holiday concert

Last night was Ada's annual holiday concert put on by her day care. Last year they had all of the classes together in one night and there was madness, absolute madness when they finally released the parents into the auditorium. Put it this way - you would have thought the Beatles were on stage the way some parents were acting.

This year they separated the program into two nights and let the parents take their seats after dropping off their kids in the lobby.

Ada's Little Monkey class was the first class to go and they dutifully sang the Snowy Pokey (think Hokey Pokey) and the 12 Days of Christmas. This is a class of 3 year olds - so we got the standard girl twirling around on stage not singing at all, the rambunctious boy hogging the mic and singing really loud, the gaggle of playful girls sharing the other mic...and then engaging in a playful shoving match over said mic, and then there was Ada and a few of her other friends dutifully singing the songs, doing the hand motions, and only getting slightly distracted by the madness around them. Ada was pretty funny to watch.. she sang most of the songs, and she got most of the hand motions, but the one thing she did better than ALL of her class... was blowing kissing and waving energetically to the crowd.

I see a future of parade routes and beauty pageants ahead of us.. Lord help me now..

our little Jersey girl

Ever since Ada started talking she has been throwing some pretty crazy things our way. The latest is an accent, and not just any accent, and no, not a Canadian accent. Nope, she has a JERSEY accent. It isn't on everything she says, but it is definitely there on some of her most favorite catchy phrases, my personal favorite is "What you talkin' about goiys?"

I guess Jersey isn't that crazy considering most of Elliot's family has deep roots there. However, we rarely see that side of the family and really, I can't say that anyone in his family actually has an accent. So it makes me think there is some other source of influence.

I guess it might be time to start limiting the amount of mafia crime drama we let her watch.

pucker up

Ada has become VERY good at saying good-bye when we drop her off at school, saying good-night when we tuck her in, and basically really embracing her affectionate side.

The process goes like this... When I drop her off I say can I have a hug goodbye? Ada stops what she is doing and gives me a nice hug and then turns and puckers up and plants a kiss right there on my lips. Same sort of thing at night.

We find this cute and really we were just encouraging the hugs - the kisses she picked up from watching Elliot and I when we say goodbye to each other. In fact in the morning she will often DEMAND a kiss from Elliot after he bestows a quick peck on me.

For the most part this affection has been limited to our family and a few close friends. Until yesterday that is... When I picked her up from school, and finally convinced her to put her books away so we could leave, she ran over to her buddy Reese and said, "Reese I'm leaving, bye!" (this was new development #1) Reese responded with "Can I have a hug?" (new development #2) Ada obliged and I thought to myself, Ahhh how cute. But that is when new development #3 happened. After the cute classmate hug, Ada pulled back and puckered up and planted one right on Reese's lips.

Then Ada walked away and coughed. I think I now know how that day care crud is getting passed along.

well hello Dolly we are back..

After loads of self dumped guilt and a little hint and pull here and there from others I've finally decided to climb back on the horse. The reason for the absence of posts has nothing to do with a lack of Ada stories, in fact, if anything there have been way to many to accurately capture. So rather than try to go back and tell you how awesome Ada has been since I last posted.. I'm just going to jump back in with both feet. Pretend that little gap never happened...

We recently took a trip to Seattle for Thanksgiving. This was the first trip for our family in a few months (school tends to have that effect) and Ada was VERY excited to ride on the plane (or sleep on the plane) and excited to see Auntie Katie, Thea Dog, Tia Jackie, and Special Friend Tony. She knows they live in Seattle and tells us that often. What she didn't know is that 'big Grandma' (my Grandma) also lives near Seattle and we were going to get to see her as well.

I could go on and on about the trip and how fabulous it was, but I'm going to narrow it down to my top 8 moments from the trip.

**I was going to keep this to 5 items but as I started writing I kept thinking of other totally awesome things that happened**

(in no particular order)

1. Tony letting Ada take over his remote control Bart Simpson toy on Thanksgiving Day. This in itself was a grand gesture, but add the fact that Tony is a little protective of his new floors and freshly painted walls and Ada is a kamikaze remote control driver and this became a true expression of love. Or an unabashed attempt at sucking up. Either way it makes the top 5.

2. Ada finally getting over her shyness at my Grandma's house while she was in the midst of giving out kisses and hugs to everyone. Up to this point she has stolen a few glances of Grandma but wouldn't get close to her. However, during an impromptu round of hugs and kisses (directly planted on the lips), Ada (with a little suggestion from Elliot) headed over and bestowed hugs and kisses on Grandma. My heart melted a little bit at that point.

3. Ada walking down the sidewalk outside of Auntie Katie's apartment building with her fancy pink coat on, her new (hand knit) purple scarf wrapped around her neck, her pink Hello Kitty rain boots on, and pulling her Hello Kitty overnight bag as she made her way to Tony's car. Ada has been moving into fully Kid mode for awhile now but that night she looked so sophisticated and fancy. And she knew it.

4. Playing with Grandma. After breaking through her shyness layer Ada fully took over Grandma's house. She built a house (NOT a fort) with couch pillows and an afghan. She made Grandma play dolls with her - trading her ballerina barbie and Homer Simpson toys back and forth. Ada showed no hesitation in her ability to boss Grandma around. A true sign that Grandma was finally in Ada's inner circle. And the best part - Grandma played right along like she was a fellow 3 year old diva.

5. Ada's morning conversations with Auntie Katie. We woke up every morning to hear a little bit of Ada informing Katie about what was going to happen that day, or what she had dreamed, or what Thea Dog was doing RIGHT THEN. Ada loves conversation and story telling and these early morning bits were wonderful little nuggets.

6. Ada visiting Santa at Nordstroms. This was a spontaneous visit that took over 2 hours in line and lasted maybe 3 minutes. Ada was great. She sat on Santa's lap, gave him a cookie (her doing), and even talked to the big guy. We are officially in full Christmas mode in our house.

7. Ada (and Spiderman) leading Auntie Katie on a nice 1 mile sprint down to the marathon expo (and of course the 1 mile up hill sprint on the way back). Ada enhanced this experience by shouting 'AHHHHHH' at the top of her lungs THE WHOLE WAY - about 10 city blocks through downtown Seattle.

8. Arriving at Tony's house after Ada's overnight and seeing that Ada felt as comfortable there as she does at our house. She had a blast playing with her new toys and with Tia Jackie and SPF Tony, but she also moved about the house with an ease that showed she had experienced nothing but love and attention while she was away from Mommy and Daddy. Truly the greatest gift an auntie or SPF can grant to a parent.

