January 2010 pics

"This is a duck."

It's nearly 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Kev is sleeping because, bless his heart, he was up with Caroline for I'm not sure how long in the middle of the night. Though she was also up during that time she is now WIDE awake. We've been chilling in her nursery.

I'ts now approaching 9 a.m.. We've had some breakfast, looked at some puppies on you tube, read some books, played with a new puzzle... at the moment she's engaged in one of her favorite activities- emptying books off a shelf.

When I started to post she had found a bag of cotton balls and spent about 10 minutes emptying the bag and then refilling it over and over again, and then she realized she could pull the cotton balls apart and started working on that, until she caught sight of her new crib (which arrived yesterday!) and stretched her arms up to indicate she wanted to get in. She LOVES this crib (that doesn't mean she opted to sleep well in it last night, but enjoying being in the crib is a good first step. Right after Kev set it up she got in and just played and played. It is not dramatically different than the crib we were borrowing, but she seems to know it is different!

She's out in the kitchen now playing with her fridge phonics game. Every time I start to write about what she's doing, she changes location and activity! That's our busy girl!

Earlier this morning she picked up my cell phone, opened a drawer in her dresser, dropped it in, and closed the door! I'm glad I was watching all the while. I have enough trouble keeping track of my cell phone without a little borrower stashing it in secret places!

Last night we had a visit from Nancy, my field site supervisor from seminary days and the woman who officiated at our wedding. She was supposed to spend the morning with us today, but crazy weather here in Nashville led to some flight changes and an evening visit it was. She brought Caroline a marvelous, simple puzzle, with four touch and feel farm animals that lift up and out- a duck, a cow, a horse, and a sheep. Nancy and I both heard Caroline say, more than once as she picked up the duck "This is a duck." Friends, this might be her first sentence. She got such a reaction out of it she also called the horse a duck repeatedly, but... hey, we'll take it! She also, for no discernible reason, licked the sheep at one point. Silly girl!

She is in a phase where she definitely thinks she is communicating a great deal to us, but we understand very little of it. She is communicating with sounds and signs. She signs "baby" quite frequently, but we're not sure what she wants when she does that. Sometimes she just signs it when she hears the word, but other times out of the blue. She also sometimes signs "time". Clearly this first two signs have come from the opening sequence of her "Baby Signing Time" d.v.d.. She occasionally signs milk when she's getting frustrated and wants to transfer from daddy to mommy. She signs her version of "eat" very frequently when she's hungry. I think she may have a few others too, but those are the major ones. Oh, of course, still more and all done. Though she still prefers shaking her head or screeching to signing "all done". She babbles very energetically, dramatically, and conversationally, and looks to us and waits for a reply, which we offer,but surely we disappoint her with our "Oh, is that right? Really? Tell me more." Or whatever happens to come out at the moment.

She LOVES water play. Often at meal time she motions for one of our water glasses. She'll start of drinking some water out of a straw, but then she starts dropping whatever is on her tray into the glass, which she then stirs with the straw. She seems amused by the fact that some things sink and some things float. She will drop ANYTHING into the water to see what will happen... better keep an eye on that cell phone... Last week she spilled the glass on her tray and was thrilled by the pool of water that accumulated. She splished and splashed and had a grand time!

She has started to play with the baby doll Mamie gave her this summer. She cradles it and hugs it. She also seems to especially like the teddy bear that was in her Christmas stocking this year. Though, in general, she's more interested in stuffed animals. She interacts with them and hugs them. She doesn't have one particular lovey, but is getting more lovey with soft toys!

She is AMAZING! She blows our mind daily.

Welcome to the world, Rachel Doris!!!

A blog friend has given birth to her second daughter! Alleluia! Praise the Lord! We rejoice with you, Esperanza! And we give thanks that all those prayers for a baby to stick tight were answered!!!!!

developmental catch up

some exciting updates...

• C's fine motor skills are chugging along. She's gotten very good at putting rings/stars back on stacking toys and she's almost just as good at putting things back into containers as she is at dumping things out of containers. She is trying even to put books back on shelves and small books in a box set back into their box.
  
