Ten!

Petra sat down in a basket of old baby clothes ("old"?) that we were sorting through this morning. "So many clothes!" Daddy says, so Petra...starts to count them! Pointing to one after another:

"on"
"two"
"tee"
Daddy's jaw drops "One, two, three" he repeats, dumbfounded
"fo"
"fi"
"shi"
"sha" (almost every S word is "sha" right now)
"eh"
"ni"
"two"

She just counted from one to ten unprompted!!! (well, if 10 is two, but just yesterday all numbers were "two"). Lots of praise and hugs!

I love this baby!!!

Opinions

Don't know where they came from, but sometime after we returned from Hawaii, Petra got herself some opinions, and pretty strong ones at that. Remember the sweet, querulous "nooo" that she used to have has been replaced by a no-nonesense "No!" She now makes it clear that she wants to be the one to "hol" things (no matter how messy that makes the eating). She goes limp and drops to the floor screaming if she doesn't want to go with you (or wants to go, or wants to play, or wants something, whatever that something may be, not really sure on this one!). She is still a playful darling, but clearly she is rapidly approaching the dreaded "terrible twos." It's just a phase. hope hope.

Grandpa and grandma came to visit last week, and Petra loved seeing them (especially "Pa"). She was a perfect darling when we went out to dinner at the (delicious) La Bodeguita de Pico. She was boogie-ing to the salsa music and scarfing pork. As we passed a yard sale on the way to the restaurant, she was gifted with (in her eyes) the best gift on earth- a Dora doll! She has been madly in love since then (as long as love includes the pulling out of hair). Awfully cute that she has fallen so hard for a symbol of the military-industrial-entertainment complex. Sigh.

Aloha!

Where have we been? Well, if you ask Petra, she'll tell you that she's been in "Awayee" (Hawaii), where she played at the "pooo" (Pool, or Beach), and especially had fun in the "sha" (sand) where she would "digdigdig" with the shovel and pail Mama bought her at the ABC store and smoosh the pear cakes (molded sand) that Mama would make her. We spent 10 days there (5 work related, 5 vacation), and Petra was a champ- good on the plane coming and going, and not too jet lagged at all. She had lots of fun as well. We spent the first 4 nights in Waikiki, and the last 6 in Hale'iwa on the north shore. Petra visited the zoo, the aquarium, the pineapple plantation, and the Waimea Valley Audubon Center. She even went to a Luau, where she had a great time chasing a little Japanese boy (the flirt!), and dancing to the music. Many days though we just hung out with our little girl and watched her stuff herself with about a million bananas!

Petra loved having Mama and Dada full time for 10 days. She also liked the hotel room and condo. She systematically dismantled the hotel room, including the telephone. Hopefully no one had to call us. We tipped housekeeping to make up for all the cheerios and noodles on the carpet (and the little puddle she left behind one morning after breaking away from Mama after the bath. Oops!). At the condo she made sure that each and every single coaster was carefully flung into a different corner. I'm not sure if we ever found them all. In the lobby she was also a little engine of destruction. She ran away from Mama and straight into a shop selling many small glass tchotchkes. Luckily, she barrelled straight through to the door on the other side, and Mama managed to steer her out without Petra touching or breaking anything- whew! About the only thing that kept her under control was watching "Dora the Explorer" with Mama in the mornings. Dada stopped by the hotel room between meetings one morning, and Petra didn't even notice he was there, she was so intent on Dora. Sigh, displaced by a fictional character.

We arrived early in the afternoon, and went out immediately for "caka" (coffee) and a walk. We, of course, walked by the beach at Waikiki, though we had no intentions of going onto the beach. Petra, however, had other plans. She saw the water, said "pooo" and took off across the sand and waded right into the water in her street clothes! She went in right up to her neck! Fortunately Daddy was wearing shorts so he could go in with her and not get (too) soaked himself. She loved the water and the sand, so Petra and Daddy played in the ocean while Mama ran to the store to buy a towel. She also fell in love with the pool at the hotel, and especially the floats that divided the shallow end from the deep end. She loved them so much she had to give each one a "huh" (hug) every time we went to the pool. Petra was in the ocean or the pool almost every day we were in Hawaii.

At the pineapple plantation we rode the Pineapple Express train. Petra had a great time on the train- she was excited just to see the "choo" coming down the tracks. The tour was narrated and included hawaiian music, and Petra was dancing in her seat the whole trip. She had such a good time, she didn't want the ride to end. When everyone else was debarking she was saying "choo" and making the "more" sign with her hands. So cute! We also did a walk through the botanical garden, and she played with the umbrellas over the picnic tables. She also got to feed the swarms of giant Koi in the pond. Petra was fascinated by all the Koi she saw on the trip, and at breakfast one day she found a Koi pond where she could actually reach in and pet the fish. Oh the giggles! She also got to touch a hermit crab at the aquarium, and a sand crab at the beach. Of course, her fondness for fish made for many close calls, with us 'rents running to catch her before she could fall (or jump) in!