Thanks to everyone who made our little adventure up North absolutely amazing.

big girl privileges

We have had quite a busy month (sorry for the lapse in posting), we had Ada's birthday, our wedding anniversary, and a visit out to see Eric (HI Eric). I had intended to post a great story with pictures about Ada's birthday but never really got around to downloading the pictures. Needless to say she had a great birthday with a party down at the beach with all of her favorite adult friends because that is how Ada rolls. As requested she got a purple bike, and a purple helmet, and purple gloves. She also got something we like to call 'Big Girl Privileges'.

Now that Ada is three we've decided that it is time to start teaching her that each action has a outcome and these outcomes can be good (Yay we like these actions) or bad (Boo we don't like these actions). To put it in Ada terms she can't scream and kick and throw a fit when she doesn't get her own way without some sort of punishment. What are these privileges you might be asking? Well given that Ada is truly our daughter there are things she likes a certain way: lights on and door open when she goes to bed, watching movies on mommy and daddy's bed, swinging on the swings after a long run, and basically anything that I see that she wants while she is misbehaving. And we aren't tyrants about taking away these privileges, she gets multiple warnings and explanations of what actions will result in losing her privileges, but in the end, if she purposely misbehaves, there are now officially consequences in our house.

We are only a few days into this experiment but so far it is going pretty well. She has pushed her limits a few times, as all three year olds should do, but she has also felt the harsh blow of consequences and learned her lesson. Of course as this is Ada and she is one smart little cookie I'm sure she will find a way to work the system in a few weeks to get around those pesky privileges. Until then I'm declaring victory.

maybe she is my daughter

I've often wondered out loud how Ada could possibly be my daughter, after all her love of all things pink and purple and fairy princess, and frilly doesn't really fit with the scrapped up knees tomboy youth I remember. Add to that her refusal to wear anything but long flowing, twirl worthy dresses, jelly shoes or high heel princess shoes and Ada really had more in common with my sister Julie than she did with me.

So image my surprise when all of a sudden this week she started rifling through her t-shirts and shorts to find the most athletic variations she could find! Yup, our little princess has insisted on wearing nothing but "running clothes" for the entire week.

Not sure if it was the weekend with the Evan's boys or her taking her little runs up the hill after her rocket ship (aka jogging stroller) rides more seriously, but finally the tomboy is starting to emerge. And I hate to admit it, but I love it. She isn't any less adorable in her running clothes and now maybe, just maybe, she might be interested in learning the best way to fall down to make it look like someone tripped you, or the secret to pulling someone down by their shirt without letting the ref see.. or maybe just the best way to scale up the side of the tree out back. All things I am an expert in.

Because let's face it - Ada already has me beat in the art of walking in heels, accessorizing, and picking out fashionable getups. Now we both have something to share.

priorities

While Ada had no qualms or hesitation about giving away lots and lots of her stuffed animals and toys it appears she isn't quite as giving in all areas of her possessions. Tonight we asked her to go through all of her books to pick out the ones that she wanted to keep and the ones she wanted to give away. Let's just say we aren't donating multiple bags of books to Goodwill - nope, she picked about 1/4 of her books, mostly ones she had never read (and a few of Elliot's) and that was IT. She guarded her keep pile like she was guarding the queen's jewels. She let me organize the keep books but she would not leave her books until each and every one of them was back on the shelf where they belonged.

At least she has her priorities right - books over toys any day!

charity

Saturday night Elliot, Ada and I went out to Souplantation for dinner. Ada was in a particularly good mood and was quite the little chatterbox. As we were wrapping things up Ada made it clear that she did not want to leave just yet, she was more in the mood to sit around and enjoy the ambiance a little bit. So we started a little conversation about how I was her Mommy and that my name was also Katie so that made me her Katie Mommy or Mommy Katie, and since Elliot was her Daddy and his name is Elliot he is her Daddy Elliot (he only gets it one direction). Then all of a sudden out of the blue Ada asked if some boys and girls do not have a Mommy and a Daddy (no idea where this came from). So we started explaining different reasons why yes, some boys and girls do not have a Mommy or a Daddy. This was a probably the most adult conversation we have had with Ada to date and I was not sure if Ada was getting it 100%. I shouldn't have doubted a thing.

Fast forward to later in the evening when we dug in to tackle what we thought was going to be a difficult task - getting Ada to filter through all of her stuffed animals to pick which ones she wanted to keep and which ones she wanted to donate to Goodwill. As we started in on this task we saw an opportunity to connect to our previous conversation and told Ada that she was going to go through her animals and pick out the few she wanted to keep and the rest were going to go to the boys and girls who weren't as lucky as her, you know the ones that don't have a Mommy AND a Daddy. We bent the truth a little bit but I was trying to put it into a context she would understand. After I explained that this didn't mean she had to give up purple Dora or Dumbo or Elmo she was Ok.

I put this heavy activity in Elliot's hands and went off to clean up the kitchen. After noticing that there was no screaming or whining coming from Ada's room I decided to pop my head in to see if the carnage had begun or if Elliot was chickening out, and to my surprise, Ada was busily putting almost ALL of her stuffed animals into the donate bag! Including ELMO! She did have a pile of animals and toys she was keeping, but she really took the charity idea to heart and was even more brutal (and swift) than Elliot and I would have been.

After it was all was said and done Ada filled up three bags of stuffed animals and toys, and one bag about half full of clothes (mostly pants - Ada hates pants). When we went to drop off the bags on Sunday we told Ada what we were doing and she didn't care, in her mind those toys were already gone and she was happy to help out boys and girls who didn't have both parents.

Ada is almost three and up until recently I didn't think this birthday meant anything more than the fact that another year had passed. But as it approaches, I am beginning to think that I will always look back on three as the age when Ada really started forming the basis for who she will become as teenager and adult. If this weekend is any indication we will all be fortunate to be part of her life.

I promise to remember this when she comes home with an unexplained piercing, strange boyfriend, or 20 minutes past curfew. I promise.

ps

I totally forgot one of the most hilarious moments in her 30 minutes of practice. As Ada was standing perfectly balanced on her skates and trying to convince us that she needed help, she raised her hands in the air and with every ounce of perfectly toned sympathy said, "I can't balance!"

Yes dear, and the sky is not blue, and the Earth is not round, and your name is not Ada...

She is already able to amble along in her skates as if she is wearing sneakers. The ice is not far from our future.

skates

Elliot and I have been looking for ice skates for Ada since she turned two but up until recently we were unable to find anything that would fit on her tiny little feet. Elliot being the ever vigilant father kept checking for skates every month or so and finally, earlier this month, while picking out his birthday present (skates) he finally found a pair of skates in Ada's size. The only problem is that they were blue and since Ada does her best impression of a chemical burn victim every time she is forced to wear anything in a color other than pink we weren't sure she'd even want to put them on.

