Holly Daze

Jumpy Jump Jump Jump

2012-01-27T02:43:00.000-08:00

Here we are on a fun play date at Chloe's house. I will make note of the various costume changes, there are many. But especially I would like to note that YES in fact they are jumping off of Chloe's slide onto the gym mat. This is like a 3 foot jump at least, Chloe had done it before and did it first, I was shocked, and so nervous about letting Holly jump but she super wanted to and she did. The photos are a little blurry obviously because they are in motion, fast motion leaping out towards the camera, but boy with they have fun. In fact they were so hyper we were sure that they needed to get outside, so took them to the Cabana! It was a fun day.

USS Hornet

2012-01-26T00:41:00.000-08:00

Over the Holiday we went on a really fun and unique play date with Mira. It was a last minute thing, Mira had an extra ticket and it sounded like a lot of fun. So we headed over to USS Hornet to explore an air craft carrier. It was so neat to see where the men slept and ate when on long boat rides, there was a torpedo, but I think the best part was the airplanes. Holly really liked them, in fact she wanted to climb into each one which of course the girls could not do. We didn't see everything, but we saw a lot. There were sections that we didn't think would be ideal to see with toddlers the engine room is available for tour but not with kids and there is the navigation area but that is also a guided tour and our kids kinda liked doing there own thing in there own sweet time.

Daly City Playhouse with Lucian

2012-01-25T00:20:00.000-08:00

This was a fun new place we visited over the holiday Break. it is a bit of a drive as it is in Daly City, but that gave us the wonderful excuse of seeing David, Tracey, and Lucian. This place is like a giant maze of climbing tubes, crawling area's nets, slides, ball pits bouncers, ect. Holly had a wonderful time but she did need some help navigating. I think if she was there with a large group of friends it might reduce her anxiety and she would run around more on her own chasing her less inhibited play mates. That said she enjoyed exploring. She also had a fun time playing with Lucian. Lucian had his favorite area's too, particularly the Ball Pit and Bouncer. Afterwards we decided to go to a quick brunch at iHop, it was very yummy, Holly actually sat and ate her eggs and toast. She had fun hanging with Lucian and later we exchanged Christmas Gifts which was also tons of fun. We probably won;t see Lucian again until Holly;s Birthday. his new Baby brother is due in the next few weeks and family is already making its rounds to help out with the last month of pregnancy and the upcoming arrival. We can;t wait to meet the baby when he arrives and of course see Lucian again.

Playdate at Alice's House

2012-01-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

Three's a Crowd

2012-01-24T01:24:00.000-08:00

Here we are at Head Over Heels, and for the most part it was a lot of fun. But Holly had her first "Best Friend Quarrel" See invited to play was Maya, Chloe, and Holly. When Sara, Chloe and Holly all three play together they have no problems and play really well. But Holly and Maya don;t know each other as well. Chloe however has recently become much better friends with Maya. She goes to pre-school with her three times a week, and though she used to see Holly that often since Dylan and the pregnancy we are Lucky to get together more then Once a week. I might sound like I am whining, really I am not. Chloe and Holly are still the best of friends. Holly asks for her every day and they play great together. But on this day Chloe wanted to play with Maya. For whatever reason she didn't feel like playing with them together, and she told Holly. The poor thing had her feeling hurt, of course she did when Chloe said she didn't want to play with her she cried and didn't understand. I was so sad and upset for her but there wasn't much I could do but cuddle and comfort her. Later of course Chloe wanted to play with her and apologized. Before long it was forgotten. I know it won't be the last time Holly has her feelings hurt, but it was the first so of course I will remember it.

Swaddled

2012-01-23T02:26:00.000-08:00

After looking at some baby pictures Holly asked to be swaddled like a baby. She sleepily watches Cinderella

Holly Babysit's Chloe ;-P

2012-01-23T01:51:00.000-08:00

These are from this fall when Chloe came over to play. We were missing her because of course her Mommy has a new baby and is super busy, so she doesn't get out as much as she used to. I offered to babysit so Kathy could run errands with just Dylan. It was a fabulous time. They played music, had some snacks, had a picnic, jumped around in the ball pit with all the stuffed animals. later they were in full blown dress-up mode, scarves and jewelry, and shoes, and multiple dresses, they put on a fashion show. It was adorable.

Butterfly Astronaut Ballerina

2012-01-22T01:38:00.000-08:00

Another Day, another play date with Aidan. This was about a week later, also over the Holiday break. Habitot was have a special evening event and we attended. Kiana and Olivia were also there which was a special treat. The kids had such a blast. They did Glue and Glitter Art projects, Played in the Water, Painted, and basically had a lot of fun.

