Snowman Obsession

Taylor has a new best friend - the decorative snowman that has been under our tree. It was love at first sight - as soon as we brought him up from the basement, Taylor gave him a hug, and they've been attached at the hip ever since.

Snowman is the first person that she greets in the morning. She loves his "silly nose" and tries to dress like him, wearing hats, scarves, and boots all around the house. He eats at the table with us, watches tv with us, and snowman has been known to play guitar, blocks, puzzles, and even color with Taylor. Sometimes, Snowman joins us in the kitchen when we are cooking dinner! We haven't put away our Christmas decorations yet because we're afraid that she will be devastated when he's gone! Plus, it's so darn cute watching them together! :)

Watching "Super Why"

Posing with her friend

Giving a big hug!

He even joins us when we have guests!

Helping her cook! Note that she gave him her apron!

Fears and Tantrums

Our little girl is growing up and reaching milestone after milestone. She is potty trained (with #1, going #2 is still an issue) and stopped using the Nuk when she naps and goes to sleep. She has a wonderful imagination, and learns lots of fun ways to use it from her favorite shows, which are "Barney", and "Super Why".

However, with this imagination and independence comes some interesting fears. She becomes extremely frightened by random things, such as the lamp in my parent's living room, or the sun when it comes through the front blinds. Our favorite, however, has been "the letter u". Let me tell you the story!

One afternoon, we were reading books in our bed, when Taylor suddenly panicked. She kept screaming "The letter u! The letter u!" and clinging to us as if her life were in danger! We were looking around and couldn't figure out what she was talking about. Finally, we looked out into the hallway, and noticed that our hall closet was open, and on the top shelf was a light bulb box that looked like this:



Apparently, this u-shaped symbol terrified her! We brought her over to see it, and she asked if she could touch it, and now she and "the letter u" are best friends. In fact, we have to open the closet before she goes to bed so that she can say goodnight to it! She also has become quite taken with the "shovel" that is next to "the letter u". She says goodnight to him, too!

We have also had quite a few tantrums at bedtime lately. She goes down fine, but then immediately gets out of her bed, goes to the top of the stairs, and screams at the top of her lungs any combination of the following phrases:
"I'm scared!"
"Dada/Mama, I'm crying here!"
"Just tell me what's wrong!!" (our favorite)
"I need you!"

Here is a picture of her, mid-tantrum, where she brought her stool to the top of the stairs, took off her shirt, and screamed:

Winter Wrap-up!

Wow, it's been quite a while since my last blog! This have been hectic with the holidays, and then getting back to work. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Even though this season has given us very few wintery days, we have still enjoyed many winter activities together! Here are some pictures from Channahon's Winter Wonderland:

Petting a real reindeer!

On our sleigh ride! Taylor kept screaming "Wow this is fun! We're going so fast!" even though we were going about 3 miles an hour!

Decorating Christmas cookies!

We had a wonderful Christmas! We spent Christmas Eve at Uncle Jeff & Aunt Maureen's house, and then stayed in on Christmas Day and had our parents and Kim over. Taylor somewhat had the concept of Santa. She knows who he is and that he gave her presents. She also understands that it is Jesus's birthday, and loves to "play birthday" with the nativity set under our tree!

Family Christmas card photo

Playing the piano with Mar

Hanging out with Aunt Mimi and cousin Wyatt

All of the cousins!

On Christmas morning, excited to see what Santa brought her!

Ripping through those presents!

Grandma and Grandpa Pavelka (can you tell Daddy dressed me?)

Taylor Turns 2!!

Happy 2nd birthday, Taylor Grace!

Taylor turned 2 on November 24th, which happened to be Thanksgiving day! We had a wonderful time celebrating Taylor's birthday last week. Sam and I were both off of work Wednesday through Friday, so we took Taylor out to GymQuest and Red Robin on Wednesday to celebrate as a family. She loved every minute of jumping on the trampoline and falling into the foam pit at GymQuest, and loved it even more when the servers at Red Robin sang to her and gave her a balloon!

Thursday was Thanksgiving, and we had a wonderful time at Grandma and Grandpa Forst's house. Taylor was in rare form, enjoying her blocks and jumping off of the first step of the stairs (over, and over, and over!).

On Friday, we had fun bowling with the Pavelka clan! Taylor rolled a couple of bowling balls down the bumper lane, which she loved!

Taylor is growing like crazy. She speaks in full sentences now. Our favorite repeated sayings are:

"It's ok mama, it's just ____ (random item that she decides to be afraid of that day)"
"Mama/dada, I need to ask you something" (and then doesn't have any question for us)
"I love you mama/dada!"
"OH WOW, look at that ____!!!"
"Holy moley!"
"Aiy-aiy-aiy!"

She is on her way to being potty trained - she usually goes #1 in the potty 3-5 times per day, and she lets us know when she needs to go. She has gone #2 once, but still seems hesitant. We are going to potty train her hard-core when we are on winter break.

She is also fully into her terrible twos: we hear a lot of "Leave me alone!" or "Don't touch/look at me!". She also chooses to refuse to do certain random things, like brushing her teeth, eating, or cleaning up, which lands her in time-out. She also decided to take mommy's wedding ring before mommy was awake and throw it into her diaper pail. We spent an entire day frantically searching the house for it. I don't know what made us look in the diaper pail, but we are sure glad we did!!

Here are some pictures of Taylor celebrating her 2nd birthday!

Loving rolling around on the mats!

Admiring the big kids doing flips!

Rolling around!

Falling in the foam pit!

Testing out the balance beam!

Getting our haircut at Boozle-B's!

The "after" picture!

Taking a big spoonful of birthday ice cream at Red Robin!

Bowling!

Our Little Chef!

Last Friday, we had a fun night of making pizzas together! Taylor loved spreading the sauce, sprinkling the cheese, and shaking the spices and herbs that we used in the sauce. The pizza ended up being disgusting, but the cooking process was worth it!

Can't wait to begin!

Spreading the sauce

Concentrating too hard to stop and pose for a picture!

We didn't even have the pizza in the oven yet, and she was taking chunks of cheese right off of it!

Sneaking some cheese

Trick or Treat!

Happy belated Halloween! Taylor went as a strawberry. She loved her outfit so much that she insisted on wearing her strawberry hat throughout the month of October. She loved trick-or-treating this year! After a couple of houses, she seemed to get the hang of it. We, of course, had a few extra grabs in people's buckets (which we put back!), some leaves, rocks, and sticks that made it into her candy bag, and one big fall which left her in tears and ended our trip early. She was also slightly afraid of some of the bigger kids in their scary costumes. She kept saying "It's ok mama, it's just a boy in a mask! That's all!" over and over and over! In fact, she STILL says it whenever she is tired or hears a noise in the house!

Overall, Halloween was a success, and we are looking forward to many more years of trick or treating (and the candy that comes with it!)!

Ready to go!

Family pic


Holding on to her beloved hat!

Her pal, Evelyn!

I had to sneak in a picture of my first grade team - we went as Things 1-7, and our kindergarten teacher was the Cat in the Hat!

Pumpkin Patch!

Last week, we took a trip to Dollinger Family Farms to pick out a pumpkin! We enjoyed going in the playhouses, sliding down the slides, and petting all of the animals! Taylor was a little less afraid of the animals this year - it was a completely different experience! Our friends Jon and Julie joined us, and we all went out for pizza afterward!

Family Photo

This is the closest we could get her to it!

Picking out the perfect pumpkin!

Taking a break!

Loving the silly things the goats were doing!

Petting a horsie!