• She's making great strides in communication. She's got a word for doggy that sounds a lot like a word she uses for many other things, but it definitely means doggy to her! She is signing a fair bit too. She definitely has her own version of "more"- sometimes we don't always know what she wants more of, but we know she wants more. And she has her own sign for "fish"- though she's been taught the real one, daddy runs his finger over his lips when he reads about fish in various books so that's her sign for fish- to let us know she wants more goldfish to eat. Kev is sure she said "ish" as well this week when she wanted fish. She proclaimed "Daddy" when Kev got home the other evening, big grin, very excited. Apparently she still says "mama" mostly when upset. She never greets me with it... in time.
  
• She was feverish for about a week and had very little appetite for anything other than breast milk, but, thanks be to God, her appetite seems to be back. She's been eating very well the past few weeks.
  
• She has molars that have cut through on top, bottom gums are full, but nothing has cut through yet.
  
• She loves to dance. She was almost dancing in the aisle at church a few times today.
  
• She will soon have a new crib/bed! We've been borrowing the one that she's been using and the owners want to pass it on to someone else. We received a surprise refund check in the mail that more than covered the cost of one we really like. We picked up a mattress off Craig's List and the crib will be delivered sometime this week. It shipped today! Exciting.
  
• Eepa noted that C is in a front facing car seat now. Yup. We made the shift before our big holiday road trip. She seems to like it pretty well.
  

I'm sure there's more... but... too tired. Pics eventually...

first lollipop, first ball pit, first slide

Keep scrolling...

Phew... finally caught up on picture posting... to see all the pics I posted keep scrolling, click on "older posts", you aren't done until you get to "the day after Caroline's 1st birthday"!

Course while I was doing this Kev sent pics from his phone to my computer! Now we know how to do this and we have phones that take better pics... so I could put up a pic or two from the Monkey's Treehouse... but I need a break!

The trip home...

First stop, lunch with Pat...


Second stop, Matt and Jen's, no pics from that fun time unfortunately.

Third stop, a church where Auntie Mieke was preaching and presiding with brunch to follow. C made a new friend at coffee hour.




Fourth stop, to meet cousins Michelle, Ed, Clare, and Hannah. The girls...


Fifth stop, in Virginia, with the McCormick clan... more cousins! much fun was had...

with cousin Josh...


with cousins Josh, Abby, and Erin (though only Erin's legs are visible- she is GREAT with younger kids!)


close up (C was obsessed with this feeding chair... she pushed it around, tried to sit in it in various ways... this shot was taken when she was perched on it backwards)


with cousin Laurie...


next morning at breakfast, first bagel!




getting ready to leave...




saying goodbye to Great Aunt Sherry...



Sixth stop, NC home of Aunt Janet, Uncle Doug, and Cousin Elliott...






And then home... well, we stopped for lunch with friend Ed, but I don't think we got a pic of that... and we stopped for dinner in Knoxville, but we didn't take pics there... we were just ready to get home!

Thanks to all the many people who were a part of our Christmas vacation. It was wonderful to see you all and your hospitality and generosity were overwhelming.

New Year's Day

Every year since... not sure when... maybe early elementary school for me... the Bowers have come over for New Year's Day at my parents' house. The Bowers live down the street. Brad and Dad watch football. The rest of play games. We eat yummy soup, salad, and bread and delicious peanut butter ice cream pie. On many years Alisha has joined us for an hour or two. The traditions were all in place this year. Alisha stopped by for awhile with three of the kids. She loved the moose p.j.'s that grandpa picked out for Caroline so we bought some for Logan and attempted a photo shoot.

First with Judith Bowers...



And now a bunch with the kids (one including Alisha and daddy...

New Year's Eve at Alisha and Tom's

In the new outfit picked by Alisha and the kids with her buddy Logan, four months her senior.



Mommy with Brandon, Haley, and Logan! What beautiful kids!


Logan warmed right up to us, especially to Kevin.


And Caroline quickly warmed up to Alisha.


It is possible Alisha had a sweet treat in hand as that picture was taken, but C let her hold her more than most!

Fun With Mamie

A Few Pics from New Year's Eve Day

Sorting Mamie's Coupons



Another visit to Great Bama!