It is so neat seeing how her play in the Grocery store area is changing over time as she becomes more sophisticated and depending on who she is playing with. On this day she first shopped, getting all of one kind of food for me. Then she would check out and pay the cashier for the food. They she would serve it to me at the restaurant and then she would be the stocker who had to fill the shelves back up. We were playing with some other kids, Kiana, Aidan, and Olivia also so each one would take turns being the different rolls, where they were the cashier or the waitress. In some of the rolls Holly mostly followed along with the big kids, but when it came to being the waitress she was very specific about what I was ordering, telling me what I wanted to eat and then also listening to my order and finding the right food for me. Another favorite roll was the shopper as she loved filling the carts.

Later the kids stumbled upon the face painting station, we had recently been at a birthday party with face painting so Holly told me she was making a Butterfly. She painted her face all on her own the first time. But then ended up wiping it all off later. She wanted to do it all by herself, even though i offered to paint a butterfly for her several times. So then Kiana told me she wanted me to make her a butterfly which I did. Then Aidan decided he wanted one too. Finally Holly, decided Mommy could make her a butterfly also. The kids were thrilled and went off to play. The cutest however was when they decided to dress up like Astronauts with there Butterfly masks on.

it was a wonderful evening and we had a great time. It was a special Opening just for Families with Kids with Special needs so it was not crowded at all, it is wonderful to have events like this in the community parents get a chance to mingle and know there kids are playing in a safe environment with other parents who are more then accepting of whatever little quark there kid may have.

Superfranks with Citlali

2012-01-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

Citlali Meets Teacher Jon

2012-01-21T00:13:00.000-08:00

Here we are again at Jon's School of Music. On This Sunday we had the pleasure of inviting Citlali to Join us for a trail music class. Tyler was all in attendance. Citlali LOVED it. That girl has some Rhythm. Teacher Jon was really impressed with her. She already kept a beat was a great little dancer and played all the instruments. She had a wonderful time. At this class we had some old favorites like drums and Keyboard and xylophone, but also there was a Cello, an Electric Guitar, and a Harp. All fun new things to try out and play. The Electric Guitar I thought was especially cool because it was amplified and wireless. Holly liked the sound it made a lot. It was neat how she was making correlations between the Harp and the Guitar and comparing them to each other. At another class more recently the Kids played a French Horn and then Holly saw a Tuba on a stage and told the musician that she knows how to play that. It was cute. I love having her exposed to so many instruments.

Look it's Aiden out the Window

2012-01-20T01:32:00.000-08:00

The other day we were hanging out in the Living room, It was just after winter break begun and we hear someone saying it's Holly's house. We were board and I was contemplating what to do next so I jumped up to see who was outside. it was Aidan and Alley Rose with there grandmother. Now she didn't know Holly nor was she particularly paying attention to Aidan's insistence to stop at this particular spot on the street, she just wanted to cross and head off to the park. But when Holly bounded down the steps and greeted her friend, it Clicked for Grandma. We decided to join them and headed across the street and into the park. The journey was half the fun, the kids stopped to climb trees and ran through the grass playing chase. When we arrived at the park they had a blast all playing together. Grandma was visiting from out of town and had decided to give Aidan's Mommies a little break. I was mighty impressed that she ventured out on her own with three kids, Alley Rose, Aidan (Who is in Holly's class at school) and there new baby sister. Aidan's grandma is also from New York so we had a great time chatting and making each others acquaintance while the kids played. It was a nice surprise and a fun way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

White Alligator, White Alligator, What Do You See?

2012-01-19T13:56:00.000-08:00

Who's the Boss?

2012-01-19T01:46:00.000-08:00

The other day we had a playdate over at Theo and Throy's house. The Mommies were sitting at the table chatting, I had Knitter's envy and was inspired to start a new project. Theo felt like hanging out with the grown-ups which left Throy to play with Holly. it was adorable. As they ran down the hall playing tag Holly shouting, "Come on Throy" I just had to chuckle as it was so nice to get to observe her having a chance to be the lead in playtime and boss someone else around. I suppose because he is at least a year younger, and because he has a big brother whom he follows around and listens too, Throy made for the perfect playmate. If Holly wanted to jump in the trampoline, he was right there. If she decided to play Monster's or Dinosaur or sword fighting he was happy to comply. We had a great afternoon and it was a lot of fun to catch up with my friend and have an adult conversation too.

