Happy New Year!

We've welcomed in 2011, and I can't believe 2010 has already passed by. Edie is growing up way too quickly! I just wanted to get down a quick Edie update so I don't forget things!

She's almost 2-1/2 now. She pretty much runs everywhere she goes, and loud squealing is pretty common as well. She is a constant chatterbox and really amazes me about what she picks up on. She's pretty much got her colors and shapes down, and is working on counting. Out of nowhere, and I still don't know where she picked it up, she is completely fascinated with princesses. Everything is princess this or princess that.

She's started back to Parent's Day Out after the Christmas break and is now going 2 mornings a week instead of 1. She loves going to "school" and gets so excited to play with her friends, and to make all the crafts and projects. I am sad to give up more of my time with her since she's growing up so fast, but she really seems to love school and I think it will be good for her to be going 2 days once the baby comes. I do have to admit, having the extra morning to get my errands and to-do list done is also kind of nice! In other activities, we're doing another semester of music class which she also really enjoys. We might sign her up for swimming again as well if we can find a class. The program at the city pool behind our house is closed right now for renovations, which was a total bummer because it was so convenient! And we still try to hit storytime at the library when we can make it. So, Edie stays pretty busy with all these activities. However, if you ask her what she wants to do for the day, the answer is usually "Shopping". She loves to shop!

She's a true girly girl, which I still can't figure out where she gets that! She loves all things Princess, any type of clothing that has tutus, tutu like features, or glitz , and she gets really excited about her outfits and is often pretty opinionated about what to wear. She loves to "help" me put on make up in the morning. She stands on a stool next to the sink, and hands me my make up one by one as I am applying. This is something she came up with on her own!

She's gotten even more attached to her green blanket, and specifically the corner of her blanket that bears the tag, which is a picture of a giraffe since the brand is "Little Giraffe". She calls it "My corner" and is always asking me "Wheres my corner go?" and then we sit and find it. A new must-have at bedtime are her stars. Uncle Rob gave her a little lady bug nightlight toy for Christmas that portrays the moon and stars on the ceilings with choice of red, purple, or green light. She LOVES it, and has to sleep with it on. It has a timer, so it turns off after 45 minutes. The first night she slept with it, we heard "Mommy, where's my stars go?" in a frantic voice at about 2am. So the next night i taught her how to turn it back on herself and we haven't heard a peep since. By the way, purple are her stars color of choice!

She's completely fascinated with the fact that it gets dark outside and then light outside. Every morning when she wakes up, we hear "It's not dark outside anymore" from her. And in the evening as soon as it gets dark, she makes sure to comment. There are also many random comments about whether it is light or dark outside periodically throughout the day.

Her other current fascination is that Sadie has a tail. It's pretty common for her to blurt out randomly, "Sadie has a tail, I have a back" .

She's pretty into playing with her baby dolls. She likes to give them baths, which I discovered when she climbed up on her rocking horse to get lotion off her changing table to slather all over baby... and her, and her bed, and much of the rest of the room during her naptime. "Baby needed a bath" was the explanation. So all lotions, etc have been removed from her room although there was one other unfortunate afternoon she found a Desitin tube I somehow accidently left in there. I guess Baby needed another bath. She still has yet to name any of her babies.

She loves to read Goodnight Moon and to find the mouse on each page that shows the whole room. At every page turn, she blurts out before i can start reading "Wait a minute, I find the mouse!" She's also really into the Clifford the Big Red Dog books right now too.

John took her to the pet shop to pick out a new fish for our tank. It's a plecostomus fish (sucker fish). He kept asking her what she wanted to name him, and finally she came up with Piggy. She loves to help feed the fish, and will frequently go sit in the chair next to the fish tank so she can see Piggy.

She loves to paint and make things, and she loves to show off her projects. One of her favorite things to do this fall was tracing her hand to make hand turkeys. Since then, any art or craft project that involves tracing her hand is a huge hit.

