cute cousins

Grandaddy and Granwendy galavanted around Middle TN and were able to see both of their grandaughters yesterday. Here are some pics:

Top: Hannah (& Mommy) in the front yard
Bottom: Juliana at the Park

word of the day

"moon"

we went for a walk after dinner. it wasn't long before hannah spotted the moon in the sky. she pointed at it, as if to say "what's that?" i told her "that's the moon." she pointed again and said, "moon." we continued our walk. as we went around the curves in the neighborhood and the moon changed position, she kept lookng up at the sky and tried to find the moon.

owie

hannah got her 1st skinned knee today. she was running down the sidewalk along the bottom of the cliff, and her feet couldn't keep up. it didn't seem to phase her at all. at first, it looked like it didn't break the skin, but by the time we got inside we could see blood. thankfully grandaddy and granwendy were here. they helped me keep her pinned while i cleaned her knee and applied a bandaid with ointment. we'll see if the bandaid i still on when she awakes from her nap. pic will be posted later...

new firsts

Baby Bear and I were outside picking dandelions when someone jogged by with their rather large puppy. I could tell it was a mixed breed, and suspected part of the mix. My suspicions were correct.... it was half black lab an half pitt-bull. Anyway, it was a beautiful dog. The owner said that the shelter had told them it was half german shepherd, and as a young pup it looked more like a lab. The vet could tell the difference and revealed the truth. Now, at 6 months old and 35 lbs., it's starting to show its' other bloodlines. Anyway, we chatted for a moment, and I let Baby Bear pet the dog. It was no more hyper than the jack russell that lives across the street and its master assured me it had never been aggressive toward any people, children or even dogs. She also shared that because of the pitt-bull bloodline, they are not allowed to take it to the dog parks. Besides, she held it tightly leashed. baby bear LOVES animals. She giggled with glee as the dog licked her.

we went out for mexican tonight. the new restaurant literally within walking distance (1.5 miles) is just too tempting. i ordered consome de pollo (chicken and rice soup) for myself, which was only $3.25. so i also ordered a chicken burrito and rice off the reasonably priced children's menu for baby bear. she ate about half of each, and some chips. this was her first "children's menu" meal. oh, yeah, she also had a peppermint patty.

quote of the day

"hey, you have a big head, too!" joshua, a 2 1/2 year old boy who lives in our neighborhood exclaimed when he met hannah tonight.

joshua was diagnosed with leukemia in october, and just came home from 2 nights in the hospital for his chemo treatments. his mommy is expecting another baby in may. he really looked great considering everything he's going through. please keep him and his parents in your prayers.

photos from last week

me & my granddaddy

"auntie" anna, "cousin" caroline, & me

"teef!"

i'm a cutie and i know it!

mommy and daddy asked aunt steph if they could keep baby caroline,

but neither aunt steph or i thought that was a good idea.

the "pebbles" look

hannah let me put mini-pigtails in her hair tonight. i think the fact that she was still eating while i did it helped her cooperate.

meeting baby Caroline & some of her family

"Are you going to follow me?"

"What's Caroline doing under there, Aunt Steph?"

"He's not my Daddy, but he's ok for now."

Caroline meets Uncle Jason & Aunt Teresa

Caroline's Proud Uncle and Proud Mommy

Hannah shares the bunny with Montana

Hannah shares her baby Einstein mat with Caroline

Two cuties

"Aunt" Steph and her 4-month old baby girl, Caroline, are in town for Ms. Dianne and Mr. Tom's wedding. We went to visit them and their family tonight. I loved all the fruit that Ms. Dianne had to eat. When Mommy shared her carrot cake with me, I made the sign for "cookie". I liked the big blackberries, the raspberries were ok, but strawberries, blueberries and watermelon were my favorite. I showed off my favorite signs, gave baby Caroline lots of kisses, and hugged mommy and daddy's legs when they held the other baby. I didn't cry, though. Caroline's older cousin Montana played very well with us, watching out for me as I tried to walk down the concrete step into the sunroom all by myself.

twirly girl

Hannah figured out how to twirl in a circle tonight. We were playing upstairs, and she was literally running circles around mommy and daddy. Then she began spinning in one place and giggling hysterically. We didn't catch the twirling on camera, but the pictures do show her being cute.

Discovered wood chips

We returned some books to the library and renewed our "signing time" video check out. We also requested more from the series to be sent over from the main branch. I am really falling in love with the Nashville Public Library. Friendly, helpful staff at the branch I use, and there's a new playground behind the parking lot. As I dropped the books in the return slot, Hanna kept trying to run out the automatic door toward the parking lot... and the playground.

She had her blue tigger ball with her, but she was entranced by some other kids and their soccer ball. They were kind and shared with her. She wanted to kiss a 4 week old baby boy, but I wouldn't let her. She found the wood chips on the ground very fascinating. I had to watch carefully to ensure that she didn't eat them, as she dropped them through a 3" hole in a bench which served to funnel them to the ground.

wild things

Here are some photos from our visit to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.
The weather was perfect! Mommy's camera batteries were acting funny,
so unfortunately we didn't get photos of everyone.
We had fun with some of our friends from church, and look forward to more visits to the zoo!

a weekend of jumpin' elephants, giraffes, grandparents & singin' in the rain... well, splashin'...

Yesterday morning, Hannah and I joined some friends for a trip to the zoo. Her favorite part was bouncing in the toddler play area. She did enjoy seeing the elephants and giraffes, and playing with her buddies Brayden and Will. She thought baby Julianna (Will's sister) was adorable. After the bounce-fest in the play area, we decided to visit the animals. The larger animals were much easier for her to spot, and Hannah seemed to enjoy the fresh air as much as I did.

