21 Months

Oh my goodness, child of ours, at 21 months you are one sweet handful. Who knew a toddler would be so much fun and so much work all at the same time?

Yall, is it just me or did the last month fly by? I feel like I just wrote her 20 month post last week. And I even am a few days late with this 21 month one. Sheesh!

Ok, 21 months…. let's go. Cheyanne...

• You are constantly on the go. Unless its close to bedtime and we happen to have a movie on for you, you don't sit still long during the day. Having Lola (or "Rora" as you call her) has definitely given you someone to play with at home, other than me. Although, sometimes you both get a little too rough with each other and one of you ends up hobbling away whining. Ah, the life of two toddlers in one house, just one happens to be a dog.

• On that same note, you love to get Lola in trouble. There's no denying it. At dinner time, you love to gross me out by putting your hand out for Lola to come lick… during dinner. AH! Why does this amuse you so much Child? There's also the issue of sharing. Its hard to pull the line of sharing when I encourage you to share with other kids, but I try not to let you share your toys with the dog. That line is still blurry. You like to hand Lola your toys then yell "No Rora!" Sigh.

• We have a little concrete square patio out back that Cheyanne considers her performance stage. When outside, she'll grab my hand and say,  "mon" (come on) and lead me straight to her stage and begin dancing. She's a girl that dances to her own beat. We spin and run in circles, sing her gym songs, and clap or pat to any beat that she comes up with.

• We ended our weekly Bumblebee gym class last month and I didn't sign her back up for the summer session. I'm still tossing around the idea of re-enrolling her for the fall, but I haven't completely decided yet. She loved our weekly play time, but with fun comes a price. We'll reevaluate closer to time, but I'm hoping that by then we'll be involved in a regular play group here that will be just as fun. We do have swim classes coming up next month so we won't be too bored.

• We've been working a lot on colors this month and have pretty much gotten nowhere. Every color is blue right now. I'm learning that I'm just not a teacher. How do teachers do it?!

• You and your daddy have a little game. It goes like this. Kiss- hug- kiss- hug- kiss- hug- he give you a Hersheys kiss. What started as bribery (from him) became a win-win for both of you since you've been a little sheepish around Daddy the last month. I don't exactly stamp my seal of approval on this game, but whatever, to each their own Daddy.

• We went to your first movie in a theatre. After four days of straight rain, we all got stir crazy and thought we'd try out a movie. You loved it. Madagascar 3 was a hit. You almost made it the way through, up until you fell asleep 25 minutes before it ended.

• Some favorites this month are books, playing in the pool, jumping waves at the beach, balls, your baby (doll), drawing, making animal noises, playing I spy, and popsicles. God bless the creator of popsicles in this Charleston heat. 

I may or may have not bribed you during this photo session with Hersheys Kisses… a tip from Daddy. It worked! Now I get the point of his bribery. She's a sucker for the chocolate. 

Love you little Chocolate Mouth!

Fathers Day

I think this year's Fathers Day was the best one for the Giant so far. It's the first one we've all spent  together. We could not have asked for better weather to enjoy the day either. Ah, I love Charleston.

We started the day, as we seem to do on most recent holidays, by heading downtown to eat. Its our excuse to go out and try new talked about restaurants. Sunday, we headed to Hominy Grill, a nationally known but tiny, off-the-beaten path place. There was, of course, a wait to eat, which is pretty much everywhere here on any given special day downtown. Maybe one day we'll actually wake up early like we always say we will and get somewhere before the brunch crowds show up. 

Here's Cheyanne waiting patiently outside the restaurant. Notice the wall they are sitting on. In typical Miss Independent fashion, Chey insisted on sitting on it by herself. So, the Momma I am of course insisted that Daddy stand directly in front of her the entire time so she wouldn't fall.

We waited for about 35 minutes and finally got a table. Hominy is one of those restaurants that changes its whole menu based on whats growing local and fresh, which I love. However, I'm hoping it was just the day we ate there, that I did not "die" for the food. I didn't get too adventurous for whatever reason, I stuck to a cheesy egg biscuit. Normally, I'm more adventurous than that. Cheyanne loved her fresh banana bread though. I may or may not have helped her finish it up.  Next time, and there will be a next time, I'm not backing down from ordering their famous buttermilk pie. I don't care if its 9am in the morning. That pie is mine! It looked so good!

