Zoë had her five year checkup after we returned from Disneyland and she is growing perfectly normally. 50th percentile for weight (39 pounds) and 49th percentile for height (42 inches). It's hard to believe that she started out in the 3rd percentile! I knew there weren't any vaccinations this time but we were surprised by blood work so she freaked out about her finger poke. Coffee and a treat afterwards fixed it NO problem, though. I was so proud of her that she said hello and goodbye to Dr. Moore by name when he came in and left the room and had a normal conversation with him. For our shy-around-strangers girl, that was pretty impressive.
She is learning so much at school, recently talking about omnivores, herbivores and carnivores and animal adaptations (one of my favorite things to teach). We are both really excited that the weather is not as cold (lots of rain still though) so she can have a few less layers on when she heads out each week for school. She can recognize and sound out about half of her letters which, for not doing any formal teaching at home, I'm pretty happy about. She tries to sound out the first letters of words on her own which makes me so happy to hear her do! She LOVES to write her own messages on cards and pictures for family and friends and her drawings are becoming more and more sophisticated. We recently discovered a YouTube channel for drawing that she absolutely loves to do on her own during nap time. We recently spent two afternoons pumping up balloons with the bicycle pump to see how much air each one could hold. She did a great job with predictions and loved the POP of each balloon! I see more science afternoons in our future.
Zoë is working on skipping (a skill that has alluded her so far) but mastered pumping her legs on our swing set in the backyard last week! She is thrilled to be able to swing by herself (me too, since I have told her that I'm allergic to pushing kids on swings for the past two years). I've been noticing that her ballet skills are improving, too, and she looks more like a skilled dancer rather than an adorably uncoordinated toddler.
Sadly, Oliver looks as if he's transitioning out of his nap. :( We're at about a 50% napping rate and I am much more rigid about it now that I think a day without it just adds to the possibility of it being gone forever. Luckily, he really isn't much of a mess without it, but when he does nap he HATES to be woken up from it at 3:30 when we have deemed it the LATEST HE CAN SLEEP BEFORE HE HAS PROBLEMS GOING TO BED AT 7PM. He is still difficult and scream-y in general but has gotten MUCH better over the past month and is much LESS likely to have a raging tantrum over every little thing. He is also very sneaky and mischievous which at times completely gets on my nerves. A lot of the time he can grin his way out of things (with me at least).
He is loving ballet and is doing a great job listening to his teacher, Miss Kaeli. I'm impressed he can focus the way he does though when it was parent observation day he did get several reminders to remain on task. :) He is much better at leap frogging than any slow deliberate movement but he tries and is SO cute as the only boy in the class. The Little Gym is still one of his favorite things (mostly the air mat) and I am so proud to say that he stays with the group listening to his teacher about 95% of the time. Every once and a while he'll point to the other kids running wildly around the gym and I'll say, "No, listen to Miss Brooke" and HE ACTUALLY LISTENS TO ME. Shocking. He practically runs across the balance beam and dives at his favorite ball when it rolls out of the bucket at ball time. I canNOT believe his third birthday is right around the corner. My babies are no longer babies.
We are anxiously awaiting spring so that we can enjoy more sunshine and outdoor adventures (who am I kidding, the rain doesn't stop us!). We're looking forward to Easter, Oliver's Birthday, a trip to the Tulip Festival within the next month. Yay spring!
Welcome to our family blog! If you haven't yet read Zoë's miraculous entrance into our lives, check it out from the beginning (starting January 19th, 2013). Oliver's story starts on April 11th, 2015 and is equally exciting to our family!
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Friday, January 26, 2018
Disneyland! Days 5 and 6
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| Squealing on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree |
Our last day in the parks was great!
We had such hot weather (we were melting at 76 degrees) but the shade
was pleasant. We started out at DCA for
some Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, Toy Story Midway Mania, another round of
Radiator Racers (Z said she would go with me and then was TERRIFIED), and
delicious ice cream.
We headed over to Disneyland mid-day because the kids were
doing so well. We traipsed around and
rode some rides (Peter Pan’s Flight, Alice and Wonderland, Teacups, Storybook
Boats, Tarzan’s Treehouse) and hunted down some characters (Jasmine and Aladdin)
and sat for the Tangled show at the Royal Theatre before we had to hoof it to
our dinner reservation at the Rainforest Café.
After dinner we did some shopping and then went back for some packing
and an early bedtime.
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| Strolling through Downtown Disney |
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| So much spinning on those teacups all week |
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| My pretty 5 year old at the Rainforest Cafe |
We didn’t have park tickets for this day, so I made
reservations for another character breakfast, this one at the PCH Grill in the
lobby of our own hotel. I figured it
would be good for some Disney magic on our last morning without going to the
parks. We had some time before our
breakfast so we did some touring of the Disneyland Hotel and the Grand
Californian Hotel which were beautiful and fun to see. We also found some penny pressing machines
along the way. J
Our breakfast was so good!
