NYE 2011 - 21 Months

Addison and her PawPaw

Very, very serious

She had to make sure mom had her accessories on 

Wow!  2011 was a fantastic year for our family!  Addison celebrated her first year of life, became VERY mobile and talkative and Monty completed his MBA.  We can’t complain about a thing J  We did fireworks at PawPaw and MiMi’s to ring in the new year. 

New Year’s Eve marks Addison’s 21^st month – unbelievable.  It has been a month full of milestones that have melted hearts.  On December 3^rd she called my mom Grammy for the very first time (prior to that she had said MiMi) and that same day while in Bed, Bath & Beyond she told me “I lub you Momma” completely unsolicited which also happened to be the first time she had said the phrase.  Every time she does something new and amazing I think that is the best it could ever get, but that took the cake! 

This month Addison celebrated Christmas with a real enthusiasm.  We looked at lights, made cookies and treats with Bailey (no pictures – it was a little hectic with 2 girls and sprinkles even with Kayla J), went to a Christmas tree lighting at Clark Gardens with Bailey, had a party at school and at my office and a number of other festive things.  Notice a visit with Santa was not on the list as this terrified her in our November encounter with St. Nick.

She is really getting a cute little personality and is talking up a storm.  She loves to come up to anyone she knows and say ‘up please’ to them and grab their hand and direct them to where she would like to go.  This can be anywhere from the pantry to play in her room.  This phrase also means that she would like to be held; we just use it in context to determine which one she needs.  She is now talking in complete sentences which are about 5-6 words long.  The first one I heard was “I don’t see the cheese” when we were grocery shopping in her room.  The list is too long to write, but there are many more like these.  She also answers ‘yea’ to pretty much anything you ask and can name virtually all animals and all colors.  She starts her counting at 8,9,10 and likes to stop the alphabet at A,B,C.  If you listen to her talk to herself when playing independently in her room, you will hear far more letters and she does start counting at 1 – that little stinker won’t do it with us! 

With a personality also comes the occasional fit, and by occasional I mean at least a few a day.  They are very short lived and when you ask if she wants to take a nap, she quickly stops whining/crying.  She is still going strong without a pacifier and hasn’t even asked about it lately.  She continues to love Olivia, Dora and Bubble Guppies on TV as well as all Eric Carle books (really all books but those are the favorites).   We are so very impressed with all she does and can’t wait to ring in another new year with our fantastic girl!  

Christmas Morning

Olivia and a sucker - what else do you need in a stocking???  

Happy girl showing off her kitchen

Cooking is serious business

Guys - someone called in their first order to my restaurant.....

PaPa - the vacuum is work, check out my kitchen over there

A baby and a new piggy bank to learn to count

She seriously shouted "SHOPPING" when she open the shopping cart - smart, smart girl!

Obligatory sucker break

Backpack, Backpack -we love our Dora!

Lisa stop posing for the picture, we have serious work to do here!

This was the first year for us to begin to really establish traditions in our family now that Addison is able to participate in so much more.  We debated as to whether or not Santa wrapped presents, where Santa would come (Grammy’s or our home), and various other things.  In the end, Santa brought stockings to our house, large unwrapped gifts to Grammy and PaPa’s and a ton of fun no matter the location.

Following Christmas brunch at Grammy and PaPa’s (this is the only one for which pictures exist at current) we headed out to PawPaw and MiMi’s for round 2 followed by a trip to Granny Virgie’s for round 3.  We didn’t make it home until 10:30, but we had a fun day of wonderful memories with our family.  We ended our night singing happy birthday to Jesus and look forward to telling Addison more and more about his birth and our salvation in the years to come.  

Bye-Bye "B"

When Addison was born we made the decision to use a pacifier to soothe her.  We decided to call her pacifier her "Binki".  Over time it was shortened from "Binki" to "Binx" to "B".  The only true attachment Addison had to her "B" is when she was tired.  She would either ask (or whine depending on her level of tired) or dig for it in her bag pocket and get it out on her own. Monty and I have also used it to hush a whining child on a few occasions, but sleep was her only true 'must have' time.

At her 18-month appointment Dr. Ramsey noticed she had a pacifier (whining during the hour long wait in the doctor's office that happened to fall during nap time) and commented that she would like to see it gone by her 21-month appointment.  The thought of life without "B" for Addison seemed unimaginable.  She has had one since her little life began so a "B" free life did not seem logical.  I simply dismissed the comment and thought to myself I know many children older than Addison who still have their pacifier.

As her 21-month appointment approached I really began to think that we do need to try a "B" free life to see how it would work out all the while knowing this was way too traumatic of an exercise to put my baby through.  Turned out, it was not as awful as I had imagined, and, in fact, maybe I was the one with the attachment of a quiet, easy way to put Addison to sleep.  On Wednesday, December 21st, we had our first night without "B".  It was not too traumatic.  I had to rock (sway) and sing her to sleep (she actually thinks I am quite good) like I did when she was much younger, but she didn't really cry too much for "B".  Thursday was a bit more rough (no nap while at Mimi and PawPaw's) but with rocking & singing it was not more than 10 minutes until she was asleep.  Friday was better than Thursday which provided great encouragement.  Tonight, Christmas Eve, Addison went to sleep without rocking (which was normal before life without "B") and went straight to sleep.

It is so funny how I often underestimate how strong she really is.  We are so proud of how quickly she was able to move on from her "B".  It makes us sad that she is becoming such a big girl so quickly, but we could not be more proud.  We will miss "B", but will never forget her sweet face in the morning with her pacifier.