Christmas Crack

Yes, my daughter loves to do Christmas crack...

The other day I asked her if she would like to do a Christmas craft. She got all excited and started running around the house shouting, "Do Christmas Crack!"

Hurricane!

Hurricane

My little cousin is like a hurricane.
She comes running into the room
Moving everything in her path
Knocking over her play house
With me in it
Knocking me over like a hurricane
Moving onto other things
The hurricane is over come nap time
But, later the hurricane stirs again
Running, moving everything in her way
Everybody better look out
It’s Hurricane Grace!

- By Rachel West

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

I haven't sent out cards yet, but, hopefully, you will get them in the mail in the next week or so. This year, I not only took the photos, but I also created the card - so I hope you like it! Here are some of the photos that we took that day:

Santa Cause

We took Grace to meet Santa Clause on December 11th. Before she took her nap, I told her that she was going to get to go see Santa Clause when she woke up. The first words out of her mouth when she woke up were, "Anta Cause!!!"

While I was getting her ready, I asked her if she was going to sit in Santa's lap. Her response was a resounding, "NO!!" I told her that good little boys and girls got to sit in Santa's lap and they would get candy. She got excited about that!

She said, "Go see Anta Cause, sit his lap, get tandy, get a boy!"

Here are some of our favorite photos:

Lipstick!

Grace loves to wear lipstick. She will put it on about 30 times in 15 minutes if I would let her!

Last Friday, we were out eating with her Nandy and Pa-pa and she was playing with her Nandy's lipstick. It was all over her face. I asked her if she wanted to go look in the mirror (of course she did) and we took off for the bathroom. She took one look in the mirror and said, "Oh, no! I a mess, mommy!"

The next day, her Nandy and I were in the office looking at stuff on the computer and she came in and said, "ta-da!" I looked over and this is what I saw:



She helped herself to the mascara that I mistakenly left out on the bathroom counter! Thankfully, I don't wear waterproof and it came off easily!

Sit and What??

Last year for Christmas, your Aunt Kim gave you a Simon Says Sit and Spin. It plays music and the Simon Says game while you spin. You love it!

The other day, you were playing on it and I could hear it telling you, "Simon Says Spin." When you don't do it what it says to do, it will either say, "Come on and play with me." or "Try again!" Well, listening in, I could hear that you weren't playing right, and normally you do well at it. I peeked in at you.

I saw you sitting on it, holding on to the handle, staring intently at the face on it. It said, "Simon Says Spin." And you spit on it! Apparently, you thought it was telling you to Sit and Spit!

Type A Personality

Honey, you have such a type A personality! You love to clean and organize and boss me around!

Cleaning: You think that baby wipes can clean up all of life's messes. If I am silly enough to leave the wipes where you can get to them, you will pull out at least 30 and clean every surface you can reach. If you make a mess, you start hollering, "MESS, MESS, MESS!!!" Until I come and give you something to clean it with. You love to wash your hands and every time you tell me I didn't give you enough soap. You are addicted to hand sanitizer. You hold out your hands and say, "rub, rub, rub." Then you sanitize every part of your body that you can reach!

Organizing: You sort everything by color or by size or by some little system that only you know. You can stand for your eggs to be paired with the wrong color. You will separate all your toys into categories. Unfortunately, you get side tracked from this easily!

Bossing: You constantly tell me and Daddy what to do. I don't know how many times I have asked you to stop bossing me because it is rude. Your response is, "Be quiet, I'm hiding." (When we play hide-n-seek you get to tell us to be quiet - so I think that is why you put the qualifier on it, so you don't get in trouble!). You think that you can tell us where to sit and when to stand. You like to even tell me which way I should turn when I am driving the truck! You really like telling Bentley what to do. And, boy, do you get upset if he doesn't mind you!

Independence: Your most used phrase is either "Gracie Do It" or "My Do It!" Either one is said at the top of your lungs when I try to help you in any way. You like to climb in and out of your high chair - and woe unto me if I try to buckle you in! You can do it on your own! You want to get in and out of the truck and car seat on your own. Every once in a while you allow me to help with that. You want to unlock the truck for me, open the mail box and jump off of every curb. You rarely want to hold hands any more because you can do it on your own.

Favorite activities right now: Sliding and Swinging for sure! Also, playing in the box (your sandbox). You love Kindermusik still - your current favorite song is called Peep Squirrel. You sing along with the CD now, which is just too cute for words. You absolutely love to play hide and seek and will play again and again. And again. You are actually getting pretty good at it. Sometimes you find a spot and are so quiet that it takes me 7-8 minutes to find you. Other times, you hide on the couch in plain view. It really cracks me up when you hide just your head! You love to go see Uncle Randy, Aunt Rhonda, Rachel and Sean - you ask to go to their house almost daily. You love craft projects and play dough.

