December 2009

I missed a couple of months so let me try to play some catch up and call out some of the highlights...that I can still remember. There are daily highlights, of course, some of which are now lost in the inner recesses of my mind, but I'll do the best I can!

December was a blur of holidays, parties, and travels. You liked hosting our Hanukkah party and enjoyed lighting the candles, though we missed more days than we celebrated!

When you went Christmas tree shopping, you were as decisive as ever; while I can agonize over the "perfect" tree for hours, you immediately went up to 1 tree, gave it a hug, and said: "let's get this one." I waffled a bit, had you look at a few more, but finally went with one of your choices (a second tree you agreed was good). We sorted through the ornaments together making two piles: 1 for those that could go on the tree and 1 for those that you wanted to play with so we needed to keep them off the tree. You were so gentle with the ornaments, reminding me again how lucky we are to have such a respectful and thoughtful daughter.

You really enjoyed Christmas in Dallas: as always, you loved spending time with Grandma Linda and Papa and you also loved your time with your cousin Elyse. This year you were more engaged with her (as opposed to last year when you mostly stared at her in awe repeating the question: "What is Elyse doing?") and you girls had so much fun playing in the snow, jumping on the trampoline, hiding in her castle. Later, in January, you commented how nice it would be to have a big sister and then noted: "But Elyse is kind of like a big sister."

NYE in Tahoe was great! You and Kate played so nicely together. And you were so brave in the snow! I wasn't sure if you were going to be interested in sledding, but you jumped right on and had a blast. When we had a bit of a wipe-out we both just giggled and giggled and you never got upset. You also loved playing with the snowmen that someone else had kindly taken the trouble of building! You kept hugging the snowmen and wanting to find some eyes and arms for it. Perhaps your favorite part about playing in the snow was eating it...handful after handful! And then, for dessert, you sucked on a big icicle popsicle that we pulled from the eaves of the McPhail's house!

Though you stayed up too late, you never got grumpy. When I told you, in desperation, multiple times in the night that you needed to go to sleep, you didn't argue. You'd just grab on to my ear gently and say: "Okay, mommy." While you're more often than not completely agreeable and reasonable, I'm still always greatful when a potential fight or tantrum is averted!