Ice Skating!

For the first time, our mall has installed an ice skating rink outdoors. The girls and I were excited about this, especially Cora, our skating queen.

As a last hurrah at home before heading to the UK for Christmas, we took the girls on Monday night.

It also served as a reward for Cora for her improved behavior. We've had a up-and-down few weeks with her lately, with too much attitude and not enough cooperation.

We made it clear that she needed to demonstrate improvement to go skating before Christmas, and she rose to the occasion.

We had an enjoyable couple of hours on Monday night, though it was very expensive, at nearly $40 for the three of us. Stace stayed on the sidelines, with the camera.

Cora is a proficient skater, and Violet is learning. I held her arm much of the time, because we didn't want to spend another $5 to rent a bar for her to hold. It was slow-going, with quite a bit of falling.

When a Men At Work hit came on the loudspeakers, I couldn't help but laugh at the irony: "Ain't nothing gonna break my stride, nobody's gonna slow me down, oh no, I've got to keep on moving."

Haircuts all around

It seemed innocent enough.

Neighbor boy Chris comes in Monday, looking for scissors for Cora. Cora often uses scissors in her craft/art/fairy/leprechaun projects, so I don't give it a second thought.

Except this time, a few minutes later, Cora comes in looking like this:

 She had gotten gum in her hair, thought I'd be mad, and chose to take care of it herself.

Wowzers.

 Thankfully, our neighbor-the-hairdresser was home, and she saved the day. 

You can see that Cora was thrilled to be getting a bob. But, with the amount she had cut, there really was no other solution.

 The irony is, I'd been talking to Cora for several days about taking her in for a haircut. Her bangs were in her eyes again, and with the length, it was a pain to brush through. I'd been thinking several inches off, but long enough for pony tails.

 

For now, the pony tails will have to wait. 

But, I truly think Cora is rocking the short bob! It's super cute. It's a huge change, since she's had long hair since she was a toddler! But so far, she's raking in compliments. She's getting used to it, and doesn't hate it.

While we were at it, and since Julie had a bit of time, she also cut my hair - shoulder-length, in support of Cora - and gave Violet her first-ever trim.

 Sorry the photo's blurry. Violet's hair looks adorable too, and so far it seems like the curl will stay, and maybe even curl more with some of the weight gone. So, it wasn't exactly in my afternoon's plan, but Monday ended up being haircut day for us girls, right in our own living room. I love our neighbors!

Silly girls!

A few funny things Cora and Violet have done lately:

Photo one - a little mouse got into my cheese after I got it home, before I got it into the drawer!
Violet is a cheese fan. I'm glad about this, since she won't drink other types of milk even though we offer them. She can say "cheese," too.

Photo two - Cora had earned a movie, and she watched part of it while having her lunch Tuesday. I set up a towel, upon which Violet immediately sat down, and then looked expectantly up at Cora with her mouth open. Where did she learn this?

Photo three - nothing needs to be written here.

Photo four - The movie Cora watched Tuesday, and over the weekend for family movie night, was Tarzan. On Thursday, toward the end of Cora's nap/rest time, she frantically called me to her room.
"I broke my curtain!" she was shouting.
Sure enough.
She said she was hanging on to her curtain, swinging down from her low bookcase.
When I asked about Tarzan, she said yes, she was trying to swing like him. It might be hard to see in the photo, but the 2-inch-thick wooden rod was shattered, split in two.

Lucky for Cora, we had another white wooden rod in the garage, all brought over from the condo. Stace had a stern talk with Cora, and she was very apologetic. Never would have thought I needed to tell Cora not to jump off her bookcase, hanging from her curtain.

Our girl

Cora, Cora, Cora.

How your Daddy and I do love you! Your zeal for life, your laugh, your silly dancing, your love for us and for your sister. And, these days, for that orange plastic fish.

A few details from Cora's first month of being 4...

She was looking through one of her High Five magazines (the younger version of Highlights) and spotted a recipe for a silly apple smile, using apple slices for the lips and mini marshmallows for the teeth, held in with cream cheese.

She had such fun helping make them. She loves working in the kitchen, and I really enjoy having her help.

She likes to have our attention as she does "amazing" things, like jumping and spinning at the same time: "Look! Watch! I can do a cool trick!"

Cora also loves Play-Doh and coloring. In recent months, her coloring has transitioned from scribbling to actually coloring, choosing the colors and staying within the lines.

