Happy Christmas Mokie!!!!!!

We love you Mokie, more than you'll ever know... ever ever ever.  If you only knew at every second of every day what you mean to us, you'd weep...for like a week.  Ivy loves you so much it's borderline cuckoo-cuckoo.  She constantly talks about and emulates you throughout the day - not only that, she talks about what she wants to do with you once she sees you again... every day! You can't ask for a better Christmas present than that, now can you?  Geez... I just about started crying writing that - that's how much you mean to our little girl. 

As for me??  I can't imagine life without you and don't like to think about life before you.  Your are far and away the love of my life.period.  My only problem with you :) is that you sell yourself short, you don't see how bright and amazing you are...I need to tell you this more often, and I will because it's true.  You spread love and light and you are all I need, all I need to know what this silly life is all about.  I love you.

** Ok.  So, about this blog.  I set out trying to have this amazing diary of the daily life of me & Ivy for you at Xmas time.  Yeah, didn't really work out but it's something I'd definitely like to pursue from here on out.  Sort of a scrapbook/photo album that's always accessible.  Some of the post are not finished, polished, etc....I'll give you the login & pswd, that way we can both add.

To sum up, we love you...always have and always will.  Enjoy the below "ghosts from Christmas past".

Red Loves Mokey

I come in a close second, but it's obvious that this little girl loves her mom more than anyone else.  I recently quit my job to stay home with Ivy while Whitney pursues her career as a teacher.  It'd be a bit too harsh to say that it's been a struggle, because it really hasn't (minus the financial aspect), but Ivy truly misses staying home with her mom.  Her first question of the day is usually something along the line of " where's mom?...I love mom."  Certain mornings she'll refuse to get out of her bed if mom isn't there :)  That was probably the hardest transition for Ivy in our move to Salem, staying home with me all day.  We have fun and I know she loves me, but the love between mother and child is an untouchable one.

Red (Ivy) and Mokey (Whitney) are always doing things together, usually hatching plans for a radish stealing expedition.  Ivy likes to pretend that our living is a Gorg garden full of delicious radishes, which she loves to steal.  She informs Junior Gorg (me) that she is stealing radishes so that I will chase her - usually she runs into the Great Hall (her room) for safety.  She always advises Mokey of her schemes and asks her for help when she is caught.  Mokey is definitely her comfort zone.  It's interesting that in Ivy's pretend world Whitney is always a Mokey - the soother/comforter.  I'm always split between two type of characters:  Junior Gorg - the scary creature; Uncle Traveling Matt - the loving uncle.  On a side note, during the day when Whitney is at work, Ivy will say to me "Gorg, let's just be friends, ok?."  But as soon as Whitney gets home it turns in to " Mokey, that Gorg is trying to get me...heeeelllp!"

Ivy Cuts My Hair

Ivy was so excited to cut my hair.  She did it once before but was so young she probably doesn't remember too much about it.  I learned a lesson when she was young, and that was not to shave my beard or cut my hair without her being present.  It freaks her out, any change to the normal appearance of mom or dad.  The first time I shaved my beard off she wanted nothing to do with me and was a little afraid.  So now I let her do the work for me..... well, most of the work.  She did a really good job!  First she cut the beard hair and we left, as was her wish, a big moustache.   We then just cut the top of my hair...I wanted a peek into the future to see what I'll look like as a balding old gentleman...

Not sure how I feel about the future and according to this picture, nor is Ivy.  

Ivy helped pretty much throughout the whole hair cut and enjoyed the experience.  She was not however, happy with the end result.  As soon as all the hair was gone she had a hard time looking me in the eyes and would run by the bathroom, peek in and scream once eye contact was made :)  And now, she insists that I always wear a hat.


Anyway, it was lots of fun.  I've learned to involve Ivy in the most basic of activities.  She loves to feel a part of something and more than anything - loves to help and be a good helper.

