Little Shepherd Girl!

Autumn learned about shepherds from the Christmas story in her toddler Bible. Today she grabbed an empty wrapping paper roll and used it as her staff and said "I a shepherd, where the sheeps? Sheeps, where you go? Sheeps?". The she took her staff and transformed it into a telescope and looked through it... "They there? Nope" [turn a little] "They there? Nope" [turn a little] "They there? Nope" [turn a little] "They there? Nope" [turn a little]. I told her she was fired as a shepherd since she had lost all her sheep!

Mouse and Bunny Infestation!

Autumn keeps finding pretend "mouses" and bunnies all over the living room. They come from the Christmas tree or the toy lion's ear (not sure why?). She carefully carries them over to show us and asks us if we want to pet them. Most of the time they are "red" and they all like carrots and cheese. Sometimes she drops them and then has to find them and make sure they are OK - "you otay, bunny?" She has quite the imagination! Glad they are just imaginary though!

Autumn loves Baby Evan

When we put Autumn in the car, Evan was still inside the house (we put her in, I sit in the car with her, and Jim gets Evan). She said "where B'en? He sit here" and she pointed to where his seat goes. Jim asked if he should get him and she said "otay". Then when we got him in she said "let's go B'en". Later, when we were visiting with my family, I asked Jess if she wanted to hold him for a minute. Autumn got so upset that somebody other than Mama and Dada had him. She started crying and was yelling for me to "get him". She was so worried about him. Normally she cries when he's crying but I thought that was maybe just because his crying was bothering her or to get more attention, but I think she is genuinely sad when he cries. Today was the first time that we saw how much she likes him and is protective of him. It was cute.

Merry Christmas!

Autumn didn't quite understand Christmas yet which made the day easier for Jim and I. We decided we'd open our presents after her nap, so while she was sleeping we put everything under the tree. She came down and said "wow" and "presents" and then ran over and started ripping them open. Her favorites were her duckie, balls, and her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She also enjoyed trying out her new markers while sitting at her new table and chairs from Biddy and Grammy...she mostly likes to play with the lids but somehow still manages to get full of marker. Thank you, Crayola, for making them washable!

Making Cookies

Autumn and I made cookies tonight...well, we placed cookies on a cookie sheet to be exact. She liked stacking them and didn't understand why we couldn't bake them that way. While I was getting a second stoneware tray she decided to put her feet up and relax. She also discovered a new spa treatment - a cookie bag on the foot makes your feet nice and soft...just like the cookies (which she didn't like!). And yes, those are diapers wrapped around the top of the chair. When she gets cranky she throws her head back against the chair and that was the easiest "padding" we could come up with!

Amazing [Autumn] Grace

Despite the bump on her head last night, Autumn's still a smart cookie. She amazes me with the new things she can put together each day. Today we were watching Sesame Street and when they said that it was "brought to you by the letter 'N'" she said "ABC's so she's recognizing what letters are. Her sentences are becoming complete with different tenses, pronouns, and adjectives. Her counting is improving and it's only a matter of time until she can count to ten on her own. It's so much fun to see her learning and growing.

What a night!

Autumn somehow stumbled into her toy box and bumped her head. She didn't cry much so we didn't think anything of it until she got sick an hour later. Right after she was sick Evan started crying but we were tending to Autumn and on the phone with the nurse trying to figure out if we had to take her in to the ER for a possible concussion. When I went back to get Evan he was all bloody. I finally traced it to his one finger nails. I must have nipped the skin under his nail as I cut it. Little baby fingers bleed a lot! What a night - hope tomorrow goes better!

Eat Snowman!

On Friday I told Autumn it was going to snow and she said "go outside, eat snowman?". Today she got her wish...

All Smiles

Bubby is smiling more and more...

What?

Today Autumn says "Mama, got squirrel in my pants". I cracked up. She remembered that from a Phineus and Ferb episode we saw a while ago.

I get cuter every day...

Autumn as a Mommy

Tonight we got a glimpse of Autumn's parenting style...

Mickey Mouse!

We gave Autumn a piece of toast and after a few minutes of eating she yells "Mickey Mouse" and holds up her bread. She had eaten it in a way that left a Mickey Mouse shape. Wonder who she'll create tomorrow?

Autumn's "Senior Portrait"

Jim took this photo and thought it looked like a senior photo pose...

Mickey's House!

Autumn woke up from her nap and must have heard an airplane flying over the house...I came in and she said "airpane gone to Mickey's House". Pop taught her that all "airpanes" go to Mickey Mouse's house and I guess she remembered that when she heard the plane.

Sleep!

Evan has decided that he wants to sleep during the day...he was going to bed between 2-3am and then it jumped to 5am and this morning it was 9:30am. Come on, little one, give Mama and Dada a break or no Christmas presents for you!

Birdie

Tonight Autumn had a blast with a piece of tissue paper and a paper towel roll. She ripped the tissue paper into a million different pieces and shoved them in the paper towel roll, took them out, and put them back in for a straight hour. But the best part was when she arranged the tissue paper bits in a circle on a plate and then put her bird in the middle and came and showed me the "bird nest" and told me the "bird eat bird seed - teet, teet, teet" (she can't say "tweet"). I was impressed!

Third Choice

Autumn woke up from her nap and first called for Elmo to come get her out of her crib. When he didn't come she called for Baby Evan. And when he didn't come either, she called for Mama. Glad I'm the third choice, especially when preceeded by a silly red muppet! Minus one Christmas present for her!

Big boy!

Evan went for a well-visit today and he's a whopping 10lbs 7oz! That's a big praise since we've been having so many issues with breastfeeding and lack of weight gain in the prior weeks! He's in the 50th percentile for weight and head circumference and the 75th for height - the same as Autumn has been! How is it that our kids are in the "taller" range?

St. Nick's Day

Biddy and Grammy brought us our St. Nick's Day stockings. Autumn was most interested in the candy and smooshed Mama's coconut cream filled candy and ate half of the other one...here she's eying up Dada's chocolate! Evan's thinking "I get my half of the coconut cream candy later"!

More Snow Fun!

We went up to Biddy's house to play in the snow. Autumn loved just sitting in the snow and eating it.

Snow Fun!

Autumn went out to play in the snow tonight...she loved it (she threw a fit when Jim tried to carry her in!). She likes to eat it and hand it to us but didn't like when Jim tried to make a small snowman. The flakes were so big...you can see the shadows from them in the photos.

Autumn's funnies...

Today we were watching Jacques Pepin and she says "There's Pop" - Pop does like to cook?? Then we were watching My Friends Tigger and Pooh and discovered she can't say "skunk"...it comes out "snack"...quite different than a snack!!!

Stop!

I was singing the theme song to one of the shows we watch on PBS and Autumn yelled "Mama, stop!"...she's finally noticing that I can't sing - the unconditional admiration is ending!

Just Hanging Out...