Well, I don't have too much to share and we haven't taken the greatest pictures lately (forgot our camera on Thanksgiving and for other events), but I'll start with the pictures we do have.
Toward the middle of November we took a quick trip out to California for your Aunt Trisha's baby shower. I know, I know- I said I wouldn't do anymore of these trips with a baby/toddler in tow, but we really wanted to support Trisha and it was pretty much a free trip. Believe me, during the trip back I was second guessing my decision! Overall though, it was a lot of fun and you were a good girl. You had fun at the shower because there were lots of kids to play with and they even gave gifts out to all the little ones!
Here is a picture of you walking on the beach with dad. It was pretty cold, so instead of playing in the water or anywhere near wet sand (still not a texture you a enjoy), you wanted to chase the seagulls.
I don't know if you can see your expression very well in this one, but it looks as though you're courteously laughing at one of Grandad's jokes. I also just love the way you're sitting at the table- so grown up and relaxed.
This is a cool picture with your Aunt Stefanie's sister, Jenny. No photoshop used, just the sunset in all its' glory. It was a fun treat to be able to meet up with Jenny and drive her back to Arizona. She happened to be visiting California at the time, all the way from Switzerland. For the entire length of her trip (she stayed in AZ for a few weeks after that) you were totally confused by her, always thinking she was Stefanie.
Another note is that you now LOVE cars and trucks. You can say "car" and make the "vroom vroom" sound. I'm so glad we have stuck to our goal of presenting you with mostly non gender-biased toys. This actually is harder to do than one would think. I would still say that you like stuffed animals more, but at least the cars were given an equal chance!
Thanksgiving was nice- very relaxed because everyone brought a dish to share. It was much too hot, but has started cooling down since then, thank goodness! The best part was that mom started working part-time that week (down from full-time)! The extra days with you are priceless, but I am still learning the ropes. It's especially hard for me to let go of my desire for perfectionism as a mom, but more on that later...
The day after Thanksgiving we went to pick out a tree! You must know that in our 4 1/2 years of marriage we have never had a tree, so this was a big deal. The day went by all too quickly so we ended up actually putting up the tree after you went to sleep that night. I think that was actually best to do anyhow, since you are still so young. It was fun to see your reaction in the morning.
You have always been an early riser (around 6-6:30), much to your night owl parents' dismay, so it was actually still very dark when I captured this picture. You were so excited about all the lights:
We are very particular about the ornaments on the tree. Luckily, most are made of cloth and are therefore childproof. This was not done on purpose, we just have an obsession with the Anthropologie sweater ornaments and others similar in style. Please note Max, from Where the Wild Things Are....
We don't have a ton of ornaments because these Anthropologie ornaments don't come cheap. We wait until after Christmas to buy them, and we have decided to make this a family tradition from now on.
Mom is rather meticulous about how/where the ornaments are placed on the tree. So it has been an interesting learning curve for both of us- you learning not to pull off all the ornaments, and me trying not to care. Luckily being a mom in general doesn't allow for my natural tendency to freak out about this sort of thing- I've just got more important things to worry about!
Luthien, Mama loves you and is so proud of how much you're learning and growing every day. You learned many words at a young age, so you've only added a few new ones recently- such as car, apple, bubble, yeah, bear, owl, bed, light, star, popcorn, tree, happy, elbow, Bobba, Poppa, and a few more animal sounds. I'm trying to encourage you to put two words together but not pushing too much yet. I think right now you are learning a lot about your emotions, which has been hard on mom especially. This means lots of tears, along with a lot of laughter of course, as well as learning not to hit, bite, or steal. Mom thought she knew how she would discipline her children but it is proving much more difficult than she thought. I know this burst in your emotional development is a lot to handle, but we can get through it, especially with lots of love.
Until next time little one,
Mom
1 comment:
This was a sweet post! The "letting go of perfection" thing just comes with time. It took a good 2 years and the imminent arrival of Maya for me to be totally comfortable with just going with the flow, and taking the lead from Finn. A good video/book to check out is The Happiest Toddler on the Block. It helped with Finn when he was still too young to effectively communicate verbally, and there was tons of frustration. And then, one day, around age 2.5 things just started getting better. He could speak and communicate, and it wasn't necessarily easier, but I feel like we are on the same team most of the time. He still has melt downs, but I laugh at them WAY more now than I used to. I don't melt down myself as much. :) Hope you guys are doing good! We sure do miss you.
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