Christmas Eve at Grandma RJ's!

Some light reading with Grandma, family pictures, a quick scan under the tree to check for presents...yep, this is going to be a GREAT Christmas!

These are the ways you know that I am near:

There are coats everywhere! I love coats ("Coke!"), and especially like taking them off and leaving them in various places around the house.


There are strollers and buggies and other things with wheels EVERYWHERE! You can never have too many ways to transport your babies!


And finally, the cups and Tupperware drawer has been raided, and there are brushes in the kitty food (it needs to be brushed often, trust me!).


I may not be the cleanest house guest, but I am the cutest, aren't I?


I got to spend Christmas with the Johnson side of the family, which means I traveled all the way to MN and got to visit THREE houses! Grandma RJ's house is lots of fun because the Beagan kitty lives there. Cousin Campbell's house is lots of fun because the two silly puppies live there (but they never get to play with me, I only get to let them lick my fingers through their cages). And Papa Todd's house is fun, too, because it has sooo many toys and people in it!

Babies and yogurt!

Last week was really special because my baby friend Austin (1 month old!) came to visit me and stay over night at my house. Boy, is he cute! His Daddy, Nick, even let me hold him. When it was time for Austin to leave, I threw a really good tantrum and refused to let go of his car seat.


Ever since I had to say goodbye to baby Austin, I have become devoted to my two baby dolls. Then Grandma and Grandpa Cooper gave me another dolly for Christmas, and now I have THREE dollies that I need to carry with me everywhere I go!

And because I only have one picture of me and Baby Austin, Mama wanted to include the following unrelated pictures of me eating yogurt. In style. While covering myself in stickiness. And yes, sometimes I need to double-fist it, making two spoons necessary.

It's almost Christmas

It's almost time for Christmas, and this is how I know:

First, Mama came home from a Green Party where she traded some of her art for this:


She hung it up outside so that the cold winter front door would be cheerful. Then she got busy doing this:


Daddy thinks it is silly, but Mama likes it. She decorated the tree with ornaments from when Daddy was little and from when she was little. There is even a picture frame ornament for my friend, Toodles, who went to Heaven when I was only a month old. I miss him. I think Miss Ping misses him, too, because she keeps jumping up on the table and staring at his photo.

Issy likes to sit up there, too, but he never looks at the photo. He didn't know Toodles, so I guess that makes sense. He just jumps up and watches birds out the window and sniffs at the little snowmen on the table. And if you are wondering why there are four stockings, it's because there is one for me and one for Mama and one for Daddy and one that all three of the kitties have to share.

So those are the first reasons I knew that Christmas was coming...then something really cool happened! I woke up one morning and this was on the ground:


Snow! I'd forgotten all about snow, though Mama and Daddy tell me that I really liked it last year when I was a baby. Daddy and I went outside to play right away, and the first thing Daddy did was teach me how to make snowballs:


He said, "It's a life skill." Mama wasn't so sure. Too bad the snow melted before I got very good at it. I can't wait for Christmas!

Helping in the kitchen

I'm really good at helping in the kitchen. Just look at this picture of me baking with Mama when I was only four months old...I already knew how to use the measuring cups!


These days, because I am so big, Mama lets me do lots of stuff when we cook. Here's a picture of me measuring and pouring some flour into the mixer (we were making bread).


Last week I got to do something special, though- I got to cook with Daddy! This is a picture of me really happy to be able to spend time with Daddy:


We made pancakes. I got to help flip them.



Afterwards Daddy and I cleaned the kitchen- something Mama told me all good chefs are supposed to do.


Cooking with Daddy is the best!

My new ball!

Uncle G and Kristin invited me over for breakfast today (YUMMY!), and they gave me an early Christmas present- two great new shirts, and a just-my-size (size one!) REAL SOCCER BALL! I love my gifts! Here's some footage Uncle G took of me showing off my mad soccer skillz...in the second video, I even demonstrate proper "throw-in" form:

Cheering at my first Thanksgiving Day road race...

...and doing some light winter training while I wait for Uncle G and Grandpa Brian to run by. Look how fast I am! I can go REALLY fast when Mama or Daddy "chase" me!

Spinning with Daddy!

I love to spin and twirl! Daddy taught me how a few weeks ago, and now I do it all the time. Sadly, I never know when I have had enough and I usually end up falling over or running into walls because I get too dizzy. Oh, well! That just makes me laugh, then I get up and do it again!

