Snow Rangers and a Polar Bear Bath

So today was the 4th snow day in a row.  I technically could have gone to work today, but classes were canceled and I chose to stay home with Crazy Cakes instead.  We wasted no time getting started with our day.  Bright and early we were up AND DRESSED in real clothes.   I was working on the attic craft space and Lylah was writing a story.  I wrote down her dictation and apparently the world is full f carnage today.  One piece of a story was quite tragic yet told in a very mater of fact way as follows:  "Well the baby kitten was yelling and she said, 'help! help! I am stuck inside a Loin's mouth!'  Then her Grandma came and helped her out of the lion.  Then they cooked her up in a soup.  Why?  Well, because had been inside the lion's mouth and she had already been chewed...."  There several stories involving coyotes on top of "pyramints" and how jump on you when you look up just like the Woozles in Winnie the Pooh.  And they went on and on. She has been very interested in stories and learning to read and writing her own books and drawing the pictures.  It was so cute and a fun look into her thought processes and development.
After out writing and un-cleaning we got bundled up, gathered snow man supplies and trekked out into the 14 inches of snow to make a snow Lylah.  But it has been very windy and the snow was no good for snow building.  So she made a quick SNOW RANGER and then we changed the plans.

What a cute snow ranger!

I gathered up three giant tubs of snow to turn our bathtub into a sensory table.  I had intended to bring in tubs of snow and let her play with it in the dining room, but Aunt Lori told me that a friend had brought it in and put it in the tub.  I find that idea brilliant!  It just melts away and the mess is gone.  Genius!
So she squirted blue water into the snow and learned how to such water into a medicine dropper and built snow castles.  She even got in in her snow bibs that Grandma Jones gave her.  She had lots of fun, but decided that she better stop and help me make snow Ice Cream.  So we did.

This is the crazy face I get most every time I pull out the camera.

One last look at our snow castle.  Lylah says it looks like the one at Disney world and oh how she would love to see it for real.

Snow ice Cream:
Pile of snow in a bowl
dollop of Sweetened Condensed Milk
Stir and enjoy---I think it tastes a lot like home made ice cream.  Icy and rich.

These pictures are in order of how they happened.  The last one of her with a cold face was not posed (although it looks like I told her to do it).  She had just eaten too much too fast and frozen her little teeth or mouth.  She also told me how I was the best mommy in the world and I got several kisses.  Maybe this is like me needing to hug people when I find a splendid antique or button.

Well that's our snow day!

"Come On Annie, Let's Go to the Movies!"

"Let's go to the Moooo-oovies....Let's go see the Star-are-are-s!" Oh how I love when a post comes with a song. I could do it every time, but that would get tedious, no?

Lylah and I went to see Tangled over the weekend. She loved to go to the movies and eat the popcorn and M&Ms. I brought a couch pillow for her to sit on so she would not fold up in the chair and she fit perfectly. The movie was so fun and funny and so very cute. There were some confusing conflicts for a 3 year old...like why is the Mother the bad guy and kidnapping and so forth, but really it was a great movie and we both enjoyed it.

My favorite part was seeing the floating lanterns. It was quite a beautiful and sweet scene in the movie. But right next to me was an even sweeter sight. Little Lylah, completely enthralled in the movie, had slid down off her seat and was reaching out with wide open arms to catch a 3D floating lantern. I loved that part the best.

And now...Enjoy a piece of my movie history. Please know that I am dancing in my slip and swinging my hair...right now. I believe that I "performed" Annie every afternoon for quite a while in the neighborhood growing up. I, of course, was Annie and I believe my little sister was required to be Sandy (the dog) pretty much every time. Sorry, Sarah. Drama queen. Can't be helped!



Coming soon: Christmas decor, finished Christmas gifts, a sweet gingerbread hair clip, Lylah's Christmas singing at school, and more movies!!

A Little bit Funny

I went in to kiss Lylah goodnight and found this sight. Poor Strawberry Shortcake! She's been eaten by a flashlight lion!

