"I lonely," Dora, and other Teresa updates

Teresa had only a handful of words about 6 months ago.  That has sure changed!  Troy and I joke that she never stops talking.  Even in her crib before naps and bed she chatters to herself for a good while.  Having an older brother it is funny to hear that things she has learned.  We often hear her say "I shoot my web" while playing with Timothy's spiderman.  Another favorite is "I lonely" which means no one is playing with her and she doesn't like that.  I leave her for a moment to walk in the kitchen to help Timothy and she immediately pipes up "I lonely!" 

She has also discovered her first passion that is truly her own and not a hand me down from Timothy.  DORA!  It started with a Dora book at home.  Then there was a Dora puzzle at my parents that she did constantly during our Thanksgiving visit.  Last Sunday we borrowed a Dora DVD from the church library.  And now she loves Boots and Tico and walks around hugging her DVD.  It is sort of fun to see her come to like something on her own.

Teresa continues to be on the shorter side.  I had her in a 12 month onsie the other day.  It was indeed too small, as it looked more like a 3/4 sleeve, but it was a cute Christmas one that she had not worn much.  But most of her pants are 18-24 months.  It works great that much of last years clothes still fit this year.

Timothy has taken to sledding this year.  And as much as Timothy loves the outdoors, Teresa can't stand it.  After about 2 minutes outside she is begging to go inside.  She takes about one ride in the sled and then opts to sit in the snow.  I think part of the problem is the difficulty in moving in winter gear.  She has a bit of trouble walking and doesn't like the big mittens.

We often refer to Teresa by various nicknames, but she only likes one...Tootsie-pop.  If we call her something else, she will correct and say she is Tootsie-pop Teresa.  She is a hard one not to laugh at and it takes some serious concentration not to smile at her when setting the rules.

A week in the cities

We had a great Thanksgiving week in the cities with family. Troy had a conference the weekend before Thanksgiving, so we tagged along for an extra long visit!  With the extra few days I was able to arrange a few visits with good friends that I don't get to see often enough.  My mom and I also squeezed in some shopping as did Troy and I--date night at Target--can't beat that!

The weather was great, so we had some fun trips to playgrounds and time outdoors.  We also had a morning play date with 'the cousins' which is always fun.  When Troy got back, we made a trip downtown to see the Macy's Christmas display.  I got us there a bit early, so we had a snack break in a nearby building.  Although the kids saw the display last year, they were just as intrigued by it this year.

Enjoying snack with Grandma downtown.

Taking in the Christmas display with wonder.

Some of Teresa and Timothy's favorite activities for the week were doing puzzles, playing Angry birds and playing with Star Wars toys.  Teresa could do the Dora puzzle over and over for hours.  And Timothy had his set times to play Angry birds after breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We had a great Thanksgiving day with my family, and we spent the day after with Troy's family.  Not being much a photographer, I hve no photos of those gatherings.  But they were good days for all of us.

Going home is never fun, but this time we had the joy of putting up the Christmas tree to look forward to.  The kids were good travelers and once we arrived home they could hardly wait to get at the tree.

One extra photo of the kids and I in our new clothes.  Timmy and I got new sweaters and Teresa got a 'new' dress from her cousins.  (I got the idea of Sunday morning timer photos from my sister-in-law.  A way to make the morning fun when daddy is gone!)

And for some live action, below is a video af the tree decorating.  Not too exciting, but fun for those of you who live far away. :-)

 

A taste of winter fun!

We had a few inches of snow yesterday.  (Perfectly timed after Troy got all the raking done!)  Not a lot, but just enough to play in and with mild temps it was ideal.  Yesterday Troy pulled the kids around the front yard.  Timothy would have loved to go to a sledding hill today, but it was so sloppy that I guessed most of the snow on the hill would be gone.  Instead we built a little ramp to sled on in our front yard.  It was indeed very little, but still big enough to bring some delight to Timothy!