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Mama and Kivrin took a wagon adventure to the local park one Saturday afternoon while Daddy was at work. Kivrin climbed through the tunnel (with a little help from Mama pushing on her feet to get her up the incline each time) and then happily played on the swings for a LONG time. Luckily for Mama, Kivrin didn’t decide to “help” pull the wagon until we were within about 2 houses from our own — that is our front sidewalk in the photo!
One morning, when we walked outside — up there–in the sky–hot air balloons!!!! Three hot air balloons were so close overhead at we could hear them firing up to stay afloat as they floated past us. Kivrin, of course, thought it was pretty wonderful.
Is there anything more interesting than cornstarch goop? Kivrin had to be convinced to touch it, but she definintely liked having Dada dribble it across her hands! And she always loves to make a mess!
Swinging at Gage Park — Dada pushed in the back, Mama pushes in the front and she goes high high high and fast fast fast!
Kivrin and Dada watch the train come into the station at the Gage Park mini-train. (We rode the train after this, but photos taken on mini-train suffer a bit from the close quarters and aren’t usually worth sharing.) Kivrin loves to talk about trains right now and to say “choo-choo” and pull an imaginary train whistle.
More pictures on flickr here
One of Kivrin’s favorite new activities is to pull on Daddy’s shoelace, and then say “uhhh-ohhh” and point to the laces and say “un-tied” and then have Mama tie Daddy’s shoe again. And then to repeat that game as often as possible. Here I caught her in action at the bowling alley, which the library rented out for the night for a staff appreciation family event.
WAYYYYYY past her bedtime, we were finally leaving the bowling alley, and suddenly they turned on the disco cyber-bowling lights and Kivrin (already in her pajamas) started her own little dance party right down on the lanes. For the record, Mama let her stay up so late because Mama was trying to watch the Cardinals tied baseball game in extra innings on the bowling alley televisions….although even Mama didn’t stay awake for the end of what turned out to be 20 innings…
Mama and Kivrin bowling a NINE by pushing the ball down the lane together!!!!!
Kivrni and Daddy enjoying the bowling alley together.
Mama and Kivrin put their secret team bowling strategy on display for the world….
More pictures on flickr here
When we couldn’t get Kivrin to just stand and pose with the daffodils, we opted instead for an action shot of “hug the tree” which she was happy to do!
The bubble supplies on the back porch are a constant source of amusement (and distraction, since we pass them going in and out of the house.) Mostly the extra wands serve as interesting and colorful toys since Kivrin hasn’t mastered actually blowing bubbles yet. She LOVES to dip a wand in the container and then blow gently on the stick end, and accidentally fling bubble solution all over Mama or Dada though, that is for sure!
Easter came early this year — like around 5 am. Luckily the Easter bunny knows where to find Kivrin when we are traveling on holidays, and also what her favorite things are — the eggs were all full of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Kivrin proudly showing off her Easter dress that Nana made for her. She pranced around in it (the polkadot legwarmers were her choice) for about 30 minutes, then freaked out and wanted it off and I had to change her into her Christmas dress instead. Ahh, the fashion lives of toddlers!
Post-church, Kivrin wore her comfy clothes and played in the kitchen at Grandma and Grandpa Fogt’s house.
The weather was beautiful on Easter Sunday and Kivrin and Dada posed outside (new orange pants in this photo from the red ones above, I can’t recall now what tragedy befell the first pair.)
Kivrin liked playing kick ball with Grandpa and Grandma in their yard.
More pictures on flickr here
W went to St. Louis this weekend (to see The Guthrie Family Rides Again concert and visit relatives!)
Kivrin liked watching animals at the children’s zoo.
Also at the children’s zoo, Kivrin made friends with this meerkat. They played peek-a-boo together for a long time.
Classic St. Louis zoo picture at the hippo statue! Why do we think it is funny to have animals eat our kids? Maybe because they think it is funny too.
Kivrin wasn’t too sure about the goats, but she liked using the brush to comb their fur coats.
Kivrin and Mama and Dada all rode the carosel together. The best part was waving at Papa each time we circled around.
On the way out of the zoo, Kivrin took Papa’s hat and put it on her own head!
At the new church gym!
Science Center Overpass — look at those cars speeding by underneath me!
At the Butterfly House, Kivrin and Mama climbed inside a display bubble — see those brown things around us? Those are giant cockroaches!
Kivrin really likes things in the sky right now. Helicopters, airplanes, and water towers are favorites. When she sees a water tower she says “ball” and points excitedly. Papa parked on the side of the mall especially for Kivrin so she could see the water tower up close when we went to eat at Olga’s.
