Letters to Luthien: Thanksgiving

Hi Luthien,
Well first I will start by telling you I cannot believe all the new things you are doing/saying on a daily basis. It would be far too much to record, so I will just list a few new developments.

1. You say the funniest, and we think most clever things. I really need to start writing things down right after you say them so I can record a few of the classics here. Something you have started saying often is, "Say it louder Mom!" when I say something you like- as if that seals the deal...? I can't really figure out where you got that, other than I think I say that to Dad sometimes because my hearing is not the best. You also have started thanking everyone, and you always say "Oh" as if whatever polite gesture someone has done for you is a surprise. So if you ask me for milk and I give it to you, you say "Oh! Thank you Mommy!"

2. You are really delving into the world of imaginary play these days. You love to play 'going to the grocery store or the farm' and finally you love to help me cook! I've been waiting for this day! Of course sometimes it's a bit of a hindrance when I'm trying to prepare something quickly, but most of the time I really enjoy cooking with you- you mimic what I'm doing in great detail with some of your own tools and I get to teach you the ropes. You've even started helping me set the table and load the dishwasher.

3. You can now retell stories, daily events, etc. with pretty good accuracy. I love asking you what happened in a particular book or when you went to the store with Dad and hearing what you have to say. Every time you go somewhere with Dad you say that you got candy, which Dad then denies, so I'm not sure about the accuracy there :)

4. You still are pretty into letters and words and what sounds make up words. I actually started a little informal "assessment" the other day on a whim. I presented you with 3 letters and then asked you to point to a particular letter or sound, and you could point to the correct one almost every time. Dad tried this but he quickly found that he was giving you too many letters at a time. A visual field of 3-4 is the max for now (I'll explain this to you later I guess). Also, you point out print in the environment when we go places, which is exciting!

5. You are getting really good at singing and right now of course Christmas songs are your favorite- you love anything to do with Santa, reindeer, or snowmen.

Okay, that's enough for now! Here are a few pictures from the past couple weeks as well as some from our Thanksgiving trip to Brooklyn...

I think I told you you are loving to paint right now. Sometimes I find paint in interesting places, but I love that you love to create.

We've still been hanging out with your friend, Dorothy and you LOVE her gecko. You always want to hold him and for the most part you are very gentle. I'm just impressed that you don't flinch when he crawls all over you!

Here you are with your cousin Georges the night before Thanksgiving, in your favorite of places. You can sort of see that you have extreme dryness right now in various places on your body (where your skin is thin?)- under your eyes, behind your knees, etc. The eyes worry me- whenever you cry, you then start screaming because the tears sting! Poor girl. I'm working on a remedy for this.

Along with pretend play, you love to dress up. Shoes are your favorite and hats are a close second. A big thing right now is that you can put on most of your clothes by yourself so you love to practice. Here you are getting dressed up in Georges' shoes/hat:

Thanksgiving with the East Coast cousins...you all loved playing in front of the mirror and Bastian started really scooting fast that weekend:

You were very excited to eat. Your appetite has really increased these days! You can also see that Aunt Maria made everyone a personalized placemat with fitting artwork...