Sledding

Not as cold this day, and I forgot her hat and extra socks at home. :(
She absolutely had to bring this stick home with us.

We took Piper sledding on Monday and Tuesday. The first park we went to was Garfield Park. It had a good hill to start off with for her. She had a lot of fun, and fell off only once. She didn't even get upset when she got snow in her face. She went down the hill a couple of times by herself, but most of the time she was with Daddy. That night it snowed more, and I had the day off from work for a snow day. This time we went to Paul Ruster Park, after hunting for it for quite some time. It was a taller hill, and even had a small ramp that Erick and her tried out once. It was really cold the second day, and she was bundled up very warm. She never complained about being cold though and loved it every time. Poor Erick had to climb up the hill so many times. Me, I just froze at the bottom. It was enough of a workout to walk to the hill. We met an older couple who were sledding too. They had to be in their 60's, but they were trooping up and down the hill with all the kids. Very inspiring!

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Bouncing

Erick has been wanting to let her do this for a while. They have a station at the mall, and Piper has asked a few times to go as well. Grandma was nervous about her jumping, and was afraid she would get hurt. However, you can hear her in the background laughing hysterically the whole time. Piper had a ball, and thought it was so much fun. I couldn't believe how high she was jumping at times.

Scooter Girl

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I have been wanting to get Piper a scooter for quite a while now, but couldn't justify the price yet. Even at Christmas it seemed silly to spend the money on something that she really wouldn't use until summer...and who knew if she'd be able to do it yet anyway. I found one on clearance for only $11.00, and was very excited to get it so cheaply. Apparently Erick was too, because although I intended to save it for Easter or this summer, he decided to put it together while I was at work one day and give it to her. Piper loves it, and was able to ride it a little over the weekend. Now it's cold and snowy again outside, but she still does it all over the apartment. Hopefully by the time it's nice outside again I can get her a helmet too.

General Update for January

This is the quick update for the month. I wrote it at the beginning of the month, but never got around to posting it.

Age (in months, or years and months): 27 months

Physical abilities: has been going up and down stairs forever, but is now handling them with ease. I'm occasionally seeing alternating feet on stairs as well. Superb upper body strength. She amazed me by pulling herself up on her ball pit bars (shoulder height) and climbing to a sitting position.

Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc: talks non-stop. Is interested in calling people by their real names now instead of just grandpa or daddy.

Reading/pre-reading: Erick thinks she can read a few sight words, especially names of cartoons on t.v. I've witnessed it once where she told me the name of what was coming up next in the guide. but it may be a fluke, who knows.

Number stuff: no change. Thinks she can count and is good 1:1 and for quantities, but still can't rote count to 10 on her own. Will read the numbers in order in her books 1-12.

Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc:

Creativity: real drawings now. Likes to draw snakes and rainbows.

Imagination: pretend play is huge, dress up, using a towel to be a ghost, loves her baby dolls and pretend food. I know there's more I just can't think of the unusual things right now.

Social: better with other kids, no more hitting at least. She is very affectionate and wants to touch other kids a lot, but is extremely gregarious and overly physical so that it scares them sometimes. Needs to learn personal space and boundaries.

Character/personality: Extremely bossy this month with both adults and children. This was a hard month for all of us living with Erick's parents and moving twice. We are finally settled in our new place and routines are back in place. She did well with all the chaos and has adjusted well.

School Updates: n/a

2009 Year in Review

My baby grew up in 2009 and now she doesn't even seem to be so little any more. In fact she will tell you she's a person. Here is her year in review.

January
1. She learned to jump off the couch and how to scare me to death.
2. She enjoyed playing with her MegaBlocks
3. She could string one inch beads and buttons on a lacing string.
4. Nods her head correctly and consistently
5. Sorting by color and shape
6. Discovered t.v.

February
1. Identifies most pictures in books by name
2. Chips front tooth.
3. Develops dislike of all meat except chicken nuggets.
4. Can identify all body parts on self and many on a doll.

March
1. Begins drawing circles
2. Counts 1-2-3 on her fingers
3. Adept at using iPhone even better than some adults
4. Walks up stairs without holding on
5. Visits Monkey Joes for the first time
6. Stayed overnight for the first time at Grandma's house.

