Blink And You'll Miss It

The holidays are roaring past at an unbelievable rate. The blog has obviously once again been a casualty of the breakneck pace we seem to be moving from one day to the next. November passed so quickly I hardly remember it. The one big event of course being Thanksgiving. This year we had a relatively small and "low key" gathering at Bunny and Grumpa's house. The food, as always is the case with Nicole and her mother, was exemplary.

Shortly thereafter, we got our Christmas tree. As with previous years, this is a pretty big deal. The place we normally purchase our tree from is a farm. They have a number of horses, ponies, and goats that Zoe enjoys talking to. ("Mooo!" "No, sweetie, thats a goat.") They also have free pony rides for the kids while the parents pick out and pay for the tree. Ornaments are a big deal this year for both girls and are seldom on the tree for very long. This is especially true of some plush ornaments we have of Winnie The Pooh and Cookie Monster. The tree presses up against our front window seat to create a small nook, where Haley can be found frequently during the day.

One final event of note is Haley's recent trip to go see Disney On Ice - an early Christmas gift from Bunny. Haley got all dressed up in her nicest party dress to see the show, which for the uninitiated is a ice skating exposition based on all of Disney's trademark princess characters. I think the only way to truly describe her reaction is "enchanted". She and Bunny had a great time.

Zoe continues to grow her vocabulary and communication skills. She has gotten much better at illustrating what she wants. For example, the other day she got my attention and started banging on the pantry. When I opened the door for her, she grabbed an applesauce and handed it to me. Then she toddled over to her high-chair and indicated that she wanted in. She is also using more words. My personal favorites at the moment are "anana" (banana) and "goonai moo" (Goodnight Moon). She also is trying to nod and shake her head for "yes" and "no". Her head nod is particularly amusing. She uses her whole body, which give her the look of a heavy-metal headbanger when she is answering you. Rock on, little one. Rock on.

For Haley's updates... Haley is just better experienced than described:

"Daddy, my four-year-old class is much bigger than my three-year-old class, so I have lots of boyfriends now."
"Oh look... Daddy just got another grey hair."

(I'm trying to get Haley to say the word "quilt".)
"Can you think of a Q word for a kind of blanket?"
"Hmmm.... Is it... Quanket?"

"Zoe, you have baby toothpaste. I have big girl toothpaste. It has Florida in it to clean my teeth. Daddy says I shouldn't swallow it because of all the Florida in it."
(I think she means "fluoride".)