Happy Easter 2007!

This morning we went to the Barnsdall Art Park, for Astrid's very own, 1st Easter egg hunt in the park. (Earlier this week Astrid's gymnastics class had an indoor Easter egg hunt.) The park is located on the top of Olive Hill in Hollywood, overlooking the city of Los Angeles. It has an amazing view and was so tranquil and removed from the city. When Uwe and Astrid were here last, there were people doing Tai Chi in the park. Uwe and Astrid (holding her purple Easter bunny) going up the steps.

This morning it was overcast and chilly, so no Easter dress for Astrid. Instead she wore her Easter shawl over her warm purple outfit. The park and surrounding areas are beautiful, but today being Easter I was focused just on taking photos of Astrid. However I did find some nice photos of Barnsdall Art Park and the Hollyhock House (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) which is located on the property on Flickr. See below.
At the top of Olive Hill in Barnsdall Art Park with a view of Los Angeles. This photo is called "Pine Art" and was taken by deadeyebart... A view of the Hollywood sign and Griffith Park Observatory. (Photo taken by Clinton.) Barnsdall Art Park has several art installations such as this one. (Photo taken by TravelingMan.)
Hollyhock house (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). (Photo taken by nicola.)

BARNSDALL ART PARK
4800 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90027-5390

HISTORY:

Located at the crest of Olive Hill overlooking the city of Los Angeles, Barnsdall Art Park had its beginning in the early 1900's when Aline Barnsdall came West with plans to develop a theatre company. When Aline Barnsdall donated the Park and its Frank Lloyd Wright designed structures to the City of Los Angeles to the City of Los Angeles in 1927, she wished to provide an accessible arts center, incorporating and preserving the famous Hollyhock House as a vital component. The spirit of Barnsdall's intention was to maintain an active arts center for the community was assured longevity.

Programs and exhibits became a part of the mission of the Park, programs that are used by thousands of Los Angeles community members as well as visitors from throughout the world. The Community Arts Division of the Cultural Affairs Department manages the Park. For more information regarding the Cultural Affairs Department see their website at www.culturela.org.

Programs include the adult and youth art classes at the Barnsdall Art Center and the Junior Arts Center, the Barnsdall Art Center and the Hollyhock House; museum education and tours programs at the Municipal Art Gallery, the Junior Arts Center Gallery and the Hollyhock House; theatre programs at the Gallery Theatre; and , numerous festivals during the year that celebrate the cultural diversity of the community.

Last night Uwe prepared for Astrid's Easter egg hunt by stuffing stickers into each of the plastic Easter eggs.

When we got to the park Uwe hid the eggs while I distracted Astrid. It wasn't easy - believe me. Astrid knew what Papa was doing, and she kept trying to run back to Uwe.

In the photo above, Uwe is done hiding all the eggs, and Astrid has her basket in hand ready to start hunting for eggs. Uwe is pointing in the direction that Astrid should start looking.Astrid was so cute to watch. She was so excited and shouting "eggs! eggs! eggs!" while running in the grass, picking up eggs and putting them in her basket. She acted like an old pro at it and Uwe reminded me that she got the hang of it from last Halloween when we took her trick or treating. (Then she had a pumpkin basket filled with candy, and now she has an Easter basket with eggs - same principle.)Uwe helping Astrid get an egg that was a little too high up in the bushes for her to reach.

Below are some more photos from Astrid's Easter egg hunt.

Here's Uwe hiding eggs for round 2. He did a great job hiding them in spots that weren't too easy, but not too hard to find, like behind this tree.

Uwe is running to finish hiding the few remaining eggs. Astrid running towards Uwe.It took awhile to get Astrid interested in hunting for eggs again. When she finally was interested again, I had to hold her basket while she found eggs with less enthusiasm. Lesson learned - once is enough. Opening the egg to find the stickers inside.

We're going to use the remaining stickers from the packet that Uwe purchased (with 700 stickers) as positive reinforcement for Astrid's potty training.

Mama and Astrid. With a toddler, I don't see how it's possible to have fat arms. My biceps get a workout from carrying around a 30 lbs baby. Astrid would love it if I carried her around all day, but then my arms would look like Popeye, and I would have major back problems.

Three heart shaped chairs next to the art center.The 3 of us sitting in those chairs.

This was the first time we used the timer on the camera. In the first photo attempt, Uwe sat Astrid on the chair next to me, and rushed to sit in his own seat, but rambunctious Astrid scooted off her seat and went flying face first. Luckily she's old enough now to put her hands out to protect her face, and the Easter basket broke her fall. The photo shows Astrid in mid air, while Uwe and I are reaching for her, and Uwe has a expression on his face that is part terror, as he's shouting "NO!" She gave us quite a scare, but as you can see from the photo above, she was fine and unscathed.Uwe and Astrid in front of the mural in front of the Junior Art Center.

Astrid wouldn't sit in the chair in front of the mural, and instead wanted to crawl up onto another chair. So since she wasn't cooperating, Uwe moved her chair while she was in it, over to the mural. You can see in the photo above, the first chair is pushed off to the side. Astrid looks so serious, but cute as a button just the same. And Uwe looks especially handsome too! I'm a lucky girl.

Standing at the top of the steps, for one last photo before we go home.

