Zoom Room of Cleveland Ave

Ever since Curious Miss V visited the "Zoom Room" at the Chicago Children's Museum, we knew she needed more cars/trucks/trains/race tracks to play with at home! She was in awe of all the cars in that room and loved racing them down the ramps. So....what better place to get a bunch of "new" toys for a bargain?? The Waunakee Garage Sales of 2019!

The best find (car wise) was this race track with "gas station" and a bridge! I also came with an airport/air traffic control tower. V loves driving the cars and trucks around the loop!

A few bonus finds were this tow truck and the pink van that make real car noises and play songs. V tries to copy them and says "conk conk!" instead of "honk honk" LOL.

So many to choose from!

Of course we needed a train to go with this new set

Even more fun to Miss V than driving the cars is driving the cars with....Peppa Pig in the driver's seat! She loves taking the whole pig family in and out of the vehicles. They are obviously not designed to fit in these cars so when they fall out, she turns to the trusty Little People.

In other big news, Curious Miss V is now tall enough to stand at our dining room window and look out to watch the cars (and big trucks and school buses!) rattle by on busy Cleveland Ave. She knows that when Dad leaves for karate, she can see his car out the window too and she loves waving! Maybe she will be a mechanic or race car driver one day- ahh!

Water Color Masterpiece

Violet has gotten to do some pretty cool art projects at school this year. She knows the word "project" and "painting."  We proudly display them on our fridge (for a few days anyway!) and she often walks by and says "project! school!" So, I decided to break out some water colors at home and see how Miss V did with them!

Since water colors involve water, Miss V was of course very curious. She probably would have just played with the brush and water if I had let her :)

After each different color she brushed on the paper, Miss V's face would light up and her little mouth would make an O as if to say "Wow! Look at that color!"

I am so glad Grandma and I found this little Minnie Mouse table and chairs at the garage sales in Waunakee. It was really hard to do art projects at our dining room table and bar-height chairs. And Miss V is all about eating if she is in her high chair so that never really worked either. Now she can get on the little chairs by herself and color away (although she much prefers to have an adult sitting in the tiny chairs with her; especially Grandma!) It helps keep our table from being covered with all of her stuff too!

So to recap...I don't know that you'll be seeing any of Violet's masterpieces in a gallery near you any time soon. But, she enjoyed it and was really not happy when I took the cup of water away to rinse out when we were done!!

The Magic of H2O

It has been a VERY wet spring in SE Wisconsin, especially for Curious Miss V. She got a water table from Grandma for Easter and LOVES IT!! She calls it "cups" because there are plastic cups in it that she fills with water and dumps out or into another cup. She even prefers the cups to the frog and duck toys! 

My favorite part are the little holes in the top that I pour water into and it pours down on Miss V and the toys. She loves to "catch" the falling water. She also enjoys "washing" her plastic ball in the "bath."

Miss V just loves being outside and is so aware and observant. She often has to stop whatever she is doing in the backyard and listen if there is a big truck driving by in the front.

Literally trying to see around the water table to the road to see a school bus

I am looking forward to summer when I can just put her in a swim diaper and really let her experiment with the water table and possibly sprinkler. She has always needed an outfit/shoe change after playing this spring LOL. Hopefully she will be tall enough to reach the top and pour water through the holes too. We are so glad we did swimming lessons with V at 6 months old...I think it helped encourage her love of water! 

New Berlin Parks Series: Malone Park

New blog project for the summer: A New Berlin Parks series. V and I are going to try and hit all the parks and do a little "review" of each. Miss V loves being outside and exploring swings, slides and stairs so I think this will be a hit! We have been to Malone Park a few times already so here are a few pictures! This park had just opened when we moved to New Berlin 4 years ago and I remember thinking how cool it looked and now I get to take Curious Miss V there!

V is a big fan of anything with a steering wheel! There is a boat and a train at Malone.

I'm on the train Mom!

Bridges fascinate her too!

I can do it myself Mom!

Why won't this come off?

When I took V last year, she still couldn't walk so it has been a ton of fun seeing her being able to climb and roam. Malone Park is great! On to the next...

