Tuesday with That Grace

My mom came to visit not too long ago and brought some extra calendars. I picked one out and sent the rest back home with her. After she left, I realized that I already had a calendar and didn't need another one (part of my ongoing war with clutter). I decided to keep it anyway because it had gorgeous pictures of wildlife. I cut it apart and make the matching picture activity from itty bitty love. Basically, I cut apart the calendar and then cut out the little thumbnail pictures on the back and covered it all with contact paper. The object of the activity is to match the little picture to the big picture. I thought That Grace might be a little young to do all 12 so I only put out 4 to start with. She did those with ease and begged for more, so I put out all 12 and handed her the little cards. She did great and apparently enjoyed it, because she kept signing "more" when I tried to put it away. We'll probably do some more of these. I didn't get the Velcro dots put on but I think that will add another point of interest.

Tea Party!

Another reason I try to avoid fast food...

Weekend Fun + A Scary Incident

Reading to her babies in Daddy's chair. She has all of her back issues of Babybug up there. Check out that hair. No, I'm not trimming it. I put it up during the day. It's fine.

Putting on a finger puppet show, mostly consisting of throwing the finger puppets though the stage, at the audience. Ha, break a leg!


Eating crackers with a fork. We tried to explain that crackers are finger food and therefore quite correctly eaten with the fingers, but she insisted.

This was after I put some of our food on her plate and cut it up. She's definitely at the imitating stage.

Shortly after this was taken, she finished eating and we gave her Rob's glass with the last little bit of (iced) tea in it to drink. She finished the tea and started chewing on the ice. She loves to eat ice. I heard her making a noise and looked over and she was choking. It wasn't just a matter of something going down wrong -- that happens all the time. She really was not able to breathe. I grabbed her up and handed her to Rob and he flipped her over and kind of pulled up on her stomach and pounded on her back, then flipped her back up to see if she was okay. Nope, she still couldn't breathe. He did that several more times before she was finally able to get a good breath and start screaming. And scream she did. A sweeter sound has never been heard. I took her outside to calm down. As hysterical as she was, she managed to wave to another toddler on the way out. She seemed to be over the whole incident by the time we got in the car and headed home. We will say a few extra "thank you" prayers tonight.

Last night, I finally got around to embroidering a place setting place mat for That Grace. She had a lot of fun carefully putting her little dishes in the outlines.

The only reason she tolerates shopping...

Dinner with Friends (or Cooking in Underwear)

This is the reason baby blogs have a limited lifespan.

We had some friends over for dinner last night. Don't worry, I limited That Grace's helping to non food items. I'm glad she is becoming more hospitable. She didn't lie on the floor and cry when she saw them like she has done with other people. After dinner, she even played with them some (if taking them a book and insisting they read it to her is playing).

Yesterday, I was watching That Grace play on my bed. She was sitting on top of it with her baby. She reached down and covered up her baby and then held up her arms and shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, "Where's the baby?"

We have a laundry sorter in our room and she loves to get in it and hide while we say, "where's the baby? Where's mommy's baby? Where's That Grace?" Then she jumps out and we cry, "There she is!" so I guess she was playing this game with her baby.

She also brought her play orange juice carton over to her table, slammed it down, sat down in her chair and slapped her hands together to say the blessing. Her pretend play is getting more complex these days and I'm starting to see a lot of our daily life reflected in it (not that we slam orange juice down on the table).

The Wise Men Flew in from the East

We let That Grace put up all the figures in the Advent calendar this year. This is what it looked like when she finished with it. This was a huge highlight of the Christmas season for her. Bedtime has not been the same since we had to put it away.

Taking Down the Tree

This was a special type of cedar tree. It's supposed to "keep its needles beautifully throughout the whole season."


Well, I don't really have anything to add to that.

Lillian Grace enjoyed a little snack on the way home from the store.

Oh, look, her bruise matches her shirt. We've been going outside to play a lot since the weather has been so nice. That Grace fell and hit her face on a pole. It got much worse the next day but it's starting to clear up.

Here's the kitchen my babydaddy and I stayed up late finishing on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, I don't have any before pictures but it was just a wooden refrigerator and sink I found at a local thrift store. They're pretty common in churches and daycares. It was missing the faucet and the sink. Rob took off the top of the sink and replaced it with another one. He cut out a spot for the sink (a bowl from Target's dollar bin) and turned half of it into a stove.
He made the faucet out of some kind of gray tubing -- electrical conduit, I think he said, that we painted with copper paint. I painted the counter with Flexstone and painted the rest of it cream and pink. She has really been having fun with it. Every morning she runs into the living room, flings open the cabinets and the food starts flying. Watch out, Rachael Ray!