Bellevue Strawberry Festival

Bailey's Grandma, Aunt Dana, and Aunt Pat, came down from Bellingham to join us at the Bellevue Strawberry Festival. It was a great time, even though it felt like we were 10 inches from the sun.
Bailey got a little golfing in. Truth is, she pretty much threatened the ball, but barely ever actually hit it. I think that I saw the ball quiver a couple of times, though!!
Bailey with Grandma. Yes, she has pink cheeks. No, she didn't get a sun burn. We had SPF 70 on her - her skin is still milky white!!
Aunt Pat, Adam, Bailey, Me, Grandma and Aunt Dana at the end of a fun weekend!

Not the Nut Jobs!!

So - I've posted before about people on bulletin boards and how they (at times) don't think before they type (the whole, "growing balls and forgetting to count to 10" thing). I've seen numerous people in numerous online settings who will share WAY more than they ought to (I recently heard of one woman telling her "close personal friends on an Internet bulletin board" [that I'm sure is only read by about 300 people that she's never met each day] some rather "delicate" details about her sex life with her husband - oh boy, I hope he doesn't ever read her post history, he will want to bury his head in the dirt and never come up for air!).

Anyway - I digress!! Along with the nut jobs, there are some terrific people on these boards. I had the opportunity to meet a group of women who fell into this category last Friday night. We hosted their families for a little meet up and had a wonderful time - the kids all seemed to play well around each other (they're two - they even engaged in play together a couple of times, and acknowledged one another). We let the dads do much of the child wrangling while we moms sat and chatted. Then, we tried to get pictures (note to self - next time, do pictures before the kids get tired). Here are the results:

Shake your body just like a crab!

Bailey's favorite Dora the Explorer episode has a wonderful little ditty in it with the lyric:

"Shake your body, shake your body, shake your body just like a crab!"

Bailey can dance to it forever - we've rewound and replayed numerous times. As a side note, she' moving into the age of repetition. Repeating the same thing over and over again is predictable and that feels safe and comforting - so, she repeats, and repeats, and repeats, and repeats. As an additional aside, these days I can sort of see the value in repetition. While I don't fear the unpredictable (my mother has referred to me as her free spirit a number of times), there are times that sticking to the pattern and expected just feels better for a bit.So - back to the story. Bailey's Grandma is on her "sister's retreat" (time with her sisters) and this year it's in Bellingham. We went up to join them today and took Bailey to the beach. She had never been to the beach before, but she (of course) has seen it on TV. With Dora. Shaking her body LIKE A CRAB. So - when we mentioned going to the beach we talked about playing in the sand and then she chimed up with, "I see crabs?" I told her we might. We did - it was just the shell (dead crab). It didn't shake it's body. She told me it wasn't a crab - and then ran back to dig in the sand. Maybe next time!!

There are even more pictures here

Interesting Mathematical Equation

You get 2 points for putting sunscreen on your child.
You get 2 points for putting sunscreen on yourself.
2 points does not represent a complete equation.
4 points wins.
I scored 2 points.
I am sore right now.
You do the math!

Summer - is that you?

We got a surprise today - sun!! So, I quickly dressed Bailey in some non-pajamas (we've had many "jammie days" here recently because she just doesn't want to get dressed. A little aside, it's amazing how you can dress up jammies - a dress over the jammies and some boots and we're talking STYLE!!). Then, we headed out to the back yard to play. I managed to snap a couple of photos that I liked. Here's where I admit to being a little TFI (Talent Free Individual) at really artistic things - I'm not typically great at photography, but I've been working on it and think that with such a great subject it just gets better and better.

Bump - Daddy's Girl - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

No doubt about it - Bailey loves her daddy!! Another fact - Daddy loves his Bailey! A little tribute to the love of a daddy for his little girl:



Happy Father's Day!!

My Castle to the Sky!

We're all over castles these days. Anytime that we can stack one thing on top of the other is a great time. This morning Bailey topped them all - she started with her play spices and then tried to add the toaster - I was sure it was going to topple and was trying to get it to balance somehow and then she added the princess shoe - and suddenly it was balanced. Go figure - much like the building in Seattle that is built wider at the top than the base. Perhaps Bailey will be a world renowned Architect. As long as she doesn't design something as ugly as the EMP I'll be thrilled. We don't need any more of those eyesores!!

Tagged - delay

So, I'm new to comments and just noticed that I've been tagged. When I have an opportunity I'll be posting 7 things about me. Here's my first:

While I've music directed about 70 productions over the last 16 years, I flunked music theory in college (flat out flunked). My mother asked me, "how do you flunk music theory when you've studied piano for 9 years?" My answer, "the class was at 8am and I was too hungover to attend most of the time." Valid answer, if you ask me! I suspect that I'd have passed if I'd gone to class. In fact, I suspect that my GPA would have been higher than 1.18 my freshman year of college if I'd employed that very tactic - attending class. Oh well, my first college experience was one of learning outside of the classroom. Too bad they don't offer refunds!

The remaining 6 are on the way!

Give Me Five, Man!

We were thrilled to have another playdate with Kiki yesterday and what fun this was! We bounced in the house, played in the dirt, painted, and then took a bath (it's amazing how much is painted outside of the canvas). At one point, Makenzie was painting Bailey and then would put her hand up and yell, "B - give me five!" and Bailey would high five her. It was like she was saying, "check it out, we're getting messy and no one is stopping us, give me five!" It was a fun day for all. As an aside, we're collecting quite the gallery of art work - our first showing will be when the storage unit can no longer hold all of the 8x8 masterpieces (should be in about a week - to any family who is reading this, guess what you're getting for Christmas this year?!?!).

