Best feeling ever

I gotta say, dancing with Quinn and Pam in a three person waltz is a fantastic feeling!

Spending the night with PoPo

Quinn spent the night last night - only the 2nd time. We had a wonderful evening - making up a pumpkin family, trying on Halloween hats ( but Not the hippo outfit :-( ). She slept in the hippo sleeping bag on the floor in my dressing area, with Missy (big doll), Sybil baby doll), ducky and hippo lovie, and four blankets- that she kicked off about 20 times before she finally went to sleep.

5:50 am she opened the door and said, "I want to play." And so we did! She was allowed to wear a costume to gymnastics but she put the hippo outfit on Missy instead and took the doll along to watch.

What a fun and happy girl Quinn is!!

Part Pam part Drew

We removed the crib today. It was kinda of a test to see how observant Quinn was. When she first ran into the room (several times actually) she didn't notice the bed was gone (Daddy trait)... It wasn't until bedtime that she noticed (at least she has little bit of her observant mother :) )

Too Cute To Quote

I really wish I could capture all of the cute things that Quinn did today. They were just happening too fast and too often to remember any of them... All I can say was dang they were cute.

Saw the whole show

On Friday, Quinn stayed up till nearly 10pm watching Cirque Mechanic at Miller... It wasn't that she was totally engaged in the show, but that it WAS a show - she didn't want to leave.

Potty Training is like being in Love

They say that you don't really know you are in love, until after the fact... it is a retrospective emotion. Potty training is the same... I think we are potty trained.

I say this because as Quinn is playing, she will without annoucement or notice, go into the bathroom, close the door, pee in the potty, and come back and continue playing.

When asked, she will causually say, I peed in the potty.

Arts Alive with Janet

Last night, while Pam & Drew were at a meeting, I shared an Arts Alive experience with Quinn. How fun was that?! Quinn will often observe first, swiveling her head, taking in as much as she can, watching the other kids to see what they do. This lasted just a very short while because she was so drawn into the magic that Janet created for "Pajama Party". She put on her purple pretend pajamas and proceeded to dance with her teddy bear. She learned to do the "freeze" dance, to throw the pizza dough into the air before baking it, to pop like popcorn (that was easy since she jumps all the time anyway), and to draw with streamers. She even pretended to go to sleep, something she's avoided in the past. She warmed up to Janet right away and had to get her attention many times as she shared, with great enthusiasm, "I have on black", "I have on pink ballet shoes", "I have on stripes", in response to what Janet was saying. By the end of the evening Quinn was clinging to Janet's leg like a cat on catnip! It was fun being able to see the magic of Arts Alive through the eyes of a little one.

Two speeds

When Quinn entered the ballroom last night, it was her usual speed -- running... but then she actually saw Pam, and I swear her speed doubled. Full on sprint. Man she is fast.

Seems like she certainly has the "Shefman fast twitch muscles"

"They could dance together!"

Emilia, the president at Rice Ballroom Dance club, exclaimed "They could dance together!" jumping up and down with giddiness, when she learned that KT was going to be a boy.

Imitation isn't always good

Just took Quinn to the potty..., and she shook after she went.

Camel rides

"The camel is shaking my head." Quinn says during our ride at ren fest.

Waiting for a reason

This morning, Quinn took 8 plastic cups, filled up each one with different amounts of water and placed all of the cups in a circle.

She was very intent on doing this, and wouldn't be distracted from it.

After all of the cups were in the circle, she was done.

I'm not sure I'll ever know the reason for this intense amount of concentration, but it sure was interesting to watch

Ren fest

Went to the renaissance festival today. Quinn loved getting dragon tears from the fairies, after she warmed up to them of course. The first show we saw was a fire juggler, which scared her from the other shows:(... She was very entertained by the birds of prey show. Hopefully we can convince her to ride the elephants:). It is nice to see that she is appropriately cautious.

Two days 100% potty

FYI, two days and 100% potty all day.... Whoohoo

Great California trip

Just getting back from a fantastic California trip, including San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose. Saw Mandy, Lenore, and Jessica. Slept 2 hours on the return flight. Nice to be home

Good thing the phone has GPS

Nothing says missed exit like a toddler who needs "something new to play with" while you are driving around an unfamiliar city. Especially a city like San Jose with just in time signage.

Had a fantastic time at the Children's discovery museum today... Once we got there.

Rock star vacationer

Slept till 8:40 today!! Whoot whoot!!

Love vacations

Ferris wheel

Made a ferris wheel out of tinkertoys. Actually it was just a bunch of sticks coming out of a wheel, but she labeled it as a ferris wheel.

Recognizable Drawings

When I got home from work today, Quinn said that she drew a pato (spanish for duck). I looked at her paper and it was clearly the duck that she sleeps with. She continued to draw over it, but I spent the effort to scan it, highlight the original drawing in yellow and grab a picture of her bedtime buddy.

I'm amazed.