I giggled and then went for the camera.

Today I was asking Lylah about opposites. She is a little young to understand the concept still, but a friend was talking about it so I thought I would quiz her and see if she had the idea yet. It went like this:

Me: Lylah, what's the opposite of stop?
Lylah: Hmmm?
Me: What's the opposite of stop?
Lylah: Hmmm? ( this happens ALL THE TIME. She answers most everything with "Hmmm?")
Me: You can stop or.... ( with a leading tone of voice)
Lylah: Hmmm?
Me: If you don't stop you... (again with a leading tone)
Lylah: If you don't stop, you go to time out!!
Me: Big laugh!!!

I have bee informed that the baby in Lylah's tummy is not Orange Blossom any longer... It's Baby Jesus.

She helped me with making dinner tonight and said, " I love to help you, my Sweetheart Mommy." And, "oh, yum, yum. I love this dinner. It smells so tasty and lovely."

Lylah gave Henry a pet the other day. "Here's a puppy for you to love and sit with you in the window, Henry. You're welcome."
My silly girl.

Hoppy Easter

I love a good pun. But I think I may be "over" Hoppy Easter. But if the mask fits....



Here is the only picture I was able to drag out of Lylah for Easter. She broke down into sobs after this one and had a generally grumpy day. It may have all stemmed from having to be in worship service instead of her Sunday School Class. She was not so much sad about not seeing her teacher or friends or being in her class but that she would not be getting her usual snack. She said, "oh Mommy, but Ms Carol gives me cookies for a snack. How will I get my cookies at church? She gives me peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, black cookies, etc." She proceeded to go on, in Bubba Gump style, about the cookies she would not get and threw herself into a funk. I meant to bring her a little something myself, but I forgot. Downhill after that. One cannot mess with Lylah and her food consumption. It's not pretty!!!


She did look cute. Grammy sent her a box with this pretty dress inside (and the little makeup purse in her hand--it has been a permanent attachment since she received it.)

And the Dafffodils Look Lovely Today...

Every year we have a bunch of daffodils grow up in front of our house. They are lovely for a week-ish and then they die and leave a pile of stringy foliage behind. This year I decided to cut the daffodils as soon as they were in bloom, take them inside and enjoy them to the full. So one day last week, that is just what we did.




Lylah loved to put all the flowers in the vase.

We put a few flowers in a vase for her room too. She carried them around and was so proud of them.

In this video she and Henry enjoy the blooms and Lylah hatches a plan to have a few flowers for Daddy's work.



Sorry, I can't not put a song with this post. I did not feel any "gut wrench" when Lylah and I were cutting flowers, but I could not stop thinking of this song from "back in the day." The song references the daffodils at 3:11 in the video, skip ahead if you must.



My sister and I listened to the Cranberries A LOT (to the torment of our parents!!)

I can only say that "the daffodils look lovely today...la, la, la, la,la, la, la."

Bunch of Chickies. Hop, Hop, Hop

Here are a couple of videos of Lylah with the chickies. If I could figure out how to edit them...I would pull out the unflattering parts with me in them. But, alas, you will see me too. Focus your attention on on the cute one.




This little clip has Lylah dancing and laughing about how cute the chicks are. She was doing a lot of pointing from above her head. I love how excited she was.




Here is one of our favorite songs EVER. We have been singing it in school as well as at home. I will have to say that Elizabeth Mitchell's You Are My Little Bird CD is my favorite children's CD. It's so wonderful. I highly recommend it. We have also been singing "Springtime outing" form the same CD. I hoped to get a video of Lylah singing it (melt me heart) but she clams up when the camera comes out. I will keep trying.

Enjoy a taste of spring and be inspired by the whimsy of this sweet song.



She asks for bird recommendations for verses. I have been doing this in class too. Today the request was for a Robin to fly though the window. No problem! The next request was for a "bald-headed eagle". We sang it and I giggled inwardly at the thought of an eagle flying through the window. Eeeeikes!!