The picture with the flowered chair struck me and Stace - it's only maybe 2 1/2 inches high, so she was pretty detail-oriented to use a different color for the roses. She made the shamrock/heart project in Terrific Tots yesterday, and I was in class to help out. Most of the kids still colored very hard, but Cora was coloring gently, trying to color the hearts nicely and evenly.

She loves rainbows, and they are a frequent subject for her art projects. At Stroller Strides recently, we were on one end of the long line of moms and babies, and Cora noticed all the bright solid color shirts the moms were wearing: "Look! You all look like a rainbow!"
Cora also is more interested in letters and their sounds, and I know she will be reading sometime this year. She can sound out some simple words, with help.

She likes to sing, especially the songs on a CD by Jess Penner, a young songstress who performed on a Friday night at our church coffeehouse. It's happy, upbeat pop music, and we're happy to hear Cora singing along. I've got to get some video of it!
Cora's voice is still young and cute. She says "valilla" for vanilla, "naplin" for napkin, and "Nemo Finding" for "Finding Nemo."

Speaking of Nemo, Cora is well into a bandaid phase these days, and yesterday Nemo needed a bandaid for his fin, because he was hurt, too. And about those bandaids - Cora seems to hurt herself 10 times a day, and usually uses the words "straight into" when she describes what happened. ("I banged my arm straight into the chair!" I knocked my head straight into the corner!") I'm working with her on only complaining/CRYING when she's actually hurt...

And we have noticed that when she's in trouble, and we're disciplining her, she suddenly winds up banging her elbow, or stubbing her toe, etc. She'll also start crying, "I want Mummy! I want Mummy!" when I'm the one upset with her, or "I want Daddy!" when Stace is not happy with her. I think she wants us to hug her and forget about what she did or didn't do!
And over the last few days, she's said to us, "I'm scared of you!" when we're disciplining her. As if that will make us give up and allow her to misbehave.

Lastly, we've had to have a few talks with Cora about not rolling her eyes. The worst example came the day our cabinets arrived. Stace encouraged Cora to come into the garage to see them, and help him with sorting out the boxes. When she opened the garage door, Stace said something happy to her about the cabinets. Not impressed, Cora actually rolled her eyes at him. Whoa. Stace came down on her hard for that one, appropriately hard. We haven't had eye-rolling since.

All that said, Cora's been very good the past couple of days. Fun, funny, imaginative, helpful. As I said, we love her and are so thankful God saw us fit to parent her! He will never give us more than we can handle, right?!

4-year well check

Cora went to her 4-year well check Thursday afternoon, and overall it went better than I had expected. I had been nervous because Cora knows about shots now, but when I told her about the appointment - on the way there - she wasn't upset.

She is 32 pounds - 25th percentile - and 38.5 inches, also 25th percentile.

Cora cooperated through the blood pressure check, and her blood pressure is good.

Cora also liked the hearing test, likening it to a game.

The cooperation came to a screeching halt when she was asked to raise the eye cover up and "read" the pictures on the eye chart. For whatever reason, she did not want to do this. Stace, the nurse and I all tried to convince her, persuade her, push her into doing it. Stace and I both took turns reading the chart holding the shield up over our eyes. I gave her a big hug (she asks for these when she is in trouble/not wanting to do what she's told).

Finally, she agreed to cooperate, and then would tell us the symbols in a voice barely over a whisper. It was pretty aggravating. (Excuse the blurry photo, but Stace has Violet in his arms and was already quite annoyed at this point in the visit.)
Dr. Brockett knows Cora well, of course. She calls her "feisty," and that is a great word for Cora. As she kept talking to Cora throughout the visit, Cora warmed up to her, and cooperated later with the physical examination.

Cora got just one shot, the MMR, and with me holding her arms firmly down, we survived. It would have been a lot worse had she needed a second or third jab, as the first one kind of took her by surprise and she wasn't in full freak-out mode when the nurse came in with the needle.

We had discussed vaccines in the morning, so she understands the "why," but obviously they still sting!

We went out to dinner after the doctor's, and here Cora is playing doctor by listening to Daddy's heartbeat with her chopstick.

As another post-doctor treat, we went to Target so Cora could pick out something fun with the gift card from Aunt Patty and Uncle Bill. She looked over just about every single toy in the store before deciding upon the Play-Doh cake-making station. Fitting, since she always makes cupcakes with Aunt Patty. We got it out today and Cora really loved it.

