Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Kershaw family Thanksgiving
This weekend we got to go down to Williamsville for our Kershaw family Thanksgiving. As luck would have it, Travis had to work a night shift the Friday before, so we came down on Saturday morning. The kids got to play for a while as the food warmed up, and then we all got to sit down to a delicious dinner. Evalee wasn't really interested in eating. She had about 4 bites of mashed potatoes before heading back to continue on with what she was doing: cooking her baby on Alex's grill. We had an afternoon filled with playing, naps (for all three members of our family), and giggles.
Grandma wanted to go to the Festival of Trees, so once all the kids were up and ready we headed out. Eva wasn't sure what to think at first. We first stopped to see Santa, and she was not interested in talking to him at all. We walked around and saw all the pretty trees and the neat gingerbread houses, but all Eva was interested in mostly was a display with a Cinderella theme, complete with a life-sized mannequin dressed as Cinderella. We visited that display a few dozen times that night and even tried to join it a few times. For some reason, her shoes seemed to be bothering her, so she excited ran around the building in just her Elmo socks. There were Christmas ornament stickers on the ground, and she was so excited to step on each of them and follow the path they created around the exhibit. As Uncle Trevor said, "She is the most independent one-year-old I've ever seen." She never turned around to even check to see that we were following her. She was on a mission.
The other highlight of the night was the train ride. It was almost a disaster, as we sat down for the ride, Eva excited squealing "Choo! Choo!" only to realize we didn't have enough seats for everyone in our group. Eva didn't understand why we were getting up and was certainly displeased as she watched the ride chug ahead without her. She made the most pathetic "chooooo choooooo" noise as we stood in line and waited for our ride to come. The wait made the ride all the more sweeter, and she quietly whispered, "Wheeeee" through a smile throughout the entire ride.
We met Grandma and Papa for lunch at Chili's before heading back home on Sunday. Eva sat pretty well for the most part, mostly because of the chips and salsa at our table. There's nothing she loves more than an opportunity for some good chip/cracker dipping.She has good taste, in my opinion, as I firmly believe Chili's chips and salsa are a small slice of the heaven that awaits us.
Grandma wanted to go to the Festival of Trees, so once all the kids were up and ready we headed out. Eva wasn't sure what to think at first. We first stopped to see Santa, and she was not interested in talking to him at all. We walked around and saw all the pretty trees and the neat gingerbread houses, but all Eva was interested in mostly was a display with a Cinderella theme, complete with a life-sized mannequin dressed as Cinderella. We visited that display a few dozen times that night and even tried to join it a few times. For some reason, her shoes seemed to be bothering her, so she excited ran around the building in just her Elmo socks. There were Christmas ornament stickers on the ground, and she was so excited to step on each of them and follow the path they created around the exhibit. As Uncle Trevor said, "She is the most independent one-year-old I've ever seen." She never turned around to even check to see that we were following her. She was on a mission.
The other highlight of the night was the train ride. It was almost a disaster, as we sat down for the ride, Eva excited squealing "Choo! Choo!" only to realize we didn't have enough seats for everyone in our group. Eva didn't understand why we were getting up and was certainly displeased as she watched the ride chug ahead without her. She made the most pathetic "chooooo choooooo" noise as we stood in line and waited for our ride to come. The wait made the ride all the more sweeter, and she quietly whispered, "Wheeeee" through a smile throughout the entire ride.
We met Grandma and Papa for lunch at Chili's before heading back home on Sunday. Eva sat pretty well for the most part, mostly because of the chips and salsa at our table. There's nothing she loves more than an opportunity for some good chip/cracker dipping.She has good taste, in my opinion, as I firmly believe Chili's chips and salsa are a small slice of the heaven that awaits us.
