Build-a-Friend

Okay, our last Orlando post. One of our "breaks" from the parks was a trip to a local mall that has a Build-a-Bear Workshop. F misses so many of our family outings with being a soldier and all, that I wanted him to come along for this special moment for our girl. So, even though we have a B-a-B Wksp locally, we went to the one in Orlando. C picked out a kitty instead of a bear (after I talked her out of the turkey...just couldn't see the appeal of that lasting). At first she couldn't figure out why the kitty was so flat, then she got to the point in the line where she could see another child's bear being filled with stuffing and she felt much better about it. Her little face was so concerned as she stepped on the pump that pushed the stuffing into the animal, and so awed to see the kitty plumping up.  

It took her a minute or two to figure out what the clerk was telling her to do with the heart, but eventually she smiled and enjoyed it, but was solemn again when she put it into her kitty.

Then, of course, C had to kiss her kitty when the clerk finally handed her back. 

The next stop was the fluff-bath. This was possibly C's favorite part of assembling her kitty. She kept wanting to go back and brush her again and again. We've gotten her a brush (shhh) like this for Christmas. 

Dressing kitty was quite an event as well. First she picked out the sparkly red shoes and then found a dress to go with them...big surprise, a Snow White costume. C put it on mostly by herself, with minimal help from Mommy. Now that we're home, the Snow White outfit has taken up with C's basket of costumes, labeled a "costume" by C. Apparently kitties don't wear clothes, just costumes. However, she's been named "Snow Kitty." 

"Seaing" the World (SeaWorld)

Talk about a company that shows its support to the military--Anheuser-Busch, who owns SeaWorld. Because we're a military family, we got one day of free admission to the park. One day of admission may not seem like a lot, but when we looked at the price guide at the admission gate, we were impressed at the show of financial support that one day's admission really is. Neither F nor I drink beer, but for those who do have an occasional pint, you might want to think about supporting Busch and their support of the troops.

We did spend one day in Orlando at SeaWorld, and again C proved that she just likes to take pictures with characters--this time with a dolphin, whale and (while not a character persay) one of the clydesdales. We didn't intend to skip the shows, but the one we wanted to see first was full by the time we got there, so we went instead to "Shamu's Happy Harbor" to play for a little while. It was far more robust in the rides area than I expected, and we spent the majority of our day there. As we surveyed the rides, it seemed C was going to be too short to ride anything, then we found one that she was tall enough for, and we rode on it. The line was non-existent, so I had a chance to visit with the very personable young lady who was operating the ride. She said that most people didn't see that the heights are for unaccompanied riders, and that C could ride on all but one ride there, as long as she had a parent with her. Much encouraged, we were off! C wanted to make all the spinning rides spin (she had a great time making Mommy sick to her stomach) and at this park she was finally re-interested in the carousel. Her favorite was probably the miniature "space shot" ride that goes straight up and bounces up and down until finally it reaches "down". F tried to take her up on a very high (3 stories!) climbing net structure, but C (to put it mildly) freaked out and pulled on his watch, breaking it. I only mention this because after they climbed down from the thing, F managed to find all the pieces and put it back together! We probably had the most ride-time at SeaWorld, even though that wasn't necessarily the original intent in visiting the park. We did see a few marine animals though, the baby dolphins and the penguins. These days C is finding it delightful to show mommy how a penguin walks.

Up...and down...Up...and down...
Spin Mommy, spin!
If a character whale is this much bigger than C, I hate to imagine her next to the real thing!
You decide, who's more enamored with whom--the "dolphin" with C or C with the "dolphin?"