Chick-fil-A and Chickies

What is this random construction picture?

Oh, friends!!! Let me tell you! It's a Chick-fil-A! They are building one in my town. All the silly Mid-Westerners that live here think it's just a fast food chicken place. Chick-fil-A has never been in this part of the country and is only trickling in. They don't know the magnitude. They have never experienced the pickle-topped, buttered-bunned, special-seasoned, fried in peanut oil, delight that is a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich. They don't know about the waffle fries from Heaven or the perfect Iced Tea that I, a good Southern Girl, grew fat (I mean grew up) on. I, however, am in excited anticipation for my all-time-fave-fast- food-joint-ever-in-the-world to open.

They say it will be May. I say come on May!! I have heard that the first 100 people will get free Chick-fil-A for a year. I am having an internal discussion over whether I want to camp out in a tent, or sleep in a lawn chair in front of the building before the grand opening. I mean, should I take a vacation day? How many days in advance should I be on the curb outside the building? Is now too early? Seriously, I want me some me Chicken Sandwich...but I can't be on the news. I mean...the general public (acquaintances in town and parents of my preschoolers and such) they think I'm sane. I can't blow my cover by camping at my Mecca for a sandwich...can I?

We'll revisit the fil-A later. Maybe I will document it's progress...or would that, again, be too obsessed?!

The rest of my very long post is about more chicken related activities. It being spring and all, our local Tractor Supply Company has received their shipment of chicks and ducks. We went to pay them a visit.

Cuteness ensued.
The ducks were all gone. But the chicks were so cute.


There was a low tub Lylah sat beside and watched them all hop around. At one point she was
telling them she loved them and calling them sweethearts and talking to them sweetly. She was pretty concerned we had not brought bread for them like we do for the ducks at the park. She kept saying, "I'm sorry, little sweeties, I don't have anything for you." I showed her the feeders and she felt better for them. She got up the courage to put her hand in and they came running up. She said they nibbled her finger and was so tickled by it. I didn't even realize that I had gotten a picture of it happening. I just love her little hands in this picture.

There were some really tiny ones, too. She never got the courage to hold one. But she kissed a couple and was happy to see them up close. It was pretty fun.


Here is one from last year. She held a little chick reeeealy tight and gave it a smooch.

I love this tradition. I love springtime. I have some fun posts for this week related to Easter and spring. Can't wait to be back in the game.

Beautiful Fairy Princess

We now live with a beautiful fairy princess. Lylah has been obsessed  with my make up and always wants to try a little.  She has also been delighted in nail polish.  We knew she would love a little make up kit of her own.  The other night I found one.  A Barbie make up kit with a huge amount of little girl beautification enhancers.  She was so thrilled to get it.  The lady at the check out said, "Have a good night," and Lylah said, "oh, I will. Thank you."  She thanked me about 100 times on the drive home too.  She tried it out as soon as we walked in the door.

There were hair pieces with beads, 4 little bottles of glitter glue posing as nail polish, tiny purple and orange lipsticks, glittery fragrances, eye shadows, lip glosses, stick on ear rings, stick on nails, 2 hair clips, 2 bracelets, a pink star ring, and the best thing ever, a pink necklace with a heart locket.  All of it smelled like an old lady and she was IN LOVE with it all.  She wore it all at once that first night and has played with it carefully and faithfully every waking moment since.

She said she would be married now because she had a ring.

She said she was a beautiful princess.

She has demonstrated how she can put the nail polish on all by herself and then blows on her hands and feet.  She has applied it about 400 times.

She can put the lovelies on Daddy and he is beautiful too. She even offered to let daddy wear the hair pieces and purple sparkle body glitter for work.  He told her that he was not allowed to look so beautiful at work.  She was happy enough for Daddy to be beautiful at home.  Good Daddy. 

Her lipstick application is a sight.  Her top lip only gets the color.  It is applied from the lip all the way up to the nose and then across the face to about mid-cheek. 

It's "real nice". 