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| Grandma and Amelia |
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| "Why hello Santa. I can be polite as long as my mom is holding me." |
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| "...but if you think I'm just going to sit here with this guy all by myself you're crazy." |
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| "No. I won't even look at the camera. I'm that mad." |
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| Alex was also not jazzed about the opportunity to chat with Saint Nick. |
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| Amelia didn't understand what the big deal was. |
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| Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a mug shot glare at the camera. |
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| Eva is calculating how she can still Alex's candy cane so she has one for each hand, the way she likes it. |
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| Alex tried to put his arms around his girls for a photo. Eva's playing hard to get. |
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| They really know how to take a photo. |
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| Candy canes are such a distraction. |
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| Waiting for the choo choo |
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| She didn't want to blink and miss it. |
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| So, she just didn't blink. |
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| This house totally should have won the blue ribbon. Jelly Belly chimney stones? Frosting dots on the roof? Mysterious pine cone shaped candy trees? Perfect. |
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| A little Rapunzel love |
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| Even the Cat was there. |
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| This is the face I envisioned for Santa Clause, not Cinderella. |
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| Waving to Daddy on the train |
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| Walkin' in a winter wonderland |
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| I so wish this would have been in focus. <sigh> |
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| Admiring trees with Uncle Trevor |
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| Visiting Cinderella. Again. |
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| Trying to smuggle Uncle Trevor under her sweater. He was underage for the gingerbread section. |
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| Pretty girl |
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| Amelia's practically drooling for Molly's hair |
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| 3 out of 4... not bad |
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| being silly |
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| She was anxious to hold Amelia, despite the fact that her face suggests she doesn't realize she is, in fact, holding Amelia. |
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| Enjoying the attention she is receiving from holding Amelia |
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| ...but now she's done with her. |
Eva in November
We have had a very busy November here in the Kershaw family. In fact, I just asked Travis what we've done since Halloween, and frankly it feels like Halloween was just a weekend ago. Her love for Disney princesses has done nothing but grown this month. Last month she was stuck on Cinderella and that darn cat Lucifer, and this month she turned to Beauty and the Beast. I never understand why she chooses that one because she gets scared when Maurice gets lost in the woods, when Belle gets locked in the dungeon, and when Belle gets attacked by the wolves. Regardless, she loves it. Her favorite scene, just like in Cinderella, is when Belle and Beast are dancing. She is truly a girlie girl.
She is also growing up in sneaky, subtle ways. She is getting better and better at eating with a spoon, though I'm told she still doesn't eat very well on her own at Judy's house. She's getting more and more expressive when she's jabbering to us, and she likes to say "hi" and wave to her toys before she plays with them. She doesn't say a lot of phrases yet, but she does use her words more and more. Her terrible two tantrums have gotten better and better ever since the epic tantrum of Disney love.
I suppose I need to include that story. Despite Eva's deep affection for Disney, we try to limit the amount of TV she watches every day. If she had it her way, she would marathon throughout all her favorites all afternoon long. When I talked to her pediatrician about her love for TV in October, he gave his opinion about why he thinks it's a good idea to keep TV to a 1-1 1/2 hour limit a day, adding,"I don't know a lot of 18 month olds that will sit still through an hour and a half of television without leaving the room or playing with toys anyway." My response? Our child can without a struggle. She gets immersed into the movies she watches and barely moves to drink from her sippy cup.
Fast forward a few weeks. We finished her movie for the night and she lumbered into the kitchen and reached for the top of the fridge (where we've been forced to keep the movies because she knows how to put them in and start them) and we gave her the bad news: we're all done watching movies for today. She starts begging. We don't back down. Thus began a 55 minute crying frenzy, complete with spinning herself in circles on the kitchen floor, her hands ever-vigilant in the sign language "please" position begging, "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease" for the movies she so desires. Had it not been for Travis talking me down from the crazy ledge around minute 25, I probably would have backed down. But finally, she exhausted herself. The screaming silenced as she crawled into my lap, wrapped her tear soaked hands around my neck, and passed out. Although she still occasionally stomps her feet and cries when we tell her we're done with movies for the day, she always gets over it in a minute or so after that night. Score one for our parenting. Or, to be specific, Travis's parenting.
She's still not the most social toddler in the world. She doesn't understand that she can't order other toddlers around and gets very angry when they are in her way or playing with the toy she had her eye on (or didn't have her eye on, until now...). She is playing with the other kids more and more at Judy's house though, so I think we are making small steps in the right direction.
She is getting very good at coloring, quickly finding the right hole for her shapes, and building towers with legos and her nesting boxes with Daddy. She still loves to dance to commercials, the end credits of Tangled, and the alphabet song. One of her favorite things to do is to stand on the counter and gaze with a drool-covered grin at her snacks, trying to pick just the right one. She's getting smarter and smarter every day, and it's so fun to step back and watch it all happen.
She is also growing up in sneaky, subtle ways. She is getting better and better at eating with a spoon, though I'm told she still doesn't eat very well on her own at Judy's house. She's getting more and more expressive when she's jabbering to us, and she likes to say "hi" and wave to her toys before she plays with them. She doesn't say a lot of phrases yet, but she does use her words more and more. Her terrible two tantrums have gotten better and better ever since the epic tantrum of Disney love.
