Job Hunting

Since she is almost 2, I guess she thought it was time to look for a job. I walked in and she was laying on her stomach with her crayons over the paper. Of course, she had moved by the time I got back into the living room with the camera.

I am pretty amazed at Peanut's ability to speak. She can pretty much answer a question when you ask it. All day today when people would ask where Mr. T. was she would say "Daddy is painting my room". She also repeats everything I say. I told Mr. T. "Wow, this looks really good. Daddy did a good job." She said "Wow, so pretty. Daddy did a good job."

Peanut is also becoming very expressive. "Wow, this is yummy. Hmm. This is good." It is pretty fun because all the things she was feeling before she now takes such joy in telling us. She is such a happy kid, and it is fun to hear what she is so happy about.

We walked up to Starbucks today. I accidentally poured her drink all over her pants and shoes. She didn't make a fuss or worry about it at all. When I finally got her another drink, the look on her face was one of utter happiness. You could see her eyes scream "HOT CHOCOLATE". I poured about half of it out because I didn't want her to spill it (ironically). She had all of it drank in about 2 blocks which was surprising because she kept on and on about how yummy it was and oh it was so good.

The weather has been really nice so we have been spending a lot of time at the park. I am constantly amazed on how well peanut interacts with the other kids. She is always willing to share and doesn't really get fussed when some kid wants something she has. She usually just smiles and gives it to them. It makes me proud to have such a laid back little girl.

As you can see, the house is coming right along. With me not working on school, i have been working on getting some things organized. i organized the kitchen a little more this week getting all the "junk" off of the top of the cabinets and putting it away. We have a lot of room for things, but I am trying to figure out what needs to go where and stay out of someone's hands. This week we are going to paint our room and hire a fencing contractor. We still need one more person to come in and give us an estimate on the windows before we hire a window man. We have pretty much decided who is going to do the floors, but we need to relook at our flooring options before we make a decision.

And video to prove it.

This will be boring for people who are not part of the family.

Opening Stockings



Opening Aunt Genies Present and a present from Dad



Opening a Present from Granny and Papa




Just Playing and acting silly with chocolate all over her face.

Christmas Day

It was a big Christmas day with lots of fun treats for everyone! Peanut's big surprise was a new bike, but the train and doll were the ones she played with most of the day. Peanut spent most of the morning eating candy and asking us to open most of her toys. We went outside for part of the morning and played at the park. She liked riding her bike, but I think she tired of it quickly.

Peanut walked around with her shirt up this afternoon. She was saying "I give my baby my milk". She was nursing her baby. It was so cute. I LOVED IT. I tried to take her picture, but she wouldn't let me. I expected her to do that when the baby arrived, but it was surprising for her to do it before. I think she is doing it because she remembers me doing it.

I have attached a couple of pictures. When I get the video up and running, I will post that.

We did our hair together today. Usually, she won't even let me put anything in her hair.

We took our babies for walk.

We opened our presents.

And dug in our stockings

Stockings all Laid Out With Care

We are getting ready for the big day tomorrow. Peanut has finally fallen asleep. She had a big nap today, so we kept her up an hour later, but she choose to extend the time she was awake by crying and yelling for mama. She kept telling me. "I want to be awake."

I am glad that Christmas is here. Peanut has been very interested in the presents. We let her open one this evening. It was a tractor with animals in it. We left her in the room by herself while we all did "grown-up" things. She opened another present. LUCKILY, she opened a book that was meant for her. She was laying across the foot rest reading when we all walked in.

We are having Christmas at my house this year, which works out well as Dad has a mystery ailment with "flu-like" symptoms. He is still at home and may not be able to come tomorrow.

Tomorrow is also my birthday. My friend Sernin is coming over for dinner to be joined later with Jen and her family.

Little Words

Heard last night at 3:30.

"momma, momma"

Mr. T rolls out to go see about her.

when he gets back in he says.

"She told me up. Then she whispered 'in the bed'. and pointed to our room."
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At the playground.

