Christmas Festivities

Santa wached me open my presents!

Phew! Has it been a great holiday season!!!  Being at home with Mommy and Daddy was nice and we did a lot of things to make the holiday fun.  On Christmas Eve, Mommy and I decorated the gingerbread house.  I got to put M&M's on the house and decorate some cookies with sprinkles.  For the most part, I only ate icing so I behaved myself during the decorating.  We got to open some presents on Christmas Eve from family.  It was all warm up for Christmas morning when Santa was coming!  When I woke up on Christmas morning, there were lots of presents under the tree and I had a great time opening them.  I even got to help Adam open his presents.  Being particular about each piece of wrapping paper I ripped off, we were opening presents for a while!  Later in the morning we talked on Skype with Grammie and Grandpa.  I opened the presents they gave me while they were watching. Later in the day I did the same thing with Mimi and Papa!  The day before when we were Skyping with Mimi and Papa (and a bunch of other people I didn't recognize at Great Gramps house) they were laughing because I said that Great Gramps had fallen asleep.  At one point Mommy and Daddy had both walked away, just as Adam had climbed up on a chair.  As soon as he climbed on it, he fell over with a bang!!

The new playroom!

Two days after Christmas, Mike, Sandy, Kaitlyn and Lauren came to visit!  I had a lot of fun with them - I kept asking for them to come back after they left.  Even though they only stayed for the day it was nice seeing them.  Plus, they brought more presents to open and I had people to play with at the playground!  I got a new baby doll that I named Sara and I do a really good job taking care of her!  We got so many presents for Christmas, Mommy and Daddy decided to make the dining room into a playroom!  Now Adam and I have a place to play!  It is so big!
I will say again I had a wonderful holiday season, especially all the new Christmas music. Here are the songs that I learned and would sing around the house all on my own:

• Walkin in a Winter Wonderland
• Jingle Bell Rock
• Jingle Bells
• Holly Jolly Christmas
• I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
• Take Me Out to the Ball Game (not Christmas, but fun to sing)
• Feliz Navidad (cant sing it but those words make me laugh!)

Coordination

Mommy has noticed in the past couple of weeks that I am getting very coordinated.  I can open and close the zipper on my bag of mega blocks, I can zipper my coat up and down (I've almost figured out how to get the zipper started) and I can climb up, instead of walk up the steps to the slide at the school playground.  It has gotten cold outside! The other day when we went to the playground I had to wear a hat on my head.  Mommy wore the same hat when she was my age!  I liked it - especially because it keeps my head nice and warm.
Friday was my last day at school.  All of my teachers were sad to see me leave, and I was sad that I won't get to see them everyday...but Mommy says I can go visit them so I look forward to that.  From now on, I will be staying home with Mommy because she won't be going to work anymore.  

In other news, there are only two days until Christmas!  I can't wait.  I have been extra good so Santa brings me lots of gifts. I make sure to kiss and hug my Santa everyday so that he knows I'm a good girl!  I have been turning the lights to the Christmas tree with the button on the floor.  This morning when I did it, I told Mommy, "I turned on Christmas!" When Christmas arrives I am going to tell everyone, "Merry Christmas!!!"  I have also ramped up my Christmas song repertoire in preparation for the big day!

Trying to open a piece of mail that the mailman brought!

Time with Santas

Santa is a big part of my life right now.  I continue to take very good care of the singing Santa. Every morning when I wake up I drink my milk with him, then I hug and kiss him goodbye before school.  After school I'm excited to see him and before bed I put him on his stand by the tree.  On the weekends,   I lay him on the floor, cover him with a blanket and he takes a nap.  Today, I read him my Big Sister book.  I do not feel the same way about the real life Santa.  He is scary.  We went to see him at the mall and I cried so much I forgot to tell him what I wanted for Christmas.  Maybe next year I will do better.  Daddy keeps reminding me that Christmas is less than two weeks away!!! I can't wait!!!
Adam and I have been having a lot of fun together.  Now that he can practically crawl, he plays with my toys, which I don't like sharing a whole lot.  I do like spending time with him and sometimes I like to brush his hair.  I will always take good care of him!!

Adam and me in the gym together!  Its fun!

