Fun Times With Fiona

The last few days with Fiona have been especially fun. On Monday, my dad and I attempted the hike to the seal sanctuary that I botched before. It turns out the hike is really short. Fiona enjoyed it and we saw lots of chubby, cute seals. They looks like rocks when they lie around. There were mamas and babies, all lolling around on the beach, occasionally playing in the surf. Fiona rode back to the car in the Ergo, smiling all the while.

Tuesday, Fiona enjoyed lunch outside. I needed to time to work on a paper that was due, so my dad occupied her by feeding her leftover chilaquiles.

 

We spent some time in the garden, where she reprimanded me for not digging correctly, then insisted I pick up a piece of grass that was in one of the planters and throw it in the dirt pile. She’s a bossy little gardener, that one.

We attempted a walk to the park, but Fiona had a big meltdown on the way. She had a short nap, so she was still tired and a little cranky, and she was having trouble pushing the stroller in a forward direction. So we came home again, me carrying Fiona while she screamed and cried, people walking past us on the street. It was definitely fun times.

After playing and reading a while, I decided to take Fiona for a drive to get her to nap a little, but she wasn’t sleeping so we explored a new and wonderful beach instead. It was so much fun! We squealed and giggled at the cold water, ran around, and help hands while we walked and looked at rocks and shells. When we left, Fiona waved goodbye to the waves and the sand and the rocks, and said “Bye Bye! Bye!” repeatedly.

My dad met us at home and played with Fiona while I worked on a project. She had a great day and spent a lot of time running around, screeching and laughing.

Today we went to a farm where you can pick vegetables and fruits. We didn’t do that, but we spent a lot of time looking at animals. It was sunny and warm, so Fiona put on my hat:

Then she played with water and got her sleeve wet:

Looking at goats:

Emus:

A HUMUNGOUS pig:

Highland cattle:

Horses:

Fiona discovered a tunnel:

 

There were two of them. She went through and then came up around the hill to go back in. She had fun running up and down the hill.

Ugh, she discovered stairs:

On the other side was a slide. She fell down the stairs trying to get to it. She cried for about 30 seconds, then 30 seconds more until I released her so she could go back to it. She went down twice, but it was a little bit too big and too fast for her. More tears were shed.

We watched an animal show. Fiona got to pet a rabbit (and she says “bunny” now), a duck, a rooster, a pig, and a big dog. She really enjoyed it and was very happy. She played in a sandbox and had fun tossing sand up in the air. It was fun to wash it out later that night. Please note the sarcasm in that last statement. It was NOT fun to wash the sand out of her hair. She fell asleep in the car on the way home while I sang to her.

Before we left, Fiona tried to ride a tricycle, rode in a big wagon, helped me purchase fruit, and rode a pony:

We were not alone in our adventure. My friend Kaitlyn and her daughter joined us. Actually, the whole trip was Kaitlyn’s idea, so it’s probably more accurate to say we joined them:

In addition to all the fun, Fiona has begun to say “my mommy” and “my daddy” when asked who we are. She also knows how to make sounds for a horse, a cow, a dog, a cat, an elephant, a tiger, a lion, an owl, a monkey, knows gorillas beat their chests, knows the sounds of the Wild Things, dinosaurs, sheep and goats, pretend cries, pretend laughs (says “ha ha”), and my mom thinks she says “good job” although it sounds more like “boo ja”. In short, lots of talking happening around these parts lately.

Fiona is such a joy and she gets more and more fun each day. Right now, she is sleeping soundly. Hopefully she will stay that way until at least six tomorrow morning, but not so late that I don’t get to see her before I go to work.

Wait Until Your Father Gets Home

That is what I told Fiona yesterday. We went for a nice long walk in the afternoon, but she still wanted to play outside when we got home. I really needed to make dinner, so I told her to wait until her Daddy got home because he will take her outside. The result? Fiona went to her room and played with some toys while I prepared dinner. When John arrived she ran out of her room as though it was on fire and went straight to the back door. John was a little confused until I told him about the earlier conversation. There was nothing left to do but put her shoes and coat on.

Here is Fiona on the walk:

This is a skateboard ramp that was turned upside down.

Here she is, in the bottom left corner of the screen, playing with her blocks (or putting them away):

Today it is raining, but that doesn’t stop Fi from enjoying the outdoors:

 

 

Yesterday John gave her the trowel and her new favorite thing is to dig in the garden, rain or shine.

Here are a couple of random photos:

We all have colds this week. Fiona is the only one getting any sleep because I am waking up coughing and John says he doesn’t feel great either. Hopefully we will all recover quickly.

