My Name is Niva and I'm a Puppy!

It's not even Halloween yet but Niva has already donned her costume 2 days in a row! She morphed herself into her favorite creature of all times...a puppy! First, Niva represented puppyness at The Gecks' fabulous pumpkin pie party yesterday. Unfortunately, Niva J was not the most polite of guests...

Notice how everything starts off harmoniously...

...until Niva spots Sebastian holding one of her of favorite books,  Barnyard Dance (belonging to Carla Ann Geck).

Niva decides that she must hold that book as well. So she grabbed it from Sebastian... who confidently fought for his right! He would not let go of this book (go Sebastian!) to the point where Niva was practically dragging him along. Intervention was definitely made. So sorry, Sebastian!

Next, we have a cute little photo op with the one and only Leo! Peaceful Leo Bodden gives Niva a friendly pat on the shoulder.

Once again, everything starts out peacefully...

...until Niva notices that Leo has the cutest cheeks ever and decides she must grab a right cheek. And not let go. It was not good. A thousand apologies, brave Leo! :(

Day #2 of puppydom was represented at today's Goblins in the Garden event at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. It was Cute Kid City up in there!

One more day to go of Puppy Fever!

Messy Morning

Today's Baby Project was...fingerpainting! At first, it bothered Niva to have paint on her fingers (anything foreign on  her fingers = "booboo"). And then she pretty much refused to put her fingers on the paper or "N"... hopefully she got some kind of baby fulfillment out of it? Once again, we'll just keep trying some other time!

She somewhat got into this paper plate that held the paints. 

Looking slighly troubled about this weird experience that Mom puts her through

But she loved looking at the picture of the kids on the back of the box!

Bonus pix of the day:


If anyone wants to know what Niva wants for Christmas, she was totally digging this mini chair and table set over at BookPeople storytime yesterday, hint hint. A fit was had when I dragged her away from it!

Shout Out to Turkey

Not much has been going on in the life of NJB (except this official transition to one nap a day which is kind of a war). However, we want to keep Gammy and Gampy posted on what she still looks like as they travel all over Turkey. Hopefully, they have time to check out the blog in between all that hot air ballooning, flying dervishes (still not sure what that is), and staying very far from earthquakes!

Niva modeled the latest in winter gear for the short time it was cold here.

Caught up with Leo at the Zilker Playground...what happy babies!

Watched Joe McDermott perform at the Umlaufaloopa Festival. Does someone look grumpy? This was the pre-period of No Nap Niva.

Hangin' upside down at the park

Another Nature Center play date with Leo and Carla...have I mentioned how hard it is to get a pic of 3 babies looking at the camera?

Then, we experimented with a couple of "projects". Above is the "pouring rice through a funnel" project...

...which soon turned into the "I'm going to try and eat my project" project.

Looking like a flower child in this random top and bottom that I threw on her

And of course, Momo created a project distraction.

Project #2 today: Baby Abacus

Neevz was grumpy that she couldn't play with the balls so...

...that project turned into some balls on a string on the floor. Oh well, we'll try again some other time.

Have fun on your vacation, Gampers! See you back in America next week!

Some bonus pix (and I hope you are able to tell what is going on):


Niva J has figured out how to take out the pad from the adjacent changing table and use it as a surfboard/ladder in the crib...is anything safe anymore??

What a monkey!!

Busted!

You may have heard that Niva's left knee has been taking quite a beating lately...she's scraped it 4 times in the last couple weeks! Even neighbors are asking about it during our evening walk because Niva LOVES to talk about the "booboo" on her "knee". So after this morning's scrape, I put yet another Band-Aid on it and put her down for her nap. Unfortunately, I think we may be really transitioning to one nap now and today it was the morning nap that got dropped. I could hear NJ buzzing about as she rested in her crib but then it got silent. I checked the video monitor and I could see her fiddling with something in her hands...the Band-Aid off her knee! I watched that monitor like a hawk for five minutes because I knew what was going to come next. As soon as she put it in her mouth, I yelled from the hallway, "YUCKY!!! NO EATING THE BAND-AID!" The poor baby just about jumped out of her skin and burst into some hard crying tears. I felt bad for this harsh scolding but hopefully, I have scared her out of ever eating a Band-Aid again!

