Wednesday, December 18, 2013

While you were "sleeping"





My doll baby, Hannah...


I picked you up from daycare today a bit early because I wanted you to nap at home. It gives me immense comfort when I know exactly how well you are sleeping during your naps, you've been a little under the weather, and there was a confimed case of RSV in your class yesterday. All reasons to have you home with me.



So I am sitting here at the desk in the den, logging back into my work computer. You are down for your nap, and I can hear quite the little commotion coming from the monitor.



You sleep with somewhere around a thousand stuffed animals in your bed. You like to take care of them. Your favorite being, of course, Piggy, who takes up half the bed. I can hear you in there talking to your stuffed animals. I see on the monitor display that you are lining the stuffed animals across your pillow, saying "Nigh-night" to each one. You make my heart sing, baby.



You snuggle into Piggy and make squealing noises. You lay down and start kicking the side of the crib, just for fun. Then I see you sit up, pull your sock off, and put it into your mouth. You put it in and take it out and put it in and take it out. I hear you say, "acky" - your word for "gross." You throw the sock out of the crib and say, "Uh-oh." It wasn't an accident, but that's what you say when you throw something down on purpose.



You stand up, hold onto the side rails, and start jumping on your bed. Your binky falls out of the crib and onto the floor, and I hear, "Ohhhhh nooooo! Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!" Then more jumping. Then you sit down.



You pick up one of your stuffed animals and start to sing to him. "Poo poo poo poo. Doo-pee-doo-pee doo dooo doooooo." I'm sure he appreciates it.



I'm so happy you're such a happy girl. I love you so much.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Piggy

One morning several weeks ago, Jason & I very innocently thought that we would enjoy a nice family Cracker Barrel breakfast. As any American knows, in order to get to the restaurant section of Cracker Barrel, you have to first take a trip through the store side. Or, as I like to think of it, the black hole for country nostalgia.

It was a Sunday morning so the place was packed. We were already sweating the concept of eating in cramped quarters with our tiny boss-lady. And then, just as we walk in with Hannah securely carried in her father's arms, right in front of the entryway...Hannah meets Piggy.

Instant obsession.

Piggy is not a normal stuffed animal. Piggy is almost twice Hannah's size. Hannah death gripped Piggy, clutching him like he might otherwise get sucked into the center of an EF5 tornado.








Luckily for Hannah, Piggy came with a bargain price tag of only $9.99. A steal for this much stuffed joy, really! So, Piggy not only joined us for breakfast that morning. Piggy Rutherford joined our family for ever.

On his first day with us, he joined us at the grocery store.






Then, the next day, she took him to daycare with her. But, Piggy wound up spending the bulk of the day in the closet because the kids were allegedly scuffling over him.

Piggy joins us for meals and has his own chair next to Hannah.







Piggy rides a horse.






Piggy is a pal.






Piggy helps put farm themed puzzle pieces in place. Naturally, he got to insert the piece of the pig.






Piggy chills on play room window sills.






Piggy sleeps in Hannah's bed and there is barely enough room for her beside him.






Piggy gets books read to him...mostly about animals.






Piggy likes to admire the Christmas tree.






At times, Piggy even goes in to hug the tree.






And, of course, Piggy makes me look extra cool when he is my lone passenger in the car.





Piggy, thanks for all of the joy you have brought my little girl. You're a good pig.


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

I have always loved Christmas despite the fact that I loathe cold weather. I love the spirit, the reflection on Jesus, the songs, the décor, the magic of all the weird Santa traditions...all of that. But, I have to say, having a 20 month old who is witnessing all of the Christmas magic for the first time puts an incredible new light on the whole thing.



Every time Hannah enters our house now, she points to the Christmas tree and says "open." We have deduced that she is trying to tell us to turn it "on" - she LOVES the lights. So, we turn the tree lights on first, and then she walks over to a little Snowman statue we have that has a tiny little train that circles a tiny little lit up town in its belly. She says "choo choo" which means she wants us to turn that thing on as well. Of course, we oblige. She gets an enormous kick out of it. Then she walks over to the fire place and says "fire on, fire on" because she wants us to get a fire going. We start it up, and she will sit there and say "hot" repeatedly, then blow on it (because that's what we do with our hot food!).



It's all so incredible, and it makes the season so beautiful to see it through her precious little eyeballs.