I have a ton to blog about, but I couldn't wait on this one topic! As most of you know, I cut Cora's hair. It is easy because she has layered curls so poor cut jobs are easily camouflaged. Tonight, however, Cora thought she would take it upon herself to help Mommy out. Silly me forgot how tall Cora is now and that she can reach many places. Here's how it went down.
Cora has been watching Cinderella morning, noon, and night. Great Aunt Elsie gave her the movie and it is her current favorite. I was shocked any movie could reach the same status of Beauty and the Beast, but it has happened. I am pretty sure that Cora thinks she is actually the princesses in the various Disney movies that she watches.
Examples:
Beauty and the Beast
Carries around a chapter book just like Belle. In Cora's case, she is partial to "The Hobbit".
Accidentally drops her book in the mud and is constantly cleaning it off.
Holds on to Reggie while yelling, "Woah Boy! Easy!"
Ballroom dances with her dolls.
Wears a blanket over her head resembling a cloak. I actually made her a cloak out of pretty purple velvet and she hates it. She prefers her towels and one pink knitted blanket. :)
Cinderella
This movie is new, so I haven't made a lot of connections yet. Only one to be sure.
She sits in the mirror and brushes her hair while singing.
This brings me to today. Cora was brushing her hair and singing in the bathroom. Lee and I sat contently on the couch talking like any other afternoon. The bathroom gets quiet. I hear a weird noise. We both stop talking and listen. This is where we made our first mistake.
Parenting Lesson #1: Quiet=Naughty. Don't wait to figure out the noise. Quickly intervene. Children are NEVER quiet.
Cora was in the bathroom right off of the living room, so I could hear a lot. Within 30 seconds, I connected the noise with something I am quite familiar with. It was the unmistakable sound of scissors snipping hair. Oh good grief! Sure enough, Cora had snipped off massive chunks of hair. Because her hair is thick, curly, and layered, it is kind of hard to tell just how bad it is. She is missing half of her bangs. It's a good thing hair grows. She thought she did a wonderful job. I have to admit, it is a lot of fun cutting hair. How could I be mad? I am just happy she cut her hair and not her ear or eye. Phew!
Parenting Lesson #2: To keep something "out of reach" from a toddler, you have to keep object out of reach from an adult. It is amazing what these little tykes can get their hands on. Note to self about medicine...the counter is NOT good enough.
Cora, you're missing massive amounts of hair!
Really? I think it looks good!
Looking good with my NEW HAIR DO!!!!
That's a LOT of forehead!
At least she can still show off her totally cool, hand drawn tats!
As promised, here are a couple short videos of Cora skating. She did pretty well. You can see in the second video how she would stand still and "glide" with one foot. It was pretty cute.
Cora and Lee left on the plane for Denver today. They are going for a long weekend to see some family. It also happens to be Aunt Elsie's birthday (Great Great Aunt Elsie to Cora). They should have lots of fun! Here is a picture Lee took with his iTouch at the airport. This will mark Cora's first plane ride where she has her own seat. This also means that this is the first plane ride where she HAS to wear a seatbelt. I am really hoping she cooperated with Lee. Although, if there is anybody who can lay down the law with Cora, it is Lee. I am pretty sure he also has a pocket full of M&M's for bribery if need be. :)
Cora finally got to try out her new ice skates from Christmas today! It has either been too cold or the snow hadn't been removed from the neighborhood outdoor ice pond. Today, we took her to Hawrelak Park to skate because they also rent out ice skates. This way, Lee and I could join her! It was gorgeous outside today. The temp was in the high 30's which felt amazing compared to the sub-zero arctic winter we've been having. In fact, Cora refused to wear her winter hat and instead opted for last summer's sun hat. Spring fever is flowing through her blood for sure!
The skates Cora is wearing are called bob skates. They have 2 blades on each foot and strap directly to her regular shoes. They remind me a lot of the old Fisher Price roller skates that strapped right on to your shoe. She got use to them quite quickly. Lee and I on the other hand...well, let's just say the first 15 minutes were terrifying. We have not skated in a long, long time. We also have not been responsible for holding a two year old up.
She wasn't scared of skating. The problem here was she wanted to skate alone. It took Lee and I awhile to "let go" and risk her falling. She also refused to wear a helmet which terrified me. I rationalized with myself and realized, she does many more dangerous things day in and day out. Finally, we let her go. She did really well. No major crashes. She was taking baby steps and being really cautious most of the time. We took some video, but I'll upload that on Monday or Tuesday.
Letting go...
She was really enjoying herself. Taking pictures while standing in ice skates is a lot harder than it seems. Lee did a great job taking these photos.
Because it was so warm out, there was a nice layer of slush on the ice to play in.
Cora says "mah ands" which translates to "my hands" when they got cold from playing in the slush.
She looks like she is having a blast here.
Lee and I were teaching her how to blow warm air on her hands to keep them warm.
Cora cheering herself on while skating. I love this little girl.
Last photo before we turned in. It was a fun day.
Wait, one more. We couldn't miss an action shot of falling down. Notice the dad in the background wearing his shoes. Lee and I are definitely taking his lead next time. ;)
The picture below is one of Cora's latest creations. Nearly two weeks ago, Cora and I were stranded at school because the train electronics had malfunctions causing the bus system to get backed up. It was frigid cold...-15 without windchill. Lee was three hours away in Calgary but scheduled to come home that evening. I made the decision that Cora and I would wait in my office until Lee was able to pick us up. It was warm, and there was food. The first thing I did was give her a notepad and pen to draw. One of my labmates was asking Cora about her drawing. The conversation went something like this:
Rene: What are you drawing?
Cora (concentrating very hard on her masterpiece): It's a fish.
Rene: What? Really? Are you sure. I am not seeing a fish.