Also

I forgot to post the other day something Quinn said. She told me, "Mommy's at work. Daddy's at work also. "
Also? Where did that come from?

A day with Popo

Quinn spent the whole day with Popo. What a fine time we both had! We started out by going to Temple for Yom Kippur. Quinn was engaged the entire time: first she put all the seats in the row down, then back up again; then moved the books onto the seats instead of the chair arms. She does like to arrange things. :-)

She loved the music and recognized that there was a piano playing, even though she couldn't see it. She saw that the shofar that the Rabbi blew was very long. After she got to my house, she found a long stick on the street and pretended to blow the shofar too.

We visited Annabelle, the granddaughter of my friend Mary Beth. They played in the tent/house, climbed the steps to the bed (many times), dressed up with necklaces, rolled the ball, had a snack, danced and generally played well together. When we got back to my house it only took about 15 minutes to get her to nap in the hippo sleeping bag on the floor. I was VERY glad she was so cooperative about that!

We found a play gym with a tire swing, rock wall, rings, swings, slide and had a grand time exploring all it had to offer. When there's a yard available that may be Popo's next gift!!

Then we visited my neighbor Michele and said hi to the Mahh Jong gang. Came back to the house and she read several books to Sybil (doll). Daddy came by, we had dinner, and she went home.

I was tired but feel like it was a very fun, successful day. I know Mommy and Daddy are glad I feel that way since I know they're hoping there will be more days like this one! :-)

Very Adaptable Child

We took duckie, our most favorite sleep lovey, to school on friday. And against our advice, she took into class instead of leaving it in the car. Needless to say, we forgot it at school, and since it was Friday before Yom Kipur, it would be 4 days without it. Pam was secretly really scared that the weekend was going to be horrible, but we reminded Quinn that we forgot duckie at school and that we needed to go to sleep without him. She said okay, and fell asleep with some of our backups (a hippo and a lion)... Still a very impressive feat.... and we didn't have to track down the director of the school on a holiday weekend and beg her to let us in so we could retrieve Duckie.

She is the greatest child ever!

Mommy, you look so beautiful

Pam and I went to a formal dance gala on Saturday. While we were getting dressed, Quinn says "Mommy, you look so beautiful."

Warm fuzzy anyone?

Rugger gucky

I baby sat with Quinn tonight, We were reading from her Animal Dictionary book. She identified so many of the pictures, including bison, baboon, chimpanzee and other not so ordinary animals. When she saw the duck picture she started singing, over and over," Rugger gucky you're the one. You make bath time so much fun. Rugger gucky I love you. He he he he he."
She was soooo cute! In another book she named all the shapes including diamond and octagon - "That's a stop sing." I don't know. Is it just me or is she really smart for a 26 month old?

Pop Pop goes to gymnastics

Pop Pop came to gymnastics today to watch Quinn be always energetic ... and independent! She loves doing the obstacle course - her way. Although today she actually let Coach Carrie help her pull over the bar. :-) The other thing Quinn absolutely loves is stamps. From music class she's learned to ask for them on both feet, both hands and even her belly!

So proud

Not what you think by the title.....

Tonight we went to go see 3 one act plays at Rice. We are trying to expose Quinn to a variety of theater, so we figured that short one acts would be a good intro.
She did great... but that is not what I'm writing about.

Normally when we leave Rice for dance, we have two cars, and I usually have to get out just outside the parking garage to go get the other car. Tonight we took one car.

Quinn asked if I was leaving, and we explained that I already brought the other car home and I wouldn't have to leave tonight. Quinn said "I'm so proud of you Daddy."
Man, it was SUPER cute.

Great dinner

Quinn ate broccoli and rice for dinner... Even asked for more broccoli!

Who Knew: Being a bad influence is an inheritable trait

I've always been the person that would encourage friends to play instead of work, study, or otherwise do something less fun. Yesterday while Quinn was running around the circle at school, Sophie her 2 year old friend came out. She said, "Come run around with me". Sophie declined. "Come run around with me, It will be fun". Sophie declined again. "PPPPLLLLLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEEEEE".... it didn't work on Sophie, but man, I've had that same conversation with dozens of friends previously. (Although not to my memory since Quinn has been around)

Note to self

Don't ask a kid if they remember the taiko drum festival show from last night while you are carrying them on your shoulders. Unless of course you're in the mood to be slapped repeatedly.

Highest Levels of Blooms Taxonomy - Application

So we were reading Ella the Elegant Elephant tonight. Where if you haven't read it... Ella's hat that she is teased about basically becomes a parachute and ella saves the day.

Well, I'm fairly certain that Quinn has never actually seen a parachute in action (like as a device to gently guide someone to the ground from a high altitude), only in music class as a fun toy that you catch air in an sit under, or spin or, etc.

The book doesn't say it at all, only illustrates it... the book says "then the most amazing thing happened, they were safe."

Quinn says like a parachute.

Crazy!