Grandma's Cowgirl Boots

Merry Christmas!

Wow! Pajamas!!

Jet lag is tough!

Hi GP!

Get well soon. We love you. Merry Christmas.

Reading to Baby

Cleaning the house

Chemistry

We'll be back in Boston for Christmas, but we bought a small plastic tree here to help us get in the Christmas mood before heading home. Abby is VERY excited about it and is learning the names of all the ornaments. She can't quite get "Christmas tree" but when she tries, it sounds exactly like "chemistry".

Grass

Now the winter rains have begun, there is some grass starting to grow. It's good for sitting ...



... and rolling.

It's a Girl

We just found out today that Abby is going to have a baby SISTER.

Becca had a very cool 4D ultrasound and at the end, they gave us a DVD of the whole thing. Here are a couple selected clips:

Singer

Abby has found a new love of singing, though she clearly doesn't know all the words. Here is a little Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - Itsy Bitsy Spider medley.



Sorry for the long hiatus. We just moved and we don't have internet in our new place quite yet. Hopefully in the next few days.

Piggy Back Ride

Right after slamming "Big Big Bear" on the ground, she said "Oh bear!" and gave him a big hug and a pat on the back.

Walk in the Park

Find a stick:



Dig in the dirt:



Climb a tree:

Bike with seating for five

Another Little Persson on the way!

In a few months, Abby is going to have to start sharing this blog, among many other things.



S/he is due in April. Hopefully we will find out the gender in the next two weeks.

Birthday Party

Halloween

Abby didn't want to wear either of the hand-me-down costumes we had (an elephant and a lion.) All she wanted to wear was her new (to her) Dora the Explorer vest and some mouse ears. We went to the Children's Museum but I don't think that Abby even noticed that there were people in costumes (which is preferable to being scared).

Blueberry Mess

Grandma bought Abby a few bags of dehydrated blueberries. Abby loves them but she makes a big mess of her face, her hands and anything else she touches whenever she eats them.

Stinky Feet

Abby's new favorite game is one where I (Dan) smell her foot and then scream "Ewwww..... stinky feet!" She giggles and then gives me the other foot. This is a fun game in the middle of the day, but she has now started coming into our room first thing in the morning, getting on the bed and sticking her feet in my face saying "stinky feet! stinky feet!" Not the way I really want to wake up most days.

Birthday Fun

(The background noise is fairly loud in this video.)

2 Years Old!!

Happy Birthday, Abby!

We started the day with blueberry pancakes. (A VERY special treat over here).





Later today we are going swimming. We'll have a proper party in about a week.

Imagination

It's really fun watching Abby's imagination start to grow, like saying "shh" because her baby doll is sleeping, or making all her puzzle animals walk to their places.

Dancing

She's trying to say "boom" not "bum" when she falls down.

"Two Guys!"

Too big

Earlier in the day she was giving the dog a kiss every time he fell over.

Double Straws

I guess she couldn't decide if she wanted milk or juice, so she decided to drink them together.



She's talking to her babysitter, Ama, in the middle.

Daddy's Socks

Mischief

I thought it was a little too quiet in the house...

... and yes, Abby was in the hall rubbing Daddy's deodorant all over her body. (At least it wasn't Vaseline again!)





I have to say, it's pretty weird when your daughter smells like your husband.

Pigtails, the Reality

Abby doesn't like having her hair put up (which is unfortunate, because I want to grow out her bangs.) This is what she usually looks like sometime between 1 second and 2 hours after putting her hair in pigtails.

Guys

Abby travels around the house, and occasionally in the car, with at least one stuffed animal, one of her "guys". She sleeps with 3-4 of them. One can often hear her telling them to "sit, sit" next to her before she starts to play with a toy or read a book.

From the Archives

This is from the 4th of July in Massachusetts, caught on a friend's cell phone. Abby is playing "beep, beep" in the car.



Thanks, Paula!!

Moo Baa La La La, reinterpreted

Reading

My Nana's Remedies



Maisy's Big Flap Book



Blueberries for Sal



And the Carl Anthology, which is kinda heavy.



"Nanum" has been one of Abby's words for a long time. We have no idea what it means but she only uses it if she is happy. The chest rub is Abby's version of "please" in sign language.

Animals

Abby's vocabulary has exploded. Yesterday she came out with "shark", "echo" (I don't think she knows what it means) and "June" (one of her Little Einstein bath toys). She is very proud of every new word.

Although she can say "cow", "cat" and "duck", she names most animals by the sound they make: "Neigh", "woof", etc. Also, within the last couple weeks she has started combining words into phrases, learned to add an "s" sound for plurals or possessives. As a result she comes out with some very endearing terms such as "neighs" (2 or more horses) or "cluck cluck eat" (the chicken is eating). My favorite so far was "Baby RARRRRRR!" (baby lion, of course).

New Bed

Abby's crib got lost in the move. We finally replaced it. Here she is checking it out for the first time.



Unfortunately, the American crib mattress is a little small for the British bed. We filled in the gap with a rolled up towel. We have no idea how long it will take her to learn to climb out. When she does, we can turn this crib into a toddler bed.

Money

She likes how it jingles.

Fancy Shoes

This reminds me of Minnie Mouse's giant feet.

Happy 90th Birthday, GGP!!

Have a wonderful day!









We love you and miss you!

Pigtails

Abby's hair is getting much too long and unruly to regularly leave down.



She still doesn't like the feel of her hair being up.



By the way, when I look at the first picture I think "Who is that little girl and where did my baby go?"

Balls!

Abby is a huge fan of ball pits, but a ball pit with a slide may just be her idea of heaven. She spent hours going down this slide.

Warning: the background noise on this video is quite loud

Shower

We took advantage of low season rates and stayed at a fancy hotel for 2 nights. Abby really liked the "shower"; we really liked that the bathroom had a glass wall so we didn't have to get wet too.

Aquarium

We went to an aquarium. They had a 4D movie experience to do first. Abby wouldn't really wear the glasses, but she did like it when water sprayed us and air blew on us.