A Nugget Of Information... 4-Piece Meal. And a Chokkit Milk!

Monday 6/28 - Slept in too late to do planned activities, so we went to the new McDonald's with the awesome play area. It was busy, since we were there at the beginning of lunch, but we had a good time anyway. Unfortunately, we had so much McDs this week, that by Saturday, when asked what she wanted for lunch, Little Z was answering "Chikken nuggetss, fench fyess, anna chokkit milk!"

Tuesday 6/29 - Our first class at GymStarz gym. We've been going there for a year now for open play, but haven't ever made it to a class before. One of my mom clubs got us a reduced rate for a club-only class where they run small groups of kids, divided by age around the gym, each with their own teacher. At first I was worried, as I had assumed it was a parent/child class, as all of her other gyms have been until age 3.

Little Z doesn't like new adults, and freaks out if touched by one, even if they are trying to help her or prevent her from falling. Since we've only ever been there for open play, Z didn't want to listen to the teacher and do what her group was doing. Fortunately, Miss Rae said that I could stay with her, so even though Z refused to follow directions and participate with the group, she didn't get to run around at will, and had to sit on my lap if she didn't want to follow the group. So hopefully she'll learn that class time is different, and become more comfortable with the teacher.

At the end of our class, we got to go on the big trampoline, which we aren't supposed to play on during open gym, so she's only been on it once when we broke the rules with a friend and her kids. (I could hardly tell her we weren't allowed to play on it when her friends were!) She sat on the trampoline without me and listened to the teacher, and even let her touch occasionally to help. I knew she'd want to jump on the big trampoline, and  I was right. She wanted it soooo bad that she did a great job sitting still and watching and listening and waiting her turn.

After gym, we went to McD's again, since I hadn't packed a lunch and we were headed up to see my doctor, scheduled to coincide with her falling asleep on the drive up and us sitting in my car napping until my appointment. I managed to forage enough snacks and an emergency juice box from the stash in my car and diaper bag to last us until we got home after. Z loved getting to play with her 'friends' in the gift shop (a Gund Sesame Street plush display.) She had quite the collection of Abby Cadabbys snuggling on the floor before I made her put them away. Many hugs and tears and 'I wiwl miss you vewwy musch!'-es later, we got my appointment over with and went home.

After dinner, Z got her first fireworks experience, using sparklers. She gained a healthy respect for fire, and is now VERY good about listening and obeying us around fireworks. Unfortunately, she gained this maturity due to a little mishap when she refused to drop the spent sparkler stick, and tried to grab it at the top, which was still hot.

Wednesday 6/30 - Strawberry picking plans cancelled due to last-minute decision to meet up with my sister and nieces at KidsQuest Children's Museum in Bellevue. Since she was running late and had a long trip via ferry, I had time to make a nice lunch of cookie-cutter cheese, apples (leftover from McD Happy Meals) and berries. I had planned to make pocket sandwiches out of the cheese scraps, with my Pampered Chef tool, but was foiled due to lack of bread. So instead I made 'Peanut Butter Roll-Ups' with leftover tortillas, PB and honey. They were a hit! Z was snaking them out of the container (not pictured... I thought I had taken a pic...) as fast as I was able to cut them up into little sushi rolls. I made ferry boat (my choice - since they took a ferry to get to us) and duck shaped (Z's choice) cheese. Scraps were baggied and given to Tually to take home, since she LOVES my 'puzzle cheese.'

After letting the girls run wild at the children's museum, we stopped by Grammelena's house to see how she was doing, since she lives nearby, and had had eye surgery that morning. I'm sure she appreciated being kicked onto the couch so I could transfer my napping child to her bed! Hopefully having 3 toddlers running around didn't set back her recovery TOO much! We ate my cheese shapes, but my nieces weren't interested in my PB roll-ups. They don't like PB and won't eat sandwiches of any kind. Wierd! My sister loved them though, and scarfed them down! Most of the berries and apples were snarfed, with only a few once-bitten casualties left behind. My sister cooked up some home-made hot fudge sauce and we had ice cream sundaes before she had to go catch their ferry home.  I picked up McD's for dinner (my mom's request) and we ate with her, since my husband was out with some High School buddies for dinner that night. 