Ishani & Asheema's Birthday Party

2012-01-18T13:24:00.000-08:00

Here we are at Ishani and Asheema's Birthday Party. The girls were turning 4 and 6. It was held at a cool Yoga studio in town where their mom teaches classes. There Dad Tom works with Joel at Smule. it was very sweet of them to include us in this fun celebration. They had a really cool Face Painting station set up and the artists were amazing. They did Pirates, Dog's, Lion's Butterflies, and neat winter scenes. Originally Holly picked out a butterfly picture but she had to softly close her eye to do the design. When asked to close her eyes she squints up her entire face closing them really tight which makes it so they can't do the painting at all. So we decided instead to do the Snowman and snow flake scene instead since that was just her cheeks and forehead. But in the end she really wanted that butterfly and made Mommy get it :-) Afterward we had to go shopping at Costco and we got loads of compliments, it was fun.

Lindsay Wildlife Museum

2012-01-18T01:14:00.000-08:00

This is a new little nature center in the Walnut Creek area. It was actually our first time going. On our way over we stopped at Noah's bagel's to grab a bit to eat. We arrived surprisingly early, as the first ones there. They had live owls and a Hawk and an Eagle which was really neat. They did a few nature presentations, one with a snack another with a bunny and the kids learned about the animals and even got to pet them. There was a fun play room, two floors of exhibits to explore and LeeLou, Kaylee, and Mira joined us. We had a great time. Afterward we went to Korean BBQ for lunch and ran around the Asian food store. The girls had a lot of fun hanging out together.

Grove Park - 9/10

2012-01-17T04:18:00.000-08:00

Here we are at a new park with Aidan, Alley Rose and Samantha. Aidan and Sam go to school with Holly so it is always a treat to see them outside of class. Alley Rose was in Sam's class last year and in class with Holly over the Summer. Aidan and Alley don't get out of school until around 3:00 and normally Sam is there till 5:00 but for 8 Mondays this Fall Sam was taking a Special OT Class at Samuel Merritt and afterward she was ready to Play, Play Play. We have been to a few of these now, Sometimes Camden and Camille come too, I think they were here on this visit, though there aren't any pictures of them.

So Holly and I would typically go to lunch after I picked her up and then head over to this park. It is called Grove Park and it was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time playing in the Sand, climbing, jumping, and running around. Aidan pushed Holly on the swing which was really sweet and following Alley Rose's lead the little guys jumped off the pillars into the sand, Holly torn between caution and impulse Jumped, but only from the lowest pillar, she was very cute. Alley Rose and Aidan have a new baby sister and Holly was of course gushing over her, she loves babies. We had a fun afternoon.

I'm not sure if i rated this park yet so I will do so now.

Slides - 1 - Yes, there are several. This park actually has two playgrounds the "big kid" one and the gated toddler one, both fun and both with slides

Swings - 1 - Yes, both Baby and Big Kid swings

Surface - 1 - Sand and Bounce turf. There is a grassy area near by and some sidewalk. The Sand is pretty nice

Shade - 1/2 - I haven;t been here in the summer so I am not sure how hot it will get, the playgrounds are not in the shade but the table and seat area between the two does have trees and shade

Climbing - 1 - There are climbing walls and bars to climb on besides the pillars

Parking - 1 - Street parking so far has not been a problem but its not a lot.

Bathrooms - 1/2 - There is some type of rec or community center right there that I assume has a bathroom though I have not had to use it and assume it would be locked at night

Distance - 1 - This is about 1-2 miles from our house

Friends - 1 - There have been other kids there on the various visits, it is not over abundant, but we have never been there alone, plus so close to our place it is convenient to invite friends to.

Fun - 1- It was a lot of fun, we enjoyed ourselves.

I was surprised by what a great rating this park got, as it is not my favorite. Don;t get me wrong it was a lot of fun but it isn't one I think of immediately like in the top 10 but it actually rates higher then some parks I go to more often. I was recently reading a blog from someone in LA who rates parks and uses a Uniqueness scale, I am thinking of this summer revisiting all of the parks and re-rating them, maybe making a collection or special blog or App with the info and I am thinking of adjusting my scale, as obviously distance might not be a useful measure for anyone who doesn't live at my house. This other person also used a 5 star rating in each category giving more flexibility, like for a category like slides, there were two they were fun but some parks have like 8 including twists, tunnels, bumps, ect. and that park would get the same rating as this one using my scoring.

