1...2...3...4

Here's a video where you can hear Paige counting a little before she goes down her slide. She still leaves off the number one sometimes.

Counting

Paige started counting out-loud today. She holds up all of her fingers and moves her index finger back and forth while saying two, three...(yeah, I don't know where the one went).

Yesterday was actually the first time that she ever acted like she was counting. She was playing with a container of buttons and sitting them on the floor one at a time. She was kind of saying something under her breath, but numbers weren't audible.

Heather

Paige said 'Heather' today for the first time. It sounded pretty good, but she left out the middle consonants. So, it sounded more like 'Heaer.' I am excited that she is trying to say my name, but I hope she doesn't try to call me that! :)

Unprompted Kisses..Priceless!

Today at Musikgarten, Paige melted my heart! During the rocking song, Paige came over and gave me a kiss, not once, but twice. I guess she was feeling extra affectionate because this was the first time that she has ever kissed me without prompting her. What a little sweetie!

18 Month Doctor Visit

Paige went for her 18 month well-check today. Dr. Herrbold said that she is doing really great. She is still petite, or course, but overall she is great. Dr. Herrbold just thinks she is going to be a small girl and as long as she keeps growing, we shouldn't have anything to worry about. So, Paige is now 18lbs and 10oz (which is still below the growth chart). She is 30 1/2 in. long (20th %ile) and her head circumference is 18 in. (25th %ile)



During the visit, Paige showed Dr. Herrbold how she pretends to pour tea in a cup, she stacked some blocks for him, and she pointed out a few body parts. Dr. Herrbold says that I should really challenge Paige at this age because toddlers are like little sponges. He encouraged me to teach her to recognize her letters and said that Paige should be able to identify all of them by the time she is two! Wow...really! Yeah, I agree that Paige is a little sponge for knowledge, but that seems a little daunting...all 26 letters (upper and lowercase)! Well, I guess we better get started!

January Playdate

We went to Macey's house for our playdate today. It was a lot of fun, eventhough the older girls (Paige and Kacey) had a little trouble sharing the toys. Macey had an abundant supply of toys to play with, but of course, the girls always wanted to play with the same thing. Macey was just as happy as can be, though...she was simply thrilled to have friends over at her house! I like her attitude...enjoy yourself no matter what toy you're playing with.

This car was the real hit of the day...Paige just loved it!

Playing in the tent and tunnel with Macey!

Birthday Celebrations

Today was Grandma Kathy and Great-Aunt Pat's birthday. (Can you believe that they are sisters and born on the same day.) We celebrated the occasion at Lara and Michael's house with a birthday dinner.

We were responsible for bringing the cake...Paige helped me out by spreading the icing, and she actually did pretty good. She only dug the knife down into the cake once. :)

Here's the cake we made.

Helping Aunt Pat open one of her gifts!Paige enjoyed playing with the Play-Doh while she waited for dinner to be served. Ethan showed her how to make some cool creations with tools she had never seen before...just when Paige was thinking that Play-doh couldn't get any better!! Fun, fun!!

One and a Half Years Old

Paige is 18 months old today...and that is just surreal! I marvel at how big she is, how smart she is, and all that she can do!

Paige is learning to say new words every day! Today she said her own name pretty clearly. She has a little trouble with the 'p' sound but other than that it sounds good. We are always excited to hear what Paige will say or do next!

God is so amazing and we are so blessed to have Paige as our daughter! She is such a joy and is truly the light of our lives. Here is our little girl...getting so big!

Did I mention that she is a little ham, too!

Holding one of her very favorite things, play-doh!
Hammin' it up for the camera again!

Stickers for Daddy

Paige found an interesting place to put her stickers today...don't you admire the creative thinking that kiddos possess?!

Lovin' Those Blueberries

Paige was eating some frozen blueberries that her grandma gave her today. Frozen blueberries are much messier than fresh ones because they are so juicy when they thaw...Paige was a real mess by the time she got done eating her snack. She thought it was pretty funny that she got so messy...and so did I! Luckily, she cleaned up pretty easily!

These Boots are Made for Meowing!

Paige really loves to wear boots...she has four different pair of rain boots: frogs, pink with polka dots, plain yellow, and these kitty boots. The frogs are probably her favorite and these are a close second.

Lately, Paige has been wearing them almost everyday because she has figured out how to put them on all by herself...and she is so proud of herself when she does it. She gets a huge smile on her face and starts dancing around (stomping her feet). This is because of the Boots song by The Laurie Berkner band...she likes to listen to it when she has her boots on.

Kacey's B-day Party

Paige went to Kacey's 2nd birthday party today. She had a lot of fun. The party's theme was Yo Gabba Gabba. Paige liked helping Kacey open her gifts and especially liked the party favors that she got to take home.