NJB or ODB? I hope this baby is scared straight!

Kids' Club

There was a day back in 2003 when I had just moved to Austin and was taking a tour of a gym that I was interested in joining. As the guy pointed out the perks of the gym, one of the highlights he listed was the Kids' Club-- the daycare service for when parents work out. "Kids' Club? Haha, that's funny...don't bother showing me that, " I told him. Well, the joke is on me now! Today marks the first day that Niva was a patron of the Kids' Club and I sure was grateful for this service provided at Gold's Gym. Finally, at age 15 months old, I left my kid with a stranger and it was not the end of the world!

When we first entered, I saw a group of kids watching The Little Mermaid on the TV screen. Uh-oh, Niva's not allowed to watch TV...but I decided that I could make an exception since this was a new situation. Niva cried when I left which was to be expected. They told me that if she cries longer than 5-10 minutes, they would come find me. As I was kicking and punching in my Body Combat class, I kept looking at the door to see if they were trying to track me down. After about 30 minutes, I couldn't stand the suspense and had to take a peek into the Kids' Club. There was my little munchkin, clutching onto my driver's license (so she could see my picture) as she sat on Miss Elsa's lap. Mind you, all the other kids were playing merrily in the big room but Niva didn't want anything to do with them. So, five minutes later, I decide I better save this kid before she had a meltdown. Miss Elsa said that Niva actually did awesome for this being her first time. Yay! I'm glad that we got over this first time because I will definitely be taking advantage of the Kids' Club from now on.

Niva was in such a hurry to get out of there that we forgot to take a picture of her in Kids' Club action. So, this is a picture of her portraying the opposite of what she was feeling at the Kids' Club.

Oh the horror of it all!

NJ's Packed Social Calendar

Niva J has had quite the packed social calendar lately! Here's a rundown of this past weekend:

First, Niva and her peeps Sebastian and Carla had a Friday Happy Hour at the Central Market playground. The hour was 3pm and all the babies were happy! (until Niva got a splinter in her hand-- boo.)

It is almost impossible to get a picture of Niva to pose with her friends!

Then on Saturday morning, we partook in a Baby Art Class...ages 0-2! What art does one do at Age Zero? Well, we did some exploration with Glitter Glue (Niva discovered it does not taste as good as books or crib). Then, we did some fingerpainting where NJ acquired a blue Hitler mustache. Finally, we made a sensory bottle with different materials such as beads, stones, feathers, and water. Since the bottle tasted better than Glitter Glue, it later became a big leaky mess.

Carla Ann, I do admire your mad fingerpainting skillz!

Saturday afternoon, NJ had an appointment with the ducks to make a bread offering. I guess many other people had this same plan earlier because the ducks had no interest in our bread whatsoever.

Hey ducks, come and get it!

Alright fine, I'll eat it myself (and she did...even though she had just finished lunch).

Then, Saturday evening, Niva had to make her fashionably late appearance at the UT Tailgate party....

Okay, I'm here! Party can begin!

Neevz sure did love those pompoms. However, Momma says there will be no cheerleading in her future.

Finally, we had a nice little family date at the Austin Children's Museum on Sunday afternoon. Thanks for penciling us into that social calendar, Honeybear!

Party don't stop 'til the cows come home!

The Nature Center

The crew and I have discovered the most wonderful place for a play date...the Austin Science and Nature Center! They have a pond, Dino Pit, aquariums, animals, and a winding pathway for munchkins to explore--oh, and it's FREE!!! Why am I only finding out about it right now? Niva met up with Leo Brazos and Carla Ann yesterday for some great fun in nature:

Baby scientists

Where did this child learn how to mean mug like this? (hint: apple don't fall far from the tree!)

The kids were envious of Carla Ann's cushy ride.

Aughhh! Leo's gonna get me! 

OH, did you want to  borrow my clip?

 

Eeee! I think Leo is trying to hold my hand!

Good times! Right, coyote?

Although you see big smiles in these pictures, all was not great during this excursion. Niva fell and scraped her knee bloody right before we entered the Nature Center....it was the same knee that she scraped a week ago and the same knee she fell on later that evening AGAIN! Needless to say, she has been quite the grumpy bear since this incident. This kid needs kneepads!