Sleeping Draya

Draya likes to pretend that she is Sleeping Beauty. She will lie down (usually in our bed) and then make one of us kiss her (on the lips, it must be on the lips) to wake her up. But this Sleeping Beauty doesn't just sleep, earlier she was running around and right now she is baking a play-doh birthday cake for her puppy. Because she's not Draya, she's Sleeping Beauty.

Splashing on St Patrick's Day

Draya LOVES to go outside to splash in the puddles. There are usually some nice ones in our back alley. Tonight Mommy brought the camera...

A Draya at Play...

Sometimes Draya likes to play kitty cat. She wanders the house saying "meow, meow". A few weeks ago she even went so far as to insist that I give her a dish of water on the floor. Hey, whatever gets her drinking more water...

That same morning she also played baby in her old playpen. It involves her old sucky, pretending to sleep, and saying "wah". I just wish she took real naps that easily!

This morning she decided to pretend that she was our friend T-L. She lay in our bed (It was the hospital I think) , insisted that I call her T-L and told me that Pink Baby was her new baby.

Where did October go?

Time is REALLY flying past in Draya land. Three weekends ago she stayed home with Daddy while Mommy went to Banff and two weekends ago she went to see Robert Munsch at Mommy's theater with I & G. This past weekend was a little quieter, J came to visit and so did I & G. She has also spent quality time with G'ma & G'pa & Nana and other friends and family over the past weeks and we have been visiting TL in the hospital as often as possible.
Draya has recently been enjoying colouring, finger painting, ballerina dancing, riding her bike to the park, playing with her babies and putting her puzzles together. She has discovered some new favourite videos too including Blues Clues, Richard Scary, classic Pixar shorts (she loves the snowman in Knick Knack) and the movie Cars (we have watched that one a lot!)
For Halloween Draya dressed up a a cowgirl for a party on Saturday and as Little Red Riding Hood at daycare. On Halloween night she went for sushi with Mommy and then went to Halloween Hoopla for an hour where Daddy was juggling .
Other highlights in Draya's fall have included raking leaves with Daddy, baking cookies with Mommy and getting her flu shot. She is chewing her fingers lots too because her back molars are coming in and she hates baths (again).
Mommy recently downloaded the camera - finally. Some photo retrospectives are coming soon, I promise! Before the end of November... hopefully...

Imaginative Play Time

Draya has the most amazing imagination!
She loves puppets and will often use her bare hands as puppets. Now, when she washes her hands in the sink her hand puppets ‘take showers’. Her hand puppets also often initiate conversations with us and with her.
Nana gave her a pink sponge scrubber to use in the tub. She has christened it ‘Scrubby’ and last night she played with it and her water baby for almost half an hour. Mommy moved the scrubber around but it was a silent companion. She talked to it and her baby continuously. At one point Scrubby ‘fell’ while dancing to ring-around-the-rosy and she hugged it and kissed its owie.
She is actually a big fan of playing ‘Doctor’ these days. Usually one of her babies will be sick or have an owie and she’ll insist that Dr. Mommy or Daddy take a look and treat them. I for-see a toy doctor kit in her future… probably for Christmas…
We have a large rock in our front flowerbed and Draya will bring smaller rocks from the front yard to it so that they can see their mommy.
She also stopped on the way to the park recently to assemble a pine cone family with mommy and daddy and grandpa and baby and others.
Draya also enjoys hide & and happily squeals “Can’t find me” as she tries to hide behind Mommy.She also likes to knock on doors to be let in. The she makes her playmate knock on the door so she can let them in.

Quality Picnic Time with Mommy

Draya spent the weekend alone with Daddy because Mommy went away to a wedding. So, yesterday when Mommy got home, the two of us spent a lot of quality time together. The first thing we did was play in the back yard and have a picnic. Here are some photos I took...

First she collected leaves & berries & flowers & rocks & grass in her wheelbarrow.

Then she made salad.

She also made sand cakes and soup & set them out.

She insisted on bringing the highchair out for Pink Baby and fed her sand baby food.

She did sit and eat some real food.

And she relaxed a little bit too.

Later we baked real cookies for Nana & Papa, read lots of stories, made meatloaf, and went to the park. Draya also likes doing laundry with me. I sit her on the dryer and ask her who each article of clothing belongs to. She helps me squirt dirty clothes with Spray & Wash and tosses them into the machine. She's actually pretty good at distributing the load evenly! Then, I hold the release button down and we watch the clothing swirl around and around.

Draya's First Snowman

It snowed here last Tuesday (April 10). Draya and I built her first snowman when we got home from work/daycare. We had a blast! I had to snap this photo quickly though because she kept trying to eat his nose & eyes.

Draya also had great fun scooping the clean white snow up in her shovel and eating it!

