I took Calista to ZooLights here in Calgary. We go to the zoo almost every week, and for months now, we've seen them putting more and more lights up in preparation, so I decided to let her see the finished product. It was just her and me. We bundled up: snow pants and long underwear, winter boots and scarves, the whole nine yards.
On the way to the zoo, the first time ever in the nighttime, she told me, "It's dark, but there will be lights so I can see." Calista also noticed the moon as we were driving, especially since she and I studied the letter M this week, and the moon just that morning. "Look Momma, the moon! He's following us! He wants to come to the zoo with us. He's nice."
Her excitement was off the charts. As we pulled into our parking space, she said in her squealiest voice, "I soOOooo excited!" And so was I, mostly to watch Calista looking at the lights.
Every moment was magical for her and left Calista in awe. Seeing the lights with a three-year-old reminds me to celebrate all the little beautiful things.
She got to visit with Santa. Calista has been talking about seeing Santa for a while now (where did that come from??), and when the time came, she happily rushed up to him, but didn't want to sit on his lap, so she didn't. No worries. She was still thrilled.
He didn't ask her want she wanted for Christmas, and she didn't volunteer - I definitely didn't mind. We did walk away with a couple candy canes - yum!
After Santa, we headed to the skating rink they had set up. She definitely wanted to go skating - "on a frozen lake," - so we went to grab a pair of skates for her. I decided to just stay in boots, since I'm not terribly steady and I wanted to make sure she didn't hurt herself. It was a good move, Calista did not want me to let go of her hands (both of them!) the whole time. I tried to convince her to hold on to the wall so I could get a quick picture, but no dice. She seriously loved it, though, in spite of her unsteadiness. We went all the way around their rink twice. At every exit, I asked her if she want to be done, but she said no - "This is so fun! I skating!" Once we got off the rink, she finally consented to a picture:
Pink ice skates and all.
Right outside the skating rink there was a voice-activated light-up tree. Calista went over to the microphone and started singing Jingle Bells and dancing. The the tree started singing Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You," she paused and listened for a moments, then started singing "It's Christmas! It's Christmaaaaaasss!" and dancing. It was one of those moments when I thought my three-year-old was about the cutest thing in the whole world.
I am so glad that Calista and I were about to spend some time together, just the two of us. We played tag in an area of hay bales in the kid zone - oh, the giggles! - and we walked all around until Calista tried to sit down on the sidewalk and said, "I don't have power... I tired." So home and to bed we went.
But not before stopping and taking a picture with an orca... obviously.
Merry start of the Christmas season to all, and to all a good night (after zoolights).
For the first time, Calista got to pick her own costume for Halloween. Craig just got stuck with whatever we wanted him to be - a rock star, to show off the mohawk that is slowly becoming less obvious as the rest of his hair grows in.
He studied hard for the role.
Calista has been talking about what she wanted to be for a few months. If you asked her back in August, she'd rattle off a list of about a dozen different things, including dinosaurs, witch, cat, princess, dragon, etc. But slowly, that list changed to be just one: dragon. "I'm going to be a dragon for Halloween," she announced, and has stuck with it. So, I found her a costume, and the joy on her face when I showed it to her was fantastic. Calista took her costume from me, held it close, and begged to put it on immediately. (She didn't get to, since she was buckled into her carseat, but when we got to our destination, the first thing she did was try it on).
Also for the first time, Calista truly picked out what we would carve on our not-pumpkin jack-o-lantern. When we asked her what she wanted on it, after a few moments of deliberation, she declared she wanted a spider.
So, a spider we (Kyler) did.
As long as there was watermelon to eat, Craig was a happy camper.
When we were done carving and about ready to put in the candle, Calista wanted to "sing 'Happy Birthday' - to everybody!" and then blow out the candle.
We were about to convince her to hold off until after we got a few pictures.
A spooky watermelon spider!
And one last first: for the first time, I got the kidlets matching pajamas!
Calista loved her "spooky boo 'jamas," and Craig... didn't want to sit still.
He's 13 months old, what do you expect?
Being in preschool now (what a big girl!), the day before Halloween she had a party and got to wear -her costume.
And roar at everybody, obviously.
For Halloween itself, , Calista got into the dragon again (roar!), and Craig got to have his hair dyed for the first time - he hated it. I didn't get it anywhere close to his eyes, but he still acted like the world was ending. Once I was done, he was fine.
And hardcore.
After a quick trip to the park, we went to show off their costumes at their "grandma's" apartment.
There is a little old lady (90+) at church who is in love with Calista and Craig. She showed off the kiddos to all her neighbors, too, and Calista roared at every one. Apparently I should have brought Calista's candy bucket in. I didn't because we weren't actually trick-or-treating there, just visiting... but we left with my pockets bulging with candy, and everyone's tummies bulging with cookies, candy, fudgesicles, chips...
