Playground fun

Our little papadia playing the bus driver

 Little bored, are we?...

 And finally, the big slide!! Of course, mommy had to ride with her the first two times, then I would put her somewhere in the middle and off she goes!!

Catalina is not a very outgoing kid. Let me put it this way, she is very cautious whom she's smiling to, whom she's saying hi to. She is a very pretty girl, so we are often stopped on the street by people who want to compliment her. Well, Catalina is not the kid who's going to smile back only because you told her she's cute. We went to the playground on several occasions, so Catalina can interact more with kids of her own age. She was never interested. All she wanted was to play with mommy or by herself. A cute little boy shared his bubble bottle with her, hoping they'll be friends. Nope, Catalina took the bottle and wanted nothing to do with little Patrick

I finally escaped all the annoying kids and I can play by myself!!

Chaos? Nope, I don't think so

       Before Catalina was born a lot of people tried to prepare me for what was coming. Mostly I was told that I will never have a good night sleep again, that my life will be up side down, and that I should be ready to welcome chaos. And yes, lots of people told me it is all worth it.
       I never had any doubt that I wanted Catalina, so I was ready for hell if this was what was needed to have her.
      And then she came. She slept beautifully from the beginning, so I was never really tired. When she grew bigger, she listened to us and did whatever we asked her to do. It's like all she wants is to please us. Yes, she is amazing. And yes, we do have pen writings on our walls and food on the carpet. I do have food stains on my clothes pretty much all day long. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
      So, if you ask me if Catalina brought chaos to my life, I'll definitely say no. She did bring a lot of fun and joy, imagination and new adventures.

Here she is, having dinner. Yes, cheerios and corn do  taste much better if they sit on the carpet!

 

Here she is, trying to make some sense of mommy's articles. Research is NOT easy...

Labor Day weekend

       I never thought I would enjoy nice, peaceful long weekends. Before Catalina, each long weekend was transformed into a "mini" vacation: Las Vegas, Key West, Maine, or, my favorite, visits to Petronela. Staying at home was equal to being poor and not affording to fly. And we did everything possible to avoid that.
       This Labor Day weekend we just wanted to enjoy our time with Catalina. She is getting funnier and sweeter every day. On Saturday we went on a farm so she can pick her own fruits and pet animals. Like I mentioned, I grew up on a farm. Same goes for Marius. Right there in our backyard, we had cows and sheep to pet and milk, cats and dogs to love and chase around the house. Catalina does not have that now, and there is a small chance she will have the childhood her parents had. What we can do, however, is to give her little taste of country living.
      The farm we went to was far from country living. Everything was very commercialized and the animals were kept in a "petting zoo". Nonetheless, Catalina was in love with all the birds and she called them all "cocos". She picked her favorite flowers, strawberries and apples  and enjoyed a beautiful day.
Our little papadia stood up by her name :)

Yes, picking strawberries with a one year old is very messy. But so much fun!

     We spent the rest of the weekend with our friends Dana and Gabi. Their two year old son, Alex, is an old dear friend of Catalina. They kiss and hug then fight and push each other. Classic toddler love. Here they are in our apartment. Catalina LOVES her little purple couch. If we put a stuffed animal on it, she throws it angrily and sits immediately, to make sure her territory is marked. When I brought the couch for the two of them to sit and watch TV, Alex happily took a seat and showed her she has space next to him. She did not want to hear about it! She was obviously upset, but she said nothing. She stayed quietly on her pink princess chair. This picture here shows clearly what guys do when girls play hard to get: they get themselves a nice shiny car to replace the babe :)

     Well, I am pretty sure Catalina won't have problems keeping the guy she wants. She's just too sweet and pretty :).

Kiki

     You know how people say that the first time your kid calls you mom or dad your heart just races, and you want to cry of happiness? Well, for me it wasn't quite such a big deal. I can't really pinpoint to the day Catalina fist said mama. In the beginning it was ama, then ma, then mam. At some point it transformed into mama. Yesterday, however, I felt for the first time butterflies in my stomach when I heard her. She likes to point to different things and name them: sun, floare, papuci, these are favorite words. In the middle of her game I pointed towards me and I asked her: who am I? And she smiled shyly, and said: mama. And this is when I wanted to cry, to hug her, to kiss her to hold her mine forever. My heart melted. She knows I am her mama. We continued our game and I pointed towards Marius: who is he? And she said: tata. Then I pointed towards her and asked her: and who is she? And she said: Kiki. Later on we talked on the phone with my sister and she said it again. She is Kiki. And this is a Kiki kiss.