Errant raisin

A few days ago MLO found an errant raisin on the carpet and decided to pick it up and eat it. This was left over from an earlier in the day snake of raisins where the box must have been tipped over when I wasn't looking.

Seeing my daughter eat something off the floor I freaked out and grabbed it out of her mouth.

Oh - just a raisin.

Of course MLO didn't like that and grabs it back out of my hand and pops it in her mouth - quickly swallowing it.

It was yummy (she is very fond of raisins) and looks for more.

Miracle of miracles she finds two more (I checked what it was, but she wouldn't let me get anywhere near it) and decides to eat them too.

This has lead to a daily hunt now on the carpet for something edible. This has also lead to more than once a day vacuuming and sweeping.

Petting Farm

Our big activity for memorial day was a Petting Farm - not a zoo, but just some farm land with animals wandering all over.

There were goats, lambs, sheep, horses, donkeys, pigs, chickens, ostriches and more. We didn't buy the feed because I didn't want MLO to be rushed.

It took about half an hour for MLO to warm up to being surrounded by animals. At first she wouldn't let me put her down, I would kneel to pet the animals.

After a little bit it was okay if she was down on the ground and no animals were walking in her direction.

Then there were no barriers. She walked up to any animal and would pet it. We found a nearby plant that most of the animals liked to eat and would pick it and feed it to the animals (then we didn't have to buy feed or get rushed).

My sis came along and she really wanted to pet the pot-belly pig, but he wasn't into it. Didn't let anyone pet him and so we cornered him and my sis got to pet him quickly while he ran by us.

The had a little playground in one section of the farm and MLO spent a bunch of time on the slide.

MLO was having so much fun she didn't want to leave and I had to take a crying little girl out of the farm (she was also tired and hungry).

We got to see some bunnies while we left and that cheered her up.

Memorial Day

Hope you enjor your time today.

Go here to see why we are celebrating and be sure to keep all of our soliders in your heart and mind today.

Live Performance

We (gramma, my sis and myself) took MLO to her first real live performance. It was a group of very talented kids who put on a two and a half hour show.

I figured if MLO got tired or if it got too late for her we could leave. We had seats in the back and it would have been easy to exit.

The first half of the show she was pretty much in my lap the whole time. Trying to figure out what was happening. We also had eaten a hasty dinner so she was a little hungry.

Well, after the intermission, where I picked up a better dinner for her, we got back to the show.

We are back in our seats, MLO is sitting in my lap and the music and dancing starts again. During the second number, MLO puts both hands in the air and starts singing. It was the cutest thing in the world (both gramma and my sis said they would have come to the show just to see MLO do that).

So, the whole second half MLO dances, sings and almost runs up to the stage a few times.

We got out of there around 10pm, but MLO had so much fun she wasn't cranky and didn't care at all how late it was.

We will be going back for more very soon.

The Beach with MLO

We (meaning myself, the nanny, my sister and MLO) went to the beach today.

My sister just got out of school and since the nanny (who is a personal friend of my sister's) is going to Europe for six months at the end of this month, we thought it would be great if we all went out and did something.

Well, we went to the beach and got to watch MLO play in the sand. She wouldn't go anywhere near the water, but loved the sand.

There was a little slope near where we sat down and MLO had a great time rolling up and down the hill (getting totally covered in sand). She would lie on her belly in the sand and pick it up and throw it around.

She buried feet and dug holes.

My sister tried to make a sandcastle with her, but MLO had more fun trampling the towers then building them.

Lots of fun and good quality time with the people we love.

MLO says "gramma"

I forgot to post the fact that over the weekend MLO said "gramma" for the first time.

We were all together in the living room, talking and then MLO points at me and says "mommy", then points at hubby and says "da" and then points at her grandma and says "gramma".

Gramma was so happy and we all told her what a good job she did that she was smiling and of course had to do it all over again.

We got a kitten

Sunday we picked up a ten-week-old kitten. He and his litter had been found by some friends of friends, abandoned at about week one. These friends of friends had taken the litter in and raised them for a bit. They are now looking for homes for each of the kittens.

Knowing that I have wanted a kitten for MLO, and hubby (who never had any pets whilst growing up) wanted one too, we went and picked him up.

His is a orange and white stripped tabby. We named him Thor because I have a tradition in my family that all our pets are named after mythological beings.

Well MLO loves him to pieces. She gives him hugs, pets him and tries to pick him up. She found a ball of hers that has a string attached to it (used to hang from her mobile) and Thor loves it. MLO will throw it across the room and he runs after it.

There is a lot of chasing and laughing right now and it is fabulous!!

They both seem to get tired about the same time too so I have a few photos of them resting next to each other.

Hubby had to stay up late last night and work and apparently Thor kept him company. Even when hubby fell asleep at his desk, Thor curled up on his lap.

He is the perfect new addition to the family.

Hosted a party

Last night we hosted a party. Had about 30 of our family and closest friends (and their family) over to celebrate the purchase of our first house.

