The Keys to my Heart

She always had them, but recently she really learned how to use them. Keys that is. She has her own little set she'll carry around and stick in all the keyholes in the doors. Such a clever little girl! Thank God for deadbolt locks though! It won't be long before she is on her way out the front door!

Petra is in a very loving mood. She is giving everything hugs and kisses. Trees (hug, smooch), toys (big hug, kiss, kiss), the pillow (hug!), Mommy and Daddy (big hug! Big kiss!). I love our loving little girl!

She's become quite a walker. Sometimes coming home from daycare can involve walking 4 or more blocks as she keeps picking new directions to go. Going anywhere is not particularly efficient, but at least she isn't a couch potato! Now if we could only get her to go the direction we want her to walk in!

One of Petra's favorite stories right now is "Little Red Riding Hood." She loves both the cheesy pop up book version (wolf with no teeth, sent down river on a log) to the Trina Schart Hyman version (Red and grandma eaten by wolf, woodsman splits him open to rescue them). From the popup version she learned how to cry "help! help!" and now she'll stand in front of the window in the breakfast room and cry "help! help!" out the window. I just hope a cop isn't driving by or Mommy and Daddy will end up in jail! Petra likes to dress up in her "Red" out fit, with her hoodie sweater and a bucket. So cute!

Bad Parents!

We are bad parents- lounging by the pool at the mansion while poor Petra's blog sat unattended. We should be ashamed!

Petra's Uncle Joe is in town cutting a movie, and Petra is in love. She flirts with him endlessly, and will say his name over and over if we mention him in conversation. He's house-sitting a lovely old Spanish house up in the hills, and the whole family (well, half of it) came together to BBQ and hang out by the pool for the weekend. Auntie Naomi brought new books to read (and read and read and read) and Auntie Kirsten brought a kitchen (!) for Petra. Petra had fun in the pool with Gramma and cousin Adia, and ran herself ragged playing. She loved the room to run in the big house and courtyard, she was entranced by the koi pond, and she got to play a solo on a grand piano. What a lucky girl!Her cousin Adia really loved playing with Petra, and they did everything together, including take a bath. Poor thing, when we went home she fell asleep in the car and didn't even wake up when being changed into her sleeper and put to bed!

Watch your language!
Petra has begun broadening her vocabulary beyond your basic nouns (though she's added plenty of those, like wall, floor and ceiling). She added proper nouns (Unka Joe, and all the kids in her daycare's names), a bunch of verbs (get, hold, push, pull, catch, kick), a few adjectives (more most prominant), and she's started trying to figure out pronouns (me and you- try explaining those without sounding like an Abbott and Costello skit). She is really a language sponge now- she seems to learn every new word the first time she hears it. And of course, we really have to watch our own language as well. She seems to like to repeat the word "Crap!" whenever she hears it (though luckily rarely enough that she doesn't use it on her own (I hope!).

We've started to introduce Petra to the idea of using the potty. We bought one and had it around to let her get comfortable (hah!) with it, and have started to check with her if she thinks she needs to go pee or poop (she loves the words at least). She certainly doesn't have any fear of it! She does say yes occasionally and go in to sit on the potty, but no luck yet. Just stinky diapers (she loves to say stinky and pinch her nose!). Along the same hygiene lines, we've got her brushing her teeth every night. Well, eating toothpaste off her brush at least. She does wiggle it around in her mouth a bit, but she refuses to let us help her ("Hold" she says whenever we try to take it). She also likes to take floss and run it through her mouth (but not her teeth). It's probably better than nothing at all, but we've got a ways to go before achieving real dental hygiene.


Daddy got his first night home alone with Petra. Mommy was out of town on business. The evening went very smoothly (if you can call reading the Dora book 2.5 hours straight "smooth"), with no fuss at all. She took a book to bed with her, and didn't want to lie down, but sat and read while I left the room and she just read herself to sleep. Such a sweetie. Of course, morning she wanted Mommy and nothing but. She screamed and wandered room to room looking for her, and then going to the front door and yanking on it crying for Mama! So sad. She eventually screamed her way back to the crib, and once I put her in she again started reading, and when I came back in a few minutes to take her for breakfast, she was smiling and sweet again. I love this baby! Though I'm going to have to stop calling her a baby. She really is a little girl now, with opinions and everything.

Auntie Patti sent a pair of frog galoshes to Petra today, and she carried the box into the house, and as soon as she saw the boots she pulled off all her clothes (?!) and put on the boots to march around the house. Very cute!!! Petra likes running around naked ("nay"), though we've had a couple of puddles to clean up because of it. She's also getting good at taking off her own clothes- too good. We've been reading the Dora at the Beach book, and emphasizing the sunscreen application scene to her, to get her on board with the whole SPF thing. Luckily, it looks like she has Daddy's skin, so she tans rather than burning (so far at least, and Hawaii was a good test).

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!