Happy Birthday!

Over the weekend our little Diva turned three.  Three!?  Three already.  It does not seem like she should be three, but here we are.  The party itself was a blast.  We rented out The Little Gym, and needless to say Riley and all the other kids had a great time running and playing.  Riley took a kick to the face at the end though, so that was quite a way to end things.  :)  Of course it was an accident, and not a hard kick at all...but it was enough to send the tears flowing. 

(Her favorite teacher at Little Gym, Miss Leah)

She loved all of her gifts...especially her Pinkalicious book, dress up stuff, big button game, and Lightning McQueen pillow...but the birthday gift from us was a total flop!  We got her a Disney Princess Scooter (Power Wheels) and it was not a hit.  At all.  We thought that after a few days she may come around and want to ride it, but thus far that is not looking like it will be the case.  So talk about completely tanking it when it comes to gifts.  I think a sack full of rocks would have gone over better, seriously.  :)

Nana and Granddaddy made the trip up for the party, and then treated us to dinner on Sunday night.  That was our first "real" restaurant experience with the two of them together.  I don't really count Cici's pizza buffet, but I suppose I probably should.  Jackson was of course his usual eating machine self.  Riley enjoyed the bread and a hot dog...brought from home, not off the menu of course.  At this point he is out-eating her both in amount of food and variety.  Crazy. 

Unfortunately we had quite the incident on Sunday as well.  Since it was such a nice, warm morning we decided to hang out on the front steps for a while and let the kids play.  Riley was pushing her bike...pushing not riding...down the street.  Jackson decided to crawl out into the grass.  But as he was making his way back to the sidewalk, he crawled right into a fire-ant mound.  By the time I realized what had happened he was literally covered in fire-ants, which is among the more awful feelings I can even imagine.  I rushed inside to get him under running water to wash them off as quickly as I could.  Luckily he had his pajamas on still, so even though they were literally all over him, he was "only" stung on his hands.  But that was still more than enough to make it a nasty experience.  Surprisingly once he calmed down, he never seemed to indicate that they were bothering him much, but still...it was awful.

(The bites on his hands are very noticeable in this one)

(Jack in the Box)

 We also took a trip to the zoo on her birthday since I had the day off.  It was a lot of fun to just take our time and walk around to see all of the animals.  Of course half of the schools in Dallas must have been there for a field trip that day, so that wasn't all that fun (for me at least), but she and I got to feed the giraffes without a big crowd around, which was cool.  We got a great show with the gorillas, as one of them put on quite a display of dominance instead of the usual lying around being lazy that we are normally treated to when we go.  One of the funniest parts was her reaction to a huge yellow boa constrictor.  "Ewwwww a snake!  He's dirrrrty!". 

Next up...our first flight as a 4some to South Carolina for Thanksgiving.  Wish us luck.  We may need a stiff drink by the time that flight lands!  :)

Trick or Treat...

The first "real" Halloween experience was a great one.  Last year we did the downtown thing, and while it was a good time, it was just a huge crowd and too many long lines for not a big payoff.  Tonight had plenty of payoff as we went door-to-door for the first time.  Riley was a princess, and Jackson was a Dallas Cowboy.  After last night's game, I think he may be as good as some of the actual Dallas Cowboys at this point.  :)

We had to get the evening off to an early start, mostly because of Jackson's bedtime.  I am pretty sure we were the first ones out in our neighborhood.  We first stopped at the neighbor's down the street whose dog, Wolfie, Riley loves.  In addition to getting a few pieces of candy, they had a special bag made up just for her, which was pretty nice, and full of the good stuff.

We ran into one of our new neighbors getting an early start as well, and though her little boy was a bit older, we just tagged along with them, and Riley caught on to the whole trick or treat thing pretty quickly by the second or third house.

There were so many cute and funny moments that it's impossible to remember them all now.   When leaving a house she threw out everything from "trick or treat" to "Happy Halloween" to "Thank You".  But the best part, at least as far as entertainment, were those houses with no one home.   For whatever reason, she started calling Melissa "Mother"...as in "Oh Mother, there's no one home at this one!"  It was hilarious.  She made sure she told everyone who answered the door "I'm a princess!". 

We called it an early evening since Jackson needed to get home for bed, plus he is a little congested so the cool evening wasn't going to be getting any better for him.  But Riley had hit her fill anyway I think.  After the stop at the next-door-neighbors' she said she was ready to go home, so off we went.  Once inside she went through all of her candy, and of course wanted to eat it.  We somehow convinced her to eat one before dinner, and then a few more afterward.  The last thing we wanted was an (almost) 3 year old on a sugar high just before bed.

I think she enjoyed seeing the kids come to our house almost as much as she did trick or treating.  She would just stand at the door and watch for them, and when they arrived, she wanted to help give them the candy, and of course told them "trick or treat".   It was very cute.  As we were eating dinner, she kept saying "I want more kids to come to our house".  But finally we called it a night and shut it down around 9:00.  It was a great time, and should really be a lot of fun next year when Jackson is up and running.