Playing away

Last night Draya & I has a lovely play-dough snack of pizza, peas and milk in our little play-dough cups & bowls. Turns out when you mix purple, pink and neon orange play-dough together, you get a nice light shade of red.
This afternoon Draya had fun walking around the block & playing in the snow with her shovel and bucket.
Draya has a paper bag filled with little valentines that she got at daycare. She likes to dump it out, look at all the little cards, and then put them back in the bag one by one.
The camera has be downloaded... there will be new photos here before the end of the long weekend!

Good & Bad Toddler Games

Draya loves to play 'adult' and 'mommy'. Right now I'm sitting at the computer, wearing a bib that she insists I keep on. She keeps coming by with a cloth to wash my hands.
Whenever daddy or I are working at the kitchen counter she now wants to pull up a chair and help. This is okay when we are doing dishes but bad when we're cooking. We are going to buy a stove guard right away!!!
Draya likes to bring everyone tea. Lots!
Another not so good game she has discovered is 'Switch the CD's'. She takes CD's out of their cases and switches them with others. I'm mostly worried that she'll scratch one.
Tonight she sat on her potty and tried to go. She didn't succeed but it was a valiant effort.

Draya counting "one, two, three... six"

Solstice with tea & potatoes

Another weekend has flown right by. Draya had her last swimming lesson on Saturday. Mommy worked in the afternoon and the whole family went to L & A’s excellent Solstice Party in the evening. All of the little kids exchanged gifts and Draya got a tea set, a Mrs. Potato Head, a little people princess and some wonderful books. Sunday morning she happily served tea to Mrs. Potato Head while her little people decorated the table. Sunday at lunch Draya went to her Grandparents so that mommy & daddy could volunteer for Summer of My Amazing Luck (great play!) at TN. That night we all had dinner at G’ma & G’pa’s. On Monday G’pa took Draya to the mall & back to their place as mommy was sick. Mommy DID find time to download the camera though so photos are coming… soon…

Monkey's vocabulary & slide hi-jinx

Recent new words...
Up
Ball
Bath
Happy
OneTwoThree (she says it like it's all one word)

When Draya takes her shoes off she can now climb all the way up the plastic slide in our backyard, and one of the little metal slides at the park. At the park she climbs the 3 stairs on one of the little play structures, crosses over to the slide (there are two platforms in between), sits down and slides all by herself. She keeps trying to climb the big ladder to the high spiral slide but I always stop her after a few steps. Sometimes I take her to the top though & slide down with her. She is DEFINITELY living up to her monkey moniker.
Betcha 'Park' and 'Slide' join the word list soon!

Weekend Photo Montage

Draya had a very busy weekend!

On Saturday she went to D & G's for a BBQ where she had fun playing in Z's new water table,

and playing with M's rollerskates.

Later, after changing out of her soggy clothes, she tried wearing M's wrist guard for a shoe.

Then, she took a rest next to the garden (Possibly one of my very favourite photos ever!!)


On Sunday Nana & Papa came to visit. In the evening, when the weather got nicer, Draya went out to play on the wonderful play set that Nana bought for her a few weeks ago. She loves to go down (and up) the slide...

...and so much more!

Diapering Da Bear

Tonight while I was folding Draya's clean diapers she stole one out of the dryer and proceeded to try putting it on Angel Bear. For those of you who have never met him, Angel Bear is a beanie baby, so he's not very big. Then, she tried putting her new sandals on his little feet at the same time. How adorable is that?!

Always look inside

Draya has been enjoying putting things into other things for a while. Recently though, she has been taking it further. Today she put her shoe in the garbage in her room, thankfully I caught it quickly! Last night I found 4 of her toys in the wastebasket in the computer room. Toys & shoes have also found their way into the recycling bin, various drawers, the tub, chairs, the cat stand & several boxes. I just got her a Fisher Price garden set and she has happily put her sippy-cup, and other toys inside it. She has also been putting the garden archway on its side, putting in various small toys and covering them up with a piece of fence (voila - improvised box!) I think we've got to get a toilet lock soon before she starts lifting the lid and sending her toys for a swim!

On another note, she has been calling the cats 'baby' all week. Even stuffed cats and cats on the computer screen have been 'baby'. I know she can say 'cat', she has even repeated 'ginger' after me but no matter how many times I gently correct her they're 'baby' for now.

Budding Artist

When she gets a little older Draya is really going to enjoy finger paints! These days she just intensionaly dumps milk out of her sippy cup and paints all over herself and her high chair with it.
Oh well, they say milk is good for the skin. I guess she's starting her "beauty" treatment young.

Memorable photos from May

Drumming with her chopsticks at Doans.


Standing by Nana's front door.


Playing with her cards at back door.


Sitting in Mommy's old rocking chair.
(another cherished toy from my past)


Standing in a shoe box.


Eating her first popsicle.


Weighing her rubber ducks.