Sweet Mom Moments...

Addison is such a sweet and wonderful blessing and I am enjoying her so much! As I pulled out of the parking lot after dropping her off at school, I realized that we have reached a turning point this week where she is happy to be dropped off and let me leave her there at school with her friends. While she has always enjoyed school, she doesn't always enjoy the drop-off part and usually gives a shout and a cry when I'm leaving - but as soon as I walk out and watch the camera to see what she does when I leave, she is always immediately fine and playing, so I think she does it for my benefit. So, this week, she has turned a corner by just walking in and sitting down or going to play with her friends. She usually points out some of her friends to me and tells me their name. She knows them all and we usually talk and sing about them at home also....especially Jonah. :)

I wanted to share with you also that Addison has started sleeping in a toddler bed this week and she is doing well so far (only 2 nights). I am amazed at how much she has grown and how much she is developing mentally and physically each day.

Here are some pictures of her in her newly converted toddler bed.

Last night, as I was trying to get her to go to sleep (not an easy task, as many of you know - she takes after her mother), and I was laying on her bed with her (a new fun thing for me since the crib is down) and singing songs to her. She asks for silly Camp La Vida songs that I usually sing to her to get her attention (as she squirms and screams) like Hagalena Magalena (she says "Hagwene"), The Little Green Frog ("Green Frog"), and one of her favorites from Dooley and Pals, the name game - she identifies this one by saying "do Elmo....do Addison....do Abby" or some other name or object and then I sing the name game with that name/object. It's really quite hilarious to me when she asks for these specific songs.

Anyway, as I was singing and she was trying to keep herself awake, she turned on her Jungle light/sounds thing attached to her bed and as the blue light was shining on her and she was contently watching it, I was just staring at her in amazement. She is such a beautiful child and I am so thankful to have her in my life. What a blessing it is to be a mother, and I really never thought that I would feel that awesome about being a mom.

So she looks at me with this big smile and starts asking me that whole "How old is she...20 months" thing that she's come up with lately (I don't have a clue where it came from). I burst into laughter, so of course, she did too. So it became a back and forth thing where she would ask and I would start to answer and burst into laughter and she would too. Or she would burst into laughter as she was asking and we would just laugh and giggle together. I began to think that this isn't exactly a great bedtime routine because she is getting no closer to sleep, and then I decided that I don't care because these are the moments that you remember when you need a smile and that stay with you forever - these spontaneous moments that turn into wonderful memories later. I want to hang on to those as much as possible.

Then she put her arms around my neck and gave me the biggest hug. I said "I love you, Addison" and she said "I love you too, Mama." It was just one of those moments where everything is right with the world and you know you are exactly where you need to be.

Addison Update

It's been a long time since I've posted, so I'll do my best to catch you up on the latest happenings with Addison!

She just gets cuter every day! She's growing up so fast and we are amazed at the different things she says. She speaks in sentences now and can really come up with some stuff! Today, one of her favorite things to say was, "Daddy's so siddy! (silly)"

She is saying many things more clearly than before, which is neat to hear how she has changed how she says things. She makes me laugh almost every time she opens her mouth because she'll be 2 next month, but sometimes, I think she's 4 by what she says! Of course, not ALL of it is good, but most is. The other day, I was taking her to school and I don't remember what I said, but she said "Hush, Mama". Needless to say, that didn't go over very well and she knows not to say that to anyone...but that doesn't necessarily keep her from doing it...depends on what kind of mood she's in.

She will hear something just once and start saying it. Like the other day, I read her a card from Nanda and Pippy and it said "Hi Granddaughter" and so she started saying "Hi Granddaughter" repeatedly. She apparently overheard someone at school ask the question "How old is she?" and someone answered "20 months" (I don't know who this was about) so that night, in the bath, she just started saying "How is she...20 months" and laughing. It took me a minute to figure out what she was saying.

Here is a picture of her with her cousins, Jayden and Trinity. (Trinity is one of the words she now pronounces, rather than calling her "TiTi" like she used to.) They got some Easter pictures made and this is the closest thing to a smile that she would give during the photo shoot. This is her mischeivious grin that we see quite often. Normally, when she gives me this grin, she has her head cocked to the side and is either in the process of doing something she shouldn't or is about to attempt it.

Here is a picture of Addison sliding at the park. She wore her Clemson cheerleading outfit for "Favorite Team Day" at school.

