When Draya grows up...

Recently, if you ask Draya what she wants to be when she grows up she'll tell you "A singer."
The other day we were sitting in the car outside of daycare when an older girl came out of the dance-gear store next door. She was wearing her dance costume. I knew that Draya had noticed her when she piped up from the backseat. "Mommy, when I grow up I want the be a singer AND a dancer." It's the sequins, I know it is. Oh and she does actually like to dance as well.

Vacuum Blues

Last Monday we loaned out Kirby vacuum to L & A so that they could steam clean their carpets. We packed it up and Daddy helped carry it to the car. As soon an it was out the door Draya became quite upset. Her vacuum couldn't leave, it had to stay here, she would miss it. She even cried teal tears for a very brief period of time. Then we continued on with our evening and Mommy put her to bed.
Two nights later, out of the blue, Draya says to me "I really miss the vacuum!" to which I reply "But Draya y0u don't like the vacuum, you leave the room every time we use it" to which Draya replies "Mommy, I like the vacuum I just don't like the loud noise!". We'll who knew the vacuum was so important to her!
Friday night we went to L & A's for a party. On the way there I made a point of telling her that we could pick up the vacuum while we were there. She was very happy. Almost as soon as we arrived she had to go and find the vacuum and let me know where it is. Needless to say it came home with us. Needless to say when we vacuumed yesterday she left the room very quickly.
Hummm.. now K wants to borrow the vacuum so that she can do some steam cleaning... I wonder how that's going to go over...

You know that your spending too much time at the Fringe when...

Today Mommy took Draya to see two Fringe shows. The Too Tall Princess and Alberto The Dancing Alligator. She really enjoyed both. We also went to Kids Fringe, watched some outdoor shows, ate some Fringe food, and basically hung out on site with friends for the rest of the day. Daddy and Mommy have both been at the Fringe a lot recently because Daddy is busking and Mommy is a volunteer Team Leader. So, tonight, after taking Daddy to the gas station to put air in our car's leaky tire, Mommy and Draya dropped him back off at the site so that he could go see a show. We dropped him on the corner of 83rd and Gateway and right after he closes the door Draya pipes up with "This is where Daddy lives." You know, I'm sure some days it feels that way...

The Name Game

Sometimes Draya tries to rename the cats. Tonight Ginger is "Hon" and "Honk" (I assume that is Casey) is upstairs hiding. It's not that she doesn't know their real names, she even knows that Casey is a girl and Ginger is a boy (which is better than some people), I think she just likes naming things. Which doesn't explain Pink Baby and Blue Baby but oh well...

Raiding Mommy's Wardrobe

Draya to Mommy this morning: Wow, you look so pretty! I like your skirt! (touching the lace on the edge of the skirt) Can I wear it when I get bigger? (pointing at Mommy's t-shirt) And this too?

Draya's First Swear

Sometimes Mommy says "crap". She tries not to but occasionally it slips out. Draya has picked up on this and now says it too. She even gets the context right. Mommy is trying to get her to switch to "darn" or "nuts" or even "poopy" but sometimes she just uses it so well. This is a conversation she had with her father the other day...

Daddy: (while carrying her down our stairs) Draya your getting pretty heavy, soon I won't be able to carry you down the stairs any more.
Draya: Oh Crap!

Miss Muffet... by Draya

Last night Draya tucked me into bed, gave me some invisible apple juice and sat down to read me a story...
Draya: (reading from Shopaholic & Baby) Along came a spider, and sat down beside her (turns page) and nothing else happened. The end.

Donkey!

Draya has decided to give everyone in the family (but Ginger) Shrek names,
She is Shrek
Mommy is Donkey
Daddy is Dragon
Casey is Fiona
and her 3 baby dolls are Shrek's 3 kids
And she refers to us as such on a regular basis. It's cute & we play along. But I did have to do some explaining to her great grandmother on Christmas when she started calling me Donkey.

Making up her own words

Draya LOVES to sing and make up songs. Some times she uses tunes that she already knows, sometime she makes the tune up too. This morning I was treated to...
(to the tune of Farmer in the Dell)
"Ginger's in the tub
Ginger's in the tub
Hi Ho The Derry-Oh
Ginger's in the tub"

More Conversations with Draya

Daddy: Are you going to fly to Nana & Papa's?
Draya: I can't fly!

Mommy: Does you mouth hurt?
Draya: Yes
Mommy: Do your teeth hurt?
Draya: Yes
Mommy: Do you want me to give you some medicine to make it feel better?
Draya: No!
Mommy: Are you just going to lie here in pain all night?
Draya: Yes

Mommy: You're going to be to big to wear that jacket soon.
Draya: I'm not big I'm little!
Mommy: I'm just saying that you've grown and are bigger than you used to be.
Draya: NO! YOU'RE big, I'm LITTLE!

She has a good argument.

Conversation on our way upstairs to bed tonight...
Mommy: You can carry you blanket yourself Draya, you're big and strong.
Draya: (vehemently) No I'm not I'm little!!! I'm small!