There were a lot of faces that MLO doesn't really know yet and so she spent most of the night doing the shy thing. Just wanted to be in my arms or on my lap and I definitely couldn't be out of sight.

Despite that, I still had a great time and got to chat with friends. It was a potluck and all the food was great (and plenty of it, thank goodness), we even barbecued for the first time at our new house.

We haven't moved in yet, so the house was empty except some chairs we managed to bring over. I believe everyone had a great time anyway.

After most of the people had left and all that was left were people she knew well, MLO opened up.

At one point, she was running around the house with a cup and fork and showing them to various people. If the people would play along and start naming the object she held out to them she would start laughing.

She would go faster and faster (between the cup and fork) until you started messing up and then just crack up.

We had to go back to our old (rented) place at the end of the night, but didn't want to leave the house.

Oh well, we will be there soon enough :)

Finding Nemo

MLO's favorite movie is "Finding Nemo" or "memo" as she puts it.

She loves the movie and smiles at the funny parts, laughs sometimes. Gets scared during the shark parts or other appropriately scary parts. She calls both Nemo and the father "Memo" (they do look pretty alike). She learned to say "turt" for turtle after watching the movie.

This movie has played at least once a day, each day, for the past few weeks.

I used to like this movie.

Now - I am thinking of forgetting it in some deep dark corner of the universe.

Is that evil?

Daycare/preschool

So I am on the hunt for a daycare and/or preschool for MLO.

Nanny is going away (all good reasons and we are all VERY happy for her) and so in order for me to continue working, must put her in a daycare/preschool (can't really afford the nanny thing anymore anyway).

There are SOOOO many out there it is hard to even pick a place to start. So I decided to start with the closest ones and work outward.

Went to one today that was very nice - they start at 3 months and take them all the way to 4 years. With real teachers so they actual start teaching them and they will help potty train your kid and all sorts of stuff. Nice place.

I am trying to not be too picky, because there isn't going to be any place like her actual home, but I want it to be as warm, safe and welcoming as possible.

The only other thing that is going to make this harder is the fact that I didn't immunize MLO.

Not sure how the laws work on this, but I guess any privately funded facility can choose not to let her in unless I immunize her. Since I won't do this, should be interest little fight I might have on my hands.

After I go through anything that looked promising, I will make my list and do the whole pros and cons thing. Then come up with the one I want her in and hope they still have space for her.

Oh well - all for the good of my daughter :)

Mother's Day was relaxing

Wow - what a nice, peaceful weekend.

My present from MLO was she slept in (so I got to) and then she took a really long nap in the middle of the day which I got to share with her.

MLO and I went to the mall and got to hit some of the sales. Got her some very urgently needed socks, PJs and pants. Got myself some of my favorite shampoo and silly stuff.

Then MLO got to have a lot of fun with the escalators.

Other than that, we didn't do anything spectacular, just was either relaxing at home (or at my mom's house).

Hubby got me a Blackberry Perl for Mother's Day. A nerdy present, but appropriate from him and it is a cool little gadget. One of the best part of it is that it also works like an MP3 player so I can have music on the phone too.

Great Grandma gave us goodies

When I was little my grandma (MLO's GG or Great Grandma - the one who recently turned 80) always kept a cupboard where ever she lived, filled with kids books, toys and such stuff.

I am the oldest grandkid (by five years) so GG's collection started small with me and just grew and grew. Whenever any of the grandkid's where at her place she would open it up and we would pull out all the stuff.

I remember reading the books and naming the animals for the first time (showing them to my mom).

I remember climbing under the overlap of her kitchen island to open the cupboard and pull items out.

I loved that cupboard and it meant grandma's house for me.

Well, GG decided it was time to clean out the cupboard.

All the grandkids had grown and I am the only one with a great grandkid (none of the others are married or close to such a development in their lives).

So GG gave me all the stuff.

MLO is having a great time playing with the new books. There are a bunch of pop-up books of animals and places. She also got little dolls and such from other countries like New Zealand.

There were also some of those classic story books. The ones with about 40-80 stories in them, that will probably be worth money when MLO grows up.

So we both have a lot of new reading material and I feel like grandma is now always near me.

No T.V.

So I made a new rule where there is no TV allowed during certain times of the day.

TV had somehow slowly crept into our lives so it was on (even as background noise when we were doing other stuff) almost all the time.

So I have now replaced it with music for background noise and don't turn the TV on until 8pm. MLO usually goes to sleep shortly after that, so there is almost no TV time for her at all.

I am very happy with this as we go outside, play, talk, color, read and do so many other things.

I think this is very important for kids that they don't get over exposed to TV and instead move around and see their world. There is so much to do without TV that you don't want to miss.

Free Blog Design Give-a-way

I have been thinking about wanting to upgrade my design to something more unique and better represents my family. But don't have the budget for it currently. So if I win one - that would be great!! There is a mother's day blog design giveaway happening here:

Head to Toe

So yesterday was my first experience of dirt actually spread head to toe.