Favorite Foods: Craisens, chicken, fruit, apple sauce, cheerios - and, of course, Peanut Butter. Did I mention candy? I have to fight that stuff away from you. Esp. orange lollipops.

Happy Halloween!

This year, Grace dressed up as a flamingo! And, I have to tell you she was the cutest flamingo I have ever seen!

She totally got the concept right away. Our doorbell rang, after giving candy to the tricker-treaters, Grace looked at me and said, "want some." Jeff and I explained trick-or-treating as best we could. Then, the 3 of us along with Rachel, set out to get some candy!



She was much more reluctant this year than she was last year. Last year, she would get mad if the people didn't answer the door fast enough. She would turn and head for the next house! This year, she wanted to be carried to the house, then she would stand patiently and wait for the candy to come. She would either not talk at all, or you could barely hear her say "or treat!"



Even though she was very shy, she kept saying, "More candy. More houses!"

When it was time to head home to hand out candy, she was just as happy. She really liked giving the other kids something when they came by. Of course, for every one piece she would give out, she would eat 2 or 3!

The Grumpy Flamingo

Grace was really sick this past week. On Sunday, she was finally starting to feel a little better. Our church has their annual Candy Carnival the Sunday before Halloween, so we thought that we would take her, since she was acting much more like herself.

She was happy the entire way, but once there, she really just wanted to be held. By me. The entire time. Her Granddad came into town and was with us, and even he couldn't hold her. She would get out of my arms long enough to play a couple of the games. But, most of the time, she wouldn't even participate.



Of course, getting candy always makes her happy...



Eventually, my arms gave out...and the grumpiness came out in full swing! We decided to call it a night at this point!

Mid-Night Pigtails

Twice now Grace has woken up in the middle of the night and asked me to put her hair in pig tails. It just cracks me up!

"Gracie do it!"

One of Grace's favorite sentences right now is, "Gracie do it!" Sometimes, she uses another version of the same sentence, which is, "My do it!" Either way she says it, the meaning is the same - and very clear. She wants to do it all on her own.

My little girl is so independent. Whether it is putting her shoes on by herself, getting into the truck and buckling in by herself, or climbing up and down stairs by herself, the theme is the same: By Herself!

Sometimes she tells me before hand that she wants to do it. Other times, she jerks away from me in frustration when I try to help her and screeches, "GRACIE DO IT!"

It takes her a bit longer to do things by herself. But, when the task is done, the look of pride on her face as she proclaims, "I did it, Mommy." is worth every second of inconvenience for me.

From time to time, she follows her sentence of "My do it." with, "Help, Mommy." I love the fact that even though she is little Miss Independence, she knows that every once in a while, it is okay to ask for help.

Summer Fun with Kate

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Can't Wait for this year - so check out last year!

Slide shows, scrapbooks, photo ecards, and more

Playing Outside

Grace loves to be outside. She loves to go for walks, ride in her wagon, ride mom and dad's lawn mower, play at the park, swim, etc., etc. Daily, she asks to go "ou'sigh."

Once, Grace and I spent the night with mom and daddy when she was about 14-15 months old. She woke up, crawled out of bed and brought me her shoes. As soon as I got them on her feet, she went and got my shoes. I wasn't even out of bed yet! I got my shoes on and she "pulled" me out of bed. She stood crying at the front door when I stopped at the bathroom. As soon as I was ready, I opened the door and she took off. She climbed up on daddy's mower and pretended to drive it. Of course, daddy came out and started it up and took her on a ride. This photo is from that day - notice I still have on my P.J.'s!



A couple of days ago, Grace wanted to go outside to slide. She loves climbing, sliding and swinging. I took a couple of video's of her.

First Haircut

We finally did it! On Friday, we were playing at Kate's house and I looked at Grace and thought about how crazy her hair has become. It grew in naturally with a layered look. Some pieces much, much longer than others. The top was a lot shorter than the bottom, giving her a mullet look. The fact that much of the hair was baby-fine meant that it became frizzy easily and stuck out all over the place.

So, Saturday, Jeff and I took her to get it trimmed up. We wanted it to look the same, just more even and more controlled.

This is her before - notice how the bangs are all different lengths.



She did well during the cut. She didn't want us to sit in the chair, so I had to stand while the stylist trimmed her hair. She clung to me for dear life through the entire time. She didn't cry or make any sort of protest, but you could tell she wasn't too confident that this was a good idea.

Looking unsure of what was going on:


Clinging to mommy:


The view from the back - you can see how uneven it is. She cut about an inch to an inch and half off.



And here is what she looks like now:

Ben-ley

Grace and Bentley love to play together. Most of the time she will call him either Doggy or BB, but lately she has started calling him by his name, Bentley (Ben-ley).

