The Fortress

A couple of weeks ago as I was preparing for a garage sale (ugh), my friend Michelle helped distract Gianna.  They built a mac-daddy fortress out of blankets, pillows, furniture and the like.

Gianna was thrilled with her 'castle' - as she dubbed it.

Even Max was pumped about his new cave-like abode.

They played and even picnicked in this new castle. 

Gianna had the bright idea of using her borrowed princess castle as the entrance.

I was impressed by her ingenuity.

I think she was too.

Airport

Gianna and I went to the local airport which had just been rebuilt since the hurricane.

What an awesome place for a toddler to hang out!!!

Lots of walking, riding on elevators, plane and copter watching....

 ...and a long-awaited reunion with my brother who'd been working out of state for a few months.

 I need to remember to make another visit there - just for the fun of it.  Good way to kill a morning and occupy a busy munchin!

For the birds...

In an effort to avoid some of the challenging behavior we've been experiencing in Lewis Land lately, I've been trying to sprinkle our days with little adventures for Gianna.  I happened to have a bag of almost stale cheerios so I took her to the Civic Center to go feed the birds.

Gianna got so tickled by the birds... 

...until Mommy threw the first handful of cheerios in the air.

All we heard was enormous swooshes of collective wings flapping of the 3,000 birds that came in a split second!

There were ducks, pigeons, seagulls - which all may as well been vultures as they came running after us looking for more food. 

I felt like we were in the middle of a Hitchcock movie.

Gianna was a little nervous - and frankly, so was I.

Who knew cheerios would be such a hit?

Once we ran out of food, we quickly left the hungry birds and walked along the lakefront.

Gianna had the playground to herself. 

Jelly Book - volume 2

Two years ago when I first began blogging, I posted about starting a Jelly Book.

Here's part of that early entry...

When Gianna was born, one of my long-time friends came into town for a friend's baby shower and she asked me if I had started a "jelly book" yet. I couldn't even fathom what that could be, so I asked. She told me that you just get an empty book/journal that you keep in your kitchen - where most of life seems to happen - and when your kids say things and do things that you want to remember, you just jot it in the book. Often it'll be stained by jelly or coffee or whatever messy bit of life is happening at the moment....but you'll have it written down and eventually have a treasured collection of amazing moments you may have accidentally forget otherwise. I just loved that concept. (Thank you Mary!) I found an old journal of quotes I began keeping years ago, and designated that as my Jelly Book.  

Two years later, I realized that my blog had basically become my Jelly Book - home to all the memories, funny sayings and silly antics of my child.  But instead of all those things sprinkled randomly throughout my posts, I really wanted just one single place that I could easily find those precious memorable moments. 

Then I discovered that Blogger offered PAGE tabs that can either be seen under your header (that's where mine are) or on your side bar.  Perfect! 

My digital Jelly Book!

(To create a page tab, just go to your dashboard and click on the posting tab.  There are 3 sub tabs: New Post, Edit Posts and Edit Pages.  Click on Edit Pages then New Page.  Easy Peasy.)

You can click HERE to go right to my Jelly Book page.

I just love having all those little gems at my fingertips.

That's an idea that Works for Me!  Joining the link party at We are THAT Family.

Here are this week's entries...

Gianna told me, "I feel sick, Mommy."

I looked at her quizically since I'd never heard her say that before.
She then said,
"I have temperature."
I figured she was pretending, but went ahead and felt her forehead, and it was warm.
Took her temperature and by golly, she had a low-grade fever.
That's one of the blessings of having a verbal child.

* * * * *

Following the "I feel sick." comment, I called for an appointment with the doctor.
At bedtime I told her we were going to the doctor the next day. I may as well told her she was going to Disney World.
"Go see Doctor Decker!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, Gianna, that's right." I said.
"Check my heart."
"Yes."
"Check my ears."
"Yes,"
"Check my mouth. Aaaaah."
"Yes."
"And check my feelings."
Check my feelings! That made me smile.  I guess I ask her fairly often how she's feeling and it made perfect sense to her that the doctor wanted to know the same thing.
I thought that was so cute.
"Doctor Decker give me a 'rellypop?' (a.k.a. lollipop)
Before I could say anything, she pointed her little index finger at me and said,
"Don't ask!"
I have been trying to help her understand the concept of not asking for things like candy and apparantly it's starting to sink in....although she still asked when got to the clinic.

