Two

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!!! Celebrating two has been fun. And turning two has been exciting for our lil' C.

I assume because of the recent abundance of birthdays in her classroom the previous few months, Caris has been very attune to the celebrations of birthdays recently. She associates candles, cakes, and crowns with birthday celebration and routinely asked upon seeing said items, 'Happy birthday to me??'

I tried to educate Caris that her birth-date was April 20th and that (at the time) was in two months. She easily got down that she was turning two and when inquired by others, would answer 'I'm TWO' so I would follow by 'on April 20th' 'next month' 'two months' whatever the qualifier.

Apparently that morphed into something that appears to be 'Two Minutes'. And thus the video explanation.

We have been looking forward to celebrating our girl this week. And celebrate we are doing. We've had special events, friend events, morning birthday surprise, school events, traditions, favorites, challenges, tantrums, adventures, and gifts and soon to be family events. I hope to recount soon :) But safe to say our Caris has felt special and loved this week. She gets it.

We spent the birthday together as a family. Celebrating and reminiscing two years of a precious life. It was a sweet day (although quite eventful) and we were grateful for a special time together with our girl.

I am forever thankful for this little life introduced to us two years ago. My sweet Caris brings so much joy and enriches our lives. We are honored to be her parents. I think it's the best thing we have ever done :)

Happy birthday to my beautiful, spirited, loving, funny little girl!!! We love you and are overjoyed to celebrate your life.

(pictures and updates to follow! and a special update from my sister :)

Tasks

My lil C loves tasks. In this (and SOO many other ways) she is JUST like her Daddy. I have said for awhile now that Caris and her Poppa G will most definitely bond over task related activities. And will stubbornly clash heads in many other areas....(SO alike, I tell you, these two).

I've watched this prediction become truth. Caris loves a task with her Daddy and her Daddy loves a task, so it works out well. Caris loves to cook alongside Mommy or Daddy and help with little tasks. Especially if she's allowed to 'Sit on the Counner? I want to sit on the counner and cook'.

But she really loves working outside with Daddy. These two have spent many evenings and weekends working on various yard projects.The most consistent being a 'shovel dirt and remove from path' task.

Garrett equips Caris with her own little shovel, gloves, and bucket and off they go. Caris happily working alongside her daddy for long stretches of time. Shoveling dirt, placing it in the wheelbarrow, proudly completing her work.

So, the past few weeks, when I have arrived at Caris' school, I have found Caris working away in the play-yard. Happily shoveling wood chips and carefully carrying them to a little wheelbarrow. Apparently, she does this for long stretches of time. Daily. Her teacher said that over years of being in the classroom, Caris is the first child she has seen actually use the shovel to load the wood chips.

I found it hilarious. And fitting.

Missing the bus

My girl loves buses. She loves the song, the idea, spotting buses, and riding. I think it may legitimately be her favorite thing right now. The picture above is her face upon riding a 'bus'.

We play a little game on our daily commute. A game developed by Caris herself. Spot the bus. She has baby bus (Taxi cabs) and mommy buses (the mini school bus) and the coveted prize of finding a daddy bus (the BIG bus). Yellow bus are fun. And then there are the 'city buses'. With the baby, mommy, and daddy categories established as well.

We spend our morning searching for buses. 'Two buses, Mommy I see TWO buses!' That's what we call jackpot. And each sighting is promptly followed by 'I need more buses!'. Her excitements level is kind of off the charts with each bus sighting.

We have had a few prized opportunities to ride buses on recent occasions to various events. THE highlight of the adventure. Not the event we paid good money to attend, but the bus ride to the event....She cried when she left the bus and begged for it to return. And she STILL talks about riding the bus over two months ago...

Girl loves bus.

And so we play the bus game and sing the bus song on our commute. Easy entertainment. And it seems I've grown attached, accustomed to this tradition.

March came and went with strange occurrences. Regular pick-up and drop-off were interrupted by spring break, vacation, daddy-time and family time. Our commute was deferred.

And I missed the bus.

I found myself spotting buses on my way to and from work. Wanting to talk to show them to my girl, who I knew would be thrilled with excitement. But I had no smiling face greeting me with enthusiasm. No toddler searching for 'More Bus?'