One of the things that Grace likes to do is keep him warm while he naps. She will go get her blankets (or her Dora beach towel) and cover him while he is *goin' night-night.* She will make sure the blanket is perfectly straight. If he tries to move away from her, she will just follow, tell him to stay and start all over. After about 30 minutes of running from her, he gives in and allows her to cover him up. Then she sits on him and watches TV.


She also loves to chase him all over the house while pushing her doll stroller or something else with wheels. She will chase him for as long as she can - usually, I have to put Bentley outside because he gets tired way before she does.

She loves to feed Bentley by herself. Each day, she gets his empty bowl and brings it to me. I hold it for her while she fills it up. She then takes the full bowl from me and slowly carries it back to its spot.

Ouch!

My little girl loves to run - and sometimes her feet can out run her legs.

In the first week of August, she was playing on the sidewalk - running back and forth to me and the house. She is getting quite fast, but sometimes hershe can't keep up with herself!

She fell, skinning her knees, her hands and even her forehead! She had a yucky bruise under all the scratches. She cried for a bit, but only a couple of minutes. I got her home and cleaned her up - she let me know she needed band aids. I think she had like 6 or something before she thought she felt good enough to continue her play.


Band aids are important to her. The other day (Sunday before Labor Day), we were at a friend's house and she was playing with their son. She ended up with a busted lip. She cried for all of a minute...but seeing that there was blood, she started saying she needed a band aid. We gave her one - she put it on her chin and, less than 3 minutes after the injury, she was ready to play again.

Another month!

Another month has passed and I am continually amazed at Grace and all that she can do and say on her own. Just today, we invited over her best friend, Kate, to play. She and Kate play together so well. The two of them will just go off and spend time giggling and sharing and playing...leaving the mommies watching in amazement.

She mimics everything I say and do...which is really cool, but also scary. What a huge responsibility that is. She loves to ask me, "What's that?" Then she will repeat whatever I say and can remember what it is later. Which, even 6 months ago, she couldn't do consistently.

Go in THERE!

This morning, Grace showed me what an individualist she is! I was getting her ready for play date and she didn't like the shirt that I had picked out. So, I let her pick a different shirt. Then she wanted to pick out her shoes, so I let her do that, also. She was trying to put her shoes on, but couldn't quite manage. I leaned in to help her. She snatched her foot away and said, "No, no, no, mine." I told her I was sorry, but the damage was done. She pointed at the door to her room and said, "Away, go in there." I just looked at her. Apparently, I wasn't moving quickly enough, because she came up behind me and started pushing me towards the door, all the time saying, "Go in there." Knowing when I'm not wanted, I left. I watched as she put her shoes on, the wrong feet. I congratulated her and started back into her room. She jumped up - said, "No, in there" and then slammed the door in my face.

After a while she started hollering at me to come let her out (and, yes, I was tempted to let her stay in there). I opened the door - she had changed her shoes and had them on the right feet this time!

Big Butt!

The other day at the store, Grace pointed to a plump lady and shouted, "Big Butt!" She didn't just say it once - she said it over and over and over again until I agreed that the butt was big.

Piggy Tails

Nonni decided that Grace's hair is long enough for piggy tails! We went to the store and bought some really little, tiny pony tail holders. That night, Nonni put her hair up! Grace LOVED it. Since then, daily, she asked for her "pig hair."

Take a Hike

Jeff, Grace and I joined Jack and Mimi at Lajitas this past week to take a little time off! On Friday, we all decided to go for a hike at Big Bend National Park. There was a path that led to something called The Window. It was a beautiful overlook 2.6 miles down the path.


Grace had a great time checking out the HUGE ants that were every where. She loved to stop to smell (and pick) each flower along the way. She would run ahead as best she could (only falling once). Of course, the fact that there are bears and mountain lions in the area made us a little nervous!


Daddy carried her for most of the way down the path, though I took a turn or two. We stopped at large boulders to rest along the way and to take photos from time to time. When we got to the end of the trail, a beautiful sight awaited us:


Of course, if you walk, 2.6 miles down, then you must come 2.6 miles back up! Grace was worn out! It was past her nap time and she had more than enough walking for the day. So, her daddy and I then carried her back up the mountain! She fell asleep right at the beginning of the return trip. And, let me tail you - it is much harder to carry a 25lb sleeping baby up a mountain than it is to carry an awake, squirming toddler down one!

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Girlie - Girl

Grace is totally a "Girlie-Girl." She loves to dress up, wear my high heels, put on make-up and bows - the whole nine yards.

The other day, she wouldn't come to me to get dressed...she just kept running all over the place. When I finally pulled out a cute little outfit from her Aunt Val and Uncle Johnny and said, "Grace would you like to wear a dress?," she came running. She screamed, "Ohhhh, dress!!!"

