More

Thought I would hop on and add some stuff while Tim and Aeryn watch Signing Time.

In May we went to Rooster Days in downtown BA. It was nice. We mostly walked around inside the Community Center gym where all the sellers booths were. They had a petting farm/zoo, outside of course. I didn't like the way the animals looked. All of them had matted hair, and I could tell they don't get any exercise, they ride around in a semi trailer and then are shoved into pins with wood shavings.

We went to the Renaissance Faire in Muskogee last month. My dad, brother Byron and his fiance Kryston met up with us there. It was a nice family outing. Tim and Byron tried some haggis. It looked a lot like tapioca. I don't think it's looks had any effect on it's taste though. I love the food at the fair, any fair really. I would say that fair food is my comfort food. Who likes unfair food anyway? :-)

-----------------------------------
I love that someone thought to automatically save the blogs as you are typing, so if something distracts you, like your sweet baby girl, you can come back at a later time and finish.

Tim and I just put Aeryn to bed. I cannot express the happiness I have because my kid doesn't, at least not yet, fight us at bedtime. We read some books to her before, and we have one that we read at the very end. She started to notice that when that particular book was read, she was going down for the night. Now when she hears us start to read the book, she tries to take off.

I wish I had a video camera. Not that it would work out in the end... Tim was juggling some balls(the little plastic ones for ball pits). Aeryn was very impressed, enjoying the entertainment, and she wanted to try too. Tim gave her a two balls, she held one in each hand, and moved her arms in the same way Tim was, only without letting go of the balls. Too cute! I wished I had a video cam, remembered out digi cam could record small vids, so I went and grabbed it. But I didn't get any video because Aeryn decided she didn't want to be a juggler anymore, she wanted to be a photographer. Which is why it probably doesn't matter that we don't have a vid.

Things Aeryn has been doing... I am sure if she could talk, she would easily be able to say the ABCs. It's hard for her to sign the letters, but she does at least half in her own way. She is working on her numbers right now. When we stroll around the neighborhood, she stops and points to the house numbers painted on driveways. I would say right now her favorite toy to play with is her Hot Wheels car. I came across some cars in a box of mine, no doubt they belonged to one of my brothers at some point. Aeryn started playing with them and hasn't stopped. She has her own car, and even selected a car for Tim and one for me. A side story... During the day, while Tim is working, and she comes across his car, she will pick it up and sign 'work'. She has also done that when one of us is in the bathroom, but she signs 'potty' instead. Trains have begun to catch her eye. I am not surprised. All of her older cousins have been into Thomas. She's started to recognize him, like at the store or on tv. I took her on her first train ride at the zoo. She loved it! There's a traveling Thomas train that I hopes comes through again this year.
I can't believe I was so nervous when we found out Aeryn was a girl. I wanted a boy first. Despite certain traumas, I love having big brothers. :-) And I have leaned with the stipulation that boys are easier because they are more "durable." I love having a little girl! Aeryn's hair is long enough that I can pull her ponytail on the back of her head, instead of Pebbles' style, on top. My mom was great enough to save some old toys that Aeryn is now big enough to play with. She loves my Bo Bear; he was my teddy growing up. There are some toy dishes in her play kitchen that used to be in mine. She even sits in the same little yellow chair. It's so nice.

Well, it's my bedtime.
I did some new slides a week or two ago, so check them out if you haven't already. More to come!

To the birds

I was tempted to wait another week, just now. Make you guys wait a whole 2 months before a new entry. I know I always have excuses, this time is no different. I was introduced to a great to book series. For now I shall allow that person to remain nameless, in case of retaliation from other readers. :-) It's the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. For those of you unfamiliar, currently there are 3 books out and the 4th will be out in August. I just finished the three for a second time. It took me less than 48 hours from each purchase to read. While I am impressed with my dedication to the reading, I was not so impressed with my dedication to housework. It is nice to read again. I stopped reading so much after the last Harry Potter book. That is the one thing I wish I had done more in my younger days, read. I hated it, like spinach. Oh well.
This is only my most recent distraction. The other, baseball. While I can't say I am as enthused as much as Tim is, it's still exciting. On with the sweet stuff...

