Winter Wonderland of Fun

I'm a little late posting these pictures from Molly's actual first birthday last Monday. We celebrated with a play date with Ethan and Adam, a cupcake, and some grouchy pants (which thankfully got put back in the closet after her morning nap).
I think Molly's not so sure about this whole "one year" thing...


but if it involves cupcakes, she's game to try it.

This past week also brought a lot of snow, playtime with Grammy so that I could actually Christmas shop, Molly's one year trip to the pediatrician (she remains tall at 31 inches but, despite her pot belly, is leveling off with her weight at almost 22 lbs), some additional hair on top of her head, Christmas parties, new animal sounds (duck and snake have been added the repertoire. I think John taught her the sound for snake because of the snake that Harry caught and deposited in our dining room. Guess where I was after I found the snake? That's right, on top of a chair) and lots more walking. Today, she made it all the way across the kitchen and out into the living room while only stopping for a knee once.

Navigating some difficult terrain in the kitchen -- sippy cups and maracas offer unprecedented dangers.


Watching the snow start on Friday... and it hasn't stopped yet. We are lucky, however, because we were one of the few areas not to experience any power outages from last week's ice storm. I think our friends the Shippees hold the record at 10 days without power... Good thing they are hearty New Hampshire-ites.


Still snowing at bedtime...



Despite some chilly temps, we got outside to play in the snow for awhile yesterday.

Hit Parade

We rocked out the Gypsy Kings today. In addition to them, Molly's play list includes Michael Buble, Ellis Paul, Brandy (as you know), Christmas Music, her musical chair and...

this fish. This girl loves to dance and will groove to almost any song she can get her mitts on. She's even more excited when someone else dances with her and today, we had three little ones all bouncing around together. It was a pretty funny sight.

Let's Eat

When John and I registered for wedding presents several years ago, one of his contributions was the inclusion of a chef's hat on our registry. I'm not sure how many times that has seen the light of day but I might have to break it out more so that Molly and I can bake together. Liz gave her this snazzy outfit for Christmas and she does enjoy being in the kitchen with me so we may have a little baker or chef on our hands. Given how much she likes to make loud noises with her vocal cords, however, I wonder if she might be a little Gordon Ramsey-esque in the kitchen. Yikes.

Let's Celebrate!

Molly's first birthday is Monday but we celebrated her one year milestone with a few folks on Saturday. She went through two party dresses, one piece of cake, and lots of games of "uh-oh" where she "accidentally" dropped her cup, food, toys, etc. off her chair and looks around for someone to pick them up.

She got great presents from everyone and has happily played with her musical chair, hugged her new gorilla, pulled her alligator, read her new books, rocked on her ducky, tried out her new shoes, eaten with her fork and spoon, slept with her lamb, waved a crazy footed monster around, thrown Cookie Monster on the dishwasher, cuddled with her quilt, listened to Horton, dreamed of a trip to Venice and has generally been very excited by birthdays and present-getting. She still enjoys her early-birthday presents and toodles around the house with her push cart and her goldfish keep her company at her little table.

The little wacky character continues to have more personality than we know what to do with sometimes. She's getting toothier with her three remaining molars coming through and is getting progressively steadier on her feet. She has maxed out at 15 steps and still prefers to crawl but every day, she goes a little further with a little more confidence. You might think 15 steps would get you across the house but in little person measurements, it's only from one end of the couch to the other.

Cousins, friends, grandparents, aunts and uncles helped Molly out with some birthday cake. Ethan was very patient waiting for his piece.

Despite first trying to eat the plate that the cake came on, she eventually found out that cake tastes much better.

The chow monster was true to form. Please note the curl of hair in the back... it's a mullet for now but someday, maybe, there will be hair on top of her head. Or perhaps she is showing her preference for hockey and has decided that hockey hair is back in (actually, was it ever in?).

Oh Christmas Tree

We picked out our tree and got it all decorated this weekend. This will give us plenty of time to enjoy it before we leave for Seattle for the big day. Molly didn't really care about the tree picking out process and snoozed in the car as we drove from tree place to tree place looking for a farm that wasn't a complete zoo. She takes good care of the tree and helped put some of her ornaments on the tree:



She'd much rather, however, take ornaments OFF. She has a cadre of favorites that she removes several times a day, usually accompanied by "uh oh" as she drops them on the floor.

Dance Dance Dance

Tree is up, lights are on, house is decorated (although it doesn't look like someone threw up Christmas decorations this year. Molly's sticky fingers would mean most things would end up on the floor anyway. I think the less is more concept isn't so bad in our house). Before we get to the tree trimming, though, we caught Molly dancing up a storm this weekend despite ear infections and croup and it was pretty humorous. I think she got her dancing shoes from her mom (John is much more talented) -- if she threw a little more elbow into it, some might agree that it would be perfect form.

Wheels

Molly's new cart got out of the shop this week and it's now tip-proof and being used for all sorts of things. Panda bear got a few rides in it:




Before being unceremoniously dumped by the side of the road/Harry's litter box.


Molly also got herself taken for a few spins around the kitchen. John was nice, though, and didn't subject her to Panda's same fate.




Regarding my earlier mention of Molly's affinity for Brandy -- guess who was on the Today show this morning? I looked over and someone was just dancing away in awe of who was in front of her eyes.

Sitting Up Straight

Molly has gotten some early birthday presents from her grandparents. Her new walker from Grammy and Grampy is currently in the shop getting some upgrades (some fins, new rims, and flames on the side) but here is a picture of her new little table from Nana and Grandpa. She enjoyed a snack at it this weekend and didn't even fall off her chair.

Let's see, what else is she up to... her new favorite word is "Whoa". Everything that gets dropped on the ground (on purpose 99.9% of the time) gets an "Uh oh". She's started getting irate if people don't respond to her entreaties of "Hi" in the grocery store, at the doctor's office, or anywhere out in public. She likes the new Brandy song a lot and dances whenever she hears it (thanks to my cousin Abby) and she's still doling out hugs and kisses. We'll keep you posted as she approaches her one year birthday!