I suppose I need to include that story. Despite Eva's deep affection for Disney, we try to limit the amount of TV she watches every day. If she had it her way, she would marathon throughout all her favorites all afternoon long. When I talked to her pediatrician about her love for TV in October, he gave his opinion about why he thinks it's a good idea to keep TV to a 1-1 1/2 hour limit a day, adding,"I don't know a lot of 18 month olds that will sit still through an hour and a half of television without leaving the room or playing with toys anyway." My response? Our child can without a struggle. She gets immersed into the movies she watches and barely moves to drink from her sippy cup.
Fast forward a few weeks. We finished her movie for the night and she lumbered into the kitchen and reached for the top of the fridge (where we've been forced to keep the movies because she knows how to put them in and start them) and we gave her the bad news: we're all done watching movies for today. She starts begging. We don't back down. Thus began a 55 minute crying frenzy, complete with spinning herself in circles on the kitchen floor, her hands ever-vigilant in the sign language "please" position begging, "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease" for the movies she so desires. Had it not been for Travis talking me down from the crazy ledge around minute 25, I probably would have backed down. But finally, she exhausted herself. The screaming silenced as she crawled into my lap, wrapped her tear soaked hands around my neck, and passed out. Although she still occasionally stomps her feet and cries when we tell her we're done with movies for the day, she always gets over it in a minute or so after that night. Score one for our parenting. Or, to be specific, Travis's parenting.
She's still not the most social toddler in the world. She doesn't understand that she can't order other toddlers around and gets very angry when they are in her way or playing with the toy she had her eye on (or didn't have her eye on, until now...). She is playing with the other kids more and more at Judy's house though, so I think we are making small steps in the right direction.
She is getting very good at coloring, quickly finding the right hole for her shapes, and building towers with legos and her nesting boxes with Daddy. She still loves to dance to commercials, the end credits of Tangled, and the alphabet song. One of her favorite things to do is to stand on the counter and gaze with a drool-covered grin at her snacks, trying to pick just the right one. She's getting smarter and smarter every day, and it's so fun to step back and watch it all happen.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Post-Halloween dress up
As I was packing away all our Halloween decorations, I found a costume I bought last year on clearance for around $2 -- a Star Wars Clone Trooper. We knew it wouldn't fit again next year, so we pulled it on Eva and let her play in it for the night. She had a great time, and I was surprised that she not only liked the hat, but also kept it on for a good amount of time!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Happy Halloween!
We decided to really make the most of the Quad Cities' Halloween events, so this year we took Evalee to the Children's Museum's Scarecrow Shenanigans, the zoo's Boo at the Zoo, and even our grocery stores Halloween Hike. I realize that a lot of these events are geared towards slightly older children, but I always think she benefits a lot from interacting with lots of kids and trying to do things the older kids are doing.
The museum was packed with things to do and kids doing them. She played games first. She watched some older kids play ring toss, bean bag toss, etc. and did her own version of the games, which usually involved softly placing the items where they were supposed to go. Regardless of her mode, she won pieces of candy and was very excited to put them in her treat bag. They had lots of crafts for the kids to make, but she wasn't very excited about them. We did decorate a mini pumpkin with googly eyes, a huge purple noise (Eva's choice), pipe cleaner ears and glitter glue accents. We also made a gross finger pencil topper from molding clay and acrylic paint, but I ended up finishing that one. What she loved most was the horse-drawn hayrack ride. The horses were HUGE and beautiful. Then we enjoyed the museum and all our usual favorites: the toddler area, the outdoor playground, the human heart you can run through, etc.
The next weekend we dressed up again and headed out to Boo at the Zoo. We had so much fun last year and we were excited to take such a different Eva there again this year. She loved the trip to the zoo because it involved a school bus ride. This mean she got to ride on Daddy's lap instead of in her carseat! Once we got there she made a bee line for the elephants. All week, she has been finding pictures of elephants in her books, waving at them, and saying hello. So, she was pretty excited to finally get to say hi to the real things. After the elephants, she got to ride on a pony. It's crazy to think just a couple of months ago when we purchased her pony ride ticket, she was too scared to go through with it. This time, she squealed with excitement and gave us the biggest smiles she could spread on her face through her whole turn. The amount of people at the event was just a tad bit overwhelming, and we weren't really sure how we wanted to approach the rest of the zoo. Lines wrapped around everywhere you looked, and we only had about an hour before our ballerina would be in need of a nap. So we went through the zoo backwards, sort of, and got to visit some booths for candy and toys and spend a long time waving to the giraffes. The weather was fantastic and was warm enough to see all the cute costumes, so we all had a good time.
