Pom Pom Shower

The Easter Bunny brought Curious Miss V some new sensory items: Pom Poms! She loved the huge ones they had at the Chicago Children's Museum. I had also seen a Pinterest idea to put pom poms inside of a cooking whisk to work on fine motor/hand-eye coordination. 

Dumping anything out of a container is fun!

I got the whisk at Aldi's and love the color and flexible-ness of it.

V was so focused and concentrated the whole time the pom poms were in the whisk. Once she freed them, the whisk got banged around a bit LOL. It is basically a big spoon right?!

Since V is getting pretty good at naming and identifying colors, I showed her how to do some color sorting of the pom poms. She put them in the right place about 75% of the time! We also worked on the letter V although I had to remake it 100 times because at this point she was walking through and kicking the pom poms!

All the stuffed animals had to be part of the action too of course!

She also put Minnie's feet (and George's and Bear's...) on the floor and had them kick the pom poms too :)

V LOVED the feel of the pom poms on her feet. I would rub one on a foot and then she'd give me the other foot to do. Then we did it all over again with a different pom pom. And then she did it to George's feet (and every single other stuffed animal).

So soft!

Lastly, we had to end with a Pom Pom shower! The "shower" game started with her Easter basket and plastic eggs that Dad would dump out on her head. Then they'd put them all back in the basket and do it 858 times. Same concept with the pom poms...but softer!

pure joy!

As you would imagine, it was pretty impossible to "clean up" the pom poms as Miss V would just dump them all out again! They were a hit for sure!

The (Very) Windy City Adventure

Last Sunday V and I took the Amtrak to Chicago to visit Auntie Kellie who was there for a weekend conference. We hadn't seen her since New Year's so we were both very excited! V really couldn't wait to get on the train.

Open! I promise I won't go near the tracks...

Once on the train she loved watching the world go by. The seats were so much roomier than an airplane which helped greatly with being able to entertain Curious Miss V.

We met Aunt Kellie at Union Station and stashed her luggage there for the day since her flight left late Sunday night. Then we bundled up and prepared for the windiest, coldest, snowiest April day in Chicago history (I'm almost certain). We knew that walking any distance with V getting pelted in the face with snow in the stroller would not be possible so we went to the closest possible bus stop to head down to Navy Pier.

Waiting for the bus! She kept her mittens on for the first time all winter...

Miss V LOVES the Wheels on the Bus and gets excited anytime we see a bus drive by our house. Actually riding on a big city bus made her day (plus it was out of the snow/cold!)

Riding the BUS with Auntie Kellie AKA "Bus" AND getting kisses= V's best moment EVER!

We pretty much sprinted from the bus stop to the Navy Pier Mall which is where the Chicago Children's Museum is located. One of the first rooms we went to was the Zoom Room which had hundreds of matchbox cars all over the floor and tons of tracks to drive them on. I decided V is definitely in need of more car/truck toys after seeing how much she loved this room!

Another awesome room was the baby/toddler room. It was separate and closed off from the rest of the museum and was so quiet and peaceful. There were big soft rugs and pillows on the floor and everything was very low on the walls so little ones could interact. Miss V loved the pom pom towers and sensory bottles.

This picture screams CURIOUS!

Apparently after I took the above mentioned picture, I set my phone down and didn't grab it when we left the room. We discovered this a bit later and I rushed back up while V napped in her stroller and thankfully they had found it. Phew! That was just one part of a very crazy day!

Playing at the museum is such hard work

We walked around the mall a few times while Miss V slept because the pizza place we picked for lunch didn't allow strollers?? Very unhelpful! Once she woke up we were able to get some lunch and of course Miss V was a fan because...Pizza!

Yes Mom, I may have just stuffed a huge piece in my mouth...

While we were eating Aunt Kellie got a message saying her flight was cancelled that night! So began the tedious process of re-booking calls and messages that went from cancelled to delayed to close-to-on-time to cancelled again. We saw a little more of the museum while she was on the phone but the only pic I got was in the "kid town" with the city bus, car wash and grocery store. V also loved the waterworks room but we didn't stay long or else she would have been completely soaked.

This bus is almost as cool as the real thing...

At this point we thought we had to get Auntie to the airport so we quick got some Baskin Robbins which she so generously shared with V (who in turn may have been the one to get her sick eek). Then we re-bundled to head back to the bus. Let me pause here and share some of the coldest experiences my dear sister and I had shared up to this point. We just seem to attract terrible weather whenever we are together. Several of these instances have occurred at sporting events that we either participated in or watched. Every late fall or early spring cross country/track meet we ran together my senior year was gray and bone chilling. We watched the famous snow bowl playoff game with Favre at Lambeau. 

