Yeah...Yeah...I know.

Oh, boy… I have been slacking a bit with our blog page – sorry folks!
Let’s see, Thanksgiving was so much fun with just the three of us. Glenn tackled the ‘Turkey Task’ for the first time this year. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as Glenn loved doing it) for the G-Man it was the best bird I have ever eaten, thus permanently moving that job over to his list of Thanksgiving chores. After our little dinner, we took Stella to see Bolt. Her first movie in a theater was ‘Kung-Fu Panda’. She barely made it through that one, sitting still (quite an impressive feat for a less-than-two-year-old). There weren’t many people to see our movie, so, about halfway through Stella got to wander around the theater a bit, while she finished the film. She was great, and still asks us to “…put in the Bolt movie”. We got in some much needed family time – so great!
Since the first Christmas lights went up in our neighborhood (a little before our Spectacular Turkey Feast), Stella has been focused on Christmas. She understands a bit about giving presents, and has seen ‘Polar Express’ more times than I care to admit. There seems to be a bit of an overlap, though, between Halloween and Christmas, as Stella is always asking us what we are going to be for Christmas. Stella will tell you that she is going to be Jack the Pumpkin King for the holidays. We have seen the lights at the Oakland Temple, and have been to see the “Big, Huge Christmas Tree”, as Stella calls it, at Union Square. I suspect that decorating sugar cookies and making gingerbread houses will be on the agenda for the rest of the week.
Oh, yeah, after pulling an all-nighter, Glenn handed in his last paper of the semester. Time to catch up on sleep, and play like crazy – woo-hoo!!
Pictures to come...

Stella's Dance Card

Yesterday, as I was going through some boxes of clothes to get rid of, Stella found a lavender satin nightie (never used - tags still attached) that I had received as a bridal shower gift. She holds it up and asks, "Is it a dress, Mom?" "Sure", I replied. "Can I wear it, Mom?" "Yes, you can wear it sweetie". "Thanks, Mom!". I put it on her, making sure it is secure around her, so it doesn't fall off. Once it is on, and she has had a chance to look at herself, she holds up both of her arms to me and asks, "You wanna dance, Mom?". "Of course", I told her. Then she asks me to sing 'Sleeping Beauty', better known to the rest of us as "Once Upon a Dream'. This is her current favorite thing to do: dancing to the Sleeping Beauty soundtrack (music/vocals provided by Yours Truly), complete with hand holding and lots of twirling. As I was making some breakfast this morning, Stella comes into the kitchen wearing said 'dress', while holding it up a little, so she can see her feet, and spin around in it, with out tripping. One of these days, I will walk in on Stella with her 'girlfriend' Glenny, sipping from plastic teacups and wearing hats that bring out the sparkle in their eyes.
Precious.

Pumpkins, Playing Around, and Bed Time

This year, we got all excited to carve pumpkins with Stella. Stella, however, refused to get her hands dirty. She had fun trying to get at the sharp objects used to carve our masterpieces. Some pics:

Playing around:

This last pic is of Stella. She snuck out of bed to 'hide' in the hallway (we need to work on the ninja skills, apparently):

More Pictures...

These are for our family/friends that have yet to see any recent pictures of Stella Girl (I promise I will actually sit down and write, when I get a few minutes):

Just lounging on the couch

Playing in Stella's room

Finding bugs at the zoo.

Stella and Max in the turtle shell

Stella and Kaden in the turtle shell

Pirate, The Very Exhausted (no nap) Tinkerbell, and the Benchwarmer (notice the goggles)

Some Recent Pics

So I have been way too busy to blog, but thought I'd at least throw up some pics of our recent visit to the pumpkin patch:

Bottles...Yak

Yep, that's right. We are finally rid of it. Stella didn't even look back. We should have done this sooner, but I admit I was a bit of a chicken. I treasure the very little sleep I have been getting each night for the last two + years. Of course Stella came through like the champ she is. She still needs her warm milk before bed, but it now comes to her in a sippy cup.
Stella is into pretend play, these days. She is constantly talking to her little figurines that usually hang out in each of those cute little hands. Most always I hear her repeat things to her little friends, that she has heard either Glenn or myself say to her: "Are you my tired little baby?", "Go to sleep", "You get a time out!" (Stella rarely gets a time out, but her friend Drew needs them more often, so I think she hears Jen say this), "Are you hungry?", "Can we change your diaper?", "Wanna snuggle?", "Let's git, git!", among other things.
Stella has a bunch of little plastic animals: One for each letter of the alphabet. So, for the letter ‘Y’, of course the animal is a yak. Stella only learned what the yak was last week. It just never came up before. She simply asked me what the animal was and what sound it made (I don’t think I will ever attempt to make that sound again). That was the extent of our discussion on yaks. Last night, we got home with a few new books for Stella. One of them had sketch of a yak on it. At bedtime, when I brought the books back to her room, she pointed at the picture and asked, “Is that a yak?” Such cute little sponges, at this age.

