Birthday Baptism Bash - Part 2

Birthday 2 - The Day After, and the Day Before

Though we began our celebrations on the actual day of Peanut's birth, there was too much goodness (and too many presents) to be contained in one mere day. 

We only opened two presents on the day, so the 23rd and 24th were spent mostly doling out the birthday love from abuelos, tías, tíos, amigos, and more. We basically opened two presents in the morning and two in the afternoon because more than that and Peanut started getting a little wacky. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest hit was still the bag and tissue paper. Luckily one-year-olds don't know or don't care that you are using the same two bags for every single present...

Before this grand occasion, Peanut had a number of books a few stuffed animals, and a little cube of toys. We felt like she had enough to do a toy change up, but not so much that we would be overwhelmed. Still, she was privileged. Blessed to have books; they are very expensive here. Blessed to have new things. Blessed to be the sole owner of all these things. While we have tried to give things away as she gets older, inevitably the amount of "stuff" she has is increasing. Some of it is hand-me-downs (Thank you McCavits!), but a lot isn't. We want to make sure Peanut has everything she needs to learn and grow, but we also want to remember not to get sucked in to the hype. It helps to realize that the Nutter is getting as excited about the wrapping as the present, and to realize that she can make fun and learning out of even the strangest things.

With blocks, books, and a band (oh my!), we should be all set through Christmas and beyond on gifts, but what we could not have done without was family. It would have been awesome to have everyone together, but we were thrilled to have Abuelita, Grandad, and Nanny in our midst. Peanut was so excited she even started walking for everybody...my girl's got nothing if not good timing.

The night of the 24th we made sure to get Peanut home and in bed early, but the abuelas had other plans. Jacky and Fanny invited them to go get their hair and nails done at a place nearby. I was tired (and I needed to put together the sugar high gift boxes we were giving out the next afternoon), so I chose not to go with them. Luckily, I did not miss out on the action. Why you ask? Because due to the high number of hair dryer, straightener, curler thingies that were being wielded in the beauty shop, the power blew in mid-style. Not to be daunted, our neighbors just piled everyone into their (teeny-tiny) car and brought them back to our home to finish up the job. I may get in trouble for this, but it might be worth it...

 

 

 What was worth it was the effort - on everyone's part - because the next day was big. 

I mean, big.

Video Viernes

As you know, Peanut really likes her books. She likes to read all of them, but one particularly stands out because it is actually a book and song combined - a little bit-o-heaven. The book is called Snuggle Puppy of Mine and is by Sandra Boynton. The song, as it is written in the book, goes:

Ooooooo, Snuggle Puppy of mine. 

Everything about you is especially fine. 

I love what you are. I love what you do. 

Fuzzy, little, snuggle puppy, I love you. 

I say, Ooooooooo, Snuggle Puppy of mine. 

Everything about you is especially fine. 

I love what you are. I love what you do. 

Oooooooo, I love you. *Kiss!*

It's complicated. I know. But it turns out that when you are reading the book, it does feel very odd to say the things Ms. Boynton has clearly defined as a song. However, she does not actually provide a score which one might feel compelled to follow. It's freestyle. 

Well, it turns out that Richard and I sing very different versions of this lovely song with our daughter, so we thought we would share them with you. At the beginning you can hear that Peanut say "Ooooooo" because she can now identify this book by its cover (Judge it? Who knows...). And so we present: 

Snuggle Puppy, Act 1.

And Snuggle Puppy, Act 2.

What we are making here is art people. Art.

Birthday Baptism Bash - Part 1

Birthday 1 - The Actual Day

It started with a crown.

My mom, heretofore known as Abuelita, came the day before in order to be with Peanut on her birthday start to finish. As soon as she heard Peanut's stirrings, she ran in to sing Happy Birthday and so the celebrations began. Allowing her to finish her breakfast, in short order Abuelita had pulled this lovely topper out of her bag and Peanut went straight to royalty. 

Now I didn't think it would last. 