As a final treat, Cora got an icee as we left, for her bessert. Hence the red mouth/pink teeth in the photo! I'm hoping that next year, when it comes time for her checkup (and shots), Cora remembers the fun we had afterward!

Big Match, Big Fit

The World Cup.
The best of the best footballers, representing their nations on the biggest stage of them all.

What better way to start it off in our house than with England and the United States taking on each other in their opening games?

Stace, of course, has been looking forward to this with keen anticipation for months. We redid our living room for it, for heaven's sake!

Stace wore his new official England shirt, and Cora wore a "future England star" shirt. Violet and I sported the Stars and Stripes. My dad, disappointingly, did not come dressed in American clothes, but he did bring Bass ale, so we forgave him.
Wait. Bass is English. Hmmmm...

The end result was a 1-1 draw, a win in effect for the Americans and a frustrating day for the English, who thought they should have handled the U.S. handily. Stace's Nan was the only one of us to correctly predict the final score, so good job, Mary!

Some gems (Stace-isms?) from my poor, anxiety-ridden husband: "Bloody hell, Rooney! You might as well have flippin' Mickey Rooney out there! Rooney's crap."
Then, we heard him shout, "C'mon, Lampard! This is the WORLD CUP, not flippin' Stoke! And I mean Stoke sub Hamdon, not Stoke on Trent!"
And after the game, to the former U.S. player-turned commentator: "Shut up, Alexi, you turd."

Hopefully both teams will advance out of their group and give it a good run.

Later in the day, we thought it would be a nice treat to walk to Starbucks for a drink. We took the long way, through the paseos by way of Meadows Park, where Cora played a bit.

When we reached Granary Square, I wanted to stop into CVS to get an ice cream (free after coupon!) as a treat for Cora and me to share. Cora didn't understand, and started to complain. I said I was getting us a treat, which quieted her for a bit, but then she whined and fussed when Stace asked her to leave the candy section and stand with him while I checked out.

The crying continued outside, and reached the point where we decided Cora didn't deserve any sort of treat - we were going home. THEN the waterworks started, and the hysteria. Whoa, Nellie.

She continued crying the entire walk home. It was pretty impressive, actually.
This came after a week in which she was a really good girl, but I guess we all have our bad days. I was very impressed with Stace's calm demeanor during the entire episode, as was the CVS manager. When Stace took Cora outside, the manager came up to me to thank me and compliment us/Stace on how we handled her; he said that most parents he sees let their kids run around the store and act inappropriately. I was so pleased; you sure don't expect to get compliments when your kid's throwing a major tantrum!

All was better when Stace put Cora to bed; while he read her a story they were laughing and joking together once again.

Long-winded musings on Cora Rose

An update on Cora, at 2 3/4...

Since this blog functions as our family journal, which I plan to print and keep, please indulge me as I recount some minute details on our Cora Rose.

In so many ways, we have an easy, easy time with our Cora. She eats well, sleeps well, naps well, talks well, uses the toilet, has friends, loves her family and her cat, and is very healthy, smart and obedient to her teachers.

She seems very excited about our coming baby, giving "Ducky" (via my belly) unsolicited kisses, and often talking about the baby on her own. Cora has a zeal for life - she loves dancing and singing, making up her own songs.

Our main problem at this stage is Cora's strong will. We try to be very consistent with our discipline, which tends toward the strict because we learned a while ago that she doesn't respond well to angry looks, stern words or simple time-outs. Cora now will respond appropriately when we ask her who's in charge ("Mummy and Daddy"), and a lot of the time, she does listen and obey.

But then, there are those other times! It can be very, very frustrating. At times she simply refuses to do what she's told, and would rather have lots of discipline, lots of corner time, lots of time alone in a dark, empty crib. During these times, she clearly does not accept our authority, which is maddening. We do know it's part of her development, and we just need to stay consistent, and that some day she will be a world-changer with her strength!

Some Coraisms lately: "I'm a girl. Johnny's a boy. Johnny's a big-girl boy." And, explaining why she rejected a particular dress for church: "Cuz... Cuz... it doesn't match my legs."
And whenever we drive past Ave and Johnny's house - which happens each and every time we leave or return to our home - Cora shouts, "Oooh, there's Ave's house!" She says it with the same thrilled and surprised inflection in her voice, like maybe the house would have moved while we weren't watching it.

