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

The Sugar Plum Monster

With the variety of summer produce at it's peak now, Talia has recently developed a new food craving - plums. She will attack them on site.

In the last 2 weeks, we've visited LaLonde's, a local small grocery store, several times to pick up some food. This store keeps a display of plums directly in front of the main entrance. Each time that took Talia to LaLonde's recently, she ran directly to the display and helped herself to a plum without asking.... And each time she does this, we'll politely pay for a similiar-sized plum and put it back in the pile on Talia's behalf. Life must be nice to think that everything around you is available for you to use free of charge and without asking...

The latest "plum incident" occurred at the Farmer's Market this weekend. After grabbing some food and heading back to the car, we asked Talia if she wanted a plum. She nodded eagerly, so we gave one to her. It turns out that we bought a kind of plum with a dark red/purple flesh - not a good combination with her white shirt. We managed to avert disaster by improvising and using a napkin as a temporary bib.

For the weekly dose of Talia pictures, here is one from our second consecutive beach day trip that we had with friends from last week. T is doing her part to get us excited for Penn State football soon...

Until next time....
- Mike

Talia is ONE!

Talia turned 1 year old on Sunday! She spent the weekend in Pittsburgh visiting Grandma, Pappy, Aunt Lee Ann, Uncle Dan, and cousin Madelyn. On Saturday, there was a big party just for Miss T - complete with balloons, streamers, presents, and cake and ice cream! Talia LOVED the chocolate cake, but wasn't too happy when she realized how cold ice cream can feel on your hand........

Oh yeah, remember - we share a birthday - so here are the BIRTHDAY GIRLS!

Alysia

Talia - 51 Weeks

"Gotta love my hair!"

One more week and Tally will be ONE YEAR OLD!!! Can everyone believe it? Her Mommy and Daddy cannot, but then they can -- because it's hard to imagine what the world was like pre-Talia Mae.

It's summer in Midland again and we've established our weekly picnic lunch once again. It's awesome to see T during the middle of the day. We mess with her schedule a bit as her nap ends up late, but she doesn't seem to mind at all.

New at 51 weeks?

• Saying "Dada" on cue. Even funnier (or more frustrating?), saying "Dada" when asked to say "Mama". We think it's a game for her at this point:)
• Eating significant quantities of big people food! Favorites? Bread with hummus, cheese, yogurt, applesauce, ravioli, grapes, pineapple.
• Consistently taking one nap per day, two hours in length, right after lunch. Yay!

Alysia

Talia - 50 Weeks

Talia is 50 weeks old and she's into everything! Here are some shots of her getting herself into trouble:)

She learns more every single day and continues to amaze us with her growing personality and intelligence. She definitely understands what you say now and sometimes listens.

New at 50 Weeks?

• Consistently waving bye-bye. In fact, she starts waving to Miss Kristy or Miss Cindy as soon as Mommy or Daddy arrive to pick her up from daycare:)
• Giggling while playing hide and seek (TRULY) with Mommy. Mommy will run and hide and Tally will quickly crawl to find her, laughing when she find her.
• Significant connotations in her words - up/down, questioning, etc
• Imitation (repetition) of sounds someone else asks her to make
• Attempting to cruise between toys / furniture. She will readjust her position to allow her to step toward another item. Never without holding on to something, but definitely becoming more assertive.
• Standing without holding on for balance

Alysia

Talia - 49 Weeks

Talia is inching every so closely to the 1-year mark and boy is she a busy girl! She's non-stop action from the time she gets up until she finally crashes. Unfortunately, she seems to be so enamored with her ability to get around that she isn't nearly the sleeper she was just one short month ago. She's recently opted to scream herself to sleep around 10PM (yes, Mommy & Daddy are tired) and sometimes decides to scream again in the middle of the night just to make sure it's well known that she'd rather be exploring than stuck in her crib......

"I'm sorry. Did you say not to sit on these diapers on the steps?"