After a nap and some relaxation, we decided to go to HyVee's Halloween Hike. Eva painted a pumpkin with acrylic paint (and managed to eat some and send many people into a slight panic), painted a pumpkin sugar cookie with frosting, and even got her first stick on tattoo. Once we were done, we drove up to Benny's to have a pizza for dinner. We booted up some Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That on my phone and enjoyed a very stress-free wait time for our pizza.
Then it was the big event: Halloween itself. Travis had a 6 p.m. live shot, which meant he didn't get to join us until trick or treating was almost over. But luckily, Abby was able to come out and keep me company as we made our way around the neighborhood. I wasn't sure how Evalee would do trick or treating, and I was surprised to see just how much fun she really had. She was so excited to say hi and open her bag for candy. She was most excited when a bowl of candy was offered to her. She was dance in place and shriek with excitement, and sometimes she even forgot a piece of candy in all her excitement. The neighbors marveled at her little tutu and she just ate up the compliments. Once trick or treating was over in Orion, we headed out to visit Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim before finally ending up at Aunt Carol's for lots of good food. It was a busy but very fun night.
The museum was packed with things to do and kids doing them. She played games first. She watched some older kids play ring toss, bean bag toss, etc. and did her own version of the games, which usually involved softly placing the items where they were supposed to go. Regardless of her mode, she won pieces of candy and was very excited to put them in her treat bag. They had lots of crafts for the kids to make, but she wasn't very excited about them. We did decorate a mini pumpkin with googly eyes, a huge purple noise (Eva's choice), pipe cleaner ears and glitter glue accents. We also made a gross finger pencil topper from molding clay and acrylic paint, but I ended up finishing that one. What she loved most was the horse-drawn hayrack ride. The horses were HUGE and beautiful. Then we enjoyed the museum and all our usual favorites: the toddler area, the outdoor playground, the human heart you can run through, etc.
The next weekend we dressed up again and headed out to Boo at the Zoo. We had so much fun last year and we were excited to take such a different Eva there again this year. She loved the trip to the zoo because it involved a school bus ride. This mean she got to ride on Daddy's lap instead of in her carseat! Once we got there she made a bee line for the elephants. All week, she has been finding pictures of elephants in her books, waving at them, and saying hello. So, she was pretty excited to finally get to say hi to the real things. After the elephants, she got to ride on a pony. It's crazy to think just a couple of months ago when we purchased her pony ride ticket, she was too scared to go through with it. This time, she squealed with excitement and gave us the biggest smiles she could spread on her face through her whole turn. The amount of people at the event was just a tad bit overwhelming, and we weren't really sure how we wanted to approach the rest of the zoo. Lines wrapped around everywhere you looked, and we only had about an hour before our ballerina would be in need of a nap. So we went through the zoo backwards, sort of, and got to visit some booths for candy and toys and spend a long time waving to the giraffes. The weather was fantastic and was warm enough to see all the cute costumes, so we all had a good time.
After a nap and some relaxation, we decided to go to HyVee's Halloween Hike. Eva painted a pumpkin with acrylic paint (and managed to eat some and send many people into a slight panic), painted a pumpkin sugar cookie with frosting, and even got her first stick on tattoo. Once we were done, we drove up to Benny's to have a pizza for dinner. We booted up some Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That on my phone and enjoyed a very stress-free wait time for our pizza.
Then it was the big event: Halloween itself. Travis had a 6 p.m. live shot, which meant he didn't get to join us until trick or treating was almost over. But luckily, Abby was able to come out and keep me company as we made our way around the neighborhood. I wasn't sure how Evalee would do trick or treating, and I was surprised to see just how much fun she really had. She was so excited to say hi and open her bag for candy. She was most excited when a bowl of candy was offered to her. She was dance in place and shriek with excitement, and sometimes she even forgot a piece of candy in all her excitement. The neighbors marveled at her little tutu and she just ate up the compliments. Once trick or treating was over in Orion, we headed out to visit Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim before finally ending up at Aunt Carol's for lots of good food. It was a busy but very fun night.
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| Saying hi to our favorite weathergirl (is that an offense term now??) Cassie Heiter. |
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| Eva with the WQAD's very own Terry Swails. |
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| Saying hello to her elephants. |
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| Pure joy. |
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| She was very careful to choose just the right candy bar. She always chose wisely. |
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| I will be sad on the day where she is not this excited about the carrousel. |
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| Fell asleep on the bus ride home again this year. |
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| Enjoying some candy after Boo at the Zoo. |
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| She wasn't down for smiling as Daddy suggested. |
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| Caught frosting-handed at HyVee's Halloween Hike. |
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| watching her favorite cat and waiting for our pizza |
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