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

We have been to the zoo a few times this spring since Grandpa got Miss V a pass for Christmas! Her favorite trip has been with Grandpa and Krista!

Naturally, her love for George the monkey transfers to real monkeys. Always a favorite!  She also seems to enjoy the camels and giraffes and this latest trip, the new elephant habitat.

Miss V loves all the walkways and paths and just marching around and exploring. She loves wide open spaces to roam :)

Bridges are so much fun to walk back and forth on!

Grandpa is a big fan of the reptile house which I usually buzz through and only look at the fish. V always has to stop and watch the baby alligator though!

One trip a few weeks ago was warmer and V was very responsible with applying sunscreen and pushing her stroller- LOL

Never too early to start protecting!

Why would I want to ride in this mom?

Look! "Teddy" Bears!

This next expression just sums up Miss V so well...always excited and ready for what's next!

I had this picture printed and sitting on the counter to give to Grandpa. She looked at it and started listing animals we saw last week and said "Grandpa! Krista!" even though they are not in the picture. Great memory V!

Lastly, these pictures crack me up because I know there is a picture of me, probably about the same age as Miss V, with one leg on the top of a fence at, I'm guessing, the Madison Zoo! Sorry V, you can't live at the zoo :)

What, Mom?!

Miss V has also been to the Washington DC Zoo with Aunt Kellie and Uncle Ben! I'm sure there will be many zoo trips in V's future!

Pet Sitting Curiosity

We were pet sitters last week! My longest friend Ashley dropped off Norbert the guinea pig before her vacation and Miss V was of course very curious about our new house guest! She loved his squeals and little whistling noises and ran over to his cage whenever she heard him. Since he was in the kitchen near our front door she had to say "hi and bye Norbert" every time we came and went during that week. She said it like "Nordert" and her version of guinea pig was "neepig!"

She was very good about "looking, not touching"

Seeing as Miss V loves to help clean up the house it did not surprise me that she was all about Norbert's cage maintenance. 

I'll get that hay, Mom!

The most amusing part for Miss V was when Norbert got his fresh produce at dinner time. Since she loves fruit, she was tickled when Norbert got to have some of her favorite kinds too, especially strawberries. I wish I had gotten more pictures of V and Norbert but one or the other was always moving at picture time!

*disclaimer*

I know many of you will say "V needs a pet" but Kyle and I are holding firm on our "no pet pact."  Miss V is enough work and we just like pets for short periods of time! LOL 

The Classic Crayola Crayon

August in the 1990s meant a trip to Shopko in Marinette for my sister and I to get school supplies. I could shop for notebooks, folders, pencils and crayons for hours. Hence why I became a teacher I think. There is something so satisfying about a new box of crayons. I got an equal amount of thrill buying Miss V's first set of 8 jumbo crayons for little hands. 

Could that grip be any more perfect?! :)

She really enjoys using them and just scribbles away on many a sheet of Dad's computer paper. Grandma even showed her where it is in his office so she can just help herself! She prefers Mom or Grandma (or Great Aunt Janet!) to sit with her and be her "crayon holder" so she can see all the colors and choose accordingly. I have since purchased a little Peppa Pig tin to hold them which she likes almost as much as the crayons.

The crayons/Peppa tin saved us on our flight to Florida in February. Miss V just took the crayons in and out 852 times which ate up a lot of the flight! We of course had to bring them with to Aunt Janet's house once we got there. She is a fellow teacher so it only seemed fitting!

V got a coloring book and another pack of crayons in her Easter basket but I think she still prefers blank paper. Or, the coloring book has cats on every page so maybe she takes after me in not particularly liking cats ;)

Finally, Miss V absolutely loves the crayons in my classroom at preschool. She gets to visit the 4-year-old room occasionally if I'm running late and her friends are napping. She makes a beeline for the crayon boxes and will just grab handfuls if I'm not careful! The 4s think it is funny and they all just keep bringing her crayons! I think it makes her feel like a big kid!

We have attempted painting too and there we have an unopened water color set ready for action so stay tuned!