In the video, I am saying "No!" because I want Mama to spin with Daddy and I instead of filming us. With spinning (as with most things), the more, the merrier- especially because Mama has an extremely low tolerance for spinning before getting dizzy, which is really funny for me to see!

Too much time with Kristin?

It is a well-documented fact that my Kristin friend likes to pretend to be an owl and "perch."



My Mama caught this photo of me doing the same over Thanksgiving.



One of the benefits of having older friends is that they have so many things to teach me! :)

Lessons in food throwing and apologizing to Mama!

Uncle G helps me make my first phone call...

to my Kristin friend. A new Thanksgiving tradition!

Mama guest post: Elsie Linguistics, 101

We are in the midst of a language explosion here in Madison. Every day Elsie amazes Andy and me with a plethora of new words (and sometimes she gets pretty mad when we can't quite translate what she is saying...some of her "c" words sound a lot alike!). In order to keep you all up-to-date for the next time you come to visit our little monkey, I have prepared this primer for you of some of her least-understandable words:

-bah-aah: bottle
-pah boe: peanut butter
-wah-ahh: water
-peas: please
-moe: more
-coke: coat
-cacka: cracker
-cocka: garbage (Spanish)
-sue: shoe
-cook: cookie
-mick: milk
-keetee: kitty
-bop: help
-Sssess: Issy kitty (her favorite kitty, mostly because she can catch him)
-Popoe: Pongo kitty (her 2nd favorite, because when she finds him he "plays dead" and submits himself to petting instead of running away)
-pree-hee: pretty (she says this to her reflection in the mirror when she tries on dress-up clothes or when I put a barrette in her hair)

As her vocabulary expands, we've been blown away by the word combinations she is suddenly using on a daily basis...things like:

-"Me too!" (when she wants to wash her hands like Andy or me).
-"Mama coat!" (when Mama wasn't getting ready to go outside fast enough).
-"More, please!" (after she got into the candy cupboard and ate a Kit-Kat bar).

And if those stories aren't entertaining enough, we are enjoying watching the associations she is making to get her point across and the funny things she does when she doesn't have the words to express herself...things like:

-tapping the top of her head (asking for a hat) and yelling "coke!" whenever she wants to go outside.
-pushing her play table and chair across the room, then climbing up on them and turning back on the light when she doesn't want to go to sleep.
-running to bring Daddy his shoes and lunch box when he announces that it is time for him to go to work.

Now that she is talking, Elsie takes every opportunity to use her words. For instance, while at the coffee shop today she walked up to all the customers around us and reminded them that they were wearing a coat. And a hat (when applicable). And shoes. And then she pointed out that she was wearing those items, too. Luckily, it was mostly elderly ladies, and they were all very entertained by her antics. Especially after they saw that she finished each "conversation" by giving the patron a "high five" before moving on to the next customer.

Every day is an adventure for Andy and I during this period of rapid development. Parenthood is so much fun!

Playing at the Children's Museum

A water room, a cool stone stairway, a dinosaur bone bridge, musical instruments, baby dolls, and lots of big kids to watch...hooray!

Playing in the Autumn leaves

With my Cooper grandparents...and at my neighbors' house...and with a puppy friend!

What we've been doing lately!

I've been a busy kid lately! I really like being creative and engaging Mama in imaginary play. We found a great little "me-sized" table on Freecycle, and I love playing on it (sitting on the chair and, yes, climbing up on the table, too!). I like pouring out all my blocks onto the table- what a fun, loud noise! We recently brought my play kitchen inside, and I like making "food" in the kitchen, then bringing it to my table to "feed" my babies.


One night when I was a little fussy with teething pain Daddy got the great idea to put me in the tub with my finger paints. I am a little Picasso, no?



I've been collecting these "Schliech" animals with Mama...I love lining them up (and knocking them over!), feeding them, making them give each other kisses, practicing saying their animal names and the animal noises they make...my favorite is the bear noise. Grrr!


And of course, I still like spending time with my Monkey Boy from Great Auntie Brenda and Cousin Hillary. When I am lucky (and eating relatively non-messy food), Mama lets him sit at the table with me so I can feed him real food!

Thanksgiving in pictures

A new cousin, staying at the grandparents', cheering at my first road race, carpooling with G and K...what a great weekend!