Phia's First Christmas

I think, if Sophia could talk, she would report having a great first Christmas. She got to enjoy it with some of her favorite people. Christmas Eve was spent with her friend Quinn Budddington and his family. Christmas morning she wallowed in the attention from the Kaul grandparents, and that afternoon she was entertained by my sister Beckie's family. She managed to get lots of great presents: clothes, toys, a book, and ornaments. She even got to try her first finger foods, including Cheerios and a sliced banana. Without a doubt, Olivia definitely had fun celebrating Christmas this year. This is the first year she got really excited about presents, although she still doesn't like to open them without assistance. Yale and I got her a wooden kitchen with an oven, stove, a cupboard, sink and cooking utensils. She also got pots, pans, and dishes from both sets of grandparents. I think it's easy to say she is in toddler heaven. A keyboard from her Grandma and Grandpa Kaul has her singing and performing several times a day. I've already gotten a couple dozen shots and heart examinations with the doctor kit she got from Beckie's family. We're hoping these new toys will keep her occupied and satiesfied at least until Parents' Day Out starts up again, which won't be until the second week in January. We may be asking for too much. Sophia has been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. We're convinced she'll be crawling very soon. I think she's even waved a couple of times. Either that, or she is doing the sign for milk, which is open and closing a fist like your milking a cow (funny, huh). I've been showing her the sign for milk about a month now. I would be very excited if she's attempting to do it already.

Croup and Crap

My days and nights for the past week have by filled with caring for two sick kids. Olivia has croup, but finally seems to be on the mend. Poor Sophia has the stomach flu or something of the sort. I feel like I've been up to my armpits in diarrhea for days. I will spare you anymore of the disgusting details. Let me just say that it feels like our house is teeming with germs. I will be really surprised if we all don't end up puking and pooping before the week is over. Last week I took Olivia to the doctor to see if they could do anything for her cough, which, by the way, they did. They gave her a steroid to help reduce the inflammation in her airway. Anyway... since then she's been pretending she's a doctor. She wants us to put Sophia in her swing so that she can examine her little sister. Then she decided that it was high time that I get a check-up. She used Sophia's monitor to listen to my heart and vacuum my arm (I know, she kind of lost track of the medical part of the exam). After she had thoroughly checked me out, she looked at me with complete seriousness and said, "Mom, you need to get a job." Now, I don't know if this is because she thinks I need to get out more, or if she needs me to get out more, but I found this diagnosis quite funny. Out of the mouths of babes...

Gimme Those Boots!

Olivia's funny saying of the day: "Whacha fink, huh?" I think our dear friend Susan says this to her when she's asking Olivia what she wants to do. Of course, when Susan says it, it sounds more like, "What do you think, huh?" Sophia really has really figured out how to best use rolling as a way to get around. Yesterday, while Yale and I were in the kitchen and she was laying on the floor in the living room, she managed to roll across the floor, around a recliner, change directions to avoid a wall, and change directions again to get to her sister soaking wet snow boots. I found her laying on her belly on the cold tile floor sucking on a boot. I know... Gross! I'm not sure what's so intriguing to her about those boots, but she goes after them often. We went out to dinner the other night with some friends, and on the way home Olivia was singing and making noises to try to stay awake. For some reason this was really funny to Sophia. She started cracking up and it didn't stop until we got home. She even kept laughing after her sister stopped making noise and was quiet. I have to say, one of my greatest pleasures as a parent is hearing my kids laugh uncontrollably .