We’ve been to the zoo, and we’ve been the petting zoo (twice). This weekend, we did something even simpler (and cheaper)…we wandered through Petco.

Adria and Amanda looking at the white mice

Adria and Amanda looking at the fish

We saw mice, guinea pigs, frogs, snakes, fish, birds (mostly finches and parakeets), and even a chinchilla. All for free.

And I am very proud of myself because neither girl was able to talk me into taking anything home.

A picture is worth a thousand words:

Adria wiping her giraffe’s nose with a baby wipe

Last weekend we made our way up to Descanso to spend some time in the gardens. The principal motivation for the trip was to take Adria on the little train with some free passes that we’ve had around for a while.

Adria loved the train!

Unfortunately, due to the geometry of where we were sitting and how the track turned, I was really not able to get a picture of us that included the train. I gave the camera to Amanda and she got this arms-length shot (take my word for it, we’re straddling a little narrow-gage train):

The whole family riding the Descanso train

We wandered over the the Japanese garden. About half-way there, Adria got tired of her sandals and took them off. Why does she remind me of Amanda so much here, standing on the hot pavement holding her shoes in one hand like it’s the most natural thing in the world? She looks like she got tired of wearing her heels after a long day at the office or something.

Adria standing on the hot pavement, carrying her shoes

The spiders were out in force last weekend. I pointed them out to Adria, because I know that she is not afraid of them. Apparently, though, she has moved on…spiders are old news…the webs are cool. Every time I pointed to a new critter and said “Adria, look at the spider!” she would say “Wheel!”

One of many spiders in the gardens

She’s right, too…these particular spiders were making some pretty spectacular spiral webs. I suppose I can’t blame her for ignoring the arachnids.

There are a bunch of huge koi in the pond in the Japanese Garden, which really interested Adria. Here she’s ignoring all guardrails for a closer look.

Adria looking for the big fish

As part of our tuition at Adria’s daycare, we are required to put in a certain number of “parent hours” each year. In the most literal sense, this means volunteering time to do things for the school…it can be almost anything, such as: preparing crafts while at home, being a chaperone on a field trip, helping watch the kids during the day, doing maintenance on the buildings or play yards, cleaning the toys or classrooms, etc.

You can also convert your hours to cash…either paying for them directly, or by contributing things that cost money (toys, equipment, expendables, etc). I think of this as being similar to charitable contributions on your Federal taxes…we owe this time/money to daycare one way or another through our agreement with them, but we get to direct that energy in a way that we see fit…if we wish.

Two weeks ago, daycare had a ‘parent work day’, where you could go help out with organized chores and help whittle down some of those hours. The sand in some of the play areas was getting thin, so they had several dozen tons of sand dumped onto the driveway in the early part of the morning…we went and spent several hours carting, shoveling, and smoothing sand. Naturally, we concentrated our energy on Adria’s yard first.

Here are a few photos (note that there were plenty of kids underfoot that morning…several people earned their hours by watching kids so that the majority could haul sand)…

Adria “helping” with the sand in Dad’s gloves

Two peas in a pod

Adria and Helen playing at the sand table

Looks like this year we’re going to make it, through a hodgepodge of jobs. We did some crafting at home, shoveled sand, did some photography for the classroom, helped out during the day, and provided some necessities for Adria’s room.

It has been pretty hot in LA the last week or so, and we have taken several evening trips to the pool to cool off. About a week ago, we started trying to get Adria to put her face in the water and blow bubbles. She finds it hilarious when we do it, and I did get her to try herself once or twice. She did it well one time…the next time she came up sputtering.

Here are a few photos from that visit:

Adria sitting on the pool steps

Adria loves to climb in and out of the pool

Swimming with Mommy!

Yesterday, we went down to the pool, and Adria was playing on the steps like she is doing in the photo above. I was hovering, of course, because there is no part of our pool (other than the steps) where she can stand with her head above water.

The inevitable finally happened, and Adria slipped off of the top step and fell face first into the water, fully submerged. I was right there, but it still took me 2 or 3 seconds to find the right way to scoop her up and get her out of the water. She was upset and scared, but she actually did really well…she didn’t seem to get any water in her mouth or nose, and after just a minute of comforting, she was ready to get back in the saddle!

Can you find the “teagull” in the awkward arm’s length photo that I managed to take with my cell phone (hey, it’s not easy when the shutter button is a spot you have to tap on the far side of the touch screen)?

Cell phone self-portrait

I was putting Adria in her car seat a few mornings ago, and I kept my backpack on because it’s hard to shrug it off while carrying her. As I was putting her in, she kept pointing to my shoulder and saying “teagull! teagull!” That’s right, she can already identify a triangle. Her grandpa will be proud.

This afternoon we went to the Montrose Street fair. Amanda specifically intended to search out the pony rides that are often available at the fair, and possibly the petting zoo as well. It is hit or miss about whether these attractions will be at any given fair or not…but we lucked out today.

Adria was insistent about going in to see the animals in the petting zoo. Had we not been planning to get her a ticket, we would have surely redirected her attention immediately from that end of the fair. But we were happy that she was interested and excited, so I bought her a ticket and took her inside.

They had goats, chickens, and pigs. The pigs were very approachable, as were some of the goats. The chickens were small and agile and seemed to know that toddler hands weren’t always gentle. They had a tendency to flee. Adria loved the small goats, though:

Adria gently petting the little goat

Then the goat moved in for a kiss

We also paid for a ride on the pony. They have a fancy little saddle that looked pretty inescapable…she wasn’t going anywhere, short of the pony falling down. Nonetheless, I followed close behind both to take some photos and to comfort her if need be.

