Together Again

With my cousins!

SF Zoo

Last weekend I went to the San Francisco Zoo with my new friend Alyssa. We were so cute together!

Walking with our daddies.

I'm a peacock! For whatever reason, after posing in front of this sign, I burst out crying.

Watching the flamingos.

This goat nearly took my eye out...

After lunch and a trip to the petting zoo, we were clearly ready for our naps. Funny how we both started zoning out at the exact same time.

Summer Picnic

Good times were had by all last weekend at a picnic hosted by the San Mateo Mothers' Club. I got to see my friends Kira, Kyla and Alex again.

There was a bouncy house! Kyla and I were one of the first kids there, so we got to enjoy it all to ourselves for a bit.

There was also a surprise. Teacher Andy from Peninsula Music Together was there to sing songs with us. It's been over a year since I attended a Music Together class, and I loved every minute of it. I got so into it, especially when it was time to play the instruments.

Parachute time!

Dancing with scarves

My favorite part.

After some music and dancing and a trip to the playground, it was back to the bouncy house! 

Here is me, Kira, and Kyla (and some random boy) bouncing away.

We all had so much fun in there, we didn't want to leave. We ended up staying until the picnic ended and soon were the only families left. Perfect opportunity for the daddies to jump in!

And then the mommies jumped in too. 

It's hard to tell who had more fun in that bouncy house - the kids or the adults!

24 Months

Has it really been two years already? My baby has grown up!

Growth:

She is 23.5 lbs and 33 inches long. She's finally jumped to the 10th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height.  In terms of size, Kaitlyn still wears mostly 18 month clothing, and even fits into some 12 month sizes! She still has tiny baby feet with size 4 shoes and just recently graduated to size 4 diapers.

Communicating: 

Kaitlyn is such a chatterbox, although we still don't understand half the things she says. I can't tell if she's making up words, using Spanish words, or just has bad enunciation. She can string 3-4 words together (mostly nouns) to form short sentences, such as "Daddy in shower" or "Mommy in ocean" (when we were in Hawaii). Her pediatrician says it won't be long before she has a sentence explosion and starts expressing herself more clearly. 

Learning:

It amazes me how quickly Kaitlyn learns and retains information. She loves the alphabet and can sing the whole song on her own. She recognizes the letters O, X, and Y (totally random). She can count to ten, knows most of the major body parts, and can identify various shapes and colors (yellow and purple are her favorite). If you ask how old she is, she will answer dos while holding up her fingers - not that she understands the concept of age but she's probably just memorized the response. 

Eating: 

Kaitlyn has always been a picky eater, and meal times are still hit or miss. She definitely prefers carbs and fruit over protein and vegetables, and, like her parents, prefers savory foods over sweets.  Her favorite food is pizza - she can finish off an entire slice in one sitting, which is surprising considering how little she eats sometimes. Other favorite foods include mac n' cheese, noodles, and soups/stews with rice. We also haven't found a fruit she doesn't like. Foods that she refuses to eat include meats (cold cuts, chicken nuggets, hot dogs), eggs, tofu, and sweet breakfast foods (What kid doesn't like pancakes, waffles, or french toast? Ours!). 

Another favorite food of hers - ketchup (not the fries)

Potty Training Update: 

Kaitlyn casually started potty training at daycare at 20 months and now pees in the potty there almost everyday. She hasn't used her potty at home yet, although we haven't really pushed it. I'm pretty indifferent about potty training at this point. After all, it's so much more convenient to go out and about knowing she is wearing a diaper rather than worrying about her having accidents! 

Sleep: 

For the longest time, Kaitlyn's bedtime was at 7:30pm - no fussing, no middle-of-the-night wakeups, no drama - and she would sleep until 6:30am the next day. We've been pushing it back to ~8:30pm lately since it stays light outside for so long, but she still wakes up at the same time. Then just a few days ago, Kaitlyn suddenly started fighting her bedtime, doing everything she could to not be put into her crib. It was such a battle. We had to let her cry it out for up to half an hour before she finally fell asleep. It was like sleep training all over again. Hopefully it was just a short phase and it's over now. Kaitlyn naps pretty well at daycare, about 2 hours, but takes lousy naps at home. She won't nap in her room and ends up either falling asleep on our living room couch or in the carseat. 

Independence: 

She has definitely started to become more independent, and likes to try to do everything herself, including putting on her own clothes and shoes, and getting into the carseat. She insists on picking out her clothes each morning, and will refuse to wear certain items if she doesn't want to. Sometimes she even insists on wearing her pajamas to daycare. She frequently uses the word "self" and pushes our hands away if we try to help - afterwards she proudly proclaims "I did it myself!"

Terrible Twos: 

We're only about half a month in, but the twos have not been too terrible so far (*knocking on wood*). The worst tantrums that I've seen Kaitlyn throw started in recent weeks and occur when she doesn't want to get into her carseat and will do anything to not be in it. Sometimes we stand out by the car for over ten minutes trying to coax her into the carseat. I think her tantrums can be a lot worse though and wonder if it's because we spoil her. Whether it's snacks or the iPad or wanting to be picked up, she almost always gets what she wants. I can't help it, I'm a softie and don't like to say no. Aside from that, Kaitlyn is pretty well behaved and we haven't had the need to discipline her or put her in time-outs (yet).