Here is a picture of my Pretty Princess in her fist moments of glory. 

 

better shot of her purple glitter cheek and sitting with Daddy

 

Her make up is waiting for her even now.  She has placed it in a very special and safe spot on the door knob of her closet door.  I am sure she will go for it first thing tomorrow morning.  "Don't you just love to be beautiful in glitter, Mommy?"

 

 Notice the hint of eye shadow on her forehead and the shimmer around her cheeks?  You can't miss the joy on her face.  Love it.

Crazy Baker

Today Lylah got to go over to Grammy and Papa Jones' house for the night while Glen and I went out on a real date.  She was so excited over the prospect of going to their house that she was a silly thing all morning.  All of Glen's family (pretty much) have birthdays clustered in the Winter months, so we have been  having a Birthday celebration pretty much every time we go for a visit lately.  When Lylah heard she would be going to Grammy and Papa's house with Aunt Lori,  she thought party.  Party means cake!  So this morning she chose clothes to wear around the house and got dressed.  Then she ran to her kitchen and got all the things she needed to make a cake for the party.  She was having a fun time baking and singing "Pat-A-Cake".  Glen and I laughed and laughed at her get up.

 

front view:  Too small sweater, winter hat, painted nails, 

red apron, and cake supplies ( juice, a pot, and a spoon)

 

 Back view:  Too small sweater, winter hat, apron,

princess undies, and knee high socks

Crazy, No!?

PS  When Grandpa Jones was out getting the shopping done, he came across a tiny two layered cake with pink icing and roses.  He bought it.  So Lylah got cake. Her wish is their command.   It all comes from being too cute.  Grandma and Grandpa stand no chance. 

Mommy's Party Animal

We had all of our Valentine's Day party hoopla this past week for school.   The parties (all four) went well and the friends all had fun.  My morning class was only a little disappointed to decorate cookies for our party instead of having cake.  I heard more than one of the 2 year olds telling their friends that we were having a Valentine's Birthday Party.  To all two year olds a party means...cake!  But they ate the cookies like champs.  After the cookies, they were quite happy to keep pretty close to our normal daily routine, so we went to the music area to dance.  All the mommies loved seeing the class dance to our favorite songs.  They get to hear their child say they danced and even hear the title of the songs, but they don't get the full effect unless they see the cuteness for themselves.  I was happy they did.  Cameras were snapping pictures nonstop, like good first time preschool kids' moms should.  It was a blast.
 
One of the moms said to me that she remembered how Lylah stole about 3 or 5 cookies when the class was supposed to be singing during the Christmas party.  We giggled about it (I was mortified at Christmas--but I realize the humor of the situation now).  You'll never guess who the only child to lick all the icing spoons after the cookies were finished could be!?  Oh, you  guessed Lylah?  Ding, Ding, ding!!  She came away from the serving table with pink icing ALL over her face.  She said, "Oh, mmmm, yumm, yumm, Mommy, I sure love that icing.  Isn't it so very good and pink!?" and smacked her lips.  What a  nut! At least she likes all food and not ONLY "sweeties".

 

2 second fake smile for me after the party

she was way more interested in her goodie bag

a picture in her Valentine's Day shirt I stitched

while watching Northanger Abbey

my first attempt at hand-sewing on a tee-shirt.

Next time I will use a hoop.  I thought it turned out OK.  I made a fun covered 

button hair clip to go with it too. I liked the clip better than the shirt...but no good picture 

Cookies were yummy.  Games were fun.  Candy bag was full enough.  Happy party girl.

Wishful Thinkin'

Lylah keeps telling us about all the wonderful things that will happen in the spring.  We are hearing about butterflies, playing in the park again. trees looking pretty, flowers growing, gardens growing, and her birthday.  Glen had a wondeful plan for the family tonight that had us all wishing for the spring and summer.

