Snow Princess (23 months, 2 wks)

Hello!

We had another snow storm here on Friday afternoon/evening so that meant lots of playing in the snow on Saturday! But I'll tell you more about that later.

Notice anything different about me in this picture? I got a haircut this week! You may be thinking, a haircut? Didn't she just get a haircut? Well I had a bang trim back a little over a month ago. But Mom could no longer stand my mullet so it was time for a shape up.

Here is a back view. I no longer have Jared Allen's hairdo anymore. I haven't really talked about this on my blog before, because, let's face it--no one wants to air their dirty laundry on the Internet. But alas, I think it's time to come clean on a bad habit I have. I like to pull my hair when I'm falling asleep at night. I started this when we first moved to our new house. My parents thought it was some sort of coping mechanism regarding the move. I started pulling the hair on top of my head so if you'll go back and look at pictures of me from this summer, I'm pretty bald on top. My parents tried all kinds of tricks to get me to stop and none of them worked. One day I just quit and everyone was happy. The hair on top of my head has grown back nicely. Then in late October I started pulling again. This time I pulled the back of my head. I pulled on each side of my head leaving a bit of a "skunk tail" So when Mommy took me to get my haircut she and the stylist agreed that we should just go with a short 'do to help it grow in more evenly. Now you'll remember from past posts about haircuts that I am not usually the best customer. But this time I was really good! They started the Dora movie before I even sat down in the chair, I actually sat in the chair (vs Mommy having to squeeze into the kid chair and hold me), and Mommy had to hold my hands down only for the first minute or two until I got engrossed into Dora's Christmas movie. The only time I cried was at the end when the hairdryer came out. I didn't like that much. After it was done I got to pick out a lollipop and a sticker. And now I like to point to my hair and say "haircut!" I'm really proud of it! My stylist said I had such a cute face that I could pull off a really short hairdo. The best news of all is that I haven't pulled my hair since my haircut so my parents are *crossing their fingers* that I forget about this little habit while my hair is short and eventually someday can have longer hair! Or maybe I'll always have a short and sassy 'do. Who knows!

In my quest to be the silliest toddler on the block, I have a new thing where I put my blanky over my head during nightly story time. Mommy can usually coax me out by taking out one of my favorite books.

Alright now back to playing in the snow. Daddy first took me on a sled ride around the block. On the way we helped a neighbor get her car unstuck. Then we went to the backyard and did some more sledding and more playing. I'm so glad I winterized my playhouse but as you can see in the photo, I really need to add on a garage! It took me forever to get the snow out of my car! I guess owning a convertible in Minnesota without a garage is really not practical.

Time for a breather on the back patio

I like how my summer toys are even more fun in the winter. My slide turned into a snow slide! It was really fun sliding into a big snow pile.

Here I am on the lookout for any intruders. Luckily the coast was clear!

Then I came in and looked through some binoculars on Daddy's sailor ornament. I couldn't see out of those real well as it was solid wood. That doesn't stop me from trying several times a day. I am very fond of the Christmas tree. I spend lots of time everyday finding ornaments. I get in trouble when I take them off the tree, but am allowed to touch the ornaments I can reach.

On Saturday after my nap I took a quick bath and got my Christmas outfit on for our Christmas photo shoot/2 year photos. I'm all smiles here before the photographer showed up.

Here I am by the tree again. I just love Christmas! The photo shoot was a bit stressful for us all. You see, I'm nearly two now so you can't boss me around like when I was a baby. I have a mind of my own. And I didn't really feel like cooperating with the photo shoot--especially the attempts at a family picture. So we're not sure how they'll turn out. I don't think I smiled in any of the family pictures so our Christmas card will probably be the one that I'm actually looking somewhat in the direction of the camera and not crying/grumpy. And hopefully there are a few good individual ones to put up on my wall of fame. Mommy says she hopes I'm more cooperative next year when I'm three. We'll see. I happen to remember hearing a story about how my Mommy refused to smile in all of Great Aunt Bernadette's wedding pictures when she was the flowergirl. She was four then.

Want to hear some of the funny things I've been saying lately?

• One night this week we had blueberries as the fruit at dinner. I looooooove blueberries. I ate my bowl of blueberries extremely fast. I was shoveling them in my mouth. Anyway, when I was done I asked for more. Mommy had to thaw some more for me as they were frozen blueberries so it took a few minutes. When she brought them to me I said "ooooooooooooooo happy!"

• One morning this week I let out a big sneeze and then exclaimed "Bless You Me!"

• Lately I've been having a few late night dirty diapers (probably due to all the blueberries..) Daddy came up to my crib to change me. After I got all clean I said, "Happy!"

• At church tonight Mommy was the teacher in nursery. She asked the kids if there was a song they wanted to sing. I yelled out "Itsy!" Mommy said we weren't going to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider. Then I yelled out "E-I-E-I-O! (old macdonald)" Mommy said we weren't going to sing that either. Mommy was hoping for a Christian song. Mommy felt better when another child yelled out "I can sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow" I guess I'm not the only kid that has a few secular favorites!
  

What else is new?

• Mommy was really sick this week (sorry Mom for sharing my germs with you!) so Daddy took me to school on Wednesday. It was our turn to bring the snacks so we couldn't skip. I had lots of fun showing Daddy all the things I do at school. We even did the art project so he has something new to put up in his office.

• I actually danced at dance class this week so that was good. We had our full class again so I think that helped. My teacher always says, "Good job dancers!" after each song so now after she says that I yell out "JOB!"

• Today we went to church twice! It was our last time at our regular church for nursery. When Mommy dropped me off, I just ran right in the nursery ready to play. When I realized Mommy was leaving a cried about 3 tears and then I got some bubbles and I was fine. I colored a picture and was really proud of it. Then tonight Mommy and Daddy had nursery duty at our new church.

Time for bed! Night night!