Taylor In All Her Cuteness

Taylor has been doing some really cute things lately. One morning I was removing my eye makeup before getting in the shower and she was standing there paying very close attention to what I was doing. I decided to let her try it out. I pretended to put some eye makeup remover on a cotton ball for her and showed her how to use it. She then started rubbing her eyes with the cotton ball. It was so cute. She started walking around the house rubbing her eyes with the cotton ball. I would have let her play with it, but since I was getting in the shower I decided to get it back from her just in case she decided that it was something to eat and accidentally choked on it.

The day that we went to the Pumpkin Patch Taylor fell asleep in the car on the way home. I was hoping that I could just drop her in bed and she would go back to sleep. Well, that didn't happen. I let her cry for a while and then when it was apparent that she was not going back down, I got her up. She decided to get into some of my music. She pulled out a music book and started flipping through it. Here are some pictures of her looking at music and then trying to sing.

Taylor likes Daniel's gaming chair. One afternoon after her nap she was reaching for her stuffed animals and saying something that I couldn't understand. I got her bunny down for her and she cuddled it for a good while.

"Hello, can you hear me? I'm talking on my bunny phone."

These are all of the pictures I have to share, but Taylor has been doing some other cute things as well. She likes to pretend - A LOT. She loves books of all kinds, but her lift-the-flap Karen Katz books are popular with her right now. She has been bringing them to me in the morning to read to her. There is one in particular - Grandma and Me - that she likes to pretend with. When she opens the oven to see the cookies inside she will pretend to take a cookie out of the oven and eat it. At the end of the book when Grandma gives the little girl a kiss Taylor will give Grandma a kiss. It is so cute.

I know that there were other things that I meant to blog about and I wish I had them on video or written them down because I cannot remember them now. Taylor is continuing to improve in her speech. One thing I have noticed is that many of the words that she uses on a regular basis are words that she knows the signs to. Some favorite words right now are oh no, oh my, wee, no, all gone, ball, woof, star, and doll. The next step is to get her to say two words together like blue ball or big box.

Pumpkin Patch

On October 16th Central Baptist Morning School went to the Pumpkin Patch. The 2 yr. old class did not go, but we were invited to tag along since I teach music there and Mitzi, the Morning School Director, thought she might enjoy it. Well, she enjoyed it in a little different way from all the 3 year olds. I think that she will get more out of it when she is a little older. She mostly wanted to run around the farm. Here are a few pictures of what she enjoyed:

Hayride with Grandma

Cow Train - she seemed a little unsure at first, but once it got going she was fine.

Taylor loved petting the bunnies. She wanted to grab them though.

One of her favorite things was chasing the chickens. Too bad, she just wasn't quick enough to catch one for dinner.

Taylor also liked the other animals in the petting zoo. They had goats and cows.
Before we left the kids got to pick out little pumpkins to take home. Taylor insisted hers was a ball and just wanted to throw it.
Here is a picture of me and Taylor in front of the barn.

A Visit from Mamaw & Papaw

Last week we had a visit from Papaw & Mamaw (Ron & Patsy Poe). They were here from Thursday night until Sunday morning. Even though we did not have a lot of things planned to do, we had a great time just being together. Since they live about 2 or 3 states away (NC), they don't get to see Taylor that often and, of course, they have to bring gifts for her when they come. Patsy likes to shop on QVC and found these cute little books. Actually, they are not that little. They are made of cloth and the covers are stuffed. When they are closed they can be used as pillows. They came in a set of four. Taylor really liked them. She loves books anyway, so anything like that she will enjoy. These books are a little advanced for her understanding, but they will grow with her.



On Friday we all went out to the local hot dog joint called Monroe's. They are touted as having the best hot dogs around. Patsy loves hot dogs, so we figured that would be a good place to take them. Afterwards we went to the church so I could take care of a few things there and we let Taylor play on the playground.

