Vadajo

Chris’ buddy Jake was in town, and we took him out to dinner at our local pizza joint. Vada took a real shine to him! Playing “peekaboo” with her under the restaurant tablecloth just might be the key to her heart.

Did you hear we had snow? Again? At the end of March?? Arg! Here’s the back yard this morning.

I’d already signed up for a hike with the meetup parent group, and didn’t want to wimp out. I’m glad we went, but Vada really didn’t like the snow falling off the trees and hitting her about the head. Every time any little bit hit her, she’d say “owie, owie”, and start crying. It was hard not to laugh, but after an hour of it, I was about ready to cry myself!

Vada and I left Chris at home (working on installing speakers) and spent our morning at the KidsQuest museum.

Hard to believe, but I could not remember how to fold a hat out of a newspaper ! (It has been a number of years, you know!). I had to have Chris look it up on the internet!

I really needed to do some stuff in the kitchen, so I finally tried the “playing with rice” trick I’ve read about. Wow, I wish I’d tried it sooner – it was a big hit! Messy, but really entertaining.

And finally, dinner, where the tactile fun continued…

Vada was moderately excited to find her basket filled with goodies. Still a little too young, I’m afraid. So, yeah, it’s really all about the photo ops at this point.

After breakfast, we tried out a new activity – the Seattle Children’s museum. It a little nicer than the KidsQuest museum, but it’s further away and parking is more difficult. So, I think we’ll stick with our KidsQuest membership this year.

We finally got up the gumption to join a parent group here in Redmond, and went to our first gathering today. The folks are nice and there were a lot of toddlers Vada’s age, so I’m sure we’ll do more. The event today was an easter egg hunt at a park. Vada took a tiny power nap on the way there.

Vada caught on to the egg hunting right away.

And she blew her very first bubble!

She also had fun playing with the other kids and checking out the horses nearby.

Frozen blueberries = one messy face!

She still loves the lift-the-flap books…

Vada finally figured out the sit-n-spin. Well, a little bit – she at least made a full revolution on it!

I went to the trouble of making peanut butter bananas, and this is the reaction I get!

Yet another squinty-eyed smile. You’d think I’d be sick of them by now, but no. Still cute!

First of all, happy birthday (tomorrow) to Grandma Lila!!!! We hope you have a wonderful day!

After a year of cheerios as finger food, Vada’s a little unclear on the concept of cereal with milk.

My friend Leah came up from Portland for a visit. Vada took a real shine to her. I’m sure it didn’t have anything to do with the gifts she brought. “Spot” was a favorite of Leah’s son Marshall, and it looks like Vada will love him too – she’s been dragging him around the house all weekend! The puzzle is fun too; it makes animal noises when you put the pieces in.

Leah scored more points when she took Vada over to meet the giant Easter Bunny at the grocery store.