A couple of days before that, I went into the bathroom to get ready for a party. The phone rang, so I ran to find it. When I got off the phone, I came into the bathroom to find that she had snagged my eyeshadow and was giving herself a make over!




And, of course, you can't forget the bows. Now that bows will actually stay in her hair, she has to wear them all the time. For some reason, the orange bow is mine and I always have to wear that one. The other evening, we were playing. She had a ton of bows in her hair and I had 3-4 in mine. When it was time for bed, I took out all her bows and mine. I put her to bed, then I left for a Ladies' Night Out. I stopped to get gas and also drinks. Everyone kept checking me out, so I thought I must look hot tonight! HAHA - Nope, I just had her orange bow dead center on the top of my head!



A few mornings ago, Grace wanted to go outside pretty badly. She kept opening the door and walking out. Finally, I told her if she put some shoes on, she could go out and play. I should have been more specific. She did put some shoes on, just not her own.

I didn't see a chicken.

Grace's first complex sentence was spoken on Friday, Aug. 20th. Earlier that day, she and her Mimi were in a store and they saw a huge chicken. It was as tall as Grace. That night at dinner, Mimi told Grace to tell me all about the chicken she saw at lunch. Grace just looked at her. Mimi said you remember the big chicken.

Grace looked at her and said, "I didn't see a chicken."

What was funny, was the look on her face and her body language. She flung her hand out as if exasperated with Mimi's claims of seeing chickens.

Da-Da-Da-Dora

Grace went through Dora deprivation on our weekend trip to Big Bend. The TV at the resort didn't have Nick or Noggin' - so that meant, no Dora!

Every day she asked to watch Dora - she would sing the opening line of the introduction. "Da-Da-Da-Da-Dora!"

On the last morning, she woke me up by crawling into our bed, putting her nose an inch from mine. I opened my eyes and she said, "Da-Da-Da-Da-Dora!"

When we finally got home, she ran into the house screaming, "Da-Da-Da-Da-Dora!" She went straight to the TV, pointing and singing!

Ew, Gross!

Yesterday, after Grace's bath, which was a pretty traumatic experience, I put some gel in Grace's hair, as always (helps cut the frizz). I styled it all crazy, hoping to make her laugh. When I put her in front of the mirror...she took one look at herself and said, "Ew, Grwoss" and started crying all over again!

Poo-Poo in the Tub

For the past two weeks, Grace has hated her bath time. She starts crying as soon as I tell her it is time for her bath. She cries the entire time the tub is running. She begs for the towel before she even gets wet. She will find something to stand on in the tub, so she doesn't have to touch the bottom of the tub. She cries and says over and over, "Poo-Poo."

There is no poop in the tub! I don't even know where that came from. She hasn't pooped in the tub in ages. I clean the tub before hand, take out every single toy, no bubbles...and she finds something that she thinks is poop. She will try to climb out on her own, screaming at the top of her lungs and sobbing.

When she got out of the tub last night, I turned her around and said where is the poo-poo. She pointed at some sand from her sand box and said, "right there." I told her that was just sand. I swished it away. Then she looks in the tub and said, "Where go poo-poo?" I laughed and said there was no poop. Did she want back in? "Nooooooo, poooo-poooo!" was her answer!

Tea Time

One of Grace's presents for her birthday was a tea set from her Great-Granny. I didn't really think that Grace would like it yet; I thought it was too old for her, I guess. Boy, was I wrong. She LOVED the tea set. She still loves it. We play with it almost daily. She enjoys pouring us tea with sugar and cream. She likes to drink milk out of her tea cup...and likes to use the spoon to sip the milk out of.

If even one piece of the set is missing, she starts yelling, "Uh-Oh, Uh-Oh!" and looking frantically for it. For some reason, she likes to put it on the ironing board that she got. I try to move it to a table, but she puts it back on the ironing board every time.

I always think of her Poppy while we play with the tea set. When we were younger, Daddy would "drink" tea with Shanna and I on a regular basis. One of the things he couldn't wait to do was play tea with our girls. I am so sad that he wasn't able to do it, but every time we drink tea, we pour a cup for Poppy and talk about him.

2 Year Old Appointment

Grace went to her 2 year old appointment on July 11th. She is very healthy. The doctor was impressed with her vocabulary and listening skills. She is right on target or a little a head of target on all her mental skills. Of course, she likes to ignore me, so she was in time out at the doctor's office. She kept trying to hit me (thought she was being funny!).

Physically, she is great. She is in the 50% for height (33.5 inches), 20% for weight (24 lbs). Her BMI is 15 (10th percentile).





She had to get 2 shots. Her last Hep. A shot and her MMR shot (I finally let her get that!). After the trauma of getting shots, I took her to Target's Dollar Spot and got her some stickers. She made herself look like Unc.