We can put a hat on Peanut's head to protect her from the sun, and if she is not immediately distracted that hat is off within .25 seconds. In fact, we can barely comb the girl's hair without her reaching up and grabbing to use the comb herself (which, perhaps deeply surprisingly, rarely results in combed hair). So I figured this crown, made of curly ribbon and wiry stars was a fun gesture on Abuelita's part, but one that would require some lightening fast fingers on the shutter of my camera to catch an actual photo of it on her head.

I could not have been more wrong. Peanut kept that thing on allllll day.

Sometimes she would toy with it... 

 

And once in a while she would lend it to someone else...

But by and large the girl kept that thing on all day - fascinated I tell you.

Most of the morning and early afternoon were spent doofing around (in a crown), waiting for Papi to get back from Cartagena with Nanny and Grandad. When looking at herself in the mirror got old, climbing in and out of and on top of Abuelita's suitcase became the order of the day. Because Abuelita's bedroom is also called the living room, there was not a lot of space for her to be private, but the upside was that she got to introduce Peanut to the wonders of make-up brushes.

Since Peanut's mom does not actually know what to do with a makeup brush, 

someone was going to have to step in at some point. 

 

 I will note that it is possible the lesson did not fully take as 

"brush-cap-as-musical-instrument" was an equally popular choice.

Once Nanny and Grandad arrived, we deemed it time to celebrate. And what better to celebrate with? 

Why, Cheerwine, of course. 

She looks like she just loves it, right?

 

We talked a lot about what happened a year ago on the 22nd, and noted that Peanut was way to big to return from whence she came, hard as she might try.

And even though the official party was scheduled for the 25th, no one wanted to miss out on this special day. 

We donned the birthday girl shirt and obviously requisite tutu and invited over the rest of the family. 

 So with Tía Jacky (also fondly, and very appropriately known as Tía Mala...), 

Abuelo Alex and Abuela Fanny, we cheered for the birthday bean.

Papi made a scrumptious flan, we sang, we clapped, and we laughed and laughed and laughed. 

Though the prize was well worth it, I am giving September 22, 2011 significantly higher marks than 2010.

But it ain't over yet folks. It ain't over yet.

Video Viernes

Oh, and I forgot to mention one teensy detail.

Peanut is walking...

Ode to a Fork

A FORK. How did it take me this long to think of A FORK?

Peanut is a great eater. She only has four teeth, but they do a looooot of work. (She has actually given me quite a lot of hope for the culinary delights I can still experience in my older years when my teeth mostly fall out.) She eats all types of fruits and has chowed down recently on portobello mushrooms with vegetable filling, rice and beans with peppers and corn, and open faced tuna fish and pineapple sandwiches. I am shoving in everything I can while it is still easily accepted so that when we enter the chicken fingers and french fries era (translated perhaps to the fried plantains (patacones) and empanada phase), she will have a strong base of green veggies on which to pile said mounds of oil and fats.

Anyway, she eats well, but is often very invested in active participation in the eating endeavor. For months we have given her a spoon and tried to avoid overt cringing as food poured down her front or flipped down onto the floor to the delight of ant scouts sent to camp at the foot of her high chair. She has been able to get the spoon to her mouth for a while, but rarely did it manage to actually have food on it when it arrived. Until...voila!...the fork.

We actually only got a fork recently as one of her birthday presents, so there is some excuse for our not considering it as an option, but ah these past days have been magical. It is in this heart-warming, enchanting spirit that I offer you:

Ode to a Fork

Oh thou gift to me dear fork -

Food, once speared, to my mouth arrives!

Though my mother feared faint punctures to my sweet skin,

Thy pleasant tickle on my cheek merely encourages me anew.

Your zest in that dish of watermelon,

The funny way you turn my avocado into guacamole,

It brings a smile to my face to see you at work.

Grace is sometimes lacking in our efforts,

My excitement never wanes.

To you I will always turn.

What mere spoon could compete with your form and function?