April
1. Opens doorknobs.
2. Climbs ladders
3. Doubled speaking vocabulary and says "please"
4. Requests books by title.
5. Rides her tricycle
6. Really into her artwork this month

May

1. jumps with both feet off ground

2. climbs the curved ladders at park

3. noticeable increase in vocabulary and sentence length

4. we went to Indy 500 Kid's Day on the Circle

June

1. estimated 500 words speaking vocabulary

2. really into creating art this month and choosing her own colors

3. fear of bees begins along with obsession with insects and rocks

4. weaned from nursing

July

1. learns to somersault

2. watched fireworks and is scared of the loud noise but fascinated by the display

3. visits my sister and family in PA. Goes to Dutch Wonderland, the Crayola Factory, and the

Philly Children's Museum

4. visits the Marion County Fair

5. eats/plays at Incredible Pizza for the first time

August
1. State Fair visit and holds a butterfly

2. another visit from my sister and Jaxin

3. Mommy went back to work

September

1. turns 2 and has her birthday party at Holiday Park

2. can slide down a fireman pole and pumps her legs on a regular swing

3. more abstract language, added colors, shapes, emotions, adjectives

4. starting to call herself by name

5. is a bully and aggressive to other kids, even bigger ones

October

1. goes to the pumpkin patch for the first time

2. goes trunk or treat & trick or treating as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz

3. perfects her frisbee throw

4. huge reading spurt and interest in books. Wants to be read to constantly

November

1. begining to recognize humor in stories and on t.v.

2. more empathetic towards others

3. Thanksgiving at the grandparents' house

December

1. living with grandparents and mom/dad altogether

2. moved into a new apartment

3. beginning of bossy behavior

4. huge leaps in imagination and pretend play

5. discovers Santa and singing

Holiday Pics

Here are Piper's pictures from this December we had taken.

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Christmas Day 2009

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Piper had a very Merry Christmas and received lots of toys and presents from her family. She loved her Princess dress up shoes and her new dolls. Santa brought her some new books and I must have read at least ten Dora stories tonight before she went to bed. No nap + a long day = an early bedtime of 7pm. Let's hope she stays there all night now. :)

Mommy and Daddy still have many more gifts to give her next week after we are unpacked. She has more than enough to play with now anyway. We still have to have Christmas with my family too. I think she is drowning in toys.

A Shy Visit with Santa

After waiting in line for at least 30 minutes, we finally got to see Santa Claus. Piper was so excited...until she actually was face to face with the man himself. Then she suddenly was very shy and wouldn't even look at him or smile. We had already done pictures today, so I figured she was tired of smiling and posing. At least she didn't cry.

Snow!

Well, we haven't got much snow yet here, but it was enough to go play outside. Piper had fun on her sled, but Daddy was tired of pulling her around.

A Visit with Grandpa

We went to visit Grandpa in Winchester. Piper remembered who he was and was excited to see him. By the end of the night she was showing off and ordering him around. It was like playing Simon Says: "Stand up Papaw!" "Sit Down!" "Lift your leg up Papaw!" "Now put it down!"

She also loved Jazzer Dog. I was very happy that Jasmine was being really nice and tolerant. I wasn't sure how she would react because she doesn't really like kids a whole lot. She put up with Piper petting her, covering her up with the blanket and getting her a pillow. Piper kept bringing her toys to play with, and snacks to eat too. But at the end, the dog got mad at me because I took her picture and she went and hid in the bedroom. Piper was so sad that the dog left and she cried. It was time to go anyway, so we said our goodbyes and came back home.

General Update December

Age(in months, or years and months): 26.5 months

Physical abilities: I've not really noticed anything new this month. We are in the process of moving, so there are a lot of boxes ready to go now. The other day I packed up all of her toys and books in her bedroom. I was not paying attention and she climbed up on top of three boxes (about 6 feet in the air) and yells "Look at me!" I about had a heart attack.

Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc: Longer complex sentences, but still sounds like a baby. She's a little bossy this month and very opinionated. Using words such as "I'd rather"

Reading/pre-reading: A little less reading time with me this month, but still very interested. Requesting other areas on Starfall besides the ABC area.

