40 Inches, With Boots On

That's how tall CJ is, according to this nifty gadget at the children's museum in Bellevue.

Happy Thanksgiving

Here is CJ, prepping the cash register for some serious Black Friday shopping. Thanks to Aunt A & Uncle P for hosting, cousins O and B for sharing their toys and Grandma W for putting us up.

Slave to Fashion

We usually try to buy better shoes, but Target had these sparkly silver shoes and CJ wanted them and needed something a little dressier so we picked them up. Don't think they are the best fit and she's even mentioned that they hurt her feet a little bit, but she wants to keep them and they are generally the first pair she reaches for when getting dressed. What a girl!

Reindeer, with Pacifiers

The other day, CJ and Daddy pulled the holiday lights out of the basement and they found the reindeer antlers. They used to be something we used to torture the puppies, but apparently have found a new owner. She's getting very excited for Christmas and hoping for snow. She still remembers that it snowed last year on Christmas. I haven't figured out how to tell her the likelihood of that happening again is pretty low.

Loose Lips

Don't trust her with your secrets. Tonight Grandma W called and CJ asked to say hello. Before long, she was telling her how we spent the day at the car dealer (more to come on that one) and that we got Grandma xxxx for Thanksgiving (or her birthday, which happens to fall right after Thanksgiving). Shhhhh.

Switched at Birth?

Mama REALLY thought CJ knew who Obama was. She recognizes which signs and bumper stickers are Obama. Then you have her election night efforts to stay up to see him accept the nomination. But, we happened to have the tv on this week when a news story about Diddy came on and she screamed out "Obama". Mama doesn't really see the resemblance...

Multi-Tasking

Here she is helping Mama plant paperwhite bulbs, while at the same time applying her "makeup" (chapstick).

Grilled Cheese, at last.

Tonight CJ ate half a grilled cheese sandwich. Ok, she dipped the bites in her milk first and pretty much just finished it because she knew Mama had a cinnamon applesauce waiting, but still... This means we might have a new option (besides quesadillas, pb&j's, or pizza) on the kiddie menu when we go out to eat.

Easter in November?

Last year (as in 2007), we went to the Children's Museum for Easter and CJ had a blast with all the activities and collecting Easter Eggs. They were great eggs and each was filled with stickers. We pulled out a few stickers and then put the eggs away. They made an appearance for Easter this year as a decoration, but I think she forgot that they held a treasure of stickers. The eggs went back into her closet. Today she decided to pull them out. She couldn't open them so she came into the kitchen to ask me to open one. And then one more. After a third, I told her that we were done opening them. I continued to make dinner and then realized that it had gotten too quiet. I went to her room to see where the 3 stickers had ended up and I found this scene:

She had opened every one of the eggs! I asked her to show me how and she proceded to step on a closed egg until it cracked open. I have to appreciate her resourcefulness, don't I?

Back on the Trail

We took advantage of the dry day and got Nature Girl back out to Forest Park for a late afternoon hike. This time we stuck to the road more traveled - Leif Erickson. Lots of bikes and dogs. CJ had a great time picking up rock "pennies" and "fishing" with her stick fishing pole. We enjoyed watching the mile markers and made it uphill the first mile. CJ noticed the difference and all her extra energy on the downhill back to our car.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

CJ and Mama picked up this bird feeder on Monday and CJ has been anxiously waiting to put it into service. This morning, she and Daddy hung it outside her bedroom window. We left for a while and when we came back, we found this guy "hanging around":

We watched for a while and realized that squirrels can really jump. And this guy was a pro at sliding down the pole.

My Little Helper

Mama did some raking out front today and CJ came out to "help". Luckily Mama snapped this photo quickly as CJ did about two pushes with her rake before she moved on to more important things like drawing with her chalk and dancing on the sidewalk.

Actually, CJ seems to enjoy helping around the house and was happy to help Mama and Daddy load and unload the dishwasher this week. We are happy to encourage this!

Sparkly Dough

Today CJ and Mama made homemade play dough. We used a recipe from the local science museum. CJ helped mix it up. We made half pink and half purple and even added glitter to make it sparkly.

She started out making balls and then made a person with a heart t-shirt on. She even made a pretend pizza. Her final project was a cake with blueberries on top - check out them blueberries!

St. Martin

Today we met for the "official" lantern walk with CJ's preschool, to celebrate the Feast of Saint Martin. Amazingly, it stayed dry for the whole event. The kids walked and sang, had cider and snacks and played in the playground.

Day and Night

CJ and Daddy had a big day of crafts. The primary project was to make a lantern for CJ's preschool's lantern walk.

When it was done, we took it for a trial run and CJ showed it off to her neighbor friends:


Then we took it back out later in the dark (it's really hard to take a flash photo and show the lantern light!):

Before and After

We went to the pool today. CJ had a blast. Not on the big blue slide that she usually loves, but jumping in off the edge. Over and over. First in the deep end into Daddy's arms and later into the shallow end by herself.

Here's a picture of her before we left:

And here's a picture of her after we got home - in the middle of a majorly warm, long, rare nap.

I think the pool wore her out!

Picnic Fixings

CJ wanted me to join her and some dolls for a picnic. According to CJ they had packed:

- fruit snacks
- chocolate milk
- beer
- more fruit snacks

Interesting...

Not so Happily Ever After

Tonight CJ was supposed to be performing a show for Mama and Daddy, but decided to tell us a story instead.

Once upon a time, there was a drawing board and on it there was a Monster. He was mean! And he squished me like a ball. And then pop went the balloon. The end.

U.S.A.

This morning CJ saw these U.S.A. dog scarves in the hall closet and asked when we were going to change the dog's scarves. They had been wearing the Halloween ones for a while and it isn't quite time for the holly holiday ones yet. Besides, the stars and stripes seemed appropriate - although maybe we should have pulled them out yesterday.

Politics

Tonight CJ was getting ready for bed when the news started announcing the new president. They were scanning over the crowds in Illinois and we wondered when Obama would come out to speak. CJ is either really interested in politics, or she is ready for the politics of stalling at age 3. She kept saying that she wanted to see Obama come out. We finished drying her hair, brushed her teeth and talked about going into her room to read, but she insisted she wanted to stay up to see Obama. Unfortunately, she passed out on Mama's bed about 15 minutes too early and was only able to watch McCain concede.

A Cooker

Our membership to the local science museum expires soon, so we decided to spend some time there today. CJ had a great time working puzzles, swinging (yes there was an inside swing exhibit), playing in the science playground, making a kazoo, "watering her plants", and digging in the sand. The flubber and an orbit table seemed to be her favorites.

While she was working in the sand area, CJ said she was making pies and that she wanted to be a "cooker" when she grows up. Mama said "you mean a chef?" and she said yes. Mama reminded her that just the day before she had said she wanted to be an artist. "Well, then I will be an artist and a chef!"

Cinderella

CJ found this snow princess outfit from her cousin this morning and wanted to wear it, even though it is technically two sizes too big. She had to take the skirt off when we walked the puppies because she didn't want it to get rained on. She spent a good portion of the day trying clothes on - what a girl!

Time

This morning when CJ woke up she asked what we were going to do "this weekend", rather than "today". Seems like she is getting a better sense of time.