If you ask her what she dreamed about, the answer is always "waterfalls, at the caves". She has been saying that since we went to Squire Boone Caverns on Labor Day Weekend!

And her opinion hasn't changed about her sibling, she still stands by her baby brother theory. Although one day before Christmas, she told me she wanted a baby Elf instead of a sister or brother.

Happy New Year to everyone! Here are a few pictures from late 2010...

Thanksgiving 2010
Christmas Card photo

Packing it up - sometimes she really packs down her stroller for baby with anything and everything baby might need, including her kitchen cabinets!

Fall 2010...So Far

It's been a busy fall for us so far, but we've had lots of fun. Edie has been growing like a weed lately - I put her up to the chart in her room and she's grown almost an inch and a half since her birthday 2 months ago! We've started potty training (separate post), got our first haircut, went to her first football game, and are working on the transition to the big girl bed!

Her vocabulary is rapidly expanding, and she now talks in short phrases or sentences. One of my favorite things she says right now is "Hold you, Mommy" when she wants me to hold her - it's just so sweet even though it's the wrong personal pronoun.

She's gotten really independent. She has to get in and out of the car/carseat by herself, she prefers to sit on the stools at the island over her highchair, open her banana herself, put on her shoes, etc. If I start doing something for her that she wants to do herself she says "No, Edie!"

She's been learning lots of songs which she loves to sing especially when we are in the car or stroller, and she's been working on her colors, ABC's, and shapes. Her favorite songs are Itsy Bitsy Spider, the Wheels on the Bus, and her most favorite - My Old Kentucky Home which she usually requests to sing right before going to bed!Another bedtime routine is ringing the bell in her mobile above the crib - she loves to do that!

She is REALLY into books, and always says "Read Again" when we finish, so sometimes we read through the same book several times. Her current favorite books are Clifford, Karen Katz flip up books, Goodnight Gorilla is still top of the list, Elmo books, the Animal Baby series she receives in the mail monthly, and also the Big Red Barn. She doesn't watch much TV, but when she does she loves Sesame Street and Elmo, Clifford, Thomas the Train, and Dinosaur train and her favorite movie is Charlotte's Web - the real version not the animated. She also likes to watch fishing shows w/ her dad on Saturday morning, and football too!

We LOVE her new Parent's Day Out program! She has so much fun and gets so excited on "school" days. They've been learning colors and request us to have her wear certain colors on certain days, and they do lots of paintings and crafts. She is always so proud of her paintings and drawings- she really enjoys the art! She's also really into her music class too!

Here are a few pictures from fall:

She loves going to the playground. She frequently tries to convince Sadie to play on them with her. This time she got Sadie to go up, and come down this Rock Climb - but Sadie drew her line in the sand when Edie tried to get her to go down the slide. That was a big no from Sadie!

She loves to run outside and climb in "Daddy's Jeep". This is not my favorite activity of hers!

Abigail, Edie, and Lucy at the MOPS playdate to Gallrein Farms in Shelbyville

Picking pumpkins at Gallrein farms

Gallrein Farms Hayride
Fishing with Daddy!

Edie's first fish (with Lucy and Abigail)!

She loves wearing my shoes, or John's shoes. She also likes sporting the oven mitts!

Her first haircut! She went with Tu to get her haircut - just a little trim and shape up!

2 Year Edie update

We had Edie's 2 year check up a couple weeks ago. She weighed in at 25 lbs and is 34 inches tall, which is still 25% for weight but she has graduated to being in the 50% for height now! I actually think the weight was a little skewed. She had a stomach virus for 2 full weeks before her appointment, so I am pretty sure she had lost a couple pounds during that time.

She has all her teeth, the last one finally came in just before her birthday. Now she's working on her 2 year molars. She's started sticking everything in her mouth again, as if she was 9 months old and its been keeping her up some at night. The wonderful thing about Edie is when it keeps her up at night, instead of crying she just sits in her crib and talks and plays with her dolls and animals.

