Friday Fun

Cora attended her final "My Buddy and Me" class on Friday. I say "final" because with the session ending, she has now completed one year in the program, and since she is three, she'll be moving up into the city's co-op preschool.

The top photo shows Cora waving "Hello" to Miss Diane. Each class, after free play, Miss Diane says hello to each child by name at the start of circle time. When Cora started the class, sometimes she'd say hello, but often she would turn her body into mine to hide. For months though, she's been happily and confidently waving and saying hello back.

Cora has rushed to sit right next to Miss Diane for the past several weeks, and this past week, our friend Maya sat on the teacher's other side. Cora also has been rushing to get one of the four colored plastic chairs to sit in. Diane told me this is her only class in which the kids worry about sitting in chairs during circle time, and she told me it's not allowed in the preschool program.
It has been a bit of a problem at times; when Cora was too late to get one of those particular four chairs, we've had some tantrums and tears.

Cora also always has the first suggestion when Miss Diane asks what song the class should start out singing (ABCs), and she is happy to participate in most of the songs (though not Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, for whatever reason).

Friday's class had an Easter theme, with a Bunny book and art projects with bunnies and Easter baskets.

Now, we'll have a week break from the city classes, and then Cora will start Terrific Tots, which is for 3- and 4-year-olds. It will be two hours, twice a week, and the parents must help a few times per session. It will be strange to drop her off, though I am hoping to get some work in on some projects during the (short) alone time.

On Friday evening, we had a great meal at our friends Colleen and Rigo's home. Colleen is my MOPS table leader this year, and we've become friends. She's also expecting a little baby girl, in early May. Lucas is 4, and he and Cora had a fantastic time playing together. It was a very nice evening.

A full Thursday

Thursday is normally a fairly low-key, unscheduled day for us, but that wasn't the case this week.

Cora was way overdue for a haircut (see first photo) so after breakfast and a bit of house-straightening, we headed over to the kids' haircut place in Newhall.

I asked the stylist to cut her bangs a bit shorter than last time, since they grow so very, very fast and don't feel confident in my bang-cutting ability (other than my own).

Cora wasn't all that friendly to the stylist, even though she is super and we've seen her quite a few times now. Then we went to the park for a MOPS play date, and Cora was very unhappy that I refused to stand in the hot sun and push her on the swings. So, we didn't stay long. It was a good excuse to get home and napping, because we had a big afternoon planned.

Cora had to get up early from nap to get ready for the hospital's Tyke Hike sibling class, a free class to help little ones learn how to hold and care for their new siblings. Getting up early is not her strong suit (takes after mom there) so it took her a while to warm up, but she ended up enjoying the class a lot.

Cora and a handful of others watched a video about new babies (NOT on the birth process!) and then learned how to scrub their hands, hold a baby, and diaper a baby.
The class is normally longer, with a tour of the maternity unit, but because of the H1N1 virus, hospitals in the area aren't letting children into the wards at all. I'm holding out hope that the restriction will be lifted before Duckie makes her entrance. We'll see. If not, I'll be able to go downstairs to visit Cora, but she won't be able to meet her sister until we go home.

After the class, Cora went to play at Grandma and Grandpa's house while Stace and I had our tax appointment. Then, we went to their house to celebrate Grandpa and Auntie Mel's birthdays.

Another day at the farm

On Monday we took our annual MOPS trip to the strawberry patch at Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark. It was a gorgeous day, and this year we went with Elissa and Harvey, for what could be the last time for a while, since neither of us has a car big enough for two adults and three car seats!
At the farm, we also played with Genia, Ave, Johnny and Owen.

This early in the season, we had to search a bit for ripe berries, but Cora and I did find enough to fill our containers.

I'm glad the trip was planned for mid-March and not much later in the spring; I'm not sure I would have been up for such a trip any later! I'm definitely feeling very pregnant these days.

We had our lunch in the sand box area at the farm, and on our way out, I thought it would be nice to get a picture of me and Cora with our berries, and my belly.

Cora did not really agree. This one picture of us smiling was the second-to-the-last photo in a string of 15 photos Elissa took, trying to get one decent one. I don't know why Cora was suddenly so uncooperative, but Elissa and I both had to laugh about it.

Just for fun, and for my own memory's sake, I'm including some of the less-desirable photos here too.

After the farm, we went to Fresh and Easy market, our little tradition. I was happy to find not only the English back bacon Stace loves, but a number of other British products.

Stace had just run out of Marmite over the weekend, so he was thrilled when he came home to find a new jar. He had figured he'd have to wait until his parents come out in May to bring him some. I also bought Bisto gravy granules, something else we don't stock here except for at import stores.

