shh shh shh

as we went for our evening stroll, hannah started singing one of her songs. we listened carefully, then smiled at eachother. some of the words and syllables were missing, but she was trying to sing a verse from another favorite song, "the mommies on the bus go sh, shh, shh".

exploring nature (taking after her older cousins)

learning her shapes

As we drove around the Cool Springs area, all of a sudden Hannah exclaimed "octagon!"

I looked around. Sure enough, there was a seal shaped sort of like an octagon (8 sides, but they weren't all equal) on the Sprintz furniture store sign.

Hannah has also been randomly singing songs. Her favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Row, row, row your boat", the abc song, the "yes" part of Jesus loves me, and this "Praise the Lord" song from the cd cousin Juliana gave her from her VBS. ("Pray-yay-yay-yay....")

wordless wednesday

tantrum averted...

i got off the compute and spent quality time with my little girl. she loves reading books together. we also went for a walk. she insisted on carrying both her small watering can and my large one halfway to the end of the street and back, picking up rocks, wood chips, and a penny along the way. the penny was added to her ceramic precious moments "boot" bank. i think she has over $2 in her college fund now.

she asked to wear her big girl pants (training pants), so some of the afternoon was spent practicing going potty. she didn't actually go in the toilet, but she sat comfortably for a couple of 5 minute stretches. i wonder if the little training potty would put her in position that makes it easier for her to relax her muscles and go than the toilet insert. anyway, she definitely has the hang of flushing, sitting nicely, etc... now to do the deed! it's so cute because she calls it "practice potty" when she tries. i let her play with stickers while she sat there. she loved it when she took two circles and put them on her toes, and i told her she had "oh's on her toes!".

as we went for a stroll later this afternoon, she held her toy frog and bunny. i could have sworn she was having a conversation with her animals about potty practice... it was a mix of toddlerese, but it was so cute!

words of the day

"camera purse"= camera case

I asked her to bring me my camera, and she unzipped the bag and carried it over to me, with the camera hanging out of the bag, which was still attached to it by a little loop.

"new camera"

"i suck!"= it's stuck, as she tries to remove it from the case

a temper tantrum is on its way... time for a nap, perhaps?

POTW

Transition to Toddler bed

Since Hannah discovered how to climb out of her crib this week, we decided it was time to convert it into the toddler bed. So, yesterday afternoon hubby set to work. Hannah thought her bed was a trampoline, and went from piling all her stuffed animals and toys in sight to throwing them all off. We told her that GranWendy and GranDaddy would be putting her to sleep later, and she would need to settle down nicely for them. Then she practiced tucking Daddy nicely under the covers.









I hadn't intended for my parents to be the first to put her to sleep in the new arrangement, but hubby went ahead and started taking the crib apart, and we had dinner plans.

Hannah had a little trouble getting to sleep, but GranWendy was able to comfort her, and by the time we got home she had been sleeping for a while.

Our little one rolled out of her crib around 1 a.m., which started her enough to awaken her. Thankfully, she settled down and slept until 5:30 after I picked her up off the floor, tucked her in, and gave her a kiss.

Her first night in her "new" bed was a success, in spite of her less-than-solid sleep. No tantrums, just restlessness. What more could we ask for?

The first thing Hannah said to me as I changed her diaper this morning? "More Grandma?"

i'm awake & ready to go, mom!

i had a good nap

cheese!

ok, i've been patient enough..

mommy: "don't climb out!"

fine...

potty practice

when i changed her diaper after nap, hannah asked to "practice potty". not one to discourage interest, i helped her onto her seat. she proceeded to demonstrate her skills:

flushing without looking

reaching for the tp

waiting for something to happen (it didn't)

Now to teach her that the tp is only for when she actually goes, and not to flush until after she is all done.... one flush, not several...

(The "clipping" in the right edge of the photos is the door frame. I didn't think about it blending into the blog background.)

She wanted to practice again tonight after she got her pj top on and before I put on her clean diaper. One of these days "practice" might make "product", if you know what I mean...

pics from mommy's birthday gift

mommy mix-ups and icebreakers

For some reason I had it in my mind that story time is on Thursday... it's on Tuesday or Wednesday. Gotta put that in my yahoo reminder and on the calendar. I was looking forward to taking her again.

Hannah is quite the ice chomper. I know it's not good for her teach, but she's getting water and it's better than comping on candy. She did get a lollipop from the bank yesterday... it's amazing how quickly she caught on to where the lollipop jar sits. Too bad we went in to close that account and won't be going back there. (For her.)

cuteness...

playground and piggies

When I picked Hannah up from her nursery class at church yesterday, she proudly showed me her craft... paper piggies and chicks, which she had "colored" (blue scribbles), and her teachers had helped her glue to a clothespin. (The lesson was that God created the animals.)

As we drove to the playground this morning, Hannah saw her piggies in the cup holder and asked for them. "Piggies, please?"

When we arrived at the playground, I told her the piggies would wait for us in the car. I grabbed the towels (for drying the still wet slides and swings), and Hannah ran toward the "paygound".

She climbed up the 3-rung ladder all by herself, slid down slides, played peek-a-boo through the window and tunnel, and of course, spent several minutes swinging. She giggled hysterically as I tried to teach her to straighten and bend her knees while swinging.

