Wrapped in her towel like mama

Astrid loves to imitate Mama so after our bath I wrapped Astrid's towel around her just like mine. She kept asking if it was a dress. Yeah a towel dress. Haha.

Vegas Baby!

U. and his apt pupil (Astrid) have been saying "Vegas Baby!" for a couple days now.

U. is attending a conference here in Las Vegas, while Astrid and I will spend as much time as possible at the pool. Astrid is "pool crazy" as we haven't been able to go to the pool the Y or to the beach in sometime. So since last night when we told her we would be going to a place with a pool, she's been saying "Swimming pool! Swimming! Swimsuit! Swim diaper!" over and over again. First thing this morning she even asked me to put a swim diaper on her. Talk about excited to go swimming!
We drove the 4 hours to Las Vegas rather than flying this time. It's such a hassle now with flying that it was faster and more convenient to drive.

We stopped in Baker (a podunk truck stop town with the world's largest thermometer - no joke!) as is our ritual when driving to Vegas, to stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat at Denny's. (It's the only restaurant around with the exception of some truly scary diners.)
Astrid with her "rocket" child's cup. She's old enough now to sit with us in the booth with or without a booster seat.

Astrid watching Sesame Street on the iPod (or as Astrid calls it, "Ses Sweet"). Prior to today the only things she would view on the iPod were photos, and a video of her and mommy (me).

Normally in the car Astrid reads, colors, and draws to keep herself entertained, but for this long road trip (four hours) U. downloaded some Sesame Street episodes for her to watch. We also have a flat screen and DVD player in our car (with cordless headphones), but we don't use it. U. let Astrid watch it a few times and it turned into a nightmare. I'd be driving on the freeway and Astrid would start crying for TV, and there was no way I was putting it on for such a short drive. I'd rather her read her books, look outside, and listen to music. So we decided not to use it (unless we absolutely need to).

Sad that you have to get your kid addicted to TV just so you can have some peace and quiet. It is the great pacifier. Up until age 2 we didn't allow Astrid to watch any TV, but now that she's a bit older we've become more lenient with letting her watch PBS in the morning. We still try to limit the amount of TV she watches but have to admit that once you open that gate, it's hard to close it. Last time we were in Las Vegas with Astrid (when we stayed that The Wynn Hotel) she was in a stroller, but now a year later she's pushing a stroller of her own.
Astrid brought her favorite doll and two toy bottles with milk and juice.
We're staying at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay and this time we got a corner suite which is a bit larger. Our hotel shares its pool area with Mandalay Bay including a number of heated pools, a lazy river, and even a wave pool with a man-made beach. So that's where we headed as soon as we got here.

Last time we stayed at this hotel was 3.5 years ago and I don't remember the trek to the pool/beach to be that far. But with a 2 year old toddler in tow, holding her hand, a diaper bag, and inner tube, while walking through a casino, the trek seemed more like an odyssey.

We spent a long time in the lazy river with Astrid in her inner tube/baby boat that we brought with us. We weren't able to go into the wave pool because of the height requirement (48 inches). So we went into the pool instead.

At first she didn't want to swim at all. She had a hissy fit every time I tried to get her out of her inner tube. But after a bit of coaxing she understood that her inner tube wasn't going anywhere and we could always come back to it, and started swimming with me (i.e., kicking her legs and letting me hold her in the water horizontally.)

After getting a bite to eat, we headed back to our room for a nice evening bath. Astrid looks so small in the huge tub.She loves the cascading water.Playing with the bath products.Washing her hands (and mommy's legs). The bathtub is so big and deep, that it's more like a swimming pool for Astrid.Vegas Baby!I was so relaxed....

Until I noticed a piece of poop in the tub. It was like an episode of Jaws - panic - evacuation - man overboard.

I made sure Astrid was clean and then I used the Lysol I brought with me to disinfect and scrub the tub (twice).

Just another day in the life of a mom.

Astrid giving Mommy a deep conditioning treatment

Astrid's Hair Salon

This is something new that Astrid does now. She doesn't care about her bath toys anymore, but she's all about playing with our hair. The moment she gets into the bathtub she wants to stand behind us to comb our hair over and over again.

She uses my large comb, applying shampoo or conditioner. She's gentle so we let her and she also uses her hands, running her fingers through our hair. She loves doing it so much that she can stand there for 20-30 minutes at a time and never gets bored with it. (U. thinks he can read the newspaper while she's doing it - but hasn't tried it yet.) I have to tell her to sit down in the water (to get warm) and relax for awhile.

From sitting in the water so long we get all shriveled up, but she doesn't want to stop. In fact sometimes it's a struggle to take the comb away from her afterwards. But since she loves it so much, both U. and I will sit with her as long as our shriveled hands and feet can stand it, so the baby can continue her fun.

Over her fish phobia

When we were at the beach last time, Astrid was afraid of the little minnows swimming in the water. So when I saw this toy fish (that actually swims like a real fish and is painted to look like a real one) in the store, I thought it might help her get over her fear of fish.

I think it did the trick. She didn't mind it swimming next to her and even loved pulling the chord to make the fin in the back start moving again.After awhile she even forgot about the fish and was focused on soaping up.

Washing between her toes.Making sure her feet are clean as can be.

You wash my back and I'll wash yours

U. washing Astrid's foot.
Astrid washing Papa's hand.
Giving it a thorough washing.
Astrid washing Papa's face.

Astrid playing with her kickboard in the bathtub

Bath time with Mommy

Baby's blue eyes and my brown eyes.