The First Haircut (Part II)...

Just over two years ago we had the first "First Haircut" post (http://adivaandadude.blogspot.com/2009/08/first-haircut.html).  Today it was Jackson's turn to take a seat in the car.   At first it was deja vu for us.  The confused, blank expression as the blue cape was draped over him looked almost exactly like Riley did two years ago for her first (and thus far only) haircut.  I don't know that I've ever thought they looked so much alike at any other time as I did today.  But then things took a turn for the worse.   He did not like the water sprayed into his hair, so he started crying and lunged forward...banging the side of his face right into the metal steering wheel of the firetruck.  Yeah...maybe that wheel should be padded.  Or at least made of rubber.   Just an idea.  So that set the tone for the remainer of the cut:  nothing but tears. 

(The finished product)

Finally it ended, and thankfully so did the tears.  But seriously...an $18 haircut for a 10 month old?  I think she may have made maybe 18 cuts with the scissors.  So that worked out to a buck per cut, or close to it.  They certainly know how to maximize profits at this place.  My hair cut costs about $12.  Granted, I don't have as much these days, but I still have more than Jackson (for now).  Slightly ridiculous, but at least he's all trimmed up ahead of our family pictures next weekend.

(Slight changes since her last time in this car)

Afterward we headed to Best Buy, and there we got our first definitive "Da da" out of Jackson, so that was pretty cool.   On our way home,  Riley was in one of her  cranky moods, and after a few minutes of ultimate diva-like behavior, she finally apologized by saying "I'm sorry.  I'm just tired, that's all".  Which was true, of course.  Whenever she has no nap, the afternoons can certainly be interesting to say the least.  But for her to actually say that and give the correct reasoning caught us by surprise.  That was pretty impressive I thought.  :)

(Checking out a bee)

To backtrack a bit, yesterday we went out to the Fall Festival and she got her first pony ride.  And a pink pony at that.  Well, at least it's mane and tail were somewhat pink.  But the highlight for her was seeing Miss Amy, her teacher from her previous pre-school.  She was constantly making sure Miss Amy was watching her ride the pony and whenever we moved on to something else..."I want Miss Amy to push the stroller". 

Back to today...this evening we carved the pumpkin for Halloween tomorrow.  Riley thought that was very cool.  I asked her to reach down inside and pull some of it out, and surprisingly she did.  But her reaction was typical girl:  "Ewww, I smell it!".  :)  But she still thought it was cool I think.  So tomorrow will be our first trick-or-treat experience.  Last year we just went to a festival downtown, but this time around we're doing the real thing.   Here's hoping for a great time!

What a day...

Tuesday was a day to forget.  On Monday Riley woke up with a pretty nasty sounding cough.  It was not a constant cough, but rather here and there at points throughout the day.  But Tuesday was more frequent, and she was just not herself.  Very lethargic most of the day, and just in a quiet, subdued mood.  I worked from home and she basically stayed right next to me for the better part of the day.

Around lunch she wanted to go out front, so we went out and walked down the street a bit, something she loves to do.  So the day is already touch and go...and then it took a turn for the bizarre.  As we walk by one of the new neighbor's house, I heard a guy yell "Oh No!!!" and before I could even react, I just barely caught a glimpse of something flying through the air. 

Unfortunately for us, Riley specifically (and also the neighbor as well), he had thrown a hard ball of dirt out into the street.  The timing could not have been worse.  When he threw it, we were not in sight, but just as we stepped into the line of sight it was on its way...right toward Riley.  Smack.  Before I could even react I knew it had hit her.  She freaked out, naturally.  Luckily it was just dirt, and while still hard and compacted, at least it was not a rock.  I think I let out an expletive asking what was thrown...but then calmed down because I knew it was an accident, I could tell she was OK, and he was just as freaked out as she was, if not more so.

So he runs into the house and comes out with a large bowl of candy and tells her to take all that she wants.  What does she do?  She takes the only ones she can not eat (jawbreakers).  Nice.

So as the day wears on, she wears down even more.  We decided to call the doctor and they told us to bring her in, which at this point was right at the end of the day.  She has no voice, has a horrible cough, and can barely hold her head up from being so sleepy.  Prognosis:  Croup.  And a pretty good dose of it too.  We sat in the doctor's office so she could take a breathing treatment to open her airway a bit and I don't think she has ever looked as pitiful in all her three years.  She was a real trooper, and even though she whined about the breathing treatment a little, she took it all in stride, and was ready for her sucker at the check out counter.

By the time we picked up her prescription and got home, she had taken a power nap in the car so had at least gotten some of her usual self back, but still not remotely close to normal.  This was one of the few times she has ever basically asked to go to bed early.  So in we go, no bed time stories even, and she went down for the night.  Here's hoping it gets better from here!  I have to say though her raspy voice is possibly the cutest thing ever.  Especially her telling us, in a strained squeaky voice "I want a kiiiissssss" as we were walking out of her bedroom for the night.  :) 

No pics this time!