august was a huge month for this family.
brett and i went to vegas again for DEF CON.
caylin turned 3, but not before going on her 4th trip to disney world with my mom, AND starting preschool.
ever since she returned from disney, there have been almost daily requests to put on her elsa dress. we usually oblige unless we’re going out or going outside. i don’t know how she wears that thing–it’s adorable and pretty and sparkly (probably the selling point for her), but that material does not breathe, and it just feels so itchy. she’s dedicated.
she’s a youtube whiz kid these days. she can find anything she wants on there. i haven’t worried about figuring out all the parental controls yet since the only things she wants to watch are either peppa pig, those ridiculous surprise egg videos, and this. that is the one video she will watch over… and over. and over again. i finally bought her some putty like the kind in the video, and she plays with it every day. with the dolls (she has the ones in the video, probably why she likes it so much). and she mimics all the things the little girl says in the video. it is so cute but so weird. 5.5 million views on that video, and that’s on the low end for some of the other ones she watches.
she learned how to use chopsticks this month. we went out to eat with ashley/jason/madi/reagan one night, and she saw other people using them. wanted to give it a go. she ate her whole meal that way. my own kid is cooler than me at 3.
the whining is at an all time high lately. i don’t know what happened. some days are better than others, and it’s usually when she’s just worn out and cranky (understandable). but man. when it’s bad, it’s bad. it’s a lot worse at meal time, or before bed, or when she wants to watch a movie. lately she’s been trying to just swap movies out of the DVD player one after the other. like watch 30 minutes, swap it out, watch 30 minutes, and so forth. the DVD player is not youtube. definitely need to cut back on both.
so for her birthday, i found a really cute dollhouse for her on woot and brett got it for her. got her some peppa pig figurines, books, and more putty. since the putty has been such a big hit, the ipad has been shoved aside, thank god.
preschool has also helped out a ton with that, since she’s gone all day. we let her play on it in the evenings, like when we get home from picking her up and i’m cooking dinner. but that’s pretty much it during the week.
the first week was a bit rough. once she realized that this wasn’t just a once in a while thing, and that she had to go every day, she started getting really upset. crying upset. mostly just when my mom would take her, because she wanted to stay and play with her instead. now she’s fine. every once in a while she’ll get a little cry-ey when we pick her up. like.. it’s been a long day, emotions just come flowing out. but her teachers say she’s doing great. eating, taking naps, playing with the other kids, participating. could not be happier with how it’s going so far.
more often than not, she’s been either super worn out or bummed out when i pick her up. you can see it on her face. she just looks so sad, and there is a difference between cranky caylin and sad caylin. the lip quiver and watery eyes. so we’ve been getting a lot of frozen yogurt lately after school ;) which is fine by me. still some of the best memories i have growing up.
since mom was going to be in new york over caylin’s birthday weekend, she and my grandparents had a birthday lunch for caylin the week before. mom got her some muddy puddle boots (rain boots) since she’s obsessed with peppa pig. and i made her the dinosaur cake she asked for.
elsa and anna decorations and twinkle lights were all over the house. cookies and veggie plates and mexican 7-layer dip. so good. caylin had fun playing with the hose and jumping in muddy puddles. brett and i got to relax a little bit since caylin was preoccupied. it was nice.
on her actual birthday, i made plans to have all her friends go to skyzone in mount pleasant. they give you a room, order pizzas for you, and you bring the cake. it’s pretty simple. brought some party favors, plates, napkins, and candles. i’ll give them that–they made it easy to set up.
everyone jumped, ate pizza and cake, caylin opened presents, and it went pretty smoothly. i will say, however, that the kids working at skyzone are a bunch of jerks, and take their job way too seriously. we were the only people in there pretty much for the first half hour, and they were hounding caylin and her friends basically the whole time. they are 2 and 3 years old–if you yell at my child and her friends for falling down and not getting up fast enough, you are an asshole. and i will let you know.
they also wouldn’t let ashley and i sit down. another girl working sat in our room the whole time while we were trying to do pizza/cake/presents and just monitored everything, intervened at every opportunity. i was livid. so, we will not be doing that again.
bottom line, kids had fun and ate a bunch of cake and pizza… can’t really beat that.
i think the highlight of august for me, though, was the night i double checked the weight limit for caylin’s bunkbed and realized i can actually get up there with her and cuddle her while we read her bedtime stories. for the past year, i’ve been standing to the side, which works but it’s not the same as holding my babygirl before she goes to bed.
and now she demands that i get up there to read books, which is even better.
she’s amazing. i love her more and more every day.