Helping Kacey open one of her presents.

Checking out a cool book that Kacey received!

Helping Kacey open the desk that we gave her.

Funny Frog

Tonight as I was putting Paige to bed, she got a frog in her throat. It kinda startled her as she was taking a breath because of the way it sounded. When she realized that her breath made that sound, she started breathing in and out quickly to replicate it. It sounded like she was gasping for air. I asked her, "Paige, what are you doing?" and she smiled at me and said, "I silly." I started cracking up! Gotta love kiddos; she is still able to have fun even when she is sick!

Teething Madness

Paige was pretty much awake all night last night...she only slept for 15 minute increments. Plus, she has a slight temperature over 101, so we took her to the doctor today.

Dr. Herrbold said that she was teething (her bottom first molars-which is what I suspected), but that she also had a double ear infection. Gosh, when it rains it pours! Dr. Herrbold said that the teething probably caused the ear infection from the extra fluid that teething brings with all the swelling. (That was news to me.)

So, anyway Paige is on some antibiotic now and Motrin every six hours for pain. Hopefully she'll be on the mend soon...and we can both get some more sleep!

First Time for Everything

Paige got carsick for the first time last night when we drove to St. Thomas to visit Uncle Butch and family. We were in the drive-way when it happened ...poor Paigey! She was really frightened by the whole ordeal, but she was fine once we got her all cleaned up...which took awhile!

On a positive note, something else Paige did for the first time today was say the names of pictures in her book when she pointed to them. For a few months, she has been pointing to pictures that I ask her to, but she hasn't repeated the words. Although, she has been able to say sounds of animals or do the signs for certain pictures for about the last month or two. So, today was was pretty awesome when she started labeling the pictures with her words!

Christmas Cookies

Paige really loved the cookies this Christmas. Here is a little video to show how hard it was to choose from the many options to eat...she pointed to several before eating one. Plus, you get to hear her say cookie and Papa!

Christmas

This was our first Christmas as residents of Linn, and I must say that it was really nice not to have to travel this year. We usually have to spend part of Christmas Eve driving, but this year we just got to relax and have a really nice dinner with Neil's family.

We started a new tradition at our house on Christmas morning. This is the first time that Neil and I have actually woken up in our own house on Christmas (and of course, Paige's first too), so we thought it would be fun to have everyone over for breakfast. Plus, we believe that it is important for Paige to start out the morning here, and be able to open her presents, before we move on to grandma and grandpa's house. So, now we are going to do that every year! Woohoo!

Christmas was a lot of fun! Paige really enjoyed herself and everyone enjoyed here even more. She helped pass out presents at each house that we went to and helped to unwrap them too! A lot of the older kids were fascinated by Paige and loved hanging out with her, although she was even more fascinated by them and wanted to be involved in whatever they were doing. If Paige were able to sum up what she loves about Christmas, she would probably say; "There are lots of presents, cookies, crackers, and kids to play with...I love it all and can't wait till next year!

Playdate at our House!

We had a playdate at our house today with Paige's friends Kacey and Macey. It was a lot of fun! The girls played on the slide a lot and played with the kitchen set even more. Macey really liked Paige's Elmo lawnmower, so we let her borrow it for awhile until she gets to be a really good walker on her own. Can't wait until our next playdate...it is going to be at Macey's house!

Taking a break on the couch with Kacey...Macey is right beside them!

Okay, so we tried to stage the pictures...Macey wasn't having this one and Paige thought it was pretty funny!

Neil's 30th Birthday Party

Neil hit the big 3-0 on Wednesday, so we had a surprise birthday party for him today. I would say it was a hugh success...he had no idea and had a great time when he got there. Thanks go out to his mom and dad for hosting it at their house and preparing all the food...you are wonderful!

Paige is sitting on her daddy's lap as everyone begins to sing Happy Birthday!

Now Paige is really enjoying the birthday song and claps as everyone finishes! Paige wanted to blow out the candles again after Daddy did it...we did this two or three times!

Christmas Baking

Wow, did we have a fun day today with Aunt Jill!! I have never done so much baking and neither has Paige (of course). We baked cookies and made chocolate covered pretzels from 10am-5pm. Now, that is a lot of sweet stuff.

Paige had a blast. She helped put the pretzels into the chocolate and managed to eat a few too! She was taking a nap during most of the cookie baking, but she managed to eat some of those when she woke up too! Lucky for her, they were peanut butter flowers, which meant her favorite thing was sitting on top of the cookie...chocolate (or as Paige says it 'choc-ee').

Here we are with our 200+ peanut butter flowers!

That's a lot of cookies!

Paige is working hard on the pretzels with Aunt Jill!

