January Part 3: Parent's Night Out and William's Performance

We had our first challenge for our dairy-free guy towards the end of January; a friend's birthday party.  Our friend's daughter was turning six and stated that she would be serving pizza, cake, and ice cream at the party.  Normally this would not have been an issue and Joseph and I would look at each other and go, "Woo hoo!  At least we don't have to plan lunch for today."  However, since all of those items had dairy in them, we had to put our heads together and think of something for our big guy to eat at the party (and not feel left out). 
We visited our local Whole Foods right before the party and were very pleased to find that they made fresh vegan pizzas.  We ordered a vegan pizza with pepperoni (lol, go figure) and picked up some chocolate vegan cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and made our way to the party.
The pizza was just "OK" (to be honest, the frozen vegan pizza was actually much better), but the cupcakes were a big hit with the kiddos.  We told William that he could have the cake, ice cream, and pizza that were provided at the party, but he insisted that he have the exact same lunch as his big brother. 

William loved the vegan cupcakes.

The chocolate peanut butter cupcakes were a big hit
with Alex as well.

Our friend Ai-ris (Joseph's med school classmate)
holding Penelope while her daughter Yoshimi (the birthday girl)
played with her.

Alex enjoyed playing with Yoshimi's Chewbacca mask.

*Proud parent moment:  There was a pinata at the party and once the
pinata was broken, the kids started frantically snatching up
all of the candy off of the ground.  Instead of joining in with the
bunch, Alex made it a point to get the attention of the birthday girl's
father to ask him if the treats inside the pinata were dairy free.
Joseph and I were so proud of Alex for advocating for himself.

Penelope loved looking and smiling at all of the big girls at the party.

That evening, Joseph and I had a much needed parent's night out.  He made reservations at a new restaurant called Select which was an insanely good oyster bar that served awesome seafood as well.  It was so great to get out with the hubs and plus, I had been dying to eat raw oysters.  I love raw oysters and had to abstain from eating them while I was pregnant with Penelope.  This was a real treat!

Mmmmm!  Come to mama!

It was snowing a ton that evening, but that didn't stop
us from getting out of the house!

After dinner, we went to our friends Gaurav and Shikha's  house
to celebrate Shikha's birthday.  We had a great time playing games
that evening.

Gaurav kept me hydrated with Moscow mules.

A little TOO hydrated!  HA!  :-)

Penelope on January 24

I was getting the boys' breakfast ready one morning
and found Oscar with his paws up on the couch.
He is such a quirky dog.

Oscar had an accident on the ground, so I had to clean it up.
Alex said, "Hey mommy, I can hold Penelope while
you do that.  I've got this."
He's such a great big brother to his little sis.

Our happy little girl in her jammies.

Penelope on January 26

Miss P working on her grabbing technique

Penelope doing some tummy time while listening to
Joseph read to the boys at night time (with Oscar being
the ever vigilant watch dog).

Penelope doing tummy time while listening to a story.

Helping Miss P learn to sit up on her own.

This is how our mornings go in the car after we drop
Alex off at school; me drinking my Mother's milk
tea, Penelope either screaming or sleeping in the back,
and a happy-go-lucky William along for the ride.

At Penelope's music class one morning, I was about to take
a picture of her playing with a tambourine when a toddler
came up and snatched it away from us.  :-/

She couldn't believe it!  (Just kidding)

This is pretty much how she looks during each music class.
She loves to sit in my lap and watch all of the kids
sing and dance.

This is really her favorite part of the music class!
She loves to look at herself in the mirror.

One afternoon while we were making lunch (and Alex was
at school), William enjoyed sharing a snack of baby carrots
with Oscar on the rug.  He's such a funny kid.

William singing his little heart out.  He was learning
a new song at school and wanted to sing it for me.

Time for William's open classroom!  On January 28 and 29, William had an open classroom where families could come and visit the class to see what the children had been working on.  At the very end, the kids put on a small performance that was absolutely adorable.

William greeted me at the door exactly like this.
He was SO excited to show me his drawing and take
me around the classroom.

He proudly took me around both of the classrooms
to show me all of his favorite toys.

William showing off the letters of the week.

William was so excited to show me all of the puzzles in the classroom.

William putting together the red puzzle.

This is his favorite part of the classroom.  He LOVES
playing with the toolbox and talks about it every day.

Silly guy!

Time to color a picture of Lulu le lapin (Lulu the rabbit).

Although William was enthusiastically singing his heart
out at home, he was very apprehensive about singing
in front of all of the families at school.  He only wanted to sit by me
and begrudgingly sat with his classmates during the performance.

So cute!  William's favorite song was the clown song and the teachers

even put a clown nose on the squirrel puppet that helped to sing the song
with the class.

The words of the song were:

"J'ai un gros nez rouge
Des traits sur les yeux
Un chapeau qui bouge
Un air malicieux
Deux grandes savates
Un grand pantalon
Et quand je me gratte
Je saute au plafond!"

Translation:

I have a big red nose
some lines above my eyes
a hat which moves
an air of naughtiness
two big slippers
baggy pants
and when I scratch myself
I jump up to the ceiling!

William singing the clown song

He kept asking to sing this song over and over.

He really enjoyed the end part of the performance
and loved dancing around with his classmates.

After the performance, he showed me some more of his classroom.

He pointed out that his job for the week was line leader.

He was so proud.

Alex loooooves touching Penelope's cheeks.

Silly face time!

I was so proud of this guy.

These two really love to play with each other.

HA!!  The next morning, I went to William's class again to visit and watch him perform.  The picture below is exactly how he greeted me as I walked through the front door:

This kid cracks me up!

We enjoyed a pretend picnic on the floor of his classroom.

After that, he proceeded to put the pegs into every
hole on the peg board until it was time to perform
once again.

After many pep talks, I convinced him that he would
be fine sitting on the line with his classmates during
the performance.  He finally gave in.

Our happy guy, ready to sing his heart out.

William and his classmates singing the "Bonjour" song.

Then they sang the days of the week song.

After that, they sang "Head and shoulders, knees and toes"
in French.

Time for the clown song!

William and his classmates taking a bow.

Woo hoo!  Our little man rallied and did a fantastic job!  He wasn't as intimidated the second time around and enjoyed singing with his friends.  I was so proud of him.

Me and Miss P getting our snuggle on.

Our fancy little girl rockin' some leopard print.

Some sibling bonding time.

This big guy loves to hold his little sis.

Penelope sitting up with the aid of the Boppy.  She's
slowly getting there.

January was filled with lots of activities and fun memories.  It proved to be a much more tame winter compared to last year.  Thank goodness!
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki