Mimi!

Grammie!

I hope everyone can forgive me, us for being very lax on the postings. What can I say...? Life is so CRAZY. And it's also so ridiculously wonderful. Thank you for loving us and sharing it all with us. Needless to say, Miss Arden has been so happy this spring since both her Mimi and Grammie visited. Here follows those stories in photos...

Aunt Corrie's Visit

Yes, it was in December. Apologies. We had a great time together! We went to the Central Park and Bronx Zoos. We had lunch at Second Avenue Deli. We had NY pizza and enjoyed her company greatly. Please enjoy the photos which tell most of the story themselves.

First Hair Cut

Please forgive me. She got her haircut in January. I am a delinquent. We went as a family on Kyle's day off to a place about a 15 minute walk north of our apartment in Astoria. Buzzz Cuts, I think. They were wonderful and it has been wonderful seeing Arden's face the past 2 months!

Note the consistent, ever present look on her face I am hereby naming "The Arden".

Recent Developments

Happy Friday everyone! Arden has been doing great and I thought I'd try to catch up a bit.

Here are a few of her recent developments and habits:

1. SHE WENT PEE PEE IN THE POTTY!!!!!! That's right folks. On March 1, 2011, her 20 month birthday she made the tiniest pee pee possible (twice) in her tiny white plastic potty we bought her. We are not pushing the potty training right now but are just really introducing the option. She recently started letting us know when she would go and liked sitting on the big potty so it seems like a good next step. We also know that she can pee when she wants to because she has twice unloaded on the dog bed and on the couch. I have no hopes that this will be an easy process for us but time will tell.

2. She talks, a lot. The famous, "Mamma, Dadda, Mamma, Dadda, Mamma, Dadda, Mamma, Dadda, Mamma, Dadda, Mamma, Dadda" still reigns supreme. But, just yesterday really, she began saying a bunch of 3 word sentences. "More, please, olive". Yes, she can say olive and she would eat them all day if I let her. And, YES, she is saying please much more frequently and without prompting! We still have the daily, "more, morE, moRE, mORE, MORE!" and thankfully I am not taking those orders so personally anymore. Umm, she's only 1 year and 1/2…

3. She is drinking milk. Thank you to Horizon and your beautiful 1% chocolate milk. Somehow we have only consumed one 1/2gallon of the magic stuff. Arden will pick up one of her play stacking cups and say, "milk" and then I go give her some regular milk to drink out of it. She invented that on her own.

4. Arden can recognize her name and individual letters!! I just discovered this today! Until now (even yesterday) all letters have been known as, "E!" but today, I asked her, "What letter is that?", pointing to the first letter of her name and low and behold she said "A!" She also knew the rest of them and I said, "what does that spell," and she said, yea, you guessed it.

5. She knows that she is 1 and will soon be 2!

6. She eats apple slices peel first.

7. She continues to each chips vertically.

8. She loves to tickle Penelope.

9. Dogs are called Dog or Doggie or Puppy. ALL cats, real, stuffed, puzzle piece or picture are MEW.

10. She loves airplanes and watching for them out the window.

11. She loves Sesame Street. Especially Big Bird, Snuffy and of course, Elmo.

12. She loves putting on jewelry ("Neck, brace, ring") and wants to try on "Momma" ones not those of Momma's that she is allowed to wear but the pieces she is not allowed to wear.

13. She still asks for music by clicking her tongue and pretending to snap her fingers.

14. She can basically do a summersault by herself.

15. She is a wonderful baby who we are completely gaga for.

A White Christmas?

Well, it almost was. We had a very nice Christmas with Arden. We skyped with most of our family throughout the day so they could be a part of our holiday. To say that Arden loved opening and receiving her gifts would be an understatement. I made a full fledged Thanksgiving dinner for the three of us since we were are pukey on the actual holiday. Besides that I spent most of the day trying to rein in my excitement over Arden being able to enjoy Christmas. All in all it was a wonderful day. The next day was Snomageddon 2010. Arden just loves snow and picked up the word instantly. She also picked up some snow and it completely froze out her hands since we did not yet have proper waterproof mittens for her. Doh!

Catching up

Apologies to everyone for being off-line for a while. The main reasons are that we've been sick almost since Thanksgiving and that I started a new creative venture: a blog entitled Confessions of a NYC Mom. If you are reading this blog you may have already checked it out. Thank you!

My sister Lauren visited as she always does right around my birthday in December. We had a wonderful time going around town shopping and eating. Arden loves to be with her aunt and asks constantly to look at pictures of her, "Tee Tee, pics!" Arden also loves to go out to eat. She behaves beautifully and we always order her her own food. Lauren always spoils Arden with so many cute outfits and this year was no exception. Thanks Tee Tee!

Astoria Mommas!

A few months ago, I met a group of moms and babies at a playground in Astoria. Arden just started playing with their kids and the moms told me that they get together fairly frequently and that I could hang out with them sometimes if I wanted to. Little did they know that was something I had so longed for since the day Arden was born. Other moms who lived close to me that I could support and have fun with and have Arden play with their babies. In NYC, when so many of us have moved here to pursue love and life and careers, we are often far away from family. That can leave a momma feeling rather alone and unsupported. Well, the Astoria moms have taken matters into their own hands and formed a wonderful family of their own. It's funny that I still hesitate to say "we" since they are such a tight knit group and some moms have been together since their babies were newborns - but, we get together for after-nap playdates, trips to the Manhattan Children's museum (Arden and I didn't go :(), playground romps and Friday afternoon happy hour.

