Swimming, Snow, and Snuggles

Maliana ~

Nothing like hitting the week with a huge curve ball. On Monday you cornered me in the shower, peppering me with questions about your body, my body, Daddy's body, and where babies come from, so by Tuesday when your age appropriate books about the "birds and the bees" arrived, it was not a moment too soon for this mama...and it went better than expected. Here's how I shared the news with FB:

Mali's had a LOT of questions about the body and where babies come from lately. She's about the same age I was when I started asking so I suppose she's right on track. This book finally arrived tonight and we had our first detailed discussion about ALL of it. *eek!* Have to say it wasn't as awkward as I thought it might be. *whew!*

Wednesday we celebrated Uncle Flint's birthday at Red Lobster where you learned two things: 1) you like potato bacon soup and 2) the fate of tank lobsters at restaurants.

"yo kid...help me outta here, would ya?"

poor little lobsters

being silly

Thursday Daddy went to your 'soon to be' Uncle Jeff's bachelor party so I ended up taking you to the Y with me so we could get some pool time in. I realized how much I really love having joined the Y, the fact that I can take you with me and it is so family friendly makes it feel like such a good fit for our lives right now. The water was a bit cold but I sucked it up as it made you so darn happy to splash around, laughing hysterically at all of the made up games we played. You cracked me up too as you now have another wiggly tooth that you are constantly messing with...not even swimming could keep you from reaching up to periodically wiggle it from time to time...swim, wiggle, swim, wiggle, swim, wiggle. You are so funny. It was great too because all of that swimming wore your butt out and you were asleep within 3 minutes in the car on the way home. Score!

Being so tired bled into the next day as we were all wiped out by the end of the week. It was a cold night and you snuggled in, falling asleep in my lap on the couch that night. I can feel you getting so much longer and heavier, your limbs that much more awkward as you snuggle in to my arms. I count my blessings that, at least for now, you can still fit into my lap.

such a peacefully sleeping little girl

Saturday was welcomed after a cold and exhausting week. The snow that was promised had begun and made for the perfect opportunity for a "nest" while you hunkered down to watch some of your favorite Peppa Pig episodes...

M requested I build her a "nest" with as many of her blankets as I could find,
then says..."Ahhh! This is my dream come true!" #soeasytoplease

And speaking of Peppa Pig, here's another tidbit from the weekend as shared on Facebook:
~ Mali has now adopted a British accent...thank you, Peppa Pig.
You crack me up, child!

We hung out inside all morning before heading to some friends' house that afternoon. They were old friends for Daddy and I so it was so nice to get back in touch and have lots of laughs again. An added bonus perk was that you discovered a new friend in their son, Landen. You both did amazingly well together, sharing so easily with each other and having so much fun since you both have nearly all of the same interests, including but not limited to everything super heroes. We went bowling and it warmed my heart when Landen ever so sweetly offered you a huge bouncy ball that he had just won when you had trouble doing the same in the 'grippy claw' game in the arcade. It makes me beyond happy when you form friendships with other children who are so kind and giving. Surrounding ourselves with good role models at any age is always a good thing and such a wonderful gift. 

two peas in a pod

getting everyone's names squared away

what happened here, Landen?

rooting for the ball

"leaning" the ball back to the pins

thank goodness we found these chairs for
you "short stacks"!

Our Sunday was filled with cinnamon pancakes, more of a gorgeous snowfall that blanketed the entire city while we slumbered (and kept on coming down all morning), silly shenanigans inside the warmth of our house, and then a fun family sledding trip in the 'hood followed by a late lunch of tomato soup, leftover Kingy's pizza, and hot cocoa.  There were other places to go and other things we could have done, but this just felt so good. Like a friend said, the cold and snow gave us the perfect excuse to hibernate and spend time as a family. That's what it's all about, after all. 

showing me how deep the snow is on our back deck

ate a little snow on that run

laying there like a slug

with one of the neighborhood kids, Victoria

riding with Daddy

you were really putting Victoria to work
hauling you back up the hill

ambition..."I can do it, Mom!"

about to go down with you and a little girl we
just met from our 'hood

frozen but having fun!

The weekend wrapped up with you preparing for Chinese New Year and stuffing some red envelopes (hung bao) to pass out to your friends at school on Friday. I love that your class will celebrate it at daycare this year! Yay!

such a sweet kid you are...

Here's to a great week!!
Love,
Mama

Rocking, Hiking, and Resting

Maliana ~

Daddy (with a little help from friends) kicked off your week with a huge surprise for you ~ the Fresh Beat Band concert! You were so excited all day, not even having a clue as to what your surprise was that night. You both met Mia and her daddy downtown and even Mia played along with trying to trick you, suggesting that maybe you were going to a soccer game. When you found out what was actually in store for the evening, you were pumped! Tremendous double daddy/daughter date success! I am so glad you got to spend time with these guys and of course, your daddy too!

why do I get the feeling we could be seeing similar
pictures of you two at concerts, years from now?

even Daddy was stoked to see the FBB!!

