Coraline poses by our Christmas tree in the dress she chose for the holidays this year (12/8/13).
Category Archives: coraline
A Long-Awaited Date With Santa
Song Lyric of the Day:
He’s making a list / And checking it twice / He’s gonna find out / Who’s naughty and nice / Santa Claus is coming to town
Fred Astaire / “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town“
Yesterday we took Coraline to visit Santa Claus at the mall. She’s been asking since January to see Santa again as he made quite the impression last December, so it’s been a long year of:
“Is Santa at the mall? Is he there yet?”
“When will Santa be back?”
“I don’t want to see the Easter Bunny! I don’t like the Easter Bunny! The Easter Bunny is friends with Santa?!?”
“When will Santa come back to the mall?”
“Is Santa at the mall again?”
“Mommy, I saw Santa at the mall! He waved at me!”
“I’m going to be brave and talk to Santa.”
“I get to go see Santa after Thanksgiving.”
“YAY! SANTA!!!”
Coraline hamming it up while waiting in line to meet Santa.
Since Cora’s been talking about Santa all year long, Rich and I figured she’d either go through with a solo visit like she’s been saying (“I’m going to be brave!”) or she’d end up choking at the last minute. She did us proud, though. She waved and yelled hi when Santa entered the courtyard and took his seat. Then when it was her turn, she held my hand on the way to Santa’s chair, happily swinging her free arm the whole way. Once in front of him, she smiled and said, “Hi, Santa.” I asked her if she was ready to sit down with him and if she was going to do it by herself. She said yes, I placed her on Santa’s lap, and my brave girl came through.
Coraline finally gets her moment with the man in the red suit.
I stayed close by since Rich and I are trying to get gift ideas out of her. Whenever we’ve asked what she was going to ask Santa for, she’d answer, “Christmas presents!” What kind of presents? “Toys!” So she hasn’t been terribly helpful there. Today, though, the first thing she asked for was books — she is her parents’ daughter, after all. When Santa asked which ones, I gently reminded her about the Ladybug Girl series and how she mentioned wanting Dora books. She also asked for princess dolls (there’s a big set at Target she’s got her eye on). The last thing she asked Santa for was “Blocks.” Then a few seconds later: “Legos!” Since Santa realized he wasn’t going to get too many specific requests out of her, he asked if she’d like surprise presents. You can imagine how excited she got at that prospect.
Coraline asking for books, princess dolls, and Lego blocks.
I think she would’ve hung out with Santa all day if it had been possible. She wished him a merry Christmas and we went on our way. Once we were a little ways away from the courtyard, she hollered, “I. SAW. SAN. TA!”
Coraline at home celebrating once again how brave she was when she saw Santa Claus.
I predict it’ll be maybe three days after Christmas before she asks, “When can I see Santa again?”
La Di Da Di, She Likes to Potty*
Song Lyric of the Day:
La-di-da-di, we like to party / We don’t cause trouble, we don’t bother nobody / We’re, just some men that’s on the mic / And when we rock upon the mic we rock the mic right / For all of y’all, keep y’all in health / Just to see you smile and enjoy yourself
Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh / “La Di Da Di“
Today marks 7 weeks and 1 day since one of the most magical, glorious, long-awaited things that can ever happen to a parent happened to me: Coraline became fully potty-trained. So yes, there will be some talk of pee and poop within this post.
Thanks to day care — probably the only time I’ll ever be happy about peer pressure — Coraline had been practicing going potty for more than a year. She first successfully peed on the potty just shy of her second birthday. For months now, she’s been accident-free at day care, wearing BIG GIRL PANTIES!!! (her enthusiasm, I assure you) and only wearing Pull-Ups at naptime. On the days I work from home, she’s worn her BIG GIRL PANTIES!!! during naptime without any accidents.
So on that magical, glorious, long-awaited day 7 weeks and 1 day ago, I was working when she walked over and quietly, almost shyly, said, “Mommy, I have to go potty.” Nothing unusual about that (except for the quiet shyness) since that’s what she said any time she had to pee. So you can imagine my surprise when she ended up dropping off the kids at the pool, a first. I could have thrown a party for her right then. As it is, I thought of her breakthrough as her early birthday present to herself, since it was six days before her 3rd birthday. She even came up with a potty-training mantra on her own: Pee and poop go only in the potty!
