Space

This summer Callie fell in love with all things space...the moon, stars, planets, rocket ships, etc.  And then she discovered Mike's telescope.  She is in love.  And constantly talks about looking at Venus.

The facts she randomly tells us include:

We live on earth.

Venus is a planet.

Mars is red.

The sun is hot.

Saturn has rings. 

Venus is far away.

Baby Sister

Callie is getting more and more excited about the impending arrival of her baby sister.  She is showing more and more affection towards her.  Last night we were sitting on the couch and the cat came and sat on my stomach and she freaked out.  She yelled at the cat to get off because she was going to hurt baby sister.  She has also lifted up my shirt several times to kiss her and randomly feels my stomach and tells me that she felt baby's foot, regardless of what body part is actually there. 

Pumpkin Carving

We finally got around to carving pumpkins tonight.  Callie helped scoop out the insides, drew the design, and helped carve the pumpkins.  She was so excited to get to use a knife to help carve.  We heard many squeals of "I did it Dada!" as she was able to successfully use the knife.  She is very proud of her creations. 

The artist hard at work designing her masterpiece.

Getting to use a knife for the first time and loving it.

Wiping her slate clean because the marker was not showing up. 

Callie's pumpkin.

Remlinger Farm

Today we visited Remlinger Farm with our friends Paul, Gina and Ryan.  Callie had a blast and came home exhausted. She has turned into one brave girl who went on all the rides, fed the animals, rode the ponies, and jumped into the hay without hesitation.  All of these are things she would not have done just a few months ago.  But her self confidence has just exploded lately.

 Climbing on the pumpkins.

 She is currently fascinated with real excavators, so to find one she could play with was amazing.  We had to pull her away after 15 minutes.  Her and Mike dug out a "basement."

 Driving the car.  She was adament that she drive it herself and told Mike no when he tried to help.

The World From Callie's Perspective

Callie is becoming quite sure of her take on the world and is happy to share it with us.  Here are some of her views of the world that randomly are shared throughout the day.

While out looking at stars at nigh (which is a favorite activity and clouds are quite disappointing)
Venus is a planet.
We live on earth.
The sun comes out in the morning and then goes behind the clouds when it's time to go night night.

While driving in the morning and noticing that the streetlights are on:
Callie:  Mom, why do we have street lights?
Me: So when it is dark out people can see to walk and drive.
Callie: No!  It's so airplanes don't hit them (since that is why the radio towers that we also like to look at night have lights on them, it must be true for the streetlights as well).

Baby sister is going to be impressed with me.  We ask why, but never got an answer.

Callie was dressed in her "wedding dress"
Grandma: Callie you look pretty.
Callie: I look beautiful!

Callie:  I want to give baby sister a kiss.
Me: You can kiss my tummy to give her a kiss now.
Callie: No!  I want to kiss her when she is born!

A Few Videos

Callie has been going to gymnastics class with Drenda.  I was able to take her to the first class since it was before school started.  But I have not seen her since.  I took her to the gym today for there play time.  She has become much more comfortable there and is willing to try many more things.  Here is a video of her falling backwards into the foam pit.  I think she played in there for 20 minutes today.

She also has rediscovered coloring.  The other night she wanted the cat Grey, or Heidi, to color with her.  And the cat cooperated.  See them here.

And one of these days I will upload some pictures from this summer!

Halloween Costume

For weeks Callie has been telling us that she does NOT want to wear a costume because she is a Callie.  We have told her that it is fine if she doesn't wear a costume, but she can't go Trick-or-Treating without a costume.  And she desperately wants to go trick or treating...but she is a Callie.  Round and round we have gone.  Looking at pictures of herself dressed up and costumes in the store did not help.  Until finally today I took her to the costume store.  Even after she told me she didn't want to buy a costume.  I told her we would just look.  Trying on the costumes is what it took.  We started out with a Snow White, a Cinderella, and a Mr. Potato Head.  She quickly ruled out Cinderella.  And Mr. Potato head was a close second-the pieces velcroed off and on!  But we thought Snow White was the winner.  Until on our journey (and yes, it really was a journey because she wanted to know what everything she saw was) to the cash register, we saw a "mermaid" or Ariel, another Cinderella, and Abby from Sesame Street.  And we made our way back to the dressing room.  You should have seen us in there with them all laid out on the floor.  I was telling her she had to pick one to buy and take home.  She grabbed all three of the final contenders (Snow White, Cinderella, and the mermaid" into her arms and told me she wanted to take all of them home.  I explained again that she could only choose one.  She looked at me with her big eyes pleading for all of them.  And finally decided on the mermaid.  She put it on as soon as we got home and didn't want to take it off to go to bed.  But don't call her a mermaid, she will adamantly tell you she is a Callie.  But we did find it was acceptable to say she was wearing a mermaid.  And when I told her she had to take it off to go to bed, she laid it out on the floor next to her so she could look at it.  I think it is a success.  Yet she has no clue who Ariel is!  And none of us know how she knows what a mermaid is.

Cinderella

Last week we went and saw Cinderella at the Pacific Northwest Ballet.  Callie loved it.  She was exhausted at the end and didn't have the energy to clap for anyone...until the prince and Cinderlla came out.  Then she shoved her wand into my hands and eagerlly clapped away. 

We bought the Dinsey version when it came out this week.  She was mesmorized by it until the scene when the step sisters tear Cinderella's dress apart.  To say Callie was tramutized by this would be an understatement.  We had to have a long talk about how since Cinderella was a good person, she was going to be taken care of and it would all end well.  She was also very close to tears when Cinderella was locked in the tower, but we were able to talk our way through that one since I was expecting it.  I love the heart this girl has!  Going to do everything we can to encourage this and keep it!