The Pavelka Family: January 2012

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!