After a catnap in the car on the way home from the zoo, Hannah played with GranWendy and GranDaddy while I went to an appointment. It sure is nice to have them live so close. We have to take advantage of the free babysitting a little more often.

Gramma & Papa T. arrived on Friday night and spent the rest of the weekend with us.
It started raining just as we were about to go for a walk on Saturday, so we decided to sit on the front porch. Hannah decided she liked playing in the rain, and kept running off the porch. She especially like splashing in the water that came down the gutter spout. We let her play in the warm rain for about 5 minutes, then she got to take her 1st bath in the big tub in the master bathroom. Great Gramma sounded worried that we were letting her get wet, but so far there are no signs that our nature-lover caught a cold from the adventure.

trip to the park

Today was a warm, breezy day here.

Mommy thought I might like to go to the park.

It was such a big playground that between the wind

and the big, wooden structure sprawled in front of me,

I was not quite sure what to think.

I wanted to play with the big kids,

but most of them weren't

very friendly.

I also wanted to try to climb ladders,

but I could not figure out how.

entering the "castle"

i'm not so sure about this....

watching the wind-whipped flag

stepping up to the challenge ahead

"finally, someone who understands me!"

pics from last Friday

aunt becca limited juliana's frosting intake...

my mommy let me go at it... as you can see, i am serious about food.

hannah bear trying to steal juliana's dolly...

horse-play with grandaddy; juliana plays the tiger-xylo-piano

"sharing"

hannah-bear only likes her car seat when it's in the house...
juliana takes advantage of hannah-bear's distraction to go toward the buttons on the stereo

another tooth

tooth count: 4 on top, 2 on bottom

Hannah-bear had a rough night on Saturday, waking up around 11 with teething pain. We gave her some tylenol and let her come into our bed, as has become the habit on those occasional rough nights. She sipped on some water, tossed and turned, but eventually fell asleep on/between her daddy and me until about 4:30. Then, Daddy carried her back to her crib and she fell back asleep until 7:30 or so. Yesterday, we noticed that tooth #4 had broken through. There's definitely a pattern between her teething and night wakings.

1st tinkle!!!

after lunch, i notice the towel underneath baby bear's bottom was a little damp. (i get tired of wrestling her to get her diaper on, so i let her run around bare-bottomed part of the day.) i asked her if she still needed to use the potty, and she nodded "yes". when we got to the bathroom, she chose the big potty, so i put her insert on top so she would not fall in, and there she sat. she flipped through a couple of board books, and i heard "tinkle tinkle". i praised her, wiped her, and helped her down. as she played a few minutes later, she kept picking up her baby doll and putting it on the little potty.

we are not anywhere near being potty trained, but we're taking small steps as she shows interest, and as she makes it harder and harder to get her diaper on.

i love my family!

mommy's parents, my aunt becca, uncle brett, and cousin juliana came to visit tonight. we celebrated granwendy and uncle brett's birthdays a little late. uncle adam and aunt amy have been busy and fighting sickness in their house, so they couldn't come down from l-ville. mommy says we have to go visit soon.

it was a family potluck dinner, which mommy says was wonderful! everything tasted yummy... i loved aunt becca's green bean casserole. and the yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

mommy won't let me just grab toys from my cousin. she says i need to share, but i don't get it.

missed potty-tunity

After I gave Bear her bath today, she wanted to wrestle more than get dressed. Finally, I said... "Just walked around naked and freeze, then", took her off the changing table, and let her do just that. She seemed to enjoy galavanting around the house without any clothes on, and I really did not want to spank her for doing something when I knew the consequences of being naked (
getting cold) would hit eventually. I pulled her potty seat out into the living room to be closer to her and told her, "you know what that's for, if you need to pee or poop, sit on your potty."

A few minutes later, as I was in the kitchen I noticed Bear run to the Bathroom. She squatted on the linoleum and peed. A little splattered on the carpet just outside the door, too. Apparently the potty does not belong in the living room, because the bathroom is where one must pee.

I don't think I can even call this an accident. I'm thinking I might back off the nakey-time for a while... but then, who knows... maybe one of these times she will actually use her potty? And I have good carpet cleaner, so... or maybe it's time to find some good training pants.

word-in-progress

diaper- sounds more like "ah-pah". refers to baby bear's diapers, as well as mommy's "feminine products" that baby bear has pulled out of a drawer or purse.

Potty-tunity

I've had several people tell me they wish they had started potty training earlier. I read somewhere that since the introduction of wicking disposable diapers, the age of potty training has grown progressively later in the US. There's a book that was written by a pediatrician that I have been meaning to read called "Diaper free before 3". It may or may not happen, but I figured if we approach it gently as potty learning, with opportunities but not force, she might warm up to the idea. Of course, then I'll have to figure out the whole pulic restroom dilemna... As much as she tends to toss and turn during diaper changes, we figure it is worth the shot.

Well, as you've read previously, Hannah has been sitting on her potty during story-time, play, etc... She loves her Usborne Baby's Potty book, and she received a bilingual potty training book through Books from Birth, and we found a cute story at the libvrary. She likes watching me use the toilet, and tries to help me flush it. Tonight before bed, I asked her if she wanted to try to go potty. She nodded her head yes. When we got to the bathroom, she started patting the big toilet. So, I took the seat off her little potty, set it on the big toilet, and set her on top. It took her a few seconds to get comfy (as much as possible), but I handed her a rubber ducky and held her nightgown up... she sat there for a couple of minutes. Nothing happened, but the fact that she wanted to try is a big step! Usually she nods her head "no" and we let it go, changing her diaper as usual. We did slip a pair of shortss under her nightgown so she doesn't pull of her diaper during the night. She likes playing with it more and more. It won't be long before she's pulling pants down herself in the middle of the night, but until then, it's worth the precaution.