We had a great time visiting with Sarah and Casey and my parents. Cora received a sand and water table from her grandma and grandpa and Sarah suggested filling it with beans instead of sand and water. Cora and Alea played with it the whole weekend. When they weren't arguing over what belonged to who, they played very nicely on either side of it. Cora, however, would announce now and then that it was her sand and water table just in case Alea got any ideas about taking it home for herself.
We laughed, a lot actually, at Cora declaring everything hers. She and Alea would be peacfully playing, for example, and Cora would say "no, dis Ora's chair" or "no, dis Ora's beans" or just "dis Ora's" when there wasn't anything in particular to claim. It's so funny to see how excited they get to see each other again and again. They talk about each other when they're apart and screech when they see each other after a long separation, but once the playing begins so does the bickering. Most of the time Sarah and I just let them work things out but have to step in once in a while when a lesson on sharing or selfishness is in order. We all agree, however, that for a 2 year old and almost 2 year old, they get along pretty well.
The birthday celebration was pretty low key, just immediate family, and I volunteered to make the cake which turned out pretty well. My fabulous friend and cake baker/decorator, Crystal, came over and helped me with the technique and helped make the icing but I'm proud to say I did most of the rest. Sarah didn't really have anything specific in mind when I asked her what she wanted but did mention making an animal of some sort (cow, pig, chicken etc...). I looked online and found a really cute picture of a white cow with brown spots and decided that I would attempt to recreate it as best I could. I was very happy with the results and so was the rest of the family and, of course, it tasted great. Above is the picture of the cake before we helped ourselves.
In other Alea news...we went to the Tulsa aquarium for the first time with Alea's friend Vincent and his mom/my friend Becky. We had a great time walking around and being surprised at all that an Oklahoma aquarium had to offer. I was quite impressed.
There were two things that day that really made me smile. The closest thing Alea has gotten to something like this is the fish tanks in the pet department at Wal-mart which she loves. She stands at the glass and points to the fish and, not knowing any better, is totally happy. (Kind of like when Wren lets her sit in the mechanical car at the supermarket and pushes on it from the back to make it move). Well, as soon as she saw the big wall of glass with the huge fish swimming behind it she went crazy. She got as close to the glass as possible and tried to grab the fish swimming by, all the while, screeching at the top of her lungs. I loved every minute of that time with her.
The other thing that made me laugh was seeing her interact with Vincent. He is about a month younger than her and quite laid back comparatively. They really seem to get along well and enjoy their time together. Becky put a monkey harness/backpack on Vincent so he wouldn't wander too far. By the end of the morning Alea had taken it upon herself to lead Vincent around by the monkey tail. The funny thing is that when her attention was diverted by another exhibit she would drop the lead and just walk away leaving him standing there. Every time she did it he would pick the tail up, take it over and hand it back to her. It was absolutely precious to watch. We had a great time. check out some pictures of that day under the April 2009 photos link.
1 comment:
It was a great cake! And a great weekend (primarily due to the great cake--only kidding). Nice job Jen (Crystal, your apprentice has done well).
Post a Comment