The last few weeks, we have welcomed back regular programming in full force. With Garrett working nights and 16 hour days, it's just Caris and I back in our commuting saddle. It's been a challenging past weeks.

But when I feel myself getting frustrated and complaining about the annoyances of traffic and length of time in the car, I'm reminded.

By a sweet, excited, smiling girl proclaiming happily, 'I see a bus!! Mommy, I see two buses! There is a mommy bus! And a city bus! A baby bus!'

I'm reminded. Of where simple joys can be found. And as much as I wish Caris could go back to her easy schedule, I'm thankful for the times we have finding buses together. So I'll take these moments. And remember. Life is a little sweeter when we look for the bus :)

Blog Interrupted

A little 'technical' intermission and explanation. I've had issues. Mainly, blog and Internet issues. Boring, but true. Felt I owed my blog a little explanation for my neglect :) Between my blog disappearing, email being scammed, Internet down at home, computer and office switch at work, and apparently compatibility issues with my Mac Air and uploading pictures, this poor blog hasn't stood a chance. But we are here. And have missed some great moments. I feel like this little blog is kind of like any other relationship; the longer you are away, the easier it is to make excuses for. But then you realize how much you miss this little project. And the inspiration and creativity is allows. Hopefully we will be back to regularly scheduled programming with a few new additions soon.... Not so much that I think our 5 family members who read this are really all that sad for the interlude, but at least it's a little project I can accomplish :)

Discipline

Disciplining an almost-two-year old is fun.

I seriously almost just left this post with only the above sentence. Because I'm pretty sure I don't have to elaborate on that much. Anyone who has, had, or been around a two-year old knows that they can be a challenge. Independence, Opinions, Abilities, Frustrations, Wants, Needs, Mine all collide into a mess of frustrations. Called being two.

In all honestly, Caris is a pretty good little toddler. Hilarious, always, which certainly keeps things joyful. And I am thankful for a few things that have worked in our favor. She is very verbal, which has REALLY helped work through frustrations. She follows directions well (thanks to school) and loves to be a helper, so I kind of know how to refocus. She is not overly physically active, either, which makes it easier to keep things corralled. And she went through an independent-my-way streak a little earlier, so we've worked through some of that. Those things help.

But still. Discipline is fun.

Too be honest, I have always been very nervous about my ability to discipline. A little too tender-hearted, a little too over-analytical, I felt I would very much struggle in this area. And truthfully, I have no idea really what I'm doing. I know there are tons of theories, books etc. out there and I have done my share of reading. But what I am learning is much like what I learned in the infant stage.

It kind of comes naturally. You can read, analyze, research, and worry to death. But what I have found, is if I give myself some time and really listen to Caris and watch how our personalities interact, we can end up with a much more workable solution. That most of the time, end up looking quite similar to one of the never-ending researched theories. I found this to be the case in nursing, feeding, developmental stages, sleeping, all sorts of things I worried myself too much over.

In the end, doing what is best for my daughter and our family works out just fine. It takes time, no doubt. And it takes doubt, for a time. But you find your way. Together.

I get lots of opinions, ideas, and advice. My degrees were in related fields. I know the knowledge is there. But what works best? My instincts. I truly never really felt I would have the 'Motherly' demeanor. But it's there. And I am learning to try to trust it.

That being said, disciplining a two year old is fun.

Particularly when you know the reason they are acting up is because of fatigue (that I've contributed too) or valid source of excitement or varied other explainable reasons.

But we are entering a stage where our discipline looks much more structured. And I am becoming much more cognizant of how to enforce. And with all that being said about finding our way and what works best for you, I'd love to hear what works for others. Ideas to add to the toolbox
never hurt :)

Right now, here's a little of what we are doing: We do a lot of 'serious talks, look at Mommy's eyes', showing appropriate uses of hands, telling mad feelings to walk away, persistently focusing on a solution until an 'I'm sorry' or remedy is utilized. I've started to try do some 'take aways' and rewards, mainly in the form of books. That isn't working great. Does it just take time? I could probably go on, but I'm finding kind of hard to extrapolate implementation into words :)

Disciplining a two year old is fun.

