Sick little girl

Megan has strep throat. I have no idea where she contracted it, but one really never knows where germs originate! She's acting mostly normal, but there are points you can tell she's not feeling her best (like when she is not eating some of her favorite foods). But, she's on the road to recovery now. I'm just glad we figured it out before the weekend...

Megan abilities

Just quickly to update all the things that Megan can do. She truly is brilliant...and we realize we have our hands FULL with this girl!!!

• She counts to 50 without much help...actually I think I heard her and DH count to 56 the other night.
• She sings through her alphabet without batting an eye. She loves to call Nana or Grandma & Papaw to do "b-c"s (as she calls them).
• She can recognize at least 25 words. She spells several. Some of the ones she knows include: duck, mom, dad, nana, Megan, dog, cat, car, water, vine, boy, girl, God (which causes her break out in song: "God is so good"), go, stop are the ones that come to mind right now. She loves to take her alphabet puzzle and "do words". She literally can spend an hour "doing words". She loves the challenge!
• Speaking of puzzles, she has "graduated" to jigsaw puzzles. It didn't take her long to figure them out, either! Maybe 3 days?
  
• She loves to sing "Jesus Loves Me"...as seen in the previous video. She also loves to sing "Father Abraham", "In the Lords Army" (aka "sticks"), "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Circle, Triangle, Rectangle & Square" to name a few.
  
• She has quite the memory. About 2 weeks after we had been home from our family visit, she told me Uncle Keith was being silly and Megan cried. And she was right! It was a day she had not enough sleep and was extra sensitive and she did cry over nothing. Of course, crying over any hint of a laugh when she is tired is not all that uncommon, and thankfully it has gotten so much better! She's finally realizing not all laughs/giggles are at her (especially when she doesn't want them).
• She desperately want to ride her bike. Yes, she has a big girl bike. The neighbor girl outgrew hers and they kindly gave it to Megan. Surprisingly, it does fit her, but we have not gotten training wheels nor have we gotten a helmet (both will be birthday presents). We've had to hide it in the garage or every time she goes out here, she wants to ride it. Right now.
• Sleep...well, that's a whole other post. She had been doing so well, but then when we were in SD it got bad. In fact, since we've been back all sorts of things have been bad...including her social anxiety at school & church. She's been crying at both for some reason. She's loved both of those things for some time, I'm not really sure why she doesn't right now. We are looking into some options to potentially address both of these issues which I think are very much connected.
• She does not mind going in time out. In fact, after she gets out of time out (usually for hitting, which does a lot when she's tired), Elm0 typically has to go into timeout. Often she wants ME to put him in timeout and I typically refuse. I tell her that if she thinks he needs to go in timeout, then she needs to put them there. And so she does...she moves the chair to the right spot, puts him on the chair, bends down and tells him he's in timeout for hitting, then she walks away. Of course, then she forgets he's in timeout. But, the whole thing is just hilarious! Its really hard not to laugh!!!
• Speaking of Elm0, he has to do everything she does...even down to going on the potty to go potty. And I think a few times we've had to get paper for Elm0, too. It really gets too much sometimes, but she is definitely getting into imagine play. Finally.
• Her favorite phrase right now is "okie, dokie, M"...yes, she calls herself "M". We have no idea where she came up with that one...we don't call her that! She's so funny!!!

Well, that's the best I can do right now...

Singing

Here is our precious one of singing her favorite songs.

Let it SNOW!!!

I'm not kidding when I say that we got over a FOOT of snow yesterday! Yes, in ONE day!!!! It was a beautiful falling snow, and it wasn't horribly cold out as it hovered right at 32 all day. Megan & I spent about an hour outside playing in the snow. I did wonder, though if we had moved our house to South Dakota! One friend suggested it looked like Narnia outside..I would have to agree!

We made snowmen (okay, I MADE snowmen while Megan walked around in the snow!)

She had fun standing by the snowmen, though.

