Saturday, June 18, 2011

Dave's Pirate Treasure Map Cake

Today is Dave's birthday. One of the things I love about my husband is that no matter how old he gets he is still a child at heart.  He loves all things pirate.  A few months back I was flipping through a kid's magazine and I saw this pirate cake.  Dave wanted it so that is what I made him for his birthday.  

It was a lot of fun to make.  I'm in awe of whoever came up with the idea.  It's so creative. The entire thing was edible. We bought quite a bit of candy yesterday to make all the elements and then P helped me make the cupcakes.  Birthday cakes have become one of my biggest creative outlets.  I really love making them and I'm starting to wish I worked at Ace of Cakes or some place like that.  

I bought most of the candy at Whole Foods. All the icing is colored with organic food coloring made from fruit or vegetables.  The few items I couldn't find at Whole Foods I bought at Cost Plus. They have a surprising large assortment of candy and not just domestic either.  

A treasure chest made out of chocolate nuggets, mini pearls and icing.  A parrot made from a green sugar gum drop. X marks the spot made out of a red M&M and red sugar gum drops. 

 Pirate flag made out of a chocolate covered coconut chew, marshmellows and icing.  I should have gotten chocolate icing to make the eyes but I just couldn't justify buying a tube of it for only 2 dots.

 Volcano made out of chocolate covered coconut chews and icing with red sugar.
 Bones made out of mini marshmelows.

The "sand" was made from smashed up vanilla wafers. And the coins are chocolate.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Today P learned to play rock, paper, scissors.  We were in bed and I briefly gave her the rules and then I just started doing it with her and she got it.  I don't know why I think this is special but I do. 

Be Like Me

I recently bought P a My Little Pony doll.  As soon as we got home P cut the pony's hair.  I asked her why and she said "because the hair was getting in her eyes and she should have it like me".  I was in awe of her response.  How amazing that she feels dolls should look like her not the other way around.  This has to be one of my proudest moments. 

I recently found an app and website called 7 Wonderlicious. It's all about building a girl's self esteem. They post articles on Facebook almost daily. The articles are interesting, shocking and at times freak me out. It's really hard to develop a girls self worth with all the media surrounding them at such an early age. Much of the messages are disguised as cute toys but in reality are telling girls how to think less and seduce more.  After reading some of those articles I am incredibly proud of P's view of herself within the world. 

Friday, June 10, 2011

Last Day of Preschool.

Today was P's last day of preschool. Her last day of the first year. She has two more years to go.  I remember hearing parents talk about these milestones and I thought they were so dumb. And then I had a kid and today feels huge. Again, another thing to mark how fast time is going by.  

In this year P has learned to spot her name,  draw circles, squares, lines, draw things that actually look like what she says she drew, draw the letter A. She's learned to cut with regular scissors, learned so many words I can't keep track. She's learned about friendships, taking turns, sharing, waiting patiently. I find it very interesting how much of her learning at this stage has to do with social learning. It's exhausting for her. I will never forget after her first day of school I asked her how her day was and she said "ahhh, sharing is hard!". We've started on the right track.  The school was great and then a change in our director brought on a whole slew of issues. We'll see how things transition next year but for now I'm thrilled at the education and direction P is getting. I'm thrilled with who she is surrounded by and I'm grateful for Mrs. Eishenreich and Mrs Serino for taking such great care of my darling P.

ISR Refresher

P finished her week of ISR refresher today.  It was amazing to watch her go from being petrified of the water to having her confidence back in a 5 day period.  P had two bad experiences this spring. One where she couldn't reach the edge of the pool and the other she missed the last step in our pool.  Those two incidents of not being in control and not able to float comfortably scared her. Every time we got near a pool her fear got worse and worse so I called Katie. In 5 days Katie took her from fearful to confident and I can't thank her enough for getting me my Super P and peace of mind back. 

Every spring P gets back in the water and her body has grown and changed so much it throws her off.  Every fall I promise myself to get into the heated pool at the club a couple times a month through the winter so P keeps her feel of the water.  It never happens. Who wants to get into a pool when it's 50 degrees outside? Not me! That's for Olympic athletes. 

This is the fourth time we've been to Katie. The first two years were 4-6 week sessions. Last year and this year were refreshers.  For some reason this year it's really hit me hard how fast time is passing. We've always had a routine of swimming and then going to Starbucks after.  On Monday our first day, we pulled into the Starbucks parking lot and I started crying.  I remember 8 months as if it were yesterday.  It feels like yesterday and yet when she was 8 months old, 4 years old felt like it was going to be decades away.  The one thing I know for sure is that I don't regret the thousands and thousands of pictures I've taken of this kid. And I certainly don't regret the money and time we've spent on ISR. Besides it being a literal life saver, this whole experience was the starting block of building P's confidence.  For a 20month old to know they can fully control their bodies in the water when they can't on dry land and to know they can do something better than most other 4,5,6 year olds is a huge boost of confidence.  It's crazy amazing. 

These pictures give me goose bumps. We've come a long way my little baby!
Thank you Katie.  I know another ISR instructor could have taught P these skills but another would not have given her the love and warmth you give! xo

P and Katie today.
 P and Katie in July 2008. P was 8 months old. That cry was such torture to me.


Today
 July 2008. Although painful to hear, the cry was worth knowing she could float and survive at 8 months old.


Today.
 2008

Today
 2008

We still have monkey.  Katie gave him to P when she was an infant.  She was drawn to him from the start and to this day she'll go beyond her comfort zone if monkey is around. 
Monkey with us back when P was 20 months old. 
P floating back then to!


Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Sushi

Sushi. The one meal I never have to beg her to eat!  Amazing!  She loooooves raw salmon and yellow tail. In fact, she dislikes California Rolls.  I can't eat sushi while I'm on my "fertility diet" so we stopped at Whole Foods for her sushi and my salad bar.