I got up with Dad this morning and after I got dressed we went downstairs to cook breakfast. Dad let me sit at my breakfast table, but I got squirmy and had a hard time finishing without wandering away. Then I kept exploring the living room layout, including hanging out on the couch:
When Mom got up, we went to Best Buy and Target. It was so cold! I assumed when we went in to Target that I would get to drink Starbucks water, for the second time in a row, we left Target without stopping by Starbucks. Mom & Claire doing that was one thing, but Dad?
When we got home, Grandpa was waiting for me with two big Christmas presents. I got a train set and a huge bag of blocks. Then we went to eat lunch at Blue Line, one of Mom’s and Dad’s new neighborhood favorites. When we got home, we finished assembling the train set and I really liked playing with it. Then I took a three-hour nap!
When I got up, I helped Dad cook fish, make hummus, and prepare the carrots. We ate and I said lots and lots of “I love you” and “I love you so much!” Those seem to make everyone in my family so happy.
Things finally started getting back to normal today, except that I dont’ usually have school on Fridays. Dad got me up and dressed and snacked, then I rode in to school with Mom. I was in a great mood when I got there and made a point of greeting all my friends with hugs as they came in the door.
Mom got me much earlier than usual today, which was great. We were home by 4:30. I had a fun time with Mom, Dad, and Aunt Claire. Dinner features the rotini game again, much to Mom’s chagrin. Also, I had a really hard time falling asleep – I had little bouts of crying for a good half hour after Dad put me down.
I woke up on Saturday morning with Dad. After making breakfast, we headed out to Dominick’s, as usual. When we got back, it was time for soccer practice! I was expecting to see Coack Nicki, but instead I have a new coach, Coach Eve. I had a lot of fun and my skills have clearly improved.
After practice we made a quick stop at Whole Foods on our way to Gold Coast Auto Body, where we met Grandpa. When Grandpa found out we were going shoe shopping next, we asked to come along. Wow! So the four of us all went to Macy’s.
We dropped Grandpa off at his house, headed home, ate lunch, and took a nap. When I woke up, I found Mom, Dad, and Aunt Claire building bookshelves and rearranging the family room and dining room. I helped, of course, and met Dad’s friend, Jen, and her friend, Eileen, who stopped by our house on their exploration of our neighborhood. By the time Mom, Dad, and Aunt Claire were done, almost every piece of furniture had moved — and the dining room was now near the front door instead of near the kitchen! I really like my new book shelves. Also, my new table and chairs moved into the kitchen.
It may be a new year, but some things stay the same, like my propensity to get ear infections. That’s right, “Happy Ear Infection!” might as well have been my battle cry today as I got diagnosed with two ear infections.
By Saturday I was already feeling a bit better, and a good thing, too, since I had a road trip ahead of me, but not before picking up Aunt Claire’s friend, Jo, up from the airport. After long good-byes with grandma and grandpa the three of us headed to Chicago! We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner and after we ate A/C and Jo made it their personal missions to keep me awake until we got home. I kept saying “Maggie go to sleep!” Finally we got home and saw Mom & Dad. I was excited to see them, but not nearly as excited as they were to see me!
Sunday felt kind of like an entire weekend of work squeezed into one day. We went on the usual trips to Dominick’s and Whole Foods and spent most of the day getting settled back in to life at home, including a bunch of laundry.
On Monday I had fun spending the day with Aunt Claire and Jo. We did a lot of playing and a lot of hanging out — a perfect way to ease back into daily grind (such that it is) of my life.
Mom woke me up on Tuesday morning. And man, it was rough. I hadn’t been woken up that early — or at all, for that matter, in weeks! I said “Maggie go back to sleep!” but Mom wouldn’t let me. Instead, when we got in the car she suggested that I sleep in the car seat, to which I responded “Maggie to back to sleep in crib!” It was fun to see my friends back at school.
Wednesday was another good day at school and I was excited to get back to my role as teacher’s pet — I helped Miss Mimi with her important tasks, especially clsoing the doors and the cabinets. I also had a lot of fun on the climber today. On the down side, though, I had my second school injury, this one even warranting a call to Mom. I was whacked in the head with a rocking chair! The treatment? TLC and an ice pack. Man, ice packs are cold!
Thursday was another day of fun with Aunt Claire and Jo. It was snowing like crazy so we did a lot of snow watching. When people were crazy enough to try to go out in the snow, we would wave and say “Hi People!” Jo said goodbye and then put me down for my nap. She was so nice; I’ll miss her!
Dad got home just in time for dinner and when he saw I wasn’t eating too well, he immediately invented a game to fix the problem. He would grab a piece of rotini, eat half of it, and then make it fly all the way into my mouth — as long as I ate a bite of my real food, first. I finished my entire plate!
I woke up on Saturday expecting even more Christmas parties, but I think it’s finally over. We got ready to to Grandpa Droste’s brithday breakfast:
Tthen I went with Aunt Sarah to her friend Tyka’s house and played with her kids. We got back in time for lunch and then before I took my nap, Mom & Dad gave me especially big goodnight hugs. Hmm, I sensed something was up. Sure enough, when I got up they went on vacation. Well, I got the better deal, getting to be on vacation at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s!
