Christmas Angel MMXII

Carrying on a tradition that we started when Lola was born, here's this years version of our Christmas angel.  Feel free to print it out and make it your tree topper too!

She will not let us do this when she's 15 so we need to take advantage now

pffffbbbt!!

Lola is three years old this Christmas. She's very full of herself  and wants to do everything on her own. Lately, as she is still potty training, she's been wearing Dora the Explorer big girl underwear over her pull-ups, jumping everywhere, talking up a storm, and she no longer wants things, she neeeeeds them.  Her latest favorite thing is punctuating her sentences with loud pfffbbbts and having dueling pfffbbts matches with her daddy. Here she is in action, on our trip home with the Christmas tree.

Class picture

It's very nice to have a class picture day where everyone gets dressed up and someone besides us is taking a picture of Lola with a real camera, not their phone!

Lola at 2 1/2 years old

First time using the potty

Lately, many of the toddlers at daycare are getting potty trained and all the kids are given an opportunity to sit and give it a try around changing time.  So we decided to put her potty in her bedroom and offer her a chance to sit when we change her diaper, emulating the  daycare center. She'd occasionally sit on it fully clothed, or more often, sit one of her dolls on it to give it a try. 

Yesterday, without any prompting, Lola asked if she could sit on the potty. We took off pants and diaper and she sat down and just smiled at me as we passed the time.  I asked her if she was pooping and made the intense face she gets while pooping, she emulated me, grunted a bit and we were both surprised to hear the sound of pee hitting the bowl!  Afterwards we both took a good look at her handiwork and had a congratulatory ice pop to celebrate.  Yay for milestones!!!

Stickers!

Lola has a new found love of stickers, at this point she likes to peel them off and stick them one on top of another.  After putting a bunch on a sheet of paper she discovered that stickers do in fact stick to skin...

That "new" carseat smell

It seems so long ago when we first brought Lola home in our Graco carseat; she was so small she looked lost amid the belts and buckles.

Now she is a towering 31 inches tall and has been sorely lacking for legroom. Thankfully, my brother and sister-in-law gave us their two, long retired, Britax carseats from when their daughter, Alissa was younger. So today, at just about two and a half, Lola got to stretch her legs again and enjoy her first ride facing forward!

first class - more legroom!

Mary and Lola

Recently, Lola finished up almost a year of physical therapy here at home. Our wonderful physical therapist, Mary, specializes in helping infants and toddlers overcome problems in their physical development. In our case Lola has a condition called hypotonia, which means low muscle tone, and because of that, she experienced delayed gross motor skills, including rolling over, sitting up, and walking.

Lola, Mary, and Maggie sharing cake after Mary's last visit.

Physical therapy helped Lola understand how to approach standing, walking, and balancing and gave us the tools to practice with her during the week between sessions. We still don't know the underlying cause of Lola's hypotonia but with lots of work she is now running around, climbing stairs, and, instead of sitting on the sidelines in day care, she's able to keep up with the crowd at playtime.

We are so very thankful to Mary for all of her help and Lola still asks about her. We hope she'll visit with us again sometime soon.

God rest Ye Merry Fanta...

Fanta in full vigor

The last of the "Original Three", Fanta the feral kitty, shed his 9th mortal coil during the over night of December 23rd.  He was a big, robust ginger tom who I'd grown especially fond of because of his last member status.  Like his wild mates before him, he was a regular visitor and sometimes resident of our deck over the past three years. He, like his buddies, didn't hold a grudge after being trapped and neutered and still came back for the chow and sunny napping spots. I greatly enjoyed his company in the early mornings whilst sipping my morning joe and taking in the wildlife sightings of the backyard.

I don't know for certain how his demise came about, but he had been injured in some sort of fight last month and never seemed to completely bounce back from it. I am glad I was able to locate his last hiding spot in order to finally give him a few pats and a good burial after he passed.

Not the last, but certainly one of the more loved.

Hubert in a favorite spot

Flash in the same planter