A New Year

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. Who am I kidding, I can totally believe it, I just don't want to admit it!

I've had a request for a Christmas update. :o) Christmas was great. Nathan's parents came over for brunch on Christmas Eve, then we traveled to my Dad's and spent the night at my Mom's. It was GREAT not having to do a ton of traveling on Christmas Day. Would you believe I don't have any pictures from Christmas? Me, the one who took over a hundred pictures in Ivy's first couple of weeks.... not a single picture from Christmas. I did videotape the festivities, though. I'm hoping my dear, sweet Dad will give me copies of whatever he's got. (Hi, Dad!)

Santa was good to Ivy this year. She got some classic toys like Playdough, which she calls "my colors." She doesn't play with it too much, but loves to watch us make things with it. She also got a Mr. Potatohead ("Mr. Way-toe head") that she absolutely adores. It also had extra peices so you can make him into a princess. Santa also brought Snap and style dolls, three extra outfits for those, two books for her Little Touch Leap Pad, a Read with me DVD with three books (I think I have watched the Corduroy DVD at LEAST 100 times in the past week), a mommy and baby dinosaur, and a sleeping bag. And that was just Santa!! Her big presents from the Grandparents were a drum set from my mom and the Little People Amusement park from my dad. She plays with them both a lot.

She is such a little person now and smart. I can't believe the things that come out of her mouth sometimes.... so creative. For example, we were coming downstairs from nap one day....

Ivy: Neigh!!! Neigh!! Listen Mommy. I hear a horsie.
Me: You do?
Ivy: Let's find him. Horsie! Horsie!

We got to the bottom of the stairs and she ran to her toybox and got out her "horsie pants" (her Halloween costume.)

Ivy: Oh! There he is!

Some current favorite phrases include "No way", "you're my best friend", and "just like you!!" whenever there is a mommy in a book.

She knows all of her colors, all of her shapes, all of her letters and numbers 0-10, although she confuses six for nine a lot. Her imagination is the best part of this age, though.... sleep is the worst. She has a big girl Dora bed, but she won't sleep in. She insists on sleeping in "my big bed", which is actually MY big bed. We move her into the Dora bed when we go up to sleep. The thought behind that was if she woke up in the toddler bed, maybe she would start going to bed in it. No dice. The child hates to sleep in general. She lays in bed and "reads." In fact, it's 10:24 right now and I still hear her reading. But really, you can't force someone to sleep.... although I do force her to stay in bed. I think I should buy a book about this whole sleep business.....