On to the veggie pancakes.

Let us conquer together those grains of rice.

Yogurt may be hard,

But in the end we will triumph.

Book Lady

Peanut also digs books.

She is not as patient as she once was, but even when she is most fussy she will usually calm down when you sit her in your lap and open a book. She is a very good page turner (though without some page lifting assistance the result can occasionally cut a story down from 15 pages to 3), and when she is left on her own she will occasionally start to read the book to herself out loud. (At least that is what I assume she is doing even though "brah dah doo dah doo zwoop bah" is not officially part of any of our stories, not even the Dr. Seuss ones.)

Because of this love of books, and because we got a hand-me-down spice rack from Alice Winters when she retired, we decided to put a bookshelf down at legume level so that she could choose her own adventure, if you will. 

Broadly, I still support this decision.

You, however, have already figured out the flaw in our plan.

The only thing that may rival Peanut's love of books is her love of gravity's effects on books. There is nothing that makes a day brighter than pulling abso-loving everything off of her little bookshelf and making a pile on the floor. There are days this humors me, and there are days that...well, not so much. 

I can only imagine that she too has times when she thinks, "Silly Mama, putting those books back up again. Jijiji (Spanish hee, hee), I will just take them off for her again." 

  

While other times something more like, "Eche! (Let's just call that dagnabbit...) What the? Again with the books on the shelf woman?"

Still, a book lady wants what a book lady wants, and at the end of the day a book mama still wants to let her have it. So we read together - from one book or from many all at one time. And I love it. I can't say I would not have it any other way because let's be clear I would have most of the books stay on that shelf most of the time, but I'm sure my mama will tell you it was not always so...and we all survived. So gravity, shmavity for now. When she's a little older, we'll talk.

¿Ño?

Yes, I do owe you photos and stories from the birthday extravaganza. No, this post is not going to have any of them. Here is the thing. If I keep waiting to post anything until I get enough time to get everything together for that birthday post...well, let's just say you will miss a lot and I will go crazy. We don't want any of that, am I right? 

So, because things are literally changing around here every day, I am going to jump in this nap time glory moment to give you a Peanut-ism we are thoroughly enjoying.

 

Peanut loves the phone. 

We do not have a land line, but she watches us talk on our cell phones several times a day. For a while, every time the phone rang, she would quickly put her hand up to her ear and look around until we answered the phone. Saying "briiiiiing, briiiiiing!" did not mean anything to her, but if she caught even the tail end of a faint electronic possibly-it-could-be-a-ring-tone sound -- well buddy, that hand was on her ear in a flash. It was pretty hilarious, and we thought it was awfully stinkin' cute...until it got even cuter.

 The other day we realized that the Nutter had a new word. Every time she would put her hand to her ear (with one of our phones or without) she would say, "¿Ño, Ño?" In Colombia, when people answer the phone they say "¿Alo?"  It sounds a lot like "Hello" really, but for some reason Peanut comes out with something that sounds like a cross between "No" (like huh-uh, I don't think so) and "Anyong" (or 안넹 which is a Korean greeting, used as we might use hello). We knew she was smart, but heeeeyyyyy...

At any rate, now she not only says "¿Ño?" when the phone rings, but also says it when the phone isn't ringing (confusing...) if she wants the phone. Got it? 

The best is to watch her play with our neighbor, her abuelo Alex, who will even call her on one of our phones just to watch her gawk in horror as the cell phone in her hand actually rings and has a voice come out. Remember, she is (already and yet) only one year old. She likes the phone, but she doesn't really get the phone. Usually when she realizes that something is actually happening with the thing in her hand, she passes it off like a hot potato. Well, either that, or she starts punching buttons like mad - basically making the caller on the other end of the line go deaf, but whatever.

Another day I will tell you about all the new functions Peanut has taught me on my phone. Well, as soon as I figure out how to unblock the keypad.

 And don't worry; one day I will get that birthday post up.  Just don't hold your breath.