Number stuff: She is very confident about her counting ability even though she still skips numbers. I gave her a popsicle the other day, actually half of one, and then she asked for another so I gave her the other half. She still wanted more, and I said that she had already had 2 while holding up 2 fingers. She holds up 5 fingers and says that she wants 5 popsicles. I guess I'm not too worried about the rote counting since she seems to have a good understanding of quantity and 1:1 correspondance (even if she says the wrong number at times)

Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc: She wanted donuts the other day for breakfast but we didn't have any. She told me I needed to go to the store to buy some for her, and that she'd also like some chocolate milk. I didn't expect her to have made the connection that food doesn't just magically appear in the kitchen, you actually have to buy it. When told we needed to go home and take a nap, she said she'd just be able to sleep in the car and we didn't need to go home just yet.

Creativity: nothing new to report except as linked to imagination

Imagination: Huge month for pretend play. She is very interested in preparing food for us and pretending other toys are food. Blocks are cakes, anything can be a glass of milk or water, she makes candy out of legos. Frequently feeds the dog, although the poor animal is so confused as to why Piper keeps giving her "food" that she can't eat. She even puts it on plates to serve it. She is also turning objects into paintbrushes and pretending to paint in the bathtub, on boxes, etc.

Social: I was very happy with her interactions at Thanksgiving with her younger cousins. She has never shown any interest in playing with them before. They are 19 months old. When they would get upset about a toy she had that they wanted, she was so very sweet and would give it to them all on her own and share. She still won't really play with them, but I was glad she was kind for once. Of course she idolizes her 7 year old cousin and really only wants to hang out with him.

Character/personality: Sweet, silly, manipulative Has started understanding time out, and will sit for a moment but runs to me saying "sorry mommy" over and over to get out of trouble.

School Updates: n/a

Baby Bed

Here is my "baby" in her doll's baby bed. Silly girl!

Fresh Fall Leaves

We had beautiful weather here over the weekend. Piper had a lot of fun playing outside in the leaves and on the playground. On Sunday she played in her sandbox, for what was probably the last time this season.

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Trick or Treating

Piper loved trick or treating this year. She was amazed that people would just give her candy when she went to the door. She did pretty well and said thank you a lot, but wasn't into actually saying "trick or treat" even though she says it at home when reading her Halloween books.

General Update: November

Age(in months, or years and months): almost 26 months


Physical abilities: jumping off higher objects to the ground, helping with chores such as putting silverware away, making her bed, more laundry help, spontaneous cleaning, etc


Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc: still talking non-stop in 5+ word sentences. Adds words to the end of her sentences correctly such as: again, too, now. Finally saying “thanks” correctly instead of “your welcome” Is very polite and says “please” all the time without prompting now.


Reading/pre-reading: continues to love her books and can be rather demanding in the car when she wants to read. I have a bag of books tied around the back of my seat, but she still can’t reach them from her car seat. I used to just give her a couple books when I strapped her in, but she is reading through them so fast that she needs more to sustain her. Now she yells at us to give her more books while I’m driving. “Mommy, three more books please, NOW!” She is starting to recognize the humor in stories better. She loves the David Shannon books like “No David!” and also the Bad Kitty ABC booksNumber stuff: no change


Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc not sure if this goes here…but has started responding to the t.v. as she has become more exposed to it recently. She is infatuated with Dora now, so not only am I watching Dora, but reading tons of Dora books. We watch mostly Nick Jr (used to be Noggin) because there are no commercials. She loves the little puzzles and songs in between the cartoons. and is going up to touch the screen on the right answer or talking to the t.v. about what just happened.


Creativity: this was the month all about play-doh, although she still loves to paint. We do play-doh at least twice a day, and boy am I tired of it.


Imagination: big increase in pretend play with cooking food and serving us things to eat. Is very attached to her dolls and stuffed animals.


Social: did great trick or treating and did not bother the other kids. Was polite and said thank you (usually) when she got candy.


Character/personality: very loving this month and has been initiating hugs and kisses with us. Kisses the baby in my belly, although I think she is clueless about what it means. She is also very empathetic towards the characters in her books and has been giving them kisses when they get in trouble or look sad.


