We're All Kids Here

We went with Sweet Pea and her brother to the Children's Museum of Houston today.  It was a delightful afternoon, let me tell you. Since Mika is not even two yet, we spent almost all of our time on the second floor in the toddlers' section where we had a blast.  But before we made it to that floor, we saw these old "banana seat" bicycles that were bolted to the floor.  Mika didn't want to get on one by herself but she would do it if her Nana got on it first so I crawled onboard (it's been awhile since I've been on one of these), and we pretended to ride like the wind.

Everything was sized for toddlers upstairs so we all took off our shoes and joined the other parents and grandparents in this delightful area where the children could freely explore without fear of hurting themselves.  Mika's first stop was a little house with a drum inside and a teapot.  I'm not sure how the two were connected but in the world of imagination, anything goes.

I could go up and down stairs forever.

Then she headed over to a structure that had places to climb up, slide down, or step down.  She hasn't quite figured out that you should probably not climb up something upright....that it is better to go at it on hands and knees.  But then, she hasn't been around many things to climb in her short life.  Next time she is at Nana and PawPaw's, we'll give her some lessons on the stairs.  I think she'll be old enough by then to be able to handle them.  She sure had fun going up and down these steps with Aunt Andrea to help, when she'd accept a helping hand.

Beep, beep...Out of the way!

The next thing that caught her attention was a red truck.  She loved sitting in it and hitting the horn.  It had two steering wheels and two pedals that made sounds if you pressed them.

Hmm, let's try some double acceleration.

She didn't bother much with steering.  She was more enthralled with the pedals and the buttons to push.  I hope her fascination with the gas pedals doesn't mean she's going to have a lead foot when she actually starts driving.

Don't look now but you've picked up a passenger.

When we finally lured her away from the truck we got her over to the other half of the toddlers' area.  They had the cutest little set-up with two doors.

Each door had a light switch which turned on a light over the door, a door bell, a door knocker on the door, a door chain lock, and a door knob to grasp to open the door.

When you opened the door, you came face-to-face with yourself because there was a full-length mirror in the door frame.  This just tickled Mika for some reason.

It's YOU again!

In fact, it tickled her so much that she kept going back to the doors again and again.  It was one of her favorite things to play with in the toddler area.

The doors were winning out until Mika spotted the plastic balls and the puzzle thingie on the wall with the flippers and holes cut out to put things in.  There were two shallow ringed play areas nearby filled with plastic balls and Mika started carrying the balls over to the puzzle where she pushed them into the holes and watched them drop down to the bottom.  This went on for quite a spell especially since I'd grab some balls from the bottom of the puzzle and walk them back to the play rings when she wasn't looking.  I mean, I didn't want to leave the poor babies that were sitting in those rings high and dry, without any balls to play with.

I KNOW there's an easier way to carry those balls.

 This went on for quite a while until Mika suddenly headed off to another area where she upended a basket that was holding some toys and then came back to us carrying her new basket which she was going to use to carry the balls back and forth.  Smart kid!

Mika's daddy finally lured her away from the balls with a stuffed toy and a trip to a set of swivel-blocks.

Nana, what shall I do next?

The final area to explore was the puzzle room which had some neat puzzles and some leggo-style blocks to play with.

And what did little brother, Luke do during our visit to the museum?  Why, sleep and eat, of course.

One funny thing that happened on our way out of the museum...They have a section filled with shops where children can dress up and pretend to be working in these shops, like a veterinary clinic, a car repair shop, and a grocery store.  Laura had taken Mika into the grocery store shop while I was looking in the gift shop and one of the things they had in the pretend grocery shop was plastic food items for the children to put in their baskets.  When Laura turned around, she saw Mika had an ear of corn and was gnawing at it.  She REALLY likes sweet corn and apparently she didn't realize it wasn't real.  Awww!

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Fingerpainting Pixie

We started out our day yesterday playing with letters inside.  Mika already knows most of her letters and numbers and her colors and has so much fun pointing them out. 

I want something more challenging!

Soon she was getting tired of the letter game and ready to take on a new challenge.  Luckily, Mommy had found some fingerpainting paints at the local dollar store so we went outside to introduce Mika to fingerpainting.

You use your finger as a brush, Mika.

Mika's mommy showed her how to dip your finger in the paint and then make designs on the paper.  When she tried to dip Mika's finger in the paint, though, that was a different story.  Mika wanted no part of that.  It was "dirty."  So we had to improvise.

Use this stick as a brush.

We found a stick and encouraged Mika to dip it in the paint and then use it as the paintbrush.  That was much more to her liking and she happily played away with it, painting until her stick broke.

What color should I use next?

We found another stick and also a little rock that she could dip in the paint and that gave us a few more minutes of painting fun.