Well the skates arrived yesterday and apparently Ada's desire and excitement over wearing skates and having her OWN skates overrode the color preference. Although she did point out that they were blue, but since they also had snowflakes on them she seemed to be able to talk herself past the lack of pink.

After we squeezed the skates on her feet Ada stood up to walk. She was a little like a baby deer as she wobbled and eventually fell down. She did get back up but insisted on having help as she walked back and forth on the carpet. We did this for a little bit and eventually settled back on the couch. I was thinking Ok, that was a good start, we'll do a little more each day and eventually she won't need help and once that happens we'll move to the ice. But Ada was thinking, sweet, I finally have my own skates, let's get in the car and drive to the ice rink RIGHT NOW!! She refused to take the skates off. Finally Elliot and I told her that if she wanted to go on the ice she needed to practice on the carpet. So Ada jumped off the couch and started her hobbled walk around the coffee table. She struggled a little bit, sitting down at one point and telling us she fell down, but Elliot calmly talked her through getting back up on her feet.

This continued for the next 30 minutes!! After 30 minutes Elliot and I tried to coax Ada into taking off her skates so we could go for a quick run. Instead she insisted on being carried to the jogging stroller so she could wear her skates in the stroller. She kept the skates on the whole run and was still refusing to take them off. In fact the only way we could get the skates off her feet was to tell her we were going to polish the skates. This seemed to make sense to her so she and Elliot started taking off her skates while I went to find something to polish them with. As I walked back into the living room I overheard Ada telling Elliot that they were going to polish her skates PINK!

Of course.

speller

The other night Ada and I were hanging out on the bed chatting, Elliot was busying himself around the house coming in and out of the room and after one of his departures Ada turned to me and asked, "How is his name?" Thinking she was asking what his name was I told her that she calls him Daddy but I call him Elliot. She looked at me a little funny and said, "No, E..R..I..C".

While she was totally wrong, going with Eric in our family makes you right more times than not. I credit her spelling with her obsession with Big Eric (her uncle) and Little Eric (her cousin) when we sing the name song where we spell out different people's names. But as her MOM, I had a little proud moment, she actually spelled something, on her own, and it has been months since we sang the name song so this was TOTALLY huge!

Diva

One of Ada's new fascinations is learning people's names, or as Ada would say it, "what is him/her called?"

Last night as we were watching the latest episode of So You Think You Can Dance Ada kept asking what each dancers name was, and after a few of the names she asked me what their last name was. I was thrown a little bit because to this point Ada hasn't shown any sign that she actually knows what a last name is let alone an iota of care about what a person's last name might be. And I certainly have no idea what Randi's last name is and while I normally might have come up with something witty I was tired and uncreative so I just told her that Randi didn't have a last name - she was just Randi.

Ada seemed to take that at face value and stopped her inquisition for a moment, long enough for me to ask her what her last name was... She turned to me and said, my name is just ADA, I don't have a last name. When I tried to convince her that she did indeed have a last name, even repeating it several times, and drawing it out slowly she stuck to her original statement. NOPE, no last name, she was definitely just ADA.

Our little Diva!

Flitter

Ada's daycare class has a class "pet", Flitter. Flitter is not your standard pet, Flitter is a little stuffed butterfly and comes with a picture book of all of her adventures. Each child in the class gets a chance to take home Flitter for the weekend and this past weekend was Ada's turn. Ada LOVES Flitter and will do just about anything for Flitter. Trust me, we used this to our advantage.

Friday night we were hanging out in our room after work and Ada wanted something from her room but when she went into her room it was dark and she came back to our room she wanted Elliot or I to come with her to turn on the light for her.

Sidebar: When we set up Ada's big girl room, with the big girl bed, and the new layout, we purposely set up one of her sets of blocks directly under the light switch so that she could stand on top of the blocks and reach the light switch. She KNOWS how to turn on the light.

So back to Ada trying to con Elliot and I into helping her turn the light on... We went back and forth a few times with Ada continuing to insist that she could not turn on the lights without assistance and Elliot and I holding firm to the idea that we have taught her how to turn on the lights and she has demonstrated time and again that she can do it without help. Finally it dawned on me, FLITTER!!!!

At this point Flitter was hanging out on the bed with Elliot and I, so I picked up Flitter and told Ada that Flitter wanted to help her turn on the light. Which she heard as "Ada, Flitter wants to turn on the light, will you help her?" Tomato, Tamato. Ada took Flitter into her room, Elliot and I waited, and waited, and waited, and then, YES, the click of the light switch!! Ada ran back into our room and told us that SHE had helped Flitter turn on the light in her room.

HORRAY for Flitter!!!

bum bum

Early on in our quest to get Ada to agree to put on pull-ups, I mean big girl night time underwear, on at night we tried a variety of things to make it more fun for her. Most did not work but for some reason, one night as I held a Cinderella pull-up in my hand I decided to try to coax Ada into wearing it by talking to Ada in the voice of Cinderella. In my very best princess voice (which is for some reason heavily tinged with an English accent) I said, "Ada, may I please go on your bum bum?" A HUGE smile spread across her face and she slowly nodded and started stepping into the pull-up. I don't know if it was the thought of Cinderella talking to her, or the thought that Cinderella really really wanted to hang out on her rear, or just the fact that she thought the term 'bum bum' was just to precious to turn down. Whatever it was, it worked.

But this little success in the night time potty control war resulted in a very innocuous solution to the whole "do we give her privates a name or just go with what the books call them" debate. In general I am a fan of calling them by their proper name - takes out the mystery and the allure. And up to this point Ada has used the proper names when telling us she is having issues down there but the other day while standing in line for coffee Ada fell down while in mid-twirl and landed straight on her butt. She didn't cry or whine but when she stood up she said, "I fell on my bum bum".

Needless to say she was not amused when we started laughing but the name has stuck we are now officially a 'bum bum' family.

mental workout

Ada is a different little girl when she gets enough sleep - she is energetic and talkative and totally wonderful. Last night Ada fell asleep while we were running and transitioned to bed easily so she again got enough sleep.

Fast forward to this morning - Ada was a delightful bundle of energy. As we were driving into day care her imagination took over and among several other activities Ada decided that it was time to go skating. She "walked" into the rink, and told me it was cold so she put on her jacket. Then she was still cold so she put on warm pants. Then she walked out on the ice but her shoes were too slippery so she walked off the ice to put on her skates. Then once she got her skates on she started to skate. Now you have to picture Ada, in her blue butterfly dress, strapped into her car seat, no shoes on (except her imaginary skates) kicking her legs up and down as fast as she can - that was her imaginary skating. I was going to tell her it was more of a push out motion than a running motion but that is really Elliot's job so I let her start her bad skating habits.

