Manda Mumbo Jumbo: July 2011

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Callie the Artist (creative adventures in June)

To wrap up my June-blog blogging (just in time for August!), I wanted to write about all the changes we have seen in Callie lately and her very unique personality and style that is becoming more apparent to us each day. Callie definitely marches to her own beat and has specific likes and dislikes now. And one of those major "likes" is art. She may not look much like her mommy but she is certainly taking after me in that one area. She will color and color and color - intensely - for long periods of time. And it is not just scribbling all over a paper. She will pick one color that will be her main color for the day and she will color EVERYTHING that color. When she has finished a picture, there are no white spaces left inside the lines of the object she is coloring. This coloring in the lines came about fairly suddenly one day after she watched our friend Charlotte color. I have been teaching some art lessons off and on, as time permits this summer, and Callie loves to participate. She was already a good colorer for her age, but once she watched Charlotte color (Charlotte is 5), it was like something clicked in her mind and she new what to do from then on. The most stunning thing for us, though, has been her drawing ability. I know I sound like just another mom who is completely infatuated with her kid and thinks they are the best at everything. But Matt and I actually researched developmental stages of drawing and realized that Callie is on par with a 3-4 year olds in that area. She may not be completely understandable when she talks, although she is improving her verbal skills daily, but she is definitely ahead of the game when it comes to physical tasks and mental ones. She regularly amazes us with her problem solving and her creativity and quirkiness. Just take a look at the pictures and judge for yourself!...

Hard at work with watercolors at her art table which is now in the living room. Combining her art space and mine no longer works because she isn't satisfied with her art tools once she sees me working with mine!

Coloring on herself - she is really into body art. I think Matt's tattoo inspires her! She loves to look at it and trace it with her finger. Washable marker tattooing is the closest thing she will be getting EVER, if mommy has anything to do with it!

Matt drew a cat nose and whiskers on her one day and now she draws it on herself regularly and then walks around meowing. This is her version of whiskers and nose...and apparently a beard as well. She also decides at random times to act like a cat. One day it was when she was walking through Walmart with Matt. She bent over and started meowing. Matt just let her go with it until she dropped to her knees and wanted to crawl around the store!

Her biggest inspiration (pun intended!) is Oliver. The two have become very close. He meows around the house for her when we are sleeping because he wants her up. I think he will be her first bed buddy once she is in a big girl bed. Maybe then he will stop meowing. We call him our rooster. This picture was taken after she had finished making a pizza on Ollie's belly with her wooden pizza toy. The toppings fell off before I could get the picture.

Here is Callie coloring in the lines while working on her peacock picture (see previous post for backstory on the peacock.) You will also notice that she is a lefty. She got this from Matt's grandmother or my grandfather. No one else is a lefty in the family that we know about.

Here's her precious little hand stamping the eyes of the peacock feathers.

And here is her finished picture. We ended up making two. One for Daddy and one for Pa as Father's Day presents.

She also made Yoo-Hoo a mermaid picture (with lots of help from mommy!) and a flower picture for Mimi as a retirement present.

A quick side note: I started a new art blog called Manda Panda to keep track of my own whimsical paintings and kid's room decor and also as a place to post project ideas and things that Callie and other kids have done at my house. I will soon post the peacock project details so check it out and share with others.

One night, Callie was drawing on this posterboard. She first amazed us by drawing the oval object you can see in the middle. She added two eyes and a mouth to it and said it was a fish. I asked her to point out the eyes and mouth and she proved to us that she had intentionally drawn them. (the circle thing in the middle of the oval is a fin, I think.) But then she started drawing the object next to it. Matt watched her and thought to himself that it looked like a duck. Once Callie stopped drawing she looked up at him and said, "Daddy, guck guck" and pointed to the duck drawing. We both stared at it in disbelief. Here is a black and white version of it because it is hard to see in the orange she drew it in. You can see the duck body shape, a wing and then two eyes and a pointy beak. She loves ducks, including Daffy and Donald, and loves to visit the neighborhood ducks so it was not surprise that she drew one --just very surprising that she actually knew HOW to draw one!

And finally, to finish up my long list of bragging, here are some pictures of Callie doing some of the funny, quirky things she does.

Her wings she asked the balloon guy at Friendly's to make for her. She loves for Daddy to make her fly and can now almost say "butterfly" correctly!

