Orlando Vacation

Day 1: We arrived in Orlando on Monday, 3/21. After picking up our rental car, we stopped at the first restaurant we saw for a quick bite (which ended up being TGI Friday's). By the time we checked into the Holiday Inn Resort at Lake Buena Vista, it was already 6pm. We decided to pay a visit to Downtown Disney, then stopped at Walmart for some water, cereal, and other food essentials before heading back to the hotel.

Day 2: We spent Tuesday, 3/22 at SeaWorld. Despite fighting a terrible cold and not being able to see Elmo (I was very disappointed that they didn't have the "Elmo and Abby's Treasure Hunt" show on that day), baby K seemed to have a good time. We met up with my sister-in-law for dinner afterwards.

Day 3: We spent the morning at a Holiday Inn Vacation Resort listening to some salespeople try to sell us a timeshare... oh wait, they don't call them timeshares anymore. Now it's referred to as "vacation homes." What a waste of three hours! I must say, they are quite persistent. We were approached by at least five different salespeople, each of them lowering the price more and more; it went from $35,999 down to $7,500. After the full three hours (even though we were told the sales pitch would only last an hour and a half), they finally gave us our discounted Disney tickets and we were off to Magic Kingdom! Baby K got to see Mickey and was happy. M and I were were also glad to see that her cold had improved from the day before. After a day of fun at Magic Kingdom, we arrived at the Nick Hotel and crashed with my brother and his family in their two-bedroom suite.

Day 4: On Thursday, 3/24 we took advantage of the benefits offered by the Nick Hotel and stayed at the resort the entire day. We saw a Spongebob Squarepants show and got to take pictures with Dora and Blues Clues. The kids went swimming in the two pools and had a blast. Day 5: Friday, 3/25 was our last full day in Orlando. We spent it at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The fact that baby K got to hang out with her cousin A made it much more enjoyable. Every time we separated from them, baby K would ask, "Where's A?" followed by "Where's Aunt K?" followed by "Where's Uncle P?" I think it was the company that made it more fun than the theme park itself. Baby K got a little scared during the Finding Nemo musical when some of the characters came up close to the audience. She also didn't have much patience to sit through the entire Lion King show while cramped inside the little theater. The highlight of the day was probably the fact that she got to take pictures with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Pluto, and Goofy. Day 6: Saturday, 3/26 was a sad sad day, since that meant our vacation was soon to be over. We took a morning flight back to the cold, wintry 40 degree weather in New Jersey. Unfortunately, our luggage never made it back with us, but good thing they found it and delivered it to us the next day. Now that we're back, I'm ready for the next vacation already! Any suggestions on location??

Almost 28 Months

Tonight was a long but productive night in the potty training front. I sat with baby K in the bathroom for over an hour before she finally peed and pooped in the toilet (and this was after she spent a half an hour crying in the kitchen because she was constipated). It was past her bedtime and despite her cries, I was determined not to let her out of the bathroom until she pooped. Eventually my stubbornness (or maybe it was the bribery) paid off; she was awarded with a new Melissa and Doug puzzle at the end of the successful night. Hopefully this brings us one step closer to getting her off diapers (though I thought that two months ago).

Baby K has become a big fan of the Fresh Beat Band. She kept singing the theme song (at least her version of it, which consists of LAA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LAA) over and over today. I've never even heard of them until I (or rather baby K) started watching Nick Jr. a few weeks ago. Now she prefers the Fresh Beat Band over Dora and Ni Hao Kai Lan. (No more mention of Elmo... Elmo? Who's Elmo??) Let's see how long this craze lasts.

Here's my little two year old behind the wheel, about to go for a spin:

After realizing she can't drive (her feet doesn't reach the pedal... not to mention she didn't have the keys), she decided to stuff herself in a USPS Priority Mail box to be shipped out instead:

March Madness

Slowly but surely, the month of March has crept up on me and is now in full swing. I started off the month going to a Rachael Ray taping in midtown Manhattan. I reserved four tickets and invited WC, SW, and KM, but apparently the show hands out more tickets than there are seats available, because by the time they got to us, there were only three spots left (good thing WC got there early to stand on line!). I felt so bad that KM didn't get to go in with us. I'll have to make it up to my sister-in-law somehow...

For the rest of March, weekends are fully booked with kids' birthday parties, family birthday celebrations, and the biannual visit to the cemetery. In between that we're also squeezing in a trip to Orlando. I can't wait for the warm weather and the much-needed time away from work! I am hoping and praying that baby K stays healthy for her travels this time around!

