She amazes me everyday

First it was all the animals and the noises they make, then all of her colors she new, the songs she sings identifying the shapes and then today it was the counting.  We have been doing the Advent Calendar with chocolate, one of Maycen's favorite words now at dinnertime.  We have been reading lots of counting books and each day we count the days we have opened before we eat another piece of chocolate.  We count the steps of the stairs, the cheerios on her plate and today I got out the advent calendar and she counted in groups of 3 or 4 all the way to ten! I was so impressed and proud!
  I know most parents do this and think this of their children especially their first but I was impressed she's not even two and she seems to have a good grasp, she even can identify the number when asked which one is 3, maybe all that fish oil paid off after all.
Ok well she is quick to learn on that end with numbers, colors, and shapes we've spent a lot of time reading books.  But she is having issues in other areas and one is following direction she is testing out the terrible two stage already...so lucky are we that she is advanced in this area too:) We get a lot of NO's and timeouts are starting to add up and seem to have little meaning or impact in fact sometimes I think she enjoys them.  I try not to be too serious she is only almost 2 but sometimes it is so frustrating and others I break down and laugh because her behavior is so bizarre.  It is like seeing a 15 year old's attitude in a 2 year old's body.  Besides sometimes I wonder, I don't remember being two, is really any of this discipline doing anything but stressing me out anyway!

We are also kinda working on potty training, I have learned that Maycen is a I will do it when I want on my own time kinda gal...unless of course there is an incentive.  Dinner has always been this way, she loves her milk and juice and will drink it all and but if you take it away and tell her to eat some dinner then she can have her cup she does great, usually no matter what is on her plate.

A lot to give thanks for! Happy Turkey Day!

If its not "Football"  then its "Peppa" both sound similar coming from Maycen's mouth.  Maycen rarely gets to watch TV but from time to time,  mostly on Sunday's, Football with dadda, she gets to.  She loves to watch it and loves to cheer "Yeah" and say "Run" words she has no doubt heard Daddy yelling at the TV.  She also gets to watch Peppa Pig from time to time we DVR it so she can watch it while I make dinner during her usually fussy time of night after a long day of no sleep at daycare. This show is a British cartoon and is actually pretty funny.

 My parents came out to visit us for an early Thanksgiving since I worked the actual Holiday.  We had our turkey on Sunday and although we didn't do many exciting activities this visit it was nice to see them.  Food was really the big festivity, We did so a wine bottling one night and had friends over for Ribs and on our Thankgiving we had one of Maycen's friends Jones and his new sister Payton and Mom Melissa over with Nana and Grampa.  We got the baby swing out for the baby and Maycen was so excited to be a good helper, below she is swinging her ball and and her Dog Violet. She will be a great big sister no doubt! The kids had a blast playing together and in December will actually be in the same daycare class again. 

 It was sunny our one day for my parents visit to see the mountain and so we took advantage and headed for Chamber's bay to walk with the sound view.  It is a pretty good walk and we were all exhausted but to our surprise the park that had been planned for Summer of 2012 was already complete so we had to stop and let M play for a little bit.  Poor Jared was at home slaving away on the Turkey Bird.

We finally were able to share our pregnancy news with the rest of our family,  so that added to our list of things for which to be thankful.  Heading into week number 12 things are going well, my belly is definitely making itself noticeable a lot sooner than my first pregnancy.

Visit to Leavenworth, WA

Leavenworth is a wonderful little Bavarian village that gets very busy during the Holiday Season. People dress in traditional German style attire and the village stores and decor are also very traditional.  Jared had a conference there this month and Maycen and I drove up and joined him for the weekend. it was pretty cold even with the sun out and the drive up was amazing with snow and rainbows from all the mist in the mountains.  Maycen and I entertained ourselves at the indoor basketball court, I did a little shopping while Maycen napped and at night we went to dinner and the hotel Pool. Maycen loved the music from the accordion that they played at dinner.  We did drive around a look for some future camping hot spots. 

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