 Whitney made a good point when she got home.  You let her hold the shears and she never tried to cut her own hair?  The thought never crossed my mind but I'll be wary of it in the future.

Snow Day 11/23/2010

If the local news were to be taken seriously, one would think this would've been the snow storm to end all snow storms.  Special early news, news going into overtime, about 20 reporters for each major network in different parts of the Portland area, school closures, etc.  I think we got a whole whoppin' 1/16 of an inch here in Salem.  It's so funny the way they freak out about snow in Oregon.  Oh yeah, anything below 35 degrees around here is considered an "arctic chill".

It started snowing last night and it made Whitney & I happy and nostalgic for snowier times, but we were sad because Ivy was sleeping and missing the snow.  She loves snow even though she has rarely seen it and probably doesn't remember it much.  As luck would have it, it started snowing early in the afternoon and we went out to play.

The first thing Ivy said when we went outside, and she she said this over and over, " I can't believe this."  She then proceeded to point out everything that had snow on it by saying, "  It's snowing on my ball.  It's snowing on my bubbles.  It's snowing on my plant.  It's snowing on Dad's bag.  It's snowing on the stairs."    After that she wouldn't stop asking why was it snowing. Not one answer I gave her seemed to supply sufficient reason for the presence of snow in Salem :)  It's hard to tell from the pictures I took, but the snow flakes were huge for a good 10  - 15 minutes. And we went on a little walk but she was hesitant to walk without her hand in mine.  The whole "storm" lasted about 25 minutes and none of the snow stuck to the ground.  Also, it was the type of snow that's too dry to make a snowball :(

 And all afternoon she's been bringing her favorite toys to the window and showing them the snow.  Only after they ask her politely :)

Line Please..

Here's a short list of some of Ivy's favorite things to say (I'm sure I'll keep adding to the list):

• What the bleep?!
• Oh, this is getting serious. (especially when it's time to go pee pee)
• Ahhh...that makes me tired.
• Guess what dad......and then whatever happens to be on her mind.
• Oh darn.
• It can't work...
• Hold me...
• Hi Mama (when addressing me)
• Hi Dada (when addressing Whitney) she's thinks it's hilarious
• I'm not Ivy, I'm Red Fraggle
• Singing London Bridges using only meows
• The pee pee won't come out.. (when we try to get her to go to the bathroom before leaving the house)
• Now I guess I've seen everything ( this is new and has only been uttered a few times, but worth noting)
  
• 
  

Books Books Books

I know I'll forget many (I'll be updating forever!) but here is a list of Ivy's favorite books, and in no particular order:

• There's A Nightmare In My Attic, by Mercer Mayer
• One Monster After Another, by Mercer Mayer
• What Do You Do With A Kangaroo?, by Mercer Mayer
• There's An Alligator Under My Bed, by Mercer Mayer
• Just Me And My Dad, Mom, Brother, Sister, Grandpa, Grandma, etc.... (Series) by Mercer Mayer
• Weird Parents, by Audrey Wood
• Silly Sally Went To Town, by Audrey Wood
• Tugford the Bad, by Audrey Wood
• Rude Giants, by Audrey Wood
• Things That Are Most In The World, by Judi Barrett
• Animals Should Definitely Not Act Like People, by Judi Barrett
• Little 1 , by Ann & Paul Rand
• Toby, What Are You?, by William Steig
• Toby, Where Are You?, by William Steig
• Toby, Who Are You?, by William Steig
• The Me Book, by Jean Tymms
• Pierre, A Cautionary Tale In Five Chapters And A Prologue, by Maurice Sendak
• Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
• The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstien
• The Grannynan, by Judith Byron Schachner
• Oh, What A Busy Day, Gyo Fujikawa
• Baby Animal Families, by Gyo Fujikawa
• Sweater, by Kit Allen
• We're Going On A Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury
• You And Me, by Martine Kindermans

