Kids and Animals

Esther's sleep pattern has returned to normal (which this mom greatly appreciates) and the flea problem has abated (for now). I've never vacuumed so much in my life, which I guess isn't a bad thing.
Last Tuesday was the end of E's spring quarter in gymnastics and they put on a little show. At the very end of this post is a video. I tried to keep it as short as I could (but if any die hard recital enthusiast would like to watch the whole hour, all you have to do is ask). I didn't know how Esther would handle all the people watching her, but it didn't faze her at all, unless to make her more precocious.

She was very excited to get a medal after the show.

Gene's work load has finally eased off and he had this Tuesday off, so we headed to the zoo. By far our favorite exhibit was the penguins! Well worth the visit.

(E is in the purple hat.)

You'll have to watch the second video to see Esther and a gorilla inter-acting. This little one is a little more tame.

Soaking up some sun.

And of course we had to ride the carousel.

ABC's and 123's

This past week has been a tough one. Apparently Esther is trying to make me a morning person by waking up at 5:30am the last 4 of 5 days (actually one morning it was 4:30). Some of those mornings I was able to convince her it was way too early and she would go back to sleep. But it didn't work on the other days...and mommy was not a happy camper. I love sleep...understatement. I don't do well without it, so you can imagine the fun E and I have had the last few days. My patience is pretty worn, but I'm hanging in there. The one day E slept in until 9am, I woke up at 7:30 and couldn't go back to sleep...ugh!! To top it off, Gene has been super busy with work because they're finishing up their game. So I'm on my own. I admire all the single parents out there. I've only had a taste of it, and only have to handle it for about one more week, but I'm feeling the pain.
And then to add insult to injury, our cats have fleas!! Which would be annoying all by itself, but they love, love, love Esther's tasty skin. Poor darling has bites all over her that itch like crazy. I've been doing everything I can think of: vacuuming frequently, flea-combing the cats, washing bedding, using Frontline on the kitties, putting flea powder under the couch. It feels like a never-ending battle. I've heard that fleas don't like lavender, so next time I'm in Sequim I think I'll buy a bushel and spread it around the house. I've also heard that if you steep lemons overnight, it works good as a body wash to keep fleas away. I haven't tried this yet, but will give a go soon. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to any and all at this point.
Esther was being all cute with Sydney, covering him with her blankie. I thought "How sweet", until I realized she was sitting on him and he couldn't escape!

Pretending to be a sleepy cat.

She doesn't look too happy about the ponytails.

However, I think she was just concentrating on making a mess in the bathroom while I played with her hair.

She said Plex was going to outer space, thus the helmet.

Supervised egg cracking

On a walk along the Burke-Gilman trail recently, Esther and I were accompanied by a 4-year boy and his mother. Along the entire walk to the playground, this little guy made sure that I knew that Esther needed a tricycle. He even asked me when I was planning to buy it. Well, if that little boy reads this blog (ha!), he'll be happy to know that Gene and I took his suggestion. What a little salesman!!
Modeling her new helmet, elbow and knee pads. (It's a very "broken down" couture pose as they would say on "America's Next Top Model". Ahem, not that I watch that or anything.)

The new trike complete with parent steering.

After the "Great Egg Debacle of 2009," I let Esther crack a few eggs and she helped cook them. At night now, we hook up a bungee cord to the fridge door. I guess that should work until Esther figures out how to dismantle the entire refrigerator.

And here's our expert somer-saulter.

Mid "sault".

I need some coffee.

Esther loves eggs. But not to eat...just to play with. Sometimes I will let her help me crack them in to a bowl. This morning, at a very early 5:30 am, Gene and I were awakened to a sweet little voice outside our door saying, "Let me in." I opened up our bedroom door and realized the lights were in the kitchen. Esther was standing there all excited and said, "Look Mommy, I cook eggs." I glanced down at me feet and there was a sauce pan full of de-shelled eggs, about 9 or 10 of them. The carton lay on the floor along with a big eggy mess. I did not have the wherewithal so early in the morning to document this catastrophic event with pictures. I think the only thing I could mumble to E was, "uhh, that's a big mess." Oh, what fun it is to clean runny egg off the floor especially half awake. (Note to self: must buy refrigerator child-proofing.) On a positive note, Esther was kind enough to put all the shells in the sink with the garbage disposal. Luckily, we were able to convince E that it was much too early to be awake yet, and she did go back to bed. Now on to my second cup of coffee.
Self portrait.

Of course, robots!

Loungin' in bed.