McDonalds

2012-01-16T04:10:00.000-08:00

So we don't go to McDonald's a lot. it's not never, but we do go a few times a month. They make it really hard to resit however when they do things like build this incredible playroom inside. The other day we saw one out of town off the highway where the play area was outside and the slide and climbing tubes went onto the room of the restaurant. It was kind of crazy. The McDonald's in our neighborhood does not have this. But a while back we were driving to Fremont to visit a friend. We ended up being almost an hour early around lunch time and just around the corner from her house was this McDonald's.

Now this is the real reason I am posting about this. Last time we went we were with Joel and driving home from LA. Holly got stuck up the top, she was too afraid to go down the slide and Joel had to climb up to help her down. He does not like places like this for that very reason, but I parent in the style of letting her get herself stuck in sticky situations. She will either figure it out, or I will get a big kid to help her, or I will help her. But that's how she learns what her limits are. I have been lucky with this philosophy as so far it has not scarred her and she is still as adventuresome as ever. That's not to say she isn't cautious, she is sometimes, but often her eyes and impulse is a bit larger then her ability and she needs a little help.

On this day however, she ran into the playroom on her own while I was in line ordering some Chicken Nuggets. She took off her shoes and put them in a cubby, she tried to make friends with two little girls who were playing, it turns out that neither spoke English, at least not with there parents so that might have been why they didn't respond to her. But it didn't discourage her. She climbed up to the top to the play structure went down the slide and repeated this several times before I even got into the room. When I came back with the food she ran over, gave me a big hug and then said, "Watch Me Mommy" and then ran up and waved from the window at the top of the structure. She even didn't mind when the kids piled up at the bottom of the slide crashing into each other, she thought it was fun.

it was a nice lunch, Holly played, I checked email on my phone and watched her while snacking on nuggets and when the time came she was ready to go and we headed to our friends house. I however was not only a proud Mama, but in awe of what a big girl she is becoming.

A Playdate with Brendan

2012-01-15T16:28:00.000-08:00

This was our first time playing one on one with Brendan and Holly had a fabulous time. newly moved into there new house in San Leandro we drove down for a visit. Holly was excited to see baby Evan and even tried to climb into his little play gym. Both kids were a little goofy and sleepy as neither had a nap, but they on there own came up with several games to play. Super Bunny / Super Hero's, Domino's, Hide and Seek. Brendan's Mommy was surprised at what a Tom Boy Holly was being running around roaring like a Dinosaur, ect. She is so used to Brendan being the only boy with 4 princesses playing, as is our typical get together. So it was a nice change of pace. There house was lovely, and we look forward to heading there for Chinese New year's party and Brendan's upcoming Birthday.

Clarks Auction House

2012-01-15T03:50:00.000-08:00

So Isabel really likes this place called Clarks Auction House. it is in Oakland and once a month they have viewings and then a weekend Auction. She usually checks out the items online and then sometimes goes in person to see them if there is something she likes. One time she convinced Holly and I into joining them. One this day there was a lot of stuff listed by one woman who had about 300 pairs of Shoes 100 purses and a ton of vintage designer clothing. The stuff was amazing. They were not pleased with these little girls trying on 500$ pairs of shoes, but hey, what are you going to do. There was a lot of really neat furniture, rugs, paintings. One cool thing was a bunch of skateboards done by some famous artist. We ended up having a really good time.

Bike Riding with Belle

2012-01-14T16:25:00.000-08:00

The Balance Beam

2012-01-14T01:17:00.000-08:00

We have been going to head over heels quite a bit over the winter. Though each time is a different visit and you can never tell what she will want to do. Yes she always wants to jump, but some days she spends the entire visit jumping, others only a few minutes and she ventures out. On this visit she was really into doing the balance beam and did it several times and even said, "No Mommy, I do it Myself" when after a few tries I was still holding her hand, she was ready to try again on her own. Every visit I try and get her to do the balance beam, and she almost always refuses. Who knows why this time she did it, but it was exciting to see her practice and do it. On this visit she also had a great time using the foam blocks to stack and build, she made a new friend Sasha, and we had a fun time.

A Day Out

2012-01-13T18:05:00.000-08:00

Here we are running errands with Holly. Since I jumped ahead to post all of the Christmas Pictures I now have to go back and post stuff from the last three months. This was a day in November where we all went Shopping and out to dinner. Fist we stopped by Osh (A hardware Store) and they had all of there Christmas Decorations out, which Holly loved looking at and playing with.

I actually have a lot of fun shopping with Holly these days. As long as we aren't there for hours and it is a place some what interesting, she is happy to look around and explore. On this day Osh was just perfect.