•  I Am A Bunny, by Richard Scarry
• Busy, Busy Town, by Richard Scarry 
• Mouse's House, by Richard Scarry
• Bus Stop, by Taro Gomi
• My Friends, by Taro Gomi
•  Follow The Line, by Laura Ljungkvist
• Follow The Line Through The House, by Laura Ljungkvist
• Mud Puddle, by Robert Munsch
• The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert Munsch
• Harry The Dirty Dog, by Gene Zion/Margaret Bloom Graham
• Be Nice To Spiders, by Margaret Bloom Graham
• Round Robin, by Arnold Lobel 
• Joey, by Arnold Lobel
• Prince Bertram the Bad, by Arnold Lobel
• Go, Dog, Go!, by P.D. Eastman  
• I'm Not Scared, by Jonathan Allen
• Mr. Pusskins And Little Whiskers, by Sam Lloyd
• Bedtime For Tad, by Adam Nicely
• ABC, by Matthew Porter
• Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson & Jane Chapman
• Little Fur Family, by Margaret Wise Brown & Garth Williams
• The Don't Be Scared Book, by Ilse-Margret Vogel
• No No, Jo!, by Kate & Jim McMullan
• Mole And The Baby Bird, by Marjorie Newman

Bath Time / I'm A Little Airplane / Ice Cream Cone - 11/08/2010

It's the little things in life.  Who knew four years ago that I'd have such a fun day with a bath, a song and a little ice cream, and most importantly a funny little girl to make it so.  This is pretty much what you do when it's one of the 200 days out of the year that it rains in Oregon..

Ivy loves her ice cream.  She loves her some music, too.  Baths, well that depends on each individual bath.  Sometimes she loves them and sometimes she doesn't.  She's dreadfully afraid that water will get in her eyes, even though she knows it won't hurt.  Not sure why she hasn't gotten over this fear yet...it's been going on for oh, so long - too long!  Oh well.  She loves to give Brenda and Roberto (her Dora & Diego plastic dolls that we re-named) a bath too.  She washes their hair and tries to not get water in their eyes.  She is now also giving her little toy cats ( Azriel & Murray) a bath too -somehow, in her mind, they keep getting into mud puddles and are always dirty. Shampoo & conditioner are the worst time of bath time and she repeats her mantra - close my eyes and lean my head back, close my eyes and lean my head back......
Oh, and while I was making lunch for her, she decided to make a cardboard box/slash shoe car for her three cats.  This car contraption zipped around the apartment for most of the afternoon.  Oh the poor and their children :)  Money would probably ruin her imagination and bore her to death..

Halloween

Happy Halloween!...kind of, but Ivy wasn't so sure about Halloween by the end of the night.

As Halloweens go, it started out innocently enough.  A surprise/unexpected visit from Aunt Pamela started the day out.  The rest of the day was sort of haze, as we already planned out Ivy's costume we didn't have much to do on a Sunday but laze around.  One guess as to what Ivy was for Halloween - drum roll please - Red Fraggle.  Big surprise, right?!  I found a cheap red turtleneck at Freddies (thank god they start putting Christmas stuff out at Halloween time!...only kidding of course, but it did help) and Whitney came up with the rest.  She, thanks again to our nations need of the early arrival of Christmas consumerism, bought some red garland for Ivy's hair and tail.  A perfect poor persons Halloween costume....

We headed for the library a couple hours prior to the arrival of Pamela's train.  Always a good way to kill some time and introduce Ivy to some new books and a little social interaction.  Unfortunately, the Salem Public Library tends to lean toward playtime more than it does to the discovery of reading, learning, etc.  The children's section is filled to the brim with toys and playthings that kids naturally navigate toward more so than the books.  Sad Salem, sad :(.  They even have a "Discovery Room" which consists of toys - cars, rugs, tricycles, etc.  Anyhoo, we stayed while time lapsed waiting for the train.