Tonight we had an indoor camp out. We said we were pretending it was Summer.  We grilled hot dogs, made s'mores and Lylah got to "sleep" in her tent in the livingroom while watching "Chucky Cheese Mouse", aka Micky Mouse.  She had her fingernails and her "toe fingers" painted, and had a wonderful time.  We all had a lot of fun.  When it came time for bed, I moved the tent into Lylah;s room and we let her sleep in there.  She was so excited!  She came out once...so cute...went potty...got a drink...and went back to bed.  She woke up again and wanted to sleep in her own bed.  There she is still.  She is still in the crib and really enjoys it there.  I am on a serious hunt for the perfect twin bed for her "big girl" space, but no need to rush it.

This was a happy day.  I will keep it in my memory forever.  My sweet husband and my sweet Lylah.  I
 love this little family. 

 

s'mores under the broiler for about two minutes.  Yummy!

s'mores face and hands. she loves her "sweeties"

Tent resting and Chucky Cheese Mouse

Mommy had a Money

About a week and a half ago Lylah and I got in the car to go to school and a CD was playing.  We have had the CD for some time and usually do not have it on when Lylah is in the car.  It's not offencive or anything. It's just not her style of music.  It's a bit moody and more us than fun and kiddish.  Anyway, the CD was in the player and started on track one, "Rich Woman", by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.  Lylah fell in love with the sound of the song and the beat.  She picked up on a few of the lyrics and is convinced that the song is about a Mommy, a Daddy, and a Baby, making it a family song.  She adores it.  She calls it "Mommy had  a Money" and likes to point out that he talks to "the baby" and the baby says "Daddy".  Sweet and innocent.  Every time we get in the car she says, "put in mommy had a money, mommy....play it again...again?"

I found the best recording  Youtube could offer for your listening enjoyment.  It's obviously not the best sound quality, but someone subtitled it.  It's a cool sounding song, although I like it better on the CD The rest of the CD I really dig too. You should check it out.    It's no Dan Zanes, but Lylah loves it as though it were.  Enjoy.

"There's a Monkey in my bed"

For Baby Coo Coo and Baby Uncle Chris.  I could have edited this a bit...but alas...I don't know how.  I am doing well to get a video on the blog at all.  Lylah loves her Goodnight Gorilla book so much and it is showing its age.  We may have to break down and buy another one.  I know it is one of Cleie's favorites too.  Lylah wanted to read for her cousin.  So she did, kind of.  She really read it well before the camera was turned on.  I am afraid she got silly and shy when the camera went on.  Still fun I hope.

Classroom Soloist

I happened to have my camera in the classroom the other day when I caught the video above.  I have no idea what she is singing but I love that she is really belting it out.  They were all doing some dress up and some dancing in our dance/ book area during center time.  We always dance together after snack to all kinds of fun songs.  But today they had no music at the time, so I guess Lylah was making up for the lack there of.  She is wearing her favorite thing, the boa, and ends the clip doing her favorite thing, the jump dance.  Hope you liked it.


PS  She is wearing a heart and cherries clip I made last week If you can see it.

Happy Birthday To You ---woo woo

I took this little video in time to post it for my Mom's birthday...but then I took the camera to school for sewing week pictures and did not ever get it put on the blog.  But it was cute and I thought Grammy might like it.  So here it is.


Happy Birthday to you---woo--woo!

I chopped the Goldie Locks

I did not tell the grandmas until after the deed was done...but I cut Lylah's hair.  It is ever so cute.  It is all one length and stacked in the back.  It curls so sweetly and is much less of a battle to fix in the morning.  I do miss the pig tails, but I love the look her hair has now.  It suits her very well.  Short and sassy.

We started with a tuft on top at 10 months and progressed....

15 months.  Enough for a side clip and just before I cut off her "rat tail"

 

23 months. She had enough for little bitty piggy tails.

 

26 months.  Looking fuller.

 

2 1/2 .  Longer piggy tails.

 

2 yrs 8 mo.  Long enough for french braids.

Last week.  Long and lovely, just after her bath.

 

A few days ago.  Cute as two buttons.