Crayola Factory

We spent the day at the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA yesterday (it felt so good to take off from work!). I have been planning it for a few weeks now and was very excited to bring baby K there, but I didn't want to get my hopes up too high in case she didn't like it. Fortunately, she had a great time (as we all did). The place wasn't that big, but we spent a good amount of time on each activity they offered. Baby K even made early birthday cards for gong gong, por por, and grandma. She was so busy enjoying herself that she didn't nap until we left at 4:00pm (at which point she promptly conked out in the car). Here are some pictures from our day of fun. As usual, my little girl doesn't like to smile for the camera.
Out of the 126 photos taken yesterday, here's my favorite one:

Family Day

It was nice to have this past Monday off (thank you, past presidents!). We spent the morning in New Brunswick, where the State Theatre hosted a "Family Day" event, offering children's activities (most of them requiring a fee) throughout the day. We took advantage of the free activities and enjoyed a mini-concert at the Crossroads Theatre. I thought the music would be too loud for baby K, but she seemed to enjoy it (despite the blank stare on her face as she was watching the kid's rock band "Starfish" perform). Afterwards, we visited the United Methodist Church where the front of the sanctuary offered a display of animal pelts, courtesy of the Philadelphia Zoo. It probably wasn't worth the 20-minute wait it took to get to the front since there weren't many real animals to look at and baby K wasn't interested in touching the pelts (not that I blame her), but she did get to see a cute little hedgehog. We also took pictures with a few costume characters and baby K experienced her first visit in a fire truck.

VeggieTales Dance

It's been a while since baby K has watched VeggieTales. She's been on such a Sesame Street craze that all other characters have been put to the back-burner. Maybe she's finally getting over it since she was going through her collection of DVDs the other day and asked to play "Where's God When I'm Scared." It's good to know my little girl hasn't forgotten her beloved veggie friends. This video captures her dancing to the theme song (for the second time in a row). I love how she's all out of breath by the end of it and automatically plops herself down on the couch to watch the rest of the show.

Bouncing Fun

Baby K came down with a terrible cold on Friday... to the point where her daycare called me three times and had me go pick her up early. She didn't have a fever, but was crying non-stop and pretty much inconsolable. She looked so miserable that I was afraid we'd have to cancel our plans the next day to go to JG's birthday party in Long Island. We didn't decide until we woke up Saturday morning. Fortunately, baby K seemed to be in better spirits by then and the leaky faucet (otherwise known as her nose) was halted.

We got off to a late start since none of us slept well the night before, but made it to the party place just in time. Baby K had so much fun going through the inflatable slides and bounce houses that we may consider having her next birthday party at a similar place.

Toddler Talk and Songs

Before I became a mom, there would be often times when I spoke to a young toddler and didn't understand what he/she was saying; I would look to the parents for a translation and was always amazed at how they knew exactly what their child was saying. Now that I have my own, I totally get it!

Some classic examples:
Kayla = Teeya
Eva = Eba or Ebup or E-up
Kim = Tim
Ashley = Ashie
grandma = sanma
excuse me = sushi
see you tomorrow = see you moro
broccoli = brokki
Thomas = Prize
cookies = choochies
water = wata
Yo Gabba Gabba = Da Da Ba
silly band = seely ban
hair tie = seely ban
three = bee

Despite the Christmas season being over, baby K will once in a while launch into her own rendition of "Jingle Bells" or "Oh Christmas Tree." Needless to say, it'd sound foreign to any outsider hearing her sing, but to us, it is music to the ears. A few other favorites of baby K:

• Jesus Loves Me: I am still amazed that baby K knows this song. She's only heard it a handful of times at Calvary Chapel Old Bridge when we're there on Sundays and I brought her over to sing with the 3-5 year olds. She doesn't know all the lyrics yet, but would repeat the chorus over and over again.
• Farmer In The Soup: Baby K has a book titled "Farmer In The Soup" that she likes. M and I have changed the words from the song "Farmer In The Dell" to "Farmer In The Soup."
• London Bridge Is Falling Down: Baby K must've learned this at daycare since we never sang it at home, but instead of singing "my fair lady" in the last line, baby K would sing something that sounds like "I love you." That's the version we've adopted at home now.
• BINGO: I think baby K's class was learning colors one day and the teachers used the melody from BINGO to teach the kids. As a result, baby K only knows the chorus as G-R-E-E-N, not B-I-N-G-O. That's all she remembers from the song so she would sing G-R-E-E-N over and over again. Hey, at the age of 2, my little girl can spell the color green; who am I to complain?