She was starting to sit on her potty seat a lot, and tell me when she had to go. And then we went on vacation and when we returned she was sick for 2 weeks so that really slowed our progress. We're starting to work on it a bit again, so hopefully she'll catch on again soon and then we can really start to potty train. I'm so ready to be done with diapers, but I'm trying not to rush it too much yet. She's so small for her age, and I'm not quite sure even though she gets the concept of going on the potty that she's physically able to be fully potty trained yet - so we'll see.

She's had in the last month or 2, what I have heard referred to as a "verbal explosion". She talks all the time and comes up with new words everyday. It still amazes me sometimes the things she has caught on to. Sometimes its hard to figure out what she is saying though!

She's started getting pretty opinionated, especially when it comes to fashion. Some days she requests "esses" (dresses), and even specific ones such as "okey ess" (monkey dress) which is one of her favorites - a dress w/ smocked monkeys on it! Some days she prefers to have pig tails, some days she prefers to wear bows, and some days she likes to have both. She also frequently has an opinion about which shoes to wear. She's getting more and more independent - she sometimes insists on putting on her shoes herself and likes to crawl up in to the car seat by herself. This requires a lot of patience on my part because I am frequently running late and when she does it all herself it takes so much longer!

She's really into Boo-Boos, and most especially bug bites. She points them out constantly!

Her current favorite foods are bananas, toast (to include english muffins and mini-bagels), and pizza. And while she never liked much juice, other than fresh squeezed orange juice, she's recently become a fan of orange or red gatorade "Ga-ade". She wakes up every morning saying "Mommy, Nana, cut, plate, toast" because she loves to have bananas that are cut and served on her plate, rather than the high chair tray and then likes to have some form of toast to follow! She also LOVES "cake cakes" (pancakes). She calls Milk "Gook" or "Gulky", which I have never understood because i know she can say her M's!

She loves to play outside "Ow-sye" and go down her slide, play in her car, ride in her wagon, ride her tricycle (except we have to push her because her legs aren't long enough to pedal yet), blow bubbles, and help water the plants. She still loves to read books, and has been doing a lot of cooking in her kitchen. She loves to swim and go to either the pool or splashparks. In fact, at the very mention of a pool she gets all excited and says "Shushute, On!" (Swimsuit on!) . She plays with Baby constantly, and has started taking baby everywhere with us, although she usually takes a nap in the car when we go in somewhere so she doesn't get lost. She still enjoys stroller rides to take Sadie for walks, although frequently that now includes a stop at the playground to swing and go down the slides for a bit! She likes the big kid slides - not the baby ones. She also loves to go to the zoo.

We asked her who her friends are and she replied "Sadie and Baby". All of her Babies still have no name other than "Baby".

She gets so incredibly excited when she sees airplanes or trains. She claps and cheers, and truly is overflowing with excitement.

She's gotten pretty into Sesame Street lately. She's never watched much TV, but lately there have been a few more opportunities for that while I wasn't feeling well. So now she is a huge fan of Elmo, and her very favorite character - Abby Cadabby! We pretty much just stick with PBS - she also loves to watch Thomas the Train and Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Parent's Day Out has started for the school year. She's at a new school this year, as she was too old to continue where she was without enrolling in full on preschool and we decided to wait a year on that. I hated to switch programs, but after the first day I am really pleased with her new school. She absolutely loved it, and rather than 4 hours of loose play it is very structured with set play time, music time, craft time, story time, snack time etc. She had such a good time, it's hard to even describe it. It seemed very similar to all the preschools I visited, but comes with the price tag and flexibility of a Parents Day Out program so it seems like a win-win. She is only going one morning a week for now, though we may bump her up to 2 days next spring. It was a boy in her class' birthday, so his mom brought in cupcakes. This might have had something to do with why she loved her first day so much. When i picked her up, I asked her what she did and she told me she played outside and had a cupcake!

