My reason to smile today

Tonight I met a friend for dinner and I had Maizie with me. We were seated beside an elder couple. Maizie woke up shortly after we were seated and sat on the table smiling and looking around before she wanted to be fed. Once she was done I sat her on my lap and I ate my dinner. As the elder couple were leaving the restaurant the lady stopped by our table. She asked what my childs name was and then said "Well Maizie, I turned 72 today and you are just starting your life. Here is something for your future." and she gave me $2 and told me I had to put it towards her education. Well Ma'am, Happy Birthday! and I can assure you that money will go towards my daughters education and I will repay your thoughtfulness as well. I know that my baby made you smile today but you made me smile as well.

Christmas Day

Mmm, mimosas for breakfast!

"Papaya!"

Fancy glass

Maizie with her new things

A train and some big beads from Santa, a book from us, and a doll from Sofia

Sofias new craft center

The tree after Santa had come

I came downstairs first to set up the computer with my Dad on skype and to video tape Sofia coming down the stairs. Sadly, my camera and I managed to screw up and there is no video. So in order to preserve the memory here's what happened. Sofia came downstairs and ran to the computer to talk to my Dad. When we prompted her with "Did Santa come" she walked right passed the presents and over to inspect the cookie dish. She bent over and picked each one up in turn and looked inside. When I asked "Did Santa eat his cookies and drink his milk" She said "No Mumma not milk, hot chocolate!" (or rather hawt cockyate) Then Grant had to prompt her to look at the tree and the presents that were waiting for her. She immediately recognized the portable DVD player for what it was and picked it up and ran to our computer to show it off to my Dad. Then she sat and played with all her new craft supplies.

The DVD player has been renamed "my 'puter" and she pretends to type on it like she sees us do on our laptop.

She didn't really understand the whole Santa thing and that is ok by me. Next year she will for sure. She really liked opening the presents and since she got to open Maizies this year there were tons for her to open. Next year will be a bit tricky because Maizie will want to open her own!

I love Christmas and this year was great. Lots of fun memories!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve like always was spent with Grants family. It's so nice to get the whole crazy family together, this year was special because Uncle Andrew was able to join us for the whole evening for the first time.

Maizie, Auntie Tracy, Sofia, and Uncle Andrew

Beckett, Ethan, and Sofia

This was the first dinner at my inlaws with a kids table. Becks was not impressed, he kept coming over to the adult table and asking to sit on peoples laps. I think he thought he was missing out. Dinner has become a bit of an international feast. Grants Grandmother (Mormor) sends sausages and ribs from Norway and I have made Atakilt Wat the last two years.

Santas blue cookies and chocolate milk.

Sofia got lots of cool toys but this one got opened right away. She has carried with her the last few days and the words " Maybe I take a picture" have been heard over and over. We went for a walk on Christmas Day night and she took pictures of the Christmas lights in the neighbourhood. I've still got to download the pictures from her camera, I can't wait to see them!

Unique

That's my girl! She's one of a kind. The older she gets the more of her personality shows. The more freedom we are able to give her the more she shines. It's a rough balancing act raising a strong minded child. I want to nurture her so she feels comfortable expressing herself but I can only do that when she is willing to follow the rules. Sofia isn't a great sleeper and when she's tired she demands a lot of attention. However the last couple of nights she has slept through the night and we have had AMAZING days! She is so funny! She has been listening to me and using her words to express her opinions really well. She seems to understand concepts that I think she be way beyond her years. I have to remind myself a few times a day that I am the mother of a 2.5 year old.

Every time I asked Sofia what kind of cookies Santa likes her answer was "blue". So tonight she and Grant made blue sugar cookies. Earlier this afternoon Sofia helped me layer the lasagna that is our Christmas dinner this year. Grant came into the kitchen while we were building the lasagna and I said to him, "I'm smiling because my daughter is helping me make Christmas dinner." There were times that I never thought that would happen.

Thank you Bean for filling my heart with laughter and love today. I know that I tell you this everyday but thank you for being my daughter.

Walking

We spend a lot of time outside going for walks. We walk to the store, at the park or lake, and somedays we just practice our silly walks up & down our street! With a toddler and a dog walking is a great way to pass the time.

Sofia giving Cat a shoulder ride.

On Sundays we try to get out for a family walk at the lake or the ocean. This Sunday we woke up to a centimetre or two of snow so we went for a walk at the lake.

Sofia and Cat walking at the park on the way to the jungle gym.

Miss Maizie snug as a bug!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Sofia had a lot of fun decorating the tree this year.

Randoms

Maizie loves this lion. If she is awake while we are eating then she is in this chair. She talks, smiles, giggles and bats at the lion. I took this picture this morning after breakfast... Looks like the lion wore her out.
As Maizie is getting bigger I am allowing Sofia to hold her with a bit more independance. This is the latest position that we've found works.
The thing I've enjoyed most about Sofia not being in daycare anymore is Pajama Time! Most days our goal is just to get out to a park for a dogwalk and play time so we can take our time getting ready.
This picture is for Uncle Ben. Moka House in Cook St. Village. Sofia and I went for coffee last week after an appointment that we had downtown. Sofia said to me "It's nice Mumma. I like watching the cars" Sofia loves to go for coffee and we've been checking out different coffee shops around town.
11 weeks old and Maizie has started grabbing her toys. For the last few weeks she's been batting at them but in the last couple of days her hand has been opening up and her fingers closing around them. She is a marvel to us. (Especially since we haven't done any reading on infant development so we have no idea when to expect new things from her.) She has good head control and likes to "stand up". If she is standing she likes to bend and extend her legs. We can't wait to put her in the jolly jumper! She is going to be a jumping machine. She is very vocal and has many sounds. I've been playing a game with her where I repeat her sound and she smiles and giggles in response. I like to mimic her facial movements too, again she responds with smiles and giggles so it must be a good game. A couple of times she's copied me (but that's probably just a coincidence).

After 2 weeks of having both girls home with me I am more in love with them than ever. Sofia and I have had some power struggles but I am sure to never enter in to a battle with her that I can't win. I try my best to set her up for success, it's a bit exhausting always trying to be a step ahead but I find it a really effective way to parent her. We are sorting ourselves out quickly and falling into a very pleasant routine.

Craft Time!

We started out yesterday with a walk at the lake to pick up some supplies to make a Christmas craft with.

Starting craft time with a hot chocolate and some goldfish crackers.

Learning about gluing.

The finished product!

I usually try to let Sofia do the craft with no help from me, I will admit I had a hand in this one. I did however let Sofia take the reigns and she chose where everything went and put most of it on herself. This was the first project that we have used glue with and it was pretty interesting watching her learn.

YEAH DECEMBER!

I am so excited for Christmas this year. Sofia is so excited and is loving all things Christmas! She and I have been doing crafts and I'm trying to teach her Christmas carols. Yesterday we went to her Auntie Tracys to decorated her Christmas tree and bake cookies. It was a wonderful morning and I hope it will become a tradition. Tracy has a artificial tree so she puts it up early, we get a real tree and it doesn't go up until right before Christmas. For me it was a great way to start our season of celebration! Sofia has been giving away some of her crafts and she is so proud of them. Everytime she makes one she tells me who she wants to give it to. She is very thoughtful and has surprised me with some of the names she's said!

Well both girls are sleeping (very rare during the day) and so I'm going to go get a jumpstart on dinner. When Grant gets home from work we are going to put up the Christmas lights! Yeah!