Some of her favorite things to do (and say):
1. "codor" (color) she likes to color Abby Cadabby (of course), and ponies (My Little Pony)
2. go upstairs and play - she looks at you, cocks her head to the side and enthusastically asks "wanna go utstairs and pway?" and she nods and smiles at the end in agreement. it's so cute, you can't say no!
3. "swing to and fwo" (fro) - she will ask this when she wants to swing because she sings this little song when she's swinging
4. pick the dandelions ("get fowers") - she likes to pull them up and put them in her buckets when we go outside
5. put money in her piggy bank - Jason opened her a savings account at Family Trust and they gave her a piggy bank. She calls it "money pig" and likes to put all the change in it and then have us dump it out so she can put it back in again.
6. "see Addison" - she LOVES to watch herself on video and also look at her pictures on camera. she's just a bit vain, I think... It's really cute though because she will sit on the couch and watch herself for as long as you'll keep putting the DVDs in. She will smile and laugh as she watches herself.
7. "God made..." - I will show her different things (birds, trees, moon, stars, Addison, etc) and ask her who made them and she will say "God made _____". I'm not sure if she learned this at school or from Nanda. Nanda and Pippy kept her last weekend while Jason and I went to TN and when I came home, she was saying it. It's really adorable.

Here is a picture of her coloring....doesn't she look like such a big girl?!!

She still loves going to school. She is learning so much! She comes home singing songs that we don't know, which is weird because before she started school, we knew everything she knew. Now she's teaching us stuff! She can name the shapes of her blocks (square, circle, triangle, star), but she still doesn't know her colors (everything is blue the first time you ask). She knows her numbers and alphabet about as well as she did before she started, although she knows 11 & 12 now and she sings the alphabet song pretty good. She learned a new blessing (God our Maker), so now we say that one at home instead of the ABC one.

The funniest thing is that she has boyfriend! She came home talking about Jonah, who seems to be the "bad boy" of the class (go figure). It is the cutest thing! When she says his name, she grins really big and puts her head on her shoulder and looks at the ceiling! I've gotten a couple of video clips of it. When I ask her if she's ready to go to school, she says "Go see Jonah" and when we get there it's the same thing. When I ask if she had fun playing with her friends at school she says "Play Jonah."

However, Jonah did have a slight setback a few weeks ago that Addison is still talking about. When Jason picked her up one Friday, she had a knot and a scrape on her head. The teacher said that a classmate threw a truck and hit her in the head. When she got home, I asked her what happened to her head. She touched her head and said "Jonah truck". She wasn't smiling when she said his name that time and she didn't seem to happy with him for a few days. She still talks about "Jonah truck" sometimes, but she still seems to like him anyway.

Here is a picture of her before she went to school on "Mismatch Day".

That's all for now, folks! :)

Addison's first week at school!

This week, Addison started going to day care full time. She just finished her first week and she LOVES it there! I warned them on the first day that she doesn't like to take naps and is a picky eater. Boy, have I been surprised to learn that even the first day, she has taken naps and eaten just about anything they put in front of her. I guess that's the positive power of peer pressure!

There are 10 other kids in her class at Carolina Kids. It is such a nice place and I love the way they split up the children. All the kids in her class are exactly her age, within a couple of months. They have multiple classes in her age group, but they put the ones together that have the same birthday within 3 months of each other. When it's time to go to the next class (when they all turn 2), they all go up together as a class.

Her friend from swimming lessons, Katie, is in her class. Her mom and I worked together a long time ago when we were Winthrop students and now our girls are in the same class together (and swim class last year). Another coincidental thing about Katie's mom is that her parents also live in Greenwood (as does my entire family). Here's a picture of Addison and Katie. They sit beside each other at the table every day.

Today was the Valentine party for the class. I managed to get Addison to wear her heart dress and tights for the party. I tried to get her to wear tights and a jumper yesterday, but after getting her all dressed, she said "No tights. I want pants!" So I didn't have the heart to make her wear it. She definitely has a mind of her own. Here is a picture of her showing off her "canny" that she got at school in her Valentine box. She hit the motherload!

Here is a picture of Addison helping me make her Valentine box this week. Of course, Zoe and Elmo had to be featured on her box!

