Impressive

Victoria impresses me almost daily with how much she learns, and how quickly she remembers things. Last night we were playing with her dolls, and she picked up a bowl. First, she said, "Got it!", then she looked at the bowl, looked at me, and said, "I got the bowl!" just as plain as day. To see her thinking about what she's saying, formulating sentences, and speaking more and more clearly makes me proud.

She's also getting better with shapes and colors. She loves puzzles and shape-sorting toys.

Now I Know My ABC's...

The Stockings are Hung

I wanted to get a majority of the indoor decorating done before my knee surgery, but that didn't really happen. Fortunately, I'm able to hobble around enough to get it done anyway (with Rod's assistance, of course).

A belated Happy Thanksgiving

Last week was very busy. I had knee surgery Wednesday - a scope, where the doc cleaned a lot of the junk out from below my right kneecap. As I'm able to move more, it seems noticeably less 'crunchy' (a great family trait!)

Thursday (Thanksgiving day) we drove up to Rod's mom's house for dinner and to watch a little football, drove the hour and a half back home, only to pack up and drive an hour and a half to my parents' house to visit for a few days.

Victoria got to see most of her cousins Thursday and Friday, though I only managed photos with her and the twins. And still they're headed in opposite directions!

The days were filled with toys...

Stories...

Dress-up with Busha's glasses...

And socks!

Then we had another quick visit with Uncle Jeff, Aunt Marie, Kasia and Moira back at our house, as we're about halfway between Traverse City (where they spent the weekend) and Ann Arbor. They stopped for a rest, to stretch and have some dinner, then it was back on the road for them! As you can see, the twins are quickly catching up to Victoria when it comes to height!

Keeping the paparazzi at bay

No pictures, please!

Okay, maybe just one!

What did you learn today?

Here's what daddy taught V today. I think if she had a tail it would be wagging in anticipation!

Little Reader

The joy of self-feeding

I'm not entirely sure that teaching a child to feed themselves equals less work for mom & dad... this is what was left after a snack of yogurt and blueberries.

We don't skip too many bath nights around here.

A Constant Progression

I notice so many little things these days that just make me smile, knowing my daughter's mind and vocabulary are progressing at an amazing rate. The other day, when we were up north, she was drawing on a dry-erase board, and when I asked what she drew, she pointed and said very matter-of-factly, "elephant!" She drew more, then pointed and said, "cat!" then "bunny" followed the next scribbles.

She's slowly getting the "you" and "me" words straight - more often she'll say "excuse me" after she burps, where before she'd burp and say, "excuse you". I'm finding that one to be tough to teach, and correct. The you/me, yours/mine concept is difficult to explain at times.

I noticed the other night at dinner when I told her, "eat your peas" she followed with "q r s t u v..." which I found quite hysterical and impressive at the same time.

Her eye teeth are finally making an appearance - the bottom left and top right have both poked through, and (knock on wood) in true Victoria teething fashion, she's sleeping a ton. As in a 4 hour nap yesterday, then 12 hours last night!

Keeping Busy

The beginning of this week found the three of us up in Grayling for a few days. Rod was teaching at the academy, and the benefit of my not having a job meant Victoria and I could join him. We got a hotel with a great indoor pool, hot tub, and kiddie wading pool, as well as an indoor play structure with slides, etc. This was the view out our hotel room door:

Normally, the trip would have been nothing short of fun. However, those pesky eye teeth are giving Victoria a heck of a time, and between that and having to sleep in a pack n play for three nights made everyone a little cranky. Needless to say when we got back home last night, none of us felt much like going out trick -0r- treating. I never got around to carving any of the pumpkins we have, but by the looks of things this morning, that got taken care of with out me!
Yup... the stupid squirrels are infesting our yard, our trees, our lives! At any given moment, there are at least a half-dozen visible in the yard. Olly has been running his little behind off trying to chase them off, but there are just too many for him! The Old Farmer's Almanac mentioned that every few years Oak trees have an abundant-acorn year. That definitely is the case around here. The amount of acorns is insane - but apparently still not enough for some greedy squirrels.

Today we spent a good portion of the afternoon attempting to clean up the yard. Three large tarp-fulls of leaves left the yard, in addition to a few piles that were burned. It was a perfect day for working in the yard... just the right temp to be comfortable in jeans and sweatshirts. Victoria started out all bundled up but gradually shed layers as the afternoon progressed. She had a blast playing in the leaves!