Dancing

Callie has always had a fascination with music and dancing.  Tonight we were watching Sesame Street and Zoe had on a leotard and tutu.  Callie had to put on her "dancing outfit" to be like Zoe as she watched.  And was totally glued to the TV.

First "Hand Painting"

The other weekend at the aquarium, high school volunteers were painting faces to raise money for programs.  Callie looked very curious, so we took her over to watch and she decided she wanted a penguin on her hand.  She sat perfectly still the whole time, and kept looking at her penguin all day.

And she chose to wear the "fancy dress" that day.

How we are spending our snow days

Since Callie doersn't want to go outside in the snow, we are finding many ways to occupy ourselves inside.

 Enjoying the snowmen.  After Mike snuck out to make one, she asked me to go make another snowman.  She then cheered when I finished and clapped for me.

 Finding the joy of using a glue stick and it's serious work.

Showing Clifford all the snow, while telling him the bunny (that we have only seen once-about a month ago) is sleeping and the squirrel is sleeping.  Clifford has spend the rest of the day on the window sill "watching" the snow and being periodically being checked on.

Drinking her coffee.  When I asked her what she wanted to drink with breakfast, she said "Mama's coffee."  So she has decaf coffee and milk and loves it. 

She curled up in Grandma and Grandpa's bed, and asked Dad to go get her a book.

A Visit with the Cousins

Joshiah and Julien were here to visit last week and Callie enjoyed playing with them.

Playing with Play Doh.

Such a cutie!

 

A all three playing together.

Callie loves her Daddy

This was the look on her face when she realized Daddy was home from work.

Bath Time Fun

 Our little cheese.

 Washing her cheeks.

Aren't I cute?

 Getting ready to wash her mouth.

This doesn't taste good.

Snow? Or no snow?

It's snowing!  And snowing!  Callie still loves to watch the snow falling, and she has placed all the stools in front of windows so she can look out and see the snow.  Going out in the snow is however, a completely different story.  When we first asked her if she wanted to make a snowman and she strongly responded "NO make a snowman!"  And same for sledding.  She brought me her snow boots and asked to put them on until I told her those were her snow boots to play in the snow, and she immediately put them back in her room. The next day we got all dressed up to go out in the snow, and she froze in the doorway and did not want to go any farther.  And she did not want me to go out either.  So this is as far as we made it.

 

Then we tried again with Papa, and made it a little farther.

Sleeping part two

 Tonight Callie didn't want to put the last book we read away.  And she climbed down to grab another one.  She was fine with us not reading it, but wanted to take them to bed with her.  And this is how she fell asleep.  As soon as we leave her room, it is dark, and she knows she can't read them, but she still wanted them for comfort.  Love her love of books. 

Sleeping

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas.  We are so fortunate to have so many family and friends to share the holidays and our lives with.  Callie was great through all the excitement as well.  We had 3 packed days, and Callie just went with it.  Callie's favorite part was was watching the snow fall on Christmas day.  She spent about 15 minutes outside saying "Look at the snow falling!"  She even pointed it out to the dogs, "Doggy, look at the snow falling!"  I don't know that Pepper appreciated it as much as Callie.  After she came back inside, she continued to stare out the window at the snow. 

Playing with the new kitchen.

Yes, she really is that excited about the doll.

Opening the keyboard from Grandma and Grandpa.

Enjoying her new tunnel.

The Nutcracker

 After much debate about if she was too young, we decided to take Callie to The Nutcracker this year.  She LOVED it.  She didn't move for about the first 20 minutes.  When the mouse came out, she yelled "Monster ROAR!"  This was our first clue that she was reaching the end of her time to sit there.  A few minutes later, she looks me in the eye, says "Mama I love you," looks at Mike and says "Daddy, I love you," then looks around at all the people and yells "People, I love you!"  That was when we decided to take her out into the lobby for a walk.  And that is when we found out they have a "quiet" room where Callie could be loud, and no one could hear us.  We watched most of the show from there.  During intermission, Callie was spinning and dancing.  We had to leave during the last act, but it was well worth it.  I think this may become a tradition for us. 

 

This was as we were leaving.  Can you tell you she is a little squirmy!

Gingerbread Cookies

This year Callie helped make the traditional Christmas Tree Star that we always take to Drenda and Lonnie's Christmas party.  It was serious business that required intense concentration.

Learning about "closed" and "tangles"

Today we were going to take Callie to the YMCA to go swimming.  Little did we realize that it is a holiday and they would be closed.  As we pulled into the parking lot, she claps and yells "Swimming!"  We quickly respond, we can't go swimming, they are closed.  And then we hear a quiet, questioning "Play?" meaning go play in the child care area.  As we are leaving and attempting to explain to her that they are closed, she starts sobbing.  Really sobbing.  Crocodile tears streaming down her face.  Mike and I felt horrible.  We tried bribing her with hot chocolate.  No change.  Then Mike had the brilliant idea to go back, get out of the car and look in the window to see that no one was there.  That saved the day.  We left the YMCA with smiles, Callie saying "No one's there!" and on our way to get hot chocolate.

And tonight while getting ready for bed, Mike started to brush Callie's hair.  She immediately said "No Daddy" to which Mike replied "Yes, we need to get the tangles out of your hair."  Callie stopped, cocked her head sideways, stared at him and said "Rectangles out of my hair?"  She was really confused as to how there could be rectangles in her hair!