Go USA!

No Toodles this morning after breakfast, we have FIFA World Cup Soccer to watch. Go USA, beat Algeria!

Finley is content to keep walking around the coffee table with her stroller, so cute.

Still Feverish

Poor Miss Finley Bug, she still has a fever, but doesn't seem to mind it at all.  Our pediatrician said to monitor it and keep aleternating Motrin and Tylenol, if she still has it tomorrow, we are going in for an appointment.  We have been stuck inside for the past two days, which has been no fun for Finley or me.  She loves to go go go and so do I.  She didn't wake up at all last night, so that is promising, but she was still feverish this morning when she woke up.  Thank goodness for the temporal thermometer, it has been so easy to grab her temperature easily.

Here are some pictures from playgroup last week and from playing with Clifton and I afterwards.  Clifton had put Finley's shoes on her Bear and she was loving it.  She bosses Bear around, telling him to eat, sit and she even tickles him.  If we are in the house, Bear is with her.  If I forget to take Bear up with her at naptime, she calls for him, it is absolutely adorable.  She cooks for him, feeds him pizza, takes him for walks around the dining room...she is good to her Bear friend.

Finley and Audrey

Finley and Sarah

Finley and Bear

Daddy's Day

We had a very low key Father's Day.  Finley and Clifton both had small breakfasts because I was making a big roast turkey lunch.  Finley wanted nothing to do with turkey, stuffing or green beans, but she loved the cranberry sauce. Weirdo.  After the big meal (for some of us at least), Finley took a long nap.

Finley gave her daddy four books for them to share:

Daddy and Me, by Karen Katz

Little Critter: Happy Father's Day, by Mercer Mayer

My Daddy and Me, by Tina MacNaughton

Daddy's Girl, by Garrison Keillor (who is a favorite of my daddy)

After all the good eating and resting, we decided to hit the toy store to look for a doll that wasn't plastic that you could change their clothes.  I had explained to Clifton that I had browsed at Target and hadn't seen anything, but we hit Toys R Us anyways.  Clifton and Finley could spend hours in the toy store, they both love it.  We did get Finley a Maclaren stroller for her doll (bear for now) to match mine and a new set of Little People Farm Blocks.   She is obsessed with the stroller, she woke up this morning asking for it and "tractor" from the Little People Farm. 


Finley had a fever last night, which explained her disinterest in eating yesterday.  She woke up at 3 am and 4:30 am (when I could give her medicine again)  This morning she is perky and happy, thank goodness!

Happy Father's Day!

Our Artiste

I found a paint coloring book in the Hobby Lobby clearance section this week. I also got a finger painting pad there, but I haven't been brave enough to break it out yet. I had totally forgotten about these books and they are perfect for a toddler. We are looking for indoor activities because it is way too hot for outdoor play, even when a water table is involved, but that may be more for my tolerance than Finley's.

The book is all about Winnie the Pooh and his friends, which is great since we have a character breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and his friends at the Crystal Palace in Walt Disney World. The bad part of this equation is Clifton has Finley saying "poop poop" when she points to a picture of Pooh...I can see it now, she spies "poop poop" and yells his name at breakfast. Appetizing.

Flashcard Fun

Finley knows all her First Words Flashcards, so now she is teaching them to her dolly

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

What a difference a year makes!  We went out for crablegs again this year at the Fish City Grill, yummy for me and Finley, not so yummy for Daddy.  Finley feasted on crab, andouille sausage, crackers and hush puppies.  She is a fiend for sausage, so much tastier than her dinner last year.  I cannot believe how much she has grown.  I am stuffed full of crab legs and I cannot wait for next year.

We had a big day today, I hosted our Thursday playgroup and I think everyone was in attendance.  Twelve toddlers and two newborns made for an awfully chaotic house.  It was like a tornado had swirled through and left remants of Cheerios, Goldfish crackers and animal crackers in its path. I also saw colored Goldfish for the first time as Idiscovered brigh green crumbs by our dining room table.  Maybe next time we will meet at the park, I kid, I kid (or do I?)   It is really fun to see Finley interact with her friends, she had everyone cooking up a storm in the play kitchen.  She was really showing off with her flash card knowledge, she knows them all so well.  I am constantly amazed at words she picks up on.  I was teaching her all day to say Happy Birthday.  She would say "happy" and "birthday", but couldn't string the two words together.  My favorite word moment was this week when we were going through the grocery store and she exclaimed "Juice" when I picked up the orange juice.  Finley only drinks water or milk, so this one really mystified me.

PS to all my buddies: al you can eat crablegs is back on Wednesday nights.  Expect an email from me soon!

Max!

Finley's favorite friend came over for a playdate this afternoon and they had a great time.  The neatest part is that Max will actually sit still and smile for the camera.  Finley has no interest in ever sitting still, let alone smiling for the camera.  She just wants to run run run everywhere she goes.  Long gone are the photo sessions when I would capture over one hundred images of her, now I am lucky to get ten and she is always doing something. 