I Trashed the Truck

This weekend we got a different car.  I do not understand why, but I don't care because I had a lot of fun at the car dealership running around and I like that the new car is silver - I point it out every time we go somewhere.  It will take some adjustment not saying I want to get into the truck in the morning.  Now that I know we don't have it anymore I said it was in the trash.  We used the new car on our annual Christmas tree hunt.  We found a nice tree this year and I especially liked the place where we picked it out because they had juice and cookies for me to eat while they packed up the tree for the ride home.  I'm not used to eating sweets during the day and Mommy gave me a cookie when we went to the supermarket later, so I was crazy!  All the excitement from the new car, tree, and holiday music (which I know a plethora of Christmas songs by now) just makes me so happy!
Grammie sent me a book of pictures of us from this past summer and I love looking at the pictures.  Hopefully Adam enjoys when I read it to him and show him all my adventures.  Everyday gets better and better being around him because he is more fun.  Today he grabbed my foot and I didn't like it, but for the most part he doesn't bother me too much.  I have a feeling we are going to have fun together!!!

Tis the Season

Jumping on the couch - I like to do this from time to time.

Things have been busy around the house!  Mimi came for a surprise visit, we had Thanksgiving and Adam is soon going to be moving around the house just like I do!  I enjoyed Thanksgiving weekend.  We stayed at home and we relaxed a lot.  I did a lot of sitting on the potty too, but I am still afraid of going to the bathroom without my diaper to catch it.  I'm really good at changing my diaper though - I can take it off and Mommy can put it on me standing up.
I'm really good at eating these days too!  I eat much more than Mommy and Daddy think I can.  For breakfast I can eat 3 whole pancakes!  I also really love applesauce. When I finish eating dinner I always ask for applesauce - its the best dessert ever!
Now that Thanksgiving is over, we have started listening to Christmas music!  I love the Christmas music!  It's a whole new set of songs for me to learn and sing.  Mommy and Daddy say that I have a great ability to learn and memorize songs.  I LOVE  music!  I constantly ask for music on the computer or the TV.  Sometimes I get lucky and I get my music, and others I don't.

Me reading Adam's book to him!

Adam is fun to play with these days.  He grabs for my toys and I push them away from him!  I'm only trying to challenge him - that's all.  I don't have a problem with sharing at all...

Dancing with Santa!

Kissing the dancing Santa!

Grammie sent my favorite Santa in the mail.  Santa dances and sings Jingle Bell Rock!  I love dancing with him and I have hugged him a few times too!  Daddy says that I will know all the words to Jingle Bell Rock in no time at all!!

Fall Weather

Me sharing my chair with Adam!

It seems like the fall weather came just in time for the end of October.  I had a fun week.  On Thursday night, when it was still warm I helped Daddy blow leaves in the backyard.  I used my new leaf blower and had a really fun time!  There's always something that I can help with around the house!
I am also really enjoying Adam these days. He is starting to notice me and is entertained by my singing, dancing, reading, kicking, patting and anything else I do to show him that I love him.  I hear that Halloween is in a couple of days!  I can't wait for all the candy and cookies!!!

Me with a really cheesy smile after my first Oreo cookie!

Gettin' Down!

Over the weekend, Mommy took me to a concert.  Not only did I enjoy spending time with Mommy, but I had a really good time listening to music and dancing.  The band played some of my favorite songs.  Some of them I sang to, and other I got up and danced.  Either way, it was a beautiful day to spend outside dancing and enjoying the fall weather.
Because it is getting so cold at night, Daddy suggested that I get some fuzzy socks to wear to bed.  The only fuzzy socks that Mommy could find for me were a few sizes to big, but I don't care.  They stay on my feet fairly well and I call them my boots.  I really enjoy taking my socks off, but these ones I don't take off because they feel so good on my feet!

Relaxed

I dont know if its the beautiful, cool fall weather that we've had recently, but I had a really nice relaxing weekend with my family.  Daddy said when he woke me up this morning I was still cuddled in under my covers, something I have never done before.  I typically kick out of my covers at some point during the night.  Mommy bought me some fuzzy socks that I wear to bed and they keep me nice and warm!  Speaking of clothing, the other day Mommy put a diaper on me and kept calling it underwear.  Apparently, Miss Angie at school said I was ready to use the potty, but I'm not really into that.  Even the underwear - I don't really see any difference between the underwear diaper and my regular diapers...
Despite the fact that I don't want to use the potty, Daddy has been very proud of me recently. I have been finishing my dinner - and usually asking for seconds or dessert, something I haven't been doing consistently well in the past few weeks.  These days I'm hungry because I just don't stop moving.  When we talked to my grandparents today on the computer (both sets) all I wanted to do is jump around a push my stroller everywhere!  I am one busy gal!!

Me having a small tantrum - sometimes I have to remind Mommy and Daddy that I'm still two!

