Fall Behind

It's weird to think Thanksgiving has come and gone. (And from the pictures -- it seems I'm also confused as to where Halloween went.) This is the time of year I begin to feel I've fallen behind on just about everything, determined to catch up. I'll catch up, at least to the degree I have to, and I'll wonder what happened to the holiday season. I haven't been doing as much freelancing work over the last couple days -- my little break, and ample time for my eyes and head to rest from staring at the computer so much. The time off allowed me to notice all my unfinished projects. It also allowed me to make a list for all the things to clean up and out before winter sets in, and before getting all the Christmas decorations out. Yes, usually by this time I have our Christmas card lined up and many decorations out -- neither have happened. (I do have baking scheduled and many gifts figured out!) Many of our neighbors have had their lights up for a week or so now. Everyone seems to be extra jolly with the lights this year -- we're surrounded and sit in the dark. We've decided that we'll put up a few. We don't want to fall any further behind! Naw -- if we get to it, then great. I'll be happy just to get the Christmas tree up this week!

(As I'm posting, Vanessa is giving me dialogue to play in her tea party and for helping to feed baby, so I'm a little distracted but quite humored. She might make a good director one day.) The pictures above were taken by Grandma and Grandpa, in their mounds and mounds of leaves.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Vanessa will be sad for Tom Turkey to be put away in a few days. She's considered him a friend, holding conversations with him, singing to him, and hugging and kissing him. She carried him around almost the entire first day after we put him together. I imagine we'll have to sneak him away till next year. (Seriously . . . otherwise he'll begin to stink and get messy.)

It's been enjoyable to hear Vanessa talk about turkeys and such. The way she curls her tongue and forms her lips to say turkey is really cute -- almost as pleasurable as watching her say "Wooowwww . . ." She made a rafter of turkeys a few days ago. She had the patience to paint with five different colors using five different fingers. She then got to paint however she wanted, and really enjoyed painting her hand over and over.

What word do I use?

Vanessa is not lacking in the attention department. Yet this last weekend she didn't get as much from me as she's used to getting. This morning she wanted to cuddle lots and lots. I eventually had to send some work-related emails, and it would take me just a few minutes to do so. After I explained to Vanessa that I would only be a minute or two, and after her protesting very clearly how she felt about it, she went into the kitchen to figure out a way to get my attention. Within seconds she climbed on top of the kitchen island, pulled out the rather full plastic insert from the Fruity Cheerios box, threw the box on the floor, and then just sat there in the middle of the island as if she was doing no wrong. I knew she wasn't hungry by the amount of food she had eaten to that point, and the fact she continued to waste Cheerios moments before just to get more milk in her bowl to drink. I didn't say a word to her, since she knew she wasn't supposed to be doing what she was doing. I just picked her up and put her back in the playroom while closing the gate. She was mad, we talked about it, and she had a hard time working through it. (She only had to wait 5 minutes before she had me all to herself again. :)

The word that came to mind when walking into the kitchen -- ornery. But she's too soft, sweet and loving to keep that thought long . .. and I was sympathetic to the fact she obviously missed her time with me . . . :)

Speaking of her soft, sweet and loving side . . . Vanessa loves her cousin Celia. While I worked on Saturday, Vanessa got to visit with her. Grandma said Vanessa "shared" her apple juice. She also shared some of Grandma's flowers.

Vanessa doesn't have much hair on the sides of head, but Grandma was able to give them similar ponytails. Cute.

Pretty?

I'm certain there have not been many occasions when a toddler looks at an image of Woody Hayes and says, "You're so pretty . . . " Vanessa said just that yesterday when playing with our Woody and Bo bobbleheads. I'm sure Vanessa meant what Woody stands for is so pretty. ;-) We're hoping for a really pretty win tomorrow . . .
And if the second picture is any indication of what Bo stands for, we might just break them tomorrow. :)

Satisfaction of Completion

Sometimes a few more minutes of extra work is worth the satisfaction of completing something. Vanessa is great to find ways to entertain herself when I need just a minute or two. For this particular moment, it was neat to hear when she discovered the second drawer -- "Look! Wooooowww . . ." Who said VHS's are now worthless?

On the edge . . .

. . . of our seat (and step) as we watched Ohio State take home the big win in overtime. 27 to 24! Much like her daddy, Vanessa couldn't handle the anticipation.

A Grand Cultivation

Grandma is good to help with growing a literate flower -- story hour is like food and water for the bloom . . .

Morning Delight

Finally . . . almost two weeks later and we're finally really enjoying the treats Vanessa labored so hard for. We had colds last week and then we kind of forgot the stash we hid. (Don't let me fool you -- we had a piece here and there, and Vanessa had other treats to finish first.)

After having a prompt and somewhat light dinner last evening (and after putting Vanessa to bed,) Mommy and Daddy remembered the candy and plunged right in. Of course we had to do the cautionary inspection of it all, and do what guardians just have to do -- eat every ounce that might be a choking hazard, with a few extra splurges, like chocolate, in between. However, we were good to keep from devouring all the things Vanessa might enjoy. She loves Whoppers, and we don't, so it's perfect teamwork.

I happened to leave a Twizzler out with the intention to give it to Vanessa after breakfast this morning . . . but oops . . . it was left in plain view. So she had a Twizzler first for breakfast. She took it down in less than a minute.

TRICK OR TREAT

And while speaking of the hard work it took to fill Vanessa's pumpkin three-quarters of the way full -- here are Vanessa and the Slivka kids preparing to head out. For those not in the area -- we get two hours of walking door to door. Two hours is not necessary with little ones like this. Vanessa ran for almost the entire first hour. Then she asked to ride in the stroller to rest and to hide under the canopy to dig through her bucket. (She was pretty sly.) We ended back at the Slivka's homestead and passed out treats for the last 50 minutes.

The task was easy when you had audiences like this. Vanessa was great and put on quite a performance. She'd say, "Trick 'r treat . . ." And she always followed it with a slight bow and "Thank you sooooo much . . . " She was a hoot.

It appears the hip costume colors for 2009 are black and white. It wasn't planned like that. Megan is the penguin.

Joel

Cousin Joel turned 5 the other day and we were able to celebrate today. Joel is quite a character. His eyes and smiles make any heart melt. He's often very soft and sweet. He's so gentle with little ones. He takes his role as big brother very seriously. He chose an Increbibles birthday cake, likes Transformers, most Superheroes, and G.I. Joe. He's a performer too. He sings and dances but has a bashful side, so it's hard to catch him in those moments. He also has an interest in playing football one day. And you can tell he has characteristics of a teacher, and he can be so helpful.

Close friends to Joel brought a moon bounce. How perfect! The kids had a blast. They took turns -- little kids and then big kids. And they all got several turns.

We didn't get pictures of the big kids bouncing since Vanessa took lots of distracting between turns. When one turn was over, Daddy had to climb in and pull her out. So no, Adam didn't count as a big kid. But now that I think about it -- why didn't us old kids get turns?! :) (Joel's daddy, Phil, took his turn "napping" on it when the air was turned off. I almost had proof.)

Vanessa decided after her daddy pulled her out that she didn't want to wait so she was going to run away. She literally began running down the sidewalk, away from the house. I decided to let her keep going as I followed. I had even decided to let her run around the block, but when we got halfway, she spotted the swing in their backyard, so she made a quick B line for it. All in all, a good distraction till the next turn. If you ever wondered how to exhaust Vanessa -- give her unlimited access to a moon bounce. :)