Thursday is always a tough day for me, since it's almost the weekend (but not quite) and I am usually exhausted (to say the least). In spite of my dog-tiredness, it made me so happy to get a text from Daddy letting me know how great of a morning you had had. He was proud to report that you had sprang out of bed and got yourself dressed (head to toe) without any prompting at all. So awesome!

When I picked you up at school later, it gave me more much needed smiles to see the outfit you had chosen to wear...

trendsetter

Were you wearing a boldly striped shirt underneath an open button down plaid shirt with no corresponding colors whatsoever? Sure! But did you do it all by yourself? Yep! So proud of you!

This week I also signed our whole family up at the local YMCA in order to increase our health and make getting fit a family affair. I even took you with me and got to work out the very next day after signing up while you hung out in their 'child watch' program and did fabulously. Afterwards, you were excited to take a tour of the gym and began plotting when we could all go swimming together.

Along with feeling like we made a really good decision to join the Y, here's how I shared my gratitude on Facebook later:
~ reason #79 I am grateful for my kid today = picking her up from her first night at the on-site Child Watch while I worked out at the Y and the worker went on and on about how sweet she is and asked me to please bring her back.  #mademynight #kindwordsgoalongway

The weekend finally arrived and found us making banana pancakes before going hiking in the woods behind our house. All on your own, you suited up and begged one of us to take you to go looking for bugs, critters, and animal tracks. It made me remember how much I loved to go exploring with my uncles, Matt and Mark, when I was little too. I would hike all over their farm, tagging along with them and loving every minute of hanging out with 'the older boys'. There's nothing like nature as a child's best playground. Brought back fun memories taking you out like this in our own little woods and watching your excitement as you marched along with Abby, spotting this or that in the snow.

all geared up from head to toe

this was pretty much the only critter spotted...
our pup, Abby

you determined we were very far from home
(psst...not really)

using your bird callers to call for help from Daddy
(just like you'd seen them do in the movie, The Croods)

And upon digging out the bug box pictured above, here is a snippet of our conversation...
~ upon finding this locust shell from last summer in your bug box ~
Me: "Can we please throw this thing away now?"
Mali: "Noo! It reminds me of Buddy!"
Me: "You named the locust we watched climb out of this shell last summer? "
Mali: "Yeah!"

I love my bug lover

That evening I headed out to Aunt Lindsey's bachelorette party while you and Daddy went over to Uncle Joe and Aunt Tina's and then later you spent the night with E. You girls stayed up, read to each other at bedtime, hid and spied on whoever you could, and just generally had a giggly good time.

clearly you and Daddy had a hard time
letting me go out to the bachelorette
party...getting ready was like an
obstacle course!

snuggled up and reading in bed

spying on Sam

Since it was a long night for all of us on Saturday, we hit a major wall on Sunday. We had to stop and press pause, climb into bed and relax for the afternoon once getting you home from E's house. It was a good call too or else I have a sneaking suspicion someone would have ended up in a strait jacket by dinnertime.

mandatory quiet time on Sunday afternoon

Once we'd gotten a little rest, Daddy helped you make a craft you had seen on YouTube...I love when Daddy does stuff like that! He also discovered he has some fairly clever crafting abilities too...a bonding activity and self-esteem builder all the way around. Ha.

major good daddy points!

Later you begged to go grocery shopping, yes, grocery shopping with Daddy (I know...weird, right?), but hey...it's a win since a) I didn't have to grocery shop and b) you got more time with your Daddy! Evidently, you were still extremely tired as I received this text from Daddy about halfway through your trip...

sleepy driver

Monday was an extra bonus for the weekend since we both got to stay home in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. day. We had some really nice extra time together...randomly deciding to trek out to Three Creeks Metro Park for a worm composting seminar where you got to build your very own tabletop worm composter. You are very excited to hopefully have lots of worm babies in about three weeks ~ let's hope this works!

you made me put the night crawlers in, but
you did the rest...we'll see what happens!

crossing our fingers for worm babies

Once home, we stayed in, relaxed and enjoyed the smell of Guinness stew from the crock-pot, snuggled, made each other laugh, and awaited the arrival of our visitors ~ Audrey Ayi and Lao Lao! Both stopped by for a bit that afternoon and evening. It was so nice to see them and spend time together. Lao Lao helped you for a long time with your latest Kiwi Crates full of crafts and science experiments. Audrey played your beloved LPS with you and gave you a bath before heading home.

mad scientists

playing LPS

It was a nice, warm, cozy, and perfect ending to a long and fun weekend.
Love,
Mama

A Polar Vortex, Winter Hike and Ice Skating

Maliana ~

With the super freezing temperatures of the polar vortex at the beginning of the week (think Minnesota kind of cold here), we were all a little stir crazy inside so by Wednesday, Brooklyn and Braycen came over to play. It was so nice to see these kids again, their antics and laughing crack me up. I will be sad when they eventually move, but so thankful that we have had them as neighbors at all.

painting with Brooklyn

3 musketeers

And as for stir crazy...or perhaps just plain crazy...this was my Facebook post from Thursday:

Third day in a row that I've taken Mali's boots off and turned them upside down and these melty bead critters have fallen out. No clue why they're in there. I think she has a future in smuggling.

