Where is that instruction manual?

I have wished Baby Bear came with an instruction manual more times than I can count.

Last month, little one spikes a temp and had a cough. Nothing major probably but with that fever I thought it would be good to get checked out. When the nurse was running one of the tests, she says, this sounds like what all the kids have now and you just have to ride it out. In other words, you over reactive mom, you are wasting your money and our time on a common cold.

Fast forward to this month, Baby Bear has a cough and congestion (no geen boogies, no temp, just an intermittent, though, congested couhg). After last month's cold pricklies at the doctor's visit, I hesitated in taking her right away. Finally, seven days into it, Daddy Bear took her in. Bronchitis!! Poor little girl.

A Little Culture

Since Baby Bear has come along, "adult" type outings have been few and far between. Not that I want to attend the sympany, a musical, a concert every week...but every now and again would be nice. Since our outing to the circus was successful, I decided to step it up a notch and try a musical with Baby Bear in attendance. What better musical to start a munchkin with but Annie (a story about a munchkin).

I bravely purchased the tickets online. I did not notice until after I purchased the tickets that the recommended minimum age was 5 years old. Oh well. Only a year and a third too early. I decided to just forge ahead and was OK if we had to leave early (if Baby Bear started annoying the surrounding play goers).

Grandma Bear and I had planned out the day of the show. Shopping in the am with a lunch out to tire out little one to ensure she would take a nice long nap so that she would be refreshed for the long evening (the show did not start until 8pm and we knew it was going to be a late night for her). Dinner. Arrive just in time for the start of the show. Perfect. One little glitch. Baby Bear would not go to sleep for her nap. Ugh. This was going to make for a grouchy Baby Bear. Finally, she slept for about an hour. Defintely, not long enough but at least something. The rest of the plan went well.

Baby Bear was great at the show. She seemed to identify with Annie. Whenever Annie was not on the stage, she would ask where Annie was. We did have one small meltdown. She before intermission (thankfully), there was a big to do about finding Annie's lost parents. This scene, for me, went on and on. They were lost. They were missing Annie terribly. Why did Annie's parents not come and get her. Etc. Baby Bear's face just kept getting sadder and sadder, with tears welling in her eyes. Luckily, the scene ended and the lights came up....just as the chin began quivering in earnest and the faucets turned on. When asked, she sad she was sad that they could not find Annie's parents. (Baby Bear just cannot bear it when someone is sad.)

All in all, however, she loved the music (was singing "tomorrow" on the way home) and enjoyed watching the antics of the characters. I look forward to more of these "grown up" type activies...but will have to be very selective until she can fully grasp that these things are pretend.

Go to work!

Grandma Bear is in town. I probably do not need to say more given the title...but here is the rest of the story.

Last time Grandma Bear was in town, Grandma Bear painted Baby Bear's toenails. Baby Bear thought that was just grand. She has since asked me on occasion to paint her toenails. I am not of the toenail painting ilk so each time informed Baby Bear that she would have to wait until Grandma Bear came back to visit.

During breakfast this morning, Baby Bear asked Grandma Bear to paint her toenails (no chance she was going to forget this fun activity!). Grandma Bear stated, "Once mommy goes to work, we will paint your toes." Baby Bear looks at me with her big brown eyes and says, "Go to work, mommy!" Nice!

Daddy Bear's only comment was "welcome to my world" ..as Baby Bear sometimes pushes him aside if I am around.

The Greatest Show on Earth

To date, we have ventured to few very crowded venues. One of the main reasons is that I don't like crowds. Also, I was not sure how little one would respond to the noise and crowds of a big venue AND would she sit still for a longish show. A braver friend (with a 3 1/2 year old girl) convinced me to attend the Ringling Brothers circus that was in town.

We loaded up the girls and took off to the south for the show. We, along with 100s of our closest friends, arrived when the gates opened for the pre-show, where you can get up close and personal with the animals and the clowns. The girls loved this. At the clown college, the girls were able to sneak up to the rope in the front so could see everything close up. The giggles were priceless.

The show was entertaining. Fun was had by all. However, I believe they enjoyed the pre-show better than the show itself, because they were closer and it was less noisy.

Here is Baby Bear and me at the pre-show.

Hello

Once again, Grandma Bear has been poking me for updates. Since little one's bed time is nearly 10pm these days, it is hard to find blogging time. Don't get me wrong, we start our bedtime routine at about 8 with brush, book and bed...but....since we have gone to her big girl bed (which is much easier to get in and out of than her converted crib bed) she is up and down with requests for drinks, potty, monsters, etc. Super Nanny, where are you.

Last week, little one had a dentist appointment. To date, these appointments have been count the teeth and a pat on the head. That was what I was expecting again. Nope! X-rays, teeth scraping, flossing...the hole nine. They had an Eeyore with big teeth that helped through the entire process. I have to say, I was quite surprised at how well the munchkin did throughout this experience. She is just getting too big!

Grandma Time

Grandma time means swimming:

picking (and eating) blueberries:

a ride on the merry-go-round:

and painting toenails:

Proud Mama Moments

With a little one around, moments to remember seem to happen quite often. As one of these moments happen, I say to myself, I need to remember this. If the moment can be photographed, I do my best to photograph it. This past week, there were two moments to remember.

Earlier this week was Baby Bear's check up at the eye doctor. For this appointment, the doctor had asked that we practice the E game (point in the direction of the E on the eye chart) so that they could achieve a better understanding of Baby Bear's vision acumen with her glasses. We have dutifully been playing the E game and I was certain we would be successful at the doctor's office. Nope. She would not pay play the E game at all. On the off chance, I asked them to put up the standard eye chart with the letters to show Dr. M how well she knew her letters. Voila. She read every letter and showed her 20/20 vision (with her glasses). All is good with her eyes AND mama had a proud moment with little one showing hew knowledge of her ABCs.

Tonight, we were drawing at our art table. Baby Bear has been practicing drawing shapes. Tonight we were busily drawing happy faces. She then says, I am going to draw an R. Thn she proceeds to write her entire name. (She has been able to spell her name for a long time.) While we have been practicing letters a bit and have a stencil with all the letters, she has never written more than a letter or two before venturing off onto another endeavor, such as fillling in the circles. I sat with interest as she gripped her marker, concentrated and then... carefully WROTE HER NAME!! Proud mama moment....and I grabbed my camera before she filled in all the letters.