Good Clean Fun

This weekend, Vita's Grandma Victoria came up for a visit. Despite the heat wave, we had lots of fun. There's a reason that Vita is looking at the ground in front of her, with an expression of concern. Look what popped out of the ground RIGHT in front of us! This park had a couple of bold gophers who made repeated appearances. Vita watched with amazement. Vita swings so high!

Vita's froggy pool broke just in time for the heat wave. We played in the shade in the backyard with Vita's sand and water table for a while... until Vita decided to sit in the bucket of water and smear wet sand into her arms, legs, belly, neck, armpits, hair, etc.

She's been getting so dirty when she plays outside. Here's a picture from last weekend that didn't make it to the blog. This picture was taken in the middle of an outdoor tea party where Vita made "coffee" out of mud.

Later, on Sunday afternoon, Vita loaded up all of her stuffed animals in the bed.

Vita loves her baths, but when she's having fun playing she doesn't want to be interrupted. "No No NO!"

And this is how our nightly games of hide and seek begin.

This weekend, Vita also broke the toddler concentration world record. Grandma Victoria brought up a handmade diorama and Vita simply couldn't get enough of it. She played with it for over an hour, just labeling all of the things inside and exploring every inch. When it was time to go to bed, Vita hugged it, and said good night and "I love you" to everything inside the diorama. It was sooooooo sweet, and it is her new favorite thing. I don't have any still photos (yet) but I do have some video. Unfortunately youtube is not wanting to upload my video so I might have to add that later on.

SF Zoo

This weekend, Vita had her first visit to the zoo! We had such a fun day. I was really impressed by how many animals Vita was able to name. In fact, when we were watching the lions someone walking by mistakenly referred to it as a tiger and Vita pointed and said lion. Also, Vita roared at the lions. The lions were unimpressed, but I thought it was pretty cute. I think Vita's favorite animal was the giraffe. The only thing Vita did NOT like was the petting zoo. She was interested in looking at the goats and sheep from afar, and imitating their noises... but she did NOT want to touch them. I can't really blame her.

This is by far the best picture of the day. Hey Vita, what sound does a grisly bear make? GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

Clean Air

Yesterday we headed south to Monterey to escape the smoke from the Lockheed Fire and breathe some clean air. We had a great day on the beach! Vita loved playing in the giant sandbox and got to watch lots of boats, birds, and dogs... and even collect a pail of rocks. She's still unsure of the water at the beach, and clings to us very very tightly even when we just put our toes in the water. When it got too cold and windy at the beach, we went to Dennis the Menace Park to play in the playground and have a picnic lunch in the company of several geese. Lately, Vita has been more outgoing at the local parks. Typically, even with lots of kids around, she does her own thing... and maybe just watches some of the older kids. However, this weekend Vita approached older kids at the park and joined them in their play. She was so engaged in playing with and watching the other kids, she never even looked back to see if we were close by. It's so much fun watching her discover the ability to socialize!

E.L.M.O.

This weekend the weather was PERFECT. We had a lovely lazy weekend... so lazy that I did not take any pictures. Ooops. Since I have no pictures, I offer you this news about what's going on in Vita's world. Vita loves Elmo, and I am pretty strong in resisting many children's characters but I am no match for Elmo. First of all, I don't even know how Vita learned about Elmo. We never had any Elmo stuff, nor had Vita ever seen any Sesame Street in her entire life. One day, in Target, Vita points and screams ELMO! I asked around at her daycare and they didn't introduce Elmo either. Where on earth did she learn about Elmo? I'm convinced they put something in the prenatal vitamins that programs children to be drawn to Elmo. Now that she knows and loves Elmo, he's everywhere. You can't get down any aisle at Target without encountering him. There are Elmo clothes, Elmo toothbrushes, Elmo crackers, etc. Ernie and I started to give in a couple of months ago, and we now have an Elmo puppet, some books, etc. But any time we talk about something that Vita will want right away (like bubbles, grapes, and other fun stuff) we use the age old method of spelling things out. Here's where the evil genius of the Sesame Street marketing team knocked me off my feet. I asked Ernie where the E. L. M. O. book was, spelling out the word... and Vita looked up and shouted ELMO! At first I thought Vita had perhaps already memorized the spelling of that word... but then I realized that when you spell Elmo, it sounds the same as saying Elmo, especially if you spell it quickly. (Try it, you'll see.) Wow - the Sesame Street marketing team is so much smarter than me, I am completely out of my league, but I will not surrender. I'm fighting back against Elmo by bringing back some of the classics from my pre-Elmo childhood like good old fashioned wooden toys, and charactors that don't refer to themselves in the third person (like the Muppets). Take that!

