Knott's Berry Farm

We found ourselves with tickets for Knott's that had to be used by the end of the year.  We of course picked the coldest, dreariest, most drizzly day of 2009 to go to an amusement park.  Despite the weather we enjoyed a few hours of fun.  Here are Maddie and Avery excited about the train ride.

The girls went on their first ride by themselves, a plane ride.  I thought they were a little young because at the very end the attendant tells all the kids to push the stick forward to bring the plane down.  I didn't think they would grasp this concept so Kelly and I showed them how to push the stick forward before the ride started.  Unfortunately we didn't tell them that they also could pull the stick back so they spent the entire ride soaring along the bottom of the ride. Avery still talks about this weeks later, saying "Maddie and I flew the plane, our plane didn't go up".  Oops!!

Red Group Projects

Avery's teacher at school told me Avery does not appreciate the arts and crafts that involve hand and foot prints.  However, that is their specialty.  They make the cutest little projects with poems and hand/feet inspired pictures.  For the holidays, the kids made little paper mache votive jars.  I love the little surprises they send home with her.  Here is a picture of my favorite ones.  Poor little snowman lost an eye.

Christmas Day Pix

Ready to see what Santa brought

Furry bunny slippers topped off her stocking

Santa always brings toothbrushes for healthy teeth and gums

A baby bed from her friend Oskar

It was a magical Christmas and we were happy to share the day with Grancy.

Rugelach for Santa

Christmas eve, after ice skating and hot chocolate, Avery and I made rugelach, delicious Jewish cookies for Santa Claus.  They were yummy.  Santa really liked them too, he ate all of them and drank the glass of milk we left. 

pre-baked, I forgot to take a post-baked and on the plate for Santa pic

 

Christmas Eve

Here is a picture of our 6 foot fake tree that I bought this year.  I decorated it only with wooden ornaments that I got from my grandma and my mom yearly growing up.  They were perfect ornaments for Avery to rearrange.  We also made a homemade tree topper inspired by Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas.  No picture of that though, very very homemade.

On Christmas Eve we went to an ice skating rink in Santa Monica.  Avery was good for one go-around of the little baby rink.  She was so cute in her little skates that strapped on to her shoes.  We tried bribing her to get her back on the ice but one time was all she wanted.

Then she watched with me while Daddy ice skated with our neighbor Oskar and his daddy.  It was fun, fun.  

Hot Chocolate

We were recently taking a run along the beach path and several times Avery would call out from the stroller, "I want some".  "What do you want, Avery? Your milk?" "I want some!"

"What do you want, Avery, your blanket taken off, are you too hot?"  "I want some!"  Whatever.

We kept running ignoring the pleas.  Eventually she forgot that she wanted something.  Then we passed 2 ladies walking with their morning coffees and again "I want some!!"  Only then did I figure out that every person enjoying their morning coffee appeared as someone enjoying hot chocolate.  Avery had her first cup of hot chocolate at Descanso Gardens and it clearly made a huge impression on her.  Once we understood what she was asking for we said we'd have some hot chocolate at home later. We had gotten some homemade hot chocolate mix from a friend for the holidays.  So it was perfect!!

That first fateful day she tasted the joy of hot chocolate

Potty Training

Much like her first crawl and first step, Avery's first peepee in the potty was while she was with Jon and I was at work.  I got frantic pages while I was rounding one weekend morning, I called back, "is this urgent, I am in the middle of rounds", jon "avery just went peepee in the potty, right avery?!", me in a stage whisper "wow avery that is so great, i am so proud of you, okay now i gotta go".  She was very slow to warm to her potty, often refusing to sit on it even with clothes, diaper on.  But we have had major breakthroughs in the past couple of weeks. I am sure seeing her friends go potty at school is helping and she is sort of at that age where readiness is likely. We are trying bribes.  It seems to be working.  Our bribe:  sour patch kids.  Like father, like daughter.  It goes something like, one for Avery, rest of snack pack from Costco for daddy.  We are waiting for the new year to start potty training at school.  I hope that will go well.  I have heard mixed results from various friends in their endeavors, but I think it's about time to really find out how it's going to be.