We'll probably think of more witty anecdotes after we recover from jet lag, but that's it for now. There are a bunch more pictures on Flickr for your viewing enjoyment. Mahalo!

Too Cool for School

What else can I say?

Busy Bee

Petra has been a busy busy girl. First a long three day trip up to Big Sur for Auntie Alena's memorial, then a long weekend with grandma visiting. Plus, developmental explosions galore. This is one busy baby!

Last weekend we had 3 long days of driving for the memorial. Friday we drove to San Simeon (with a little break in Santa Barbara to have lunch and run around a bit, and another in San Luis Obispo at the Mission). San Simeon was socked in with fog and drizzle, but Petra loved the beach anyway. She collected each and every pebble she could find, and there were a few. She'd hand each one to Mommy or Daddy (who would surreptitiously toss it behind their back), then pick up the next. Very sweet. Geologist, I'm sure!

Saturday we drove the windy road up to Big Sur, and Petra slept the entire way! Such a good girl! We spent a beautiful day on the beach with Alena's family and friends, and said our good-byes. Petra really had a great time (proven by the repeated use of the word "beach" since we've returned. Nearly surpassing "park"). She ran in the sand, climbed on the rocks, ate sand, chased the waves, and watched a kite fly (and said "Kite"). You can bet she slept like a log all the way back to San Simeon that evening, and you'd lose! She slept until the last 5 minutes, then fussed and whined because she was still in the car when she awoke. Poor thing!

Saturday was then the long drive back, with a break in at the lovely town-cum-tourist-trap Solvang. Truth is, it's not much different than a mall, but the shops at least were independents instead of chains. Petra danced on the street as the clock tower rang (oh so cute!), and ran into an antique store to pound out a few notes on a $19,000 piano (yikes! Run!). She also enjoyed the magic show in the park, though she wouldn't volunteer to disapear into a hat.

This weekend was all grandma, all the time- grandma and a bath, grandma and stories, grandma and drawing, grandma and swings, grandma and hiking, grandma and a bath (again). Mommy and Daddy even got out of the house for an hour or two to run errands while grandma watched over (a sleeping) Petra. Of course, grandma was thrilled to see Petra. Thank goodness! Grandma leaves tomorrow (careful with the punctuation there), and will get to hang out with Petra in the morning on her own for a few hours. Good luck!

Now, what has PETRA been up to? Lots of new words, some with more than one syllable (Tractor = "tracdido" her current favorite), some replacing existing signs (Flower = "Fla"). She's always surprising us with what she knows. She can pick out all the animals in her books (show me the penguin, snake, owl, ghost (!) etc.), she matches objects she sees in one page of the book with the same objects elsewhere in the book. While her drawing skills may not be perfect, she can recognize all the objects and characters Daddy draws on the easel- and his drawing is FAR less than perfect. What a good little brain she has. She has also begun to do imaginary play. She'll take her stuffed animals or dolls and "feed" them with a spoon, or give them drinks with a cup. She also carefully tuck them into bed. We'll be having tea parties any day!

I Love this baby!

All wet

Yes, our supercool baby loves to take her baths, as long as she can wear her shades. Just mention "bath" and she will start saying "bath, bath" and jump off your lap, run into the kitchen, and start undressing. Silly girl!

Her favorite pastime, though, is watching slideshows of herself on the computer. She can sit there forever watching, or at least until pictures of her in the bath show up, then she runs into the kitchen and starts undressing. Silly girl!

We went swimming again today. She was really looking forward to it. Saying "pool" a lot, and doing swimming motions. Now if only she could swim! We need to get her some lessons before we go to Hawaii.

We picked up an easel at Ikea (Thank you co-workers for the birthday present!), and Petra sat on her bench drawing at the easel for about a half hour tonight (truly amazing attention span that baby has sometimes!). We'll have to start sending out her "art" to the g'rents! Refrigerators beware!

Petra's finally big enough to be carried comfortably on Daddy's shoulders. We went out to buy lottery tickets the other day (oh please oh please), and she rode back giggling and bouncing. She had such a good time that after a while she wrapped her arms around my head squeezed and said "hug!" Oh, my heart strings! I love this baby!

Astronaut

I'm sure our little girl is on her way to the stars! While out at dusk with Daddy she was pointing at the moon (and saying "mooooon!") and was reaching up as high as she could to grab it, giggling away. Then I'd lift her as high up as I could and she'd do a great super-baby pose reaching out as far as she could. Such a fun baby!

"Star" also happens to be one of her words (one of many we forgot to list).

And let's not forget the moonwalk training she's been doing. Two weekends in a row she's gone to birthday parties with bounce houses- and she loves it. Bounce bounce bounce! I think she likes it better when there are bigger kids playing rough so she bounces even harder. One small step for a baby, one giant bounce for Petra!

Poor baby though, she's got a double ear infection at the moment, and has to have 10 days of her favorite orange flavored amoxicillin. Oh wait, I mean, the amoxicillin that she hates with a fiery passion. Poor little thing, and poor Mommy and Daddy having to fight with her to get it down her throat twice a day.