Christmas 2009 (part 2)

Big Santa statue in the mall

12-19-09

"Listening intently to Santa"

"My first time making Christmas cookies with

Mommy, Auntie April, Grandma, and Grandpa W.!"

12-23-09

"Helping Mommy wrap Christmas presents!"

12-24-09

"Writing my name on the label so everyone knows the present is from me!"

Christmas 2009 (part 1)

(Yes, I do realize that it's the end of March...)

Gloria drew this snowman on her MagnaDoodle!

12-10-09

"Helping Mommy decorate the Christmas tree!"

12-11-09

"It's all done and so pretty!"

12-18-09

The Hettig Christmas

12-12-09

Gloria absolutely adores baby Connor!

"Christmas makes me happy!"

Winter Snow Fun!

"Grammy's pulling me on the sled! Go super-fast Grammy!"

12-31-09

"Building the first snowman of the season with Grammy"

"My baby snowghost"

"My snow reindeer!"

1-2-10

"Going out in the New Year's Day Blizzard aftermath!"

"So much snow! Even I have to help shovel!"

"Daddy made me a snow cave!"

1-9-10

"Helping to dig out the cave."

"My snow chair!"

"Daddy and I made a huge snowman!"

2-27-10

"I love my snowman!"

Vocab

Just a quick post before bed...

Gloria's vocabulary and word usage is sky-rocketing! She is speaking in complete sentences more often now, including:

"Daddy, no take Baby's napkin please." (She didn't want Rob to take her napkin from the table. He was clearing his place.)

"Mommy, help take off coat please."

"Grammy, hold Baby please."

On Monday when I went in to get Gloria out of bed she told me that her tummy was talking. I asked her what it was saying and she told me that it was saying, "I want food." On Tuesday her tummy told me the same thing. Then, after all of her oatmeal and yogurt was gone, she said her tummy was talking again. This time it said, "I want more food!"

Her pronunciation of some words is still off. Here are a few I can think of now:

banana is "bana"

Zoe (from Sesame Street) is "Oh-zee"

library is "li-berry"

She has a hard time pronouncing the "s" sound at the beginning of words, but when we ask her to say "sss" like a snake and then the ending part of the word, she does great. Like "spin" - she says "pin." Ask her to say "sss" and then "pin" and she can do it.

Just a few days ago we heard a new word - "None-ee" I'm not sure what we asked her, maybe what she was going to wear in the bathtub for her bath, and she said "none-ee" meaning nothing. She has said it a few times since, but has also used "nothing."

Tonight as I was rocking her before bed, I told her what we were going to do tomorrow. Grammy will be coming over to play and eat lunch. Gloria told me that she wanted Grammy to cook lunch so I said that Grammy could probably heat up our leftover spaghetti in the microwave. Gloria proceeded to tell me a few times that Grammy was going to "cook sketi ghetti" for lunch.

Before meal times, Gloria is great about reminding us to pray. She will (usually) fold her hands and listen. Sometimes, especially recently, she will repeat some of the words Rob says - mainly the last words in his sentences. If Rob says, "Dear Jesus, Thank you for our food", Gloria will say, "Dear Jesus, food." And today, at lunch, Gloria prayed all by herself!

(And yes, I know I still need to update from Christmas and her second party for her birthday. I will. Promise!)

2-year Check-up

"Don't let my face fool you. I am very happy to be at the doctor's office."

Today my mom and I took Gloria to the doctor for her 2-year check-up. Gloria was in great spirits, very happy and excited to go see the doctor. This was her first visit with a new doctor now that we've moved. She's seeing the same doctor that was my pediatrician!

While I filled out paperwork, Gloria and my mom played with the toys in the waiting room and read books. When the nurse called us in, Gloria walked through the door like she owned the place. She walked right over to the scale (the big one! not the baby one anymore) and stood on it very still. The nurse weighed her and took her temperature in her ear.

Then we went into the exam room where Gloria's head was measured and so was her length. (They still made her lay down on the table to measure her. Maybe next time she'll be able to stand up against the wall. She's definitely tall enough.)

We undressed her down to her diaper and played around while waiting for the doctor. She was being goofy, making letters with her body - like X, Y, I and L. She spent time sitting on the exam table, sitting in a chair, holding her kitty and blanket, and climbing up and down.

When the doctor came in, she said to just keep Gloria over by us instead of putting her on the table because most kids look at her very scared. Well, Gloria is not most kids. She didn't want to stay by us, so she started to climb up on her own. The doctor asked me how many words Gloria can say...20, 30, 40...? I kind of laughed and said, "200?!" That might even be a modest guess. She listened to Gloria's heart and lungs, looked in her eyes, ears, and mouth, and felt her tummy. Gloria was a perfect angel throughout the whole exam, not making any fuss or whining. She let the doctor do her thing with no problem. What is a bit ironic is that we watched Sesame Street this morning and Elmo was talking all about going to the doctor and what they do there, so Gloria was more than prepared.

After meeting with the doctor, we went to the lab to have Gloria's blood taken to be tested for lead. I was a bit worried, thinking she was going to be hysterical, but surprise, surprise, she wasn't! She didn't even cry. A few times she looked at me (I was holding her) with tears in her eyes and said, "Mommy" but I just told her I loved her and she was doing so great. It took the nurse awhile because Gloria's veins are small and she didn't want to go through one, but once she got the needle in, it went very quickly. Then, when it was time to leave the room, Gloria didn't want to leave! She wanted to sit in the chair and raise and lower the arm. She wanted to pretend to take Grammy's blood. She wanted kitty to have a turn. Finally after getting a sticker, we were able to get her out of there.

Getting her coat on and out to the car was a bit more difficult. She just didn't want to leave the doctor's office! Silly girl!

Gloria's 24 month stats:
Weight: 30 1/2 lb.
Height: 36 1/4 in.
Head circumference: 19 1/2"

(They didn't tell us the percentiles her measurements were in.)