Shirley Temple

Several people have compared Vivi to Shirley Temple lately. Here's the side by side comparison.

All the world is a stage (or at least the ukelele is)

When we got Vivi a toy ukelele for her birthday, we were hoping it would encourage her to explore music. This wasn't quite what we intended.

Vivi  is singing  - using the ukelele as a stage.

First she sings the "mommy" song and the "daddy" song.

Then she sings the "vivi" song, the "pancake" song (we think) and the "books" song (or maybe bugs?).

"sledding" hill at the zoo

Big flowers and grapes

Yesterday we went to see the titan arum in the campus green house. It only grows a flower every 10 years or so and that flower only blooms for 12-24 hours. That green thing is the flower - it is GIGANTIC and going to bloom at any moment. Apparently when they bloom they are really stinky.

This morning I thought it was too cold, so I took matters into my own hands and figured out how to turn on the heat.

The first grapes from our grapevine.

Who gets to go to school?

Vivi gets to take one stuffed animal to school each day to nap with. She rotates through her favorites (Elmo, Blue Elmo, Lion, Elephant, and several monkeys). This is usually a quick decision, but not today. Today she thought and thought about who to bring, looked at each one, picked them up and put them down. Finally, she decided on her smaller Elmo. When asked why she picked Elmo, she responded, "He was the only one that asked."

Vivi the photographer

Vivi got her own camera just before we left on the trip. The camera takes real photos but the photos are pretty low resolution. Here are photos from Vivi's first attempt at photography.

My first "selfie" (self portrait)

The cover of my book

Dad

Out the window - we are not "up high" yet

Out the hotel window

Mom leaving the room to go to work

Curtain and green bag

Dad?

Helping Granny with a puzzle

Visiting Granny

Granny's house

The firefighters made pancakes!

Helping with the shopping

Playing with Granny

I'm in a fish!

Another big fish!

My cousin showed me her chickens

Baby birds

My cousin Allie showed me her farm

I can count to 10!

When driving between Portland and Olympia, Vivi practiced counting.

Trip to Portland

We went up to Portland (for a conference) and Washington state (to visit Granny). We had lots of adventures so this will be several posts. This post is just about getting to Portland and visiting Portland.

I'm a big girl. I have my own suitcase.

At the airport -- that's my airplane out the window - it's "a big airplane"

Say cheese!

Coloring on the airplane

At the children's museum.

Feeding the dino. Want to eat this? Okay? Do you like it? Yes? Okay? Want two? (she's pretending to feed the dino its own eggs from its nest. Maybe she thought the nest was a foodbowl)

Roar! Dinos sound a lot like lions.

Brushing the alligator's teeth

At the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Building with blocks.

Hi Vivi

Water

With Vivi, everything is an adventure -- including just trying to leave the hotel. Vivi had been playing with the safe when we first got there. We didn't notice until we left that she had apparently set a 4-digit code, closed the door and then pushed the "lock" button.  This would have been fine since we weren't planning on using the safe, except that the straps to the suitcase placed on top of the safe was safely locked inside (see picture). Security had to come up and open the safe before we could leave.

Always check all the drawers to make sure you haven't forgotten anything or anyone. 

The next post will be all about Washington.

ViviANA

We discovered recently that Vivi knows that her name is "Viviana" when asked what her name is, she now says, "ViviANA" - though when asked who she is, she says "Vivi."

Today I asked her what my name is, she said, "MommyANA" and Daddy's name... "DaddyANA."

Saturday

A better way to ride on grocery carts

The things you need to make "cupcakes" (blueberry muffins)....

"I'm ready to go"

We got Vivi her own suitcase. Last night, she packed it with 1 diaper, 1 shirt, 1 crayon (a green one), 3 legos, 3 stuffed animals, 1 plate and 1 cup and yelled "I'm ready to go. I have my ishes (shoes) on." She was very disappointed that we weren't actually going on an airplane right away.

Vivi is ready to go "to work"

This morning, she pulled her suitcase around and declared that she was "going to work." What does Vivi do at work, you might ask. Ends up she "goes bowling at work."
  

Helping Mommy with work - GoldieBlox and Cubelets

Mommy's job involves fun science and engineering toys. Sometimes I get to help test them out with her.

GoldieBlox were designed by a Stanford Engineer who made a toy that combined engineering with a story book about a girl who wants to design a spinning machine for her dog. I like doggies and I like to spin so I thought that was a pretty good idea. I put the pegs in the board and the spools on the pegs.

Check out the great video advertising GoldieBlox -
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyTQDX-ItiM



Cubelets - these are modular pieces that you can use to make little robots. Some of the pieces do things (outputs) and others sense things (inputs) and some are logic blocks. They all stick together with magnets.

 I made a robot. When I put my hand near it, the robot moves away and lights up!