The girls dressed up to go see Santa!
Izzy wanted to take M&Ms to Santa!
Sittin' pretty
The end result
Izzy's Christmas party. They took waffle cones and put frosting on them and decorated them like trees.
McKenna in Izzy's class.
We also had a hot chocolate stand for the school.
Izzy and her friend Evan.
Enjoying the hot chocolate. Cheeser.
Izzy's job was to scoop in the marshmallows.
Posing before her Christmas program.
Gamma and PopPop came to watch.
Getting ready to sing her heart out.
An unusual quiet time for Miss Addie.
Eating cookies.
Snow coated windows.
Izzy acting silly on a snow day.
My little snow bunny.
The IPhone is one of the greatest things.
The drunkin' sailor walk.
Lazy Sunday morning. My favorite.
Bath time.
Opening presents at Grandma and Grandpa D.'s.
Addie entertaining with her red eyes and all.
Izzy got Dr. Baby from Santa. She loved it.
Addie loved the paper.
Great Grandma Brown getting her purse for Christmas.
PopPop and Addie snuggling. This is a rare occurrence. Addie is scared of my dad right now for some reason.
Great Grandpa Brown.
Kenzie and Molly, cousins on Mark's side, helped to keep Izzy busy on Christmas Day.
Great Grandpa Bieck (Mark's Grandpa).
Izzy using her skill on Addie with Dr. Baby's stethoscope.
Happy New Year! We went to dinner as a family to Lazlos and called it a night early.
Crazy kids!
We got the first year out of the way, but definitely not without a hitch. Although Addie has been a tough little booger, it is slowly getting better. Now it is time to get into the Christmas Spirit. I already had all the decorations up for Addie's birthday but there was one final touch that needed to be made. Elf on the Shelf. The first night she was out, the first thing Izzy said was that she was just pretend. I said, "That's not true, but you have to give her her magic by giving her a name." So the name she picked was Philbert. The history of that name comes from Addie's name in the womb. Then it turned into a name that we gave each other when we did something silly or "Philbert-like". Get it? Izzy can't say it quite right and she calls her "Silbert." As the elf started to find her new landing places in the morning, Izzy started to believe she was real. The smile and magic on her face when she would find Philbert in the morning was great to see. I told Izzy that you couldn't touch Philbert or she would lose her magic. Well Philbert was hanging on the handle of the pantry (I don't recommend this spot) and I knocked her off. Izzy's face was one of terror. So I told her I would talk to Santa and see how Philbert could get her magic back. He told me that we had to sing Jingle Bells and turn around three times and then give pretend snow showers out of our fingers by saying, "Tshhhh." It worked!!!! She's magical again.Izzy is definitely getting a mind of her own and listening doesn't seem to be an option for her. We had a knock out tantrum at swim lessons and it was so embarrassing. She even was naughty with her teacher. It's frustrating when they don't listen to their teachers either. She was still extremely mad at me when we got home, so I was putting her in bed and she fell forward and hit her head. That was the end of it. She wanted me out of the room, and she told me to leave her alone. I know this is just the beginning, but I hate it already.
Izzy has been watching American Pickers with her dad and has learned to make a deal. She holds out her hand to shake and says, "Deal!" She uses this a lot at bedtime. I tell her that she can watch her cartoon for five more minutes and then I'm going to read her a book. She says to me, "That's not a deal." She has also started giving a thumbs up when she likes something. You can see it on the previous blog entry with her cupcake.Lastly she thinks she is tricky. She asked me for M and M's because I have some a Christmas jar. I told her she could have 5 because she didn't eat all her chicken. So she started counting. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ..........13, 14, 15...FIVE! She counted all the way up to fifteen and the says five. So because she was so creative in her scam I let her have the 15. I'm such a sucker.
I got to go to school for Izzy's Christmas party. It was lots of fun decorating trees and then we had a hot chocolate stand for the whole school. Izzy's job was to hand out marshmallows. Then that weekend Gamma and PopPop came up for the Christmas program. Izzy did a good job singing and ringing her jingle bells.
Addie has been her usual self. Happy only if you are holding her and frustrated because she can't communicate with you . At the beginning of the month I got a call at work that Addie had fell and had a big bump on her head. They just wanted to warn me before I got there and saw her. Sure enough she had a big goose egg on her head. Poor thing. Addie is standing and walking shakily on her own. This is part of the reason she gets so many bumps. She seems to fall into the walls when she is trying to catch herself.
Addie is starting to talk a little. She has been singing Row Row Row Row....and sways back and forth. She is also saying hi sometimes and waving both hands and blowing kisses. We are weaning her from the bottle. I don't remember how to do it. It's crazy how you forget in such a short amount of time. We are starting by eliminating her bottles at school. It's been nice not having to rush around and pack those in the morning. So no baby food or bottles have to be crammed in the back pack in the morning now. Life is getting a little easier already. By the end of this month we were strictly sippy cups.
For the Christmas holiday we went back to Grand Island and did all the chaotic visits. Izzy was with me upstairs at my parents and saw Philbert in my suitcase. She goes, "Mom why is Philbert in your clothes?" I said she must have hid herself in my suitcase so she could go home with Santa. Addie wasn't into opening gifts yet. She just liked ripping the paper and put it in her mouth. Izzy liked it so much she said, "That's all." I had relatives laughing and telling me it was funny when it's not your own child. Mark had to talk to Izzy about being thankful for what she had. Not sure it worked.
Hope all is well and have a great new year!
Ariann