* * * * *

We were driving and came to a four-way stop.  "Look, Mommy -- an octagon! I found it!" she said excitedly as she pointed to the stop sign.
The topic at Story Time at the Library was "SHAPES" just the day before.

* * * * *
Speaking of Story Time: While we were there waiting for it to begin, Gianna reached into my purse and pulled out a great big purle wrapped maxi pad.  Before I could confiscate it, she held it up and announced,
"This is Mommy's toilet paper!"
Her first show and tell.
Lovely.

* * * * *

Every time we pass a schoolyard, she asks, "Gianna go to school?"
I told her she can go when she's a big girl.
"Gianna big girl!" says the smart child.
I then told her she can go to school when she's five.
The next day she asked me where Tyler (our neighbor) was.
I told her he was in school.
"Oh," she said, "He five."
* * * * *
She was sitting on her new toddler bed as I was putting her socks on.

She pointed her little index finger at me and said,
"No jumping on bed." she told me.
She was a BIGtime jumper in her crib.
"That's right, Gianna." I said, nodding.
Then she said with a furrowed brow and pointed finger in my face,
"Dis is a bed. It NOT a 'jumpoline'!!!" (a.k.a trampoline)
I agreed as I laughed at her serious scolding, assuming she was repeating a warning dished out by her daddy.
I later asked my husband if he ever spoke those words to her.
Nope. Apparently that was her own little note to self. :)
* * * * *

Me:  "Gianna, who's not listening to their mommy?"
Gianna:  "Therese." she said matter-of-factly.

* * * * *
There was a kid in Wal-mart who was throwing a tantrum.
Gianna looked at me with wide eyes and said,
"He not being good listener."

* * * * *
Lately, every time we see an African American women in public Gianna calls loudly,
"OPRAH!"

* * * * *
"Hey Mom." Gianna said casually as she passed me in the kitchen.
(What is she? TWELVE?)
"Um, Mom? Excuse me, Gianna, but that's not my name."
Her very quick reply, "Hey Maria!"
Turkey.

Tea under the Big Oak Tree

I know I've mentioned before most of Gianna's little friends have been boys. That's certainly not a complaint -- merely an observation.  Recently, through one of our favorite little boys (and his mommy), we've met some precious little toddler girls.  One of them, Emma, just turned three and we were lucky enough to be invited to her party. A tea party, no less - under the oldest, most grand oak tree in our town.

Gianna and I had a particularly trying morning that day which spawned several melt-downs between the two of us (Daddy's still working ridiculous hours and it usually has a profound efffect on both G and me.)  I was tempted to renig on the tea party, but I figured I'd only be punishing myself.   I definitely made the right decision to bring her!

The enormous sprawling, hugging arms of the tree enveloped this sweet little tea party that was obviously meant to be in that very exact perfect spot.

And here's the most adorable birthday girl, Emma.

There was a butterfly theme to the party and Emma's mom created an amazing food spread and gave such attention to detail in the decor.

The children took their seats at the table where they each found a lovely little ceramic tea cup at their place setting. 

That delighted my little lady...

She got a lot of sipping practice in before the hot cocoa was served.

This sip was my favorite! (I love that she still has dimpled elbows.)

Benjamin was in the minority in the sea of little girls....

...and he was a great sport as he tried to figure out why in heavens name he was given a tea cup. :)

* * * * *

This little princess passed on the recommendation that she teach the little ones to drink tea with their pinkies up.

During tea and butterfly cupcake time, Gianna spotted a 'horse' and carriage coming around the corner.

It turns out, they were hired to give the children rides.

You can imagine the excitement that ensued!

Gianna is exclaiming, "A HORSE!"

Actually, I think it was a mule...but 'horse and carriage' seems to have a nicer ring to it than 'mule and buggy.'

How cute are all the kids in the carriage?

 Here's sweet Ella.

Sarah taught them how to race. 

Gianna got quite a kick out of that...

 ...except she kept wanted to turn around to see what was going on behind her.

 * * * * *
We wanted to take a picture of these three on the bench in front of the big tree...

...not quite so sure what we were thinking. (Although I kinda like how this came out.)
* * * * *

Interestingly, when her daddy asked her all about the party, the one highlight Gianna was excited to mention was....

...running around the circle.

Kids.

* * * * *

What a lovely little memory that also seemed to eradicate the meltdowns of the morning.

Happy Birthday, Emma.