Since returning home from a long vacation 2 weeks ago, playing independently has been a lot more difficult for Grae. Instead of playing on her own, she wants to be right beside Mama {if not right on top of me} all. of. the. time. When I explain that I need a little bit of personal space to get something done or encourage her to play, she responds with, “But Mama is the best…” or “But I just want to watch what you’re doing” or “But I LOOOOVE you!” Oy. It’s not easy.
The one time she seems to be happy to play on her own right now is while I make dinner (thank goodness for that). She often does puzzles, reads, or plays dress up, but tonight she set up one of her long time favourite games… A sink bath for her animal friends. She pulls up a stool, collects her sea creatures (sometimes it’s a baby or rubber ducks), and grabs a wash cloth while I fill up the sink with warm water, get out a squirt bottle or a sponge, and retrieve some soap or a little chunk of FUN. Together we add a drop or two of food colouring to the water, and that’s it. She plays and splashes and washes her animals in there for a good long time, and by the time she’s done, I usually have dinner on the table.
A sink full of water… Who knew? Works like magic every time.
♥
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Gracen absolutely adores her, and so do we.
Upcoming destinations on our Christmas 2012 adventure include Cochrane, Edmonton, and {the wee little town of} St. Paul. Fingers crossed the nearly 40 hours on the road will go easy on us…
The coffee was strong, the pretzels were exactly as they should be, and Brad’s hot chocolate was ridiculously large and served in a beautiful bowl (we also ordered a cinnamon bun, but it disappeared so quickly that I didn’t manage to get a bite… I take it it was delicious).
On the way out, the super sweet owner, who is also a local mom, sent us on our way with a loaf of pumpkin seed bread and this adorable little dragon-shaped chocolate chip pastry (we visited just before closing on a Saturday) and both were absolutely delicious. So delicious, in fact, that we may have to make a weekly trip just for the bread alone. 
Sure, her tea pouring skills haven’t yet been perfected and most of our blanket and snacks were covered in little “tea” puddles as a result, but at the end of the day, blankets can be washed and puddles can be wiped up. What matters is that our little lady spent a special afternoon tea-ing with Mama and Sophie and got to practice all kinds of everyday skills by playing with ‘the real thing’.
Ya, she was beyond thrilled.
She let me hold it just long enough to slice the label that was holding it together, and then carefully went about opening her mystery package, not knowing that it was going to be filled with goodies she (and her Papa) had helped me choose and personalize online.
The first thing she found was this beautiful 
Also inside the package were a ton of gorgeous personalized labels. What I hadn’t thought of in advance, unfortunately, was the fact that Grae would think that they were just stickers and immediately want to stick them in her notebook (obviously – com’on Mama!) I explained that these were special stickers… Ones meant for lunch containers, drink bottles, and clothes – not just paper, and she seemed to be semi-okay with that. 
I quickly tucked the labels away and asked if she wanted to help me hang her growth chart up – luckily, she was sold. She was a great little measuring tape/pencil-tack passer and in no time, we had her new growth chart hung.
Once hung, it was time to measure her… 86.5 centimetres – meaning that if the whole ‘measure at age 2 and multiply by 2′ theory turns out to be true, she’ll be taller than her 5’ 4” Mama. Yay for that!
Here’s a closer look at Grae’s labels. Aren’t the woodland creatures and the muted colours paired with red adorable? These are 
And these little babushka doll ones are 
Literally covered head to toe.
About a month ago, I learned that I had been nominated as one of 