She seems to really like school and she can say school ("cool"). The other morning, she was wanting to play at home instead of leaving. I told her it was time to go to school and she said, "No cool toDAY, Mama!" I thought that was hilarious! She wants me to stay when I drop her off, but she is fine when I leave. I usually go to the lobby and watch her on the video camera for a little bit and she is always playing when I leave. When Jason picks her up, she usually isn't ready to go home! She also likes to say the name of one of her teachers, Ms. Yasheika ("missheka").

I thought I'd also give a potty training update to all those who read my first post and might have gotten the idea that she was potty trained immediately -- WRONG!! After showing us she was able to do it, she lost interest in actually doing it. I could get her to sit on the potty for a while and read a book, but not much was happening and she really didn't care for it. Now she is telling us "tee tee potty", but it is usually after she has already done it in her diaper. However, this week, she went two times on her own and actually did tee tee in the potty. She's making progress. She is certainly capable, it's just a matter of making up her mind that she wants to do it (which hasn't really happened yet). She does like the idea of wearing panties - I bought her some pull ups and she likes those and calls them "cannies". It is so cute!

Addison's Newest Happenings...

There's a lot of fun stuff going on with Addison these days! She's talking up a storm in full sentences and singing songs randomly. She loves to tell you what she wants and more often, what she doesn't want. She can say pretty much anything she wants and even puts sentences and phrases together on her own, much to our surprise. She will also pick up something the first time she hears it and surprise you with it later.

A few fun phrases:

• "No ma'am" - when I do something she doesn't want me to do, she uses this phrase that I often use on her when she is doing something she's not supposed to do
• "My HAND" - as she reaches out for you to hold her hand
• "FAST" - when she or someone else is running fast
• "Nose sucker" - referring to the battery-operated nasal aspirator that we use to suck out all the snot when she is congested (a little graphic, wasn't it)
• "I jotchu" [I got you]
• "Num, num, num" - when something tastes good, or she's pretending to eat something
• "See Addison" - this one is frustrating - whenever I try to take a picture or video, she looks up and says this and comes over to see herself on the camera. I try to explain to her that I have to actually take a picture or video before she can see herself, but she doesn't listen. Instead, when I resist, she pitches a fit. Below is one of the pictures I took of her when she was mad that I wouldn't let her see Addison. I showed her this and asked if I could take one of Addison smiling, but she didn't comply.

Songs she likes to sing by herself:

• Itsy Bitsy Spider - (with the motions) "pider...pout...washed him OUT(favorite part)...sun...rain...up the pout AGAIN"
• Pat a Cake - (with the motions) "pat cake, pat cake...MAN...can...roll, roll, roll, roll...PAN"
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star - "tinkle, tinkle...STAR...how I wonner...you ARE...upa buba worle so HIGH...ika diamon in the SKY, tinkle, tinkle...STAR...how I woner...you ARE"
• B-I-N-G-O - "bee, eee, gee, ohh...bigo wasis name-o"
• Wheels on the bus - (with the motions) "whees on bus...round an round...all through the TOWN...bus...beep, beep, beep, etc...open an SHUT, etc...waa waa waa, etc...
• "Rock, rock, to and fwo, Addison, ______ (Mama, Elmo, etc) here WEE go" - when she is rocking in a chair

Here's a picture of her singing one of her songs with the motions:

Most of these songs she learned from a fabulous $3 DVD given to her by her GrandNanda called "Mommy and Me". She has the cd also and she listens to it at night when she goes to sleep. She likes to also sing the theme song: "Mommy and me...SEE...day...can BE...mommy and me".

She also loves to sing the theme song to Dooley and Pals, which is hilarious. She says "Dooley,PALS...Dooley, PALS...ay Dooley!". Another Dooley song she has been singing along to for a while now is "Will you be my friend". Her most favorite part is when Maxx sings "I know". She also likes to sing "Dooley Says".

Besides "Mommy and Me" and "Dooley and Pals" her favorite DVDs are anything with Abby Cadabby. She LOVES Sesame Street! Her most favorite one is "Abby in Wonderland". She knows what's going to happen before it happens and will tell you.

She reads her favorite books along with me by either repeating or by saying it before I do when she sees the page. Some of her favorite books right now are, "Ready, Set, Skip" "Raindrop, Plop" and "Just Like Me." She also likes the nursery rhyme books and will recite them before I even get the chance to read them. One of my favorites to do with her right now is that I'll say "1, 2, buckle my _______" and she says "SHOE". [3,4, shut the...] DOOR; [5,6, pick up...] SICKS; [7, 8, lay them...] STRAPE; [9, 10, the big fat...] HEN!