School Updates: n/a

Trunk or Treat

Last night we took Piper to the Trunk or Treat event at church. This has to be the best way to get free candy. :) We walked through a lot of cars that had been decorated for the holiday. At each car Piper went up and got a piece of candy, sometimes more since she thought each person was supposed to give her a piece. Everyone thought she was just adorable with her Dorothy costume on, and she loved telling them about her new red shoes. She even was asked to have her picture taken with another Dorothy who was passing out candy.

The only problem was that we didn't bring her basket for the candy, and we used the bag they were handing out instead. So, at every stop she would get the candy and then set it down on the ground to open it back up and put the candy inside. She didn't like people putting the candy in the bag for her. Then she was also not very happy that Daddy kept stealing her candy and eating it.

I know she will be so excited to go again this Saturday.

Pumpkin Time

We currently have seven pumpkins at our house, two itty bitty ones from the pumpkin patch, and five from Walmart. It was cheaper to buy them at Walmart than the pumpkin patch actually. Erick and Piper carved one of the big ones last week, but I was indulging in a much needed nap, so I didn't capture anything on film. Then after a few days he gave it away to some of the neighbor kids.

So yesterday I decided to let Piper decorate a pumpkin by herself, no carving needed. I had some puffy Halloween stickers that she loved. She was even able to get them off the paper herself this time. Yay! Lately she has been infatuated with ghosts, and talks about them all the time. Fortunately there were plenty of ghost stickers.

I will warn you that although she was occupied with this activity for quite a while, after she finished, she dragged that darn pumpkin around and the stickers started falling off all over the house. I'll probably still be finding Halloween stickers at Christmas.

Pumpkin Patch

Piper visited the pumpkin patch and farm for the very first time this weekend. She loved picking up nearly every single pumpkin in the patch before choosing a couple to take home. They had several activities for the kids to do. There were some inflatable bounce units, and true to form, she managed to make another kid twice her size cry, as she does every time we go to Monkey Joe's. I swear she picks on the weak, as she really barely touched him, but I don't know how to break her of this bullying. She also got to ride a pony and get her face painted.

They also had two corn mazes and a hay tunnel maze that I refused to go in. :) The maze was way too easy though, and I was hoping for more of a challenge. Piper loved the hayride and climbing the hay mountain. I think she liked kicking and throwing the hay into the air mostly.

There was a mechanical dinosaur that chomped on pumpkins. She was bored with it after a minute, but I was happy that the sound effects did not scare her. She still has a hard time with loud noises like thunder or firecrackers.

She loved the animals of course and thought it was great fun to feed the goats. They had an exhibit there for rescue dogs also, and she kept running back to it to pet all the doggies. Imagine that!

By the end of the day she was so tired and a little grumpy, having missed her nap. She was determined she was going to ride the tricycles even though they were too big for her. Mommy was way to tired to push her around too, so she reverted to pushing herself with her feet which barely touched the ground.

To see all the pictures, please watch the slideshow at the top of my blog.

October General Update

Age(in months, or years and months): almost 25 months

Physical abilities: perfected her frisbee throw, moves in all sorts of ways to get where she’s going i.e. galloping, jumping, spinning, etc., buckles herself into her carseat (just the top part)

Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc Sentence length increasing to regularly 3-4 words. I hear longer sentences at times. This isn’t new, but I keep forgetting to document it: uses lots of descriptive words when talking (big, high, heavy, colors, numbers, etc.)

Reading/pre-reading: She got the Tag Jr. Leapfrog system for her birthday and loves using it. It gives me a break at times, but she is still demanding to be read up to 100 different books per day.

Number stuff: Recognizes most numerals now, but rote counting is usually not in the right order although she hits all the different numbers.

Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc has discovered YouTube on the iPhone and looks for favorite videos. Is really good at the puzzles on it even though she struggles with regular ones without help. She gives up too easily when frustrated because a piece won’t fit perfectly even when she knows where it goes.

Creativity: still loves to paint and do art, enjoys picking out her own colors and applying them to the paper or canvas. She is in a stage where she wants me to draw things for her to color.