There you have it.  An evolution of hair.  She  looks big now.  I guess that fits because she can "do it by herself" whatever it is.  She is still little and cute.  She just looks too big now.  I love the do.  Daddy is getting used to it still.

Instead fo Organizing the Craft Room...

I made some stuff.
I made a bigger mess in the craft room.
I was a busy little bee, though.

I made a fun card for Grammy's 60th Birthday.  We ran our of colored ink in the printer and have not replaced it yet.  So I printed the picture in black and white and colored it with colored pencils.  I hand-stitched the accent papers and machine sewed the background paper.  My favorite part is the party hat and pom pom.  The hat has a little star shaped sequin and bead on a flower punch.

There is a glare on the picture here because of where I took the shot.  But you can still see what it is.  I was trying to take just one good shot of Lylah.  She would not hold still or cooperate so I got a series of out takes instead.  When taken together, the group of bad shots are pretty fun.  I sandwiched them between pieces of glass in a floating frame and used pieces of a vintage game and measuring tape to add interest and a title.  The last picture is what she calls her "monster face."

I also made 6 hair clips for Lylah.  I got really bad pictures of them so I will have to try again and post those on another day.

Lylah was a little busy too.  She made her first sef portrait.

It has eyes, nose, forehead, mouth, ears, and legs.   I was impressed.  She wrote it on my babtsitter memo pad--in case you are wondering what the writing in the back ground is.

Not bad for the week.  I did SOMETHING every day of the week this week.  Yeah!  That feels good.  Feels like what I should be doing.  Ahhhhhh

I don't care what you say...I love this song

Laugh if you will, but I cannot get enough of this song.  I think I even like it more in ASL.  It puts me to mind of a talent show my college friend, Beth, told me about.  Her friend did " Baby Got Back" in ASL.  Now that would have been one to have on video!!

The best I can do is almost get all the signs down for "Leah's Farm" from Signing Time. 



Here is a video of Lylah doing some of her signs the day after her 2 year old birthday. It also has a some silly singing, bed jumping, and a fake pass out after smelling her toes.  Enjoy.


She still likes to do signing drills.  I don't want her to loose her signs, but she is the one who usually remembers to throw in the sign for whatever we are talking about.  Her favorites are, "more", "peach", "apple", "baby", "brush teeth", and "frog", and, her most favorite, "SWING".  She knows more than I realize.  I stopped trying to count the signs she can use after 200.  She is just WAY into communicating!  That's a nice way to say 'chatter box'.  I imagine she will be the one getting notes home for talking too much in class.  Not like me.  Except if you count that time in 5th grade when I was supposed to go to the office for talking in class.  Instead I went to the library and hid ( ok, and maybe cried just a very little) until I thought it was safe to go back to class.  And then there was college...that was a different story indeed.

I remember a certain Christian Comic Book personality, Tom Skinner--Up form Harlem! of whom I did a fantastic impression that garnered a call from our Dorm Mother, Miss Bess. "Girl-sh!! Can we laugh into our pillow-sh ?!" Maybe I am a bit of a chatter box too...given the right audience.  I gotta give the people what they want.

Snow Cute

The snow is finally melting around here.  I was looking outside today and I had forgotten how wide our sidewalks really are.  Since Christmas we have had a snow shovel sized walkway only.  But now we can walk on the muddy sidewalks again.  A few days ago Lylah and our babysitter built a snowman and decorated him with all of the goodies Lylah picked up on their walk.  He has "pokey balls" for hair, which I think are from the sweetgum tree.  I love the way it looked!  Lylah was very proud of it.  She showed me as soon as I came home from work.  We had done a project at school spraying the snow with colored water and it was a big hit.  I brought the bottles home for Lylah to give it another go.
Here is a little video of Lylah spraying her snowman.



