Bubbles!

Last night I broke out the bubble machine for the first time in many months b/c Hazel's been on a bubble kick lately and I just can't get motivated to blow that many bubbles for that long. Hazel LOVED it. We had fun watching her play....

Sleeping Beauty

I sincerely wish I had pictures to share from seeing the Scottish Ballet perform Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky at the Belfast Opera House last Saturday night, because it was just breath-taking. The theater was opened in 1895 and still looked very old and had that old musty smell to it. We had seats in the section know as "The Gods" which was the second balcony, but had a fabulous view of the entire stage. The rows in this section were seperated by levels about 3 feet higher than the one in front of it. Brett and I had aisle seats in the first row and it was so fun!!!!

The dancers were fabulous. Brett was slightly disturbed by the 2 guys dancing together at one point. But it was a crucial part of the story (a blue bird was trying to show Prince Charming how to find Sleeping Beauty), so he mustered through it.

I would love to see a huge ballet company perform sometime. The Scottish Ballet was a smaller group (though still a fair size) which I'm sure lead to a smaller budget, so I'd love to see what a larger company with a bigger budget could do. Some day, though. I got to see my ballet, and I'm more than happy that I got to go!

Thank you, Brett, for treating me!

Dress up

We bought a dress-up jewelry set at Asda yesterday. Now, it's not much, just 3 necklaces, 3 braclets and a pair of clip on heart earrings. Don't worry, I've been watching her while she plays with it all...

Anyway, we've been dressing up Lumpy with the necklaces and earrings. She's just fascinated by the earrings. I clipped them on her and she waddled around the room like a queen with them on. I'll get a picture at some point. For now we're enjoying the playing....

Sixteen

It's been a long day folks. I got a belly ache 1/2 way through the Knit night, so I was up most of the night not feeling well. However, I was determined to take Hazel to a Mom and Tots group to get her out and running some of that toddler energy off. Little did Michelle and I know, it's 1/2 term break for the kids in school, so none of the M&T groups in town were meeting...sigh. So Michelle and I drove Hazel and Beth to Junction One to try out their soft play area. It was really fun as their S.P.A. for the under 4's is small enough that Hazel was able to do much of it on her own without Mommy helping, which I think she really enjoyed. We still like Cheeky Monkey's the best, but this one was good for a change every once in a while. Plus Cheeky Monkey's is good excersize for me, too! We probably would have stayed quite a while, however, when we got there, there were no seats left for eating and keeping your belongings, so we had to find a corner to drop our shoes and coats off, and then it was SOOOOO crowded that it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been. With all the kids on break, I think all kids in NI were at that SPA. I had to have a polite (though, through gritted teeth) discussion with a grandmother who insisted on standing at the safety gate with it wide open (even though her grandson was well inside the play area and she was unable to see him from there) letting all the little ones (mine included) out. I did it as polite as I could muster, after the fourth time I had to chase my little Hazel back in. Grumble. Then a little boy, who's mother (or whoever she was) was sitting right behind him, tried to two hand shove Hazel down a slide. I looked right at him and his mother (why do I have to babysit a grown woman?) and told him not to shove Hazel. She hadn't quite sat down on her toosh and would have fallen somersault style down the slide had he shoved her like that. Now granted, the slide was MAYBE 3 feet high, and she had gotten very good at sliding down it alone (with me at the bottom to encourage her), but she's still really little and that might have really hurt her. At that point, she was stressed out with all the running screaming older kids (who should not have been in the younger area--there was a huge area for 5 and older--throwing balls at the little one's heads in the ball pit, pushing the little ones over to get to the slides, etc.) and I was stressed out trying to keep rude adults from injuring my little girl. So we decided to head down to Subway for lunch. After lunch, we took the girls in to the changing room for a diaper change. Michelle was apologizing for not being as quick as we are, and I told her that it happens when you've traveled as much as we have. She's flown with Beth, but I pointed out that in a year, Hazel and I have been on somewhere in the vaccinity of 16 (it is actually 18) flights, all of them atleast an hour in length. She agreed that I've probably earned being quick at changings. Hazel thought the word 16 was hysterical and we stood there and said 16 (she'd repeat, saying, "Dit-ten") and giggling everytime we said it. It was so cute. She still smiles when you say "Sixteen." So then, we headed out into the outdoor mall and did a little exploring. Hazel and Beth (Michelle's little girl) got to walk about (kind of) freely and we got some fresh air. We made a few purchases, but by 2pm the girls were dead. What started out as absolute elation that we were allowing them to walk on their own turned into sitting on the ground b/c they couldn't walk anymore. So we carried them. And our bags. And by the time we made it to our car, I was pooped. So we ran one more errand and came home.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. I made Oriental Chicken (Brett grilled it in the oven) with a side of Creamy Brussel Sprouts Gratin. Yummy. THEN, I decided to get adventurous and try a recipe for Raisin Bread. Now let me say that I've never made bread before. And I've never made ANYTHING that required kneading. But I followed the recipe and everything they said would happen, happened, so I thought we were golden! But then I cut into the bread to try a piece and a small part of the inside was still uncooked. Sigh. I think I should lower the temperature in the oven (it's fan assisted, so it usually requires a lower temp and I just should have done it to begin with) as the outside brown very quickly, but didn't quite cook all the way through in the inside. I'll try again, as what was outside and cooked tasted yummy. So maybe I'll take a stab at it this weekend.

