Book of the week, Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime

Charlotte Jane Battles Bedtime written by Myra Wolfe and illustrated by Maria Monescillo is such a cute book that I honestly feel da ninj was the inspiration for Charlotte Jane. I grabbed this book because I saw that the main character was a girl pirate. As much as I would love E to be a girly girl who likes to play with dolls and dress up as a princess, she is not. She loves pirates and soccer and doing daredevil feats. So this book seemed like it would be a perfect fit and I was beyond pleasantly surprised once I read it. Emma truly is Charlotte Jane who rather play than go to sleep. Charlotte like Emma was born with lots of oomph and they both like to walk on the wild side. My favorite Charlotte quote is "I like to get all the juice out of my days!". E is quite a fan of this book and I highly recommend this book to all kids, girls and boys. The illustrations are just so lively and full of detail that I know your little pirate princess will love.

poor Gato

E really does love to torture that cat, even when he is no where to be found. Today in the car Emma was looking at a book that Connie had just given her. There was a small rip one page and Emma started saying "Gato broke my book", and needless to say Gato was not in the car with us. Every day E tells me of something else hurting and how it hurts because Gato scratched her and how Gato bothers Ephy and that Gato needs a time out. That poor cat, but he is ever loyal and faithful to her, watching over her as she sleeps and running to her door at her first cry.

my cake

I have no idea how it tastes, but I must say it looks damn good! Recipe from Cafe Fernando.

Happy Valentine's Day

cute Hello Kitty Cards

handmade, heart shaped crayons.

cute little boxes I got at the dollar section at Target, 4 for a dollar.

small goldfish packets

et voila, the finished product, I even got to use the cute mini clips that Claudia gave me.

So here is another V day and to be honest this year it just felt like any other day. I have been under the weather lately so maybe that has something to do with it. Anyway, I must say I was a bit bummed that E's school didn't have a V day party, but that didn't stop me from sending some cute little gift bags to her classmates. I do like to make my gift bags. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

she's on a bike, she's on a bike

It has taken a while for E to get a hang of her bicycle. I think I bought it for her almost a year ago and she finally figured out how to push down onto the pedals. She still has trouble steering but she looks so cute trying and telling me, "all by myself" as I try to help her.

cute stuff

E sometimes does the sweetest, funniest things. She apparently thinks that I can fix any and everything with either glue or tape; and anything that isnt working just needs "baderries". The other night Ant was laying on the floor and he was pretending to not feel well so he could just relax for a moment. E told Ant "dad, wait der" and got up and ran to my junk drawer, grabbed a small piece of tape and ran back to Ant. She placed that small piece of tape on his belly and said "Emma fix, all bedder ". That was the loveliest thing I think she has ever done and it brought a tear to my eye. Ant then magically got better.
E also does listen to things I tell her but chooses to only follow what I tell her when it is towards her advantage. For example, at night I tell her that the sun has gone to sleep as she should and that we don't get out of bed until the sun is out. This morning she was again in my bed tossing and turning and I told her that the sun was still asleep and that she needed to be asleep as well. Mind you I have black out curtains in my room. She proceeds to pulls open the curtain and say, "uh uh, the sun waking up. Its morning. The sun waking up". Damn, she caught me with my own rule and I had to get out of bed at that point. Oh well, mornings have been getting better since I have now an extra hour to just hang with her, eating chocolate circles and watching Lucy on the tely.

You will be my Friend

yeah, Gato always has to get in the picture with Emma.

So back to my weekly book pick. I know I have mentioned my love for Peter Brown and his books, Chowder and Children Make Terrible Pets. He really is wonderful because he not only illustrates his books with such charm, but he also writes his own stories, which are just a lot of fun to read. Emma is a HUGE fan of his latest book, You Will Be My Friend, where we see Lucy from Children Make Terrible Pets reappear once more and try to make a friend with a variety of different animals. She goes throughout the forest in search of the perfect friend only to fall short with each attempt. She is at times clueless and gets so frustrated that I feel we all can relate to what it was to be a child and want to have a friend play with you. Lucy is just searching to find that one person with whom she can share a picnic, go dancing and swimming and climbing trees. I also find this book to be very humorous and I love when Lucy casually asks the Ostrich what it feels like to fly. This is an enjoyable book for you and your wee one and the best part is I just discovered that they sell the Lucy doll! E loves acting the book out with Lucy.

da ninj dancing

In Mexico you can find bootlegged copies of any and all movies. E is such a Puss in Boots fan that I had to get her one. She loves that movies especially the dance off scene between Puss and Kitty Soft Paws. She loves zapateo and flamenco dancing and she has the hand gestures down pat. She is so much fun, so happy and uninhibited! This is not my most flattering angle but you get the gist of E's love for dancing.