Yoo-hoo hasn't gotten around to caning this little rocking chair, but that doesn't stop Callie from rocking in it!

She insisted on bathing with her new pool toy.

She loves hats and loves to pick out her own shoes. She went to AC Moore with me in the outfit above. Matt took this picture mostly because she was watching Star Wars and was loving it. He was so excited!

Here is her typical shoe choice. Rainboots and jammies go great together, don't you think?

Friday, July 29, 2011

Zoo Night in June

I am in catch-up mode on this blog right now and this is the second post for the day. Be sure to look at older posts to make certain you didn't miss one. Before July ends, I hope to have completed all my blogging about June! And one event for us this June was the members-only night at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. It was a nice evening for a party with the animals. It wasn't too hot and the rain held off. We haven't been back since because the heat but hope to use the membership a lot in the milder weather months. Callie certainly loves it and Matt and I do too. Here are some pics from our zoo night.

Llama llama, bad hair momma! Glad I have already gotten my hair done since this picture or I would be out the door right now to fix those roots!

Looking at the bears with Daddy.

Callie identified the otters on her own, surprising us that she knew that word. She enjoyed watching them play.

This family of geese were enjoying the night at the zoo as well.

Callie wanted to keep going back to the giraffes. She would say, "Bye bye, raff." but then ask to go back once we walked away. Another highlight of the night for me was when she said goodbye to the elephant poop.

Holding hands with Daddy.

This peacock practically crawled onto Matt shoulders. Callie was fascinated with it and the others squawking around. It inspired us to make peacock paintings the next day during art time. Here is Callie's picture of a "poocock" as she pronounces it!

Famous Flower Girls - Part One

There has been a lot talk about weddings these last six months because of two much anticipated events this Spring/Summer. Michelle and Scott were married March 26th and Matt's cousin Meredith married her nine year beau and highschool sweatheart on July 2nd. And, to be honest, if we are talking about much anticipated weddings, then I have to include the Royal Wedding in April because Dreama and I were completely transfixed to the television for the fluffly media coverage of the hats, dresses and guests of honor. And all three weddings have one thing in common (besides stunning brides, of course!) - they all had a little flower girl who stole the show! Everyone in the world who has a TV or a newspaper has probably seen the image of Kate and William's flower girl grimacing at their first kiss on the balcony.

But what most of the world doesn't realize is that there was an even CUTER and FUNNIER flower girl causing quite a stir in weddings this year. Here are some (well, make that a ton) of images from Michelle and Scott's beautiful wedding in March. I will post pictures of Meredith's wedding later, so stay tuned for Famous Flower Girls - Part Two!

This was a Spiers family event but it wouldn't have gone as well without Nana and Papa who helped me with Callie. Matt and I were both in the wedding so it was difficult to do all the wedding party duties and make sure that Callie was dressed, behaving and where she needed to be. Papa has cookies in this picture because his job was to lure the flower girl down the aisle and then stealthily exit with her before the ceremony began. Thanks Mom and Dad for all your help!

Practice makes perfect!...and it did!

Callie and her handler.

Grampie Yoo-Hoo was very nervous about his father of the bride duties!

Handsome Handsome - this matron of honor got to go home with this groomsmen!

Scott's parents did a terrific job transforming the church gym into an elegant rehearsal dinner site.

The perfect couple!

Maw-Maw and Pa looking their best!

Daddy working hard to keep Callie occupied the morning of the wedding.

Callie had her own personal hairdresser (Nana)

Callie admiring herself in the mirror. This is my favorite picture!

And this might be my second favorite picture.

Nana worked hard to distract Callie during pre-wedding pictures.

Here we go...

Waiting our turn...I was reminding Callie of what she was going to do.

I didn't need to remind her because she did so well on her own! A petal flew out of her basket and she stopped to pick it up. I leaned over and told her she could leave it and that she was supposed to be dropping the petals out anyway. So she turned the whole basket over to make one pile of petals and then pranced down the aisle the rest of the way like she owned the place. Once at the bottom she greeted her Daddy and then Papa took her out to play for the rest of the ceremony.

Now it's time to party!!!

Callie enjoyed clapping for the wedding party introductions but she hated waiting for the first dances to end. She was anxious for her turn on the floor!