Amelia loved the rug in Grandma Turrell's kitchen.
She missed Mister.
First sit-in with the Storey's (minus Dom).
She's not officially a member of the band.
First snow/sledding experience.
This was the most enthusiasm we got from her out there.
Nice boots, Ford.
Pink Christmas tutu from Auntie Michelle.
Daddy put it on her backward. No matter.
Bestest gift of Christmas...the dolly stroller from Santa.
Loving the tutu back in Nashville.
So, happy holidays and happy 2009! December was a great month. We had fun preparing for the holidays here in TN and ultimately traveling to MI for an almost 2 week visit.
Amelia has done a ton of growing up this past month. She always grows in leaps and bounds when we visit MI. Constantly surrounded by family and friends, she absorbs it all and always seems a different kid once we get back home to Nashville. I can safely say that she is in full-on toddler mode. I guess the start of 2009 marks the official end to baby-hood and the beginning of the wonderful world of toddler-hood.
Amelia is talking so much more, repeating words like crazy and even putting together a few phrases. She has started adding "a" to a lot of her words. My favorite: pizza = "a pizzie (sounds like a-pete-see)." Christmas and our trip to MI was great for expanding her vocab as well. Lots of talk about Santa and snow, singing new songs about jingle bells and reindeer. We practice the names of friends and family regularly but seeing everyone really helped to commit them to her memory. Good stuff.
We spent the first half of our trip with my family in Rockford where we were literally snowed in for quite a few days. Tons and tons of beautiful lake-effect snow! Amelia had her first experience "playing" in it at Aunt Michelle's house. By playing in it I mean allowing someone to hold her well above the ground and never having the need to come into any sort of contact with it. Her reaction was much like that of her reaction to sand this past summer. She did not care for it. But after we brought her in the house, she cried hysterically to go back out. Guess it takes some getting used to. So back out we went and she did warm up a little. She even went sledding with Ford and Grandpa Hank a few times. The photo above is the most she smiled the whole time she was out there. Can't you see how much fun she's having on the inside? :)
Christmas morning we spent at Michelle's and then we headed off to Lansing to see Great Grandma Alice and lots of the Lotoszinski clan; then off to Aunt Stefeni's for dinner and more gift opening and Christmas enjoy with the Stornants! A very busy day but Amelia loved every minute, she was in on all of the action and showed no signs of slowing. See, big-kid stuff.
The fun wasn't over as we packed up the next day to and headed to Grandma and Grandpa Turrell's house to celebrate with the Turrells. Amelia noticed Grandma Pat's kitty rug in the kitchen immediately and spent some quality time talking to the two black Christmas cats. She even sat on it during the gift opening. Poor kid missed her cat.
We stayed with G & G Turrell the remainder of our trip visiting and playing with cousins, aunts & uncles and a few friends.
Sidebar and humble plea for forgiveness: For those of you whom we did not see this trip (and I'm going to throw in a "whilst" here) whilst we were in Michigan, we are deeply saddened. Please forgive us. Matt, Sarah, you are never will be on our "short list." I didn't even have the where-with-all to make a list. But if I had, you would be at the top of it, along with everyone else whom I would add to that list.
We headed out on New Year's Eve and rather than drive straight through we split up our trip and stopped for the night in Indianapolis where we rang in the new year in a Holiday Inn Express. Well, one of us rang in the New Year with Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve and all of Times Square. The other two didn't quite make it.
Anyway, we are back in Nashville. Amelia is extremely happy to be home. Upon our arrival, she walked around the house excitedly, pointing and naming all of the things she apparently missed. "Chair! Beawr! Bed! Meow-meow!" etc.
By the way, this was a bit of a boring post, I admit. More of a documentary of sorts. If I had been up to speed with posting previous to this, I may have been a bit more interesting, maybe even a little funny. However, it's 12:15 am...I fear that if I don't go to sleep, my toddler will wake and I will never even make it to my bed. You see, my toddler has begun some new toddler-like behavior...but I will save that for another day...
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