Memorable Moments from Today

I caught Libby coloring on the walls. As soon as I said, "Libby!" she nearly jumped out of her skin and started running down the hall. I think that's a clear sign she knew what she was doing was wrong. And that is why I only have washable crayons in the house.

Libby pulled the D off my keyboard. Which is making this very hard to type.

The nurturing spirit she is, Libby has taken to feeding snacks to her baby doll. Today, she took it a step further to include 2 dimensional characters and offered a pacifier to a boy in her favorite book, I Took the Moon for a Walk.

As I was putting Libby to bed and she had fallen asleep in my arms, I heard her laugh in her sleep. It was awesome.

Cauliflower vs. Candy

For lunch on Saturday, Libby and I ate steamed cauliflower with crumbled baked kale chips dusted on top. (Can you tell we're trying to get our cruciferous vegetables in?) When she was finished, she reached up for Jared to get her out of the high chair and promptly lunged for the Smarties (leftover from Halloween) on the counter. Jared, slightly disgusted by the lunch Libby and I were eating, said "how can she go from eating cauliflower to Smarties?" "Easy," I said, "she's a product of me and you." 

And that pretty explains the difference in mine and Jared's eating habits.

Christmas and other celebrations

We had a nice, quiet Christmas at home this year. It was casual and small (we bought food storage in place of Christmas presents, so there wasn't much to open), but just right for our family.

Our best attempt at a family Christmas photo

Seeing her new doll from Aunt Rachel for the first time

Apparently excited to go to church on Christmas Day

Finally, a sunny day in Illinois! I love Christmas!

After such a laid back week, we were sort of itching to go do something, so we took a last-minute trip to Wisconsin Dells, WI, which claims to be the waterpark capital of the country. We stayed at a resort with its own indoor waterpark and indoor theme park. They also have a huge outdoor waterpark and a few big roller coasters. We'll have to make it back in the summer to check those out. The indoor activities were fun, but mostly geared toward kids. There were some things Libby loved (jungle gym/fortress thing with tons of foam balls), some she didn't love (bumper cars and go karts), and a couple Jared and I liked (tube slides and body slides).

The ball pit/jungle gym fortress in Wisconsin Dells

On the trolley ride

First time in bumper cars...and not liking it so much

*P.S. - Blogger refuses to post my vertical pictures vertically. Even though they're rotated correctly on my computer AND in the Picasa album associated with my blog. It's driving me crazy. Anyone know the secret to fix this?

16 months

Libby has been the queen of imitation this past month and it rocks my world. She is also growing in her ability to climb nearly anything. We've found her perched precariously on top of the kitchen table more than once this past month. She still loves the computer and if we leave the chair too close to the desk, she will certainly climb up and start pulling keys off the laptop. Her favorites are Ctrl and the Windows key. It's a gamble whether those keys work now or not. She also irreparably pulled the Enter key off Jared's laptop, which is...a problem.

She tries so hard to imitate our sounds and words and she is learning quickly. In addition to her previously learned words (mom, dad, dog, ball, hi, and bye-bye) she can now say "all gone." She regularly signs "more" and "finished" (which we also use for "all gone"), and can sign "please," "thank you," "bath, "candy," and "book" with prompting. She can make superb noises with her tongue and is a champion spit bubble maker. We're so proud.

Helping Jared set up her  new crib

  

Playing with a baby doll at her playgroup

Modeling after her bath