Ahhh! Spring is here and Niva greeted my favorite season with some fun weather-loving activities this morning...
First, Niva had some quality bonding time with Daddy on her very first fishing trip. Daddy has been wanting to take Niva fishing before she was even born!
Yes, it was a little chilly this morning.
Being her Daddy's daughter, Niva even caught 2 fish! Wow, what an awesome surprise!
Reeling it in
You can tell from her face that she is a little creeped out!
I was impressed by the size of this thing. She caught it all on her own (Daddy only reeled it in).
Then after fishing, Niva helped Daddy re-pot her tomato plant and plant flowers. Soon we will be counting on Niva to bring us our dinner!
Grandpa Mike was in town and gave Niva the official job of remembering to water the flowers. One less chore for me!
Niva's Great-Grandma in Syracuse sent her $2 in the mail in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Niva was thrilled to have her first paper bills ever! Of course, I had to take her to my favorite store Dollar Tree to get the most bang for her 2 bucks...
Got her puppy purse stashed with the cash...
Like her momma, she went a little bit cuckoo at all the possibilities that the Dollar Tree has to offer
Got me some ice cream bubbles and an awesome skateboard dolly set! (whose arm fell off when I opened the package...I'm going to have to teach Niva the hit-or-miss ways of the Dollar Tree!)
In other news, I was supposed to take Niva to an Easter Egg Hunt this morning while Daddy stayed home to work on replenishing the dirt on our lawn. However, when Niva got wind that our 12 year old family friend Matthew was helping with the Dirt Project, she could not be pried away to go to the Egg Hunt! She was all about supervising Matthew and Daddy instead...
It was so cute how Matthew engaged in some Ring Around the Rosies with Niva!
That's Niva J sitting in traffic this morning on the way to...her first day of Chinese School! Yes, Niva will now be at Chinese With Meggie, a Chinese Immersion School for a couple of hours each week (in addition to preschool). Daddy and I were so proud of how eager she was to go to her new class and how quickly she became engaged. Any Chinese speakers out there wanna come converse with my kid?
Onward to Chinese School!
Niva enjoyed a tasty picnic lunch at Mayfield Park afterwards.
Ni hao, Peacock!
What else has been going on around here?
We had our annual tradition of making chocolate covered strawberries for Valentine's Day. NJ was quite the little mouse if ya know what I mean...
We rode the Zilker Zephyr with Carla and Sebastian
We got to see our very first Sesame Street Live!
So glad we got to share the fun with Sebastian and family!
And guess who goes poop in the potty now? This gal! We finally got to go to the ice cream shop!
So, the time has come...Niva's afternoon nap is officially becoming a thing of the past. She takes about 2 naps per week now (if we are lucky). However, that doesn't mean I'm giving up MY private time! If you're a toddler mommy, you know this time is precious and I'm clinging onto it until she goes to college. Lucky for me, Niva is content to play by herself in her room for up to 3 hours before I go get her. When I do retrieve her, this mischievous kid greets me with a big cheshire cat grin and exclaims, "No Nap Niva strikes again!" I can't help but giggle!
You can try wearing me out all you want, Ma! I ain't napping!
The downside of No Nap Niva is that I have been getting a lot of bad attitude from her lately. I do not tolerate this one bit. Niva doesn't like my reprimands and efforts to discipline her. So when she sees my grumpy eyes and hears my stern voice, she quickly protests, "Mommy be good! Mommy be good!" What??! This child has some audacity. But this has led me to try disciplining her with a big fake smile plastered on my face. It has somewhat softened the blow...
Well, hello there! That was the longest hiatus I have taken from the blog of NJB! I would say that the reason for my break is that I am focusing my efforts on my new Tot-Smarts venture but the real reason is that I had a computer crash. The reason being that I had about 12,000 (not a hyperbole) pictures of Niva J. Bonzek on my computer...the computer has been fixed for a couple of weeks now but I have been traumatized to go anywhere near iPhoto!
SO, what has NJ been up to lately? Well, when she is not pestering me for multiple potty breaks at every public place we go to (touching everything in the stall while she's at it...blech!), she has been enjoying nature with friends and family:
Mt. Bonnell with the gang
Mayfield Park with Da Sebster
Pedernales Falls with Fu (no, that is not me)
Even Rude Tox (Momo) got to hang!
Niva's new best friend is her trusty red stool. She carries it around like a briefcase and busts it out anytime she feels the need to be tall. I caught her in action:
Reaching for the scissors
Keeping an eye out for squirrels to warn Momo about
Well well! Have I got a lot of December updatin' to do! Checky checky out:
We hit the awesome Austin Gingerbread Village at the Four Seasons
Yes, I do!
Then, we enjoyed milk and cookies at storytime...
with our homie Squinty Sebz, in anticipation of...
the one and only Santa Claus! Read on to find out what Niva whispered in St. Nick's ear
Niva concluded preschool in 2012 with the long awaited performance of Bang the Drum... starring the Monkeys Class! (btw, I have never seen Niva less enthusiastic but I was still proud as ever!)
We enjoyed a mystical trip to the museum with Seb and Carla
These hip chicks strolling down trendy 2nd Street...here, Niva points out the fashionable mannequins to her sweet friend.
Then, we were off to Gammy and Poppa's house in Katy!
And the real fun begins!
Niva's favorite part of decorating cookies
Every night was party night on Pebble Chase Drive...as you can see from Fufu's and Unkee's Friendly Faces!
Now, what was it that Niva whispered into Santa's ear? Well, it appears that he heard her loud and clear. Here she is unwrapping the only gift she requested this year:
Now, for the best of news of all: as of Christmas Eve, Niva Josephine is officially potty trained! All of a sudden, it clicked! Daddy and I are all worn out from the cartwheels and handstands we have had to perform this week (she keeps requesting them!). Much to my mysophobic dismay, she even goes potty in public restrooms too (so far, we have done Monkey Joe's, Target, and Central Market). For now, Niva still wears a diaper during sleepy time which is causing major wars for her parents. One drop of pee in her diaper puts Niva over the edge and we have had to change her diaper 4 times (in a span of 10 minutes) before she actually falls asleep. And I can tell this is affecting her mentally as we are seeing a wave of unexplained tantrums. But for now, all we can do is rejoice in this accomplished milestone and all the money we will be saving with the absence of diapers...woohoo! Oh and with the potty training, we have converted her to a toddler bed at home too. The changes just keep coming!