She’s had a few accidents since then, like an accident at school one day the teacher blamed on Coraline’s enthusiasm to get the job done, or not getting to the toilet quickly enough here at home. But overall she’s done great. And just two nights ago, she announced that she was going potty on her own, no doubt inspired by seeing her two big cousins do just that this past weekend. She was so serious about going on her own that she made me wait in the hall, around the corner from the bathroom door. You know, so she could have some privacy and, oh, not have to see her mother.
Even if Coraline were still working on the whole potty-training thing, I’d still be proud of her. But now that she is fully potty-trained, I thought I’d share it with all of you exactly how proud I am of my (big in her mind) little girl.
Coraline hamming it up the day of The Big Breakthrough (9/18/13).
*My apologies to Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh, but I just couldn’t resist.
Halloween 2013: Family Costume
When Coraline declared she was going as Cinderella for Halloween, Rich wondered how we could turn that into a family costume like we did last year. I suggested going as the Ugly Stepsisters Anastasia (Rich) and Drizella (me). Rich went trick-or-treating with us dressed like this. Which is why he should win Father of the Year.
Of course the star of our family costume was our very own princess, Coraline.
Filed under coraline, personal, photography
Photoblogging: Cinderella
For Halloween 2013 Coraline went as Cinderella. Which is not surprising because lately she is all princess, all the time. This might now be my favorite new photo of her.
Filed under coraline, personal, photoblogging, photography
Three: Happy Birthday to Coraline
Coraline is now officially a 3-year-old. Happy birthday to my little princess, who has her own distinct (toddler) fashion sense, great comedic timing, is whip-smart, and has a kind heart. I love you, sweetie. Happy birthday!
Photoblogging: A Book of Memories
This is the beautiful hardbound book my aunt-in-law sent Coraline commemorating her meeting her Great-Grandma Lee for the first time. We think Coraline will grow to love this book as much as we already do.
Filed under coraline, personal, photoblogging
Photoblogging: Angry Face
I asked Coraline to show me her angry face, which first made an appearance last Wednesday (7/3/13). I see this as a somewhat frightening glimpse of the headstrong teenager she is going to be. God help Rich and I. (Photo taken 7/5/13)
Filed under coraline, personal, photoblogging, photography
Photoblogging: Mother’s Day 2013
Today was pretty much the best Mother’s Day I could have hoped for. I thanked Rich and Coraline repeatedly throughout the day for making my day so incredibly special, fun, and memorable. Getting to swing by my parents’ house to wish Mom a happy Mother’s Day was the icing on the cake. And now, because it’s late at night and I have to get ready for bed and work tomorrow, I’m just doing a quick little post to commemorate the day. I’ll *try* to write more in depth tomorrow night since we did a lot today. I hope all my fellow moms had a great day, too.
Me with my mom, who I am lucky enough to live close to. Notice the tiny person popping up in the lower right-hand corner.
I absolutely love this photo of me, Mom, and Coraline. She's still wrapping her head around the fact that her Abuela is MY mom.
I love this photo of Coraline and her abuela more than I can say.
During bedtime, I realized I forgot to ask Rich to take a picture of me and Coraline, so I set my camera's timer since Rich wasn't around right then. I got Coraline to smile like this by promising we'd work on a puzzle together. This sweet little girl is my heart and made my Mother's Day so wonderful. (With help from her dad, of course.)
Photoblogging: A Chilly Day in the Park
While in Columbus last week, Rich, Coraline, our friend Chris, and I did a bit of sightseeing and ended up in the lovely Topiary Park near where Rich and Chris used to live while in college. Here are a few shots from that cold, windy, fun day (2/11/13). I can’t wait to see it in warmer weather when everything is in bloom.
The plaque describing Georges Seurat's famous painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
A shot of the park mirroring the image etched on the plaque
The reeds along the shore of the partially frozen lake
Coraline stands on the "magic" square to the left of the plaque, which supposedly provides the best view of the park as depicted on the plaque. She would have run around all day there if we'd let her.
Filed under coraline, photoblogging, photography, travel