Ivy, as is her way these days, was super shy upon Pamela's arrival.  She tends to sink back into her baby days and uses her baby-talk and pretends not to understand the spoken word.  It takes her a good 30 minutes or so to get back to her normal self.  Hopefully this will pass soon.  We arrived home and started the dressing up sequence:

The process of getting her ready was quite an exercise in patience, for Whitney :)  Ivy wanted so bad to be dressed as Red Fraggle but didn't want to have to go through the work.  Whitney won out and soon it was time to go Trick-or-Treat.  And Ivy couldn't have been more excited...

The first house we went to went well...and then there was the incident.  The second house went all out for Halloween, such has I have never seen before.  ( I figure in small cities like Salem, what else have you got going on?).  There was a little boy dressed as a zombie holding a lantern wandering the fenced yard in a daze.  He was brilliant!  I tried engaging him in conversation but he wouldn't break character.  Ivy was not scared yet.  The lady that answered the door, attired similar to Elvira handed Ivy her treats after a reluctant "trick-or-treat" from Ivy and all was still fine.  Then all hell broke loose.  A bush leaning against the house suddenly came to life by outstretching it's limbs and slowly walking toward us- something that surprises all of us!  And then the real kicker, 6'5" skeleton/ghoul draped in black stepped out of the garage toward us.  Ivy pretty much lost it at this point.  In the skeleton/ghoul's defense, he did seem to feel bad and tried to wave in a friendly clown-like way, but it was too late for little Red Fraggle.  Here's the video aftermath.  Poor little girl.  We tried everything to soothe her.  I even opened a mini candy bar gave it to her.  Between sobs and swallowing said candy down, she begged to go back to Salem (Salem to her means home - she thinks our apartment & apartment complex is Salem, not the city).  We actually got her to go to a few more houses but had to avoid any that looks even remotely "scary".  Every house that she deemed safe, she'd say..."that one looks ok...(sob sob),.."  We eventually had to call it a night, only 30 minutes into the holiday night it was over.

Oh yeah, and Whitney had to call the police on a domestic dispute happening at the apartment building next to ours.  Gotta love Salem!

Salem, OR

We moved to Salem!  At the beginning of September..and what a move it was.  I quit my job about week and a half prior to the move and packed packed packed.  Whitney was doing a week of training for her job, so most of the packing was left to me and Ivy.  **Disclaimer:  Whitney did help a lot, and I mean a lot...after hours of training every day she'd come home and help pack all our silly belongings.  I know it had to be rough on her, what with a new job looming and the stress involved with all the changes...so I say thank you to her!! ***

I don't know if it was harder to keep Ivy out of the boxes or the cats...or both.  What I do know was the Ivy was brilliantly accepting of the move.  I think what helped the most was to let her be involved in all things that consisted of the actual move.  I'd have her pack her things in little boxes (which I'd have to repack at a later time) to help ease her into the concept of moving.  We also spoke to her a lot about the move to Salem.  And Whitney, wise as usual, took pictures of our new apartment and would constantly show her the pictures...just to make it a little more concrete.  We made a point of talking about the move as much as possible, but made sure not to over do it.  If I can pass one piece of wisdom along to parents of young children, it'd be to talk to them about everything - and I mean everything.  They pick up on things so much more than you'd imagine.  Not only that, but they remember....everything!  Sponges indeed.
  I have to give a shout out to Jon & Allison who helped us with the move.  Without them, it wouldn't have been possible - we'd probably still be moving at this point if it wasn't for those two.  And a special thanks to Jon for backing the moving truck down the piece of crap driveway that led to our new place!
Ivy wanted to help so much!  Mostly she would stand out side and say.."excuse me, sorry...I'll get out of your way.."  Moving is hard enough, but add a 3 yr old in the mix and it's near impossible.  She wanted to help so much and be involved...but what the bleep is a 3 yr old going to do?  I felt bad that most of that day she spend watching multiple episodes of Fraggle Rock.  I told her that she was watching so much because of the special situation of the move and didn't want her to think that Salem was going to be a movie mecca heaven....I think she understood.