This is Cheyanne and her daddy playing hide and seek with the butter on the table. I'm not sure how to explain the details of this game, but the whole restaurant knew she was having fun by her sweet and very LOUD laughter. 

While walking around downtown, Cheyanne fell asleep right before we stopped for Gelato's. Bad timing on her part. After a few minutes of fussing to be out the stroller, we told her we were heading for ice cream. I thought that had calmed her down when she got quiet. Apparently, instead it put her to sleep. The Giant tried waking her up when we got to the Gelatos shop, but not even chocolate could wake her up. So, here's our family picture from the day.

Happy Father's Day, Giant! Thanks for a great day downtown.

"Foooore!"

Obviously its clear by now that when the Giant is home, little blogging actually gets done. We get so wrapped up in "living" life that I forget to actually sit down and write about it by the time the Little Miss falls asleep. Plus, as exhausted as the Giant's been since he got home from his around the world adventure, bedtime comes much earlier these days. You'd think that after being away from home for so long, Uncle Sam would allow him more than 4 days to catch up on life (and sleep).

Today, after the Giant got home from work and Chey woke up from her much needed nap, we decided it was just too beautiful to sit inside. The Giant has been whining telling me how long it has been since he's gone golfing, so we decided to change that. The base golf course is apparently pretty nice, I say "apparently" because I've been on 3 golf courses in my entire life, all of which back in Virginia, so I have pretty much nothing to compare it to. We threw on our golf best and headed out to entertain Daddy.

Daddy even let Cheyanne drive the cart.

Pay attention to the road, Cheyanne!

Sheesh!

Cheyanne's favorite part was helping Daddy find the lost balls, I mean, the balls that the wind blew off the green. She could not understand why the big stationery balls at the tee wouldn't move. How frustrating.

Who knew that riding in a golf cart could create such a disheveled look by the 9th hole?

She loved being on the golf course. Actually I think we both did. Shocker there!

The Giant let me hit a few balls on some of the holes. It has been so long since I swung a club, I didn't know if I would even get near that tiny ball way down on the ground. Come to find out, I'm not as bad as I was afraid I'd be. Meaning, I didn't COMPLETELY embarrass myself, just a little. I did well enough to inspire me to take up golf (again from a long long time ago).  Who knows. Maybe that's just the fresh air talking, but it felt so good to be out there today. Let me be clear. I'm not good. But I'm not horrendous either. Don't expect to see me on the Mom PGA Tour or anything, but maybe you'll see me on the green again soon.

And hey, golf clothes are pretty cute. You know having a reason to shop for new cute clothes is always alright.

A rainy day fort

With all the rain that we've had the last few days, Chey and I have gotten a little stir crazy being stuck inside. Today, we did something we haven't done before and so much fun doing it. We built a fort. Well, technically we did less building and more draping a blanket over the couch and chairs, but it was still fun.

Sorry for the horribly lit pictures, but we were having too much fun for me to stop and figure out the camera settings. I didn't want to miss it.

Bahaha this picture kills me. Ah, static!

Lola even joined in on the fun.

Look at that happy face in her fort. I'm so glad we did this. 

It brought back memories of the forts my brother and I used to make growing up, of course ours were a little more elaborate than a think brown blanket, a couch, and 2 chairs. I don't think Cheyanne minded that I went a little simple on hers.

It was definitely better than just staring out the window all day.

The whining is gone

You might have seen my post from last night. If you did, then you probably have noticed that its now gone.

I reread it this morning and decided it just sounded WAY too whiny so I decided to delete it. I do not want my blog to be just a place for me to come and whine. No one wants to read that, not even me. So, thanks for reading it if you did. I won't make you read it again. I was just having a blah night and feeling puny with this cold. Sorry.

I do want to keep one part of what I wrote.

______________
Giant, I know you probably aren't reading this, but if you are, I miss you. Cheyanne misses you. We can't wait for you to come home. Wherever you are, I am praying for your safety and quick return home. Be safe and we'll see you later.
______________

Today is much better. I got a nap and Cheyanne (for the second time this week) is taking a 3 hour nap. Score! If my daddy only ever taught me one thing, it is that if you think you are coming down with a bug, sleep will help get rid of it. I took that advice today and hopefully have slept this bug away. Sleep and a whole lot of vitamin c, that is. Fingers crossed that tomorrow I wake up with any grossness out of my house! Lysol. Lysol. Lysol.