Thursday 7/1 - Had a late-morning appointment with a specialist in my doc's office, so we didn't do anything fun. I did have time to pack a lunch, which we didn't end up eating. Instead we ate at the hospital cafe. Z refused to nap on the ride home, so I tried to 'play-through' as we call it, and keep her up until an early bedtime, but she thwarted me when I was engrossed in watching Avatar for the first time and I found her sacked out on her little foam fold-out couch in front of her portable DVD player.

Friday 7/2 - I have no idea what we did. The camping-in-the-park playdate got cancelled due to rain, and I have no notes or pictures. I'm fairly certain we played in the front yard for a bit after nap. Other than that, the only thing I know we did was go to Main's Japanese Buffet for dinner, where Z ate calamari, colored roe (and some sushi that was under all that roe!) and [drumroll] FROG LEGS! We take her around the buffet and ask her if she wants each dish, even if we think she won't want it. But she surprised us by saying 'yes' to the frog leg. Ooookay. And she tried it, and said she liked it, but she has a hard time with meat on bones, and doesn't eat much meat anyway, so she only gnawed on it for a little bit. 

Saturday 7/3 - In the afternoon we had plans to go to our friends' daughter's 1st birthday party, so we went shopping for a haircut (for my husband) and a present (for the birthday girl.) Since there was a HairMasters (or some similar chain) in the same complex as our local Fred Meyer, we opted to shop there. After adopting each and every baby doll, cuddling it, singing to it, and then giving it a tearful goodbye, we managed to find a nice present for 'Beebee Mornan' (a talking tea set.) We almost escaped, until Z saw the drop-off playland. She will almost never go anywhere without me or Daddy, but I decided to let her try. She did pretty well. She did great until she saw me peeking through the glass (she hadn't been looking for me or anything, she was just looking around and I didn't duck fast enough) which ruined our social experiment. She refused to play anymore, but also refused to leave. 

We finally extracted her with promises of food (specifically, a 'dirt sundae with gummy worms' from Shari's.) But when asked at the car what her preference was, (Taco Bell? McDonald's? Pancakes?) she rattled off the contents of a Happy Meal. So we went to McD's. Again. Ugh. 4th time this week! I feel flabbier just thinking about it!

She refused to nap, and I had promised to make meat and cheese flowers and butterflies for the party (since my friend had loved the ones at Z's birthday party, and didn't have any cutters at home,) so I got to work! Z fell asleep on the way to the party, but that short nap was enough to last until bedtime. She loved the pop-its and streamer-shooter things that go BANG! ( I don't know what they're called) that they had for the older brother (age 9?) and other guests. She didn't do as well in accepting that the present we chose wasn't for her. She's been really good about presents for her cousins, understanding that they aren't for her, and not whining or throwing a fit about it. She did well at our 4-year-old neighbor's birthday. And her preschool friend's party (son of one of my MOMS club friends.) But this one...  She really liked it. She got a little plastic tea set and dishes for her birthday, and enjoys playing with them and 'feeding' her toys, so this 'magic' one that talked was enchanting to her.

"Open it for me." 

"No, that's for Baby Mornan, remember? For her birthday party."

"Open it Beebee Mornan's present!"

[Later, when wrapping...]

"Open my present for me please."

"No, that's Baby Mornan's present. She gets to open it. Do you want to help wrap it?"

"Okay. For Beebee Mornan. I wrap it wittjoo."

[After wrapped.]

"Open it! My present! Open it for me!"

"It's Baby Mornan's present. For her birthday."

"NoOoOooOo It's MINE!"

All previous times, I've only had to remind her once or twice that the toy was for someone else and she'd let it go. But once the deed was done, she was content poking at it and the other presents in their boxes after they had been unwrapped.