We were concerned that she'd be uncomfortable in the new place, or more so that she'd miss Portland and not feel safe.  We couldn't have been more wrong.  She immediately took to the place and didn't seem to mind Salem or the new apartment at all.  That said, there are still incidents of Salem to Portland contrasts in her mind which she voices every once in a while.  (ex. while helping me do dishes the other day she said " remember in Portland our sink was white?..our new sink is silver/metal).
Luckily, the night we moved in I was able to put her crib together (we need a big girl bed!!!) without much incident...except that I couldn't find the parts and Whitney and I got into one of our rare scuffles..:)  We found the pieces and all went well. Waking up the next morning was a shock to all of us...I don't think any of us knew where we were.  The move was such a  wham-bam-thankyou-maam affair.  Whitney had work the next day and Ivy and I had our first Salem day together.  I think we stayed inside all day.

Now that we are here and settled, for the most part, things are pretty great.  I need to get a job or Whitney needs to get an actual teaching job (for her sake!). We have all fallen in love with Salem...unexpectedly!  It is beautiful here!  I feel like I'm camping all the time.  The smells, the trees, the farms, the opposums, the climate, etc.  We truly love it here!

Ivy loves the new bath!












And a few Salem pics: 

Her Favorite horse at the carousel:  Razzle Dazzle

Interview with Ivy 10-28-2010

 

• J: What's your name?
• I:  Red Fraggle
• J:  What's your real name?
• I:  Ivy Irene?...
• J:  What's your favorite color?
• I:  My favorite color is green...what's your favorite color?...wait, now I'm Red with two ponytails
• J:  Orange
• I:   I think Mom's favorite color is blue or something..(looks out the window)..who's that?..
• J:  What's your favorite number?
• I:  My favorite number is one..or 18 or 20 ...maybe a hundred.
• J:  What's your favorite thing about Halloween?
• I:  What's my favorite thing about Halloween?...Red Fraggle
• J:  What's Red Fraggle have to do with Halloween?
• I:  I don't know, we have to wait and find out.
• J:  Are you going to dress up as red for Halloween
• I:  Yeah.
• J:  What's your favorite thing about mom?
• I:  I don't know...maybe spiders..ha he..
• J: Well, that's not what I was going for... I mean what do you love about mom?
• I:  I don't know dad, maybe ice cream is my favorite thing about mom.
• J:  Are you ready to go to the store?
• I:  No, not yet?
• J:  Why not?
• I:  But, I'm not done with this...this book that I read.
• J:  Maybe we can give the green witch at the store a big hug today?
• I:  Noooo..
• J:  Why not?
• I:  'Cause I don't want to see the green witch, 'cause I don't like her.

Art

Art is something I definitely do not understand.  I couldn't begin to tell you why I like some art and dislike other art - I just do and beyond that I put no thought into it.  It's confusing to me and makes no sense.  I like artists like Marcel Dzama, Helen Douglas & Michael Sowa and dislike artists like Thomas Kinkade,   I'm critical and self conscious of anything I do, so I rarely make an attempt.  I wish I were better, more motivated or able to try to better myself where art is concerned.  Ivy loves it unconditionally.  I think I need to take a lesson from her.  She has fun where I just get frustrated and have the opposite of fun.  She'll do it forever and tell me everything she's painting along the way.


Painting is probably her favorite medium, though she is inclined to draw with crayons and markers.  She is just starting to understand the concept of coloring books, in the sense that she tries so hard to keep within the lines - something which we didn't teach her, she just picked up on her own.  She has a camping and Halloween coloring books that she loves.  We got her a Smurf coloring book, but she's hesitant, for some reason, to even consider coloring in that one...





My first Fathers Day present from her was a painting that she did - it's beautiful!  And she did it before she was 1!  I got a little teary-eyed, it's true...

Sometimes the cats try to join in...it's a family affair.