After received half a fruit bar from a friend, Peanut ran across the playground to where another little girl was swinging and handed her mother part of the fruit snack. "For Fo-na", she said. Fiona's mother looked at peanut, so peanut took the snack out of her hand and handed it to Fiona.

Then peanut ran back to the bag where the rest of the bar was and shared the rest of it with the little boy whose snack it should have been originally. I was so proud of her. We have been working on sharing and it seems to have paid off (in this instance.)
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in the backseat.

"hug a-momma" She gave me a big hug. "Friends".

She melts my heart.

And the pictures!

It took about 15 minutes to cut her hair. I would do a little snippet then she would move. I think we ended up in three different rooms. Cutting her bangs was pretty much out of the question. She said "I do not want cut bangs" or something like that. "no cut bangs"

I love the cut though. I think it makes her look more like a little girl and less like some kid of a camaro owner. She looks like a little pixie.

 

You can see the bump on her head is healing nicely. The scratch next to her nose is disappearing as well.

snippy snip snip

I cut Peanut's hair. It is somewhat at a slant in the back, but it look okay. She wouldn't let me cut her bangs, but maybe I will bribe her with more stickers tonight.

The mullet was getting to be too much. It was so thin at the bottom that it was getting all wadded up. I took another look at her hair this morning, and I really like it. She looks like a little pixie.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Things are returning to about as normal as they can be at the Tallgirl household. I have finished school for the semester and hopefully for a long long time. I only lack writing my Master's paper before I am finished. Our company has left so the house has returned to its normal state of griminess.

Lately Peanut has been really really into her mother. She wants to be with me all the time. I made the mistake a couple of weeks ago letting her help me cook, now she wants to help cook all the time. "I turn. I turn". Which means it is her turn to stir whatever it is I have going. She also wants to be held and cuddled all the time. Normally, I would love this, but as my belly grows, it is getting less and less comfortable. I am hoping it is just a cold or a little bit of feeling neglected with yet ANOTHER daycare worker leaving AND her grandmother leaving all within a week.

Yesterday we made a ginger bread train or a "candy cho cho train". It was a little difficult to assemble because every piece I put down was picked back up again. BUT, once the decorating started, she was really into it.

Today we went to church, which led to another crying spell when I dropped her off. She said "i want to go home with momma". So I tried taking her into church. She did really well for about 5 minutes, then started talking over readings and the solos. I eventually took her back to the nursery.

This afternoon we went to an IMAX. It was about a tiger hunter, which I didn't see in the preview. Right when we walked in a tiger attacked a lady. I covered peanut's eyes. The lady wasn't mauled or anything, but still, it isn't good for a 2 year old to see that. When a tiger was killed (only twice) I told her the tiger was sleeping. She seemed to really like the movie and sat pretty still through the whole thing. IMAX movies are neat because they take you flying over different areas or bring you right into the weeds like you are a tiger. I think it is something we will do again.

Peanut took a pretty good tumble this weekend. When I walk Daisy, I let Peanut go and hold the lead. I admit, that Daisy does pull her, and she does fall, but generally it doesn't hurt her. WELL, daisy had just done a poo, and that gives dogs special powers. She yanked the leash and literally pulled peanut into the concrete. It happened so fast that she didn't get a chance to catch herself. It was that kind of thunk that makes you forget that you are carrying a bag of poop in your hands when you sweep you little girl up into your arms. I thought at first she may have busted a tooth, but I didn't see any blood (i have a fear of knocking out teeth). Then i saw her head turn purple and raise about .5 an inch RIGHT THERE. I was scared, but once I got her back to the house she was fine. She kept telling me her head hurt, but didn't seem out of sorts and was laughing and carrying on. The knot went down completely, and yesterday and this morning it just looked like a raspberry on her head. I noticed this afternoon that it was turning purple again. I bet there will be some color come tomorrow.