Her favorite game to play is "Ring around the Rosie". She also loves to play with her Elmo restaurant, her house, and build towers with her blocks. She will take your hand and say "Upstairs" so you can take her up to play with her toys. She loves to order "hamburger cheese" from the Elmo restaurant.

She LOVES to dance, anytime music is on -- just like her mama! If you tell her "do your feet" she will start running in place as fast as she can.

She is also scared of things that she has never been scared of before. She has become terrified of the bathtub drain and hates taking a bath. This week, I've had to take a bath with her every night to get her to take one. She is also afraid of the dark - she won't walk into a dark room or hallway like she used to without holding your hand. Strange sounds startle her and she will say "was dat?"

Anyway, we are having a BLAST!!!

Christmas Happenings

Here are some pictures of Addison enjoying her Christmas

My little sweetheart in her Santa jammies posing in front of the Christmas "Chee" (Tree)

Addison with her own cuddly A.J. doll sitting in her Mickey Mouse chair watching her new Sesame Street DVDs.

The famous Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street! Addison's favorite!

Elmo's restaurant from Nanda and Pippy. She loves it! Elmo, Grover, Cookie, and "Ocar" (Oscar) talk and sing.

Sit & Spin from Blaine, She-She, Jordyn, and Hunter. She's getting the hang of it and it plays music so she loves it!

This was our picture for our Christmas card. We tried to get A.J. in too, but he wasn't very cooperative. He couldn't sit still through the 10 attempts it took to get this picture just right with the timer on the camera!

Addison and her new little cousin, Emily, in their matching dresses enjoying Christmas Eve with family at their Great-Grandparents Mimi and Papa's house. When Addison first saw Emily, she thought she was a baby doll and didn't pay her much attention until Emily woke up and started crying. Then Addison was very curious about this baby doll that cries and moves around!

She finally got her own house toy from Grandma and Papa just like cousins "TiTi" (Trinity) and "Jayen" (Jayden) have.

As you can see, we had quite a fun Christmas. She got a lot of other neat stuff too, like a slide, baby dolls and strollers, a Little People manger set (now she has her own Baby Jesus to play with!), and some money for her savings account. We had a wonderful time visiting with family and sharing our blessings together. What a Merry Christmas it was!

Visit to Santa

I've been away from high speed internet for 5 days, but I survived! Now that I'm back home for a couple of days, I wanted to share about Addison's visit to see Santa Claus.

What an eventful day that was...not the best day to pick. Friday afternoon before Christmas when it was freezing cold and pouring down rain. I was crazy that day (as usual) and forgot to bring the good stroller, got soaking wet, and we were hungry when we got there. Lucky for me, Krista, Kevin, and Landon Pendley (Addison's second family a.k.a. daytime babysitters and our friends) were meeting us there and they came to my rescue. Addison and I ate and talked with The Pendleys until time to go see Santa!

The line to see Santa was short (thankfully) and we stepped up to the price menu to pick out the best deal. Who knew Santa pictures were so pricey?? Last year we did the free Bass Pro Shop pic, which I highly recommend, except the line is always extremely long. Anyway, one of Santa's "elves" gave us the scoop on the 5x7 and cd deal which meant you could print all the pictures you want and you get another 5x7 free. Score!

As we waited in line, I showed Addison Santa. She looked at him curiously and said "Santa Caus" and "Ho, Ho, Ho". As you can see in the picture, the Santa at the Rock Hill Galleria is quite a wonderful Santa. He has the real beard and everything! As we walked up, Addison was giving him the once-over, just checking him out. Between jolly "Ho, Ho, Ho's", Santa advised that I may want to wait until the last second to put her on his lap so that they could snap a good picture quickly before she starts crying. I said okay, and proceeded to hold her while I talked to Addison about Santa. We showed him her Rudolph and he really liked that. I gave Santa high-five and asked Addison to give him one too. She cautiously did, and from that moment on, she was Santa's girl.

I put her in his lap and she was in awe. She didn't want to get down. She sat there for at least 30 minutes as we took her picture, chose a picture and paid for it. Then, Landon wasn't too hip on the Santa, so Addison stayed on his lap through Landon's picture too. She had a ball. When I finally got her down, she walked away slowly, while looking back and pointing, saying "Santa Caus" and "Ho Ho Ho". It was so cute! So the dreary, exhausting trip to the mall was worth it after all.