Also, Cora continues to mix up her tenses, saying things like, "When I was older, I used to do that." She also uses that basic framework with her vivid imagination: "When I was Jonah, I was in the water and the fish, too." Or, "When I was Rabbit, I used to push Pooh Bear through the hole!"

Cora really likes Pooh Bear now. Lately, though she still loves playing with her trains, she asks for her Pooh Bear videos more often than her Thomas DVDs. I pointed out to Cora that her curtain, which my friend Elisabeth made as a baby gift, have little Pooh honey pots on them. The other day, during her nap, Cora shouted out, very excitedly, "Mummy!!! Mummy!!!! My pillow has Winnie the Pooh honey pots, too!!!!"
Her favorite ride at Disneyland, where Grandma and Grandpa have taken Cora a few times in recent months, is of course the Pooh Bear ride, and she can describe it in detail.

Cora likes hiding - nearly every time I get her out of bed, she hides under her blankie. When she hears Stace coming home, she'll often say, "Oh! Daddy's home, I've gotta hide!" She and Stace will play hide and seek in the house, and Cora is slowly catching on to the idea - that it's better to not shout your location when the seeker comes down the hall, for example.

Lastly, Cora likes sharing her love. She now often tells us she loves us, "soooo much!" and covers my face with kisses. Can't beat that!

Nanny and Pop are here!

It's been great showing them our house, since this is their first trip since last August, when they helped us pack up to move out of our condo. They arrived Thursday night and Cora had fun taking them to the park Friday morning, and the pool Friday evening.

I enjoyed going to Stroller Strides sans stroller Friday - "enjoyed," since Cora was at her worst during Thursday's class, spending much of the time crying and screaming. Uggh.

It's been a rough week with her - I'm afraid we're hitting that 2 1/2 thing I hear about, after she's been relatively pleasant and happy the last six months.

On the bright side, she is generally easygoing at home, and plays really well by herself. So, as long as we don't go into public, I should hopefully avoid future tantrums and screaming fits.

Friends and family, feel free to visit me. At my house. During naptime, when Cora won't be out to scream at you.

Anyway, prior to Nanny and Pop's arrival, we visited our friend Melanie on Tuesday and went to IKEA. Cora had fun checking out the little kids' furniture - she kept referring to the bedroom set here as "hers."
And, after we got home and she woke up in her crib from her nap, she said the following to me: "Mummy, look (motioning to the bars). I can't get out of this crib by myself. Maybe we go to ... to .. that mall and buy a new bed, and say, 'Bye bye, crib' (waving at the bars). Maybe we get Cora one of those beds."
UH OH.
She hasn't mentioned it since. But I can see a new bedroom set being a nice reward for Cora once she's potty trained.

Speaking of that, not much to report - still naked at home, with Cora using her potty most of the time. (Most being the operative word.) The other night she asked to wear panties on a short trip to the drugstore, and I thought it would be a good test, especially as I already needed to wash her car seat cover after a juice spill that morning. Thankfully, I was prepared with a diaper and skirt, as she wet herself on the 5-minute drive from home (and then insisted she hadn't).

The photo of the coke can is an object lesson in how hot it's been the last few weeks, with temps above 100, and even 105, for many days. That can of soda had been in my car as my emergency drink. The good news is, a $50 wash and shampoo at Valencia Car Wash did absolute wonders for my entire interior, even the spills up front that I can't blame on Cora. Should have done it years ago!

Thankfully, it's cooled off a bit, and is only reaching the low 90s at the moment.

And the final photo is from Cora relaxing after church Sunday, while I cleaned up and Stace worked on the tiling. Doesn't she look cozy while she watches her Thomas DVD?

Nice Cora, and naughty Cora

Cora has been very good through Stroller Strides lately.

It's something we moms of toddlers talk about, as sometimes the older ones no longer want to stay in the stroller while we exercise, and letting them get out to play can lead to a big fight to get back in the stroller.

So, I'm happy to report that Cora has been fine, and likes to try to do the exercises with us, in her stroller. Here, she is working on the bicep curls we do with our bands.

Next, some photos from our My Buddy and Me class Wednesday. Cora took Minnie with us; she carries her and Pooh Bear around the house, talking to them. Cora will change Minnie's diaper, and put her on the potty, talking her through the process. Then she will fly Minnie around the rooom ("Minnie's flying! Minnie has wings! Minnie is in the sky!"), or put her night night with a blanket. They are good friends.
Speaking of Cora's other best friend, she has taken to calling Somer "Summy" for short - it's adorable.