Back at home again —
Kivrin decorated her shirt with Easter stickers and then had to check herself out in the mirror.
From Dan, Sunday, March 21, 2010 1:55 PM
“Our daughter would currently live off waffles and raisins.
Also, she totally added a word sounding something like “raisins” in
the last two days, so we’d know what the heck she was asking for,
every time.”
From Dan, Sunday, March 21, 2010 2:49 PM
“Put all the babies and blankets in one at a time, get in herself and
play 10 minutes, then ???”
From Lissa, Saturday, March 17
From Dan, Thursday, March 18, 2010 6:43 PM
“Walk, saw cat, birds, squirrels, plane, almost a helicoptor, people.
Ate Greek yogurt, which she loved and cried about. Accidentally got
pomegranate which had seeds, exciting >.>
Cried pointing to the pantry, no cheese or crackers or cereal or trail
mix. Dried fruit okay, for a while. Raisins okay, for a while. Lots of
crying about communication.
Vegetables not okay. Bread not okay. Fish crackers not okay earlier,
but now she’s scarfing.”
Kivrin and Mama out for a walk with the mei tai as a back carrier. We mostly look for dogs, and birds, and sometimes squirrels.
Outside in the yard playing soccer in the sunshine…
Trying out the big girl swing at the park
Kivrin watching out her bedroom window at her birdfeeder, looking for robins, black birds, blue birds, sparrows, finches, cardinals and squirrels!
Kivrin likes to spread out ALL of the blankets over her dolls, or in the case, her mama. Sometimes she gets 30 blankets all in a neatly spread pile, and then spreads them out over another doll, or panda, or snake, or Dada!
Kivrin tried to eat her first apple, but she lost interest after a few little bites.
Kivrin hasn’t been eating as much lately as an active toddler, but she does like to carry her food over to her kitchen to “cook” with it.
“Mama? You want me to wear this easter hat?”
Kivrin and Papa playing with the blanket
Peek-a-boo is hilarious!
“Now Papa, you lay here and I’ll be here and Mama can cover us both up and it will be an awesome game!”
Kivrin and Dada helping Papa rake leaves in the yard. Of course, most people rake in fall, but when you have a toddler, you feel lucky to get someone to help you do the job in March! (and by help, I mean, the three of us offered Papa lots of moral support while he did all the work!)
Thanks for a fun visit Papa!
Kivrin is loving to work puzzles right now. All of the simple wooded puzzles we have, every day. At first she just matched the pieces and expected us to fit them in, but now if we hold back and encourage her, she can usually get the pieces all the way into the puzzle by herself! – January 26, 2010
A special package arrived from Nana and Uncle Lee — an eyelet handmade dress, two colorful slips, a bunch of ribbons for the waist and two fancy spring coats to wear over it!
Unrelated, while we were playing dress up, Mama got out her old “silkie” nightgown from when she was a toddler to see how it fit Kivrin!
After all of the cute poses in her new dress, and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, our dress-up time turned into a Valentine’s Day photo shoot. Kivrin doesn’t really ever cooperatively smile for the camera, but we did get her to look happy while playing peek-a-boo, and that became the theme of our card.
Just when the ground was nice and dry, here comes more snow to ruin our chances of outdoor play. At least this was a beautiful snow to wake up to on a Friday morning. – February 5, 2010.
I think I’m caught up again on photos for January, so for anything I didn’t blog, I posted the originals on flickr here.
Kivrin decided to finger paint with only one finger at a time! – January 22, 2010
Temperatures in the mid 40’s meant no more snow on the ground and a fun afternoon walk to Boswell Park with Mama! Everything was a bit muddy but we managed to play with the swings and some of the slides too. Daddy was at work but we took advantage of the warm afternoon while we have the chance! – January 23, 2010
Kivrin and Grandpa playing on the couch with many many baby dolls.
As the first helicopter has taken a beating, losing half the landing struts, use of the tail rotor and having all wings replaced, Mama took the precaution of picking up a back up helicopter from Target to keep helicopter-related sadness at bay. The first helicopter started out as much more fully functional with many neat features, but now the cheaper backup helicopter has become a favorite for the all important task of “flying without crashing.”
One the outdoor temperature hit 40 degrees, Kivrin and Mama were ready to enjoy the pleasant springtime weather, or at least to pretend for a few minutes at a time. Kivrin had refused to walk on the sidewalk during all of the weeks of icy wet and dreary snow, but she was happy to run around and drive in her car since the sidewalks were finally dry! These photos show how much of the Christmas blizzard stuck around until January 17th!
Kivrin Anne 
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