Universal Appeal

On of our other stops in Orlando was Universal Studios: both the original and Islands of Adventure. We spent two days at Islands of Adventure, mostly at Suess Landing. This led to the discovery that it didn't so much matter which characters C was posing with, as the fact that she was posing with characters. Prior to our visit, I'd read a few Dr. Suess stories to C, with something of limited interest from her. However, she wanted to get pictures with the Grinch, the Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2 as well as Sam-I-am and the lead from Green Eggs and Ham. I pointed them out and she eagerly climbed out of her stroller to stand in line for pictures. I expected her to be very excited about the Caro-Suessel (A Dr. Suess style carousel), but that was not the big hit. She enjoyed the Cat in the Hat storybook ride, and the train that went around the whole "island" (that she was just barely tall enough to ride). The popular attraction though, the one she clamored to ride again and again, was the One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue fish ride...probably because it had fish that sprayed water at the riders and she got to get wet. During her naps I got to ride on a few grown-up rides: the Hulk, Spiderman, and the Dueling Dragons. Fortunately for us, the days we went were light on the crowd factor, so I didn't spend the whole naptime in a line, but riding! Whee! We also wandered through the other "islands" looking at the shops and finding something for C here and there. In Toon Lagoon she spent a good hour on "Me Ship, the Olive," a playground of sorts, and in the Marvel area, she met and posed with Spiderman, who was astonished that she knew who he was.

On our last day in Orlando, we didn't have to be at the airport until 3:00 pm, so we were able to spend the morning at the regular Universal Studios. It was a good amount of time, as there was little to appeal to C there. When we arrived, we were fortunate enough to see her favorite character as we were walking in, heading for the Nickelodeon kidzone. That's right, Curious George was right there on the "main street." Again, she proved that the appeal was in posing with a character, any character and not just ones she knew, as she also posed eagerly with Woody and Winny Woodpecker, Bullwinkle and Scooby Doo. We spent an hour in Feivel's playground, filled with oversize objects that help you imagine you're the size of a mouse. She had her first experience with a ball-pit there. Then, we rode her first real roller coaster, which once again she was barely tall enough to ride: Woody Woodpecker's Funhouse Coaster. Unlike the "coaster" at Worlds of Fun, this one actually had a steep drop or two, and several rushing, sharp turns. She loved it. From there we visited another playground-style area, this one themed on Curious George. Most of this was water-play, so we weren't able to enjoy it as much as I'm sure she would have liked, but since we were flying back to Kansas that night, I told her we couldn't play in anything that would get us wet, and she obeyed my request. She did really enjoy pushing the buttons in the circus tent that made the sounds of the other animals we see on Curious George.

Ooh, ooh, what does this button do?
Did you know I'm small enough to ride a spoon?
Up fish, up fish, up, up, up! Down fish, down fish, down, down, down!
C and Daddy on the Caro-Suessel.
Now she recognizes the Cat in the Hat on books, on souvenirs, and we read Dr. Suess a whole lot more!

Disney Delight

In November, we got to take a little vacation. We met up with F's parents (Hi Nana and Papa!) in Orlando and visited DisneyWorld. If you ask C where we went, she'll tell you we went to Disneytown. She'll also tell you all about the characters we saw and the rides and seeing Playhouse Disney Live! (twice).  We didn't tell her where we were going until we were actually headed to the park in the morning. She was so excited when she saw the Minnie and Mickey on the sides of the entrance gate. If she could have bounced in her carseat, I'm pretty sure she would have. She enjoyed the rides, but she was truly delighted to meet the characters. Her favorite rides were It's a Small World  and the Magic Carpets from Aladdin. I was really impressed that C stood in line so well to see the characters (50 minutes for Tigger and Pooh). Mostly she just wanted to hug them, feeling like they were her friends; she knew them so well from the shows she watches. Of course, we didn't spend all our time meeting characters. I think she played for an hour in the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground and another hour in the "Hundred Acre Wood" playground. We spent three days visiting Disney parks, and at the end, when when we were leaving to go to the airport, of course she said she didn't want to go home. She "wanted to ride more rides!" (specifically Dumbo.)

Posing (so grown up) with Tigger and Pooh.

I know she's tiny, but this is ridiculous...(at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground).
Meeting the Little Einsteins, so excited to see her "favorites!" (Everything is her favorite.)
Such amazement, seeing her Playhouse Disney characters Live! on stage. 
Who's got the goofier grin? She was so happy to see Goofy.