This was OCTOBER. Neither of us were dressed at wall warm enough and the whole game had to be 30 degrees plus windchill. SO COLD!

This was a hike in Virginia (Or Maryland?) a few years ago. We are in TSHIRTS. The temp literally dropped 30 degrees from the time we started til the end of the hike. Oh and the wind almost blew us right off the path SEVERAL times!!!

Back to Chicago last Sunday. We went out onto Navy Pier to walk to the bus stop. The wind was SO STRONG off the lake that it was blowing us sideways. Poor V was screaming. There were monster puddles everywhere. I ran ahead and jumped on the waiting bus (a miracle that it was there!) and lifted the stroller up and the bus driver took such pity on the freezing Miss V he produced a bottle of bubbles out of nowhere and quieted her down. WOWZA! Kel got another message saying her new flight was delayed so that made some time for two more important stops: Disney store on Michigan Ave and the legendary American Girl store. Miss V's stroller was soaked and Auntie carried/sheltered her head the whole way from the bus stop to the stores.

Castle at the Disney Store

AG was just as Kel and I remembered but with mostly new dolls and technology. There were so many interactive settings to try out and music from each dolls' era. V loved pushing the buttons on each display to hear and dance to the songs.  It was super nostalgic and neither of us could believe that V was experiencing something she and I had done as kids and remember vividly to this day. What a cool, generational company.

Much to Grandma Diane's dismay and Dad's relief, no dolls were purchased. We will wait til she is a little older and "gets" it. We headed back to Union Station and got in a VERY long line waiting to board the train since the one before ours had been cancelled too. We magically were whisked to the front once we said our first goodbye to Auntie Kellie because of having a stroller- YES! When we got back to Milwaukee I had to scrape snow off my car and it was the most I've had to do all winter (since I usually park in the garage). Kel's flight at this point had officially been cancelled and she ended up taking the train after ours to Milwaukee and spent the night with us. Monday morning we headed back to the airport and said our final goodbyes until June. Not 12 hours later, the snow was completely gone. CRAZY! What a day!!!

The Great Outdoors

Miss V has a lot of people in her life who love being outside so its no surprise that she does too (when no snow is present).  Mom grew up on the Peshtigo River in the Northwoods and actually enjoyed raking leaves as a kid. Dad played baseball/kickball and whatever other sports little boys play all summer at daycare. Now we both find ourselves extremely satisfied doing yardwork on the hidden gem of a yard we didn't know we were buying since we first saw our house in February four years ago.

Miss V did not walk until November last year so there really wasn't any "playing" outside last summer except for sitting in her baby pool and walking/running in the stroller.  We took her out in the snow a few times this winter and she pretty much disliked it greatly. BUT on the warmish days this spring we have been out exploring new toys, the yard, the deck, the park and the neighborhood behind our house.

She loves this ball!

That girl in the window looks just like me...

Miss V is very funny about steps; especially the ones on our deck. She reverts back to getting on all fours to go up and down unless Mom or Dad is there to hold hands. 

V has really enjoyed grilling (and the food that comes with it!) so far this spring. She wants to be grown up and sit in Mom and Dad's chairs for 20 seconds before she decides something else looks like more fun...like bubbles!

Ooops! One popped on my chin!

Miss V has a little tykes slide that she has slowly warmed up to. If we are out several days in a row she is a champ at it and climbs up and slides down no problem. If there are a few cold days (or say one with 6 inches of snow...) and we don't get out, then it is like she starts all over again. She will get to the top and then not want to slide down and reach to cling on to me like its a scary cliff dive!

Once V realized that the grass would not jump up and bite her, she has loved just marching around the yard following us. Her favorite word outside is "WALK!" She even walks on our rock path.

We only lasted one full summer in stroller mode. V now wants to "WALK!" herself unless I am running; the jogging stroller at a fast(ish) pace is more acceptable. 

I am very curious about this thing Mom...

She is really interested in her shadow too!

We are hoping to get lots of practice in this summer on Miss V's stroller/tricycle combo and in her crazy coupe car. So far she just sits in it and pushes her feet down very hard on the ground anytime we try to show her how to make it move :)

And...this blog would not be complete without a shot of Miss V when we drag her inside LOL

I don't wanna come in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!