PB and J and Pickles

Vera is talking so much. It is completely mind-blowing to finally hear what's going on inside her head. It has been such an amazing month of absolute two-year-old-ness. She is very into doing things herself "me do it", "no touch it mommy", "vera do it..no help...noooo.!!!". She is working very, very hard to get herself dressed and undressed with no help. It's amazing how tricky those two separate pant legs can be! She gets one foot in, pulls it all the way to the bottom and squeals "peekaboo" when her foot pops out, then repeats with the other leg. It takes quite awhile- but its worth it. She gets a little steadier every day and she's so proud to do it on her own! She's very into her daily routines, she's starting to really have favorite clothes and favorite books and favorite foods. Her latest infatuation is "PB and J" with Pickles on the side. This child can't get enough dill pickles in one day! Reminds me of Zoe:)! I cut them into long strips, just to help ration them out. She literally falls asleep some nights talking about pickles and wakes up asking "More Pickle?" Here's a sweet morning video from this past wintry weekend, when she woke up all sleepy eyed and curly headed asking for PB and J with More Pickle..."pleeease.....now!!... pleeease Mommy,
Mommy help..do it!".

Love to you all, Jesse

Vera is all about babies! She is sooo interested in what Baby June is doing right now, and what she'll do when she comes out, and what we'll need to do for her and with her. We talk alot about how we'll hold Baby June, and nurse baby June, give her a bath, take her in the stroller, and she might even like a Paci- a little Paci- not Vera's paci! Here are some shots of Vera practicing these things- she's nursing my doll from when I was little- she spied it on a top shelf of our closet, and brought her out of retirement! A very fun time for us all. Love to everybody. Stay Warm!

Jesse

Vera is Two!

Oops- I forgot to mention that our little Dumpling turned TWO last weekend on December 12th! It was a super fun day. Mike stayed up till 1:30 the morning before assembling a play kitchen, which she loves loves loves. We had banana pancakes with whip cream for breakfast, she played in her new kitchen all day long-cooking up yummy "Hot Soup" for us all, Grampa Tom came up the mountain for a visit, and we had a delicious dinner with Grampa Tom and her beloved "Uncle Antny". We felt so grateful to have our awesome family here to celebrate with us. It was a truly fun day. We're looking forward to an exciting year!
-

Jesse

Sicky Sick But Still Singin'

Poor Vera is home sick today. She's just got a bad cold, but it's been a messy one with an awful lot of coughing. It is snowing buckets outside- the biggest storm we've had in years, so we've just been bundled up, playing and dancing and drinking lots of fluids all morning. She's been breaking out into spontaneous song a lot lately and being sick hasn't seemed to dampen her spirits much. It took me a couple listens to realize her latest tune is actually Jingle Bells. I didn't catch on till she shouted "Hey!" Here's a picture and a quick video from lunch today. She's enjoying a strawberry popsicle after a bowl of "noodle soup". She loved the popsicle, but it made her "too cold"...thus the hat. Enjoy- and stay warm!

Love, Jesse

Vera stayed home sick from school today- nothing serious, just the end of a nasty cold virus. It turned out to be a nice, restful play day for us both. She's been playing a lot of "night night" lately, putting just about anything that'll hold still to bed, tucking it in and kissing it night night. She likes to line up her little snoozers in a long line and then walk by them patting them all on the back, pulling back the covers to check on them and then tucking them in again. I was doing some work on the laptop, when I turned around and saw she'd tucked in a bottle of glue "Glue-baby", the baby Jesus, and one of her favorite dolls. She asked me to go get her Ipod, so we could play night night music for them, and yep, she thought to give them all pacifiers.

Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!

Love, Jesse and Vera

A Day Off

Vera and I were both in serious need of a day off. Conveniently enough both the Library and her Daycare are closed today for Veterans' Day. And since it's pouring rain outside, we decided to just take it easy all day. These are some shots of Vera on the couch this morning during our early AM Pajama/Elmo Show Fest. And, yep..she's wearing an Elmo hat. She's a big fan. I was sitting beside her in my pajamas finishing a great book...but I didn't look nearly as cute. :)

Happy Veterans' Day to all.

Love, Jesse

Shots - Ouch- All Done!

After a series of shots this Fall- Vera has become an expert on the situation. She'll tell you the following: "Doctor- shots, ouch!-all done-yay!" ..in that order. She's found an old Fisher Price doctor's kit and will give shots to anything or anyone that holds still. And if you don't hold still, she'll still manage to get you, she sneaks up on you like a little toddler shot ninja. Poor Sabine- Vera's been chasing her round the house with the plastic syringe "Come here doggie! Shots! Ouch! All Done!"

So if you're visiting anytime soon...watch yourself, she's packin.