I had a great day on Sunday. I napped from @2:15 until 4:30 p.m. and woke in a great mood. Grandma and Grandpa packed me up to see the Christmas lights in Rock Spring Park. All the way there, I sang with Grandpa Droste – which I can’t remember doing before! When we got there, it was closed due to inclement weather! Grandma was so sad! As an alternative, we checked out a few lights around Alton, then drove through Aunt Carol’s former subdivision – where every house on the street has lights. I loved the Santas and the reindeer (which I called “horses”). I even turned every nativity scenes in to a game, shouting “find Baby Jesus, find Baby Jesus”).
Here’s a dance break:
When we got home, Aunt Claire had cooked dinner and I ate voraciously – salmon, roasted cauliflower, sliced mushrooms, a tiny bit of lettuce, milk and a whole kiwi. This was even better than my usual Sunday dinners at home! Then we got ready for bed, brushed my teeth, and read The Big Girl Potty story. But I totally refused to sit on the potty.
I told Grandpa good night twice and then I ran to tell Aunt Claire goodnight, too. When I got to A/C I said I was hungry. When she asked what I wanted, I replied, “a cookie!” I don’t think Dad would be to happy! Then I got Baby Sophie and her blanket and made it into bed at 7:40.
I slept last night from 8:00 until 7:45 this morning. I was so sleepy (and my new PJs were wet, too!). Grandma made me oatmeal for breakfast. She put in apples and cranberries, vanilla and cinnamon. Yummy! We also cooked an “all-pice” egg, but we had a little accident. I dropped an egg and made big mess. But Grandma wasn’t upset, she just poured salt all over the yucky egg on the floor, then cleaned it up. We got another egg and started over. It was delicious! I ate a Clementine for dessert – and reminded Grandma to put my vitamins on it.
After breakfast we played with Legos, Play-doh, and a new sticker book Aunt Claire got for me. After that, Grandpa came in and played with me because Grandma had a very bad headache. We read stories, played with more Legos – and Grandpa even changed my poopy diaper – another first for Grandpa Droste. Again, I refused to sit on my potty today, but I still read my Ashley book a dozen times.
For lunch I ate leftover salmon and cauliflower, a little yogurt and some green grapes. We counted them, and I kept (accidentally) dropping them on the floor. I asked Grandma to “jeebah” the grapes for me, then I ate them all. My afternoon nap lasted from 1:00 until 3:30. Guess who got me out of bed? Aunt Claire and Rob! They are taking me with them to the airport to pick up Maddie. She hasn’t seen me since I was 9 months old – hopefully she’ll be amazed!
Grandma moved the picnic table into the kitchen, I helped Grandma make burgers for supper. We mixed ground turkey, refried black beans, onions, egg, crackers and garlic, cumin, parsley and black and cayenne peppers. I helped squish everything together and was very possessive about shaking in all of the “pices”. Grandma took a bunch of pictures…..then had to clean all of the spice containers, as they were covered in gooey turkey stuff. I had so much fun, though! I also wore my new cooking apron.
I ate a turkey burger, roasted butternut squash with basil and garlic and blueberries with yogurt – and drank a glass of milk. I didn’t want to ake my bath and really struggled with bathtime again tonight. I giggle a lot while drying off, though, because I wanted to be a Maggie burrito. That was fun! We read 2 stories – one of which I read to Grandpa. I was in bed by 7:50
I slept last night from 8:00 until 7:45 this morning. I was so sleepy (and my new PJs were wet, too!).Grandma made me oatmeal for breakfast. She put in apples and cranberries, vanilla and cinnamon. Yummy! We also cooked an “all-pice” egg, but we had a little accident. I dropped an egg and made big mess. But Grandma wasn’t upset, she just poured salt all over the yucky egg on the floor, then cleaned it up. We got another egg and started over. It was delicious! I ate a Clementine for dessert – and reminded Grandma to put my vitamins on it.
After breakfast we played with Legos, Play-doh, and a new sticker book Aunt Claire got for me. After that, Grandpa came in and played with me because Grandma had a very bad headache. We read stories, played with more Legos – and Grandpa even changed my poopy diaper – another first for Grandpa Droste.Again, I refused to sit on my potty today, but I still read my Ashley book a dozen times.
For lunch I ate leftover salmon and cauliflower, a little yogurt and some green grapes. We counted them, and I kept (accidentally) dropping them on the floor. I asked Grandma to “jeebah” the grapes for me, then I ate them all.My afternoon nap lasted from 1:00 until 3:30. Guess who got me out of bed? Aunt Claire and Rob! They are taking me with them to the airport to pick up Maddie. She hasn’t seen me since I was 9 months old – hopefully she’ll be amazed!
Grandma moved the picnic table into the kitchen, I helped Grandma make burgers for supper. We mixed ground turkey, refried black beans, onions, egg, crackers and garlic, cumin, parsley and black and cayenne peppers. I helped squish everything together and was very possessive about shaking in all of the “pices”. Grandma took a bunch of pictures…..then had to clean all of the spice containers, as they were covered in gooey turkey stuff. I had so much fun, though! I also wore my new cooking apron.
