Christmas

So Christmas went very well and we were all relatively unscathed afterward. There is always a mound of paper and boxes, but for that I am grateful. I know Addison doesn't quite understand grateful yet, but I'll be grateful for her too until she knows. She received lots and lots of adorable clothes, lots and lots of cute toys, and lots and lots of attention! I think in her quiet way, she likes that most. I think her favorite toys were the big interactive kitchen that boils water when you put a pot on the burner and tells you what your cooking, her pink castle and all the little royal people that congregate there and I'd like to say she liked her dolls (especially the one Greg and I got her), but I do see them strewn about the house unclothed or half-clothed. I'll say the dolls were my favorite just because I love dolls, always have. Hopefully one day she'll enjoy them as much as me. I have a ton of them waiting in the attic for her.

I already see signs of her pretend play. It's very cute and exciting. She loves to pour "tea" or "cocoa" from her little tea set (which she also got for xmas). If you're lucky, she'll hand you a cup, but you mustn't hold on to it very long. She has other customers to wait on and unfortunately they must all use the same cup even though she has a bunch of others. If you're really, really lucky, she'll share an invisible cake or cookie with you. She plays quietly with her royal family in the royal castle too. I love watching her play. She speaks her little royal language that we don't really understand, but when we do catch the words, they are beautiful. She speaks precisely when she knows the word and is confident about it. She's repeating everything we say. This morning I caught her repeating the numbers on Sesame Street. I interrupted her, so I only heard "fourteen", but I was impressed. Granted, she wouldn't know 14 if she saw it, but her speech is progressing. She sings more of her ABC's and has added extra verses to "Twinkle, twinkle" and "Jingle Bells" instead of just repeating those words.

Along with the beautiful words, comes her opinions as well and she's working on her tantrums. Mostly when we're in public...so bravo to her for learning so quickly that it works better when people are around. We're still struggling with potty training and it seems like we're doing worse than we had been. I suppose this will come with time, but I'm getting discouraged. She has to be potty trained before she can attend daycare, so now I'm quicker to worry about it.

End of the week she'll be 2 years old! Hard to believe that 2 years ago I was anxiously awaiting her arrival.