Class is in Session!

Niva got a whole bunch of beautiful clothes for Christmas. I just had to show off this outfit because she looks like a little schoolteacher...will she follow in my footsteps?

I may look like a proper schoolmarm...

...but I'm not!

If there's one class I can teach...

...it's Mischief 101!

Christmastime Was Here

In case I haven't said it before, having a kid makes holidays a million times more awesome! All the old Christmas traditions are shiny and new again-- the anticipation of Santa, leaving him cookies and milk, the excitement of Christmas morning...it's wonderful! Here are some highlights of our Christmas break in Katy, Texas:

As you know, I like to keep my munchkin booked with activities. The first morning, we went to the Houston Aquarium...

...which also featured a White Bengal Tiger (for some unknown reason). Here, Niva shows Unkee some love.

Niva hammed it up for the crowd at the White Tiger exhibit.

The next day, we hit the Houston Children's Museum. After growing up in Houston all my life, this is the best place I have ever discovered there...I was blown away! See above for a kid version of HEB among other things. 

Then, Niva got to be a student of the Art Academy at the museum....

...and enjoyed some playtime at the Tot Spot.

She loved that fireman hat...maybe she was recalling recent memories?

But then another kid stole it off her head. Too bad!

Back at the house on Christmas Eve...

...Niva got to open one gift-- a puppy backpack!

I think I've seen Kindergarteners who look this size!

Christmas morning and Niva greets the family with hugs.

I was excited to receive this awesome baby bicycle helmet...

...to go with my new baby bicycle seat!

Aughhh! The Unkee Monster is gonna get me!

I think this kid should wear the helmet on a regular basis. Her head is at the perfect height for sharp edges!

After a big Christmas Feast, it's time to go nigh nigh.

In addition to all this fun, I got to take Niva to my old stomping grounds-- Nottingham Country Elementary School!

Who would have thought that 24 years later, I would bring my own kid here!

Oh what fun we had indeed! What will next Christmas have in store for us??

P.S. The Letter Mystery is solved! It turns out that the sender was none other than Niva's Great Grandma Bonzek in Syracuse...what a great trick, GGMa! We will look back on that letter fondly in years to come.

Mysterious Letter

Today, Niva got a weird letter in the mail...from Santa! What the huh??!

Seriously, we have no idea where this came from. It did come with a Jack-in-the-Box ornament with "2011" engraved in it. We thought that maybe it was from some religious or charity group but there was no mention of anything on this letter besides what you see. Kinda creepy....I wonder if Santa saw the 17 tantrums that Niva threw on our little shopping outing today?  Hmmmm. Does anyone know the origin of this letter??

Oh snap! He's really watching me??!

See, Ma! Santa thinks I've been good (even though I rolled all over the floor at PetSmart today)!

TImes Are A-Changin'

I am happy to update Future Niva on some highlights of her progress. Some of the things that I feared she would never outgrow seemed to have come to an end. I can't remember the last time she bit me, her intermittent shrieks in public places appear to have ceased, AND I think she is over her grabbing kids phase! In fact, she has replaced grabs with hugs and kisses. She has hugged friends a few times at My Gym on her own accord and today, she kissed a little girl on the lips! The girl was so confused.

It's the new kinder, gentler me!

I'm just a big ball of love-- right, ChaCha?

But that doesn't mean that everything is easy cheesy in the world of NeeJay. Her new favorite word is "down." Anytime we go out, she struggles out of arms whining "down! down!" so she can run freely. The other day we were in the outdoor area of a coffee shop. There was another 17 month old there who was sweetly sticking to the side of her mom while my own 17 month old was running rampant-- throwing toys over the balcony, chasing birds, running down the stairs. While I appreciate Niva's spunk, she is wearing me out! Maybe I'll update this blog in a month to report that this behavior has also become extinct...

Can't nobody hold me down!

Zilker Tree Spinning

Let's lighten the mood a bit, shall we? Today, we started our tradition of spinning under the Zilker tree. Ahhhh, we love Austin!

Ma, let me check you for bats in the cave...

A Precautionary Tale

Check out the latest addition to Niva's Puppy Collection. It's a dalmatian! When you think of dalmatian, what else do you think of? That's right, it's a gift from some kind firemen that rescued us today. Read on for a doozy of a blog entry....I'm very embarrassed to share this but I have to warn my fellow mommies out there:

This morning, after Niva and I were leaving Gold's Gym, I handed her my keys to keep her entertained. She pushed on the buttons of the remote repeatedly on our way to the car since she is so fascinated with buttons these days. When we got into the car, I set the keys next to her car seat so I could buckle her in. Just as I was about to start buckling her in, a stupid lady honks her horn at me because she wants the parking space next to me. Of all the hundreds of available parking spaces, Ms. White Lexus wants the space next to the mom buckling her kid in the car. Thanks lady. I move Niva's door out of the way and wait in front of my car so she can park. When I get back to Niva's door, I just about have a heart attack. The door has shut all the way and it is LOCKED (remember Niva fiddling with the buttons?)!!! After I accepted the fact that I will not be able to open the door myself nor will a Gold's Gym worker, I called 911. This is the first time I have ever had to do this--thank God the firemen got there very quickly (siren and all) and it was a cold day. In the meantime, I was trying to keep her occupied by showing her pictures on my phone through the window. Niva was locked in the car for about 10 minutes total and for the first 8 minutes she was all smiles thinking it was a game. But then during the last couple of minutes, she started to cry hard with fear. That cry of fear was the most heartbreaking thing to witness. When the firemen finally were able to finagle the lock open, I couldn't stop hugging my precious girl.

SO for me, the moral of this story is don't let the kid play with keys. And don't ever let your guard down especially for some silly biddy who's in a hurry to work out. And always keep track of your keys at all times. And many more lessons...this has given me the most awful feeling all day!

I gotta watch my back in this town!

Tree Time!

Another year has past and Niva's back helping us put up the tree:

And of course we had to compare Maggie Simpson poses:

Where's Dada's face??

I guess we won't be able to do that pose next year unfortunately. And speaking of, here's another comparison photo... someone has filled out their hat!