LIHO

LIHO is this new line of clothing for children that I just discovered and am IN LOVE with. They are British and uber expensive. I love that these outfits are mini versions of clothing I would actually wear and da ninj could totally rock them. Sigh, I just dont have an extra 200 dollars to dress my child in LIHO.

my teenage daughter

At times I feel E just skipped the next ten years of her life and went right into teenage mode. She is fiercely independent and that is good, but it also hurts me a bit. I long to feel needed by her. It is silly and hard to explain, but E doenst like to be held, or cuddle, or hug or show a lot of affection. She will run up to you and give you a quick hug, but it never lingers. At night when I read to her I just want to cuddle but she rather sit up, and do circle time. Her latest thing, aside from telling us she wants to do everything by herself, is that she now asks to be alone. She will escort me out of her bedroom so she can read and play alone. She rarely cries when I leave for work and I know I'm not supposed to compare but I do, and I do long to know what it is like to hold your child without having them squirm and kick. It is such a small gesture but it means the world to a mother, to feel the touch and love of their child. I know she loves me and needs me, but it is something so hard to talk about or even explain. Anyway, she is my world and I always look forward to each morning with her.

Ikea

practicing her judo kicks

she really loves mirrors, she is a tad vain

"all by myself"-that is her new favorite line

One of the first places we ever took Emma was to Ikea. She was just two months old and she loved it. She smiled and was so well behaved. We enjoy taking her there because you actually are encouraged to touch and sit and run and everywhere you are, whether its waiting in line to return, or eating lunch, they have kids toys to keep them busy. They also have Small Land, an indoor play area that we have been eying since we first brought E. They have it marked that you have to be something like 36 inches tall. So when E hit that mark last year, we quickly went to drop her off, only to be turned away because they fail to have posted how the child must also be 100% potty trained. So finally this past weekend, E had meet the requirements needed. E loved small land, the giant clog/slide and ball bin. She did not want to leave Small Land. It was nice to be able to look at things in peace.

Tepotzotlan

I'm sort of backtracking today. I never quite finished posting about our Xmas trip to Mexico. It was indeed a dream, so relaxing, warm and comforting. Emma just loves Mexico, especially downtown, which is my hands down favorite prat of Mexico. She loves the comotion, noise, the energy. I always feel like I'm transported back in time when Im downtown. I can always hear and feel my grandmother there. She was the one that introduced me to downtown and I spent many an hour just walking the streets, exploring. I notice that it is becoming more modernized but it still retains a nostalgic quality that I hope remains until I get a chance to explore el centro with da ninj.

Well, one of my other favorite places in Mexico is this small town called Tepotzotlan which is about 40mns north of the city. The town itself is quite small and a bit run down but it houses this beautiful monastery that is now a museum. We have been going to Tepotzotlan since I was 8 and I have nothing but wonderful memories of that place. There are three fountains where they have an an open shell and you can throw coins in hopes of having it land inside the shell. My favorite place is the yard, it is so green and quiet. They have this old well that we would climb up on and sit on and we even carved our names in it about 20 years ago. Alas the museum finally caught on and placed a huge sign and mini fence warning people to not climb and deface the well. I would say that the garden area was E's favorite place as

well.needless to say that she loved this.

the water retention wall I spoke of.

I'm outa here

she always seems to be on a mission

always on the go

the Noriega girls

one of the wishing wells

she could only take so much

yep, she rather watch Gato con Botas than take in all the glory.

good morning

I love it when Ant stays home and watches da ninj. My mornings are so relaxing and I actually get to enjoy da ninj's shenanigans. This morning I woke up to da ninj acting out all the musical numbers in the Princess and the Frog. It was lovely, she gets so into it and even got on her back and pretended to swim down stream. She then she wanted me to bring down all her hats and as I was leaving she was walking around the apartment saying "caps for sale". That was one of my favorite books as a child and it seems to have left an impression on da ninj. Its been a while since I read that book to her but she remembers the concept and even will tell you what the monkeys say , "tsk tsk tsk". She does have a good memory and there is no hoping that she will forget something you promised her in the hopes of getting her to behave. She is like me and has the memory of an elephant, which is a good ting but can also a bit of a curse. Anyway,