You can see here, in the pic I took last night before bedtime, that the deck is completely covered and the snow almost comes up to Irish's chest. Today, in fact, DH had to shovel some snow in the backyard so that Dakota could walk somewhere besides right beside the house! Despite those difficulties, the dogs are LOVING eating the snow!

A fun trip!

Megan & I went to visit family this weekend...here are some of the pics we took...

NanaLin & Grandpa Steve with Megan
(yes, Elmo goes everywhere)

Grandmom V & Papaw with Megan
(Papaw had surgery on his shoulder the day before)

Playing in the snow with Nana
It snowed 7 inches over the weekend!

Play dough with Nana and cousins Ash & Brady

Cousin Brookie and Megan with me

Megan said she needed "put gloves on & clean"

Silly stickers with Nana

What is it about Big Bird?

For whatever reason Megan is completely FASCINATED by Big Bird...specifically this BB instrument that comes from her medical kit. She's slept with it...talks to it (of course!)...loves on it...it's really the craziest thing!

Doesn't look at that intriguing, if you ask me.

I love this pic of her...she's actually smiling (actually, I think she is saying "Big Bird! What's he DO-ing?")

Giving loves to BB...

This girl cracks me up!

Chinese New Year

CNY is in a few weeks...on Valentines Day, actually. So, I thought this morning I would check out which outfits we got in China will fit this year. I found these....

This is my favorite..although the dress is crooked. She was not cooperating very well...at all, actually.

This what they identify as "pajamas"...it fits pretty good, too. And its red. One of my favorite colors on her.

Playing in the Sand

Megan loves to play in the sand. Its been really nice this week, so I pulled the sandbox out for her to play in. As you can see in the video, she doesn't really "play"...but I'll let the video speak for itself.

Skills & Sillies

Megan is quite the character! She's making some significant advancements verbally. Here's a few the Megan-isms lately.

• She says "great job!" to all sorts of things either she or Elm0 does.
• She just started saying "ta-da!". She plays "where is Elm0?" then says "ta-da!" when she "finds" him.
• She's started to say "cool" at somewhat random times.
  
• I've brought her "Norwegian heritage" out...she says "oof-da".
  
• Somewhere she picked up "okie-dokie". We're not sure where, but think it must be school because neither DH or I use that phrase. Occasionally she'll say "okie-dokie, M" Again, we don't know where the "M" comes from as our nicknames (okay MY nicknames) are "Meggie" or "Meg" or "Meg-pie", but never "M". Who knows where that comes from.
• She is fascinated by what she calls her "flappy". At night time she does NOT keep blankets on...never has according to the paperwork from China we re-read this week! So, she sleeps with a onesie on under her fleece blanket sleeper. Since we don't snap the onesie close until she has a diaper on...so the flap hangs down. It drives her crazy if she is getting ready to go potty, getting dressed or putting her pjs on and her "flappy" is hanging. Its a love/hate relationship as she wants to "see flappy", but yet gets all frustrated when she sees it. It's kind of funny, actually.
• She loves to play "Where's Elm0?" Sometimes she plays "where's Megan?"...which is a game she's always played, but now she tightly closes her eyes and says "where's Elm0?" or "where's Megan?" Sometimes she covers her eyes while they are closed, but not always. It's just too funny...then when she appears she makes the cutest little "ah!" of discovery sound.
• She also (of course) loves to watch Elm0...she has 3 movies, of which we watch 1 over and over and over...of course, watching Elm0 1-2 times a day is her limit...but that doesn't mean she wouldn't love to watch it all day long. At the beginning (and end) the movie gives their website...so whenever she sees the Sesame sign, she says "sesame street dot org". It's too cute!!!
• Speaking of Elm0...she'll be quite excited to know that at the end of February she & I are going with some friends to Sesame St Live...it shall be interesting (for mommy, anyways!)
  

