Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Lately


I found a few older pix I thought might be fun to look at! (aww, look how Little!!) :-D












I havent been blogging things that she's doing, except when we take pictures... well to briefly name a few... her daddy brought the drums home for a few weeks & she loves to play them! ... she Loves to play memory game, but we play by making matches with the cards face up, she'll find a match and say Match!
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She wants so badly to dress herself! She tries really hard with her pants, and usually does pretty good! can get em on, mostly up, usually backwards, but she doesnt want my help til she cant go any farther, Then asks for help.
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One day I went to get her out of her crib after a nap, and she was standing in the corner of her bed, hangin on & jumping & laughing, and I noticed that she had taken one of her arms out of her shirt & up through the neck, so half her shirt was danglin beside her & she's jus gigglin, it was adorable!
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She's got this little stroller that a doll goes in, she Loves to push her around, she says "Balk" (walk)... already being a good big sister :) Oh and anyone who's ever been here in winter, you know how we all sit on the furnace to stay warm, well she loves to do this now too, but she wont do it alone, she takes you by the hand & says 'down' as in to sit down with her, and then lately, she gets her Strawberry Shortcake doll to join us as well.
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She absolutely LOVES to draw, and asks us to all the time! Pencils, pens, crayons, anything! She can make circle motions, not just scribbles, which is good... and lately we go over spelling her name on paper alot, and when we get through it, she says "Genn!" (again) over & over, hehe... oh and she has always had trouble saying the letter L, but since we've been going over her name so much, we worked a lil harder with it & she's got it now! The first day she went around saying, "mama! L!!!" all evening! it was so cute! So now she's much better at saying her name, says it like Ella, stead of Eya
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I meant to post a blog a while back, when I tried to upload some video we took (still having trouble with that, not sure why) but it was of her doing all her letters by sight... she's been doing this for well over a month, but I dunno if i ever blogged it? We've also been working on colors and numbers... she's getting a few of each... (funny she memorized 26 letters in about 2 weeks, but cant get 10 numbers, or more than 3 colors, hehe)... she knows orange & purple, sometimes pink or blue, thats about it... and numbers, at first she knew 9, but called every number 9, now she's got 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, I think? So cant fully count to ten yet... oh and she NEVER says one, she always starts with two... and so she never says how old she is when we ask... she'll hold up one finger, but never say one.... so there have been a few times when she asked for a certain snack we were having & we would just ONE ok? She would say ok, take it, and be on her way.... then one day she found a bag of reeces pieces & brought them to me and said "One?" lol! would never say that word before, then sure enough uses it when she wants sweets, hehe, sigh*
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She also loves puzzles lately, and since we do them so often, she's getting better that them. She has been good at jumping with two feet for well over a month now.... and she even will jump off things (like her daddy's back while he's laying on the floor) onto the floor & not fall! Good balance girl! And she LOVES jumping on beds n stuff! And her dancing usually includes jumping, as does her showing off for anyone, at any time, hehe
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(oh my goodness I'm only about half done with this! I hope you'll keep reading! I'll try to give little detail...)
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One'a her new things is climbing onto the window sill, then onto the back of the couch, then dive onto the couch & over & over again... lil monkey! She loves to throw things away, but luckily its nly things she's SUPPOSED TO throw away, like after she uses a tissue, she says garbage & off she goes, its kinda nice.
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One'a her toys is this bag of mini potato heads, she loves putting hats & shoes on em & lining them up, its so cute how she says it... (we say tay-ta heads) she says it like "tay-dead" cute!
She loves to brush her teeth & asks to all the time. Cant complain about that!... we have also started to pray every night before bed, we have her put her hands together & she repeats after us, usually goes something like "thank you Jesus for mommy, daddy, Ahna, Papa, Grandad & Mamaw. I love you, you're so good, night night, Amen" ... and now thats she's learned to pray, we have her join us in prayer at the dinner table when we pray, and a few times, right as we sit down, before we eat, she'll remind us... "Pray" she says, with her little hands together all ready to go! And she LOVES saying Aaaamen!
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She's got this new Einstein video with more signs on it, one day its on, they were saying & signing the word table (by the way, i've sort of stopped teaching her signs cuz she talks now...) ... and she turns to me & clear as day says Table & did the sign perfectly! she's learning all by herself, without my help! it was awesome! And since, she's done a few more from that video, jus picks it up so fast now! :)