Yesterday, Arden, Penny, Mew and I hosted four beautiful moms and babes. We had a great time! The babies ages range from about 7 1/2 months to almost 2 years old. The babies play so well together and the moms have a wonderful time too, as you can imagine.

Cheers Astoria Mommas! Thank you for welcoming Arden and I with open arms!

Odin and Jesse. Odin saying, "Puff"!

Moms - Katie, Jenn and Mara with babies Shyla, Jesse, Arden and you can see a bit of Liora playing piano

Mara and Megan

Liora, Megan's baby

I tried and failed to capture Arden kissing Liora on the top of her head. It was so sweet!

The Destructor Returns

Maybe I should say the demolisher has returned. Arden has her appetite back in full swing on the fourth day of recovery post crazy virus. On the last day of her illness I finally had the idea to buy some baby food again for her to try. I would have done anything to get her to eat even a bit. It was a huge hit as she can apparently now just feed herself with a tolerable amount of mess. She also loves being able to ask for it buy name saying "Peach" for the peach banana oatmeal type and "Pear" for the pureed pears. She ate 6 jars of the stuff yesterday. I better take out some stock in Earth's Best. This is what the destructor ate this afternoon for a late lunch:
-1 4 oz jar of organic peach banana oatmeal
-1/2 chocolate peppermint dove candy (I feel bad if I don't give her a taste of what I'm having sometimes)
-1/4 skinless boneless but breaded chicken breast
-1/2 baked sweet potato
-1/2 cup frozen veggies (peas, carrots, corn and green beans or "bean beans" as Arden calls them
-1/4 croisant
-6 Goldfish crackers (she may have wanted to eat more but those things are addictive and I finished them off)
-2 oz of organic pear puree

Virus

And I don't mean the kind that effects your computer. I mean the kind that knocks your 17 month old out for 10 days with a fever reaching to 103. For all of you that knew Arden has been sick, it seems that today is a turn around day for her. She is actually eating, walking on her own and interested in playing. Nothing to make you grateful for a healthy, happy child than 10 days of a very sick kid.

Ride 'Em Cowgirl

She loves animals in all shapes and sizes. She loves putting little bits of hay in her mouth. She loves running wild and free and, she loves country music. Arden is a cowgirl and had a wonderful time on Mimi and Pop Paw's farm. She has no fear and would run up to Rosy and CJ (aka: the horses) and practically climb the fencing to try to get closer to them. She walked around making kiss sounds at the little gang of chickens and two beautiful peacocks (which she can basically pronounce). She tamed Blue the friskiest cat east of the Mississippi and won the heart of the ever protective and wonderful Chihuahua, Oliva in less than 24 hours. Not to mention tirelessly calling out for Mimi, Pop Paw and Uncle Scott all day long. We had a wonderful visit to Sweetgrass Farm on Wadmalaw Island. Tore up the Charleston Children's museum and demolished some Thai food. Throughly enjoyed the Saturday morning farmer's market and partied the night away with Mimi and Pop Paw's friends. I guess we all know there is nothing like family.

Boy crazy

As my high school politics professor used to say, "You date - to rate - to mate", so, I therefore see no reason Arden shouldn't get an early start. Please meet Noah (age 14 months) and Gideon (age 4). And yes, Arden only befriends biblical boys. Noah joined his mom, dad and my dear friend Rasheeda at our home one evening for her first real play date. They shared spaghetti and fought over the last piece of garlic bread like any good couple. Gideon and Arden met at the playground and promptly hit if off while baking thousands of pretend cookies for yours truly. He called her "little chef" and I just about died.

Say what?

We discovered in reading a tiny book of "Noises" to Arden that she can make many more sounds herself than we even knew. We had no idea that she associated certain sounds with certain things, as you will see. We've been saying for many months that she understands everything but somehow every time she shows us something knew, we find it completely amazing. I am really starting to see how the first-born child personality is molded accolade by accolade. As most of you know, Kyle and I are both first borns so we can say whatever we want about it.

Hay Fever

The girls went for a tiny adventure on Saturday to Wilklow Orchards in the Hudson Valley with our church for a family ministry outing. Arden had a blast making new friends, seeing farm animals and playing in a hay stack for over 1 hour. Mommy was brought to tears only once when the bus trip up took 3 hours instead of the promised 1.5. The kind man sitting in front of us offered a chocolate covered donut as my personal peril was obvious. I declined, but unbenounced to him I had already eaten two donuts that day and would proceed to eat 3 more apple cider donuts immediately upon arrival at the orchard. Anyway, Arden loves to pick up, play in and chew on small things so a big pile of hay was the perfect spot for her. It's amazing what New Yorkers will do for a taste of country life.

Long time no post

Time flies when you forget to update a blog!

Arden is doing well - well, accept for the fact that she likes to hit, slap, pinch, and bite us now. She doesn't seem to "get" punishment yet - kind of in one ear and out the other. Hopefully memory will kick in soon so that "time outs" will register as a consequence for hurting her parents!

She's walking up a storm - almost running, and slowly emulating more words. Her favorite toy is a big red ball that Amber gave her - she loves to throw it and cary it around :)

Arden's 1st Birthday Party