Hairy Situation

You know, a lot can change in a year.  You can change jobs, buy a house, have a baby...or you can grow a crazy amount of hair.  

When Vivi was a baby, she was bald.  Bald, bald, bald, bald.  I used to worry that we'd have to dress her in pink for the rest of her natural life or everyone would think she was a boy.  An example of Vivi at just over a year...

(clearly showing some attitude at an early age)

And now?  We've gone from "what are we going to do about her lack of hair" to "what the heck are we supposed to do with this crazy hair?"  It truly has a mind of its own.  And if you get it wet?  Shudder.

I do try to tame it every morning, in pigtails or a single Pebbles Flintsone style ponytail.  Doesn't matter.  She yanks them out at some point during the day.  Resulting in something like this...

 

I keep telling myself it will eventually get longer and will lay down and be oh-so lovely (and a lot thicker than mine).  Until then...

...it's kind of like living with a very tiny Einstein.  Amazing.

Crash

I apologize.  I was remiss in my blogging duties this weekend.  In our defense, we had a very busy, action packed couple of days!

And now we all feel like this.

I promise, I will do a better job this week!  We're having a big one, all three of us.  Lots of stories and photos!  But for now....Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Strawberry Fields Forever

It's hot here in Nebraska.  Like, really stupidly hot.

So Vivi is featuring a sweet summer wardrobe and trying to stay cool!

In outfits this cute, it's impossible to be too hot!

She looks like a little strawberry patch.  Stay cool, ya'll!

Schooled By Our Two Year Old...

Honestly, it's nights like these that make me nervous about the teenage years...

Made meatloaf tonight. Vivi was unenthused. I use a lot of veggies in my meatloaf, so I tried to focus on that and convince her to take a few bites...
Me: "Vivi, take a bite, babe. It's just carrots and ketchup."
Vivi (in a very flat, unemotional voice): "Yeah. I don't see any carrots here."

Slightly later, we were playing in the living room...
Russ: "Vivi, don't put your barn on the table. Does your barn go on the table?"
Vivi: "It foes on the chair."
Russ: " That's right. It goes on the chair."
Vivi (wandering off, muttering): YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO ME!"

Oh boy. This should be fun in 14 years o so.

Big Gift

So what did Mommy and Daddy give Vivi for her birthday?

She was pretty excited to find out, let me tell you.

Ooooo.  A princess!  Or, as Vivi would say, a plince-ness.

Vivi examined her very carefully.  To her great delight, she found out she could take the Plince-ness's shoes off!

She quickly informed us that the Princess's toes were cold, and that they were "really stinky."

She then decided to be an excellent hostess, and set our royal friend up with a buddy to cuddle with and her own pot of coffee.

Mommy is so proud!  That is EXACTLY how to treat a guest!

Bird Bath

Even though it was a Little Pink Bird birthday party, Russ and I feel that having an entirely indoor party during July is crazy business.  So we wound up having a Little Pink Bird/Pool Party.

Let me tell you which aspect was more popular.

Vivi very wisely stayed in the big pool, but I think Eddie really got the full scope and grandeur of the pool party.  He would play in the big pool for awhile, then escape...

Scramble over for a little aqua hop-scotch with Noah...

...and then zing over for a little pool-side chat with Eva in the smaller pool.

Way to make use of your assets, buddy!

Vivi, on the other hand, was content to stay in the big pool and let Russ pour water on her head.

I could literally be convinced to have pool day all day, every day.  A perfect party!

In Which I Show Off...Just a Little

For Vivi's second birthday, we chose to do a "Little Pink Bird" theme.  And by we, I pretty much mean I.  Vivi's color palate of pinks, browns and greens has included birds since before she was born, and I really wanted to have a pink bird party for her.

So we did.

I had grand plans to make Vivi's cake this year, and found these marvelous things called "Sugar Sheets," which were tastier and purportedly easier to use than fondant.  After working with Sugar Sheets, I give them a  thumbs up...with a qualifier.  Have a pattern.

Still, with some help from Grandma Otto, the little pink bird on a branch cake turned out pretty stinking cute!