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Recap

First, I’ve decided to stop adding words to Fiona’s word list because I lost track of what new words she is saying. She repeats a lot and says new words every day or every other day, and I am not blogging enough to keep up with it. So, even though I have not added any new words to the list, she is saying new words all the time.

So what did we do this weekend? Friday was a non-work day for me (thank you furloughs and pay cuts!), so John took the day off as well, and we went to the zoo with my friend Nicole and her adorable son Caz. Fiona and Caz are used to each other and they played well together. At one point, Fiona sort of fell down and Caz helped her stand up. Then it happened again, and by the third time, we figured out that Fiona was falling on purpose so that Caz would help her out. She flashed us a huge grin after, as if to say, “Look what a fun game I just invented!”

The animals were out and we actually saw the Capybaras moving and swimming. Usually, they just sit like rocks and don’t do anything. The alligator was also moving, and we watched the penguins eat and the elephants get their feet cleaned. Even the lioness nuzzled the lion Friday. The leopards were hiding, but that’s ok. We took the train around the park and that was fun because last time the intercom system was out and we didn’t get commentary. Caz and Fiona had a blast playing in the children’s play area and sliding down a hill on cardboard and inside a cardboard box, and running through a tunnel. I took video, but my camera was turned, so it was all sideways. I won’t post because I don’t ave software necessary to rotate it so that it is right side up.

Here are some photos from Friday:

Fiona feeding the swans:

 

Some animals:

Running through the tunnel:

We put Caz and Fiona in a box together, and she held on as though on a motorcycle, even leaning her head on him:

Here they are coming down the hill:

Fiona on her own:

She was pretty silent until we got to the play area. Nicole watches Fiona when I go to class and I think Fiona thought I was going to leave her when she saw Nicole and Caz. After the play area, she realized I wasn’t going anywhere without her, and loosened up a lot.

On the train:

The infamous “game”:

Watching the elephants eat hay:

The zoo has lots of stairs and at one point John and Fiona disappeared. They later returned, but only after Fiona walked up and down several sets of stairs. She is an addict, I tell you!

The zoo trip was a lot of fun and as usual, I can’t wait to go back. It’s neat to see Fiona grow and appreciate it more and more, considering she slept during most of the first time I took her.

Saturday was a funny day. It began with walking around the neighborhood and then fighting the nap (she is still having napping issues, they are short during the week and sometimes non-existent on the weekends), then we decided to go on a hike. We picked one that is relatively close, short, and flat: Carpinteria Bluffs and Seal Refuge. What can be more fun than walking along the ocean and then watching seals basking in the sun? We loaded up the car and off we went. Here are some photos.

The views:

The cutest little hiker ever:

 

Mysterious arrows:

They point to Fiona! She liked playing with the powder and messing them up so they no longer looked like arrows when she was finished. I hope no one needed them for anything important.

The cutest hiker having a little tantrum because, you guessed it, we wouldn’t let her climb more stairs! Three times were enough in my book.

What these photos don’t show is that to our right was a business park and there were lots of picnic tables overlooking the ocean along the way with signs telling that the benches and tables were for employee use only. I wondered if the people who work in those buildings have higher morale than other people, people their views are so nice and they can have ocean side lunch every day. Also, my photos don’t reveal that we parked in the wrong parking lot and our entire hike was to the trailhead of the hike we thought we were on. So we didn’t see any seals, but did see future perfect tide pooling locations. Eventually, we decided to turn around so we put Fiona on my back in the Ergo, where she had a blast riding back to the car. We pretended I was an elephant and she pretended to feed me bananas. She patted my back and tickled herself by sticking her leg out at passing bushes.

All in all, it was a nice day, even if I stupidly misread the directions to the trailhead.

Today was a mellow day, with another short nap. Fiona spent a lot of time running around naked in the backyard and playing with water:

Inspecting the finer details of the chair:

 

 

 

She was a voracious reader today, insisting on being read to constantly. At one point she had a mini tantrum because I wanted to get more books. In fact, I think she hardly played with any of her toys this weekend, preferring reading instead. And also hat wearing:

Here she is earlier in the week, also playing with a hat:

And being read to by my dad:

Ok, she played the keyboard for five seconds, played in her play kitchen for a few minutes, and kicked a ball around. I think she colored for a minute too.

Here are some videos of Fiona kicking a ball, playing peek-a-boo, and making animal sounds while reading:

She is such a delight and sometimes (ok most of the time) I can’t believe how lucky I am to have such a wonderful little girl, who cleans up after herself, loves to help me put away my clothes, helps with the shopping, who smiles and laughs with me and entertains both of us, and who is such a little love. She gives me kisses and lets me kiss her booboos.

Deep sigh.