No Soup for You

  Andy Warhol = Tomato Soup Cans. Too bad he would have hated this association seeing that he was sick of the can and  that people made it ‘a thing’ when he traveled, including a stop in Fort Collins in the early 80's. At least that’s what I learned when we visited the Andy Warhol print collection at the Fort Collins Museum of Art.


  I am not an art aficionado. I know what you know from taking the most general of art appreciation courses despite the fact my mom took me to museums for as long as I remember, particularly if there was a Monet or a van Gogh exhibit. I am thankful she made a point to expose us kids to fine art, but I guess it just made a greater impression on brother than me. (I did eventually find my niche in a museum at the photography exhibits.)

    Sad to say it took ten years of living in Fort Collins to finally visit our local art museum. I had read there was an Andy Warhol exhibit and thought it might be fun. We had planned to go on a date night, but by chance we ended up taking Layla with us. Luckily kids under six are free and luckily it ended up being the perfect way to introduce her to the world of art.We also corrected her assumption that a museum is the same as a zoo.

  The small room was lined with Warhol’s famous pop art prints depicting toddler icons like Superman, Santa Claus and Layla’s personal favorite- The Wicked Witch of the West. (She has a soft spot for the villains- that’s normal, right?)  It took about ten minutes to check out the collection with another few minutes to learn about his visit to our town and his dislike of his most famous Campbell’s soup can- which was not part of the collection.

  I learned a little and was reminded he was responsible for the Moonwalk print etched in my memory from years of watching MTV.


  We'll see what Layla’s relationship with art will be- maybe she’ll be a natural artist like her uncle Josh or maybe she’ll like Impressionists like her Grandma  or Ansel Adams like her mom.


  But it sure is nice to have an art museum here in town and I’ll try not to wait another ten years before we go back.

A Snowy Day

Snow. We tend to lose our love affair with it once we must shovel and drive in it.  The scraping, the sliding, the getting up early to ensure everyone gets where they need to be…. It becomes less magical and more of a hassle. But there was a time when snow meant springing out of bed and turning on the news to see if school was canceled, piling on the layers and playing in it until we could no longer feel our fingers and toes. 

  I haven't completely lost my love. I do enjoy watching it fall when I’m not behind the wheel, preferably in a cabin with a mountain view. I love the stillness it brings. I love how everything looks a little prettier with a layer of fresh snow.  And I guess there’s still a part of me that wants to wake up to three feet  that shuts down town completely and makes the only viable option for the day baking cookies and watching movies.

  Snow is nostalgic. There was a book I remember that I’ve looked for online but cannot find. It’s about a dad and child that go for a walk on a snowy evening. My dad and I would read the book and then go on a walk ourselves. It’s one of those memories that I’m unsure if it just happened once or a dozen times but it obviously made an impression.


  I can't find the book I remember from my childhood to give to Layla, but for Christmas she got  Snowy Day from Grandma Elaine and this week was the perfect week to read it and then go outside and do the same things Peter did in the story. We had a snowball fight, made snow angels and made funny tracks. It’s a great book and one I’m sure we’ll read many snowy days to come.

  And after shedding the snow pants, mittens and hats, we treated our pink cheeks to mugs of hot chocolate and read our book one more time.  And at least for a little while snow was no hassle at all.

Short Legs, Shorter Attention Span

  Layla is small for her age and although completely healthy, her doctor projects she’ll be just shy of five feet when she’s done growing. How they look at a three year old and determine this, is a little crazy to me, but tall or average or short it makes no difference to us. 

  Sure there have been drawbacks: she was already walking by the time she could properly bounce in her bouncer, it was hard to find underwear that fit  when she was potty trained and- what I think are- giant sized toddlers are constantly running her over at daycare. While riding in a car, it's possible Layla may by law have to sit in a booster seat until she is twelve years old.

  But there have been perks to having a munchkin as well.

  Strangers always think she is quite advanced for her age, she is slow to grow out of clothes and she has been small enough to be carried longer than most in the kid carrier.

   Nowadays underwear fits fine but I’m not sure I will be able to carry her 28 pounds on my back this summer.

  And so this year’s hiking will be a test of parental patience…

     Driving up the canyon is always a welcomed re-boot- especially in the winter when jaunts up  are few and far between.  And on an unseasonably warm January day we headed up to Hewlett Gulch to take the first hike of 2014. Not only the first hike of the year but the first hike with Layla out of the kid carrier and on the ground.

  We parked in the parking lot, opened the door only to find it had turned way too windy to hike with a three year old. And so back in the car we retreated to town where it wasn’t windy at all. We settled on Lee Martinez Park where we successfully turned a five minute walk down the Poudre Trail to Salyer Open Space into an hour excursion.

  She has short little legs and an even shorter attention span.  You have to admire her inquisitive mind and determination to investigate every stick, rock, shadow and puddle. Although as Court said, it might take six days to hike Horsetooth Rock.

  After our walk and the swings the cold front found us there too and we retreated back indoors, where we've been ever since. Our first hike of 2014 will have to wait for another day and I think we now have a better idea of what we are in for this summer.