Adria riding the little pony

…and headed back to where Mom was waiting

As it turns out, Adria was very nonchalant on the pony. She seemed very comfortable and was having a good time. It was fun watching her get her ’sea legs’ and adapt to the pony’s gait. Her head was bouncing around pretty good in the beginning…then she settled in.

Tonight at dinner Adria started singing something, and it took us a few moments to recognize it as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". I got “star", but I was hearing “Tickle, tickle” at first. But I could tell from her rhythm that she was trying to sing, so I brainstormed about what songs she might be picking up at school.

Would you have recognized it?

This past Saturday, Amanda went to a party in the afternoon (no kids allowed!), so Adria and I decided to take a walk to Rite Aid for some vanilla ice cream. Adria loves ice cream…it’s hard to resist giving it to her all the time just to watch her enjoy it…

Adria eating her ice cream…

…with big innocent eyes

Of course, the intention was that this was Dad’s ice cream, shared with the baby. Thus ends the theory. In practice, it went much the opposite.

As a point of note, I just crossed 10,000 photos taken in 2010. In mid-August.

In my defense, there were several formal weddings in there, each of which generated 1000+ photos. The fact remains…I take a lot of pictures. Looks like I can keep this up after all.

Last weekend Amanda put Adria’s hair up in 3 ponytails (actually 2 and a clip). We are gradually trying to migrate her top knot back on her head as her bangs grow out, but it seems ever so slow.

This time, Amanda did two ponytails in the back, and then kept her bangs out of her eyes with a clip. This only worked because Adria was distracted when the clip went in…as soon as she noticed it, she pulled it out.

Adria and her 3 ponytails

Then she found one of her old pairs of sunglasses, which we assumed were way too small for her, but she squeezed into them…

Adria in her shades, looking back at the camera

Another quick photo post. Here’s a family photo, in our local park, after Adria orchestrated a hat swap with Dad:

Silly hat photo

A few nights ago while eating dinner, Adria randomly spied her hat, which was on a nearby shelf. She retrieved it, put it on, and then went back to business…

Adria eating in her hat

{Dinner was by request: chicken nuggets, a cracker, an apple slice, and a waffle. On this night, she was very hungry, and she ate extremely well. The cracker remained, but most everything else was gone!}

I like this photo of Adria and Amanda getting a little hug in:

Amanda giving Adria a hug

From the same set, here is a cute photo of Adria with a picture on her camera of her and Amanda. It’s recursive!

Adria with a photo of herself on her camera

In early May, we started the process of weaning Adria off of the bottle. One of the main reasons that we started when we did was a recommendation from our pediatrician, who said that the reclined drinking position when using the bottle would contribute to ear infections.

Good parents that we are, we weaned her right away, and now she only uses sippy cups. Problem solved.

Adria leaning back to drink her sippy cup

Last week when I was dropping Adria off at daycare, one of the little girls was running around with a mask over her eyes, making her look like an animal of some kind. Adria immediately wanted it, and fortunately there was a second one lying around somewhere.

The teachers put it on her, and I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough. This was an extremely lucky shot that I took from my hip without looking at the screen. She only had the mask on for a few seconds before she stopped to “adjust” it and play with it…

Adria in the mouse mask

Back in June, our friends Brian and Sarah babysat Adria while Amanda and I went to help Paul celebrate his 30th birthday. Two weeks ago, Amanda and I returned the favor and watched Helen while Brian and Sarah went out for their anniversary.

Brian and Sarah (at least claimed that they) had a lot of fun when they watched Adria for us. And we can say that we had fun watching Helen too. At this age, there really isn’t much to it…if the date starts at 6 or 7, then there is only an hour or two before bedtime, and the rest of the night is just listening for any unusual happenings.

Watching Helen in addition to Adria was not hard at all. First of all, Helen is a very easy-going toddler. Since the kids are in daycare together, they are already familiar with playing together under a certain set of rules. Both Amanda and I participated in entertaining the kids…and really, a 1-1 ratio for 18-month-olds is pretty easy (as long as there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing ).

Mostly we just spent the evening in the living room, playing with Adria’s toys and books. Right when Helen got dropped off, we finished up dinner (note that Adria is eating a gingerbread cookie and has a bunch of grapes in front of her, while Helen was delicately eating a well-rounded meal with veggies):

Adria and Helen at the kid’s table

And then both girls loved story time:

Drew reading a book to both girls

Adria was a little protective of her toys, it being her home turf and all…we ended up giving her several timeouts on this night because she would steal things from Helen or swat at her if she tried to reach in for something. Here the girls are making up after such an episode…

Adria and Helen having a hug after a little toy tug-o-war

And of course both girls love to draw. They were both very adept at keeping the marker on the paper. Amanda would draw little fish on the paper, and Helen would immediately “color them in” just as soon as Amanda was finished:

Drawing with markers

Amanda and I split up and we did the girls’ bedtime rituals at the same time…I took Adria and Amanda took Helen. Both kids pretty much went to sleep right away, and then Amanda and I went back to do damage control and have dinner.

Here are a few photos of Adria “helping” Amanda bake gingerbread cookies one evening…

Adria and Amanda at the little table

Adria trying to fashion a cookie ball

That’s what I told her:

Adria dipping her toes into the pool

So, how did I end up carrying a dripping wet toddler up for an early change into PJ’s?

More than just her toes, now

On Monday evenings (when Amanda goes to her Pilates class from 7-8pm), Adria and I have gotten in the habit of going down to the park with our sidewalk chalk. A few weeks ago, I got the bright idea of getting her to lay down so that I could trace her:

Adria with her chalk outlines

This was great fun, I even drew her hair in.

On the other hand, she will now spontaneously lay down on a sidewalk and ask me to trace her…