I couldn't think of a better reason to do my first blog post in over 4 months than to tell you all about Erica climbing out of her crib for the first time today, and less than an hour later, Laura discovered my first gray hair!!!
I honestly don't even know where to start with this blog post, so I'll just try to fill you in on some highlights over the past 4 months and let you know about some of the many things Erica does now (and the ways she gets into mischief).
First and foremost, my weak attempt at an excuse for my lack of posts lately...I started graduate school just after Labor Day this year and I'm on my way towards earning my Master's in Education Leadership. Since that first night of class (I have class every Monday night for 3 hours for the next 2 years, with a few weeks off over the holidays along with July and August), I have had very little free time. Laura will vouch for me...I've been lame...well, lamer than usual over the past few months. Each night during the week I'm usually doing something for school. There's tons of reading to do between classes, and most weeks, there's usually a written analysis paper due. Currently, I've completed 2 classes and have only 8 more to do and I'll have my Master's!!!
Ok...back to the cute one and enough about me. Erica is truly the best thing that ever happened to me (with Laura being a super-close 2nd!!!). She brings us so much joy, happiness, and gray hairs!!! Since daycare started at the end of August, she's had plenty of colds and a couple of fevers, but this little girl is just amazing. Even when she is sick and totally wiped out, she still has her cute personality and she is such a trooper!!! Despite congestion, coughs and fevers, she still sleeps through the night and doesn't cause much commotion during the day. We know when she isn't feeling well because she just wants to be held and cuddles with anyone willing to hold her for a while (this is odd because she never sits still for more than 10 seconds all day long...still!!!)
Her personality continues to blossom into a charming little girl. She will definitely be a heart-breaker some day! She is always laughing and she always seems to find ways to make us laugh at her. Weather she is poking our nose and saying, "beep!" and running away or chasing after Lexi and pulling her tail or dancing in front of the TV while watching a kids' sing-along DVD...she is always having fun and putting smiles on our faces. She is truly the sparkle in my eye and the joy of my life. Some days I can't keep up with her non-stop movement and terrorism within the house, yet at the end of each day as we put her down for bedtime, I wish we had a few more hours to hang out with her and laugh.
She is saying all sorts of words. Some words sound perfect, while others are hard to decipher, but we generally figure out what she is trying to say. It took a while, but she's saying words together now, so we are greatly assisted in understanding what she's trying to tell us. I'm proudest of the words I've taught her...of course!!! My favorite is "poopy butt!" It's funny because of the long delay between the 2 words and because of the big emphasis she puts on "butt." Either Laura taught her "beast" as the nickname for Lexi, or she has picked it up from us, but she now refers to her as both "beast", "puppy" and is starting to say "Lexi."
She is a climber...as stated in the opening of this post, she climbed out of her crib at nap time today. Laura and I were watching TV in the sunroom, an we heard a door close. We both sprang up from the couch to find her standing in the hallway. Laura wondered how she did it, and I replied, "Well, let's put her back in the crib and she'll show us!" Of course, she showed us just how she got out. Prior to today, she had been moving toy chairs around the house climbing up on them to flip light switches, climbing in and out of a toy tricycle, her Little Tykes red and yellow car and anything else she could lift a foot or leg up on. For quite a while, she has been climbing up on the chairs at the peninsula where we eat and sits on the chairs like "a big girl" with us. I'm surprised at all of this for some reason. I'm most fearful of her getting hurt, because she doesn't have any fear and doesn't understand gravity yet. I shouldn't be surprised with any of this because she has never sat still, and since the day she was born, she has always been alert and curious of her surroundings.
In regards to her interests:
- she loves dancing in front of the TV to her DVDs
- she loves Goldfish and Animal Crackers for snacks
- she kind of sings along to "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Patty Cake"
- she loves short stories being read to her
- she likes talking to "papa" and "mama" (grandpa and grandma, pronounced like "mam-uh") on the phone and Skype
- she loved opening presents at Christmas this year
- she likes chasing Lexi, especially when "puppy" washes her face
- she likes cooking...whether she watches daddy cook at the stove, or when she "cooks" and feeds us meals on the plates from a tea set she got at Christmas
- she loves taking rides on Gators (John Deere side-by-side UTVs, 4 wheelers and tractors)...a few weeks ago, she went shopping with my dad and I while he looked for a new Polaris Razor, and she sat on a few mini-sized 4 wheelers!!!)
- she likes steak, crab legs, cheese, yogurt and pears
- she loves watching "Wockey" before bedtime (MN Wild hockey games)
- she loves watching planes fly overhead and hears them and points them out with ease
- her favorite word is "more"...she always wants more of everything...whether it's tickles from daddy, cookies from grandma, or stories from mommy, she always wants more, and she usually says it with a smile on her face
- she can be a monster, but she is doing really well with saying "please" and "thanks/'tank' you"
- she says "uh uh" and "nope" as if she's been saying them for years!!!
- she loves taking pictures on our phones and looking at pictures other people have on their phones
- she's an outdoors girl, and despite the snow on the ground, she doesn't seem to mind the cold!!! If she could live outside, she would...hopefully she'll still be this way in another 5-10 years when I can start taking her up to the cabin to hunt and ride 4 wheelers with her daddy!!!
I hope you've enjoyed the quick update. I'll try to do more frequent posts, but my next grad class will be starting in a week, and my typing time will most likely be dedicated to my classes until Spring Break. I'll try to be a better blogger in the upcoming months!!! If you still happen to be following this infrequent blog, I want to thank you again for checking this out, and for those faithful followers, we appreciate your best wishes/thoughts you send our way! Take care and thanks for reading my Daddy Diary!!!
...enjoy the pictures...
She loves yogurt!!!
First day at daycare this year!!!
She watched her first Wild training camp and got a puck from the practice!!
Being whacky with mommy!! Such a fun personality!!!
She was a (not so happy) bunny for Halloween this year
She loves eating ice cream with Papa Tim
Erica helped daddy repaint the bathroom
You never know what she will run around the corner with (or what she may be doing when you round the corner). In this case walking down the hall with her pants down
Setting up the Christmas tree with mommy
She was a trooper while dealing with an eye infection...and a cute trooper!!!
Reading with mommy
Decorating cookies with KeeKee at great Granny's house
Shopping for 4 wheelers with papa
She pulled all of her toys out of a bag in the car while traveling to ND on Christmas
A sled ride with Papa Russ in ND
Before tackling presents in ND
Fighting a cold on the couch with daddy...and still a cute trooper!!!
She loves shopping at hunting stores with daddy!!!
Her new hobby "fix it!"
Our climber...taken this morning before she escaped her crib!
Lunch with mommy and daddy at the Rainforest Cafe at the MOA after Underwater World this morning