And by sweet stuff I mean Aeryn. Her dance class ended last month. We aren't enrolled in anything yet. This Saturday we are going to the birthday party for one of the girls in her dance class. The party will be at The Little Gym. I took Aeryn to a class there a year ago, but I wasn't able to swallow the cost. And she was too little to enjoy to the fullest extent. So hopefully at the party we will see if it's worth it again. I don't think she will do dance this summer. She did good in the class, but I think she will like it better later. I am for sure going to take a swim class with her. There is one starting at the BA pool next week. I hope it doesn't fill up before we get there. Aeryn had a new two piece swimsuit. Personally I don't think they should make one pieces for toddler girls. First of all, I would hate to have to take it off to change her diaper. But mostly, they are so cute with their little bellys hanging out!
Aeryn and I have been spending more time with Stephanie and Annika too. Aeryn adores her big cuz, and covets her big girl bed. Last month while waiting for S and A at the zoo, we signed up to be zoo friends. We have already gone enough to pay for it. Aeryn LOVES the zoo. They have a exhibit now where you can feed birds. Previous years it's been a butterfly house. This year it's gone to the birds. If you haven't been, it's like one of those half tube greenhouse tents. They give you a popsicle stick with some sticky stuff and seeds on the end. The birds on the inside are just like the ones you can get at the pet store. I have never had anything against birds. I have never been in the way of a dropping, knock on wood. But Hitchcock was on to something. I don't remember the last time I was so scared. All of a sudden a flock of birds will decide to take off and fly across the tent. Even though I reassured myself that they were in control and wouldn't hit me... I still cover my face and duck(no pun intended). Terrifying. It probably didn't help that I kept picturing Fabio's face after one broke his nose.
Signing Time has become a constant in our house. She has her favorites, but knows all of them by heart. The only thing she likes more is being outside. Which I can't complain because we both get exercise and fresh air. So I will complain about the stupid humidity. Yuck! I hate to sweat. Okay, well I can hear a crabby kid, and it's bath night.

"hungry...eat...bird"

The title is a direct quote from Aeryn. What she signed, anyway. With the signs, we never really emphasized 'drink', only 'milk' 'juice' and 'water'. Tim had some soda in a glass with roosters on it. Aeryn wanted a drink, so she signed 'hungry' 'eat' 'bird'. Right then we taught her 'drink'.

I am also about to post some more recipes on my recipe page. So check them out! Yummy!

Sweet Girl

Tim and I just put Aeryn to bed, and as we were walking out of the room, we hear *smooch. Our sweet girl blew us a kiss goodnight. WOW!
She's still so into Signing Time. When she gets really excited about it, she starts to sign the song. She knows the first few for it. So amazing. It's seems so easy for her to pick up on things. Our little Spongebob-ette. Soaking up everything around her.

I Am Not A Monkey

When it rains it pours. Lots of blogs lately for your reading pleasure.

So tonight for dinner Tim wanted to take us out. We decided on Fox and Hound because they have big screen TVs and there was a baseball game on. About the time we were eating our last few bites, the waitress comes over to chit chat. Of course she goes on and on about how cute and sweet Aeryn is. She asked if she was a very talkative; which led to us telling her about Signing Time. She had never seen a baby sign, so we tried to get Aeryn to show her some. If you don't already know, Aeryn is modest and doesn't like to show off. In other words, she gets shy sometimes. Tim and I are each trying to get her attention, "Aeryn, look at me," "Look at me Aeryn." Then we try signing to see if she will go along. Not gonna happen. When we've tried to showcase her before, she either does her best to ignore us or give us a stare that seems to say "I am not a monkey." We gave up, and the waitress takes 3 or 4 steps away and Aeryn looks at us and signs 'all done.' That was one of the signs we were trying to get her to do. Luckily the waitress saw it out of the corner of her eye and turned around just in time to see. Aeryn stopped when she saw the waitress paying attention. Then when the waitress turned the corner, Aeryn starts signing, practically in order, the ones we wanted her to do. What a joker she is!