Lots of puddle jumping pictures

We've put Miss E's new rain boots and raincoat to good use. And I'm glad I bought some boots for myself, because Esther "made" me jump in some puddles, too. Although we had lots of fun, I'm glad to see the sun now. Hopefully it will stick around for a little while.
Esther really enjoys being read to lately. For a while, she would only let you read her the same 5 books over and over and over again, but now we can pretty much read her anything as long as she gets a choice now and then. I read to her before her nap and her dad gets to read to her at bedtime. Her favorite books right now are "The Little Engine that Could", "Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", and of course the classics like "Everyone Poops", "Holes in Your Nose", and "Pass that Gas".

And now for those puddle pictures:

Throwing rocks

There IS a video this time!

Our daughter is a superstar about going to the potty now (no, that's not what the video is about), but I've been reluctant to risk going out in public without Esther in pull-ups. E has a little fear of public restrooms, but I realized it was really my issue, not wanting to deal with searching for bathrooms or wet pants. A lot of the time, Esther is more ready for things than her mommy. So I bucked up and decided today was the day. Esther made it through her gym class without a diaper or an accident. I had told her beforehand that if she needed to use the potty she needed to tell her teachers and then come get me. And she listened! So I guess this means her mommy's growing up a little bit.
It was time for new rain boots for our little puddle jumper as her others were getting a tad small and smelled a little funky after getting wet. So I ordered some from Zappos along with a brand spanking new raincoat.
She loves polka-dots so I immediately knew she would love her new boots.

The new outfit was fun, but the box was pretty exciting, too.

Esther enjoys instructing her daddy on what things he needs to draw for her. Mainly robots. And in this picture she's telling him to draw "snippies", which are robot hands apparently. (See video for more drawing fun.)

We watched a video of our travel buddies' "Gottcha Day" today, and Esther noticed us in the background. She immediately wanted to know where her yellow jacket was, so I pulled it out for her. She ended up wearing it most of the day. As you can see it's a little small, but it still fits. Can you believe my little 10 1/2 month old arrived in this?

Showing off her dimples with a cheesy grin.

Sorry, no video, Nana Marilyn...

We had a video of her jumping on the "jump-o-lene" (as Esther calls it) but she wasn't wearing any panties. So you might imagine the problem.
Daddy makes a nice bed.

This weekend we went to the Aquarium and had a grand ol' time. Esther liked the wave tank, but it was kind of loud.

Here's our cute little version of an

"ocpapus" (octopus).

The sea otters were our favorites. They are very cute and enter-taining.

Daddy always gets mauled when he gets home. Sometimes during the day, Esther will say, "Mommy, I miss Daddy." As soon as E hears his key in the lock, she screams with delight. He barely has a chance to take of his jacket and bag. E usually wants to wear his helmet, but this time she settled for his sunglasses.

Happy Easter!

We dressed our girl in all her Easter finery today, much to her chagrin. She is not one for dressing girlie. When we got to Sunday School, she told the teacher she was itchy. The nice lady understood and told her sometimes it was uncomfortable to have to dress up. Because of it being Easter and all, with a full house expected for the service, our church had a shuttle going to and from a large parking lot. Esther loved the shuttle bus. I think it was the highlight of her day!

She fell asleep on the car ride home and we put her in bed for a nap as soon as we got home. I took her jacket, shoes, and tights off, planning to leave her dress on. She barely stirred. Then I heard a quiet little, "take it off," meaning her dress. Apparently she was so uncomfortable that it was bothering her even when almost completely unconscious! So no girlie-girl here.

We had planned to take a photo of her looking so Eastery, but alas maybe next year.


Her shirt says, "My parents are exhausted." So appropriate!! She was trying out a new fashion statement: wearing her sweatshirt as pants.

She was a pro this year at dyeing eggs. She especially liked putting stickers on the eggs (and everything else she could find.)

Wow! Spring finally arrived!

Sometimes I wondered if it would ever show up. We had to take full advantage of the sunshine, even though everything was soggy. That's what rain boots are for, right?
Watching Esther enjoy the simple pleasure of splashing in puddles, brings back my own memories when the Arctic thaw would finally hit. Spring in Alaska was pure joy, at least for me. All the snow would begin to melt, leaving small little "streams" and slush everywhere.

Oh, glorious mud!

Gotta love simple pleasures.

Daddy's keeping a safe distance.

Dev and Karin bought Esther a Wonder Woman tiara.

And she wore it with such style.

Esther's picture of Daddy wearing it. (He wore it with style, too.)