Then after skating at a vigorous pace for about 30 seconds she stopped and started talking about how sweaty she was. She then skated off the ice and took off her skates, drove home and took a shower (including washing her hair).

I know this because she talked herself through the whole thing. Her imagination is so vivid that I almost felt the cool air of the ice rink on my face while I was driving in.

Now if we could only get her reality to move this fast and have real life Ada clean up so nicely as imagination Ada. Maybe we should start adding props to her imaginary life so she actually DOES do all of the things she talks about.

growing

I think Ada is growing. I present for you the following evidence:

1. After hamming it up for the hockey boys on the 4th, attending the Coronado parade, and BBQ'ing at Nana's house Ada fell asleep on the way to BBQ #2 at approximately 5:30 pm. She proceeded to sleep through getting pulled out of the car, walked into a loudish party, being placed on a bed in a room directly adjacent to the loudish party, having several party goers go in to check on how cute she was, being lifted up and carried out to the car, put back into her car seat, pulled back out of her car seat when we reached home, had her underwear changed to big girl night time underpants, and then the rest of the night.

She woke up at 8 am on the 5th, hungry and needing the potty.

2. She fell asleep for her nap at approximately 3 pm on the 5th while we were out running errands. She proceeded to sleep in the car (with Daddy) while Mom shopped for groceries and then through the car ride home, being picked up out of the car and being placed into bed.

She woke up around 6 pm, hungry and again needing the potty.

3. She ate about 5 oz of steak for dinner and then also ate her portion of apple slices with peanut butter.

The only thing that slightly resembled her normal state of being was her resistance to going to bed on Sunday night.

So either she is growing or she is morphing into a different child that Elliot and I will have to adapt to all over again. We are hoping for the former, but haven't counted out the latter as Ada seems to like to change things up just as we get used to the routine.

Wouldn't want to make things boring. :)

running time

At the conclusion of each of our family runs Ada gets a chance to stretch her legs and run the last 100 yards or so. We have been doing this for months, but recently Ada has really started to show promise - actually running more and stopping to pick up rocks less.

Well tonight we sort of stumbled out of the house to do a quick run to the grocery store and back, not really paying much attention to what Ada was wearing since she put herself into the stroller. As we got about half a mile away from the house we noticed that Ada didn't have any shoes on. Not so much of an issue during the run or at the grocery store, but BIG BIG problem when Ada wanted to get out and run. Not really knowing exactly how much Ada loves her nightly run we opted to just skip the stop to let Ada out and rolled all the way home. Bad idea. BAD BAD IDEA.

We got home and Ada made it known that we did indeed HAVE to get her running shoes (and socks) and then go for a little stroll together. So after finally finding her shoes (and pink socks) Ada started out down the sidewalk. We thought she would run to the spot where she normally starts and then turn around. NOPE. She took us all the way down the street and then all the way back up the hill for a run total of .63 miles!!

Now you might guess that while Ada is fast for a two year old - she is not so fast that Elliot and I have issues walking as fast as she runs. But Ada was having NONE of that. She insisted that all three of us RUN the entire way (except for the short portion near the end where Ada started doing Karate kicks). Obviously Ada did not approve of Mommy and Daddy's short (super short) run to the store.

When Ada becomes a world famous personal trainer we can pinpoint this workout as the point when it all began.

oh my goodness

Ada has new favorite phrase "Oh my goodness". Every time those three little words slip from Ada's mouth I just crack up. Not that the phrase in and of itself is all that funny, but the tone she adds to it is ripe with all the worry and concern of someone much much more mature in years than our dear little Ada. I also can't help but picture Molly from the movie Annie who is famous for repeating "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my GOODness" whenever Miss Hannigan starts after the orphans.

Ada drops her new favorite ditty at almost any occasion. We are putting on Ada's "makeup" and she drops her brush - "Oh my goodness, Mommy", she gets a drop of water on her hand as we are brushing her teeth - (a garbled) "Oh my goodness, Mommy", we pull up to get gas - "Oh my goodness, Mommy", Ada gets cold as we are driving to daycare - "Oh my goodness, Mommy"... You get the point.

As far as I know Ada has only seen the movie Annie once in her lifetime so I'm not sure that is where she picked up the saying. However, given her similarity to the toddler version of her Auntie Julie I'm not counting it out just yet.

FAN-TASTIC

Given Ada's love of the show 'Dancing with the Stars' and well her love of all things that involve pretty dresses, music, and dancing we have started watching the summer hit 'So you think you can dance'. And Ada LOVES it.

We have a little routine on Wednesday nights where we climb into bed after our nightly jog and snuggle up while we watch 'the dancing' as Ada refers to it. Last week after one particularly good routine one of the judges summed up his opinion by stating "FAN-TASTIC", and then went on with the rest of his critique. Ada was cuddled up in my legs at this point and she brought her right hand up to her face in a semi-Thinker pose and slowly sounded out 'fan-tas-tic, fan-tastic, FANTASTIC'. Which of course sent Elliot and I into fits of laughter. The equivalent to a 10 foot tall trophy filled with chocolate pudding in the world of kid-dom. So Ada spent the next 10 minutes saying FAN-TASTIC, FAN-TASTIC, FANTASTICCCCCCC!!! She finally settled down when more dancing started but would throw out a FAN-TASTIC every couple of minutes just to see if she could still get laughs from Mom and Dad (she could).

Fantastic has now become part of our daily conversation. Fast forward to our ride home from school yesterday.

Ada: Mom and Dad are fantastic

Me: Ada you are fantastic

Ada: No

Me: You are terrific

Ada: No

Me: You are amazing

Ada: No

Me: Ok, what are you?

Ada: I'm Ada Beta!!!

Proving just how FANTASTIC she really is...

carnivore

Ada has a pretty steady diet of Mac-n-Cheese, pasta with butter and cheese - or pasta with cheese on top as Ada refers to it, chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, and every once in a while a grilled cheese sandwich. You will notice that each of these items are heavily laden with carbs. Girl likes her carbs.

Well this weekend we went to a BBQ at a friend's house and since Ada had just woken up from a nap she was pretty hungry. Instead of allowing her to go straight to the pink cookies that Auntie Julie had so kindly picked up for her, we decided to try to get Ada to eat some real food. She was strangely drawn to the plate of freshly grilled hamburger patties, so we put together a burger with lots and lots and lots of ketchup. And to my surprise she actually willingly ate about a third of the hamburger!! Our little carb-o-holic had willingly taken in a whole mouthful of protein. Shhh - we don't want that little secret to get out.