I also made cake pops.  For the first time.  Because, you know.  When throwing a party and having house guests, the SMARTEST thing to do is to take on a tricky project you have never tried before.  I wish I could say the cake pops were as easy to work with as the Sugar Sheets.  Not so.  Those silly things were a labor of love and a true test to my determination not to give up.  I did not.

They are supposed to be strawberries, yall.  Whatever, they were delicious.  And I think Aunt Kate and I figured out how to modify the recipe so we can do this next time WITHOUT WANTING TO KILL SOMEONE.   (next idea--cake pop jack-o-lanterns!  stay tuned!)

And of course I became the scourge of Hobby Lobby, ransacking their clearance section for anything bird related and then repainting it pink.  There were birds everywhere, but these guys are my favorite.

Little birds in flowerpots, spelling Vivi.  I'm going to put them on a shelf in her room.

And what did the birthday girl think of all this?

She was very pleased by all the birds!  Vivi likes then just as much as I do, and wanted to cuddle and play with all of them, giving me a minor heart attack as many of them were quite breakable.  Sigh.

And yes, she is in a swim suit.  More on that later.

I love, love, love you, my little pink bird.  I had a blast plotting out this party with daddy and hoping that someday, when you look back at the pictures, you will smile just as much as you did that day.

Two

Holy cow.  Vivi turned two on Thursday.

I can hardly believe it.  As Grandpapi said, "That was a fast two years!"  She is becoming such a funny, independent, smart little lady, and I just love her to pieces.

But how does one celebrate such a momentous occasion?  With a day of favorites, of course!

A delicious dinner of pizza (Vivi's favorite).

And then, cake!  Right?  Oh.  No.  You see, Vivi had cake pops and cake at her party last Saturday (more on that later), so we've had A LOT of cake.  And, to be honest, Vivi is very much her daddy's daughter, and LOVES ice cream.  To the point where she almost prefers it to cake.  So...

Vivi celebrated two with double Dutch Chocolate at our local icecream shop.

Candles out!

She was very pleased with the whole affair.

And, because Ivanna Cone is awesome, she ran off to play in their toy area while Russ and I finished our own icecream.

Imagine our surprise when she suddenly stopped playing, ran up to us, and announced in ringing tones, "I has a BIIIG Poop!"  As Russ and I stared in horror and the people around us snickered, she toddled off, saying, "Oh.  Daddy is reeeeeally proud of you."  Time to go!

And where did we end the day of favorites?

At the park, of course!

Happy Second Birthday, beautiful Vivi.  Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

Dawn of a New Day...

Today, Vivi's world got rocked a little.  We went to daycare this morning...and not at Ellen's.  That's right, folks.  Last Friday was our last day at Ellen's house.  Our much-loved daycare lady has been accepted into the nursing program, and is going back to school.  We are so happy and excited for her...and a little sad for us.

Vivi has done really, really well there.  Turning over the care of one's child to someone else for 40 hours a week is a really scary thing, and we were very blessed to find Ellen.  She and her family have been amazing.  Jade and Aleah (her little girls) have been like big sisters to Vivi, and she has learned so much.

I had really planned to get a photo of Vivi with Ellen last Friday, but being the disorganized person I sometimes am, I forgot my camera.  (I figure I spend the majority of my day organizing other people's lives...I am entitled to a little chaos in mine)

So we say a fond (photoless) Adieu to the Sullivans, and hope that everyone is as lucky as we were in our childcare choices.  Ellen and her family are truly wonderful.  We hold great hopes for Jean, our new daycare provider...but she's got some very big (and usually fabulous!) shoes to fill.

Good luck, Ellen!  Clan Otto wishes you the best in nursing school!  Your future's so bright...Vivi's gotta wear shades!

Father's Day!

...was two weeks ago!

I know, I know.  Shameful.  Especially when Vivi is such a daddy's girl.

I actually had to work all day on Father's Day, so we celebrated the day previous by hooking up Vivi's water hopscotch game.  She was a little apprehensive until Russ came to help her out.  Once she saw Daddy do it, she was all excited to try it herself.

A little girl learns a lot from her dad, and ours is no exception.  She loves to play with him, to laugh with him, and to learn from him.  She knows that with her dad, something interesting is always going to be happening.

Happy Father's Day, Russ (extremely belatedly)!  Thank you for being such a great dad!