Well, I'm off for the day!
Hugs to all!

Big Grunt

Hazel's been a big fan of grunting lately. I think it's b/c she's watched me try to open something hard and grunting (like grunting helps). So we've been trying to squish our balls (even the hard bouncy balls) and grunting...pressing our play-doh with a loud "uuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrhhhhhaaaaahhhhhhoooooooo" while sticking our toungue to the side of our 4 front teeth and giving the impression that we're having an anurism. I wish she'd let me take a picture of that face b/c it's absolutely the funniest thing I've ever seen.

In other news, it's crummy weather here today which has resulted in a headache that I cannot shake. I've had aleve, a cup of caffinated tea, and I'm wearing my glasses. Hazel woke up with one, too, I think, as she kept rubbing her eyes and wimpering, atleast until she had some Nurofin. So atleast one of us has been able to get rid of the headache...I'm holding out until her nap, b/c I'm napping, too. I really really need to clean, but I can barely think straight with this headache. Thank heavens it's just a lazy day in the neighborhood. Hopefully we won't have any surprise visitors...or I'll die.

Well, this foggy brain is signing off for now...I have my first knitting group tonight, so hopefully I'll feel better by then as I do no feel like knitting right now

Be Careful What You Show Her....

So last night, Brett dug his work clothes out of the dirty laundry basket and piled them on the floor. He then proceeded to empty the dryer.
Now Hazel's been helping me do laundry lately. She'll pull clothes out of the basket, stuff wet clothes from the washer into the dryer, "turn" the dryer knob and push the start button. She then helps mommy put the dirties into the washer, again "turn" the washer dial, and push the start button.
Well, when H saw that Daddy was doing laundry, she set off into "helping Mommy mode". She started stuffing his dirty work clothes (not really "dirty", just worn) into the drier. She proceeded to close the dryer door, make like she was turning the dryer dial, and then pushed the start button. Brett and I stood in awe and amusement in the living room. Now, she's been helping me with the laundry for a while, and it's only been a matter of once or twice that she's done the actual steps with me. This kid learns FAST.
So, we decided last night that we need to be insanely careful about what we show her and let her see as it won't take much for her to pick it up.

But I need room to spread ouuuuuuttttt.....

Tonight Brett took me to see the ballet! Yay! So today was spent cleaning and getting ready for this evening. I needed to run into town, so after lunch we put Hazel down for her nap, and I ran into Larne really quickly for a few items!

I just got back when Brett ran upstairs to check on Hazel...she sounded as if she was waking up just before I got home...and promptly came back down, grabbed the camera and told me, "You need to come up here." So I followed him.

Let me preface telling you what we found by telling you that H usually sleeps with 2 pillows, her blankie, a quilt, her doggy--Dougal, and her Bunny. Often times we find her underneath one of the pillows, or crammed in a corner surrounded by all her snugglies. She's a cuddler...has been forever.

But when we walked in her room this afternoon, this is what we found....

She had thrown everything in her crib out, save her blankie (the yellow that her head is resting on). And she's hugging a corner of her quilt through the bars. PLUS her left foot is slipped through the bars.

Now, it wasn't hot in her room. She hadn't been throwing a temper tantrum. Apparently, she was in the mood for a little extra room in her crib, and her snugglies were making her feel a bit...crowded....

Into Another Weekend

I get to go to the ballet tonight!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!

There's nothing new to report, but I just thought I would remind all my "fans" :) about our family blog The Davis' Irish Style that reports on all our family outtings...this is simply about Hazel and my day to day but the other lets you know all about what we see in this gorgeous country! As it's winter and there isn't much open because of the rubbish weather, it's not too exciting, but I try to update it as much as possible!

The newest thing on this blog, however, is Hazel's list of new words! I'll break it up into 2 parts...our clear words and our trying but not quite there words. I'll update the list as we add more words to our vocabulary!