As luck would have it our Sunday also turned out to be a mess of poorly timed naps that resulted in a ravenous Ada after our hockey games. So we decided to stop at Wendy's on the way home for one of our three fast food meals of the year. We asked Ada if she wanted chicken nuggets, a hamburger, or a cheeseburger. Her response - CHEESEBURGER - as if she had had more than six bites of red meat her entire life. So we got her a cheeseburger and she wolfed down half of the burger delighting in each bite as if she was actually eating chocolate. This opens a whole new world for Elliot. I am the fast food Nazi in our house - I don't like it and it does not like me - so Elliot usually only gets to indulge in his favorite fast food joints when I'm either so worn down I give in or more likely I'm out of town. Now that Ada is on board I'm now officially out numbered. My arteries are already shaking.

hot tubing it

Ada has been getting more and more used to the water. If you have been following Adabeta for a while you might recall that Ada once hated water more than she now hates wearing pants. Once she discovered that you can have fun in water and that washing is not always involved she has become much more of a fan of the old agua.

Most of Ada's pool experiences have been in hotels because we do not have a pool at home and the last pool party we attended Ada screamed every time we got her in the water. But we do have a hot tub. A hot tub that Elliot and I have been in only a handful of times since Ada came into our lives. Most of this has to do with our laziness once we get Ada to sleep, since we really didn't want to bring Ada in before she was of substantial size and of course potty trained. Well both of those criteria are now met so we decided to introduce Ada to the wonderful world of hot tubing.

She LOVED it. She wasn't scared of the bubbles, she wasn't turned off by the heat, but she really really really did not want to let go of mommy. Perhaps her favorite thing of all (aside from the fact that she was in the water) was the hamstring jet that shoots up from the bottom of the hot tub. When not impeded by a hamstring, this jet on full blast creates a little fountain.

Ada spent a few minutes "swimming" back and forth between the two of us and as she was moving around in the water she had her pure ecstatic smile on her face. The smile that you don't get in pictures, the smile that only comes out when she doesn't realize anyone is looking, and the smile I hope she has when she navigates through all of the milestones in her life, because when you see it - you know she is at the topmost point of bliss.

Something tells me we are going to spend many more nights in the hot tub this summer. My hamstrings cannot be more happy!

Shamu airplane

The whole family took a trip to Orlando this past weekend to visit Eric (Hi Eric!!). This meant that we had to take a plane ride - technically 4 separate plane rides - which had Ada over the moon with excitement.

Ada loves flying so much that all she could talk about on Wednesday at school was how she was going to go on an airplane in "two couple of days" although really she was going in one day - we didn't really correct her.

The flight out was pretty uneventful - Ada was happy and well rested, and Elliot and I took turns being the one to entertain her as she made no signal that was ready for a nap (the WHOLE day).

Our trip was also good, although Ada refused to go to sleep before 1 am even though Elliot and I often fell asleep around midnight.

On the flight back we stopped in Denver to switch planes. On the tarmac in Denver we spotted a Southwest plane that was painted like Shamu. Thinking it would be a good distraction for Ada, Elliot pointed it out. Ada's latest obsession is Shamu (or dolphin as she likes to call him) and when she saw the plane she HAD to be on it. Now if you know how plane travel works you understand that you get whatever plane the airline lines up for you and there is no discussion about it. Well Ada still has some education in this area and decided that screaming throughout the terminal was going to get her what she wanted. And honestly I wouldn't have thought any less of the folks at Southwest if they did cave under her intense wailing, but alas they did not. So the only way I could get Ada to stop crying was to tell her we were going to go look around the airport for the Shamu plane. We took a walk to the bathroom and looked for him in the stall, the sink and the trash can - no luck. Elliot took her to the cafe around the corner from our gate and they checked in the refrigerated case and behind the counter but still had no luck. She did melt down one more time after they got back from the food adventure but we managed to distract her with hope that Shamu might be on the plane. We figured that once she got on the plane the excitement over flying might take over and resolve the fit throwing.

Luckily it did. You could see the looks of relief on the faces of all of our fellow passengers as they boarded the plane, didn't hear any wailing, and walked by our row to see Ada happily looking out the window (her big plane window) and talking loudly about the bags that were being loaded below us.

for my birthday

Somewhere along the way Ada has picked up on the fact that you get stuff for your birthday. And recently we have been having a lot of birthday talk. Two of her best buddies at school just had birthdays which is probably contributing to this new favorite topic. Her teachers also have managed to teach her when her birthday is... Ask her what her last name is and Ada will tell you 'Ada', ask her how old she is, and Ada will tell you, "five", but ask her when her birthday is, and Ada will confidently tell you, "August 15th!!" And then she will launch into a list of what she wants for her birthday. A party, a bike (a PURPLE bike), a party, a dress, a party and a bike. But she is also taking this into her daily negotiations. We were recently at Sea World and we told her she could pick out one item from the Shamu store to bring home. She quickly picked out a nice stuffed Shamu that she could easily snuggle up with. But as we walked around the shop she spotted some Shamu slippers and she started her well honed negotiation skills. When we held firm on the one item rule she switched gears and put the slippers back on the rack and said, "I want those for my birthday". Fast forward to that night at the grocery store. Needing to distract Ada while Elliot waited in line, I took Ada into the seasonal items aisle. She immediately went to the pool noodles and picked out a giant pink noodle. She did her best Luke Skywalker impression and then tried to get me to pull out the other giant pink noodle so we could do a little fencing in the aisle. When I told her that we needed to put the noodles away and that we didn't have a pool and therefore didn't have a reason to buy a GIANT pink noodle she again threw out the "I want this for my birthday". Ok honey - we'll buy you a worthless piece of foam for your birthday just because you asked for it. Got it.

The birthday list goes on and on. We are going with the flow and telling her to put it on her list. I just hope when August 15th hits Ada is happy with what she gets (a bike) and has forgotten all of the other tiny items she adds to the list over the next 2 and a half months. Otherwise I am expecting one HUGE tantrum.

tidbits

Just a few tidbits about Ada today...

Scarred for life
As I mentioned in a previous post - we FORCED Ada to wear shorts and a t-shirt to school the other day. We didn't warn her the night before but we did manage to get the first word in that morning and that scarred Ada for life. Now, every morning, the first thing she does after opening her eyes is not smile at the morning sun shining in through her window, or ask for five more minutes to snooze. NOPE. Instead she opens her eyes, and as she is focusing her eyes and looking at me, she says in her quiet morning voice, "I want to wear a dress today", getting it in there before I can possibly think to mention that maybe she should try out the butterfly t-shirt and pink shorts today.

I'm guessing that she will stop this routine when she leaves for college and is convinced that I no longer have any control over what she wears to school each day...

