Wow - hard to believe it's been a few months since I've updated. What can I say, we've been a family on the go!
I'll start with now and work my way backwards as I have time to fill in the details. Last weekend, Mom and Marie took Arabelle and I to visit Santa Claus. I was less than impressed and wouldn't sit in his lap. Mom was hoping that if Arabelle sat on his lap that I would too. No such luck, so mom had to sit next to Santa with me in her lap. Mom was NOT prepared to have her picture taken and wasn't thrilled about this :)
I have been a good girl for the most part. I have my tantrums every now and then about pretty random things, but I think they can be attributed to my latest ear infection (second of the winter thus far). This is round 2 of antibiotics and we're going to keep a close eye on my ears through the rest of the winter. I came so close to getting tubes in the spring, but then had a 6 month break from the infections which kind of resets the clock. Fingers crossed my ears either get better soon or we make the leap to tubes.
Mom and dad got me The Elf on the Shelf and I've really been enjoying finding him every morning. He is magic and watches me every day and leaves at night to tell Santa if I've been good or bad and comes back in a new place every morning. I named him "Criddle," which was one of the suggested names in the book. I think I'll understand him better next year, but it's been fun this year. Christmas is going to be fun and I really enjoy our tree. Though the first night daddy put it up, I was a little freaked out that there was a TREE in the living room! Now I love it and can even turn the lights on all by myself. I have a few of my very own ornaments and am obsessed with straightening them out every day. I helped mommy wrap some presents this morning - my job was to hold the tape and pull out a piece when mommy needed it. Then I picked out the gift tag and carried the presents to the tree :) I was such a big helper!
I've been doing pretty well with potty training, but it's made it difficult to spend too much time out of the house for sure! At home, I can use the potty and wash my hands all by myself with my potty seat and stool! Sometimes mom still needs to remind me to go and we spend much of the day in the bathroom, but we're getting there. Mom put all of my diapers away and I'm wearing big girl underwear at home for the most part.
I'm talking really well now and have a rather large vocabulary. Mom and dad are constantly amazed at the sentences and phrases that I've been able to string together. I'm very good about saying please and thank you and am getting better about using my words instead of crying when I'm upset about something. Sometimes when I'm having a tantrum, I tell mommy "I have tears. I need to calm down."
I've been having a blast with the leaves outside. Mom and dad got me a rake to use to "help" them. You can see that I'm not such a huge help, but at least I had fun :)
I've become an expert in putting my own coat on! I lay it out on the floor with the collar towards me and flip it over my head. Mom gave me my very own basket to put my hats and mittens in, so I can put those on myself too. My new thing is to pretend that I'm going to work. I get "dressed" all by myself and announce that I'm going to work. This is my latest attire.
This was another one. I asked mom to help me put on *two* pairs of sunglasses, then said "I can't see, mommy." We all laughed about that one!
Mom and I had a date at the zoo on Veteran's Day because my school was closed. We had a fun day and I enjoyed the gorilla's the most :) Mom bought me a baby tiger that I love to cuddle with at bedtime.
Mom let me make my very own pizza with dairy free cheese! I have a lot of fun helping mom and dad cook and this is one thing I can almost do by myself!
I am *obsessed* with sushi avocado rolls! Mom loves sushi and we discovered that I really enjoy these too. I pick them up and dip them in soy sauce and then try to bite off little pieces. It's a little hard to bite through the seaweed wrappers, so I usually end up shoving the whole piece in my mouth! I can eat almost as many pieces as mommy :)
My teachers helped me make a marshmallow and pretzel menorah! Mom's let me eat a few pieces each night since we brought it home. I really enjoy it!
More later...hugs to all!