Busy-ness, Potty, and New Schedules

Stella had quite the busy weekend: Bike rides, learning the art of eating with two very skinny sticks, cleaning windows, vacuuming, cleaning furniture, putting toys away, picking up books and alphabetizing them (kidding), overcoming her fear of sitting on the potty, collecting Cinderella figurines (as a result of overcoming her fear of sitting on the potty), baking cookies, and today Stella did a Costco run.
I started my four day work week schedule today, working four ten hour days every week. It means three day weekends all the time, which is going to be so much fun for Stella, as well.
This little chica will be starting her babysitting stint with our friends Jen and Drew. Drew is just a couple months younger than Stella, and, starting tomorrow, Jen will start watching Stella a few days a week, while Glenn is in school. We will miss Grammie watching Stella (Glenn's parents just retired to Oregon), but I think this new arrangement will work out well. We can always go visit the grandparents over a three day weekend.
Here a few pics from Stella's cookie-making:

Bikes, Naps, & Chopsticks

This morning my friend Nancy and I took the kiddos on a bike ride into Walnut Creek. Nancy has a little boy named Jacob. He is just the sweetest little thing, and he and Stella have such a great time together. Anyway, they were so great, on the ride out. Checking out ducks, doggies, and one another, along the trail. We spent about an hour and a half at the park, and then headed back. The ride was about six miles each way, so it is quite a while sitting on the back of a bike. The were both great sports about having to be strapped down for an extended period of time. Stella was just starting to become pretty irritated that I couldn't hold her, when we were still few miles from home. After a few minutes of fussing, and right after Nancy asked me if Stella had ever fallen asleep in her bike seat, (to which I answered 'No') it got pretty quiet:




Jacob soon followed suit:

Later on, at dinner time, we decided (ok, really I was the only one who thought it would be fun) to eat dinner with chopsticks. Stella wasn't half bad, for a 2 year old white girl, who had no previous experience with chopsticks. She quickly figured out that she could skewer and eat her grapes with them (Glenn is totally posing in this one):






PS: I have to say that Nancy and I rock for hauling a couple of toddlers on a twelve mile bike ride!

Hair Spray...Uh..I mean Hair Cut!

Stella has always had quite a bit of hair. It used to be black. When it got wet, it looked like a little black 'fro (see much older posts for pics). As she has gotten older, Stella's hair has gotten longer, thicker, and blond. For the longest time (seemingly, anyway), I would decorate her hair with pretty little bows, and cute little hair clips. It added to the glee of having a girl. Right around Stella's first birthday, she discovered that she could remove said decorations at will. Not more little piggy tails. I was very sad. I tried, in vain, for several more months to continue my habit of adorning Stella's noggin with various girly accessories, only to have them pulled out mere moments later. Then, I had to start trimming Stella's bangs. As I could no longer keep them pulled out of the girl's eyes, they needed some maintenance. First, I tried distracting her, as I put the scissors against her little forehead. Then, came another tactic: Glenn would put Stella in a 'sleeper hold' while I quickly ran the scissors across her head. The results were mixed: either they would end up mostly straight (really, this almost never happened), or I performed a pretty bad hack job, hidden only by Stella's windblown look when we rode around with the windows down. Then, came the blessed request from Stella to have her hair put in "piggy tails and clippies". So, for the past couple of months, We have gone back to enjoying some cute little girly hairstyles, not even worrying about the bangs, as they were always pulled back by some colorful little clip. Now, we are back to nothing in the hair. I know, I have tortured you all with this long, rambling of one of many excruciating minutiae of my existence only to announce to you all that Stella finally, actually, sat for a haircut last night. Granted I did have to offer a bribe, but she sat perfectly still, while I did a stellar job with her bangs. Now you can see those gorgeous eyes again!! Yippee!!

This is during:

And this is after:

Career Change

So I am considering a career change. My experience goes back to my first shower (before that, if parental accounts are to be believed). I am not horrible at it, though I could certainly be better. Also, this particular skill has been in much demand lately. Though I don’t get much of an opportunity to stretch my wings and try some variation with this new role, I figure if I just keep plugging away, sooner or later I will get better.
In an effort to help Stella conquer her fear of sitting on the potty, I went out and bought some ‘incentives’, just to get her to try and sit on the potty. Obviously, my negotiating skills leave much to be desired, as Stella never did sit on the potty, but still received her ‘surprise’. I am guessing that next time, I shouldn’t show her the prize as I am coaxing her onto the potty. The booty: a plastic Cinderella figurine, along with her Prince. Since then, these two characters dance together, hold hands, kiss, and sing to one another. Stella’s favorite activity, by far, is to have Cinderella dance with her Prince. Of course, one cannot dance with out the music to inspire. As a result of this need to dance, Stella has had me sing ‘Once Upon a Dream’ non-stop for the past couple of days. “Sing Dream”, she so sweetly requests. Of course I have to oblige if for no other reason than to just watch how sweetly she plays with these beloved friends of hers. I know, this particular song is actually featured in ‘Sleeping Beauty’. However, Stella seems to think this a more appropriate song, given the extremely romantic nature of the lyrics, as well as the music.
Stella often requests me to sing to her, but lately, this is the only song she cares to hear. Once in while she will bust out with the alphabet song (she can sing the entire thing solo), but it tends to throw off Cinderella’s rhythm, so we stick to the romance. While I love this unpaid internship that I am currently engaged in, I think I will stick to my day job. At least until the record deals start pouring in (though I suspect my stage fright would probably keep me from going too far down that road, anyway).