A Trip to the Zoo!!

This weekend we went to the zoo!  I had read about the North Carolina Zoo in my book 'Goodnight, North Carolina' and didn't think I was going to get to go so soon!!  I got to see giraffes, zebras, elephants, rhinocerus, ostrich, monkeys of all sorts, lions and wild hogs!  I had fun roaring at the lions and quacking at the ostrich.  It was a beautiful day to walk around and make animal noises!  I also got to have my face painted.  Of course, I chose a rainbow because I love saying my colors.  At the end of the day, Mommy and Daddy let me pick out my favorite animal as a souvenir and I chose a tiger.

At home I have been running around enjoying myself and doing silly things.  I think I am pretty much done drinking out of my sippy cups now too because Mommy and Daddy don't give them to me anymore.  Although its fun to put my fingers into my cup, I usually am good at drinking out of my cup and I don't spill that much!

Big Sister Stuff

I think I have finally perfected the phrase Big Sister!  That's most likely because I do such a good job helping Mommy drop Adam off at daycare each day.  I HAVE to know how to say it!  It has been nice having Adam at school with me, he did very well on his first week.  People that just see Adam for the first time can tell that we are related and always ask if he's my brother.  He's a good looking baby, so I have no problem being his sister!  Adam is getting more and more fun to play with each day.  Even though I have to keep being reminded that everything I do around him is gentle, I think he is appreciating all the dancing and singing I do around here.  The other night I read Adam one of my favorite books - the Hugawugs ABC's.
I'm also starting to love my chair.  I like to lounge around in it or I sit in it if I want to read or drink my milk.  One of my favorite phrases is Drink my Milk, but instead of that, I say. "Mink a milk!"  I'm also spending a lot of time on another chair, but I don't like that one so much.  The potty is not very comfortable and I don't like going peepee in it yet.  It seems like thats all Mommy and Daddy want to talk about these days; they constantly ask me if I have to go.  Why would I go sit on that when I can just keep playing and do what I've always done??!!?  Maybe one of these days the potty will be fun, but I don't think it is quite yet!

Off to the Beach!

Me with my drink in hand enjoying the beach!

On Thursday night, I noticed that Mommy and Daddy were packing up lots of things and getting ready to go somewhere.  Luckily, they were packing for the beach!!  On Friday, we packed up the truck and drove out to the beach for a day trip!  This time at the beach I didn't have to stay in the tent the whole time like Adam had to; I could play in the sand and go in the water.  Although I COULD go into the water, I didn't want to go into the water.  It scared me so much!  The waves were big and I was afraid that it would knock me over or something.  When Mommy and I took a walk down the beach, the tide started coming in and the waves kept getting closer and closer to where I was walking.  I would yell, "Git water!" and point my finger to try and prevent it from touching me.  Playing in the sand was fun, especially throwing it and letting the breeze carry it downwind.  

I had a great beach trip and hopefully next time the waves won't be as big and I will enjoy swimming.  I passed out on the ride home I had such a great day!
The other day when Daddy picked me up from daycare, I was finishing up a drink of water.  He noticed that I was drinking from a cup - something that I don't like doing at home.  So, when we were at the beach they let me use a cup and drink from it!  I'll keep practicing so that I won't have to use sippy cups much longer.

Grown Up Things

For my birthday, Mommy and Daddy bought me a new booster seat for eating at the table.  Now, when I eat with them I can actually sit in a real chair instead of my high chair.  I feel like such a grown up in my new booster seat.  This weekend, they also let me test a pillow for sleeping - I didn't get to use it in my bed, but I tried the one in Mommy and Daddy's bed.  It may take some getting used to, but I really liked laying in bed with a pillow!  Maybe I will eventually get a pillow of my own in bed.
I've also been practicing holding Adam.  The other night, Mommy gave me a blanket to cover him up since she knows how much I love to cover my dolls with Adam's burp clothes.  I think I did a really good job covering him up - I didn't pat him too hard and I didn't cover up his head either!
Today we went to a park that I have never been to before.  I enjoyed some new play equipment.  This park had little balance beams that I could walk across, with a little help from Mommy and Daddy of course.  The weather was much cooler so I didn't get too hot.

On Friday I had my two year checkup!  I behaved very well for the doctor and I did pretty well when I had to get my shots.  I am officially over 24lbs and I'm ALMOST 3 feet tall, just two inches short!  Mommy says I don't have to get any more shots until I am four years old and that makes me a very happy little girl!!!