Stace used the old line when he came home, that the way to an Englishman's heart is through his stomach.

Playing

Cora recently earned five stickers on her behavior chart, so her reward was a trip to Toys R Us to spend one of the gift cards she received for her birthday.

She selected this shopping cart (or trolley), which came with pretend boxes of food, to go along with her new kitchen. She helped Stace put it together, and they then set up the food in a living room grocery shop.

When Cora was putting her Duckie doll (all her dolls are now named "Duckie") in the cart, she said emphatically, "I need some stuff. I need some coupons."
She's learning by example! So I cut out some coupons for her, and she bought some food from shopkeeper Dad with some pennies.

Another game Cora and Stace have been playing is to pretend they are characters from the Jungle Book. Cora says she's Mowgli, and Stace is Baloo the Bear (or "blue," in Cora-speak). It's really sweet.

Cora still enjoys playing with her cars, from the movie Cars. Sometimes she treats them almost like dolls, cuddling them to her chest and saying that she's keeping them warm and cozy. She likes to designate various boxes or tiny areas as garages for the cars to park in, and I've heard her say many times now, "Mummy, where is Lightning's Buh-drage?"
It's pretty cute how she pronounces the word. She also says "Beeeeee-licious!" when she likes what she's eating, and she says that the noise Somer makes (constantly) is "bee-now."

Eye Appointment

Cora is quickly approaching a sort of milestone that is a bit strange for me, and more so, I suppose, for my parents. I was 3 years, 2 months old when I had the accident that took the sight from my right eye.

Cora is 3 years, 1 month, and on Monday, I took her with me to get my prosthesis cleaned by Beverly, the ocularist I've been seeing since my accident.

It is a little weird, staring into her beautiful, big brown eyes, thinking of what my parents went through. But, God is good and He protected me in so many ways; now, most people I meet say they would have no idea I wear a prosthesis.

Beverly's daughter and 18-month-old granddaughter stopped in for a visit, too.

After my appointment, Cora and I walked down Larchmont (quite a trendy part of L.A., next to million-dollar homes in Hancock Park) and got lunch and Pinkberry frozen yogurt. It was a fun afternoon.

Cora's nap schedule was thrown off Monday, and she's got another cold, so she's been a little cranky and off the past few days.
That didn't stop us from enjoying MOPS Tuesday or library storytime and lunch at the park on Wednesday with Genia and the kiddos.

Another Working Weekend

We spent a busy weekend working around the house.

Stace, with Cora's help, painted Duckie's room a nice yellow color, just a touch more yellow than the color of Cora's first bedroom in our condo. There is a tiny bit of yellow in the girly bedding I got for the baby, and I think it will all look nice together when it's all put together.


Cora actually was very helpful. She's reaching an age where she can really help Stace with projects, and he can do some work with her around even if I'm out running errands. She listened well to Stace's instructions, and put a good amount of paint on the wall. She was very excited to be doing the job, too, and kept saying that Duckie will like her room.

The third photo shows some of her work (and remember, you can click the photo to see it in more detail). On Sunday, Stace painted the ceiling. Now, he only needs to paint the windowsills and reinstall the blinds, and we can get Cora's old furniture moved in.

On Saturday night, Stace and I had a date, and braved the rainy freeways (scary!) to go to IKEA. We bought this little cabinet we put next to Cora's bed. It's serving as a small bookcase and a nightstand, and it goes really well with her new dresser. Cora received some great books for her birthday, books with real paper pages, so I thought it would be good for her to store them in her room rather than the playroom, so her little sister will be (hopefully) less likely to get to them.

Meanwhile, I stayed busy over the weekend going through the bags of clothing we've saved. I got out the stuff the baby will need soon, went through it all, and figured out that we needed some hot weather tiny-baby things. The girls' birthdays will be just a couple of months apart, but that means Duckie will be smaller during our hot-hot-hot summer. This happened to be the weekend of a local consignment sale, so I went on Sunday when most of the items were half-price, and went a little wild. Well, wild by my standards.

I picked up 13 outfits for $18, plus a dressier dress for a July wedding for $5.

I feel a lot better having all the clothes organized! Just need to pick up a couple more under-the-bed storage boxes and it can all be neatly put away.

Parties and Pinwheels

Party time!
We celebrated Ave's 5th birthday Wednesday afternoon at the big park across McBean from our house, next to the big school Ave will be going to in the fall! (And the school Cora will attend in a couple of years!)

It was a nice, simple party; the kids had a great time and it was a gorgeous day, with big puffy clouds in a blue, blue sky.

At top, we have Genia preparing the birthday cupcake, while Ave rocks her birthday crown.