"What did you say Daddy? You need help cleaning the fridge?"

"Who - Me?"

The week was a busy one. Uncle Ben paid Tally a visit over the weekend. Talia really does love Uncle Ben, it just takes her a day to get used to that stuff on his face.....

A few new things this week:

• She's pointed at a baby twice and said "ba-ba"!
• Steering her car around corners and backing up to adjust
• Will not lie down for a diaper change
• Waving "bye", not just "hi"

The rest of the week was filled with a softball game, playtime on the patio, a few walks around the neighborhood, jogging with Mommy & Daddy, and then a really exciting visit from Aunt Ann, Uncle Dan, cousin Maddie, and Grandma for the big holiday weekend. Stay tuned for cute pics of the cousins soon!

Alysia

Talia - 48 Weeks

Talia - 47 Weeks

Talia really motored around during her 46th week - and not just on her car! She simply doesn't stay put very long anymore. Everything is exciting, new, and absolutely necessary to explore. Thank goodness she enjoyed exploring this rubbermaid bin for awhile one day - I think it allowed Daddy to work on putting up gates while Mommy got dinner prepared.

New at 47 Weeks!

• Pointing (she's actually been doing this for the past two weeks, but now all the time)
• Clapping - and producing noise - her hands never actually touched before this week
• Riding around on her car
• Pushing (not pulling yet) up to standing
• Walking great distances with her walker
• Significant interest in STEPS

Alysia

Talia - 46 Weeks

In her 45th week, Talia learned quickly that she can get around - anywhere and everywhere - she so desires. Talia will soon acquire a new nickname: TORNADO T! Here are some pictures of Tornado T in action, or in some cases, the mess she leaves behind.

Every week, Tally learns new tricks and new ways to express her personality. Here are a few for the past week:

1. Eating cereal puffs: She now LOVES cereal puffs. She has just recently realized the power of her thumb and pointer finger. When she successfully gets one in her mouth, she looks for you to start clapping and she claps too!
2. Finding the smallest piece of dirt: Truly, she is either very observant or takes after her daddy and just wants things to be clean!
3. Walking slowly with her piano: Her legs are no longer tree trunks rooted to the floor. She will slowly cross the room pushing her piano, carefully lifting one leg after the other.
4. Stuffed Animals: Talia LOVES them. She has many already (so don't go buy her a bunch more). She'll spot her 'friend' from across the room, crawl long distances to arrive at the animal, pick it up, squeeze it hard, start giggling when she sees its face, and talk to it for a while. The funniest part is her giggling. She won't really pay much attention unless she's looking at the animal's face. It must crack her up:)
5. Crawling to find Mommy or Daddy: She knows she can get wherever she wants now. You put her down in the living room with her toys and walk into the kitchen for a drink? Within 30 seconds she'll be waving at you from a few steps away.

This week was a busy one. Tally had a playdate on Monday evening, Mommy was in Texas for work on Tuesday, swim class was Wednesday evening, and there was much to explore in between!

Alysia

Talia - 45 Weeks

Talia's favorite thing to do this week was WAVE. She starts waving as soon as she hears the word "Hi" or uses it to get your attention when you're across the room. Very cute.

Talia is now moving a lot. She gets into corners and is sometimes a bit mischievous. Some of her favorite things to get into right now: Laptops, wires, any piece of dirt on the floor, cramped spots like under tables and chairs. We now find her on her knees looking out of her crib each time we go to get her from a nap or in the morning - TIME TO LOWER THE CRIB MATTRESS!

Talia is learning new words every day. Some new words she recognizes: ball, monkey, bear, ball, Hi, Come here.......

Last night, we went to a going-away PROM for some friends who are moving from Midland to Philly. Yes - PROM. Talia had a blast, dressing up, staying up late, playing with everyone who would stop to say hi, eating a chocolate chip cookie, and encountering her very first balloons!

Alysia