With the return of fall, comes the return of our other activities. We have enrolled in another semester of music class, which we do together. Our favorite librarian will also be back from Maternity leave next week, so we'll get back to regularly going to story time at the library as well. I'd like to do another Baby Splash swim lessons class, but the pool is closed for renovations so we'll have to wait and see when they open when and if she can take another class.

Here are a few recent pictures -

Being Silly

Wearing her jewels - she's also gotten into Silly Bandz bracelets lately too

The tunnel in the bubble car!
MJ & Poppy took her to the Maryhill picnic, and the Bubble Bus and Bubble car were there. The car and truck blew all kids of bubbles and she loved it. Now she calls all school busses Bubble Trucks.

Edie - 22 months

It's not really a milestone age, but I just wanted to jot down some Edie-isms. This age is so funny and really she is changing so fast now. Fast, as in daily.

DaGaDaGaDaGaDaGa - this phrase she has used for several months. Usually she says it when she wants to give me something, espescially when she is finished eating and wants to give me her cup and plate. I think she's phasing out of this because I don't hear it much anymore, and i never got it on video. It was so cute, and one of my favorite things she did. She's adding new real words to her vocabulary daily. I've heard it described as a "verbal explosion" and that's definitely what she's going through!

She LOVES bananas! "Na's" The other day she had already eaten 2 of them, and wanted a 3rd. I think she might be part monkey. Other favorite foods - blueberries, yogurt (DaDa is what she calls it), cheese, and lima beans. She has also recently discovered Orange Juice, and like her Mama is partial to Fresh Squeezed!

She loves to chase Sadie around the house with her doll stroller. They will literally run circles around the island in our kitchen. Poor Sadie - i don't think she enjoys it much but she plays along anyway. We sometimes have to take baby with us on errands. Baby has her own carrier/car seat in addition to the stroller.

Animal sounds - she's really into them as I mentioned in a previous post about going to the zoo. Her older friends, Clayton & Davis, and Abigail & Lucy love to ask her what sounds animals make. It's like she's a dog doing tricks for them. She loves it and so do they! My favorite is the fish - she makes a little fish face which is so funny.

Speaking of fish she loves to swim. We did a short session of Baby Splash lessons this spring. She loves to jump in and go under, and will hold her breath for a short time too. And she loves to Kick, Kick, Kick which she says along with it as she kicks. We also have a baby pool for the backyard. We put the slide up to it and it's instant fun - she has no fear and loves it! Whenever she sees her pool, or others we pass in the car she either shouts "Pool!" or does the fish face. And now that it's summer, she wants to go to the real pool everyday.

Backyard pool (w/ Lucy)

Chillin at the pool

CAR. I got her this little car earlier this spring and it's been a favorite since day one. She loves to play around in "ma car (my car)". I can't even begin to describe how much she loves this car. And she doesn't like to be pushed in it. She likes to be in complete control and pedal it around herself. She also likes car rides a lot in general. If I tell her we are going somewhere, she gets all excited and shouts "Car!". And every time we come home, and turn onto our street she says kind of as a question "Sadie?". It still surprises me that she knows it is our street, and that Sadie will be home waiting. Just today she started saying "Home" as we pull in the driveway!

Edie's car

Edie loves shoes. She's always playing with shoes, trying to put them on herself, trying on my shoes or John's shoes, and sometimes even has an opinion about which shoes to wear. She is definitely still very into bags and purses, stashing things in them, and carrying them around! She loves jewelry too. MJ keeps a stash of jewelry for her at her house. She knows right where it is and loves to wear it around!

The Jewels (and if you look closely, her new pigtails!)

Decked out in her jewelry

She loves to brush her teeth, and brush her hair. She also loves to brush my hair. Her hair is still blonde as ever, and has gotten long enough just recently for me to start putting it in little pigtails! And she still loves wearing bows. One day she woke up and requested all of her bows be worn at once!