That's all for today...I gotta get running to the store so I can get ready for THE BALLET!!!!

Potty Training Day 2

So we had a terrific run. She did great yesterday afternoon post nap, so we thought we'd give it one more day to give her a fair shot at PTing.

This morning she got up and was willing to sit on the potty for quite a while (we were hoping the odds would find her peeing at some point) but I went to fill up her juice cup and she stood up walked over to me and peed on the tile in the kitchen. She immediately burst into her heartbroken tears. Just sobbing. I know there's going to be accidents, and I don't believe in yelling at her for an accident...she doesn't undertand...but we talked about it. REcognizing what happened, that mommy wasn't angry but we should try to do that in the Potty...do we wanna sit on the potty? She just sobbed harder.

It was then that I decided we were done potty training for now. It was stressing my poor little Hazel out, and it shouldn't stress her out. It should stress Mommy out, but not my little girl. I can't imagine how stressful things are for her anyway...imagine growing all the time, which makes you hungry all the time, and not being able to communicate exactly what you want without pointing or simple basic signs or crying. I can't imagine wanting to do things Mommy can do, but not being able to. Always being too short or too small. I want learning to be fun for her, not a punishment. So we'll put off PTing for a couple of months, she's showing signs, and the dr said I should give it a try, and we did, but maybe in a couple months she'll be showing more signs and a little more ready. I don't see this run as a waste at all, I'm hoping that when she IS ready, this experience will just have familiarized her with the potty and terminology and maybe next time she'll be ready!

Potty Training Day 1

Plus a few tries this weekend and yesterday. Nothing consistent, just trying to get her familiar with the Potty.

We bought her just the basic bowl like potty, and she doesn't seem to mind sitting on it if I'm sitting next to her on the floor giving her mini chocolate chips or blowing bubbles. Yesterday we tested out our training pants. we sat on the potty for a few minutes, and then put the panties on. and promptly peed in the panties. Sigh.

Then our first attempt into the potty this morning went the same way. Sat on the potty for several minutes, and then peed in the panties. So I think we're going to wear the panties for a little longer, even if they're wet, so she is able to distinguish between the wet and dry panties. This is only the first morning of day one, so I foresee a long road ahead. I've already decided that if she doesn't get the hang of it by the end of the week then we'll put the potty and panties away and try again next month.

9am--wet our 2nd pair of panties. We have 9. And they have to line dry after they're washed. I put her first pair on 1/2 hour ago. At this rate, we'll be through the panties by lunch. I'm hoping I'll catch it next time before she pees in her panties.

Another weekend come and gone...

This weekend was a busy one!

Saturday we stayed home and rearranged the living room as the couches needed swapped again to provide more sitting room and I needed to get a hold on the huge pile that is my knitting crap. It's taking over. So Brett and I cleaned and rearranged and then Matt and Jenn came over that evening for packet chicken and creamed corn casserole. We had a great time! We played Monopoly (the one that uses credit cards and not cash) and just generally hung out.

Sunday we got up and headed into Belfast (Holywood, actually) to the Ulster Folk Museum. I was dreading it to be honest, I just wanted to be lazy, but Brett really wanted to go, so we went. It was so cool. It's very similar to Conner Prairie in Fishers, IN (for those of you who've been). And it's ENORMOUS. There's a rural area that goes on for ever (it says it's 60 acres), that has little working farms and cottages to explore, but we stayed in the main town, which was really cool. The cool thing was that all the buildings in the town were authentic structures that had been moved from elsewhere and refurbished as much as possible. You were able to see the different homes in the town, all kinds of shops, there were 3 churches, a school, a coal yard, a bank, a printer's, the town market and courthouse, stables, a pub, and the list goes on. It could have easily occupied half a day IF you didn't have kids with you, and IF you didn't hang around and read all the details about each stop. We only made it through about 1/2 of the town but plan to go back now that we know where it is!

The Dressmaker's Shop

The DispensaryThe Hardware ShopLabourer's House*notice the hotwater bottle on the bed (it's the round ceramic bottle)Inside the Presbyterian Meeting HouseThe Carpenter's WorkshopKelly's Coal YardThe 300 year old roofing beams in the roof of the print shop (the attic is the 'Reading room')
The back part of the town...Right to left....The Court/Market, The Printers/Reading Room, RIC Barracks/The old Rectory, The Pound Forge (side corner)

The Church of Ireland

The Courtroom

It was really cool to walk around, Hazel walked around most of it and was worn out by the end of the first 1/2 and VERY cranky, so we decided to come back when the weather warms up so we can see more of what it has to offer!