Christmas Trees

C loves Christmas trees. She's been excitedly proclaiming "It's a Christmas tree!" every time we see one around town. I had been contemplating not putting ours up in the house this year, but when she specifically asked, "Mommy, can we have a Christmas tree in our house too?" I couldn't see how we could not put it up. Our friends "Miss Danielle" and Erin came over to help us assemble and decorate it. The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves, putting up the ornaments, especially the Dr. Suess and other contemporary pop culture ones that they recognized. I am glad, however, that I didn't try to do it on my own with C "helping." The whole business really needed two adult sets of hands. Daily, C announces with a sigh, "Our Christmas tree is so beautiful." It should be interesting when it comes time to take it down. 

Fittingly, our gifts for C's teachers are Christmas trees this year. We made enough for all the watchcare workers at the chapel, her room teachers in Hourly care at the Child Development Center and her dance teacher. That's a lot of trees. I covered wooden trees with Christmas paper from Close to My Heart and attached them to brown paper-covered blocks using hot glue. Then C decorated them with Christmas-y buttons and then I attached a miniature clothespin to the back. I'm going to clip a card that says "Merry Christmas from the Wongs" to it with the clothespin. When they get it home, they can attach a picture or a card or whatever. C thought it was fun helping Mommy "make something." (Her term for anytime I'm working on a papercraft.) She even got to wear an apron to wipe her glue-y fingers on. Dress up and making something--what a combination. Here's the final product.

Can I really be the mother of a 3 year old?

C's birthday was a month ago. That month has gone by like lightning. Then I think of the last three years, and I'm trying to figure out where the time went. It's all a blur, punctuated by moments of clear memories in vivid detail. Suddenly, instead of a tiny baby that admittedly was born with her own Personality but otherwise simply a baby with basically physical needs, I have a little girl with ideas, opinions and an attitude. How does so much happen in just three years--or 6 months, for that matter? Since we moved, she's learned so much, and developed so many new interests. Her latest "thing" is ballet. She's been interested since catching a snippet on a show I'd recorded. After that, coupled with her dance classes, she asked to have a ballet birthday. I asked our guests to wear their ballet gear and I made ribbon wands for C and her friends to dance with and for the girls to take home. They turned out beautifully and the girls boogied down to music from the Imagination Movers and some other Disney favorites. The preparations for the party were nothing but a labor of love. I spent several hours making ballet slipper candies and decorating a ballerina bear birthday cake. The moment she saw the cake, those hours were worth it to see her face. The girls went home with Angelina Ballerina books and ballerina coloring pages I printed from the internet. I'm pretty sure everyone had fun, not just the birthday girl, and that's my goal for her birthday celebrations. 

Snow and Winter

Heard at Grammy and Papa's house:

P: C, do you want to see snow?

C: Yes! (pitter pat of running feet to see the snow out the front window)

*** 45 minutes pass ***

C: Grammy, I want to see the snow again.

G: There's no snow out there.

C: Yes there is. It's winter.

G: It didn't snow yet,C.

C: Yes it did.

G: (finally looks out the window) You're right...there is snow! How'd you know that?

C: (giggles)

Today, leaving the gym:

C: It's cold out here.

Mommy: yes, it is

C: It's cold and it's blowing and there's snow and...and...it's winter!

I guess snow = winter for the little miss.

Nutcracker

The pictures and stories from vacation will have to wait until I have time to post them. For right now though, a brief story about C's first trip to the ballet. Last night we went to see the Nutcracker by the Russian/Moscow ballet company that's on tour. They performed right here on post. The storyline was perhaps a bit less clear than I recall from previous versions of the ballet, but the dancing itself was enchanting. C's enamored with ballet and ballerinas in general right now, and she sat, watching intently for 90 percent of the performance. For most of the segments, she simply watched with a captivated look on her face, but when the male dancers began their leaps and jumps, she gasped, looked at me and pointed (not that I'm encouraging pointing, but it shows how impressed she was).