Aurora Wells

After a thrilling game of Candyland, the ghost pirates divvy up the treasure.

A: “Did you know that the ghost pirates have a teddy bear?”

L: “No, pirates don’t have teddy bears.”

A: “Yes, it’s in the hold on their ship. They have it for when they get bored!”

I’m not sure if it’s the influence of preschool, or just being half a year older, but Aurora has had a pretty amazing personality change in the past six months. While she used to be quite shy and hesitant, or just extremely reserved, she now happily converses with new people and other kids. Her new best friend Kate may have something to do with this. She lives across the street, goes to Aurora’s preschool, and has a Super Mommy, so we’ve been seeing a lot of her since we met last June. She’s about six months older than Aurora, and deals extremely well with Aurora’s personality quirks.

Kate likes Aurora and her puppy.

Girls just wanna have fun!

Playing hide and seek. At three years old, the girls are finally starting to get the hang of it. (Note tiny fingers)

They love playing with the Mouse House (who wouldn’t?). Actually, it’s Aurora’s favourite thing to do for the past month. Every day she wants to do Christmas, Hanukkah, and Halloween with them. Sometimes we even get to Easter before Mommy and Daddy beg her to stop. For Christmas we hang stockings (tape up Aurora’s socks) for the four mice and their adopted Spinosaurus son, Kynan.

Mama Mouse has made a nice lunch for Sister Mouse, Brother Mouse, and Kynan. Kynan, being carnivorous, prefers not to eat any veggies.

Papa Mouse entertains his guests, Woody and Mr. Potato Head, in the living room while two of his pets face off over the water dish. We’ll be sad to see the Christmas tree go, but its leaves are turning brown and falling off, so it’s only a matter of time.

Ever since we eschewed the naps completely, Aurora’s been sleeping eleven hours solid, practically every night. However, on those occasions when she gets less, she can be, shall we say, a bit touchy? Yesterday was one of those days, but somehow after a few hours of crabbiness I talked her into going to the park with me.

Maybe too tired to ride the bike to the park.

Not liking the “leave the bike home” option.

“There’s no way you’re gonna make me smile, Mom.”

Trying. Hard. Not. To. Smile.

Don’t look now, but I think a smile is coming!

Eventually we got there, and had a terrific time!

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!