Leaving for London

Life has been ridiculously busy with work. To top that all off, Mama Bear is leaving for London on business for a week.

This past week has been a really crazy time at work, just a huge event for the dedication of our new building on that campus, which meant a bunch of hoopla around the campus. The last two days I have been at work late and hadn't been able to spend much time with the family and tomorrow I am off on a plane. I am leaving behind the family for a whole week. On the one hand I am really excited to go to London, I will have some time to check out the sights while I am there. And it will be nice to only be responsible for just myself and no one else. But on the other hand, I am sad that my family is not coming with me. It will be the longest I've ever been away from them.

What I have found most interesting about this is that when we mention that I will be gone for a week out of the country, several people have asked Daddy "What are you going to do?" I find it an odd and interesting question and a question that is most often asked by men. My father-in-law even asked if he was going to take off work. Daddy will do just fine, he is Baby Bear's father and he has taken care of her before, so I am not worried about him at all. In fact, I think it will be great for the both of them. Plus, he'll learn to appreciate me even more!

It is funny and in some ways nice to know that I am thought highly of and that in generally men do realize that mothers do a lot! I guess that is good.

I am so going to miss my Baby Bear and I hope she isn't too upset by me being gone for so long. We will see how that goes. I am miss her so much. I am already missing her and I haven't even left yet. I hope she doesn't grow too much while I am gone.

I lam going to miss things like this.

A change in costuming plans

On the way home today, Baby Bear kept talking about dressing up and her costume. I assume that she was referring to Halloween and maybe they had talked about it in preschool. Since I am going to be out of the country in London -- leaving the family behind :( -- the week before Halloween, I had put together most of her costume already. I had planned for her to be a fairy princess. We had talked about it a month ago and that was what she wanted to be. Well, today Baby Bear said she wanted a chicken costume like Boots the monkey from Dora. We had recently watched a Dora episode on netflix where Boots was wearing a chicken costume. I told her that I would look for one and asked if there was something else she wanted to be for Halloween. Then she replied that she wanted to be a butterfly like "Alicira" (aka Alicia) from Diego. Well, I had wings for her fairy princess costume and told her I already had some wings at home. Whew, I got myself out of trying to find a chicken costume.

Here she is trying on her wings.



Excuse her filthy shirt. This kiddo cannot stay clean at preschool. Actually I pick her up in a different outfit than what she started with in the morning. She usually plays with water or something to warrant an outfit change. Plus, this kid loves her outfit changes. She is such a girl. But I digress.

We will just call her fairy princess costume a butterfly costume. I was still planning to make her a flower headpiece, so instead I will now make her antennas, easy!

Going to LolaBear and LoloBear's house

Since Baby Bear started preschool, Lola Bear hasn't been watching her during the week. Lola Bear and Lolo Bear really missed her. So we went to their house for a change. Baby Bear was very excited to see them. She loved their water fall in the backyard.




Plus, she really liked hanging out with Lolo Bear.



We then went out for dinner and Baby Bear ate with chopsticks.



She tried really hard and ended up eating with her hands and making a mess. Interestingly, Lolo Bear who is half Chinese doesn't even use the chopsticks. Chopsticks or not yummy food got into all our tummies. What a fun visit.

Family time

Just another Sunday together as a family. The best kind of Sunday. We walked over to the downtown area for brunch this morning. Baby Bear decided to bring her dolly in the baby stroller for our walk.




She is pretty serious about strolling with Dolly





We got to the restaurant and Baby Bear ordered her "tea."



Baby Bear would need a little help along the way from time to time.



She raced daddy along the bike path, and she would win!! She is fast runner.



She hopped onto daddy's shoulder for a different perspective.

Steve and Joanne

One day being silly, daddy named Baby Bear's two big toes Steve and Joanne. For some reason it has stuck and the right big toes is referred to as Steve and the left big toe is Joanne.

The other day on the way home, Baby Bear is in her car seat and she is taking off her shoes as she usually does. I hear her talking to herself and say, "There is sand on Steve." I glance to the back seat and see her trying to get sand out of her toes. Indeed there was sand on "Steve." It was hilarious.

When she accidentally stubs a toe, she comes to me with her sad face and tells me that "Joanne hurt." So there it is, her big toes are Steve and Joanne. I wonder what her teachers and others think when she is talking about Steve and Joanne, they must think they are some other friends of her. Little do they know that she is actually talking about her toes. Oh my Baby Bear.

We love to jump for birthdays

Today, we celebrated our friend, Gabrielle's 2nd birthday. (Jewelyn, Gabrielle is a beautiful and special little girl, I wish you were here). We all had fun jumping at her party.



Baby Bear caught some air!



Isn't the birthday girl adorable.

We love our child care lady

I need to totally brag about my daycare lady. Today, she told me that I was paying her too much since Baby Bear is now going to preschool in the mornings. Baby Bear goes to preschool in the mornings and then I pick her up at lunch time and bring her to her home daycare for the afternoon. We had the option of the afterschool care at the preschool, however, we have built such a great relationship with our day care lady that I could not bear to take Baby Bear away from her. We had been with her since Baby Bear was 4 months old. She not only cares for Baby Bear while I am at work, she loves her.

Well, she says that since Baby Bear is only there for half the day that I should only pay half. Well, she already charges such a minimal amount for a full day that I just didn't feel right paying half of the amount. We never discussed reducing the payment since we were reducing her time there, I was perfectly happy to continue to pay her the full amount even with the reduced hours. In fact, I told her that was what I would pay her. She is still less expensive than putting Baby Bear in her preschool's afterschool care. But, she wouldn't accept the extra money or let me pay her that full amount. I told her she charges too little but she disagreed. She is just happy that I didn't totally take Baby Bear away from her because she loves her so much. She knows how expensive preschool is and she doesn't want me spending too much.

How wonderful is she. I love her. I love that she loves Baby Bear like her own grandchildren. She treats us like family and I feel so blessed to have her in my life. I am blessed to have her in Baby Bear's life not just to care for her but also love her.