Hippity Hop

We had a fabulous Easter this year. We decided we would stay home and enjoy the spring weather right here in Edmonton. If you remember, last year we packed our bags and headed to the mountains for Easter weekend. It was so nice and cozy staying home on a holiday.

The Easter Bunny visited Cora this year. She really doesn't have a clue yet, but she really enjoyed her new toys. The Easter Bunny brought her a gossamer silk "Garden Rose" play canopy and a duck on stick. She really loves both of these. We have set up her table and chairs under the canopy. They are a perfect fit. I see many tea parties under the canopy in her future. The duck cracks us up. It took her no time to figure out how it works (in fact, she actually figured it out at the store...shhhh). She pushes it around saying quack quack. I can't even express in words just how cute this little girl is. Every step she takes melts me.

Say it with me...Awwwwwwwwww! Cora often looks just like a porcelain doll to me. I am constantly having to remind myself that this beautiful little girl isn't some random baby girl airbrushed for a magazine, but rather my incredibly precious little girl.



Here is Cora's play canopy. As you can see, Lee can fully stand inside of it. The silk is 7ft long. I am going to get bean bags to hold it in place on the floor. Hopefully that will reduce the amount of times Cora gets tangled up in it.


Reggie behaving like he is being forced to be in the same room as us. Yeah right.

Cora pushing her duck on a stick around her room. Lee and I both had these when we were younger. We first saw them at a store when I was pregnant. We vowed we'd be back in a couple years to buy one. When Lee and I were deciding what two presents we were going to get Cora (we each got to pick one), Lee asked me to go get one of these ducks. There was only one left and it was the floor model. I snagged it up. This duck has been used and abused. It is chipped, scuffed, and scratched. I love it though. It looks like it has been used by loving kids for the last 50 years. Plus, I got a discount. Score.

We dyed Easter eggs on Sunday. Cora had a great time. She intently watched Lee dip and dunk each egg. She helped quite a bit, too. There is a picture of dyed finger tips from pulling eggs out. I of course have some video as well. We (read: Lee) had fun getting her all hopped up on sugar. He introduced her to pop rocks (the candy that jumps around in your mouth), homemade M&M cookies which led to lots of M&M's being eaten during the baking process. Cora has helped make all kinds of homemade goodies the last couple of weeks. She officially knows what a beater is and demands to help lick it off. She is my daughter!!!



I had to get a picture of her hand. You can see the layers of colors on her fingers.


After her eggs were dry, she would carry one over to me, act like she was going to give it to me, and then take it back and run off squealing in delight. Also you'll notice I am still sewing her Easter basket on the day of Easter. BAD MOM! To this day, it still doesn't have handles. I suck. But I really love how it looks so far. Oh yeah, and notice Reggie is sleeping again. He is completely unaware of the crazy 1 year old hopped up on chocolate and sugar.

So innocent. Or so she wants you to believe.


Cora is planting the coneflowers she got from Grandma and Grandpa B. She got all kinds of cool gardening tools from them. Hopefully Cora's mom, who has a brown thumb, can actually get these flowers to grow. Keep your fingers crossed. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa B!!

Toddler Air Jordan

Cora turned 15 months old on March 23. Wow! What a month March was. Cora's little brain is such a sponge. She is taking in all she possible can. You can see her trying to process new information. She studies everything in her world. Each little pebble on the sidewalk is thoroughly inspected. Each word that comes out of my mouth is intently listened to. Each little step every other kid takes is watched and later tried. This brings up her latest skill. She can jump....errr....well, she thinks she can. Her friend, Claire, has been showing her how to jump. Now, Cora will squat down and then stand up really fast. This is her form of jumping. We've nicknamed her yet again. Her latest moniker is Air Jordan aka Michael Jordan. He is the only human who can truly fly. :) She even wags her tongue around for effect.

These first three pictures are of Cora eating a pear. She sits up on the counter while I cook. The fruit bowl is close by and she got her hands on this ripe pear. She ate the whole thing. I love her expression in the second photo. She is still a wonderful eater. Her eating has really slowed down since Reggie has arrived. I think part of that is due to her not growing as quickly. The other part is due to her feeding him all of her food and then not getting seconds. I'm a mean Mom. ;)

Did I mention Cora was 15 months?? Here are her official 15 month photos on the good ol' couch.