Upon our return home, Hannah clutched her stuffed bunny, sun visor, and of course, her precious pigges. "I got my piggies!" she exclaimed.

eating habits

it's not secret that our daughter likes to eat.

tonight she ate salad. lots of it. we had pizza and salad, and she barely ate any pizza, but scarfed down her toe-toes, celery, coo-um-ers, and even lettuce. i think she liked my dad's homemade dressing & seasonings on it.

she gets that from my side of the family.

she ate a bunch of chocolate cake and some ice cream, too. she gets her sweet tooth from both of us.

time OUT

after lunch, hannah and juliana fed off one another's toddlerhood. they both wanted me- next to them, playing with them. washing dishes at the sink was too far away. and both used their vocal cords to let me know. juliana finally calmed down enough to play with some toys, but hannah got time out because she would not let up. i put her in her crib and closed the door. when joel went to get her, he noted that her voice sounded like it was really close to the door... it was. she had climbed out of her crib. it looks like he'll be figuring out how to convert it to a toddler bed in the near future.

wearing each other out!

after waking up bright-eyed and bushy headed before 7 a.m., the girls both hit full-fledged "crabby pants" mode by 9:45 this morning. hannah went so far as to say "night-night" as she leaned on her daddy. juliana was rubbing her eyes and clinging to me. so we put both of them down for a mid-late morning nap. as soon as they hit their beds, they both went into fuss-play-chatter mode. we could hear hannah chant "el-e-phant" & "night-night" in her sing-songy barney voice. juliana chattered in toddlerese, grew a little fussy, but then settled down.
by the time i got out of my shower, silence had hit both baby monitors. ahhh..

now, both girls usually take an afternoon nap sometime after lunch. i suspect that won't happen today, due to their late-morning nap and the afternoon family gathering could include 2 tired toddlers.

over all, they have played very well together. they greet one another with hugs and kisses when they wake up in the morning. (quite the opposite from what hannah was used to with herslow-rising older cousins). juliana has asked for her mama and dada today, so i bet her face will light up when she sees them this afternoon.

hannah thinks the idea of potty time is cool- until she sits on the potty. she will even say "yay!" when we tell juliana, "it's potty time!" then she wants off in 3 seconds. apparently potty time is for her cousin. we don't push it. juliana told us she needed to go "poo" (which translated to "pee", she uses the word universally), and has been such a big girl. oh, she had a couple of accidents last night after dinner, but nothing major. i think she was having so much fun playing with her cousin, she was not paying attention to her bladder.

hannah proudly showed her cousin the cherry toe-toe plants, then picked some green tomatoes of the vine. juliana was happy to pick one, too, but had the sense not to taste the green one. hannah, on the other hand, spit hers out after mauling it for a bit. and clung to the remaining toe-toe's in her hand as though they were treasures.

juliana's visit

richard simmons & cousin it came over for breakfast:




oops, i forgot to straighten this pic. you get the idea. juliana is getting lots of practice going up and down stairs, with hannah cheering her on:


okay, so with their distinct personalities, opposite hair textures, and obviously different parents, they are not twins. they are cousins. but i could not resist "matching" hannah with her cousin this morning. getting them both to look at the camera at the same time is not so easy:

sentence of the day

"I like cracker."

I haven't really kept track of all of Hannah's 2 and 3 word sentences. Some are more distinguishable than others. This one was very clear, spoken after she devoured a slice of ham, some shredded cheese, and a cup of mandarin oranges for lunch.

1st "story-time" at library

For whatever reason, Hannah and I had not yet made it to the weekly toddler/preschool story time at the library. With temperatures abnormally high outside, we had to get out and do something. So this morning we headed over to the closest library. We arrived early, so we played with puzzles and looked at books for a few minutes. As soon as everyone began filing into the Story Room, Hannah became overwhelmed by the # of people and clung to me. She had her raccoon and sippy cup, but I think the sheer number of people intimidated her.

The storyteller was actually a Kindermusik teacher, and my shy girl gradually warmed up. She even tackled the 4 year old girl next to us with a great big hug. She loved the rhythm sticks and scarves/"butterfly wings". I am not sure that I'm willing to drive all the way to Vandy for Kindermusik classes, but I will be glad to see what's in store during the library's weekly story time.

When it was over, we headed outside to the playground, where my brave girl climbed up and down the steps, attempted to climb up and down the ladder, and slid down the slides faster than she ever has before... so fast that she landed on her bottom in the wood chips because Mommy couldn't get there to catch her in time.

going back to an old favorite

bounce!

focused

Hannah decided she wanted to play with her saucer tonight. Normally, she wants out less than a minute after being put in. This time she kept busy with the toys for at least 10 minutes. Unfortunately she's getting big enough to try to climb out, so I can't use it to secure her while I shower anymore! But at least she is still using it.

gulf shores memories

the dolphin-watch boat ride:

cousin maddie, uncle nate, aunt cheryl

we ran into ally and her parents (friends of daddy and mommy) earlier in the week,
and they came on the dolphin-boat, too!

em, ally & i look for dolphins in our hot, stinky vests

other random photos:

getting braver

daddy & his brother

no trip to the beach is complete without burying someone in the sand!

my "boat", gramma & me

these jellyfish got buried in the sand

aunt sara & uncle grant

stealthy aunt cheryl sets her battle line behind the "pink monster", aka my raft

the water wars continue... papa developed his own helmet/sun protection

pool time fun... a little less violent (note the raft is being put to its proper use)

incredimaddie proudly models her new "pj's/playclothes"

aaaah

"pool? pool?" (i was ready to hit the pool after an hour on the beach)

this is the life

cousin emmy loved practicing her swimming!