What a Weekend!

This weekend has been AMAZING! The temperatures were in the 60's yesterday and hit 71 degrees today. It allowed for me to have a fabulous 16 mile run early yesterday morning. My run was then followed by delicious homemade French Toast and applewood smoked bacon... I LOVE having a husband who can cook and enjoys cooking. This late brunch didn't allow for Carly to get outside much in the morning, except to wave to me when I ran by. However, she made up for it after nap time. We spent the afternoon playing outside. Carly walked, rode in her wagon, played on her slide, explored the garage, and overall just enjoyed being outside. She even played right through snack time. This allowed for us to meet Carly's BFF and her parents for an early dinner at a local eater near Bank of America Stadium. It was very cute to see the two girls interact and eat their different "table" foods.

Today Carly had another playful morning with Dave while I helped with the 4th and 5th grader at Church. After lunch and Carly's nap we all ventured back outside. Dave went out to run 6 miles, while Carly and I enjoyed the sunshine. She played with her toys, visited with different neighbors, and walked down to visit and pet a family's 3 dogs. After Dave's run we took Jake for a stroll around the neighborhood and decided to change our dinner plans. Instead of shrimp on top of a salad, Dave ran up to the store and picked up steak, asparagus, and an onion for a grilled dinner. I LOVE meals like this one.

We know this weather is just a tease and the cold weather will return soon enough, but we enjoyed as much of it as we could.

Copy Cat

I just finished putting Carly to bed and watching her copy her daddy. Carly's bedtime routine involves a nightly bath, putting on her pajamas, goodnight hugs and kisses by both parents, then one parent stays behind to give her a little milk during a calm and quiet time before placing her in her crib. When it is my night to stay behind Dave says goodnight to Carly and then kisses her on the cheek. He then says goodnight to me and gives me a kiss, too. Tonight after Dave kissed me Carly kissed me too. Dave and I chuckled and tried this portion of our routine again. She again copied Dave and grinned at the end.

This is the type of "mommy" moment that other mommies try to explain to you when you are expecting; however, you just don't understand them until they are happening to you.

Dentist

Carly had her first dentist visit today, per her pediatrician's request. She was her happy go lucky self walking into the office, and immediately wanted to check everyone and everything out. After exploring the waiting room and trying to explore behind the receptionist counter it was our turn to go back. The X-ray room was nothing special, and Carly did NOT enjoy being in it. After our first attempt Carly threw her arms up towards one of the hygienist helping and allowed her to walk her all through the exam area. Finally, she was willing to come back to me - until she realized I was putting her back in my lap for another x-ray attempt. After this attempt, we had 2 successful x-rays - one of her upper jaw and one of her lower jaw. Originally, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of Carly getting dental x-rays this early in life just to "see." However, it was explained to me that what her dentist really wanted to see were the roots of the teeth and how they were developing/growing.

The exam area had various cartoon characters painted on the walls, a lot of large windows, 4 brightly colored exam chairs, and two private rooms off to the side. In this area Carly was very comfortable and sat in my lap very patiently (except when she wanted to be entertaining) while we talked to two of dental hygienists. Her exam by the dentist was referred to as a lap exam. Carly sat in my lap facing me before laying back and placing her head in the dentist's lap. Before we got Carly in position, the dentist did explain to me that it would be easier for her to examine Carly's mouth if she did scream. Screaming would open her mouth up wide and allow a very clear view. The first moment Carly flipped back she did open her mouth in protests; however, as soon as the dentist began the exam Carly fell silent and let her finish. We were able to feel 7 teeth on top and 8 on the bottom.

Following the exam and the doctor's reviewing of Carly's x-rays, she said she wasn't worried at all. Carly has baby teeth and will have adult teeth. At the moment we are waiting for the baby teeth's roots to continue forming; however, at the moment her two bottom teeth are right at the gum line and 6 of her top teeth are fairly close.

We will head back in 6 months for another visit, hopefully Carly will enjoy her 2nd visit as much as her 1st (minus the x-rays).

Eating

Carly has had a lot of fun with food today.

After a normal breakfast, she and I ventured out to "Wally World." The last thing I placed in our shopping cart, before heading to the checkout line, were bananas. Carly started to gesture for one, and even was using her sign language to say "please." I picked out a ripe one and gave it to her still peeled. She held onto it while she rode over to the register (I was doubtful this would actual happen, I figured it would hit the ground 1/2 way there) and was even willing to hand it to the cashier without a fuss. Thankfully the lady was very friendly and could tell Carly wanted it right back. Once I had paid and loaded the cart up, I peeled the banana and Carly began chowing down. By the time we got to the car and I loaded the three bags into it, Carly was finished with her banana and ready to get in the car.

This banana snack pushed her lunch time back slightly; however, she was eager to help feed me my lunch.

Surprisingly enough, her dinner tonight was HUGE (for her standards). She wasn't adventurous, but she ate a lot... ham, cheese, 2 slices of apple, some fruit cocktail, and a 6oz of pureed squash and zucchini.

Building with Daddy

For Christmas Santa brought Carly a set of cardboard boxes. These extra-large blocks are a lot of fun to stack, but even more to knock down when built up into a tower or other structure. Last night Dave started building a wall across our family room floor while I made dinner. He was on one side and Carly & I were on the other side of this wall. Carly then figured out (with a little assistance from her dad) to kick the wall to get on his side.

Dave's wall.

Kicking down daddy's wall.

Reading with daddy once I broke through.

Helping to rebuild the wall after "getting" daddy.

This continued tonight; however, this time on a larger scale. Last night not all of Carly's cardboard boxes were assembled; however, when Dave returned home tonight he began putting together the remaining blocks. So tonight, Dave built a wall using all 40 blocks... which Carly immediately kicked through.

Dave building the wall tonight.

Carly "helping"

Outside Time

Brrrr, it's cold outside!!! However, this did not stop Carly from wanting to spend A LOT of time outside. She went outside and pushed her lawn mower, ran up and down the driveway, walked to both corners near our house, played in our yard and a neighbors, climbed and slid down her slide, and then requested to go for a wagon ride. Altogether we were probably outside for just over 30 minutes, which isn't long - except it was COLD! The weather didn't seem to faze her though.

Banana Monster

Carly enjoys eating bananas. Today I gave Carly the whole banana just to see what happened. I have given her long sections of banana's cut in half, and within the past 2 weeks I have given her 1 inch sections of whole bananas, but never the whole thing. Well, she acted like she had been holding an entire banana for months.

I imagined this video to have "I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas," but we don't seem to have it on i-Tunes at the moment. Off to the library we go on Tuesday in search.