Elm0 Love

Megan loves her some Elm0. She got 2 small ones for Christmas (thankfully, neither make noise!!!). Funny enough, this one she got to open a few days before Christmas from an aunt & uncle. The other one NanaLin brought--so it was a few days after Christmas, both however, within a week. Yet, the one she got from Nana is called "new Elm0". Who knows why...she can adjust its arms, legs and head. It's kind of cool, but the body is kind of big to hold in her hand. This one, however, she can hold in her hand. We never know which Elm0 will be the popular one of the day. "New Elmo" has been coming with us the 2 days (the store, the doctor, the zoo, sits in the car while she's at school) and she slept with him at nap time yesterday, too. Awh, yes, we have to sleep with Elm0. We thought it would be a distraction to actually going to sleep, but so far, so good. Both look a little ratty because they are squeezed so dang much...and carried around...thrown around...stepped on...well, you get the picture.

One morning Elm0 had to have cereal for breakfast, too. And he typically has to take turns when its time to get a drink, etc. She loves her Elm0!

Oh, and how could I forget the conversations! They are just too precious!!! I'm sure she's telling him something in this picture. Typically, we hear, "what you doing, Elm0? What YOU doing?" or "Look, Elm0! Look!" But my favorite is when she blames him for something. It really is funny.

Pics

Megan with her new rain boots. The only way they will stay on right now is if she wears them with her pjs...so next month's trip to SD might require her to play in the snow in her PJs! But then, who would complain about that!!!

My little diva...with all her baubles.

Nana Lin & Megan...I sure wish Megan would smile in pics!

Our Growing Girl

Pictures tomorrow (I think)....

But, I wanted to share that we took Megan to the doctor. I asked them to give me updated measurements. She is now 32.5 lbs and 37.5 inches. She's grown 3 inches and gained 2 lbs since June! WOW! It's no wonder I can't keep clothes & shoes that fit her! Geez. Surely she's going to take a break from growing for a little bit. She is now on American charts over 80% for both height & weight. So much for having a tiny girl!

I think it's all the green veggies she eats...peas, edemame, broccoli and green beans. Oh, and milk. She loves her milk (warm, of course!).

Happy 2010!

First off, I just checked...and I haven't take a single photo (well I took a couple today before Nana left) since Christmas. So, I have no new ones to share. I taught a class last week, so I was very busy with that...and very tired. Megan did great, but definitely missed her mommy time. Last night we took Nana out for supper and Megan wanted to sit on my lap almost the entire dinner (this is a request that started about a week ago or so). I think combining those last 2 year molars coming in and me being gone for a week is a recipe for needy-ness.

Second, I cannot believe we've (almost) finished the first decade of the millennium! It seems like JUST YESTERDAY we were celebrating 2000...where have the past 10 years gone?! My goodness, that's bad.

This weekend, I spent some time wondering what changes hold for Megan this year. What will her interests be NEXT Christmas...shoot, how BIG she will be! Even Nana mentioned she couldn't believe how big she's gotten. She just looks so gosh darn grown up. While that's exciting, its just so darn sad! My baby is growing up SO FAST. It's what kids are supposed to do, I know, it just seems like it's happening so fast. I thought it'd be FOREVER that she'd be wearing size 3T pants and 4T shirts, but it's pretty much here already. Somehow, less than 2 years after bringing my very small baby girl home, she's gotten all grown up. It's so exciting, yet so sad.

One thing I have forgotten to mention is Megan's most recent ability...she knows her right from her left. We're not sure where she learned it, but we've quizzed her on several different situations and she's always right!

Speaking of needy, my needy child is needing her mommy.

Merry Christmas!

We went to Christmas Eve service at church.

Came home, made pizza and opened some presents.
She loves her doggie!

And her food...she's very much into "cooking"

Christmas Morning she opened a few more presents
We took opened presents over 3 days. It's a good thing she took FOREVER each time! But last year she was not interested at all...so we're making progress!
Oh, and she got a new Elm* DVD...but she wouldn't open it! So about an hour after we started opening presents (and us asking her a million times if she was ready to open her last present), I opened the end of the paper so we could "peek" inside...then she was interested in opening it. Silly girl!