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(awww she just got a tissue & wiped Strawberry Shortcake's nose! how nice!)
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Another thing she would never do was SAY thank you, she would always sign it & never even attempt to say it, then one day it jus came out! And she she uses it appropriately all the time, and its so cute! Using her little manners! Thaaaank yooou! I LOVE IT!
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We're still trying on the potty (we've had it for like5 months, but jus been inconsistent with teaching her)... so lil over a week ago I made a potty chart, so now she gets star stickers for trying, and I always tell her if she goes she gets a stamp AND stickers AND sparkles (which is sparkle nail polish that she loves) AND a big-girl diaper (I bought pull ups to try to help with the process, gonna try to use them as a reward... let her wear one once to see what she thought)... so still hasnt gone yet, since a few times a Long time ago... but we're pluggin away at it.
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We have taught her to say scuse me when she burps or toots & she not only does it, but also says it when someone else burps or toots.... or sneezes, or coughs, or hiccups, hehe... oh and also if someone is in her way, we told her to say scuse me & she does, its so cute & so polite, i love it!
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Once she wanted to drink from her dad's cup at dinner (it was water) so we let her, and she did really well! So once in a while we'll let her use a real cup, as long as its water & as long as the cup isnt glass & she does good with it! Big girl!
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The other day she went to the closet & put on her coat & said "Go" ... it was so cute, but broke my heart a lil, cuz we had no plans to go anywhere, and its not like the weather is cooperative enough that we can jus pick up and go outside or something, I cant wait til spring!
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Sometimes she'll come into a room, bend down, & put her little hands on her knees and just look at us... we have no clue why, but its so cute! oh and she & Papa do this pointing at each other thing, where make this really serious face, as though they're mad at each other & point with angry eyes.... then they both laugh, its hilarious! She has such a sense of humor! And now she does it with all of us, especially when we're all together, its this circle of angry pointing & then we call crack up... Fun!
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And I love how kids minds work... hiding is fun & so is peek a boo, but I sometimes she just covers her eyes with her hands & we pretend she's missing & call for her... I just love how she thinks we cant see her cuz she cant see us! Like once she hid in the boot closet from my parents & they made this big game out of it... Oh and last week!.. Crazy!.. If she's ever quiet for a minute or two, I go looking for her cuz she's usually doing something she shoulndnt be, so this happened & I go to look for her, and before I knew it, I had looked in every single room... so I was a lil confused & didnt panic, cuz its our house, she cant be missing... so I look again, and twice now, had been to every room... now just getting confused, but very curious... once I had gone through the whole house a third time, I started to worry just a little & picked up my pace a lil, then began to call her... no answer... (so then little worries start to enter my mind, of course)... then I've been through the house a 4th & a 5th time, and once or twice I hear her lil voice call me, but SO very faintly... I finally found her, she had gone into Ahna's closet & shut the door to where she couldnt get out, she wasnt scared or crying, but the funny thing is, when I opened the door, we both had concern in our eyes, but the reason she was hiding in there is cuz she had gotten some muffin out of the garbage & was eating it (i know, gross) but her mouth was so full of it, I dont think she could swallow it, and she also couldnt call me loudly... so I laughed on the inside, but explained how hiding isnt good... and when I told her no more, she looked at me, mouth stuffed, concern in her eyes & shook her head no... it was cute, and good lesson learned.
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Diella knows all her letters, but had never really tried to sing the alphabet, then yesterday she kept singing, over & over, (in the first 3 notes of the alphabet song) "A-B-B" ! Aw!
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Ok, and last thing... we finally got her off the binky... she has had it ONLY for nap & bedtime since like her first birthday, but I was ready for her to be done all the way... I had my methods of how I was gonna do it, and this blog is long enough, so I wong go into all that, but it worked, and it wasnt so bad, and it didnt take Too long, and all is well now :) oh and since binky is gone, she has attatched even more to her blanket, she drags it EVERYwhere! Linus! (but I dont let it leave the house, tho)
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Whenever Diella tries to do something, and fails, but comes close, she goes "Almote" (almost).. its probly my fave thing she says right now :) hehe
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Thank you for hangin in there & reading it all! :)