You may not be able to hear her say it, but when she sprays the snowman blue she says, "Now Blue, Mama, Now Blue Mouth...perfect."  Everything is perfect.  It's so funny. I hear myself saying things are perfect all the time.  Hmm doesn't Martha say "perfect" an awful lot too?  Maybe we are becoming one.  *snapping my fingers and coming back to reality* Where was I?  Oh yes...Lylah has also started to say "of course" instead of yes.  Do you want to get up?  "oh, of course."  How about carrot sticks and peanut butter?  "oh, of course"  Do you need to go potty? " of course"  She also has been saying she wants to " have a go," which in The Queen's English, means "have a turn".  I think she is secretly British.  Or maybe it's too much Kipper the Dog.  I also find myself speaking a little British after a crafting session and another viewing of P&P.   "Shelves in the closet.  Happy thought, indeed!"  I just can't craft without Mr Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet and, my favorite, Mr Collins.  I can work under other conditions, mind you, I just don't want to.

 

Oh No!!!!  I was going to post a clip of Kipper here.  I tried to get one off YouTube where she has seen all the videos.   All the videos are GONE because of copyright laws.  I am afraid the smiling face you see here  will be a bit upset when she finds out.    Me too!  You should see her little smile as she enjoys the dogs and their fun.  I love Kipper!  Oh, the sadness!  ( I am over-using exclamation marks here to display my deep sadness over the loss of my dear friend, Kipper. I am usually opposed to the over-use, feeling that a period often conveys the proper feeling and emotion. But sometimes the frenzy of the moment calls for exclamation.)  Oh my, I should stop now.  I seem to be getting a little silly.  Who needs to hear my rambelings about punctuation or Mr Darcy or Martha Stewart.  I am simply too sleepy.  This is the post you get when I need to rest.  If you were here with me I would be a laughing mess.  Slap-Happy, if you will.  I'll try again tomorrow when I might be more sane!!! ( notice my use of the exclamation mark---laughing hard to myself)
Click here to see the only Kipper I could find.    It has all the favorites:  Kipper, Tiger, Pig, and Arnold.  Not Lylah's favorite episode, but still a good one.

Christmas Wrap Up

I just wanted to share a few of my favorites from Christmas.  These are in no special order, just as they come to me.
 #1  I heard Lylah in the dining room by the tree.  She was ringing a bell that was on an ornament and screaming, "Put money in it!  Put money in it!"  She has seen the bell ringers and this was her ode to their work.  I have never heard them screaming or saying to put money in it.  But she got the point.  It was pretty cute.

#2  Last year Lylah got a nativity set that she could play with from my brother's family.  She loved to play with it.  She really loved carrying around the Baby Jesus.  She would tell him," Wait right here Baby Jesus.  I gotta go potty."  She also slept with both of the angels form the set.  One in each hand.  I looked at the way she had the nativity scene set up once and there were all the usual players and a fairey princess.  Who knew there was one there?

#3 We consiously chose not to make Santa a big deal or promote Santa in any way.  We looked at him in Christams decor and in some books at school.  He even made an appearance at our school's Christmas party.  But we said Santa was fun to pretend at Christmas time.  She was happy to think of him as a story and could tell you all about him, complete with a round of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and a cute finger-play called santa Pop .  We just could not see the logic behind us trying to get her to believe that Santa was real (when we know he's not) and trying to tell her Jesus IS real (because we know he is).  Neither can she see or truly grasp yet.  So the only way we could get her to begin to understand the real meaning of Christmas was to tell her it was Jesus' birthday.  I realize that Jesus  was not turning another year older this year, but Lylah was so excited to hear that it was Jesus' birthday that she had to have a cake for him.  I was almost all she could think of.  Her idea was to include hats, and balloons too.  I convinced her that all of the Christmas decoratoins were for the big Celebration.  That seemed to satisfy her.  On Christmas Eve Lylah and I made a cake for Jesus.  It was not pretty.  It was, in fact, ugly.  But I don't think Jesus minded.  I knew Lylah did not.    She ate with gusto.  Happy birthday Jesus.




I am sure there are more favorites...this being my favorite Christmas ever ,ever ever, EVER, ever. But I don't want to bore anyone with anymore tidbits.
Happy Christmas everyone.