After than we headed to the mall to make a craft and get more candy.
Calista had a lot of fun with the glue, and did everything all by herself.
This girl is growing up so fast!
Craig discovered that the rock-n-roll lifestyle has to take a break sometime, too.
Because, seriously folks, it's exhausting to be a rock star.
It's exhausting be a dragon, too, and Calista was more than ready for a break when we got home from the mall.
She couldn't get her shoe off.
After a little recuperating and dinner, as well as Daddy coming home, we headed to our final stop of the day: the office here at our complex for their haunted house and massive amounts of candy.
All in all, a pretty good day. Anyone want to share a peanut butter cup?
So, I wrote a birthday post, but how about a general update on Craig the last three months? (I've been working on this for a while. It'll only go through his birthday, though. Too bad.) I know that grandparents will enjoy it, at least, so let's proceed.
We have a majorly efficient crawler. Seriously, he is quick. And he's got great form: it's perfect. He's so good at crawling, we wonder when he will decide to walk. It'll probably be (at first) a much less efficient way to travel.
A hazard of learning to crawl?
Getting stuck. Poor kid.
Since he is crawling so well, Craig can get into just about anything.
Sometimes that's a good thing, like getting into his toys and being able to entertain himself.
Sometimes it's a pretty neutral thing, like when he gets into the pantry and pulls out the potatoes while I'm making dinner - even though the recipe doesn't call for potatoes.
Or when he pulls mixing bowls out to play with.
Or when he discovers his sisters broom and wants to sweep with it, but since he can't free stand, he can't.
Sometimes his ability to move and get into things is a not-so-good thing.
Like when he finds the one single crayon we forgot to put away and then has a blue-green diaper the next day.
Or when he pulls my parsley off the window sill and tries to eat it. At least it is edible?
The mohawk still rocks, but Craig is getting more and more hair, so soon it probably won't be very obvious.
Nonetheless, it'll still be way awesome when he dresses up as a punk rocker for Halloween.
Calista took this picture. Not too bad, eh?
I mean, come on: the kid has a natural mohawk! What else are we going to do?
He can pull himself up now (obviously!).
The first place Craig pulled up was on the stairs - he loves to climb up the stairs, or just about anything else.
Sometimes he gets stuck on the stairs, and rather than rescue him, I take a picture.
You weren't trying to keep me away from the stairs with this stuff, were you? It's not working very well if you were...
He's not always so great at getting back down them, however. He insists on trying to go down head first, which needless to say, makes Momma a bit anxious...
As I said in his 9 month post, he was sleeping like a champ... and then the was sick and teething at the same time, and life hasn't been the same since. Sigh.
But he is still so cute when he sleeps!
We're working on it, slowly but surely.
He fell asleep amid the commotion of a family gathering, so his eldest cousin imitated him.
He started sleeping decently much better than Calista did, and still isn't any worse than she was, but somehow having a decent night's sleep, only to have it stolen away from me later, makes this seem almost more cruel. Eh. He'll get there again.
Asleep on the go, cracker still in hand
He and Calista are sleeping in the same room, though, giving us a dedicated play room. I love it!
They usually are really good together.
Calista adores Craig and will be protective of him if other people try to talk to him - that's my baby!
And he loves her, too, and is thrilled when she plays with him and pays attention to him.
Calista is the best way to keep him entertained in the car, and vise versa,
which can be a problem if Craig is sleeping and Calista wants to be entertained by him, but most of the time it's okay.
I love watching them together, and try not to interfere too much...
unless there's a chance of someone, like, getting hurt or something.
Craig isn't speaking any real words yet, but he loves to babble.
His favorite "word" to say seems to be something that sounds like, "I do." If only he said it in context! (Who wants some snack? I do!)
He is also getting a little better about his separation anxiety.
The last time he was left with someone who isn't Mom or Dad, he didn't scream the whole time! He whined a bit, searched for us, and cried when a little girl a month older than he is hit him on the head - which totally doesn't count!
Maybe someday soon I won't feel horribly bad (for the babysitter) if I leave him!
Craig also loves the cat.
She... sometimes likes him, sometime tolerates him...
...and sometimes bites him. But not too hard.
He got to enjoy his first summer quite a bit.
We went to spray parks,
regular parks,
for walks,
visiting with cousins,
the zoo,
playing in the pool...
We did it all!
He loved the pool, though not so much the slide.
He doesn't really like the ones at the park, either.
But playing with toys on it is fun!
Just like Calista, he loves to play piano. If sitting down at the piano can't fix a broken Craig, we know there is nothing that can except time.
He's not too bad, for a one year old.
Unlike Calista, who still is not a fan of the vacuum, Craig loves it.
He will follow it room to room, up the stairs. He seriously loves it.
Kyler and Jeanette got married on the 25th of August 2007, after knowing each other for four years and being each other's rebound date. It's a healthy relationship.