Other Developments:

Two years has marked a turning point as we finally decided to wean her off her pacifiers this month. Kaitlyn has always depended on her pacis, especially to fall asleep and during car rides. We figured that now is as good a time as any, since she's free of distraction from any other transitions (potty training, toddler bed, preschool). It hasn't been an easy process and it was hard to be consistent, but she's almost completely weaned.

Personality: 

Kaitlyn has always been on the shyer side, but she warms up quickly. Although she's cautious when she first meets people, all her inhibitions go out the door when it's time to say bye-bye, even to strangers. It's pretty amusing when we walk out of a restaurant and she starts waving and saying bye-bye to every table she passes. In general, Kaitlyn is a sweet, happy girl that loves animals, singing, and dancing.

It's been an amazing two years and it gets better and better each day. The best part of my day is when we pick Kaitlyn up from daycare and she comes running full force towards me, calling "Mommy" and throwing herself into my arms for a hug. She has the brightest smile and softest cheeks, and I can't help but snuggle and hug and kiss her every chance I get.

Happy two years, Kaitlyn. I love you so much!

How to Make a Balloon Wreath

Here is a quick and easy project if you ever feel the desire to craft something!

I saw a picture of a balloon wreath on Pinterest awhile back and was looking for a good reason to make one. Kaitlyn's birthday party was a perfect excuse! This project was so simple and only took me a little over two hours. If you do a Google search on balloon wreaths you will find a million tutorials out there, but since I took pictures along the way I decided to write one myself.

You just need three items: a straw wreath (I used an 18"); floral pins; and a ton of balloons (like 250+).

Here is the wreath I used, bought from Michael's (and a slice of birthday cake). All of the tutorials I read say to keep the plastic wrap on it, so the straw doesn't start falling out.

I bought bags of balloons from Party City and Target. I probably spent about $40 on balloons - I'm sure it can be a lot cheaper but I was particular about the colors.

Ready to start pinning. It's easy. Just stick a pin through a balloon, then stick it into the wreath. Repeat about 250 times. I spaced each balloon about 1 inch apart (you can always go back later and add more balloons to fill any gaps).

Alternatively, you can use these U-shaped floral pins and fold the balloon under the pin. I meant to do this, but was only able to find one pack of 50 at Jo-Ann. These pins take a bit more effort to stick into the wreath, but the benefit is that you're not poking any holes in the balloons, so you can re-use them if you ever needed to.

Work your way around the balloon. You only need to worry about covering the front and sides of the wreath, since no one will see the back side. Every now and then I stopped to fluff up the balloons to cover any gaps and hide the pinheads, or to stick in additional balloons to fill the gaps.

Halfway done!

And the finished product. I strung some ribbon through the wreath to hang a sign, then used one of those U-shaped floral pins to hang the wreath on a nail in the tree.

I told you it was easy. Look out for this balloon wreath at future birthday parties!

My 2nd Birthday Party

Last weekend we celebrated my 2nd birthday at Washington Park. I had so much fun!  It's no surprise that we ended up with an Elmo theme for the party, since I love him so much (and Dora was too girly for a theme). 

A very nice balloon lady came and made balloon figures for everyone. She made me a special Elmo hat, as well as a Dora balloon figure!

We munched on quesadillas and rice and beans (one of my favorite meals, thanks to attending a Spanish-speaking daycare), while the parents enjoyed a taco bar and pineapple agua fresca from La Corneta Taqueria. Yummy! 

We had a surprise guest!

Of course, I totally knew who was inside that costume. I was SO HAPPY to see "Elmo Daddy*" and show him off to all my friends. Kids from the nearby playground even came running over to meet him.

Mommy is kicking herself now because she totally forgot to take a group photo of me and all my friends before we dug into the cupcakes. Oops.

Cupcakes from Teacake Bake Shop

I licked off all the frosting and left the cupcake!

I'm very fortunate to have lots of toys at home so in lieu of gifts, we had a book exchange. Each family brought a new wrapped book for the exchange and at the end of the party, each child got to pick a gift to take home. Again, Mommy forgot to take a picture, but you can see part of the collection of books below.

It was a fun morning celebrating with friends and family. Hopefully one of these days Elmo Daddy will come back for a visit!

* About Elmo Daddy: I'm normally very scared of giant walking characters, but Daddy had a chance to borrow this awesome Elmo costume from his coworker. Of course when he brought it home, I wanted nothing to do with it. Mommy and Daddy had to keep the giant head and costume in our living room for the whole week so I could get used to seeing and touching it, and every day Daddy put on a different part of the costume while we played. It totally worked, and I ran up to Elmo with open arms at my party. Now all Daddy needs is an Easter Bunny costume...