Aurora Wells

How could you resist a face like this?

• Turkey slice face
• Crouton hair
• Olive, cucumber, cherry tomato and red onion features
• Hard boiled egg body

The rest of us just had plain ‘ol salad.

… and Teddy Bear does, too. And Mickey Mouse. And just about any one of Aurora’s friends who seem sentient to her. Ideas have a powerful appeal to her right now, as they are invisible, but can make things happen if you speak them out loud to, say, Mommy or Daddy. It’s one of the many cute things Aurora’s been saying lately.

Another thing Aurora likes to say is, “Little bit ’nuff”, instead of “that’s enough”. She hears “That’s enough” a lot from us, because she’s one of those kids who has a lot of trouble with transitions, switching from one activity to another. Daddy likes to call it a long attention span, which puts a positive spin on something that drives Mommy batty. Going from lego play to getting dressed to getting out the door is a big challenge, even when you dangle the carrot of a trip to the park in front of her. Then, once she gets to the park, God help you if you ever want to leave!

The past couple of weeks have passed by in a blur, but what have we been doing? Besides holiday and birthday shopping, and all the usual errands, there have been the birthday parties. We had a great time at Ayden’s and Caitlin’s 2nd birthdays at Science World and Jump Gymnastics, respectively. Then there was the big surprise 60th birthday party for Dirk & Adriana in Chilliwack. They’re old friends of the Wells family, and they had absolutely no idea that about 50 or so of their friends and family were going to pop out of nowhere and wish them a happy birthday (they’re only 3 weeks apart in age).

The moment of surprise as they entered the Cultus Lake Community Hall.

Dirk & Adriana, after having a little while to recover from the shock.

There were plenty of grandkids, nieces & nephews in attendance!

Aurora quietly observes a serious game of rock, paper, scissors. She seemed to want to play with the older children, but backed away whenever they actually approached her.

It was nice to have a chance to catch up with Auntie Lori for a bit, and Brian was able to reconnect with his high school buddy Vince (Dirk & Adriana’s son).

We spent the night at a nearby hotel, with Grandma Shaun & Grandpa Bill in an adjacent room. We’re lucky that they were able to brave the Coquihalla highway at this time of year, and it was great to see them again, between Thanksgiving & Christmas.

And speaking of Christmas, we have an early little treat for you:

Angel Bear, the ornament that Aurora chose for herself, on its very own little tree!

As promised, here are some pictures of the munchkin in costume for Halloween. Thanks to the Milleys for letting us borrow the Tigger costume – Aurora was totally jazzed about being a character she loves this year.

The Sunset Community Centre (Main & 51st) had a 1-5 year old play gym the day before Halloween. In addition to the usual gym stuff there was a craft table where we made icky playdough worms and a tissue ghost; a Halloween diorama for pictures, although Aurora kept wanting to pick up the leaves; a face-painting table; and a bouncy pirate castle. The castle was like a flame to my little moth. She was inexorably drawn to its door, fascinated by how much fun all the other kids were having and wanting to have fun, too, but completely unable to enter without Mommy (not allowed). She stood in line no fewer than three times, waiting while 4 or 5 other kids entered, then screaming and clinging when it was her turn. Ah, well, maybe next year.

Definitely the best part of the Sunset play gym – a trampoline! None of the other play gyms have one, and she got a lot of good Tigger practice, although after a few minutes of bouncing, the warm costume had to come off.

How to be a Tigger without a costume? Get your face painted!

All dressed up and ready to go!

Our friend Mandy hosts a great Halloween party each year, in fact, her whole neighbourhood goes nuts for Halloween. We visited for a while with our favourite fairy and her little doggie,

got loaded up with candy, and then set out to get some more. Brian took Aurora around Mandy’s block (rumour has it some of the movie people from the Vancouver film scene live here, and they get a little cinematic when it comes to Halloween) while Mommy went home to answer the door and give out candy.

Aurora made out pretty well considering how long it takes her to climb up and down each set of stairs. Daddy says at some houses they were practically throwing the candy at the kids. Her total haul? An impressive .75 kilos!

In case you are not a muppet fanatic, Daddy is Captain Vegetable and Mommy is Bip Bippadotta. Happy Halloween from the entire weird family!

Today our friends J & J have whisked their kids off on a surprise holiday to Disneyland, and at ages 3 and 5 1/2 I’m sure Edmund and Agatha will have a fabulous time. I only wish I were going myself, as Disneyland is my favourite place to imagine myself when I get stressed out. It was my third home (second was Grandma’s house) when I was growing up, and I could have written one of those “insider’s guides” for teenagers.

Here I am at exactly Aurora’s age, waiting to board the train with my mom, on my first trip to Disneyland.

Disneyland always has exuberant flower displays, no matter the time of year.

And just cuz it’s that time of year, and I’m scanning old photos:

Steve and me, ages 4 and 6, looking super for halloween.

No, I am not a fan of the movie of the same name. Unfortunately, the “gr” sound is very hard for Aurora to pronounce, and when she tries to say “Grandma” we end up with something that sounds much more like “Dumber” or “Dahlmer”, which may be even more unfortunate. Then she shortens it to “Dumb”. I know of a lot of nicknames and baby names for Grandma, like “Gramma”, “Nana”, “Bubbie”, and “Mama” but I have never heard of anything like this before. Any linguists out there want to weigh in on this one? Lucky Papa, eh?

Anyway, Dumber (Oops! Sorry, Grandma) Gail is visiting this week, and she is introducing Aurora to the joys of puppets, like this monkey and alligator set:

Aurora loves rescuing the monkeys from the alligator’s jaws after they’ve been eaten.

We took Grandma to “Fun and Games”, too. Grandma was impressed with the number of ride-on toys, and we’re thinking of getting one for Aurora to ride around the house. Mostly because I want her to stop doing this:

Even though she weighs next to nothing, it’s still probably more than these toy trucks were designed to handle.

I think we can afford a second hand kiddie car, especially considering all the money Aurora’s been picking up on the soles of her sticky little feet!

If you’re like me, and you hold on to outdated things in the hopes that someday they’ll be useful again, then you will understand my satisfaction in not having gotten rid of these hair doodads. I think I was already too old for them when I bought them, but now I have someone who isn’t too old at all. Plus, they’re like a learning tool. “Aurora, where’s the yellow clip? Give me the blue one.” etc. By the way, this hairstyle was totally her idea! She kept trying to put the clips in her hair, and wouldn’t stop until the box was empty!