The overarching thing I've come to realize, is that with lots of love and lots of patience, technique is kind of secondary. My most successful forms of discipline come when I am PATIENT and don't let my emotions get in the way. And I let LOVE dominate the interaction. Truly, I think those two things are the most important and successful way to discipline. I am hoping if I focus on those truths, the little techniques will fall into place.

But really, would love to get some feedback from those who have been there and are doing that :)

Por que?

Caris has entered a 'Why?' stage as of late. Meaning, every provided answer she follows up with an inquisitive 'But why Mommy?'

Por ejemplo - 'But why are there no oranges in the car Mommy?' 'Because the oranges are at home in the refrigerator' 'Oh. Why Mommy?' 'Because oranges have to stay cold and it isn't cold in the car.' 'Oh'

And so on and so forth.

'Why' finds itself pleasantly inquired throughout the day. It's pretty funny. And I've found myself really starting to have to think. Really? Why is that cat sitting on the car? Not so sure.

And why Por Que?

A current favortive Caris item is her Little Pim videos in Spanish. Garrett got these for C as her Christmas gift. And although we were both teased for our nerdy presents (thank goodness for fun aunties and uncles and baby loving grandmas) Caris seriously loves these videos. She asks for them on par with the amount of times she inquires for 'George' videos and 'Toy Story'. Plus she loves the Pim doll.

We've loved them too, subsequently. And they have become our car-to favorite. Caris loves them and they seem to really work. C loves saying 'Adios! Hasta Pronto!', Pim's signature statement.

So the pre-emption for the orange/why conversation has a direct correlation to Little Pim. In the midst of a Pim video, I hear Caris begin asking for something. Becoming more persistant. VERY persistant. But I can't quite figure out what it is she is asking for.

Finally, I realize she is making an attempt at saying 'Naranja'
Oh, you want Oranges! Yes, Orange!
Which is currently on Caris' top food list, she goes through 3 a day. Goodness. I should have known.

Needless to say, I may want to brush up on my Espanol.

I wonder how long until she starts in with Por que??

This weekend...

We are celebrating Garrett's entry into the next decade, welcoming the Big 30. I think I MAY be a bit more excited than he is :) We have a few things planned for this weekend and next and I am hoping it provides some much needed relief from this CRAZY work schedule/little sleep he's been on lately. Friends, family, dinners, trips, and celebrations are in the works. Hopefully all add up to a little stress relief and celebrate the 30 years of life that have made a GREAT man, husband, father, son, brother, friend.

We've been prepping Caris for the birthday weekend. Apparently there have been quite a few birthdays lately at school, so she has come home from school lately singing 'Happy To you Birthday'. When you ask her whose birthday it is, she emphatically insists 'MINE'. Just before this little video I convinced her it was actually Daddy's birthday and she got real excited and started to sing 'Happy to You Birthday Daddy'. As soon as I got the camera out, a tired, hungry girl resorted to this:

I think somebody is going to REALLY love her birthday this year.

Let's hope she gets on board with Daddy's birthday before this weekend.... :)

Ps and Qs and Ws

(yes, I totally left Caris in her pajamas on a weekend morning and let her pair them with a tutu and rain boots and - her choice, clearly - then play outside for a few hours. hey, it worked. but I won't even tell you what my outfit looked)

And to the title point.....

We've been introducing the Please and Thank yous from the outset. I'm sure most parents know the drill. A little modeling, a little insistence, etc. Caris began with utilizing sign language for please, which too be honest, I didn't quite pick up that was what she was doing for awhile.....that's good parenting right there. And then the 'thank you' was a bit delayed in usage.

So this morning, during our little daily commute, an opportunity arose from a little grape sharing to instill some Ps and Qs.

Caris, say please if you want another grape.

PEEASSEE (with the sign still utilized, the same when she asks for more)

And then what do you say when someone gives you what you ask for?

Silence.

Say Thank you!

Thank you!!

And then, Mommy says Your welcome!

And the rest of grape-sharing was repetition. That went like this....

Pleaaase more grapes Mommy!

And after someone gives you what you ask for? Now what do you say?

Thank you! I Welcome!!!

Not the intended lesson, but apparently now the thank you is now always immediately followed by 'I Welcome!'

I'm guessing she'll figure it out. But for now, we will take a W with our Ps and Qs.

Which, incidentally, are three of Caris' favorite letters? Along with O and S. Caris LOVES naming her letters.

