This month has been tremendously busy. We have had more playdates than usual since it has gotten cold and we can't play outside as much. We have been running errands every day, getting shopping done for Christmas. And we have been cooking and baking a lot more often, trying new recipes for the holidays.
Showing Taylor her new house
Shopping at Old Navy for Reese
Harper is talking more and more every day. Her new phrase is "I don't know," hands up in question form. One of her favorite toys right now is her set of magnetic letters on the fridge. She likes to take them all off, put them in tupperware or baggies, and hide them in cabinets. She comes and drags us to the kitchen and we ask her where her letters are, she says "I don't know" and then finds them for us. Very fun game (for her). Her other new word is bathtub. She loves saying it and when we ask, she usually repeats it quite a few times and then hightails it to the bathroom.
Putting all her magnetic letters in her pitcher
Found this open cabinet one day.
Seems Harper and Maggie had both been sneaking by,
grabbing a bite every so often.
She is sleeping pretty good. She goes down at 7pm, falls asleep between 7:30 and 8, wakes up around 6, and gets out of her crib at 7. She goes down easy and we love that she will play in her crib and read and let us sleep in or shower in the morning. She has started napping later in the day. She goes down at 12:30, falls asleep at 1, and sleeps around 1 1/2 hours. Super grateful for that time to relax and get some stuff done. And we still take a looong bath every night. It's one of her favorite play times.
Calling daddy at breakfast one morning
Bath fun
She is great at independent play. She still loves stacking things. She loves cups, pouring water from one to another. Books are still her favorite. Cody has taught her all the animals in the Brown Bear, Brown Bear book, so we test her a little each day. She loves animals, finding out their sounds, and seeing real ones. And she has really gotten the hang of cell phones. She can figure out how to turn any of them on, always pretends to talk to someone, or finds ways to play around on it.
She loves keyboards. She likes to run her fingers across them,
and sadly she is just the right height to reach most desks.
She has found a love/hate relationship with Maggie. Sometimes, Maggie is her best friend. She throws balls to her, follows her around the house, and feeds her leftovers. But other times, Maggie is the beast who licks her when she doesn't want it, accidentally knocks her over, and gets to go outside when she doesn't. The funny thing to watch is when Maggie is just walking around the house and Harper thinks Maggie is chasing her. She squeals and runs for safety while Maggie just stares at her in confusion.
Dressing Maggie up in mardi gras beads
She is getting better in the car, but still doesn't like to be in it too long. If she is sleepy, she requires one of us to lay our arm across her seat so that she can know we are still there. And we always keep toys and snacks on hand to keep her occupied. And her new favorite song to hear in the car, that will keep her from crying no matter what, is the ABC's.
Grumpy after bath one night
Cody had a good 1st semester. Work was harder than usual this year, but he is enjoying his time off for the holidays. He has also been fixing stuff around the house lately. Our TV broke and he took it apart and replaced the fuse. I also shattered the screen on my brand new laptop three weeks after I got it for my birthday. So he fixed it up as a desktop with an old monitor in our extra bedroom. And he got us set up with Netflix so we've been watching The Walking Dead, per Taylor's request.
Learning to play drums with daddy at KK and Mark's house
And this month Carleigh had her birthday celebration with three other friends who also had birthdays recently. They invited tons of kids from their school and had a Hunger Games theme. Each person got a flag that you tried to steal from others - to "kill" them. Weapons included flour sacks, pvc pipes, and pool noodles. Districts worked together to gain points and stay alive. And the second that bell rang, those kids were in full war mode! It was a blast.