Happy Easter everyone!

Keeping up with the Jones' (Astrid can say her name & age)

Uwe and I aren't the type who worry about what everyone else has in terms of material things. However we have a totally different kind of a "Keeping up with the Jones'."

In a classroom setting like Astrid's gymnastics class, we'd like Astrid to be able to say her name and how old she is. Granted she's in a class with many older kids who can say full sentences, but she's in this class because the younger class was not challenging enough for her physical development.

So today we taught Astrid to say her own name and age. Astrid is a difficult name to say. But lo and behold Astrid was able to repeat it back to us. When prompted with "What's your name?" She would answer "Astrid" in the cutest little baby voice. When we ask, "How old are you?" Astrid will say "Two" and try to hold up 2 fingers.

We're going to keep it up so that next time Uwe and Astrid are at the Little Gym, when sitting in a circle and she's asked her name and how old she is, she'll be able to answer in that adorable baby voice of her and make her parents proud.

Fun with flash cards

A couple months ago I bought 3 boxes of flash cards for Astrid at Costco: 1) picture words (Astrid's favorite), 2) colors and shapes, and 3) numbers.

Although the packaging says it's for children age 3+ years old, and Astrid isn't yet 2, I thought it would give Astrid a jump start on learning new words, shapes, and numbers. Plus I thought it would be something fun and easy for my nanny to do each day with Astrid to help her learn.

At first Astrid loved to pull the cards out one by one and have us tell her what the word was. She started to associate the picture with the word. For example: When she pulled the card with the picture of burning logs she would shout out "Hot!" Or when she pulled the picture of the snowman in winter wonderland she'd shout out "Cold!" There's also a picture of an octopus eating spaghetti, and Astrid knows that's the card for "eat". She also knows the card for "off" and "on". And then there are some cards that are confusing. For instance there's a picture of a hippo sitting down at a table and he's holding a crayon in his hand. Whenever Astrid sees this card she says "eat". I can see how the crayon may look like an eating utensil.

Lately she's gotten into the habit of dumping all the cards out onto the floor and picking up the ones she knows and shouting out their names. There's a card with a picture of a motorcycle on it and the word is "ride" but Astrid surprised me today by holding the card and shouting "bike!"
And then tonight this happened:

Astrid was holding a card and jumping up and down and saying "jump" over and over again. Uwe and I were both in the family room watching her and smiling at her.

I turned to Uwe and said, "You know she's holding the jump card don't you?"

Ahhh the fun of raising a toddler. It almost makes up for the tantrums.

Poop humor

This evening Astrid had her animal book open to this page and she kept saying "poop...poop...poop" and pointing to her book. I looked down at the page and saw she was pointing to the picture of the log and had to laugh out loud.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2007!

Today being St. Patrick's day, I dressed Astrid in a green outfit, green shoes and put a green St. Patrick's Day clip in her hair and off we went for a walk in Griffith Park.

This happens a lot. I'll pull out the camera and right when I'm about to take a picture, Astrid will run towards the camera. She knows she can view the photo right away (since it's a digital camera). But the thing is she doesn't realize that I have to FIRST take the photo and THEN she can see it. So invariably my first photo will be a blurry one of Astrid running towards the camera.

"Nothing comes between me and my Oshkosh."

When we went shopping a few days ago a couple girls in the store oohed and awed at Astrid and one exclaimed, "She looks like a living doll!" This photo reminds me of that.

Astrid spots some dogs up ahead.

Off she goes!

"Happy St. Patrick's Day!"
Pointing to the babbling brook.
Astrid's hair is long enough now that I can pull it back into a single ponytail. Our nanny Lorie bought this St. Patrick's Day hair accessory for Astrid - green and white ribbons with a pot of gold in the center.Deep in thought.

I also think her molars are coming in, since lately she always has her fingers in her mouth and is drooling a lot. It seems like the teething process is never ending.Bending down to pick a dandelion. That's one new thing she loves to do now. She loves to pick them and blow their seeds in the wind.

Astrid goes for 2 walks a day now. She goes walking with our nanny right after breakfast in the morning, and then again with me when I get home from work in the evening. She loves spotting the neighborhood rabbits, cats and dogs. She's also at that age where she wants to know what everything is called, from a rock to a blade of grass to a leaf.

Uwe and I are also starting to go for walks with her on the weekends. It's great for her to be outdoors to be able to see and experience new things; plus it's great exercise.Giving Papa a dandelion present.Entering the forest.Our little Brigitte Bardot. It still amazes me how blond her hair is. Uwe holding onto the hood of Astrid's jacket to keep her from falling into the water.

It's a fine balance to let her be independent, but then to make sure she doesn't get hurt or wander off. There were many times Uwe and I were going to go one way and she had it in her head to go off in another direction. She listens pretty well for the most part but she also has a strong independent streak. Taking a peek down at the water flowing downstream.Listening to Mama, and not getting too close to the edge.Holding onto the log railing.Uwe and Astrid stomping on the bridge to make the "boom boom" sound and vibration. Astrid really got a kick out of that.Showing Papa how to make the "boom boom" sound.More stomping of little feet on another bridge.

One last look before we go back to the car and drive to Philippe's for dinner (and then home for a bath and then off to bed).