide that 40 feet long.  Elaine loves to fly down the slide and anxiously awaits open arms at the bottom.  This time she was lucky enough to be caught by Nick, who she is still smitten with.  We are fortunate to have friends who are so sweet with our little girl. 

YIKES!!

Elaine has already learned how to completely freak me out!!  (I never expected my 2 year old to cross her eyes as a way to get to me!)

Gratitude…

 We’re a little late with them this year, but Christmas thank you notes are on their way.  Elaine enthusiastically, proudly and carefully worked on hers.   

Roomates…

Morgan, our playful, frisky, most-of-the-time-hyper 2 year old Husky and Boo, our fat, lazy, laid back 10 year old cat are about as opposite as 2 animals can be.  Boo wants to live her life free of stress and movement.  Morgan wants to live her life playing, running, playing, yipping, playing and chasing Boo.  Herein lies the problem. 

Please, please, please Boo!!  Come play with me!!!

On the upside, Boo has found hiding places every 20 feet throughout our entire house where she can take refuge.  That’s always how it happens when someone is watching.  Otherwise, they cuddle and lie together calmly.  We are hoping as our sweet dog grows older and settles down, we see more cuddling and less chasing.  Boo hopes this more than anyone else.

New Venture…

After talking with a couple of doctors, we have a plan to stop the thumb sucking.  The plan isn’t to preach, beg, plead, ask or tell Elaine anything.  The plan is for Jerry and me to focus on narrowing the duration and frequency of Elaine’s want to suck her thumb.  We are literally trying to take away idol time.  This has been particularly challenging at certain times in the day, but has added a lot more fun to our routine, especially in the evenings.  Arts, crafts and cooking are ways we are trying to occupy her mind AND her hands (and learn a little about handwashing!!). 

She really likes to help me cook things.  She wants to help and she wants to be included so there is no better way to create a diversion than to give into it.  We made cookies for Morgan the other day and Elaine LOVED it. 

I work in the kitchen quite a bit, so having things clinking around, mixing, measuring, etc is not totally unusual for this house.  Nevertheless, about half way through the process, Morgan was unstoppable.  She talked, whined, begged and barked as if she knew these special cookies were being made on her behalf.   Elaine thought these antics were pretty funny, but she loved being helpful and she created her own system for completely tasks.  Fortunately, the recipe I found for these cookies proved to be easy as well.

The dog was happy, the girl was occupied and we got a little family time out of the deal.  What could be better than that??

 

Even dogs love batter bowls!!

25 minutes later!!!

Sledding Fun…

Yesterday, we took Elaine sledding for the first time.  The neighborhood kids were sledding down the pasture in front of our house and we decided against starting Elaine off on that big of a hill.  We chose our front lawn which proved to be a little flat for her sled.  We ended up having her “sled” down our driveway.  It was just icy enough that it actually worked much to Elaine’s delight!!

Headin’ out

First trek

WHAT??

The driveway worked best

“Dad, Get up!  You’re embarassing me in front of all the neighborhood kids!!!  And what the *&%$ is a snow angel?”

Winter Wild…

On Christmas night, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to enjoy the festivities.  Thankfully, the weather was mild and we enjoyed the walk after our yummy Christmas meal.    Elaine loved feeding the giraffes most of all, as usual.  We also got to make a bird feeder, see reindeer (who were very tired after their hard work on Christmas Eve), ride the carousel and see all the lights.  Hopefully this will also become an annual tradition. 

Love the smile!

The reindeer were so tired!! 

Making a bird feeder

Always reach for the stars!!