MLO was playing outside and, as has happened a lot recently, she goes and sits in the dirt and moves it around. She makes piles on the ground and on her legs. She puts it on the sidewalk and spreads it around. She drops it like water onto other plants.

I have told people, figuratively speaking, that she gets covered from head to toe in dirt and loves it.

Well, yesterday this wasn't figurative at all. She was actually totally dirty. Her hair, face, neck, chest (shirt), arms, legs (shorts), socks and shoes.

I wasn't sure exactly how to proceed. If I let her in the house, the house would get filthy.

So I grabbed a few rags, got them wet and proceeded to at least wipe down the worst areas. She protested and hated that (but loved being dirty).

After I got her somewhat cleaner, we marched through the house and straight into the bathtub.

Happiness again

MLO is as happy as a clam.

She has been talking up a storm too. I believe she was even counting this morning.

I heard her mumbling in the corner and I heard "four" and then "five" in her little voice. My genius child (though she was probably just matching sounds - I wouldn't be totally surprised if she did know what she was saying on some level).

We watched Sesame Street this morning (at 7am) and she danced along enjoying the puppets.

Her favorites are Elmo and Cookie Monster. She even says "Cookie" when she sees him and I was required to buy some juice boxes she found in the store with Cookie Monster on them the other day.

I am rambling, but I am so happy to have her so happy...

Scary elbow thing again

Some time ago I mentioned a scary experience where MLO's elbow had gotten pulled out, called nursemaid elbow. Well it happened all over again today.

This time however, we were that much wiser.

MLO was happily playing on the couch and she tooks a little spill (landing on the couch cushions). Something that normally would have been not even noticed, but instead sends her into wailing tears. I think, tired or hungry.

However she starts pointing to her arm and refusing to move it. If I touch it, the crying gets louder. My memory immediately flies back to that original experience and we call the doctor who fixed it the first time. The wonderful man that he is, he agreed to meet us (Sundays are his day off) and take a look.

We pack her up (not easy) and drive out to his office, half an hour away.

It takes him five minutes, and a little tears from MLO, myself and hubby, and then she is fine.

Whole cycle took 3 hours (from time it happened until we got to the doctor and he fixed it).

While we are leaving and she is happily playing again I know I would pay anything, go any distance to make sure she stays that way.

Hopefully I am learning so as to make them smoother for her as well.

Face playing

I work at home and have this really great lady come over and watch MLO for a few hours each day so I can work. MLO loves this lady and calls her "mema" which we think is very funny.

Well yesterday Mema comes into my office and says MLO "is licking my face".

Turns out MLO had found a new game and loved the reactions she got from people when she tried to lick them.

She also likes grabbing people's cheeks and squeezing them (I guess I did that too many times to her).

Her third favorite is to grab someone's nose and make a honking sound (that one came from hubby).

So if you get attacked by a little girl who tries to lick you, squeeze your cheeks and honk your nose - I apologize.

When we have new visitors

Some old friends stopped by the house last night. They had never met MLO before and so she didn't know them.

Meaning as soon as they walked in the door she crawled into my arms and buried herself there. Part of the new shyness that she has going on.

After about fifteen minutes she finally released me from her death grip and was willing to sit on my lap, on the floor and play with her toys. Stealing occasional glances at the "strangers".

About an hour later she was running around, happily putting stickers on the nose of our female friend and so on. She was having so much fun with her new friends, she didn't want to go to bed.

Usually come bed time she starts getting mellow, or if she tries to play, she hurts herself (not really, but you know that tired small hurt that happens with tired little ones).

Last night, she was running around and fell down a few times and just got back up and kept playing. She really didn't want to give me any excuse for me to put her in her bed.

It is so funny to me that MLO will not want to let a stranger near her for about fifteen minutes. It is as if they are required to last that long (without turning into monsters or getting thrown out by daddy or anything else bad) then decides they are okay and plays with them like no bodies business.

Outside

So May has started and it is finally feeling like spring around here (living in LA means the weather doesn't change that drastically - I am talking more along the lines of something in the air).

MLO and I have spent a lot of time outside and while I have been extra careful to keep her soft skin protected, I am sporting a nice little sun burn.

Saturday I found a great park with all the play stuff just the right size for MLO. Most parks try to cater to a little older age group then MLO is and so all the slides and stuff to climb on is to big for her. This one was perfect and she loved it.

Sunday we went to a great big festival celebrating the Israel Independence Day - Yom Haatzmaut. There were rides, singing, dancing, food and tones of booths. MLO was having so much fun that even though she hadn't gotten a nap and was VERY tired she didn't want to leave.

We went with her Savta (Hebrew for Grandma) who had a great time running around with MLO.

Monday was quieter as we didn't leave our yard, but she had a great time with the flowers and such. I bought some sidewalk chalk recently and all the cement in both yards is covered now.

Over these last three days MLO has gotten about two baths a day too. So I would say she is one happy little girl.