I was thinking about how special it is that Bailey has Makenzie. It bums me out that they are moving because I've had all of these lofty visions of them growing up together, hanging out in high school, blah, blah, blah (who knows, they may have hit junior high and decided that the other stinks...). I've had to shift my focus a bit, though. Certainly - I love the relationship that the two of them have. But, it has also taught me that Bailey is fostering the skills needed to build relationships with others. There is something in her that recognizes the kindred spirit in others and she pays attention to it. I've noticed that there are a couple of kids in playgroup that she gravitates to more than others (not that they get all "clique" ish. But, there are smaller groups of kids who obviously connect with certain others more easily - it's the natural way, I think). For example, she talks quite a bit about Addison, Tyler, Zoe and Kiki, but it's me who brings up the other kids - then, she's excited about them, too. I think that there is just something about these kids that clicks with her. She likes the other kids, certainly, and occasionally their names will filter into her conversation. She just connects more closely with a smaller handful.

Ah, I'm rambling now. Where am I going with this? Good question. I think that parenting causes a lot of introspection and I think about my socialization growing up. I was really awkward with kids. REALLY AWKWARD! My sisters called me a hermit because I never really socialized with anyone. I didn't have any real bonds growing up. I really can't think of anyone that I would have labeled as a close friend until I was in my 20's. I was also really alone and lonely. I don't want that for Bailey. I definitely have no plans to push any of that onto Bailey, and I've no need to live through her. But, watching her socialize is so refreshing. It gives me hope that she will continue to recognize those who she bonds more closely with. That she is capable of paying attention to whatever is in another child's personality that somehow "clicks" with her. Will there be another Kiki in her life? I don't know. But, I'm looking forward to watching her develop closer bonds with her other buddies and making new friends. And, if they're any bit as colorful as Kiki - she's going to have a blast!!

Its like we never left!

Well, today was the big day - opening day at Farm Tots. We have been looking forward to getting back to the farm and playing in the dirt. Turns out that opening day of Farm Tots is not much unlike closing day 2007 of Farm Tots. Let's run down the check list:

• Rain - check
• Rain coat - check
• Rain boots - check
• Hat - check
• Mom wearing gloves - check
• Ginormous mud puddles - check

In other words - this was THE BEST DAY EVER!! Many of us moms remarked that it felt more like October, though - but, for Bailey, it was a memorable event. She has been talking all afternoon about the goats (yes, Kristi, goats - she even pet one named Tilly), chickens (bock, bock), Ducks, and "Big wain puddles" (Big rain puddles). We also picked spinach, saw a caterpillar and went on a tractor pulled hayride. But, nothing was as exciting as the 1.5 hours spent jumping in the mud puddles - we're back!! For more pictures check here

Riding Pedro

While at the Tot Spot Cafe today I was reminded of an old family joke about riding Pedro while in Mexico. This had to do with the downfalls of Montezuma's revenge (drinking the water in Mexico will bring about many an opportunity to ride Pedro - ah, the light bulb just went on and it all makes sense - another "ah" - I'm probably telling the joke wrong - ah well, it's now one of the longest run on sentences in the history of the world, so who cares). Bailey found an elephant to ride - not Pedro, and nowhere near the same experience, but she dragged this elephant around the play area the entire two hours that we were there. She also dragged the play phone up as she sat on the elephant and loudly called out, "HELLO" while sitting on the elephant. I think that this is what cell phones look like on safari!

Bailey's Day

Saturday was truly a great day for Bailey! She got to watch Mickey Mouse Christmas in the car with her Baby Maisy (that's what she calls her dolly).


Then, she got to have "spa day" with Momo and now has beautiful toenails with little Hello Kitty stickers on them.Once Johnny's swing set was put together she got to slide (and eat dirt - we are NOT talking about that!). She also got to play with her favorite rock star - Johnny, and hold Baby Maisy - she always has such a great time with them!!

And, when we got home and had guests she got to "wash her hands" at the sink for about an hour (I didn't take pictures, but trust me, the 1/4 inch of water on the floor was an indication of a great time).

4 wheelin'

We had a bunch of gift cards for Toys R Us so we purchased one of those little kid ATVs for Bailey. After a couple of passes across the family room she decided that she needed her helmet - good girl!! I think that she looks like an Italian student zooming through Rome on her motor scooter in the second photo. What I didn't photograph about 4 minutes later was the melt down that occurred when it was time to put the Barbie ATV away - she kept wailing, "My biiiiiikkkkke!"

Modern Art 2.0

In the quest for original art, we thought we'd spread the enthusiasm to our playgroup buddies today. Addison and Brooklyn joined us for a little Painting 101 - and, what started out as paint on the canvas became paint on the tummy (but of course, I'm sure Picasso worked that way, too!). You'll notice that Brooklyn takes a more refined approach.

Two buddies

Bailey and Makenzie have hit it off almost from the start. I think that because they were the first two in the playgroup to be mobile, they connected in their ability to separate themselves from everyone else. Whatever the reason, they have had a very special bond. So - Lindsay and I started trading babysitting when we had appointments. And then, when I was swamped with work, Lindsay and Makenzie came over three days a week to play with Bailey (I could not have accomplished all that I did without their help). Bailey calls her "Kiki" and frequently calls for her when she wants out of her crib and no one else is responding (Kiki, Johnny, and Zoe are the first on the list - then it just depends...some other names are Momo, Grandma, Addison, Donner[Johnny's cat], and Tree Tree). Well, Kiki's family is moving to Vancouver, WA and Bailey and Kiki had their last playdate today. I felt a little sad when I realized that. I know that many people will come and go from Bailey's life. And, I know that she will connect with many other friends in the future. There's just something special (to me) in a first friend. Here are a couple of pictures from today. They just make me smile!