The food was way better than the Plaza Inn and though there were only
four characters, the kids LOVED it. The
dance parties that they had a couple of times while were there were so cute and
though Oliver was initially scared of seeing Stitch, he overcame it and had a
good time! Plus, having it in the lobby
of our hotel was a HUGE bonus to just wander down there for breakfast. |
| Oliver gets his hat signed. "Your pal, Mickey Mouse" |
Our time in Disneyland had finally come to a close but as we
were waiting for our luggage at the bell service desk Mickey, Minnie, Daisy and
Stitch came out and played with our kids for about twenty minutes. Literally played tag and hot lava with them
in the lobby the entire time. It was
AMAZING! Such a special time and a great
send-off to the airport.
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| During their private playtime with Mickey, Minnie, and Stitch |
We could not have had more fun on our trip to the Happiest
Place on Earth. It was SO magical to see
the parks through the kids’ eyes (and honestly, to experience it for the first
time since I was a kid was pretty magical, too!). The Cast Members were amazing, the characters
and rides so much fun, and the memories we made will last us a lifetime.
Disneyland! Day 1
Disneyland! Day 2: Zoë's Birthday
Disneyland! Day 3
Disneyland! Day 4
Disneyland! Day 3
Disneyland! Day 4
Disneyland! Day 4
We all woke up on the wrong side of the bed on Tuesday. Well, everyone except for Chris. J The day was much warmer already by the time
we arrived at Disneyland and the lines were already long, too. We rode the teacups immediately and then the
kids and I stood in a (hot) line for the Storybook Boats, a ride Oliver had
been insisting upon since we first arrived.
It was hot. And the line was so
long. And Oliver wouldn’t stop playing
with the chains that separated the line.
Of COURSE, as soon as we were within one boat to go on the ride, Oliver
said he had to go potty. As anyone
knows…when the potty training child says he has to go potty, you LEAVE THE LINE
and go potty. Which of course, resulted
in me carrying him kicking and screaming all the way to a potty. Where he refused to go. So we waited outside on a bench while he
screamed for Chris to come back from the Fantasmic fast pass line.
After he recovered and was promised a ride on the boats another time, it was about time for our character breakfast at Plaza Inn with Minnie and Friends. We stopped by the wishing well to meet Princess Aurora and then went for a yummy breakfast. Oliver ate 4.5 Mickey waffles in addition to other things in between meeting Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Chip and Dale, Minnie and, much to Oliver’s horror, Rafiki. It was delicious and helped us perk up just a bit.
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| Scarfing Mickey waffles |
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| Nemo's Submarine Voyage |
Along the way we ran into Gaston and Woody and enjoyed the
Beauty and the Beast show at the Royal Theatre which was a fun way to relax and
sit for a few minutes. Afterwards we hit
up the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and then took the monorail back to the
hotel for a much needed nap. Zoë, again,
refused to nap. When naptime was over we
went swimming and then had some delicious pizza in the room before we headed
back to Disneyland for the Fantasmic show.
Disneyland! Day 1
Disneyland! Day 3
Disneyland! Days 5 and 6
Disneyland! Day 3
Today we went to California Adventure for the early magic hour and
enjoyed slower than usual crowds to ride Mater's ride and Ariel's Undersea
Adventure before the park opened to the general public. Zoë was very
worried about going on Ariel’s ride because she is scared of Ursula. We were peeking in the window at the ride
when a Cast Member came out to chat with us.
We told him her fears and he, without a pause, said, “Well, on this ride
you ride in a clamshell. And as soon as
the clamshell goes under the water, you are invisible! So Ursula won’t be able to see you after you
go under the water because of the invisible clamshell.” Zoë walked right on. Magic, I tell ya. 
We were walking to ride Toy Story Midway Mania when a cast member
pulled us aside and said he needed to find a "Sheriff of the Day" for
the park and chose Zoë! She got a badge to wear all day and a certificate
with her name on it that said she was entitled to go through the fast pass line
all day at Midway Mania and Astro Blasters, to the front of any meet and greet
line with Woody and Buzz, and "premium" seats for the World of Color
show in the evening. It turned out to be
an amazing perk as we went around and around and around again on the Midway
Mania ride all day!
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| Olaf showed up just as were about to leave! Great timing. |
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Peeking at Anna and Elsa |
We went and met Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Sven in Hollywood Land,
went on the Monster’s Inc ride and met Buzz using our Sheriff of the Day
perk. Going back for naptime was only
halfway in vain as Oliver took a great nap but Zoë did not. We really wanted them to nap well to be able
to make it until the 9pm World of Color show.
Back in California Adventure we had a yummy dinner at a quick service
restaurant with some coconut curry and chicken and rice. We rode all of the Bugs Life rides since it
was late and there were no lines since many of the other little kids were gone
already. And, of course, we went round
and round again at Mater’s and Midway Mania again before finally finding an
amazing spot to sit to watch the World of Color.
It seemed as if none of the Cast Members outside of the Toy Story
area knew about our Sheriff of the Day perk, but we finally found one who
excused herself momentarily to go speak with someone else, came back and
declared “It seems as if we get to perform some magic for you!” and unhooked
the rope of the nearest (empty) reserved section just for us. It was certainly magical. We had amazing spots to watch what was a
fantastic show (if you are planning on heading to Disneyland any time soon, DO
NOT MISS IT).
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| Mickey's Fun Wheel behind where the World of Color show takes place |
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| Our great seats for WoC |
Thankful for the stroller we borrowed from friends, the kids fell
asleep on the walk back to the hotel so we enjoyed some grown-up browsing time
in some shops and treats from the confectionary.
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