Of course, she was not cooperative at the start and wouldn't sit up straight. So, I did what any person would do. I let her stand for all the photos.

I love this picture. It exemplifies so much of who Cora is. She is made up of about 90% attitude. I love it. She is quite sensitive as well. She doesn't like to get in trouble, but she'll test to see exactly what she can get away with. I was talking to my Dad the other day. We both agreed that Cora may not look a thing like me, but she is chocked full of personality that closely resembles me as a child.

Playing Patty Cake.

I know everyone has been anxiously waiting for a list of new milestones that Cora has reached in the last month. Wait no longer!

Starting with words

• Peek-a-Boo (sounds like bah-boo)
• nice (in reference to "Be NICE to Reggie")
• NOOOOOO! Hahaha. She still only says it to Reggie when he is trying to eat food in her hands.
• Quack Quack
• Duck

Signs

• Duck (while saying quack quack)
• Bear (while saying Arghhhh)
• Bye

Other

• She jumps
• She pretends to talk on the phone which includes a lot of words that make her sounds like E.T. and the occasional chuckle (check out the video at the end)
• She can locate her nose, belly button, and tongue
• She hates her crib. I mean, hates it. If I leave her in her crib, she screams until she craps herself. It's horrible. Right now her mattress is on the floor in our bedroom. I think she'll be moving to a toddler bed soon. 
• She really likes to make noise. Any kind of noise.
• She forces farts out because it makes people laugh. I am worried she'll pop a vein in her forehead.
• She has discovered gravity. She'll throw anything down the stairs to see how far it will go and how loud it will be. Reggie better look out.

A couple more Kodak moments!

I want to say something really quick before everyone watches this video. There is random furniture scattered all over the house. Cora is capable of moving every piece of furniture except for the couch. She moves chairs to make a race track to run circles around the living room. I really don't decorate this way.

The Best of Friends

Last weekend we made a quick trip to Bozeman, Montana to pick up Good Ol' Reg. We were in Bozeman just long enough to remember why we love Montana and Wyoming. I have been waiting to make this trek to pick him up since about January 2008. I really love this dog. For those of you who personally know Reggie, you know that he is a bit self-centered. He doesn't like to compete for attention and will pout in a corner if another dog is around. I was planning for him to act in a similar way around Cora. At most, I expected Reggie to completely ignore Cora. Boy, was I wrong! They love each other...most of the time. The have slept together, played together, fed each other, the list goes on. Reggie has been so patient and understanding with her. She lays on him, pulls his hair, feels his cold nose, sticks her fingers in his mouth, tries to eat his food, and he does nothing except maybe walk away from her. Of course we had to deal with Cora smacking Reggie in the face. Reggie is not perfect either. He likes to gently take food from her. You know, since he took it nicely it is OK. Ha! Cora will tell you different when she is screaming NO, NO, NO! and crying. LOL. I had never heard her say "no" until Reggie came back.

We have now had Reggie here one full week. It has been perfect bliss. Really, I love having him here. Cora laughs so hard when he barks at her. She thinks it is the most funny thing on Earth when he wrestles his toys. Reg is definitely getting old. He tires out quickly and spends most of his time sleeping. We had friends over yesterday for brunch and he got off his bed twice. Once when they showed up and again when they left. He has big bursts of energy but just wears down quickly. I keep saying he is old, but he is. Reggie turned 12 this last February. He behaves like a perfect elderly dog. It is actually really nice that he is chill and mellow with Cora around. She doesn't get knocked around quite as much as she would with rambunctious pup.


Cora is reading to Reggie. She gets scolded at the end, but it is still a cute video.



This video is of the two buds watching a rabbit outside.

Cora and Reggie have made my heart swell about 16 times too big. Seeing them together reminds me of Tod and Copper from The Fox and the Hound. I had to add the lyrics from the song "The Best of Friends" because it was just so appropriate for this blog entry.