Summer Pics

So here are some pics from the last couple of months, that some may enjoy:
Stella slaving away in the kitchen and hating every minute of it

Gotta look cool in the pool

Figuring out the beloved Rubik's cube

Hanging with Alika - these two are such pals lately

Discovering new friends - this is Cayden. His mom and I were roommates in Berkeley (oh so long ago)
Yes, those are indeed rain boots paired with a swimsuit - this little Chica is headed off to get wet!

PS - I've added a few pics to previous posts, if you care to take a peek.

Things That Go Bump In The Night

Stella: "What are those"? (pointing at the sky, as we lay on a blanket at the park today)
Mom: "Those are clouds. (pause) Stella, how many clouds do you see?"
Stella: "One..Two..Three..Four..Five..Six..Seven...."
Mom: "What comes after seven?"
Stella: "Eight..Nine..ten (in a really small voice)."
Yep, the little munchkin can count to ten. Man, are kids smart!

I am trying all sorts of things to get Stella to fall asleep on her own, so the 90 minute long routine of rocking and singing can come to an end. Tonight, Stella cried and cried. I was in the living room when I heard a thud come from our upstairs neighbors. I decided to sneak a peek at Stella. I had tip-toed down the hall and was just reaching for the door knob, when it started to move on its own. Stella had climbed (and fallen) out of her crib, and was on her way out of the bedroom. I am surprised it took her this long to decide to try this (she is two). I guess the remainder of the week will consist of adjusting Stella's crib to resemble a bed. This should be an interesting next few weeks, as we teach Stella to stay in her bed. I feel like it is an uphill battle, sometimes, to keep the tail from wagging the dog.

Pretty Sure We Brought This On...

Stella going off the bottle, and learning how to put herself to sleep..., tantrums, shrieks in the wee morning hours, and a new persona that is rearing its' head.

It's My Party...

So, I though I was going to be able to post a lot of pics from Stella's birthday party here. Wrong. There were so many kiddos crammed in our little apartment, that I couldn't get a shot of anything or anyone without a bunch of toddlers crowded around it. It was fun, though, and we ended up with about thirty people who came to wish Stella a happy birthday - thanks to all of you!

Robbed!

I just have to post this, as this is the craziest thing that has happened to our little family in a little while.
This last Saturday, Glenn was scheduled to work (he works at Trader Joe's, for those who were unaware). Generally off at ten, Glenn usually arrives home between 10:10 and 10:15. At 10:10 in the evening, I got a text from Glenn, "We just got robbed!". Surely you're joking, Mr. Aydelotte. I responded, "R U OK?". Nothing. In moments like these two minutes seems like an eternity, but it took me that long to finally decide to call his phone, not knowing what the situation was at that moment in the store. It rang and rang, and finally went to voicemail. I waited another minute or two and called again. This time he picked up, "I can't talk right now, let me call you back in a few minutes." What?!? Some words of advice, my darling husband, please, please, please try and fit the phrase, "...but I'm/we're alright...", in there somewhere. It was about 15 minutes between finding out his store was robbed, to learning that no one was hurt. So, some guy, enters after the store is closed, points a gun in every one's face, and orders them all to hit the deck. Luckily Glenn had to run to the restroom, and missed all the fun. By the time he made his way back up to the front, the guy was gone, and the woman who replaced Glenn up front was recovering from having a gun pointed at her head. Glenn did hear the two gunshots fired, but figured someone had dropped a case or two of wine. It has shaken everyone up, including our little family. Thank goodness no one was hurt.
And, yeah, the scoundrel got away.

Camping!

We just got back from the Elders Quorum campout. It was down in the Portola Redwoods. Stella's second campout. Stella's likes: marshmallows, hanging out in the Pereira's tent and giggling with Jake and the girls, the campfire, playing in the faucet, the nature walk, and kicking up all of the surrounding dirt. Stella's not-so-likes: cold water, falling on her little face the last day and ending up with a rather beat-up looing face (poor baby), and going home. She loved reading stories in the tent, right before bed, and snoozing in her sleeping bag. We got to spend two nights, and were fianlly allowed to light a fire the second night. Friday, we headed to the beach, but it was so windy, blowing sand in our eyes, that we didn't stay for too long. What fun!

Here are just some of the moments we caught on camera:

As you can plainly see, Stella spent a lot of time catching up with her buddy Jake.