On Saturday we were going to go to a local carnival called Cowpoke. This would have been the first year that we would go, but Taylor woke up with a low grade fever and just wasn't acting herself so we decided that it would be best to just hang out around the house. Later that afternoon she was feeling a bit better. Daniel and I had Praise Team practice at church so Ron and Patsy went with us and watched Taylor while we practiced.

Their time here went by pretty fast, but it was fun while it lasted and I know that Taylor enjoyed getting to see her Mamaw and Papaw. Here are a couple of pictures that we took of her cuddling with them.

Taylor with Mamaw

Taylor with Papaw

Ready To Potty Train???

I have been meaning to post this, but after getting a comment from a friend to potty train Taylor before baby #2 comes along, I decided that I need to go ahead and post this.

Last weekend I went on a scrapbooking retreat. A friend's in-laws have a lake house about 20 -30 minutes from Americus and invited all the girls from church who crop to come out for the weekend to work on our scrapbooks. Daniel graciously allowed me to go and spend the entire weekend while he took care of Taylor. It was so much fun and gave me a much needed break from the day-to-day. I missed them a lot, but Daniel called and gave me updates on the cute things that Taylor was doing.

The first time Daniel called he told me about Taylor and her puzzle. We bought her a Melissa & Doug barnyard animals puzzle. For a long time she was not sure what to do with it and would just take all the animals and throw them on the floor. Just recently she has started trying to put the pieces where they go, but has not been very successful. For the first time on Saturday she got 3 of the pieces in correctly. When she would get one in she would clap and say,"Yea!" Since then she has gotten all of the pieces in with help. It is exciting to see her learn new skills.

The second time Daniel called he told me that Taylor was in the bathroom playing with the mats on the floor. He told her not to do that because the mats were dirty. Well, would you know that she sqwatted down and made a dirty diaper when he said that? I couldn't believe it when he told me. I just wonder if that is a sign that she will be ready to potty train soon. The next time I go to Wal-Mart I am going to pick up a potty chair and a book and video for her on potty training. A friend of mine told me that there is a Barney video and Taylor likes Barney, so I'll probably look for that one. If anyone has any experience in potty training and would like to share what has worked for you, I would be open to any tips.

Naptime

Okay, by now you have probably figured out that I am getting caught up on my blogging since I have posted so many times in one day. With being pregnant I just usually don't feel like sitting at the computer at night and want to veg in front of the TV, but tonight I am on a roll, so I might as well post while I feel like it.

Taylor did something kinda cute or at least interesting - in my book - today. We met Daniel for lunch at Hardee's today. We don't usually eat there, but we had some coupons and I was craving a burger, so we ate there today. We sat behind some friends from church and I exchanged pregnancy stories with her since she is also pregnant. Taylor did really well at lunch until she started getting antsy toward the end and wanted out of her seat. Once I got home with her I noticed her rubbing her eyes. Her normal nap time has been around 1:30, but she has been going down sooner than that since she has been waking up earlier. It was almost 1:00 when we got home from lunch, so I got her diaper changed and started her naptime routine. I always read her a story before bed if it is naptime or nighttime. Today I read That's Not My Dolly. It is a touchy feely book and she usually likes to touch all the pages and point to things that she recognizes. The other day she pointed out and named the eyes and the nose on one of the doll's faces in the book. Today was a different story though (no pun intended). It was like she wanted to bypass the book altogether. She was flipping the pages before I could even get them read. As soon as I read the last page she shut the book and pushed it away as if she was trying to put it back in the basket. She then grabbed her bear lovie and blanket that she cuddles as if to tell me, "Forget the story, I'm ready for bed." I rocked her for a little while and as soon as I put her in bed she went out like a light. I am so thankful that she is sleeping well these days and goes down so easily now. I never would have thought that her sleeping habits would change so dramatically just because we let her cry. She only slept for an hour today (normally she sleeps for an hour and a half), but it didn't take her as long to wake up and she wasn't as grumpy after her nap as she normally is. It gave me just enough time to do my new Beth Moore study that I just started this week. I am enjoying this age so much.