Today Eileen and I went for pedicures. Even though I miss Melisa, their moving has given me opportunity to spend more time with Tims family. It's so nice to get out and have some girl time. We go to a place at the Promenade Mall, by Macy's. I like it best out of all the ones I have been to. But in the end, as long as the chair has a massager.

-----
Okay so I just posted this, and then went to look at my comments. I discovered that I haven't read any comments since last summer. So thanks everyone for leaving your thoughts. I am about to go through and erase some advert posts.

Good Night

Whew, what a night. Poor baby girl is having a lot of trouble with a tooth that's coming in. I think it's been the most painful. It's her lower right cuspid(third from the middle). She took an early nap, around noon. And she usually only takes an hour nap, around 2pm; or two naps if she's up from the first one around noon, like today. But she never took a second nap. So she's tired, her tooth is hurting, and she's fighting off a runny nose/congestion. All it took was one little thing not to go her way, and it happened just after 7. She cried for most the hour. We gave her some Tylenol then some Orajel. The only thing that is a sure thing to stop the crying is to take her outside. It was too cold for her to be out for more than a couple minutes. And of course when we came in, she started crying again. Thinking that she just needs a nice rest, we took her upstairs to get her ready for bed, at 8. What a challenge that was. After we changed her diaper and put on the pj's, we decided to see if a bath would help. At first she wanted to get in with her pj's still on. But Tim was able to convince her it was okay to go in sans clothes. What a guy. She loved it! Playing, laughing, happy splashing kid. She was in there for about 45 minutes, her longest. We didn't even think of washing her; plus she'd just had a bath last night. After the bath it was a regular night. She went to bed, after some stories, without a fuss. Whew. It wasn't the screaming and crying that was getting to us. It was the frustration of not being able to console her. Even though you know better, you still feel rejected when your kid doesn't want to be held by you, or anything to do with you. Just one of those things. I guess it's supposed to prepare me for her adolescent years.

Now for some good. Aeryn is doing so well with her signing. She's even picked up on some just from the video, one's that we haven't worked on with her. One that really surprised us was 'laughing.' It's in the theme song that plays when every video starts.
I have also noticed that she knows which way is up with people/dolls and animals. When she plays with her baby dolls, she never has them head down. Today she was playing with a felt cut out of a horse the right way. She knows which keys go to the car and which goes to the house; and how to put them in. She's amazing.

Slide

Whew. I am caught up on posting slides. There are too many to post, so just look for the link in my links. So here's the goings on. Easter was fun. Tim and I dyed some eggs. Tim had the great idea of letting Aeryn cheat this year on the hunt. While was out front hiding the eggs, Aeryn and I "peeked" out the front window and watched. She got the hint alright. Immediately when Tim came inside, she stole the basket, and was out the door before we could get her shoes on. She really enjoyed the experience, and was good about picking up dropped eggs. We didn't go anywhere else to hunt eggs. Maybe next year.
Aeryn is still doing great with her sign language. What a fit she throws if we turn it off, or don't get turn it in fast enough.
We also found a great playground. It's a bit far, about 15-20min, in Jenks. It's worth the drive though. I enjoy playing on it. There are two structures. A great big one, for big kids, duh. And there is one perfect for toddlers. The bars around it are too close together for any heads to pop through. We have been to it twice. The first was just Aeryn and I, we met up with Stephanie and Annika. And the second time was with the three of us today. What great weather. I am going to be so bummed when the humidity strikes.
Our decor has changed a little as well. We have a new kitchen table...



We are going to have the chairs reupholstered soon.
The other items, are a new to us TV and entertainment center. Thank you Dad. You can see them in one of the new slides.

When you have a moment, and by moment I mean hours, and check out the awesome putt putt game in my links. Thank you to my step dad Lee. Enjoy! And now all that is left for me to do is add some more recipes to my other page. Lots of yummy goodness!