Eating breakfast with all her bows

Her favorite books are the word/picture books, Goodnight Gorilla, Brown Bear, and Once Upon A Potty. Speaking of potty, she has been sitting on it before bath time for several weeks, and has even used it a few times. We aren't really potty training yet, just introducing the idea. But boy was I excited and so was she when we realized she had used it!

"DOH!" This is "No". She has definitely realized that she has her own free will. I hear No more and more frequently, which as you can imagine can be quite frustrating. It's so cute the way she says it though, but I try not to let her know that. She says it to Sadie a lot, especially if it involves Sadie trying to share a snack.

She still sleeps with her blanket. I haven't noticed her sucking her thumb much anymore other than when she's in bed, except for when she's really tired. She also still takes an afternoon nap like a champ - I'm hoping to keep this going for as long as we can!

She tries to count. It usually sounds like some version of "two, four, fwee, two". She will sing her abc's too, although you can really only make out a couple letters.

She's super helpful. She loves to help me empty the dishwasher and vacuum. She has her own little vacuum - i just wish it actually worked!

I'm sure I've left some things out. But that's Edie at 22 months in a nutshell! It seems that all of a sudden this spring/early summer she has really transitioned from baby Edie into a sweet little girl.

Miss Fancy

This is how I found Edie playing the other day, all decked out and having a great time. The best part was when I looked through my purse later, I found she had completely unpacked my things and then repacked it with her own essential items: Baby, little Baby, a tube of my lipstick, nail clippers, and a koozie. Nothing short of solid entertainment with this little lady!

16 month Edie update

We finally went for Edie's 15 month well baby check up last week, although she is now 16 months! She is growing like a champ, although still on a munchkin-like scale. She has continued the same growth pattern, so all is good even though she's on the small side. She weighed in at 21 pounds, which is 25% and she is 50% for height (30") and head. She still has a runny right eye though, so our pediatrician sent us to a pediatric opthamologist whom we saw yesterday. She concluded it is most likely a partially blocked tearduct. Usually these things are congenital and clear up on their own by age 1. Edie is a little out of the norm as hers didn't present until 14 months. It is most likely just now presenting because Edie has been congested quite a bit this fall and never really had been before, thus making it even harder for the eye to drain tears. The only way to fix it is surgery, but thankfully it is a very minor outpatient procedure. It does have to be done at the hospital under full anesthesia though, which is always a little scary with little ones. All the symptoms fit, combined with a family history (Uncle Todd had a fully blocked duct he was a baby, and he had the surgery becuase his didn't clear up on its own either). We are going to watch it for 6 weeks just to make sure that's what it is, and then schedule the surgery. We will just have to decide whether to do the surgery at Kosair Children's Hospital or Jewish Medical Center East.

On a happy note, Edie is such a blast to be around and generally a very happy little girl. She just keeps getting more fun. Lately her new favorite things to do are climbing up and down the stairs, climbing on couches, playing in little spaces, running around with her wastebasket on her head (see pic below) which she will do for hours of entertainment, and putting items in bags and running around the house carrying her loaded "purses". We brought home a load of stuff from Sam's earlier this week, and we found her enjoying the box that was perfectly Edie sized...

And here she is donning her favorite hat - the wastebasket!

She chatters all the time but mostly still in her own language, although we do get the occasional mamamama or dadada or ah-de(sadie). She barks when you ask her what Sadie says, and new this week - MJ taught her to meow(and it is the cutest sounding meow!!) when you ask her what Cisco says.

And just as MJ was saying the other day how she is at the age to really get hurt with all the running around, yesterday she slipped on the stairs and bit her tongue pretty badly. It was pretty bloody and she took quite a chunk out of the middle of her tongue. We were both pretty traumatized, but luckily cuts in the mouth tend to heal up quickly on their own and she will be just fine. It hasn't stopped her interest from stairclimbing in the slightest!