You say tomAto I say tomato
Ada is very good at getting dressed in the morning just as long as we let her wear a dress. However she is so afraid that I just might try to get her to wear something that is not a dress that she even refuses to wear undergarments if I insist on calling them 'underpants' rather than what those crazy Canucks call them, "underwear". Ada prefers the Canadian version over the So Cal Valley Girl version, but mostly because she can't stand the idea of wearing anything that might be considered pants.

Lady GaGa - Watch OUT!

bright light in the midst of darkness

I am so thankful that Ada is oblivious to what is going on with our family this week. So thankful. Although there have been several times this week where I have wanted to just curl up with her to allow myself to soak up the comfort only a two year old can give you only to have her shrug me off with an annoyed 'Moooommmmm'.

To demonstrate exactly HOW oblivious she is to the stress of this week Ada had one of her very typical bouts of independence. This week's theme - 'I want to wear a dress to school'.

Ada has recently discovered she has a new BFF at school - Mackenzie. They have the same jelly shoes, they both like to wear their hair in pony tails, and most importantly of all - they both LOVE to wear dresses.

We recently started allowing Ada to wear dresses to school because we decided that she was capable of holding her dress up out of the toilet water when she goes potty. (I know, TMI) Ever since that first day when we let her wear a dress she has wanted to wear nothing else. Well on Tuesday she had a dentist appointment after school and she had worn dresses to school for more than 3 weeks in a row and we thought - you know what - she has all of these cute pants and shirts - we are going to convince her to not wear a dress today. With a minimal amount of tears we did manage to get her in a pink shirt with stripes and polka-dots and pink shorts (with her jelly shoes of course). Part of the convincing included Ada stating, "Mackenzie is wearing pants today" and me guiltily agreeing. Well we arrived at her classroom and Mackenzie ran over to greet her shouting at the top of her lungs, "Ada, my best friend, is here!" (Ok how cute is that) and imagine Ada's surprise when Mackenzie was wearing (gasp!) a dress. She was still in shock when I left and I was only a little worried about her ability to make it through the day.

Luckily Elliot picked her up early for her dentist appointment and before they were able to leave she boldly told him, "Daddy, tomorrow I want to wear a dress!" And then later that night as we were putting on her PJ's she told me in cold clear terms "I don't want to wear a SHIRT tomorrow" and repeated herself about 500 times for emphasis.

Needless to say - the rest of this week has been filled with pink dresses preferably with pockets.

chameleon

Last night was a class night. Elliot has been working to break Ada of her habit of waiting up for me to get home from class before going to bed but last night when I walked in the front door Ada was sitting at the table finishing up dinner(!!). Apparently their night had been slowed down at every turn and Ada was happily eating chicken so we couldn't really complain. After a couple more minutes of hanging out we started our bedtime routine and Ada was actually very cooperative. She only spent 5 minutes trying to convince us that the label on the top bunk stating that she needed to be 6 years old to sleep up there was bogus and after brushing her teeth she kicked me out and had Elliot read through her cooking with Elmo book. Yes Ada reads a cookbook before bed EVERY NIGHT, sometimes twice.

Elliot eventually emerged from Ada's room but it was clear that she was not asleep yet, but at least she was quiet - for now. After about 10 minutes we heard some noises coming out of her room and I went to investigate. Ada had dumped all of her pillows on the floor and was attempting to jump around on the bottom bunk (with limited success, obviously). I was able to calm her down a bit and explain that she needed to have quiet time. She looked me in the eye and nodded so I left. And we didn't hear a peep.

As our night wound down a couple of hours later we went in to check on Ada to make sure she had a blanket on and was a safe distance from the side of the bed, only she wasn't on the bottom bunk, she wasn't on the top bunk, she wasn't under the bed, on the floor next to the bed, or under the pillow pile she had created. Just as my heart started to race and my mind started to go where parents hope their mind never has to go, I turned to run out of the room to get Elliot and that is when I saw her. She was sound asleep, laying upside down on her big chair, head on the seat, legs up over the arm. I have no idea how she ended up there, but she sure did look comfy.

Let's hope she can figure out a way to control her excitement about her new beds to a point that will allow her to actually fall asleep IN her bed tonight.

big girl bed

After several nights of getting up when Ada rolled out of her toddler bed and then sitting on the floor with his head propped up on the side of said bed, Elliot agreed that maybe it was time to get Ada a big girl bed. So we started the search and also the requirements gathering. After a short analysis we decided that a full/twin bunk bed set fit the need for a big girl bed, plus the need to have a bed to sleep in when we put up overnight guests in our room.

Ada loved the search. Let me repeat that, Ada LOVED the search. She classifies each store that we go to by the color of the store. The furniture store in this case is yellow. Even weeks after we ordered and paid for the bunk beds, Ada was begging to please, PLEASE, PUUUHHHHLEEEAASSEEEE go back to the yellow store.

Well the bunk beds came today and luckily the arrival date fell on a Monday - our one true family night. So after a long day at school, reading a few books, going for a run, we finally got down to opening the boxes and putting the bed together. Ada patiently (very patiently) sat in her big chair and waited, and waited, and waited as Elliot and I put the beds together. When we finally put the twin mattress up on the top bunk Ada immediately wanted "UP!". The look on her face as she lay on that top bunk was adorable. It was happiness and mischievousness, and satisfaction in finally getting HER bunk beds all rolled up in one. However, the mean parents had to step in and declare the top bunk as her play bed and the bottom bunk as the sleeping bed. We just don't trust Ada to not roll out of the top bed just yet. After HOURS of negotiation we finally convinced Ada that as the parents, we were not budging and she gave in, only to feign injury and have Mom apply an icepack while cuddling her and singing her special song.

I'm sure we still have many nights of battling over the top vs. bottom bunk but for tonight I'm declaring the bunk beds a success and Ada DEFINITELY a big girl.

jaguars

We went to the zoo last weekend and spent a good three hours there walking around to all sections of the zoo. This is different from most of our trips to the zoo where we stop by to shout 'Hey' to the elephants and the monkeys, eat some popcorn and then hit the road. This time however we went by many more animals including all of the cats. Now when we asked Ada if she wanted to walk by the cats I'm sure she pictured cute cuddly kitties not large predator type cats who would be eyeing her like a tasty little snack since we happened to swing by the cats right around lunch time. Most of the cats were quietly stalking back and forth in their cages, quietly waiting for their trainer to bring lunch by. The Jaguar however was loudly growling for all to hear, eyeing every small child and calculating what it would take to squeeze his big head through the bars of the cage and how hard the parents would fight. Ada picked up on this. Boy oh boy did she pick up on this.