Cora (sternly looks at him): It's a fish!
A few minutes pass by. Cora is still intently working on her drawing.
Rene: Now what are you drawing?
Cora: It's water.
So, this marks the first time that Cora has told anybody what she is actually drawing. I was astounded to find out that it wasn't just a bunch of squiggles. I think it is a beautiful creation. And, it appears she might loves fish just as much as her father.
For good measure, I had to put a shot of Cora in the blog.
We had a ton of snow fall this last weekend. We had over a foot of snow fall in a matter of 2.5 days! It is definitely a winter wonderland. The cold didn't come until Monday, so we took Cora out for some snow fun on Sunday. I can't believe I just wrote this last sentence. When I say the cold hadn't hit yet, that means it was 3F outside! I have been in Edmonton much too long. I think it is only -4 or -5 out right now, and Cora and I have been out and about all morning long. I have definitely digressed.
So, we took Cora out in the snow to play. The snow was so deep it was past her waist. Good thing she didn't sink all the way down to the bottom because it very well might have been over her head. I had to keep picking Reggie up so he didn't get completely buried in the snow. We taught Cora how to make snow angels. We buried her legs and arms. It was so much fun. It certainly took me back to the days when I could play outside for hours and never get bored.
Lee shovelling the back deck off. The snow is so high that he standing even with the seat of the bench.
There isn't much need for stairs when the snow is almost as high as the deck. Reggie is actually having fun at this point. He gets cold quick these days.
Snow angels!
I love this photo!
This is the front yard. The shrub that is barely poking out of the snow is nearly a two foot tall plant.
For Cora's Birthday blog, I feel as though it is necessary that I start with a dialogue between Cora and Lee from Christmas Eve rather than her birthday.
We're sitting at the dinner table eating baked salmon and green beans. Lee and I are done eating, but Cora is busy going to town on her third helping.
Lee: My goodness Cora. Are you our Omega-3 baby?
Cora: (stern look {see photo for example}) I two!!!!
Lee: (laughing very hard) Oh sorry. You are two, not Omega-3.
Up until that point, we didn't think Cora really understood that her birthday celebration was actually because she was a year older. Turns out we were very wrong. Every time we correct her now, she looks at us and says, "I two!". OK, guess she is old enough to do everything by herself. Turns out it was a good time to start potty training with her attitude, but that's another post.
Daycare started her birthday celebrations. Every two year old girl going to her own birthday party would need to have something special. This year, Cora got to use sponge rollers for the first time. She seemed to like them. I was surprised.
I thought it would be best to take her couch photos before heading to daycare. Cora was not impressed. I couldn't get her to crack a smile for anything.
Cora's milestones:
She is currently cutting her two year molars. These are the worse. The always has 8 fingers shoved deep into her mouth. She's sleeping with Lee and I nearly every night because she wakes up crying from the pain. I hate teething. I hate seeing her in pain.
She is talking like a champ (for a 2 year old). She is starting to use sentences on a very elementary level. She especially likes to use "I need ___" and "I want ___".
She is doing reasonably well with her manners. More often than not she says please.
She can bounce around like a bunny rabbit (multiple hops in a row).
Her coordination is really coming along. We play very basic hand clap games with her.
She loves dancing and really loves mimicking my crazy moves.
She tries to boss Reggie around constantly. "Reg, SIT!" "Reg, COME!" "Here Boy!" "Shhhh" "Stop barking!" You get the picture. Reggie, on the other hand, doesn't pay her a lick of attention. Well, unless she is using a cookie as bribery.
She absolutely loves Beauty and the Beast. She could watch the movie and read the books we have over and over and over and never get tired of them.
Cora's birthday ended up being a great day for all three of us. We took her to an 11:30am showing of Yogi Bear in 3-D. We had taken her to Rapunzel a few weeks before for my birthday, so she knew the ropes of a movie theater. She had not been to movie in 3-D though. Lee and I weren't sure if it was going to be overwhelming for her, but she did great. The movie was a bit dry, but the experience was a lot of fun. She wore her 3-D glasses for the previews and promptly took them off for the movie and refused to put them back on. Of course, she wanted to wear them home in the car seat.
We got Cora home just in time for a nap. While she was napping, Lee was busy setting up her new play tent. He bought this for her over a month ago and has been dying to give it to her. Somehow, I got him to wait until her birthday. Her eyes about bugged out of her head when she saw the tent. Lee had bought Mya and Max the same tent when we went to Arizona. She loved playing in it there. I can't hardly imagine what was going through her head when she saw that she was now the proud owner of the same tent. She immediately jumped inside and started rolling the tent all around the room. Imagine a gerbil inside and exercise ball.
We had chicken piccatta and roasted red peppers for dinner. More importantly for a birthday, we had Toffee Blondies with candles for desert. It was quite cute seeing her try to blow out candles. Dinner and dessert was followed by more presents. She got all kinds of fun girly things from a horse coat to a new dolly to a purse and much more. What a lucky little two year old. I am sure she went to bed that night thinking about how much fun she was going to have playing with all her new toys. Little did she know Santa was going to be stopping by the next night. ;)
How about I open all of my presents inside my tent? NO? OK, I guess I'll come out.
I will not put this purse down.
Oh my goodness. I didn't think this day could get any better and then I open a new baby. Wow.
She's hungry.
And tired. I am just going to love her and hug her and feed her and...
The only way this day could be better is if I could fall asleep in my new tent wearing my new Beauty and the Beast pj's. YES!
I am a graduate student in biology at the University of Alberta. I have been married to the man of my dreams for 6 years. We welcomed our most beautiful baby girl to this world Dec 23, 2008. She is the reason I have started this blog. On Apr 29, 2012, our incredibly handsome son was born. My kids are the reason I continue writing this blog. They are my world.