Okay, random post. Concluded.

Perhaps I will have a post with real pictures and coherency soon.

No promises.

Embracing Purple

There is irony found in the color.

Perhaps without reason (or perhaps with) I have throughout the years been a self-proclaimed loather of purple. For some reason, I turn my nose up at the presentation of purple in all of it's forms. No one is quite sure why, myself included. But this is a legitimate, long-standing conviction I've held. Visibly making faces when presented this as a color option in my wedding flowers, I declared no purple be present in any bouquets! No purple! It's been a running joke in my family.

My search for baby room decorations were insistent on no evidence of purple. I sought blues, yellows, and greens. I picked clothes out in tones of grey, brown, orange, and blacks and whites. I begrudgingly allowed the presence of pink to be present, but honestly, not without convincing and in minimal presentation. Pink, as it turns out, is just too precious to pass up in little girl form.

But purple, I stuck to my convictions of No Purple! No Purple! Be allowed in my little girls room or attire.

And so, naturally, Caris began to show preference for the purple. And as a tongue-in-cheek fun, my mom began to indulge the purple. It became a thing. Caris always choosing the purple clothes. Purple being her first color recognized and a clear word utilized. And then enter purplicious.

So I am embracing the purple. Dressing Caris in the color multiple times a week, seeking out purple ice cream, and finding purple accessories to make our purplicious girl smile. Purple, it seems, has made it's way into my wardrobe, my decor, my vocabulary. Caris requests purple clothes and purple shoes, and I don't argue.

Embracing the purple. Clearly metaphorical, teaches me so much. Caris is already such a strong personality. She is fully Caris. She is sweet, loving, strong-willed, opinionated, bossy, sensitive, moody, hilarious. Introverted at times and loving the center of attention the next. She is attentive to detail, particular, creative, and stubborn. And this is evident before she is two. Caris will be who she is. Pieces revealing themselves over time. In the friends she chooses, hobbies preferred, career desired, interests invoked. And likely, wearing purple.

And whatever projections, imaginations, pre-conceived notions I have or had of my first born are side notes. Yes, my little C may love rocks and trees and birds as I dreamed when I created her nature themed room. She loves books, as I both hoped and feared (you would too if you saw her Dad's book collection and associated expenses).

But unpredicted, she also loves all things fancy. Glitter shoes. Fancy Nancy. Boas. Tutus. Bows. Dresses. Performing. Dancing. Purses. And Pink. And mostly Purple. Shoes were her third word. Purse was her second. Purple is definitely her most used.

So I put my carefully chosen neutrals in the back of the closet. I allow her to choose her purple. And today, I totally gave in and let her wear purple sparkly dress shoes to school. And I sat back and inwardly laughed as she pranced around in a frilly tutu and girly tights. These things make her smile. They express her joy. They are of her choosing.

I hope I remember this lesson throughout the seasons of life we travel with Caris. In whatever form Purple takes throughout our lives. I hope that I remember to embrace it as fully Caris.

Because you know what? The purple flowers my florist snuck in totally make the arrangement. And the new purple clothes I've added to my wardrobe have received many a compliment. And I even surprisingly found myself looking for purple bedding for our big-girl room (clearly, the more classically toned. I may be embracing, but I have my limits).

We can all benefit by welcoming a bit of unexpected Purple into our lives. And embracing its impact. I have my little purplicious lady to thank for the addition of color to my life. I'm sure there is much more to come.

Purplicious

We are in a state of purple. Purplicious, to be precise. A favorite book which has now become a favorite word and a favorite adjective. We aren't convinced it is completely associated with a favorite-dcolor. Although preference to the purple is certainly indicated. More a fun word, A fun book, A fun obsession. Caris can be heard invoking an 'I NEED' purplicious book. Mornings getting ready for school most often sound like this: 'Mom, I need Purplicious shirt. I need a purplicious shirt. I need a purplicious pony.'Anything can be persuaded with the addition of a purplicious adjective. And the other night, Caris on a random night-time wake up, woke up sweetly yelling for 'I need some Purplicious milk, Mommy!'. Purple milk?? pretty sure we have no such thing. Whoever, just an adjective to demonstrate favor to the beverage of desire. Oh, our sweet little purplicious lady.