Alligator in the sky

Our (approximate) conversation today in the car...
Draya: What's that?
Mommy: What's what?
Draya: That?
Mommy: (while driving and not able to see where her daughter is pointing) In the sky?
Draya: Yah
Mommy: Those are clouds.
Draya: An alligator!
Moomy: You see an alligator?
Draya: Yah
Mommy: Ohh... is it a puffy white alligator?
Draya: Yah
Mommy: Sometimes clouds look like things.
Draya: I see a puppy in the sky.
Mommy: Oh, a puppy!
Draya: Elephant
Mommy: and an elephant
Draya: look, stairs
Mommy: Wow! Clouds are very cool!
Draya: Yah

Who says TV teaches bad habits?

Draya is a big fan of the Treehouse show The Big Comfy Couch. One of the 'bits' in every show is the Ten Second Tidy where Loonette stands on the couch, looks down and says "Who made this big mess?". The camera zooms in on her (usually) and she says "Who? Me? Well then I better clean it up - it's only fair". So, now when there is a big mess in the living room (or elsewhere) I say to Draya "Who made this big mess?" and she says "Who me? Draya? I'll clean it up - it's only fair" and helps me tidy. It's great!
Sometimes she'll even pick up after herself without being asked. A few nights ago we were playing with her little people. I went to work in the computer room and Draya came in a little while later carrying a shoe box full of all of her little toys saying "I cleaned up!".
I am so proud! I wonder how long it will last? :)

Reciting A Nursery Rhyme

I realized just how advanced Draya's speech is getting when last night, in the bath tub, she was happily repeating all of the verses from "One Two, buckle my shoe" - word for word, perfectly.
Not bad for a 29 month old.

A crazy long weekend

Draya & Mommy & Daddy have had a very busy Canada Day long weekend...

June 29
We all went out to L's parent's acreage for the wedding rehearsal. Draya ran around a lot!

June 30
Mommy got her hair done at the salon. Draya stayed home with G'ma & G'pa while Mommy & Daddy went to L& A's wedding. It was wonderful! Draya partied at home without us. She went to bed very late.

July 1
Draya got up early. We all went to L&A's gift opening. She was pretty well behaved. Then Mommy had to work at 3pm so Draya and Daddy came along to the Sp. Grove St Fest. She HAD wanted to go home but then she found out there were bouncy tents and the festival. Her mantra as we got out of the car was "bouncy tent, bouncy tent, bouncy tent..." Mommy went to work and Draya and Daddy went to bounce. While in one of the tents another child bounced on her leg and hurt her. Not even an ice cream sandwich and kisses from Mommy could console her... she insisted on going home- so Daddy took her home. She refused to walk & put weight on her leg all evening so Daddy took her to pediatric emerg. at the U of A. There were x-rays taken but nothing was broken so they sent her home. It was an other very late night for all.

July 2
The entire family slept in until 11am, even Draya. She still didn't want to walk at all. Daddy went to a play reading and Mommy and Draya tried to go and see Ratatoui with L&P&I&G. The alien short before the film scared her and she started to insist we "go home!" After 5 min of continual requests Mommy decided that she didn't want to make the rest of the audience listen to a cranky child - so we left. The nice people at the theater were kind enough to refund my money. We went home and watched Shrek. So much for Draya's first trip to a movie theater.

Our little angel

Lady at COSTCO today: She's such a little angel!
Draya: I'm not an angel, I'm Draya.


Putting on Daddy's shoes.

Pretending to make music with Daddy's devil stick.

Trying to take a nap on the washing machine.

Trying to take a nap in her doll's stroller.

A quick Draya update

Draya put rice up her nose tonight. I guess it was bound to happen eventually.
This morning she insisted on calling honey "buzz spread". I'm not sure where she leaned it but it sure is creative!
Yesterday, when she spied a banana in the fruit bowl that had been cut in half she exclaimed "Oh No! Banana broken!"
This morning Draya was so excited about giving her daddy the Father's Day card that she picked out that she waited in the bathroom for him to finish his shower and gave it to him as soon as he was done.
We went to IKEA today and she had fun playing with the toys and testing all of the beds and cribs. We bought her a new bedside table and a wall clock for her room.

Painting & Playing

On Saturday we all went out to L's parent's acreage to paint signs & dance floor boards for L & A's wedding. Draya loved playing on the old slide and swing. She also got into the paint a little bit...

Going Out On Her Own

Last night at 10 pm Draya decided that she wanted to visit Nana & Papa. So, she put on Daddy's shoes and gathered her stuff and wander the house announcing her intentions to "go see Nana & Papa". It was very cute.
Draya is talking WAY more these days! Complete thoughts and almost complete sentences. She's got quite the little personality!

So Many Questions!!

Draya has started the "what's that?" and "why?" phase of her life.
It's really cute but does get a little annoying when she asks about the same item over & over again!