August Heat

The weather was finally warm enough to play in the kiddie pool. Vita couldn't even wait for me to inflate it. She was in there playing while I blew it up. Hurry up, mom! Splash! Vita was so happy she even stood up to give the froggy pool a kiss.

Vita likes to play a game called "sneak up on mom and pour water on her back". This is loads of fun, even though Vita has a thing or to she still needs to learn about being sneaky. Anyway, Vita will fill up her little sandbox shovel with water, and "sneak" over to where I am in the yard. By the time she gets to me, most of the water has sloshed out.

However, when Vita succeeds in coming up behind me and pouring some water on my back (or feet), and I shriek with surprise, Vita laughs hysterically.

Moooooommmmm, quit it - I want to run around and play!

You're In

Congratulations for making it into the the new "protected" site. I apologize if you had to set up a google account... I'll wait until Sunday for an official weekly post, but here's a bonus picture just for putting up with the security hassle. Here's Vita sitting on her piano reading books.

Sorry I'm Late...

Well, I'm sorry to keep you waiting on an update... However, I've been working a lot of extra hours at work lately, and I just haven't had the time to update or to add the security features. I have all of your email addresses, and I'll add the security next week (hopefully). In the mean time, here's one more unsecured update. On Friday afternoon, as Vita was napping, Grandma Marianne and Grandpa Vito were heading over for a short visit. Vita was SO excited to see them! Grandma brought over a few gifts, including this (nearly life sized) Dora doll. It was a big hit. We played outdoors in the sun, kicked around a soccer ball, came inside for dinner, and then called it a night very early. The next morning, Vita was up early and was waiting and waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to come back over and play. (Sorry, Vita... not everyone wakes up at 4:45 am, so you're going to have to wait for a little while.) Here's Vita and Ernie waiting by the window. When Grandma and Grandpa got here the next morning, we all took lots of pictures. Vita is used to posing for pictures (although it's getting harder to keep her still even for a moment). Isn't that a pretty top and bow?

Then, Vita likes to look at the picture in the little screen in the camera.

Vita and Grandma and Dora had fun playing patty cake, singing nursery rhymes (especially the really dark and creepy ones), and reading books.

This book, which Vita's cousin Dan gave her a year ago (back when she was in the hospital) was a little advanced for her at the time but it has become a new favorite.

After a few more pictures, Vita ran around screaming in pure excitement for at least 30 minutes straight, until Grandma and Grandpa had to head out for San Jose (at which time Vita instantly crashed for a nice long nap).

Thanks for a fun visit!

Before I go, I also wanted to share some of what's new with Vita. Vita is obsessed with the alphabet. She loves the ABC song, and although she can't sing it all the way through, she knows the beginning (ABCDE) and the ending (WXYZ) and a few random letters in the middle like J M S and sometimes V. Vita has learned the manipulative power of saying "please" in her cutest sweetest voice. How could you possibly deny such a polite child of more grapes or blueberries? However, she thinks that if she says "please" she should get EXACTLY what she wants, right away, no matter what it is. Vita is also learning to count, and learning colors. Finally, Vita has been enjoying stacking blocks more than ever before. Last week, for the first time, she built a tower of blocks that was taller than she is! Of course I tried to capture it on film but by the time I got my camera on, she added that one last block and the whole thing came down.