Later that night as we were eating dinner I asked Ada what her favorite part of the zoo was. We are still working on the concept of having a favorite so she didn't really answer me, she just said, Yes, which is what she says when she doesn't really understand what we are saying to her. Anyway, I digress. So when Ada said, "Yes" to my question about her favorite part of the zoo I started probing, was it the sky ride? was it the elephants (a usual favorite)? was it lunch? was it the monkeys? or was it possibly the Jaguar? Which prompted this conversation:

Ada: Jaguars eat people

Me: Well in the wild they might, but the one at the zoo gets served lunch from their trainer

Ada: Jaguars are scary

Me: Yes, I can see how they could be scary, but don't worry you are safe here

Ada: Jaguars are going to come eat me

Me: Oh no, the Jaguar can't get to our house, he doesn't know where we live

Ada: (quizzical look, questioning my sanity)

Me: Think about it, Jaguars don't have a car so they would have to walk the whole way

Ada: (nodding) They would have to use their feet

Me: Right, and they would have to go on the highway so people would see them and report them to the police.

Ada: (nodding some more) That is a long way

Me: Yes, and they don't know where we live so they would have to find the right house

Ada: I live in MY house

Me: Yes, and even if the Jaguar guessed the right house, they couldn't open our door because they don't have thumbs

Ada: I have THUMBS!!

Me: Right, so you could get inside but the Jaguar couldn't. You would be safe.

Ada: Jaguars don't have cars, they can't drive

Me: (nodding, thinking this is actually sinking in)

Ada: And they don't have thumbs, so I'm safe. Jaguars aren't scary.

Me: That's right, so what was your favorite part of the zoo?

Ada: Yes!

Totally cool that we are starting to have actual logical discussions with Ada. Dinner time is going to be much more fun from now on.

hungry

On Monday Elliot and I decided that it was time for a family night. Neither one of us had urgent work to get done, and we have not had a sit down family meal where everyone ate at the same time in, well, months. So after we got home, we ran a few errands together and then started cooking. Everyone helped, Elliot prepped the chicken with a new Asada sauce we picked up at Costco on Saturday, I chopped pineapple for grilling (Ada ate some pineapple), and then Ada and I snapped the asparagus so that only the ripe portion would be grilled. Ada loved this activity although on more than one occasion she ripped off the top rather than letting the natural snap occur, but she is two, so we forgave her.

Once the meal was cooked (thanks to Elliot), we all sat down to eat. We had debated earlier about cooking Ada one of her go to meals (pasta with cheese on top or mac-n-cheese) but decided that for family night, Ada could eat what we were eating. Ada seemed Ok with this (with the exception of the asparagus) and even decided that she would take 5 strips of chicken in her bowl - yes - that is more than one third of the chicken we had prepared!! We thought there was no way she would ever finish it and figured we would just keep her leftovers for sandwiches the next day. Well, as seems to be happening a lot lately, we were wrong. Not only did Ada eat all 5 pieces of chicken that she put in her bowl, she also demanded the last piece that was left after Elliot and I were done, plus a slice of grilled pineapple!!! Not sure where she put all of the chicken but it is safe to say that that was her largest meal to date.

Not surprisingly she didn't touch her lunch the next day and only ate a little bit of pasta with cheese on top for dinner last night.

Given all of the things out there for us to worry about, the one thing we can cross off the list is 'Getting enough to eat', because Ada proved that when she needs to, she can pack it away with the best of them.

terrible twos

It has been a while since I have posted anything and most of that falls on me, I've been busy. But a part of that, a small part, well maybe a little more than a small part but definitely not a large part of that is that Ada has hit the terrible twos. Not a whole lot to blog about when Ada is constantly screaming, saying NO, hitting, throwing herself on the floor, and basically acting her age.

But, every so often there is a ray of light, a moment when Ada forgets that she is supposed to be acting terrible and does something very cute. Case in point, the other morning, after dramatically getting ready for school, with a tantrum or two thrown in there for good measure we finally get loaded into the car, Ada is sort of pouting, because well, that is what she does these days. I got into the groove of the drive and hadn't really noticed that Ada had started munching away on her waffle that Elliot sends us off with each day. Ada usually eats about two bites of her waffle and then sets it on the seat next to her - but this morning was different. Instead, she ate THE WHOLE THING, and when she was done, she handed me her paper towel that was previously holding her waffle and said in a very astute voice, "Daddy makes good waffles". I couldn't help giggling slightly, yes dear, Daddy is a pro at pulling waffles out of the freezer and putting them in the toaster. That slight giggle was enough to pull Ada right back into her terribleness, after all I was mocking her and Daddy! So she spent the rest of the ride in adamantly defending her Daddy's cooking skills. Yelling and screaming over and over again that "DADDY MAKES GOOD WAFFLES!!!!!!"

Count down to her third birthday begins! 4 Months and 12 Days.

imagination

I can now see the end of the tunnel on toddler-dum. I know - Ada is only two and a half, but ever since I returned from Hawaii her vocabulary and her demeanor has gone above and beyond what I would consider truly in the heart of the toddler-dum.

We now have conversations that involve full sentences, subtle jokes, and logic. This is cool in so many ways but the other thing that I find supremely cool is that Ada has discovered her imagination and she is not afraid to put it up on display.

I'm not talking imaginary friend imagination, but exploring the options of life through the power of her mind. How cool is that? Now when we are stuck in traffic on our way home from school, rather than asking for pink cookies that we absolutely DO NOT have in the car. She understands that things like pink cookies do not just appear out of no where, nope those cookies are bought at the store, and are now sitting on the counter right next to the pile of junk mail waiting to go out to the recycling bin. So instead of asking for them, she just starts acting out the activity of pulling her stool over to the counter, opening up the package and taking out a cookie. And then she starts eating the cookie - and she doesn't just do it half way. NOPE. Ada eating an imaginary cookie is just as good and funny as Ada eating a real cookie - with the possible exception of cookie crumbles dancing across her shirt. And it doesn't just end with cookies, she picks flowers, eats strawberries, and creates art all there in the little land that is her mind.

I hope we never lose this version of Ada. Not the two and half year old part, or the part that hasn't quite mastered the art of not peeing on her shoes. But the part that is so sure of what she wants that she won't let a silly thing like the physical presence of her object of desire stop her from pursuing what she wants and going after it.

motivation

Most mornings these days Ada drags out the process of getting out of bed, getting dressed, putting her shoes on, and finally letting me brush her hair. I'm counter balancing this by waking her up a little earlier than I normally would but letting her hang out in her room for an extra 10 minutes getting used to the idea that it is time for her day to start.

Basically, I'm her human snooze alarm.

Well this morning Elliot and I were already planning a quick trip to Starbucks so we didn't have to wash our coffee pot and milk steamer dishes, so when I woke up Ada I told her that if she got ready quickly we would go get coffee.