Another story, but this one funny. I called out to Peanut to ask if she wanted milk or water with her lunch. She mumbled something. I asked her again and she said something about working. I had earlier given her a car and a screw driver because her dad was outside working on his car. She came into the kitchen and told me she was working on the wall. I didn't think that made any sense so I asked her again what she was doing. "i working on wall". I asked her to show me. We have a bar with about 4 hooks on it in peanuts room for hanging up her jackets and backpacks. Evidently, when she was hanging up her jacket, one of the screws came out of the wall. She had shoved the screw driver into the wall and was "working" on it. I thought that was pretty clever and told her she was close to fixing it, but that I would help her later.

That kid. She is going to make a fine engineer.

Christmas Recital

Peanut has a Christmas Recital at daycare. I thought it would be a good idea for us to go home, relax, have a snack, then come back. Peanut thought going back meant leaving her. She was not happy, as you can tell. She screamed when i tried to get her star on her. Finally, i left thinking things would be better. BUT...



Listen closely and you can hear her scream for me.

And because talking about ones panties never gets old.

Bye Bye Granny

Nina left this afternoon. Peanut kept asking about here when we were leaving the airport. AND when we were in the car going home. AND when we got home.

She asked "Granny hug Papa Chim (Jim)" I told her she would. She said "I hug Papa Chim too."

We told her she had to go to her house to see Papa Jim in Australia.

The verdict

I had an ultra sound today. Everyone was perfect.

We are having a boy. I wanted a boy, so I am really excited. Actually, I cried.

Name suggestions?

Stick to my guns

I had to stick to my guns tonight. It wasn't very much fun.

Peanut has a bad habit of getting up and walking around when we are trying to eat. Usually, i tell her that I am going to give her food to daddy or not to eat something to get her to eat. But, i guess tonight, i was extra tired or creative or mean. I told her that if she got down from her chair she better be done because I was going to give her food to Daisy. That worked for about 2 tries. Finally on the third try she left the table and started walking around. I pulled her plate off the table and gave it to the dog.

OH THE TEARS. "No momma. No daisy. My food. I eat." The poor child was sprawled out on the floor almost immediately crying and begging for her food back.

I picked her up and told her if she was still hungry I would make a small plate. She sat right at the table and ate happy as a clam.

Nashville Get away

We left Friday after work and took a road trip to Nashville. My MIL is still here and Mr. T. thought it would be nice if we all got out of the house for a little while. I was a little apprehensive because this is a very busy time of year for me, but since it was a special occasion, I agreed to go.

It was really nice. Peanut did really well, considering... that she no longer wants to fall asleep in her port-a-crib. She would rather be cuddled to sleep. Which is fine, but I didn't get her to sleep before 9 any night we were there. She was kinda grumpy in the morning, but did really well in the afternoons. We went to the zoo and the country music hall of fame. The zoo was really great because it used to be a nature preserve so there was lots of room for the animals to move around. Conversely, there weren't very many animals. It was a really nice zoo. All the facilities were new and the concession stand was open (ours never is when i go). They also made a real effort to use recycled and biodegradable items.

The country music hall of fame was the same as it was 1.5 years ago, but this time it was more of a hassle because I was wrestling with a toddler. I think that Nina really enjoyed it though, which was nice. There was a station where Peanut could color, which couldn't have come at a better time. I bet the staff there was really happy to see us go. They are accustomed to bus loads of grey hairs, but with us they got a rowdy toddler leaving a trail of raisins in her wake. It is times like that when I am happy my kid is cute.

We did get back every afternoon to have a nap, which was most important to me. It gave both peanut and I some time to shed our grumpy selves before hitting the town in the evening. One evening we walked around downtown Nashville and another evening we went to Opry Mills, a giant circular mall. Peanut rode a carousel which she thought was good fun. We avoided a breakdown when we were leaving by telling her the horsey was going 'night night'.

Overall she was really good. We hardly heard a peep from her in the car on the way there or the way home. I was worried that it would be a hectic vacation, but I think I came back ready to face my last week of school.