Then, Cora loving up on Owen, who will have a birthday of his own next month!

Next, photos of the kids playing some classic games, like Ring Around the Rosie, Duck-Duck-Goose and London Bridge is Falling Down.

Watching Duck-Duck-Goose was amusing. Most of the children were a bit young to grasp the directions, so they all started running around like crazy, laughing and screaming, once the "it" person tapped someone as "goose."

Genia had pinwheels for all the kids, and Cora loved hers. It was a breezy day, bad for birthday-candle-lighting, but great for spinning pinwheels.

A few recent Coraisms before I head to bed:

"I don't need my seat, I'm going to sit on the toilet like a big girl."


"I don't need tuck, I can tuck myself."
(Said before going to bed a couple of times this week, so she can sit up and play in her bed, though tonight she did ask me to tuck her in.)

"When Duckie comes out, I will share my blankie with her, and tuck her in on my big-girl bed."

Early Spring

The top photo is of Cora, the angel child, today after Stroller Strides.

We've had a couple of new mommies joining us on our walks, and Cora has taken great interest in their babies. Today, Cora entertained this sweet baby girl, and after class, was loving up on her. She used her own coat as a "blankie" and covered the baby's feet so they wouldn't be in the sun.

It was fantastic to watch, and the other moms were all commenting on how Cora will make a great big sister.

Later in the day, I took Cora with me to my OB appointment for the first time since we told her about the pregnancy, back around 11 weeks. She was very excited about hearing Duckie's heartbeat, and truly seemed to understand what she was hearing.



On Sunday night, before bed, we got out the DVDs Stace made shortly after Cora's birth. One showed me pregnant, and then hospital footage and photos (nothing graphic, don't worry!), and the other showed highlights of her first three months. Tonight, she asked to watch again the one of her in my belly. I am so excited about having her meet her baby sister!

In other news, Cora had her first dentist appointment today. It didn't go all that well, other than the good news that she did open her mouth enough for the dentist to get a good look at her teeth, and she has no cavities. She wasn't very cooperative with the tooth polishing; hopefully we'll have better luck in six months.

These tree photos were taken over the last few weeks. Our seasons are interesting; we had the liquidamber next door, with the gorgeous fall leaves still attached to the branches, just yards away from another tree in full spring glory. The flowering tree is the ornamental plum outside Cora's window, and it's beautiful right now.

Harvey's birthday

Harvey is now three, too! We celebrated at the park Sunday with his family and friends.

Cora had a great time at the party, repeating "Yippee! This is fun!" for all the activities.

We played a bit of croquet, "hiked" in the wooded area at the park's edge, and went down the big slide. And, of course, there was yummy cake and snacks.

Happy Birthday, Harvey!

It was just warm enough for Cora to wear a new outfit, a birthday present from Keith and Tracey.

Kitchen

Here are the photos of Stace and Cora putting together (and playing with) her new kitchen.
Cora loves her kitchen, especially the little cell phone that came with it. She is often talking to Kipper the dog, a character on a cute British cartoon show.
"Hello? Hello, Kipper! That's a great idea! Yeah, let's have a picnic at the park!"

As you can see, Somer had fun helping, too.
Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

(Oh, and a small thing to report - Cora now calls them "Drandma and Drandpa," an improvement over the "Dam-ma" and "Dam-pa" she had been saying. And she can say "drapes" instead of "dapes" for grapes. Her own name is still "Tora.")

Cora has been interested in, um, helping us improve ourselves lately. (Doesn't that sound better than "telling us what to do"?)

After coming home from grocery shopping the other evening, I heard her sweet voice saying, "You're a naughty mummy, you still had your shoes on," while I was taking them off.

She later told Stace, "Don't dance with the lollipop in your mouth. It's dangerous."

And later that night, while I was reading her a bedtime story, she informed me, "You can't go to bed with your earrings in. They'll break."

Cora and I are having a nice week. Monday we went to Stroller Strides, Tuesday we had MOPS, and Wednesday after Stroller Strides, we met Genia and the kids at the library for story time, before heading to the park for a picnic lunch.

The final photo here is of Stace and Cora making music together. Lately, when Stace isn't working on the house, he's playing his guitar. He's gotten pretty good, too!

Lastly, here is a little video I took a week or two ago of Cora singing the song "Just Around the Riverbend" from the movie Pocahontas. I couldn't upload it directly to the blog, so I put it up on youtube. Click here to watch it!
Poor thing, she starts to repeat, "I missed" or "messed" in the beginning. When we watched it on the computer later, she sounded just like a little adult, getting embarrassed about hearing her own recorded voice, saying she didn't like it.