When you're the best of friends
Having so much fun together
You're not even aware, you're such a funny pair
You're the best of friends

Life's a happy game
You could clown around forever
Neither one of you sees, your natural boundaries
Life's one happy game

If only the world wouldn't get in the way
If only people would just let you play
They say you're both being fools
You're breaking all the rules
They can't understand, the magic of your wonderland

When you're the best of friends
Sharing all that you discover
When that moment has past, will that friendship last?
Who can say? There's a way!
Oh I hope... I hope it never ends
'Cause you're the best of friends  

P.S. I didn't add captions to the photos because I really think they speak for themselves. :)

Shingles...Not the ones on your roof

The snow is quickly melting away and Deadmonton is not feeling quite so dead. I am afraid to say this, but I think Spring has Sprung! For some reason, cabin fever hit hard this year. I am guessing a big part of that was having an energetic little Belle crawling around. :) She has so loved being outside these last two weeks. Yesterday goes down in the books as a great day. It reached nearly 50 degrees, so Bug and I headed out to the park. Dear Daddy is quite sick (I'll get to that), so this gave him peace and quiet for a couple hours in the afternoon.

First, Cora and I went for a quick 20 minute jog. We then headed over to the neighborhood park to play. Did I mention is was 50 degrees out? I had Cora dressed in layers. She had a couple lighter weight jackets over her clothes (same thing I was wearing) with her purple high tops and a baseball cap. Yep, she was rocking the ball cap. She doesn't like the bill facing forward because it gets in her field of vision, but she loves to wear it backwards. She needs something protecting her fair skin on her head. I thought she was dressed just perfectly for the weather. We get to the park and most kids are in snowsuits. It was 50 degrees! I know I was getting a couple side glances from other moms, but oh well. I am not sure if it was because Cora wasn't wearing mittens or because she was sitting in a mud puddle. Hmm. She had a great time. Clothes and babies wash. Cora was such a little stud at the park. She was walking around like she was Little Miss Hot Stuff. I am not even joking. When she walks normally, she holds her hands up and out a bit for balance. Her cool swagger is quite different. She effortlessly hangs her hands at her sides and gets a bit of bounce in her step. She has this attitude that says, "Yeah, I've been doing this walking stuff for over a week now. I am an old pro. No biggie". She cracks me up. Cora exudes a "leader of the pack" attitude at daycare. I definitely saw this same attitude come out at the park even though most kids were at least 3 years older than her. It was pretty interesting watching her try to play. The other kids ignored her, but I don't think they'll be able to ignore her when she is older. I have a feeling we're going to have a little competitive tomboy. She was a muddy mess by the time we got home, but we had so much fun. She is Cool Cat Cora.

A fun day at the park equals some really muddy clothes. Doesn't it look like she had so much fun?

Dear Lee is quite sick. He came home Friday around 5pm with a swollen eyebrow and a strange blister. By 7:30 his eyelid started to swell up. We call Alberta Health (a nurse hotline), and they told Lee to go to the medicentre immediately. The nurse couldn't diagnose whether it was shingles or an infection over the phone, but it was too close to the eye to matter. He needed medical attention. The doctor at the medicentre took one look at him and diagnosed him with shingles. Shingles? Really?? It really struck a chord with us that Lee has been stressed out enough that he broke out in shingles at the age of 27. That's a little bit scary to me. OK, I am not going to lie. It freaked me the hell out. I've always been a bit paranoid about Lee's health considering his genetics. And, mine, for that matter. My family doesn't have a clean bill of health either. As awful as Lee has been feeling with the shingles, I am trying to see this in a positive light. It has certainly been a wake up call for us to get our health in check. We eat pretty good. Most of the time. We need to exercise. A lot more. Lee needs to get in a for a physical. I just had my basic checkup last week and everything is good. However, we both need a full screen done. The last time (and first time) I had mine done was in 2007 and I think Lee's was done in 2006. We're due.

Cora did an excellent job of taking care of Dad while he was sick. She did all this without going near his eye. :)

P.S. This blog entry was written weeks ago, but I am just publishing it today (March 27, 2010). I had no idea I was so far behind in my blog entries. My sincerest apologies to my dear readers. Particularly the ones in Omaha, NE.