Fourth of July

For the Fourth of July, we went to the celebration at La Freniere Park. 

We ended up sitting on top of the hill overlooking the stage and food vendors because the ground in the field in front of the stage was wet.  This worked out perfect because there was another group of people sitting by us which had a couple families with children.  The 4, 5 and 7 year old spotted Cassidy's backpack full of toys and joined us on our blanket for storytime reading Dora.  They immediately took a liking to Cassidy and she spent our whole time there running, chasing, playing ball, and having fun with the "big kids". 

This super cute baby was sitting near us

Group trip to the potty!

The other family brought a box of glow sticks which the girls made into necklaces and bracelets.

We stayed up late, past Cassidy's bed time to catch the fireworks at 9.  As soon as the fireworks started, Cassidy dove into my arms and clung to me in fear.  She hates loud noises of any kind.  So we packed up and headed for the car.  It took us the duration of the fireworks to make it back to the car.  When we got there, Cassidy said she liked all the colors of the fireworks and they were her favorite, but it didn't stop her from clinging to me and jumping with every boom.

Toddler Sleep Training

On Sunday night, Cassidy had some trouble staying asleep and in her bed again.  We let her cry for 10 minutes at the baby gate in her doorway and then helped her back into bed.  30 minutes later, she was up and crying again. 

We let her cry it out. 

Eventually (I think about 15 minutes later) she stopped crying, closed her bedroom door, got back in bed, and went back to sleep with just a few more brief cries.

Monday night (after my volleyball tournament) she woke up early (12:30am) just as I was hopping into the shower.  Jeff went to her doorway, gave her a hug, and told her to go back to bed and go to sleep.  Then he calmly walked back into our bedroom and closed the door behind him. 

Wow, did she scream and cry.

But then she stopped crying (maybe 10 minutes later), closed her bedroom door, and went back to bed quietly. 

And slept the rest of the night!

Biochemistry Jen

Photo day in the Lab.

Punishing the Mama

Cassidy's started a new trend ... punishing me for my evenings out. 

One day a week, I take the evening off and play volleyball.  I usually have dinner by myself after work, and head straight to volleyball from there.  Most of the time I don't get home until long after Cassidy is in bed, usually around 11 or 12.  After a quick shower, I hop into bed and attempt to sleep.  It always takes me some time to settle down after an evening of volleyball, so unlike most nights, I lay there awake for a bit. 

The past few weeks, Cassidy has woken up about 20 or 30 minutes after I drift off to sleep (sometimes before).  I sleepily make my way to her room, completely exhausted from volleyball, and get her settled back in bed where she agrees to go back to sleep.  This cycle repeats itself over the course of the next 2-3 hours, with wakings every 30 minutes or so.  Most of the time, we hit 3 or 4 am, and she'll stay asleep for the next 3 or 4 hours until wake up time at 7.  By morning, I'm completely physically exhausted from volleyball, and running on maybe 3 or 4 hours of interrupted sleep.

On Tuesday, she set a new record.  She woke up at 2, 2:30, 3, 3:30, and then stayed up from 4am all the way until morning.  At 4, Jeff went into her bedroom  where he dozed in the chair for the rest of the night while cassidy played with everything in her room.  At 6:30 I stumbled to her room, which looked as though a tornado had hit it.  I was greeted with "Mama, I spilled my cup of water" which she was working on sopping up with some old burp cloths.  In my sleep deprived haze, I did not take a picture and wish I would have.  Jeff went to get ready for work while I cleaned up her toys (and "put them up"- which means took them away) because Cassidy refused to help pick them up.  Then I got a very tired and crabby -read: uncooperative- girl dressed and ready for daycare.  AND THEN SHE ASKED FOR A STICKER!  Seriously!?!?!

This has got to stop! She's almost making my night out not worth it.  Almost.

Audubon Entertainment

We've been spending a lot of our weekends at either Audubon Zoo or aquarium. 

While Nana was visiting for our vacation, we took a trip to the zoo, rode the train, and cooled off at the Cool Zoo.

Last Sunday, Cassidy took her first streetcar ride.  We drove into mid-city to have brunch at the Ruby Slipper.  Unfortunately it was closed for summer vacation.  So we stuck with our original plan and caught the canal streetcar into downtown where we made our way to the new Ruby Slipper location in the CBD.

After brunch, we walked over to the aquarium for the rest of the morning.

My favorite part, as always, was Parakeet Point where we fed the free-flying birds. 

Cassidy liked the birds better this time, but still not as much as Mama.