A Night with the Eagles

  The bride and groom recited their vows as family and friends looked on. But somewhere within the seated guests a baby started to make a low guttural sound. An unearthly sound her parents had coined 'The Frankenbaby'. Adorable at home, not so much here. There were a few chuckles and a few heads swiveling to see the source. The one-year-old’s mother turned a deep shade of red. 
 
  For whatever reason kids love to use their outside voices at the most inconvenient times. Restaurants, airplanes and, yes, even during wedding ceremonies.
 
  So it was a special treat when Layla,  now three and no longer a Frankenbaby, realized it was not only allowed but encouraged to scream, hoot, and holler at the Colorado Eagles hockey game. Not a single soul asking her to please use her inside voice.

  Layla watched wide-eyed as men in skates pushed a puck back and forth across the ice.  Since we are strictly a baseball family (Go Cards!) this was her first exposure to hockey. The Eagles scored and she jumped up with the rest of the crowd, but with mom or dad’s help as to not get folded in half by the seat.

  In the end the Eagles won and lucky for the husband there were even a couple brawls. When Layla asked why they were fighting I tried explaining why grown men were punching, shoving and acting a fool, but then realized I’m not really sure why that's allowed either. I did think she’d be more impressed by the remote control blimps flying overhead and the giant eagle running around pumping up the crowd, but by that time she'd hunkered down with her dippin' dots ice cream.

  Tickets start at $16 -not including whatever stadium food you inevitably overpay for. By no means a cheap family outing but compared to any other sporting event it's a deal. They play just down the road at the Budweiser Event Center, a small venue without a bad seat in the house. It's especially family friendly for the simple reason lots of families go and the Eagles have a loyal fan base- exuberant but well behaved.  For these reasons it is a fantastic wintertime activity where the kids can be loud and no one would notice a Frankenbaby if you brought one. But this time we brought the a fore mentioned bride and groom AKA the best babysitters on the planet.
 
 

Goodbye 2013!

  We fell asleep hours before midnight New Years Eve. I didn’t even buy champagne because I knew we wouldn't be ringing in the new year proper this time.
  A round of Candy Land, a family dance party and a few Saisons made for a perfect evening even if it was over by 10 pm. 
  But perhaps I’ll buy a bottle of bubbly yet…
  I’ve let two huge milestones slip by this fall without proper celebration.
  This October marked our 10th anniversary with Fort Collins. Although we celebrate our love for the little city in subtle ways every day, I feel we need to do something special for her this year. Perhaps give back in a meaningful way and of course make sure we take advantage of all the things we love about our town but sometimes feel too busy to fully appreciate.We've been humbled by fires and floods this year reminding us everything is temporary.
  This winter also marks Toddlerado’s first anniversary. I have successfully blogged for an entire year. The time has flown by and sometimes I wonder how I’m going to fit writing and taking pictures into our busy life but then I remember how much I love to do both those things, especially with my family.
  I didn’t know what exactly Toddlerado would evolve into when I started. My hope was to inspire and motivate my family to do fun things together while creating a creative outlet for myself.  It's become a way to share important milestones in Layla's life- the adorable, deplorable and hopefully relate-able.
  I received the best reason to keep on blogging over Christmas. One of Layla’s Great Grandmas told me how even though she has only met Layla a couple times, she feels like she knows her. That’s enough for me.
  I’ll keep on writing and taking pictures and will hopefully continue to find things to write about besides our latest trip to Target. I’ll continue to strive to make the most of our time together and take each new adventure as it comes and see what else we can discover in Fort Collins over the next ten years. From parks to events- our own backyard and beyond.  If you are reading this, thank you for being a part of our life this year and I hope it brought you smiles.

The Christmas Tour 2013

  It was a whirlwind of family, friends, food and photo ops.  At times it felt like we were on a world tour promoting -not a new album- but a three year old. Although we were excited to come home we knew it would be as hectic as it was enjoyable. Despite a bit of pre-trip anxiety each stop we made on our tour was absolutely wonderful and I wished we could have stayed longer every time. I am glad we took the time to make and send out an itinerary. (Note: no one was completely pleased with the itinerary but until we are able to manipulate the space/time continuum it was the best we could come up with and sending it out early hopefully helped the parents make their peace with the gives and the takes. And I take any disgruntlement as more proof  we are greatly loved.)
  For ten years I clung to the idea it wasn’t a big deal we were unable to make it home for Christmas.  I maintained the time of year we visited our families didn’t matter. Sure we got a little homesick when our relatives all gathered together without us and although I tried to incorporate holiday traditions from my childhood into our Colorado life, it’s just not the same.
  But it was the only option for a gal and her guy who moved 900 miles away and got sucked into retail management.
  This year a new job meant we got to fly to St. Louis where we party hopped all over Southern Illinois for a week straight. It was full of Great Grandmas, Great Aunts and Uncles, great siblings, great parents, great cousins and great food.
  I could go on and on about how wonderful it was to see everyone, meet new additions and how it just makes it all the more special to do these things when the stockings are hung, the peanut butter balls, Louie's meat and cheese trays and nut filled muffins are abundant and when being with family just means a little bit more.
  There is no substitute for being surrounded by family at Christmas. Sure there will be years we don’t make it, but this year proved I have no trouble trading our Christmas tradition of all day pajamas and mimosas for the hugs, the smiles and the opportunity to surround Layla with all the love we grew up with and how it’s all just a little more special this time of year.