Here are some photos from our return trip to the snow on Saturday. This time, we had Grandma and Grandpa's snow toys, which worked a bit better than the boogie board.
There was a lot more, and a lot fresher, snow this time around, which made the walking more fun but also slowed down the sledding ... making it perfect for Cora to go down
on her own.
It was truly a moment for me, watching my baby seem to turn into a little girl right before my eyes! The next day, at church we said "bye bye" to the 0-24 months nursery room and marched into the two-year-olds' room. Watching her take her place around the circle for story time, I cried.
Anyway, back to the fearless Cora - she loved sledding on her own, and kept asking for more. She also now loves sliding down slides at the park, and even wants to go down the "big kid" slides, as long as she is certain Mummy is at the bottom waiting to scoop her up.
And yet... she is entering a new phase of being scared of lots of things. For three or four nights in the last week, she cried and cried after we left the room. She says she is scared of bees, and of the MGM lion that roars on our DVDs. She would immediately quiet down when I would go in, but get hysterical when I would leave again.
When I'd go in, the conversation would go like this:
Cora, trying to not cry: Dora scared bees. No bees in here?
Mum: No, Cora, there are no bees in here.
Cora: Bees outside?
Mum: Yes, there are bees outside, but they are not in your room.
Cora: Bees in playroom?
Mum: No, there are no bees in your playroom.
Cora: Bees make honey? ("uhh-ney?") Dora like honey?
Mum: Yes, Cora, bees make honey! (big smile) You like honey!
Cora: Scared roar. Scared roar T.V.
For the past three nights we've developed a new strategy, which seems to be working. After putting her down, I sit on her floor in the near-dark, and fold clothes or do something else silently, and after 5-15 minutes, she is just about asleep. When I leave, she'll wish me a good night and go to sleep. However, last night, at about 2:15 in the morning she woke us up, saying she was scared of her nightlight. (It's
this one, which is sweet and casts a perfect amount of light. I hope she gets over this fear quickly!)
After the third night of her tears and fears, I went online and found that it's a normal developmental stage for ages 2 through 8. Hey, she's right on cue then! Turn two, turn scared! Poor kid. She brings up bees, and the roars on T.V., at random times in the day, but the tears don't come out until she's trying to go to sleep. And in case you're wondering, no, she's never been stung that I know of. I have no idea where this is coming from!
Perhaps because of the "roar T.V.," Cora is fearful of nearly all of our DVDs. At least she's not constantly asking to watch it, right? The Elmo's World DVDs are very scary now, because of the Mr. Noodle character, so she won't watch them at all. Our Baby Einstein DVDs are scary too - one scene has a finger puppet horse that she really is frightened of. (???) Interesting.
I normally don't let a whole week go by without blogging, but we've been too busy having fun with Dean and Jenny! It's great having an excuse to take a week off from normal life to just have fun around L.A. and SClarita. Above, Cora loved seeing Universal CityWalk for the "first" time, at least for the first time since she's old enough to be really aware of her surroundings.
Cora loved the lights, the sights, and dancing to the piped-in rock music. We managed this excursion with no stroller, only monkey on her back, and all went well. Dean and Jenny spent Thursday at Universal Studios, while Stace worked and Cora and I rested at home. We met them in the evening for dinner and a walk around.
Below, my parents took Cora on Wednesday evening and the four adults went out for a meal.
Later Wednesday evening, Cora enjoyed the chocolate strawberries my mom dipped for us. Yum!
Some bouncing time in the spare room. Cora will miss having the guest bed out for bouncing, and she'll definitely miss having Dean and Jenny here to play with.
Below, Jen and I were lucky enough to spend much of Wednesday at Glen Ivy Hot Springs, the day spa in Corona. We had a great time, and the weather really spoiled us - super warm but not too hot. Then it was home for our meal out - I was Cora-less nearly all day, such a weird feeling! Uncle Dean and Auntie Melanie had Cora duty for the day, and did a great job. It's nice that she's old enough to really enjoy her time with people who love her other than me, and not cry about my absence.
The photos below are from Monday, when we went out to visit the Americana shopping center in Glendale for a few hours.
It was another beautiful Southern California day, and we had our beautiful Southern California two-year-old with us...
...she is too cool for words.
After our big outing to Disneyland on Saturday, we stayed around the house on Sunday, with Stace and Dean working on some more house projects. More on that in a future blog posting. So on Monday, we wanted to make sure to do something outdoors to enjoy the sun.
On Tuesday, when Stace went back to work, we went out to Malibu for the afternoon. Again, we're really loving Cora's ability to enjoy these sorts of things more. She was excited about seeing the water while we were driving down, and when we got to the newly reopened Malibu Pier, she kept talking about getting in the water. After lunch on the pier, directly over the water (gorgeous!), she got her chance. The rest of the day, she kept telling us how the water was cold, and she ran away.
On another afternoon, we all went to the park for tennis, football (soccer) and some sliding on the slides. Cora got a kick out of trying to drink out of the fountain.
And, we simply enjoyed the sunshine, having as many meals outside as practical.
We said our sad good-byes at the airport Friday evening, and can't wait to see them again when we return to England in May. If only there were a way to bring England and California a lot closer together!