Imagination: lots of pretend play with little people and these Animal Planet dogs she got for her birthday. Still enjoys cooking food and serving us

Social: still a bit of a bully, has trouble sharing

Character/Personality: testing boundaries this month to gauge our reactions, I’ve noticed that when she is in trouble or sad she refers to herself by her name, but most other times still calls herself “baby”. She doesn’t want to sleep in her bed and wants to be with us in our bed. We switched over to a day bed for her, and she’ll sleep in it, but has to be really tired to go directly there without a fight. Potty training is progressing. She goes on the potty about once a day, but we aren’t consistent enough with it yet. I’m hoping to make it a priority over my fall break in a couple weeks.

New Artwork

This is Piper's latest painting. She is getting to be quite the pro at adding and choosing colors for her canvas. Her favorite tool is the whisk. :)

Birthday Bash

We celebrated Piper's 2nd birthday at the park. She had a lot of fun playing with her cousins. We made hamburgers and hotdogs for lunch, and had chips, potato salad, and cole slaw to eat as well. Her birthday cake had Barney on it since she picked out a plush Barney at the store on her birthday. We opened presents again, since she had already done this at home with mom and dad. I was surprised that she blew out her birthday candles all by herself. It's hard to believe that she is already 2!

General Update

Age(in months, or years and months): She will be two this Friday (sniff)

Physical abilities: Not much she isn’t doing these days. Can do everything at the playground and freaks out grandma who doesn’t think it’s safe. Loves sliding down the fireman pole and swinging on the bars. Is learning to pump her legs on a regular swing. I’m sad to see the end of summer. She was making so much progress in swimming with a kickboard or floaties.

Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc: Tons of vocab learned this month including shapes, colors, and emotions. Previously she could identify pictures but could not say the word. She is using more and more adjectives and abstract words in her speech. Most sentences still about 3 words, but some more or less. She’s very interested in possessives and talks about items that belong to certain people. She refers to herself still as “baby” but occasionally will use her own name. When looking at pictures of herself, it’s about 50/50 between saying “baby” and “Piper”.

Reading/pre-reading: Her favorite phrase seems to be “no mommy you read” She’d rather I read her stacks and stacks of books, than for her to look at them independently, although she still does read to herself in the car and occasionally at home. Knows about half her letters. We haven’t been on Starfall much this month since the computer is out at home.

Number stuff: I noticed that she is counting on whenever we are counting together. For example if we are counting steps and stop at the number 8, she will tell me the next number. She still doesn’t have a complete grasp of rote counting although she is very close to having all the numbers in order to 10. Appears to be able to tell me how many of something if there are 3 or less. Apparently her daddy asked her yesterday how many cookies she wanted and she told him she wanted 5, he said how about 2, and she countered with 4. Perhaps a fluke though.

Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc: can independently use my iPhone better than a lot of adults.

Creativity: Coloring is a little more developed and purposeful. Wants to (and thinks she can) write her name, but it is still not quite there. Drawing consists of mostly circles, lines, and dots with scribbling mixed in.

Imagination: Very into playing with her dolls right now. Insists I put diapers on them as well as Moo her stuffed cow.

Social: Shy around adults but warms up after a while, we are still working on the hitting and pushing with other kids. She’s a bully even to kids who are bigger than she is.

Character/personality: strong-willed and independent, concerned about hurting others (after the fact)

School Updates: n/a

iPhone

Piper is able to navigate my iPhone better than some adults at this point. She knows all about scrolling from page to page, and loves to look at the pictures on it. One whole page is full of aps just for her. This is a video of her playing one of her favorite games. She has to touch a shape on the screen when it is said. It starts off with 3 shapes per page and then adds more after you pass each level. She also really likes I Hear You, Balloon Animals, and The Wheels on the Bus. I will have to get her on video doing Balloon Animals soon. It is so funny to watch.

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Puzzle

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This video was taken a while back, but I haven't got around to adding until now. I have a difficult time taping Piper doing anything. I had to bribe her with a cookie to get her to do this puzzle. Hence you can hear her in the middle and at the end talking about her cookie.

Holding a Butterfly

Piper got to hold a Monarch Butterfly at the State Fair today. She thought it was pretty. We were just afraid she would smash it, but she was really gentle. We looked at a lot of the animals and walked around the whole circle. Amazingly enough, we didn't buy any fair food. Nothing sounded good, and I guess we were too hot to really have an appetite.