Finley and Max "play" pretty well together.  It is so cute how they imitate one another.  The funniest part of the afternoon was when they were chasing each other around, then one would laugh, the other would laugh, one would drop to crawling and then the other one would drop to their knees.  It was so adorable.  The imitation continued even after Max had gone home for the day.  Max had brought a crocheted blanket with him for nap time.  Finley has a fantastic crocheted blanket that my dad's aunt Audrey had made for her.  After Max was gone, she crawled upstairs to pull it through her crib slats, dragged it downstairs and carried it around.

Aftermath

Finley had a big weekend with daddy and the house was total evidence of such.  I think every toy that Finley owned was all over our living room.  So yesterday, I just let her run with it and she loved it.  You can really tell how much spinning around and throwing in the air that went on.  She tries to spin all the time and she keeps asking to be carried, thinking that I might toss her up in the air, which is not going to happen.

Finley is loving the lion I got her at the MGM Grand, the site of my big win.  I asked her what his name was and she answered me with "FiFi".  This is the first animal that she has given a name to, other than just calling it what it is.  She has referred to it as FiFi ever since.  She can tell you her own name now as well, I cannot believe how much she is growing up.  We are working on learning her last name next.

I'm All In!

I got to enjoy a fabulous girls' weekend at Aria in Las Vegas this past weekend.  We had a gret trip, it was so nice for all my friends to get together and spend some time together without the little ones.  Naturally, we all missed our kiddos very much.  Max had Finley over for a little Vegas action of their own.  It's never too soon to learn poker.
I got knocked out of the poker tournament really early this year and was pretty much break even all weekend, until I hit the Wheel of Fortune slot, winning $1000!!!  The craziest part I wasn't the only one of our group to hit that big on slots.

Sticker!

The Hello Kitty coloring books that Aunt Sharon sent with the coloring book bag have stickers in them. Finley is loving the stickers! We are having to ration the stickers because I think she would end up covered from head to toe in Hello Kitty stickers if we let her have them. Maybe that isn't such an awful idea, because she would be pretty cute covered in Hello Kitty stickers. She likes to give me the stickers to put on my shirt, but then she wants them back as soon as she sticks them. She is super cute with her stickers.

What a Day

Finley turned 19 months old today, so I thought I would document as best I could what a typical Finley day is like.  After Finley woke up this morning, I got her dressed for the day.  An adorable print sundress, a matching hairbow (made by me) and flip flops, um, well maybe not.  She hated the flip flops.  I had gotten them on super sale and bought two pair, one for her to grow into.  I live in Havianas, how can she hate flip flops.  Wrigley tried her best to comfort her, but she was miserable.  I ended up putting her into her regular sandals and she was happy as a clam.
For breakfast, Finley feasted on blueberry pancakes with strawberries.  This was followed shortly thereafter by raiding the pantry for "Fish".  She is going through a Goldfish obsession right now, she cannot get enough of them.  She even feeds them to her Little People animals in their trough.  It is so adorable, she gets so upset if you take the animal's "Fish" away.  Little People have been her go to playtoy lately.  I will have to look into expanding her collection and bringing the airport out.
I went to the gym and Finley had the playroom all to herself.  After we got home, she had a lunch of banana bread, cheese, yogurt and a banana dipped into the yogurt.  We did a little more playing and then it was off to nap time.  Night, night!

Finley and I then did a little shopping to see if I could find a dress for my upcoming Las Vegas trip, I couldn't, but she was great in the shops.  She loved the music playing.  We picked up some drycleaning and headed home.  In our mailbox, was a present from Aunt Sharon.  She had made Finley a bag for coloring books with a special pocket for crayons.  Finley loved playing with the stickers in the Hello Kitty coloring books.  She  learned the words "bag" and "sticker", great job.  It was clear out the leftovers night, so Finley had three short rib empanadas, some grapes and applesauce for dinner.

After dinner, Finley was just hanging around before bed.

Ladybug Clip

 

My mom had found this adorable ladybug clip for Finley. It actually doesn't look too challenging to make, I don't think a glue gun would work for it though, I think you need glue that dries flatter than a glue gun dot will. Anyone have any experience with this? I have seen so many things you can make, like flowers and bugs, and I have no clue what glue will work best. I am guessing something like a superglue.

Finley has been obsessing over her word flash cards that she got from Miss Marianne and Joe. She has nearly every one memorized, which is amazing. Of course, car still is beep beep and cat is still meow, but she has it down pretty well.

Puzzles

Duck, Duck, Zoo!

