Silly Mommy

Mommy:  Talia, let's go outside and play.  We can put on your new Nittany Lion outfit to keep you warm.
Talia:  Nooooo, Mommy.  It's not a Nittany "Yion" outfit; it's a Nittany "Yion" costume.  Just "yike" my Mickey costume. 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a fairly low-key day for Talia.  A little bit of playing, a little watching Mickey, and going to the grocery store (which she surprisingly enjoys a lot).  We went to the 6:30 Christmas Eve service - normally this would be a good time for Talia - but she went "napless" yesterday.  So Talia was a bit giddy, tired, and overall hard to control.  Also, it didn't help that the service went from 6:00 (prelude Christmas songs) to 8:00.We asked her about 50 times to whisper and use her "church voice" when talking.  She has always been a talker and perhaps it's because we encourage her vocabulary....... she only whispered one out of every five times she spoke.  The climax of her silliness was when she chucked a green grape at Alysia and it deflected off of her leg, landing next to an older man.  There was one brief moment where she was completely quite and calm - when she was watching a man sing from the balcony... she's always enthralled with watching people sing or dance.

We didn't take a picture at church, but did snap her at home after church.  No worries, she didn't take her "dress-up" scarf with her to the service.

Talia's Christmas Gift to Us

Over the last few months, Talia has been experimenting with using the potty - although mostly at daycare.  In the last week, however, her interest has escalated to the point where she has been going multiple times per day.

As of today, she even will initiate the event now.  While we were spending time at the house this morning, Talia called me from the 2nd floor bathroom, saying that she had just gone potty.  I looked up, and sure enough, she was standing there with pants down, diaper off, looking very proud.  She executed every important step of going potty without telling anyone beforehand.

At night, before I could stop her, she even went so far as to try dumping her "deposit" from the potty into the main toilet.  Let's just say it was a good thing that we were getting ready to wash her in the bathtub....

Thanks for the Christmas present, Talia!

Until next time...

 - Mike

Two Days Until Christmas

Over the past month, Talia has received a heavy dose of holiday spirit and build-up to Christmas.

This past Sunday, Talia celebrated her Christmas with her Nana, Poppy, and Uncle Ben by exchanging gifts.  Perhaps the biggest hit - something that her Dad initially mistook for a box of "junk" - was an entire bin full of dress-up clothes.  As you can see, Talia really enjoyed turning herself into various characters and putting on fashion shows.  She also was given a shirt with her name embroidered on it - very nice!

On Tuesday evening, we took Talia on the annual Santa House excursion.  We waited for about 1 hour outside during a cold winter evening, but the wait was well worth it.  Talia enjoyed reveling in all of the lights, toys, automated figurines, etc.  She also managed to sneak into Santa's chair for a few minutes while he was taking a break!  She thought that she was something special to sit in that giant chair...

After being told numerous times over the last few days about Santa visiting soon, we think that Talia knows that something special is going to happen soon.  Here's to our last chance to sleep in on Christmas morning for the foreseeable future...!

Until next time....
 - Mike

Getting ready for Christmas!

Talia had a great weekend getting ready for Christmas.  On Friday evening, we went to Dow Gardens Christmas walk and Talia had a close encounter with a real reindeer.  On Saturday, we picked out our Christmas Tree at the local nursery and then we built a Gingerbread House at the Center for the Arts.  On Sunday, we decorated the tree!

Talia & Maddy: Christmas Cheer

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/Nydzo0yVKh1yYu7XH3JR

Anyone for a Swim?

Talia is taking swim lessons again and loves them so much. She asks at least once a day whether today is Wednesday because she knows that's the day she goes to the pool. When the answer is "no", that doesn't stop her. She just takes her stuffed animals "swimming" in the house, which typically means they go for a stroller ride over to the foyer and she sets them up in a circle and they "swim".

The other day, she took it one step further....... by joining them! (the first picture was snapped after she found her bathing suit in her closet and attempted to put it on herself; the second picture was taken after I lost the argument that it was too cold to wear a bathing suit in the house and agreed to help her put it on over her pajamas).

Alysia

Beginning the Advent Calendar Tradition

We purchased a hand-painted wooden Advent house for the family a few months ago!

Each night, before we read 2 books and go night-night.... Talia opens one of the doors and finds a surprise from Santa. She LOVES it!

Like Father, Like Daughter

Thanksgiving Travels

We celebrated Thanksgiving with family in Pennsylvania. Talia enjoyed seeing Nana, Poppy, Uncle Ben, Aunt Kathy, Sierra, Sadie, Alex, Meme, Great-Grandpa, Grandma, Pappy, Aunt Ann, Uncle Dan, and cousin Maddie! It seems we took only a few pictures because we were too busy having fun. Oops. At least we captured her playing with Sierra, drawing with Pappy, sitting nicely to get her hair done by Kathy, and then later that day playing with Maddie (thanks for the picture Ann)!

Alysia