Paige helped mommy too!Chef Paigey!

Birthday Celebration

I had fun celebrating my 31st birthday today. Paige is a lot of fun with presents, balloons, and candles. She is such a joy, and I have a lot to be thankful for on my birthday...I have a wonderful daughter, an amazing husband, a great family, and fabulous friends! Happy Birthday to me! :o)

Paige thinks balloons are awesome...she loves playing with them and hitting them together!

Getting ready to blow out the candles...Paige is getting a head start!

See, Paige is already done and wondering why we are still blowing!
Paige loved the Poinsettia that Aunt Pat gave to me. It is nice and petite...just her size!

Bubble Gum

I don't know how it got started today, but while I was working in the kitchen I began to hear Paige laughing over and over again. I found her in the office with her daddy, and she was mesmerized by his bubble blowing skills...and her bubble popping skills! I managed to get a little on video (You'll see her do her signs for more and please and hear her say 'more')!

Linn Christmas Parade

We went to watch the Linn Christmas parade today. It was pretty cold outside and a little rainy but it was still enjoyable. The theme was A Griswold Family Christmas, so some of the floats were pretty fun to see. Neil's bank had a station wagon with the uprooted tree on top...classic! They won first place. Paige's favorite part of the parade was the horses and eating Oreo cookies afterward!

Here is the Legend's Bank parade entry!

Watching the parade with Grandpa Loethen.

Hanging out with Aunt Jill and enjoying her first bite of an Oreo cookie!
Paige really enjoyed her cookies...can't you tell by that concentration?!

Savoring every bite!

Story Time at the Library

We attended story time at the Linn Library for the first time today. They were supposed to read the Polar Express, but they read some other Christmas stories instead. Paige was very attentive during the stories and sat on my lap until the last book... Paige must have been feeling a little more comfortable with the group because she stood right in front of the 'teacher' and just stared at the book. She even tried to touch the pictures a couple of times, and I had to move her back.

Paige had a great time...and although she loves books, her favorite part of the activity was probably when they had a marshmallow snowball fight and listened to Christmas music. She was excited to play with the 'snowballs' and watch the other kids act a little goofy!

PAT Christmas Party

Paige had her Christmas party with Parents As Teachers tonight. She really enjoyed it a lot. She loves being around other kids...she doesn't really "play" with them a lot, but she loves to watch what they are doing. Paige stayed really busy with this and making lots of ornaments.

Here she is making a candy cane ornament with a pipe cleaner and beads. She did a pretty good job of threading the beads on...I was impressed!

Then, we cut out a snowflake...well, I cut it and I tried to get her to hold the coffee filter!

Paige got to visit with Santa...she wasn't too sure about this big guy! At least she didn't cry!

Paige, posing in her dress for us!

Going for a Ride!!

Paige loves to ride on her Fisher Price zebra. I have been trying to capture this activity on video for some time now, but every time I get out the camera she stops riding and wants to come and see what I have on the camera. I can't seem to explain to Paige that she needs to let me record her first!! So, this is the best that I have to share with you. Paige can really get going on this zebra...she is pretty funny to watch in person, so I hope this does her justice. Enjoy!

Neil's Christmas Party

Neil and I went to his work Christmas party tonight. We had a pretty good time and ate some yummy food...they had prime rib. I don't really choose to eat that very often, but it was pretty tasty!

Paige stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Loethen's and played with her Aunt Jill a lot...it looks like she was having a good time according to these pictures! It doesn't even look like she missed us!!

Candy Cane Hunt

We went to a Candy Cane Hunt today in Jefferson City with our playgroup friends. The Candy Cane Hunt is an annual event put on by the Jeff City parks, recreation, and forestry staff. It had a Candy Land theme and was really cute. The main activity for the children was to find the missing candy canes (All the candy canes were stolen and replaced with licorice, so there was licorice hanging from the ceiling, on the Christmas tree, etc.) There were many stops for the kiddos to enjoy while on the journey to find the missing candy canes.

Here Paige is listening to a story read by Mamma Gingertree.

Gramma Nut shared some helpful information that Lord Licorice was the one who took all the candy canes. She gave us a little gift to give to him in hopes that he would give back the candy canes.
This is the elf, Deedle, who led us on our journey. She is holding the gift for Lord Licorice.

Paige got to stop at Mrs. Claus's Bakery to decorate a candy cane cookie. She did a good job of spreading the icing.

Doesn't it look yummy with those sprinkles...the icing is peppermint flavored, too!

Here is Lord Licorice sharing the candy canes because he was so happy to get a gift from us...he said that no one had ever shown him such kindness.

Paige even got to visit Santa and sit on his sleigh with her playgroup friends.

Paige had to check out Santa's tree and his really big candy cane!