I ate a turkey burger, roasted butternut squash with basil and garlic and blueberries with yogurt – and drank a glass of milk.I didn’t want to ake my bath and really struggled with bathtime again tonight.I giggle a lot while drying off, though, because I wanted to be a Maggie burrito. That was fun! We read 2 stories – one of which I read to Grandpa.I was in bed by 7:50
It’s Christmas! I woke up with Mom and went into the living room, where we immediately woke up Claire who was sleeping on the couch. I was so excited to see a pretty picnic table waiting for me next to the tree. I got to get my first present before most people in the house were even up! Grandma, Aunt Sarah, and Dad woke up pretty quickly after I did and Aunt Sarah got started making breakfast.
After seemed like forever, Grandpa finally got up and showered. I was still in my Elmo jammies and celebrated the beginning of presents with a little dance.
I got so many presents! It’s hard to pick any favorites, but I really liked my baby doll and stroller. We named my baby Sophie. After we were done with presents, Rob came by and hung out with us for a while.
After I took a nap, we had another Christmas party at Great Uncle Michael’s house. I got to see my favorite cousin, Hunter. He took such good care of me and we played lots of games together, including red light, green light.
I got even more presents, including a shopping cart full of groceries, which I immediately took for a spin…
I woke up naked around 5:45 on Monday and was so happy to see Mom and to realize that she was taking the day off. We read books, I sat on my potty, and then we cooked an egg. A couple hours later we went to the airport to pick up Aunt Claire. On our way, we stopped by Starbucks for some Starbucks Water and parked near the airport watching planes land.
Finally A/C got out and I greated her by saying “Aunt Claire, you’re so cool!” and “You rock!” When we got hom, I worked with Mom on packing Whoppers into 100 calorie packs. I ate lunch and took a nap before going to Starbucks.
I assumed I’d get more Starbucks water, but Mom turned me down! I was so sad. Aunt Claire didn’t even lobby on my behalf. Dad, where are you!!? We got home, I ate dinner, and went to bed. Claire went out on a hot date. What’s that?
Mom woke me up pretty early on Tuesday. I wasn’t naked, which was good, but I was really tired, which was bad. I kept saying to Mom, “Go back to sleep!” So, she let me take my pacifier into the car so I could fall asleep. Of course, I took the pacifier and then didn’t sleep, etc.
It was snowing, so our drive to school was pretty slow. I was upset when Mom left, but otherwise I had a great day at school. The drive home was awful. The traffic was so slow. I got really upset!
A/C had dinner ready and I had dinner with her. Then she let me watch fun videos on her computer. I like Abby Caddaby! Then instead of going to bed, we packed up the car and drove to Grandma and Grandpa Droste’s. We stopped by Starbucks and this time I got Starbucks Water! I slept about 30 minutes into the ride and slept until we got to Dow. I woke up for a bit and then Grandma Droste got me back to bed.
On Wednesday, I got up pretty early (5:30) and Mom desperately tried to get me to go back to sleep. She even offered to let me sleep in her bed and she took off my PJs (I thought they were supposed to stay on!). When she gave up, we went into the living room where Grandma Droste and Aunt Sarah were waiting for me. Mom went back to sleep, Grandma and A/C went out to run errands, so I played with A/S. The first and most imporant thing we did was make breakfast; I tought her how to cook an egg!
We hung out for a bit and then went to pick up Dad from the airport. I slept on the way there and pack, ignoring Dad’s excitement to see me. We stopped by Great Grandma Droste’s on the way home and Great Aunt Jackie let me play with her soccer ball. We got home and ate lunch (Aunt Sarah’s soups!) and then took a nap. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out with everyone and getting ready for Christmas!
Of course, I got in some quality time with Aunt Claire:
I got up on Thursday with Mom, but when Grandma and Aunt Sarah offered to play with me, Mom went right back to bed. I had a fun time with them — Grandma even taught me a new president (Lincoln!). After Mom and Dad got up, I watched Dad go potty and then insisted on taking a shower with Dad, which he’s never let me do before. It was fun, but I got a little shampoo in my eyes, which was not fun at all.
After we got dressed, we all went to Wal-Mart, which I’d been to before but hadn’t quite appreciated just how big and amazing the store is. I had a lot of fun with Aunt Claire roaming around to differnet aisles and getting excited by all the fun stuff.
Here I am in the Christmas spirit:
When we got home it was time for lunch and then my nap. I got up with Aunt Claire and her friend Rob. When Rob left, I hung out with Grandma, A/C and A/S while Dad took a nap. Finally, it was time for Christmas Eve at Great Grandma Droste’s!
Just like last year, Christmas Eve was crazy! I saw dozens of my extended family and got lots of compliments on my cuteness, smartness, and pretty dress. I got to eat and drink lots of things I usually can’t: tortilla chips, iced tea, punch, and cookies just to name a few. There was lots of singing (I danced) and I got to put a shepherd in the manger. Apparently that’s a big deal!
And even better, I got some presents:
By the time we got home it was way after my bed time — around 10!
margaretyagan 