Maybe she would have been happier doing some "foot-painting"?  All things considered, she didn't make too much of a mess of herself or the surroundings.

Do you want me to paint your nails, Nana?

Afterwards, Mika cleaned up and changed and decided to chill out by sitting in little Luke's rocker chair, which was her rocker chair originally.

In the meantime, Luke had his bath and was making google eyes at his PawPaw.  It was a good day.

Because the Roast Was Too Big

Image via Wikipedia

Ah, I love the ironies of how certain traditions get started.  I'm sure most of you have heard the story of the young woman who always cut her beef roast into several pieces and then put it in the roasting pan until the day when her husband asked her why she didn't just put the whole roast in to cook.  She said she did it that way because her mother always did it that way.  Off they go to Mama's house where they ask her why SHE cooked her roast that way.  She had the same answer.  So they all traipse to Great-Grandma's house and ask her the same question.  "Because I didn't have a pan big enough to put it in, that's why," she answers.

Well, now we have a delightful answer to how the unique style of dancing  known variously as "Celtic Dancing" or "Irish Step Dancing" originated.  I've often wondered what influenced that style, one which I have a particular fondness for, but this informational video answers all my questions.  I hope it answers yours as well.  If nothing else, it will bring a smile to your face this morning.

All in a Toddler's Day

Let's Play Paper Airplanes!

Jason and I decided to show little Mika how to make paper airplanes and fly them.  I have to admit that Jason's airplane flew a lot better than mine did.  I guess you could say that his was a private jet and mine was a C-5 cargo plane, big and clunky.

Maybe if I help it get a running start...

Jason and I would throw the planes down the hallway and then Mika would run after them and bring them back.  "Again," she'd shout.

"Houston, we have a problem."

It worked great to work off some of her energy until the planes started to crash.  Even Jason's plane took one too many nosedives into the wall.  It didn't seem to faze Mika any, though.

"Repair, Mika, not eat!"

I don't think Mika is going to get a job with Lockheed any time soon though, especially if she puts down on the application that she likes to tear airplanes apart and eat them.  Yikes!  Time to move on to a new activity.

Driving cars around the little neighborhood

Laura had a cute little mat with streets, buildings, and road signs printed on it so she laid it on the floor and brought out Mika's toy cars.

Creating some business for the tow truck

She and Mika "drove" the cars through the streets and to different businesses enroute until Mika decided it was time to crash the cars and do some towing.

Let's create an earthquake.

Then, no doubt because she had heard talk of the earthquake on the East Coast, she decided to shake things up and create an earthquake in the neighborhood.

"Look at those cars go!"

Even that fun paled after awhile and then we scrambled to come up with some other ideas.

"Shall we drive this car to the hospital?"

Being a typical "almost two-year-old," many of our suggestions were met with "No."  Although I am finding out that "no" doesn't always mean that.  In fact, it is sometimes just an automatic response at this age and if you do whatever it was you were suggesting, a toddler will often get interested, despite their initial objections.

"I'm reviewing my options."

"What should I get into do next?"

Then Mika spotted my camera and decided to come over for a closer look which led to her desire to take some pictures herself.  Thus we have this great shot of Nana's feet.  Hey, she did pretty well, at least until she started pressing the setting buttons which not even I have totally figured out and then I decided it was time to put the camera away.

But not before I got this snapshot of the Commander and grandson, Luke who were practically twins today.  All "PawPaw" needed were some matching teddy bear footies.

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Mika, the Little Goat-Herder

I come from a long line of ancestors who worked with animals and loved them.  In fact, my grandfather loved his dairy cattle so much that he could never make himself cull the herd when they no longer produced, which didn't make him a very good dairy farmer.  It did, however, make quite an impression on me, as I would watch him standing in the barnyard crying as the glue truck would arrive to cart off another dead cow when one would die of old age.  I could see how deeply he felt for each one of them. It's nice to see that little Mika seems to have inherited that same love of animals.

At our recent trip to the Houston Zoo, Mika's favorite place was the Children's Zoo where she could pet a herd of goats.  She was absolutely fearless around them and delighted in "loving them up."

"Let me give you a little hug."

"You look like you could use a little love pat."

Another hug for this little guy

"Let me give you a new hairdo."

Mika was particularly fascinated by how the goats ate from the trough. In fact she was SO fascinated that she decided she might give it a try.

"Is this how you do it?"

"I'm not fond of alfalfa but I'll give you a kiss any day."

At one point Mika spotted some goat "poo" on the ground and ran over and picked it up before we could stop her and then held it out to us and brightly said, "Rock."  Uh, no, Mika.  That's not a rock.  Don't you just love the optimism of the young who can make a rock out of poop?

Finally it was time to go but not before one more kiss for Mika's favorite goat.  I have a feeling this won't be the last time that Mika visits those goats.

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