We Have a Penguin in the Family

I've mentioned before that my little bro is a student at Purdue. He's knocking everybody's socks off with his impressive grades and long list of extracurricular activities. So, fundraising is all in a day's work for him, I suppose. :)

He recently "jumped" at the chance to represent Purdue's Student Management Council (which he also happens to the the vice president of!) and take part in a local Polar Bear Plunge to raise money for the Special Olympics...in the freezing cold with about a foot of snow on the ground. He wore his penguin costume...leftover from Halloween. I'm not really sure why, other than it goes with the "cold" theme...and it's just so "Jonathan;" always a goober, always making people laugh. (check out his flapping wings on the way in!) Anyway, you can watch the video at the link below...he's the very first one to take the plunge. Funny he didn't mention the penguin costume when we talked about the event on the phone... ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yIganOTWoY

Trip to the Dentist!

Andra marked another milestone today...her first trip to the dentist! Technically, she'd been there before about six months ago; she sat in the chair, opened her mouth for like a nanosecond, then made it very clear she was done! But today was evidence my little girl is growing up! She was very brave and extremely cooperative...and I have to admit, I'm bursting with pride. :)

We've been talking about the upcoming visit for a couple weeks now. I brought it up every night when we'd brush her teeth; we would practice opening her mouth really big and saying "ahhhhh" and talk about the dentist brushing her teeth. I even promised ice cream after the visit if she was a good girl and cooperated. (That's an INCENTIVE, folks, not a bribe. :) "Parents" magazine says so!!) Because she can be a little timid, the key with Andra is preparation, so she knows exactly what to expect. If she's unsure about something, she usually warms up to it the more we talk about it and prepare her for it. So...we were ready for the big day.

As soon as they called her name, she bounded out of the waiting room and into the chair...no problem! She actually left me in her dust picking up the toys in the waiting room! She got a pair of cool shades to keep the bright light out of her eyes, which she thought was pretty cool.

Polish for those pearly whites...

Learning how to use the sucky straw thing...

First experience with flouride. Yuck (at least in my opinion), but she didn't seem to mind!

Clean bill of health! No cavities. Our next assignment: flossing. Ugh. I feel like you need professional training to develop the dexterity to floss someone else's teeth. Anyway, she hadn't even wiggled out of the dentist's chair before she reminded me of the INCENTIVE I'd offered her. She kept saying "Ice peem! Ice peem! Ice peem!" all the way out the door. Good memory, that girl. One order of ice cream with chocolate syrup and sprinkles comin' right up (actually two, because I had a good checkup too!).

Curious George Live!

Shew! My fear of the snowstorm causing George to cancel his show was unrealized. :) As soon as I woke up Saturday morning, I checked the ticker on the local news station and was relieved to see "the show must go on!" So we bundled up and left the house 1.5 hours early (just to be safe...I was afraid the roads might be bad), and zoomed into the theater parking lot about an hour early. Which left us some time to kill in the car...but as you can see, the wait didn't dampen Andra's spirits...

By some divine alignment of the stars, my blog post earlier this year about my excitement regarding the show earned us "Meet & Greet" passes with Andra's monkey buddy. It was just meant to be. She got to spend a few minutes one-on-one backstage with George before the show. I couldn't see her face when we walked in, but the backstage hands all commented that she was grinning ear to ear! She gave him high fives, lots of hugs, and even a good luck kiss for the show.

And finally, it was showtime. Seeing her face during the opening number made my day!!! She was grinning ear to ear with eyes that showed pure amazement and delight. It made my heart leap to see her so enthralled with the show. She just grinned. And grinned. And grinned. It made my little heart go pitter pat to see her so happy. Here she is watching the opening act.

While some other kids around us got a little antsy during the show, Andra was locked in the whole time. ..applauded during all the right parts and was generally captivated by the whole experience. It was a great show and everything I hoped it'd be. What a special day for us...I think our family has another theather enthusiast.

And being the total sucker I am, we were handed a pre-sale offer for Sesame Street Live on the way out the door. I'm pretty sure we'll be at that one too. :)

Andra's First Snowman!

At last! A snowman-worthy snow! Our first snow this season wasn't good snowman snow...way too fluffy. But this stuff was PERFECT...so Andra and I made a toddler-sized snowman...my first one ever with my kiddo. Kind of a milestone, don't ya think? :)

Here's my girl mid-chew...stealing some of the chocolate we were using for the eyes and mouth. Funny she didn't want to munch on the carrot?? I suppose she's a girl after her mother's heart.

This one cracks me up! I just got lucky and happened to capture this moment...she was getting frustrated that she couldn't hold or throw her snowballs because of her bulky mittens. hehe!

Don't we all feel like making that face sometimes? :) I love how toddlers wear their emotion all over their face...no guessing how they feel!

To be truly honest, this snow is making me a little nervous. See, we have our date tomorrow morning with Curious George!! (for the Curious George Live show) I'm terrified of waking up tomorrow to a snow emergency and a cancelled show. So, say your prayers tonight that our little gal still gets to meet her monkey buddy tomorrow morning...we've even got backstage passes! And we (more like me) have been looking forward to this for months!