And since there was snow on Christmas..I thought we should head out and play in it. It wasn't sticky at all, so making a miniature snowman was out of the question (although a good plan!).

It's a White Christmas!

It snowed here last night and was cold enough that it stayed overnight!
So we headed out in the snow...
(good thing the hat & gloves arrived on Wed!)

Just some pics

Megan decided that drinking from straws are really cool now. I'm not sure what changed, because we've tried a number of times before.

Well, what is another use for a straw? A phone, of course!

Santa & Widget at story time at a local mall. Megan was MESMERIZED! Right now Santa rates up there with Elmo.

"See, look Mom! I can drive with my feet!"

Catching Up

While I've been pretty good about posting pics, I've not been so good at taking time to blog about the "stuff" happening around here. Let's see what I can come up with...quickly. It's almost time to go get Megan from school...

Speaking of school...Megan L-O-V-E-S school! She has great teachers this year and she is just flourishing! She's starting to play with the other kids (or so I'm told) and she's beginning to talk at school (if she's one-on-one with her teachers). If she could go to school every day, she would love it!

Megan is growing up so much. Potty training is going so well. I can't tell you the last time she had a potty accident (poop is a different topic entirely, but she's doing pretty well over all). I had bought a package of pull ups to wear when we go out. We did the first few times we went out, but she's never had an accident when we are out, so I've not bothered now. Of course, we don't have to drive too far, yet. I'm sure when we take our next road trip, she'll wear them, just in case!

Megan's love with Elm0 has only grown! Oh my gosh...we have 2 dvds with him in it. Every waking moment she asks to watch Elm0. every. waking. moment. I typically restrict her to watch them once a day. It's bad enough that I wake up in the middle of the night with those stupid songs stuck in my head. It about drives me crazy!!!

Speaking of waking up...Megan is doing well with sleep. DH & I split the night sleeping with her (so each of us get some sleep!). This morning, for instance, she was dozing in and out from 3:20 until close to 4am. It was like she was having bad dreams, crying out, yelling, and swinging her arms. It just breaks my heart not knowing what's going on in her little mind. But, she's sleeping around 10 hrs every night. We may be on the verge of her giving up naps (I'm hoping NOT!) as she's having hard time going to sleep at nap time some days lately. We're going to continue with them for as long as absolutely possible!

Megan loves to sing! Her favorite song right now is what she calls "sticks". It's "The Lord's Army" and it's the song her class at school got to play sticks with in their Thanksgiving program. She also loves "My God is so Big" and "Jesus Loves Me". She's starting to sing to different songs, now, too. In fact, DH likes to sing "Good night, Sweetheart" and she loves to sing it with him...and tries to beat him to the "du-du-doo" parts. It's too funny! And incredibly sweet!

Well, that's what comes to mind right now...

Our week in Pictures

Megan making "tea" in Dad's Dt Mt Dew can
Who doesn't want tea in a soda can?

Megan helping me make homemade pizza.
A first, actually.

Such a big girl! She wanted to wear a ring, so I pulled out a pinkie ring I have. It kind of fits, actually. She only wore it for the pictures.

Megan loves to "take pik-shur" with her camera.
She thinks she's taking MY picture! Well, that IS how the camera looks to her when you take her picture!

Fun at the park!

Megan LOVES the slide. Did I say "loves"? I mean adores, begs, enjoys AND loves the slide.

She is such a sassy one...

Could she BE any cuter? No, I didn't think so, either.

Boy the swings are fun!

Megan & Irish

Megan LOVES Irish...always has. Oh, she loves Dakota, too, but by FAR Irish is her favorite. (And Dakota doesn't mind since it means she doesn't get bothered as much!)

She was laying his pillow on Thanksgiving..giving me the perfect photo opportunity.



Our girl & her dog