My book club also happened to fall on this Thursday night and since it was a special book club (honoring a fellow Fu mama and friend who will be moving to Cleveland this month), our gathering was at Ms. Christina's house which meant that kids got to come too. You were super stoked and glad to hang out with some of your Fu friends. For myself, it is always so comforting to be around such strong, smart, open, and supportive women. This week, it was a bonus to also sporadically hear and see you silly kids sneaking down to spy on us as well. I love that you are growing up knowing these children and hope to continue all of us being in each others' lives as you grow older. It means a lot to me. The older I get, the more I appreciate how rare and precious truly good friends and solidly positive influences are in all of our lives. I am so thankful for the ladies of Fu (and their children and daddies)!

Friday began with a few tears, I'm sorry to say. I unfortunately had been hit hard and fast by a nasty bug and was up all Thursday night puking and doing other unpleasant things. You (and I) look so forward to our special Friday mornings together and so you were thus crushed when Daddy ended up taking you to school instead. I simply did not have enough strength to do our normal routine. I threw up a few more times throughout Friday and didn't even have enough strength to pick you up that afternoon. Thankfully, Aunt Tina and Uncle Joe came to the rescue, picked you up, and took you to their house until Daddy got off of work. Now, what was I just saying about how much I appreciate how rare and precious truly good friends and solidly positive influences are in all of our lives? Yeah. You can definitely count these two angels among them. When I called you at school that day to tell you that Aunt Tina was picking you up, you didn't even bat an eye and were just excited to see them. I love that these guys are almost like extensions of mom and dad. Makes me feel so much better.

When you and Daddy finally came home that night, Aunt Tina had already been here to drop off a bag of groceries to help me feel better, while you and Daddy had your own bag of groceries to help me feel better as well. You had even hand-written me a get well card. You were so concerned about your mama, acting like a little adult. It was endearing. Love that about you.

home-made anything makes me feel so much better!

When Daddy thanked Aunt Tina (once again) for all that she had done to help out, her reply was, "It takes a village, Shawn-Shawn. It takes a village." ...Well, I definitely feel like there was a whole village looking out for all of us that day. So, so grateful.

Daddy took you to Chinese class on Saturday morning so I could scrape together just a bit more sleep to get my body feeling better. I was thankfully able to rally enough strength for our big event of the day, ice skating with a friend of yours (and her family) from school! Jocelyn, her parents (Chase and Kristy), and her brother Dylan all met us at the Chiller where we attempted to ice skate for the first time for many of us. Fortunately, there were no broken bones and we all survived. It was fun to watch each of you little ones progress and get more confident on the ice. We decided to have dinner at Logan's afterward (since you were so sad to have the fun end) and ended up getting to know their family a little bit better. They are all very nice and down-to-earth people and we look forward to more outings and play-dates for you kids.

skates are on!

with your bud, Jocelyn

on the ice!

attempting to keep us both up...Jocelyn was
really getting the hang of it!

"the wall is my friend"

these skate trams rock!

look at all three of you zipping around the rink now!

Sunday was a wet and chilly day but you, Lao Lao and I braved the metro parks and hit one of their annual winter hikes at Prairie Oaks. We met my friends Pam and Heidi there and while they went on and did the 3 miler, I was so proud of you for sticking it out to finish the 1 miler all on your own, cold, biting weather and all. These hikes are really good for us; the fresh air and exercise, nature and gorgeous scenery all around us, and time spent together. We get to see different metro parks each time and of course there is the warm and delicious soups and treats at the finish line. Chicken and noodles with cocoa and marshmallows after this hike was a big hit for you. Not much else tastes better than a steaming bowl of stew after a cold walk through the woods.

you were so into looking at all of the
footprints in the mud

now you've got a stick and are drawing us a map

getting muddy

walking the prairie

obligatory selfie of the day

our explorer

you were a little miffed here that I am making
you take a photo instead of eating the
yummy chicken and noodles

roasting marshmallows

mmmm ~ marshmallows

Along with the fun of the hike, we also had a chuckle from this as we pulled into the park before the hike:
~ driving Daddy's stick shift today and almost stalled...
Me: "Aggh! I'm so not used to stick shifts anymore!"
Mali: "I love dip shifts!"

Never a dull moment with you, child.
Love,
Mama