June 27, 2009 by Dad.

Shrek, and more recently “the second Shrek” as Cezanne calls it, are Cezanne’s favorite movies ( at the moment ) and she watches it at some meal times or when a Mommy or a Daddy just need to get something done quickly and need Cezanne to “sit still” for a bit. Well Cezanne loves to sing and dance and is now picking up lyrics and dialog from the things she is exposed to so we need to be very careful about what she does get to see…

Here is a link to a video capturing her performance, each one is different but this one is pretty good. I hope to catch a few more performances before she moves on to the next favorite.

I just wish I could get both her face and what was on screen in the shot at the same time so you can see what she is responding to, maybe I need a mirror or some kind of fancy picture-in-picture video ?? Oh well, here it is, enjoy - it is rather large so give it a few minutes to download and then start playing - use the link below the video to save it for replay again later, that way you need not download again…

Shrek 2 Opening

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June 25, 2009 by Dad.

…darkness, quite, peace, sleep…

“Daddy ! Poopie !”

Awake, instantly, “…WHERE ?”

…and so I was up at around 7:30. I think I am going to record that and make an alarm clock with that as the “buzz” sound, each parent will be up in a flash fearing the worst.

In my case I have a girl with “Potty Power” so found the offensive poopie in the potty as it should be. Offensive indeed, a MONSTER poopie the size of a large grapefruit - note I said grapefruit not grape. A flush and it was gone and we headed downstairs for breakfast and more importantly, coffee !

A couple of hours later ( 9:30 ) Lanelle took over and instigated a massive water play day outside. With her “expert” instruction she was able to instruct the the local pool boy / cabana boy a.k.a ME to inflate the splash mat, put out the umbrellas, inflate the outdoor easel and provide drinks for the ladies at the pool.

When the art easel was finally inflated and filled with water Cezanne made the comment about it being “a lovely surprise, Daddy”, this made all the effort worth it. Here are a few shots from her fun morning outside…

…oh and let me not forget to show off out beautiful roses that have now finally flowered.

Add “master gardener” to my other titles around here !

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June 21, 2009 by Dad.

It was time for a sad farewell to Granny & Grandpa today. After a wonderful 6 week visit it was time for them to head home again. I think we all will miss them but hope they had a wonderful vacation. We tried to squeeze in a family photo before the rain came down and here are the best of what we managed…

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June 20, 2009 by Dad.

Hooray ! Cezanne is 3 today !

We started the morning with a new gymnastics class and we had a blast, a nice new coach and so many other little girls to talk to and do gymnastics with, it was a treat ! Cezanne even told the coach when she needed to go potty and we made it without any accidents. Cezanne had really impressed us all with how quickly and how well she has done with the potty training !

Home after gym and then off to the zoo ! We decided that this would be a nice way to spend the day and again one of her best friends (Chloe) and family joined us for the day. Cezanne and Chloe had a wonderful time as they always do when they are together and not too tired or hungry

It was the first super hot day of the summer so we took swimsuits with to the zoo and the girls cooled off at the splash park. I had to stay close to ensure they were OK which was not all bad, I got to cool off too

It was a wonderful day out but so hot that when we finally got home we decided to open gifts in the basement where it was nice and cool. Here is a selection of some of the gifts that Cezanne received, thanks again to everybody !!

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June 19, 2009 by Dad.

One day to go, as you can tell, we are all counting down the days to the big 3 !

Finally the weather is getting hotter, not sunny just yet, but warm enough for a swim !

There was also a lot of silly games being played outside with Granny & Mommy, here we see the two extremes of Cezanne.

LOUD	quiet

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June 18, 2009 by Dad.

Two days to the birthday we felt we better let Cezanne open a gift or two otherwise there would be a total overdose on the day. We kept all the gifts from the birthday party for her to open on her actual birthday. Everybody was so generous, the pile of gift was so big it filled the baby crib ( we had to stash them out of reach and the crib was the safest “out of reach” place ).

So Cezanne got to pick one gift to open today and here she opens the card which made an immediate impression on her as you can see

Later, Granny helped paint nails and this was also a big deal for Cezanne, she even tried doing her own nails after a lesson from Granny ! Thanks for that

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June 16, 2009 by Dad.

With only a few more days left with Granny & Grandpa we had to fit in a trip to the Arboretum. We have a great Arboretum, with a wonderful children’s garden that Cezanne loves. We actually went to show the grandparents the gardens but Cezanne enjoyed herself so much that we never got further than the children’s garden. Cezanne took turns with the other children, stood her ground when the big kids came running by and was even lucky enough to be invited to join a fairy meeting that was being held in the fairy clubhouse in the top of the tree slide…

Grandparents !	On top of the mountain	The water ball…	Pirate Treasure !
Water Play !	Climbing the canopy	Here I am !	On my stool
The fairy meeting	Water Pumper	Hello Friends	The royal wave…
Pluto’s House	A silly finale !

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June 13, 2009 by Dad.

 This year we ( Lanelle ) decided that we just could not do another “over the top” backyard birthday party. We resorted to a party at Bounce Town, an indoor inflatable party venue that we have been to a number of times for some of the older kids parties and they all seem to have a good time so I figured I would just give in and agree. We then ended up sharing the party with a friend, Bianca, who turned 4 earlier in June.

The party started with a lot of crying - Cezanne jumped off one of the slides onto the hard floor and must have hurt her foot but she moaned about it for at least 30 minutes. I was about ready to call it quits, load her in the car and return all the gifts. I took a few ( 500+ ) deep breaths and pretended to be “Father of the Year” and just ate up her whining until she stopped and we had fun playing basketball / football - see photo below.

Eventually it was time for cake and candles which ended off a really nice party. OK, Lanelle, go ahead and say it (”I told you so !”).

Its my party, I’ll cry if I want to !	Now I am all smiles..	A happy party girl !
All my friends !	Climbing up to…	…slide down with friends
Weeeee !	Playing Football w/ Dad	My Mickey Mouse Cake
Cezanne & Bianca	Blowing Candles	Happy Birthday Cezanne
Mmmm ! Cake !	Cezanne & Chloe

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June 12, 2009 by Dad.

So we finally finished Cezanne’s Big Girl Room and she moved in with out any problems. We talked to her about the move and made it as exciting as we could involving her along the way to ensure that we did all that we could so as to avoid any push back. She loves the room and took to it instantly. We made a clear distinction that the old room is now for the baby and that she is now a big girl with her own big girl room.

She got a set of funny glasses as a parting gift from a party some time back and found them again and now actually got them on her face. Trying to get them off her again was a challenge !

Silly Face	…and again !
As is the glasses are not silly enough, just have to add the tongue	I love this one !
Tada - Big Girl Room	My Books & Chair

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June 4, 2009 by Dad.

The swing set is still a great big hit !

Grandma is the champion swing pusher and Cezanne tries to get her out there as often as she can. Everyday she tries to go outside before even having breakfast and we have a tough time convincing her that she has to eat before she can swing…

Swing Swing Yipee !

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