We then decided to go to an early dinner at Barney's on Solono, and stopped into a store there where she discovered this Skeleton, she also saw lots of other bones and fossils she liked it a lot. She is really good at restaurants now, she will normally eat and when she is done she will sit quietly and hang out with us or her phone.

After dinner we headed to Micheal's, another really fun place to shop. It was there that I got her a ballerina Ornament, but not a few hours later she broke the hands off, so much for delicate items, maybe next year. We hung it still, but it looked like an old Grecian statue.

Sid the Science Kid

2012-01-12T03:55:00.000-08:00

So a few months back we took Holly to the California Academy of Sciences to see Sid the Science Kid. He is a character from a TV Show she loves. She was so excited to go and see him. We invited Lucian to join us and we were looking forward to a wonderful play date. This was post Disney and she had met lots of character's while there so I wasn't even really worried about it, but boy was that a mistake.

As soon as we arrived and she could see him inside the Lobby from the stairs she started to cry No No and hide behind me and ask to go home. I knew she would have fun at the Science Center if I could get her inside, and perhaps later she would warm up to Sid. We got inside and headed right down to the fishy room and to wait for Lucian but we never made it back to see Sid. Every time I mentioned it she got upset. Still to this day if I tell her we are going to a Science Center (Lawrence hall of Science, Chabot, or Academy of Sciences) she cries, no Sid. and I have to convince her he won;t be there before she will agree to go. She gets super anxious about it. She is better now, I am able to coax her and she believes me that he won't be there but she always has to ask.

Weeks after this event after several times of asking her about it she finally told me that Sid is small like her and not big. So it seems she was scared because the life Size Sid was taller then Daddy instead of a small kid like her. I am finding that a lot of her anxiety has to do with expectations and I am learning slowly how to properly set her expectations so that she can enjoy events that might be a little scary to her but when there are no surprises and she knows what to expect she is able to be brave.

Even though we didn't meet Sid we had a great time. We looked at the Fish, enjoyed a Yummy lunch with our friends and the kids played in the Discovery room. We had finally remembered to bring Lucian his birthday gift, Months late (His Birthday is in June) Holly had fun giving it to him since she remembered making the wrapping paper months earlier.

We have been back since and she always has a great time, but now I know that not all Character's are created equal and though she loves the show, sometimes Sid the Kid, just needs to be Kid Sized.

Building a Castle

2012-01-11T14:16:00.000-08:00

Playdate at Samantha's

2012-01-11T02:37:00.000-08:00

Here we are having a playdate at Samantha's house. Sam is in Holly's class at school and we also know her from one of the Mom's groups I am in. Also in attendance were Camden and Camille. They were in Holly's class over the summer but now Camden is in Kindergarten. Sam will be going to Kindergarten too next year. These kids are all growing up so fast. We started the afternoon playing in the backyard, Holly had a lot of fun manning the sprinkler and getting everyone wet. Then we moved into the house where the kids all played dress-up. it was a lot of fun. Sam lives in our neighborhood, she is actually just around the block from us and now whenever we drive by Holly points our her house and asks about her. We have played a few times when we ran into Sam walking over to the park as well. those unexpected playdates are always a fun surprise. Sam is in a second school in the afternoon as her Mom works, so getting to see her and playing outside of school is a treat.

Dress-up and Tea Parties

2012-01-10T14:48:00.000-08:00

Baby Shower Two

2012-01-10T01:52:00.000-08:00

Mid September just before Dylan was born I had a baby shower for Kathy. Her sister threw her one in August while I was in Florida, and a few other moms we are friends with couldn't make it so we threw a second. Joel BBQ'd in the back and we invited Dads though it ended up just being Joel and Eric playing with the kids while us mom chatted and opened gifts and played party games. It was a fun afternoon. the kids played outside in the water, and slide and swung, they also played dress-up. Without the watchful eye of Mommy they made a terrible mess, it was cute. But a huge mess. Every single item from Holly's closet was taken off the hanger and tossed around the room. They emptied it and turned it into there club house. It was a great party.

Frog Park

2012-01-09T01:10:00.000-08:00

Here we are at Frog Park on a play date with Sara. It was a fun day to play. The play ground is Beautiful, it was a lovely day and the girls really wanted to play in the water. We let them. They walked around splashing and picking up stones. Holly didn't have a second set of cloths so I let her take her dress off so she didn't get soaked. Later they played in the sand driving trucks and digging. Holly also for the first time climbed on this cool Spider web it took a lot of balance, I was very proud of her. It was a fun park and we had a great time.

Coco Cabana

2012-01-08T23:18:00.000-08:00

Always on the Move

2012-01-07T16:09:00.000-08:00