Cora was an angel through much of class, and something else for the other parts. I had to take her to the corner twice, for kicking. (Not hard enough to cause pain, but obviously we can't have our sweetie-pie kicking other moms in the class or children on the playground.)

I've spent much of this week trying to get the house back together and neat. Cora has been great around the house, playing happily with all the toys she's found again now that they've been cleaned and returned. She's also an avid color-er, and when I realize she's been quiet a while, I often find her contentedly coloring away in a coloring book. It's great!

Nature Center

Some pictures from our weekend fun of celebrating Stacey's birthday and Father's Day!
We had more of a "fun" day on Saturday, when we spent the morning at Placerita Canyon Nature Center (where we had Cora's first birthday gathering). The nature center had been closed for a refurbishment for over a year, and Saturday hosted a big grand reopening event.

Cora panned for gold (see her official certificate, as she holds the "gold" in the baggie). She also got to feel various animal pelts from a Native American display, and color, and check out live lizards and birds of prey.

On Saturday night, we had dinner out with my parents, to celebrate the occasions and hear about their recent trip to Italy. They had a great time, of course! Who wouldn't, in Italy?

Stace enjoyed speaking to his parents, Dean and Jen and Nan on the web cam on Sunday. It was really nice seeing them all together, and getting caught up. Cora entertained everyone by playing in her box castle (see photo - complete with curtain door!).

Later, we worked in the yard and then picked out new paint for the spare bathroom, kind of a sage green that we think will go really nicely with the tile we've chosen. And then we got ice cream, and later ate dinner on our new patio table! We were thrilled to find a great price on a tile-top table and chairs at JC Penney on Friday night. I need to take some photos, but you can see the model here.

Cora's favorite game at the moment involves pretending to bring us different sorts of food. She'll ask what you want, and then go several steps away, get it, and bring it back. She usually offers me coffee; she knows her mummy!

She enjoys this game at home, in the back yard, and at the playground, where she will bring us wood chips or sand as the "food." She has a microwave, and she will put the food in the microwave (the slide, if we're in the backyard), and push the buttons, and then warn us that the food is really hot. She speaks throughout the game; she's a total chatterbox these days.

For some reason, she always specifies that she is getting us clean food: "Daddy, do you want some food? I go get some clean food for you."

Cora and Stace have been taking a swimming lessons this week and last week. It's a two-week course, a half-hour three days each week. Cora loves it, and is doing quite good with blowing bubbles, going underwater, and using her arms and legs. (The last photo of our bathing beauty is from her first dip of the year, in the hotel swimming pool.)

And now, time for a couple of stories.
We are cracking down on Cora saying "Noooo!" to Stace (and other adults, but particularly Daddy) when it's not appropriate.
For example, when Dad comes home and says, "Hello, Cora," Cora should not shout "no" at him. And, if Stace sings a silly song or dances a silly dance, or tries to kiss her on the top of the head, no more "no!!!"
We've told her that it is OK for her to say, "That's silly, Daddy," when he does something silly, and she has started saying that new phrase.
So, cut to Sunday afternoon, when Stace is greeting her after her nap, on his own birthday. He says to her, "Hello!" and she doesn't really respond. He tells her that she could say. in response, "Hello, Daddy. Happy Birthday."
So he tries again: "Hello, Cora!"
Now Cora looks at him and yells, "That's silly!!!"

He reiterates that she could say hello, but she insists on only greeting him with "That's silly."

And my story. Sometimes I will firmly tell Cora to "stop it." And sometimes, she will turn and say the same words back to me. So I, with more firmness, tell her that she is not to speak to me that way, that she is to treat me respectfully.
So a couple of times in the past week, I tell her to stop it - once was when she was kicking her legs during a diaper change. She then said, "Stop it. (pause) Cora. Stop it, Cora. I say, 'Stop it Cora,' Mummy. I say, 'Stop it Cora.' "
She is too smart!
And along that line, I was sad to walk into the bathroom the other day to find her quickly shutting my drawer. She was trying to hide the fact that she had her finger in my hand cream. It's not exactly a big no-no, as I will share it with her, but normally I want her to ask me first. It was sad to see her trying to hide something for the first time.