Memorial Day Weekend

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend. It started on Friday when I kicked off the holiday weekend by taking advantage of summer hours. I left work in the early afternoon and went with M to get a new mattress for baby K. When we brought it home, he spent the next few hours cramped in her room putting her new bed together. He finally finished that night with some "help" from baby K and myself. Unfortunately, baby K's crib was too big to fit through her bedroom door (we'd have to disassemble it first) so baby K insisted on sleeping in her crib that night even though she had a brand new bigger bed right next to it.

To ease baby K's transition to her new bed, we went shopping on Saturday for baby K to pick out her own bedspreads. Our first stops that morning were TJ Maxx and Kohls. I was very disappointed with their selection; we ended up walking away empty-handed from the two stores. After baby K's nap in the afternoon, we hit Target, Bed Bath & Beyond and Walmart, and finally hit the jackpot at Bed Bath & Beyond. It's still hard to believe we spent all day running around just to get three sets of bedsheets! At least it didn't go to waste since baby K was willing to sleep in her new bed that night.

We went out to New York on Sunday: first church in Chinatown, followed by lunch at my mother-in-law's place. After lunch, we headed out to Queens to visit SW. Baby K's nap was cut short when we arrived there, but she had a blast playing with SW's kids. Then that evening, it was off to the Sheraton Hotel in Flushing for FY and SS's wedding reception. We ended up spending half an hour looking for parking. It was pure chaos! M saw how stressed I got and was about to drop us off at the Sheraton when luckily we saw someone pulling out of a spot. We arrived at the wedding hall right in time for the bride and groom's grand entrance. I had a great time catching up with all the familiar faces from college. Meanwhile, it was getting way past baby K's bedtime and she was exhausted, but between the loud music, the disco lights, the glow sticks, and the balloons, she kept wanting to go out on the dance floor. Fortunately, she was tired enough that she didn't put up a fight when I told her we had to leave at 10:30pm. By the time we got home, it was past midnight.

We were supposed to head out to New York again on Monday to celebrate Mike's nephew's birthday, but it got canceled at the last minute. On a whim, we decided to take baby K to Sesame Place in the afternoon. We were only there for a few hours, but seeing the smile on baby K's face made the whole trip worth it.

Entertainment in the Car

If you've ever seen or sat in my car, you will see the back seat littered with toys, papers, dolls, books, and whatever else peaks my little girl's interest at the moment. Baby K's latest favorites are Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Somehow, she's acquired a Mickey and two Minnie dolls over her lifetime, none of which we purchased for her. It's funny how she keeps herself entertained with them in the car... and how conversations with her stuffed animals relate to what's happening in her own life. Some of baby K's latest phrases (or a variation of them):

• "Uh oh! Minnie Mouse pee pee in underwear!"
  
• "Uh oh! Mickey poopied in pants. That's yucky!"
  
• "Minnie Mouse is crying! She fall down and bump her head!"
  
• "It's okay, Minnie Mouse... it's okay..." [In response to Minnie falling down and bumping her head. This is then usually followed by a kiss.]
  
• "Change diaper, Minnie Mouse... change diaper!"
  
• "Mickey pushed Minnie Mouse."
  
• "No pushing Mickey... not nice!" [In response to me telling her it's not nice to push.]
  
• "I did it, mommy! I did it!" [When she is able to each down next to her car seat and pick something up by herself.]

I probably find more entertainment hearing baby K's ramblings than she does saying them. It's such a great de-stresser after a long day of work. I never know what's going to be coming out of her mouth next and it's awesome just to be able to look forward to that half an hour car ride home with her.

Traffic Lights

I recently started teaching baby K about traffic lights as I drive her to/from daycare. She's gotten into the habit of saying "red means STOP!" and "green means GO!" whenever she sees a traffic light. Once in a while, she would say "turn green, light!" when I'm stopped at a red light (and when she's in a hurry to get home and watch the Fresh Beat Band). This morning, the light changed to red just as I approached it, so I had to come to a full stop. Baby K goes, "come back, green light!". I just started cracking up in the car.

New Bed for Baby K

We went shopping for a new twin-size bed for baby K on Saturday. Our first stops were to a few furniture stores in our area, but the prices they quoted were way over our budget. After lunch, we decided to make a trip to Ikea in Elizabeth. Surprisingly, we ended up picking something out and purchasing it. It wasn't a unilateral decision, since we did ask baby K if she liked the bed and she said yes (but then again, she probably would've said yes to anything). While I was writing down the article number and location (for self-service pickup), baby K voluntarily lied down on the bed as if to test it out (which she didn't do on any other bed), so I took that as a good sign. It was a bit of a struggle putting the seven-foot box into the car, but miraculously, we managed to fit everything in. Guess that's one good thing about having a gas-guzzler. Now our next step is to find a nice mattress for baby K before we can build the bed.

Here's a picture of baby K's new bed... simple, but that's the way I like it. We also bought the headboard with a shelving unit that pulls out (second picture below... shelves on the left) to provide baby K with some extra storage space. Hopefully the furniture won't be too hard to put together.

Fresh Beat Band at Sesame Place

Baby K had the best of both worlds on Saturday. We brought her to Sesame Place where she got to see all her favorite characters, enjoy unlimited rides on the carousel, and hear her favorite band perform in concert! Unfortunately, baby K was a bit under the weather as she battled a cold, but when the Fresh Beat Band came on stage, all signs of discomfort were instantly forgotten. Baby K was absolutely mesmorized by the band and loved all the songs they sang. I actually enjoyed it too, but was disappointed by how short the concert was. Our total wait time (between getting on line and being inside the theater) was a good hour and a half, but the concert itself was just shy of 30 minutes. We skipped the "Meet and Greet" with the Fresh Beat Band afterwards since I knew it would've meant getting on another long line, and I'd much rather have baby K enjoy some of the other offerings at Sesame Place. Besides, even if she did get to meet the members of the band, what is she going to do? Instead, we saw Elmo sing with his friends Zoe, Cookie Monster, Bert, and Ernie. Baby K finally mustered up enough courage to stand at the bottom of the stage where she got high-fives from some of the characters at the end. We also saw Elmo's World where Elmo and Mr. Noodle learned about dancing. We finished off the day with one last trip on the carousel (baby K must have rode it three times), and in between, we got to take some pictures with a few more characters, including Rosita, Cookie Monster, Elmo, and Big Bird. All in all, it was a good day.

Jesus Loves Me

Baby K prayed before dinner tonight all by herself! It went something like this, "Dear God... thank you for this day... thank you for this mum mums... thank you for mommy and daddy... Jesus we pray... AMEN!" I was almost expecting her to say thank you for Fresh Beat Band, but she didn't. Wish I could have captured her first prayer alone on video, but instead, here she is singing "Jesus Loves Me." Enjoy!