Pea Soup and Playgrounds

A few days ago, Baby Girl took her new wagon to the park. Here's a minute or so of her tearing up the playground, going backward up the slide and rampaging across the little bridge on the jungle gym.

When Daddy was just a wee gremlin, brachiating from tree to tree in his Grandma and Papa's backyard, one of his favorite meals was split pea soup. It seems that Little Monster has inherited his taste for soup, because she loves the stuff! Today, Daddy made some split pea soup from the hambone left over from Christmas dinner and it was all Tickle Bug could do to wait for the noodles to boil.

Christmas Monsters

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, Joddie and her mother came over and the dinner was great. Little Monster had glazed ham, horseradish mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pearl onions, sweet potatoes, and salad. Her favorite part of dinner was the croutons, and of course a little bit of the ice cream that came with apple cobbler.

Sweet Girl had a lovely Christmas in her new house, getting up early to open presents and then having a fine Christmas breakfast as prepared by Mama. Let me tell you, this Little Monster made quite the haul this year! Sweet Goblin seemed to be on everyone's mind, and for that Mama and Daddy thank their wonderful families and friends for making it a happy yuletide despite not being able to spend it in Texas like they did last year. Perhaps next year will see everyone back in Texas....

Christmas morning began with presents, which Madeleine opened from the "cargo bay" of the wagon Grandpa Roger and Grandma BJ gave her. She was instantly enthralled with it, and asks for rides in her "wagga" by name. Other popular gifts were the overalls and baby doll Grandma Raye sent her, the angel ornament with her name on it sent by Uncle Cameron and Aunt Anne, the karaoke microphone stand sent by Uncle Reade and Aunt Jamie, and the telephone (with a recorded message!) sent by Papa Den and Nona. She also spent some of the morning chasing around her early Christmas gift, Gigi the cat. Daddy has about ten minutes of raw video footage of Sweet Girl opening presents, which he'll get uploaded once he gets it edited down to something presentable.

After opening gifts, Baby Girl took a ride down the street in her fancy wagon, where she waved at the neighbors and met a little boy who was riding his bigwheel with his parents. It was a very comfortable ride, spent reading a book from Grandma Raye and sipping on refreshing juice. As you can see from her picture, she was very proud of her wagon and enjoying the ride immensely.

Today while Mama was at work, Daddy took her for another wagon ride down a different street, which was a little more hilly. When you're Daddy, you just have to put your back into it and pull the wagon, but when you're a charming little Tickle Bug, you can just relax in your wagon like you're Cleopatra on a litter and watch the scenery go by.

A Tickle Bug Christmas Eve

Kisses for Mama.
Upstaging the tree!

Sunday Playtime

It's a great day today -- the sky is blue, the air is crisp, and Cowboys won last night. While Mama was at work, Daddy and Sweet Girl went out to play in the backyard. While the video is full of classic Tickle Bug (lots of grunting), it really comes into its own about the two-minute mark, where Madeleine hears the train nearby and the barking dogs. She punctuates her excitement with some "Woof! Woof!" of her own. The whole thing rounds out with a wee tumble, after which, Little Monster remarks, "Ew! Ew! Ew!" in response to getting a handful of dirt.

Quick Update: A Few Party Pics

The Days of Totoro and Roses

If there's one thing Baby Girl likes about this December, it's holiday jammies and Christmas tree lights. Each morning she enjoys breakfast with Mama (and Daddy, since he's on vacation) in the glow of the living room tree. She has a few gifts stashed under that tree, but for the most part, she's been very good about not trying to sneak a peek before the big day.

Little Monster is also learning words at an amazing rate. She can ask for her juice, request her favorite movie by name, recognize doggies and kitties and bunnies on sight, and even demand more sausages if you're slow about forking them over. On bath night, she asks for "bubble." She knows where to take her trash, when to stand back from being too close to the television, and where to put the laundry. She's certainly come a long way from being the utterly dependent critter who found solace in the pink burrito at night!

Today, Tickle Bug has a party with some of her friends at Daddy's office, which is sponsoring a kids' Christmas party. She also wore her new Christmas dress to take special pictures this morning. Ever the ham, she had some pretty ridiculous poses.

Last night, Sweet Girl spent some time scribbling on a pad of paper she found. It was pretty exciting to watch, because you could see her learning how things worked in addition to expressing herself by making them work her way. Such a creative girl, and so smart!

Holidays Happening

Now that Tickle Bug has a full-sized house, she needs a full-sized tree, so last night after dinner at Steinbecks, Mama and Daddy bought one. The previous tree was a miniature affair, but this one is the real deal, and after spending half an hour choosing the one she wanted, Sweet Goblin helped Mama decorate it with lights this morning. She makes a very excited "Ooh!" sound when she sees it, and Daddy and Mama expect there'll be a lot more Oohing and Aahing once all the presents are scattered around beneath it. Don't tell Little Monster, but they both have a very special present picked out for Sweet Girl this year.

The weekend was long and full, with Mama and Daddy having a party Saturday night and Joddie coming to dinner on Sunday. Sweet Girl stayed up late on both nights! On Saturday she watched Totoro three times until Daddy finally said no, which resulted in a little bit of fussing. But then Elena came to stay while Mama and Daddy went to the party, so Tickle Bug had the chance to help Elena with her homework. On Sunday, Mama had to work, so Baby Girl helped Daddy make stuffed cabbage while they watched football together. She likes to watch things boil on the burner, so it was a grand old time making the orzo to put in with the cabbage leaves. When Joddie came over, she brought Lucky Dog, and after her bath, Little Monster couldn't stop laughing when Lucky Dog chased Daddy around the living room.

Baby Girl is very enthusiastic about her baths now that Mama puts bubbles in them. In fact, tonight she specifically asked for bubbles -- even though tonight isn't bath night. This Sweet Girl sure gets attached to things.

Madeleine has also been collecting some great pajamas. Here she is in her nightshirt, but she also has some Christmas pajamas that Grandma Raye sent that she's worn two nights in a row. A few instances of Naked Baby have occurred at night, so blanket sleepers have to be augmented with a safety pin. Otherwise, when Mama or Daddy goes into Tickle Bug's room, they're greeted with a hurled blanket sleeper!