Chatty Cathy Part 2

The daycare teachers have joked (and warned) us that once Maren starts talking, they will know everything that goes on in our house.

This morning, we had an urgent need for kleenex and had to bust into the bathroom where John was toweling off from the shower. We saw a quick flash of his behind and Maren said "Daddy naked, Daddy naked." Uh-oh.

We do lots of chasing her to "catch her." Now she thinks everything she sees is going to catch her. Both a dog and a bird that we saw on a walk in Hilton Head caused her concern. She has been asking "Dog catch me?" and "Bird catch me?" I tell her "No, Mommy will say 'Stop dog' it won't catch you." She says "No Daddy" or "Stop Daddy" when she is being chased.

John will say that I'm crazy, but I did tell her teachers this morning not to be alarmed if she said any of the above...although since there are no showers in the daycare room, I don't think it should be a problem. Her teachers got a big chuckle out of it.

Chatty Cathy

Maren is talking more and more in phrases and near sentences and very good at communicating what she wants (only occasionally with screams). She is also showing an increased interest in the potty, asking to sit on it ("Me potty") when clothed, and she likes to flush it and throw in toilet paper. On the last leg of our trip, from Detroit to GR last Friday, we were delayed on the runway. She was in her car seat (in the plane seat) next to me and said "Poopy, Mommy." "Yes, Maren," I said, ignoring her. 10 minutes later "Poopy, Mommy." I sniffed her. Yup, she was right. But, I couldn't change her as we were about to take off, and the airplane bathroom is small, so I decided I'd just change her when we landed. Well...we landed and the poor baby had an exploded diaper. Poop had shot up her back, wet all over, the car seat and her outfit totally trashed. Approximately 50 wipes later, she was relatively clean and in a new diaper...but I had not packed a spare outfit in the carry on for her. In 33 degree weather, she was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, new diaper, socks and shoes as we got into our friend Tina's car to drive home. Thankfully, the car was warm and we hustled her into our warm house with no ill effects. Quality parenting tips available here for free :).

Where does the time go?

This was my concern about being a blogger...keeping up to date!

Many pics are in the pipeline...will try to get them on soon.

We had a great time in Hilton Head for Thanksgiving. Maren was great on all of the plane rides, even getting up at 4 AM to fly down there. We had perfect weather (70 and sunny most days), Allison was so good in the Nutcracker, Ohio State beat Michigan, the turkey was yummy, a wonderful trip, all in all. And, John got to golf twice and I got to shop. Everybody wins!

CAKE

Maren's favorite thing...eating from someone else's plate, especially cake.

Bunny and Grandpa drove over to have dinner with us last week, since we will be in Hilton Head for Thanksgiving. I cooked...a take out pizza :). I did make the cake from scratch, though.

Daddy's Helper

Last Saturday afternoon...working hard in the yard!

And another cousin...

My cousin Annie lives in a suburb of Columbus, and we had a short visit with she and her son Danny, who is six weeks younger than Maren. They had a great time together at the park.

Busy, Busy

Whew! The days are flying by...we leave for Hilton Head tomorrow for a week. Very excited to get out of gray Michigan and see the Greggs for Thanksgiving.

We were so happy that Jodi and Allison flew up to Columbus two weeks ago to see the Ohio State-Wisconsin game. We had a great time with them and our friends Tim and Stacy were kind enough to watch Maren during the game. We had a good dinner with them after the game and Allison and Maren entertained us with dancing and different cheers.

The countdown is on to THE GAME...can you feel the excitement?

Halloween!!

She loved wearing her puppy suit and running up and down the sidewalk, even in a bit of rain. But, most of all she liked handing out candy. Whenever we had a lull in trick or treaters she would say "More kids, please."

Zoo Goes Boo

We took her to the Grand Rapids' Zoo on Saturday. They have an event every year called Zoo Goes Boo with a trick or treat trail and other festivities. Her favorite things were petting the farm animals and running through the zoo with us chasing her. We got our exercise!

Halloween Party 1

Here she is a Halloween t-shirt from Grandma Bunny and coloring in her Sesame Street Halloween coloring book from Nana and Ampa. She's in love with Elmo right now and wants to sleep with a stuffed Elmo doll every night.

Fall Festival Party

Maren's daycare had a Fall Festival Party last week. Cookies to decorate, crafts to do, each child leaves with a book and a treat bag. The smartest thing is that instead of pumpkin carving, the kids decorate pumpkins with stickers. Here she is with hers in her Halloween dress. Also note the cat nose and whiskers - painted during the party. She sat very still and loved looking at herself in the mirror.