The Hermann Park ducks are so friendly.  And Finley loves to feed ducks, whether at home or on vacation.  Sadly, for the ducks, we didn't have a single snack to share with them this morning.  We had headed for the zoo as soon as breakfast was finished in order to get there before it got too warm.  Those ducks would have loved some of the banana bread Finley and I had shared.  We will be sure not to forget them the next time we head to Hermann Park.
Finley donned her new Lincoln Park Zoo hat and until I fiddled with it to get a picture of it, she was happy to wear it.  Of course as soon as she realized that she was wearing a hat, she promptly took it off and threw it on the wet and muddy ground.  It got some dirt on it and after a couple more attempts for her to wear it, I gave up and attached it to her stroller.

We had a great morning at the zoo.  We took a different route than normal, which was a nice change.  We got to see the elephant's take a bath, which Finley showed no interest in whatsoever.  We also got to see the otter feeding, which she loved.  I think we have a new favorite animal at the zoo.  The otter was so cute running around like crazy trying to locate his food.  Finley was really taken with him.  The Natural Encounters exhibit is really neat, it actually reminded me of the Lincoln Park Zoo and all their awesome indoor exhibits.  Apparently, it is otter week at the zoo.  We have definitely be made aware of the very playful otters and I am sure we will visit them often.  Especially since they are indoors and it has been in the 90s.  I also braved the reptile house in order to cool off before the long walk home.  A lot of the animals weren't out yet (meerkats, bears, cougar), but the ones that we saw were quite active.  By 11am it had really warmed up, so the walk home was not so pleasant. 

Finley stayed in her stroller the whole time, she is not a morning person.  She usually wakes up late and we play after breakfast while we watch "Toodles" together.  Watch is not really the right word for it, it is more like background noise which prompts Finley to say "too-dals" whenever they say it, sometimes she will join in the hot dog dance, but she still really does not have much interest in television.  Finley was also really chewing on her sippy cup straw, I fear the molars are coming in next.  The final eye tooth is starting to break through, so we have at least crossed that hurdle.  Another milestone!

Chick-fil-a Habit

It was time to redeem my coupon for a free spicy chicken sandwich and Finley was a willing party to accompany me.  She loves chicken nuggets in any format, I now understand why chicken nuggets are the mainstay on any kids' menu at all restaurants.  The good news is the nuggets can come with milk and a fruit cup, the bad news is it costs nearly $5.  And the worse news is how good the sandwich is, which is compounded by the fact that I got two new coupons for free spicy chicken sandwiches.  Looks like Finley and I will have a couple more lunch dates at Chick-fil-a in our future.  If I work out in the morning, that negates the Chick-fil-a, right?

The customer service at CFA is always stellar.  Along with our coupons, Finley got a small stuffed cow to add to her stuffed animal menagerie.  She loves all her stuffed animals and has started to take an interest in getting a "baby" for her stroller.  She is currently driving around the porcelain doll that Aunt Joan and Uncle Larry got her, but I fear a broken  doll if there is ever a stroller accident. 

Big Girl Table

Finley has become less and less enamoured with her high chair.  She is much happier in a barstool, kitchen table and now the dining room table is in the mix.  She seems to really enjoy playing up there, who can blame her since the chairs are so comfy.  She even had lunch up there today.  The cutest part is that she demands that you "sit!" next to her when she is playing or eating.  She loves to serve the cake that she bakes in her play kitchen.  My guess is that there will be plenty of tea parties there in the future.

We had a playdate with Max this morning and Courtney was commenting on how she cannot believe how old they are getting, I totally agree!  Finley has so many opinions on everything now, it is really amazing watching her develop into a little girl with a personality all her own.  She loves to sort things, pick up and most importantly: EAT.  She can snack all day long, lucky for her she has a crazy fast metabolism.  Her favorite snacks right now are Goldfish (fish!) and blueberries (booboos).   Next week, her tastes will change for certain.  She obesses over food for awhile and then grows tired of it.

Presents from Chicago

Clifton and I spent the past weekend in Chicago for the wedding of Johnny and Marsha.  We had a fantastic time and brought home Finley some gifts from the Lincoln Park Zoo.  When we were at the zoo, we got caught in a hailstorm!  We brought Finley a zoo hat for her to wear whenever we visit the Houston Zoo.  There are all sorts of animals on her new hat, but no chin strap, so who knows how long she will ever leave it on for.  We also got her a couple of Lincoln Park Zoo plates, which she really seemed to like, though she misidentified the gorilla as a cow...too cute. 

I missed Finley SO much!

Dinosaurs!

Last week, the Houston Zoo unveiled their new DINOSAURS! exhibit with a special members preview.  We gathered up the family and headed over after Clifton got home from work on Thursday evening.  We met G-Ma, Aunt Rose and cousin Faith to see some dinosaurs.  It was a really neat exhibit and I recommend for any dinosaur lover.  Faith knows all her dinosaurs and I hope she passes down all her knowledge to Finley.  We wandered over to the petting zoo after walking through the dinosaur section, Finley loves to visit with the goats.