Saturday, January 17, 2009


Daddy took some pix of us! Diella is no doubt gonna be a great big sister!



















Friday, January 9, 2009

SNOW again











I believe Erie has hit a record... I dunno what that is really, but we woke up to TONS of snow from overnight, and it it now about 4 pm and it has not stopped coming down all day long, no joke. Diella and I went out in it to play today. Took us half hour just to get all bundled up! Aunt Mia asked if we did snow angels. I told her that we couldnt, if we laid down, we would disappear, literally. We were out for a while, I'm already to go in, but Diella's not, so I stuck it out a bit longer. Her cheeks were getting pretty red & her nose started to run, so I hadta draw the line & bring her in... she cried so hard when we came in.... and then when I was taking off her snowshuit, I have never seen her more mad! She was staring me right in the face, yelling NO! She wanted to be outside so bad! We had fun tho! :) I mean, she could hardly move, so she mostly just ate snow off her mittens :) but I guess there's no other way to make the best of this yukky snow than to go out & try to enjoy it, right?

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Christmas & New Years

Yeah.... there was a chocolate fountain.... Mmmm


Can you even believe this is the second Christmas & New Years for our little one!!?? And such a great holiday it was, too! She got lots of fun things from everyone... clothes, puzzles, games, toys, books, movies. My favorite thing to give her was the new big girl bedding! We took off the bumper pads, got this great pink & brown design comforter & pillow sham, and it just makes her seem like more of a big girl, not to mention how adorable it looks in her room! I dont think I've blogged yet how obsessed she is with Elmo. She wants to watch him everyday and doesnt blink for the whole hour its on... and Ahna got her a lil stuffed Elmo, she loves him!

The piano in these pix wasnt a Christmas gift, but its from Grandad R. and its been in VA all this time, so we finally brought it up with us since this last visit (when we went there for his wedding... quick story from that...) ... there was organ music playing as the wedding party filed in, and when the song had finished, transitioning into a different song played by the violinists for the bride to come, the song finished & the room was hushed and above any other sound, everyone in the room hears this loud little voice say "Yaaaay!!!" she was cheering for the song that had just finished... and of course every person in the room chuckled, and Jake & I were up front, trying to stop oursevles from giggling even more.... So funny!


So Christmas was great. We did the morning thing here & then the Stickels joined us, then went to Gramma O's as usual, then back here for the Heinrich side, where we ate & ate & played rock band. Diella always has fun with a houseful of people, so we enjoyed every minute!


New Years was similar, that was also held here & with the Heinrich side, and also included lots of food and some more Rock Band! I knew Diella wouldnt last til midnight, and I was right. I think she hit the hay around 10 and luckily never woke up again after that! :) So like I said, great holiday all around! (except that we missed Aunt Mia, Uncle Matt, & Aria)


She has officially gone to one nap, the transition took about a week, but its all back to normal again. She's on schedule and loves to nap, still goes down without a fuss (now that shes used to the change). She wakes around 8:30 every morning, has breakfast, then lunch at noon, and back dowen for a nap at 12:30. She'll sleep til about 3:45ish, then down for bed at 9. So the new schedule is set & things are going well..... Buuuuuut.... we've got our next obstacle coming up in a few days... I'm determined to get her off the binky for good... since she turned 1, she's only been allowed to have it for nap & bedtime, and i've been taking little steps since then, like she cant have it in the car at all cuz she can fall asleep without it when shes in the car, and I used to give it to her about a half hour before bed so she knew that it was time to get tired & go down soon, and then I switched it to she can ONLY have it in her crib & as soon as nap is over, then binky comes out... then for a while, I would sneak into her room at night, after she was asleep about an hour & take the binky & put it away, so if she woke up, she'd get used to it not being there.... all these things have worked so far, but here's our plan to get rid of it completely... (and i've heard from many cases that it generally only takes about 2 bad nights without it, then they get used to it, so we're Praying Hard for that! Pray with us!)... when my mom was getting rid of Alethea's at this age, she had her throw them away.... and for instance if I'm sharing a bowl of ice cream with Diella & she's SEES that its gone, she's good at not asking for more cuz she can See That Its All Gone.. so i figure if i do the same, have HER throw them in the garbage (of course in a clean bag, so i can later get them & jus hide em for next baby)... and then tell her that they're all gone, hopefully this will work! And yes of course she wont like it at first, but hopefully she'll get used to it fast, in the name of Jesus!


Oh and one more thing... for the last few weeks, Diella is officially jumping! Like two feet come off the ground! She does it all the time & loves to jump! Its so cute!