Ada LOVES coffee (aka chocolate milk).

I left the room thinking that she would hang out and wait for me to pry her little body from her bed and coerce her into going potty. I started to dry my hair and before I knew it I felt a tugging on my hair dryer cord. I glanced down thinking it was caught on the sink or something and to my surprise I saw Ada. She was dressed and ready to go in about 10 minutes and then spent another 10 running around Elliot and I trying to get us to speed up so we could get out on time.

Remember this Nana. We aren't opposed to bribery. Use it to your advantage all weekend long!

movie stars like Ada

Every night we read three books to Ada.

Fancy Nancy
Purplicious and
The Little Engine that Could

In that order. If we deviate we ruin the whole night.

Fancy Nancy has to go first because this is the book that Ada gets involved in the most. First she likes to repeat most of the lines, especially the fancy lines. But by far her most favorite line is when Fancy Nancy's family arrives at the Kings' Crown (if you don't know what the King's Crown is you obviously don't have a Fancy Nancy fan in your house). The line goes something like, "When we arrive at the King's Crown everyone must think we are movie stars". One of the thousands of times I read this line I must have said something like, "Look they have sunglasses on like Ada." Which she immediately heard as, "Look they are movie stars like Ada." So now, when we read that line she stands up, (even though she was just under the covers) puts her arms straight out, and does a slow shimmy as she says, "Movie stars like Ada."

And as if that wasn't cute enough she follows it up with a giant smile to say Yes, I am cute and I know it! Watch OUT!

on this day in history...

Today on the way to work/day care Ada and I were listening to the events around the inauguration on NPR. Most of drive was descriptions of who was wearing what color and how big the crowd was, but right at the end of our drive the big wigs started to take the stage and there was a lot of applause and playing of patriotic music. Ada got into the whole thing and started chatting up a storm. Thinking that she was really interested in what was going on I started explaining what today was, and how this was a very important day in the history of our country. She even dutifully repeated the name of Barak Obama back to me. Then after a short lull in our conversation, after hearing a smattering of applause and music, Ada started clapping herself and started wiggling and dancing in her seat. Then with the biggest grin a 2 year old can muster she leaned forward in her seat and shouted up to me, "O Canada, O Canada".

At least she got the patriotic part correct.

party girl

Last night Auntie Katie called Ada and I while we were driving home but the call lasted longer than the drive. After we arrived home we stayed out in the car because I would have had to dig my phone out of my bag in the back of the car to pull it off the Bluetooth in the car and also because the car is one of Ada's favorite playgrounds.

As some background information on the way home Ada spilled some water on her shirt so she insisted on taking it off as soon as we pulled into the driveway.

While sitting in the car I opened the sun roof to let in some of the nice night air. Ada thought this was GREAT!

As her mother, what I'm about to tell you was both hilarious and enough to make me want to lock Ada in her room until she is 35.

Once the sun roof was opened, Ada, topless Ada, pulled herself through the hole in the roof and started shouting, "WEEEEEEEEEE YEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA". She did this over and over again. Pulling herself back into the car to laugh hysterically.

Note to self. Ada is not allowed anywhere near limos when she hits high school.

Horray for 2009

Welcome to 2009! We had a wonderful break, traveled by car, boat, and plane. Saw almost all of our family, spent time catching a tan and playing in snow. Welcomed Santa back into our lives after many years and really got a lot of time to enjoy the wonderful little girl that Ada is becoming. Granted we had our battles of wills as well - but for some reason when I look back on the two weeks of family time I just remember the funny stuff.



Our vacation started with our cruise down to Cabo, or as Ada liked to say "On the big boat". Ada LOVED the cruise. Everything was new and exciting and the boat was big enough to not get bored but also small enough that Ada had it figured out after about a day. Elliot and I will remember this trip for the amount of sleep we got, Ada will remember this trip for the amount of ice cream she consumed. The cafeteria had soft serve machines and our waiter in our formal dining room discovered Ada's love of chocolate ice cream on the first night and would then just bring more and more and more every night. This might have been the highlight of the cruise for Ada if it weren't for dance show on the last night. Ada was mesmerized by every little twirl and beebop to the music. Put it this way she sat still and focused for close to 45 minutes, not even Nemo can warrant that kind of respect.



Next we spent a few days at home, preparing for, and participating in Christmas. Ada loved mass, but not so much for the religious aspects as the musical aspects. After every song the choir sang, Ada clapped as loud as she could and shouted out, "YAYAYAY". Just to let the choir know she appreciated their effort. We also spent lots of time at Nana's house, and without fail, immediately after we would leave Nana's house Ada would start asking to go back to Nana's house. I think it had something to do with the way Nana lets Ada jump on the couch after she has already knocked off the cushions.



The day after Christmas we boarded a big airplane and headed up to the frozen tundra of Seattle. Lucky to have avoided the big lack of de-icing fluid catastrophe that held Seattle hostage for days, we had a great flight and actually only took one hour from landing to driving our rental car away from the airport. With checked bags, a two year old and all that snow - that was really something.



We managed to make it up to my Grandma Ott's house while Ada napped in the car. Once we got to Grandma's house we told Ada that we were at her Great Grandma's house. She looked at me and said, "Big Grandma's house" with the authority of a grade school grammar teacher correcting he young pupils. So it became Big Grandma's house from that point on. After visiting for awhile we headed up to the cabin, or as Ada would like to call it HOME. She adapted to the cabin really fast and when it came time to leave she threw the tantrum to end all tantrums. If we ever do move out of our house in San Diego I think Ada will have to go on vacation as we pack up everything because the trauma we inflicted on her when we left the cabin this year was right up there with the trauma she goes through when she poops in the shower (all you parents out there know what that shriek is).



But I'm getting ahead of myself. Baker was once again fun and relaxing. Ada got to hang out with Taylor the whole week (and has been asking for her everyday since we returned home), and she got two solid play days with Erica and Nicollo. She also has a new BFF - his name is Tony and Ada now brightens up when she hears his name. She also got to reacquaint herself with Jason, Emi, and Nonna Donna, as well as her Tia Jackie. Tony and Jackie did quite a good job keeping up Ada's Spanish lessons while we were away and now Ada will sponateously break out into a "Tiaaa Jaaackkiee" while in the car.



We also had a ton of snow up in Baker. On one of our play days with the other Hickses Jason, Elliot, Emi and I build a variety of snow objects for the kids to play with. There was a wonderful snowman (complete with moss for hair), a snow couch and a snow chair, and best of all... a snow slide. Erica was by far the most daring but Ada did a round or two going head first.



All in all a great way to end the year. Thanks to everyone for a great 2008 - here is to hoping 2009 is even better!!