Wonders of Raising Aria: September 2007

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There was a moment during class today that made me feel really sad and sad for Aria. The teacher asked the kids to raise their hands if they are an older brother or sister. Alot of hands went up but Aria's remained down. I cringed inside because Aria could have been a big sister and she should have been one of the kids to raise her hand.
Then she asked the kids to raise their hands if they are a younger brother or sister. Of course Aria isn't one of those either. She just sat there observing.

Dressing up as a bride.

Bit of Pasadena history.

We went to Family Fun Day at The Pasadena Museum of History on Sunday. The museum transformed their outdoor garden into 'Main Street' with areas for a bakery where we can decorate cupcakes, a clothing store to try on vintage clothing, a restaurant for waiter races, a silent movie theater, a bicycle shop to ride bikes, and a drugstore where we can buy ice cream. They gave us free play money to spend at each location. So fun. I don't think too many people knew about it because the place was not crowded at all.

Aria was reluctant to try the waiter race and the bike ride but after A.'s prompting (for at least 15 mins.), Aria gave them both a go and had a blast at each. We closed the place out.

Dressing up.

Trying out an antique car. We found out later that we weren't suppose to be on it. Oops.

Decorating her cupcake. She picked all chocolate- chocolate cupcake, chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles. I predict that she's going to be a chocoholic like her mom.

During the waiter race against A. She won.

She was able to actually go for a spin on this around the garden.

Friday.

Skirball is becoming our regular Friday event. I took Aria to Skirball last Friday and I invited a new friend and her 2 children along. Her name is Jasmine and she has a 3 years old daughter named Vivian and a 15 months old boy named Alex. Ideally, I would like Aria and Vivian to play well together so that Jasmine and I can talk and watch baby Alex. Well, realistically, Aria loathes Vivian and doesn't want to have anything to do with her. This spurs Vivian on and makes her want to bug Aria even more. Vivian would insist that Aria hold her hand while walking. Aria would shake her off and walk on with her head up in the ear. Then Vivian would cry and complain to Jasmine about Aria, etc. Augh.... I got a headache after the 3rd time that this happened and decided to make some space between them. Secretly, I was glad that Aria refused to touch Viv's hands because Viv's a nose picker (and sometimes a finger licker, yuck). I would like Aria to make more friends regardless if they're younger than her or smaller than her. To cap off a bad day, Aria accidentally shoved Vivian resulting in Vivian falling and one of her pink Croc flying off her foot. There was alot of screaming from Vivian after that. I put Aria into time out and made her apologize. I am so sadden by the fact that Jasmine and my friendship is stunted because our kids can't play together well. She also commented on it so I guess we will not be having anymore playgroups together. I met Jasmine in one of Aria's YMCA class so we'll still see each other weekly but I got a feeling that we're not going to meet up outside of the Y anymore.

Forgot to mention that Aria had a play date right before the Skirball visit and that went great. We were at Julia's house and Julia and Aria had tons of fun doing dress up. Wish she was friendly with Vivian too.

This is Vivian, Aria's 'nemesis'.

Different variations.

Sat. night.

We watched Cassidy and Michael again last Sat. as part of our swap. Alice is going to watch Aria a few Sat. from now. Once again it went well. Michael didn't even cry when he got dropped off. The girls ran right into Aria's room and began some serious playing. I had purchased Aria a new mermaid costume earlier in the day so Cassidy was able to wear Aria's old one and they were both able to be mermaids throughout the night. The only obstacles I had was trying to put Michael to sleep. I had to rock him for a really long time and boy, he is a pretty hefty baby. By the time I was able to put him down, Alice and her hubby Alain came back from their date. The evening was too short.

At Toys R Us, on the Bat mobile.

The mermaids. I really like Aria's new mermaid costume. It gives her room to grow into and it's long-sleeved. She can wear it for Halloween if she wants to. Best part, it was only $20!

vacation.

We went up north to Sacramento a few weekends ago to visit my younger sister. It was a nice break before we hopped back into our hectic schedule of preschool, evening classes, YMCA classes etc. We did alot in the 4 days that we were there. We went to Fairytale Town, Marine World, a Bridal Expo, watched a movie in the park and ate at tons of different places. Aria was also able to go for a long swim with daddy while I hung out with my sister. Overall, great fun for everyone.

On the big cheese in Fairytale Town.

In the pumpkin coach.

Aria and my sister.

As Dorothy from Wizard of Oz.

We won these at Marine World. Only the pink dog came home with us. We've got too many stuff animals at home as is.

Waiting for our plane to head back to L.A.

First day back.

Aria started her Kindergarden Enrichment Class today at our local Adult School. She's been attending that same school since she was 10 months old by being in various Mommy & Me class. This will be the last one in the series. After this, she'll be off to kindergarten. (sniff. sniff..) Boy, she's come a long way. I remember that it was not too long ago when she would freak out if I'm not by her side. Now she's content with the fact that I'm in the same room and can play peacefully without me hovering over her.

The first day of class went smoothly enough given the fact that there were 29 kids and their mommies. Cassidy (Aria's best bud) and Zoe also happen to be in the same class. In fact there were alot of familiar faces in the crowd, alot of kids and their moms from our previous classes. The kids behaved well given the fact that some of them are missing their naps or just had a full morning of preschool. Aria's fall school schedule doesn't really take effect until next week when she starts preschool. It's going to be interesting next week. Her days are filled with activities up till 4 PM with only Friday as her day off. Poor thing, I'm tired just thinking about it.

Aria and Cassidy.

Aria, Zoe & Cassidy. Look! they're not fighting!

Waiting for class to start. See the chaos?

Labor Day Weekend update.

I can't say it enough, God, it's hot! Yes, it's been a sweltering weekend. This is also the last weekend before Aria starts school again. She's going to have one very busy schedule. I wanted us to have a relatively relaxing weekend before the chaos starts up.

On Saturday, we took Aria to Home Depot to try our hands on their free kids' workshop event. Aria made a football peg shelf this month. Then we headed out to Santa Fe Dam located in Irwindale. Maggie and her hubby invited us to join them and a local church group there. It was swelter out there too but at least Aria was able to cool off by swimming in the man made lake. She enjoyed the water while I decided to stay on the shore. I'm not too fond of getting wet. We stayed for almost 4 hours and decided to head home. We later had dinner with A.'s friend Mauricio at an all-you-can-eat Korean B.B.Q. restaurant. I was too busy eating to take any pictures. I walked out of there smelling like meal and loving it. Aria ate really well there, surprisingly. She's now a new fan of bulgogi.

On Sunday, we went to Skirball. Aria is still not tired of the place even though we were just there 3 days ago. I, on the other hand, can skip that place for a couple of weeks. Afterwards, we met up with A.'s parents who were babysitting Bella and Layla. We all hang out at A.'s brother's place and went out for dinner.

Monday was a day of relaxation for me. I didn't leave the house once. A. took Aria to the Y for 3 hours of swimming while I lounged at home in front of the T.V. I accidentally got sucked into an Anthony Bourdain marathon on The Travel Network and spent hours journeying with him through Indonesia, Hong Kong, Scotland, China, and Guana. Love his personality and his take on different culture. I especially liked his hour episode on Hong Kong. Makes me nostalgic for my homeland. I hope Aria will have the opportunity to experience the culture there one day.

Painting her project at Home Depot.