Our Family - Stories

LaRae had her first visit with Santa Clause two weeks ago. I have made a good habit of prepping her for anything big that is going to happen a few days to a week prior to the event taking place. I’ve been telling her about Santa Clause (Sanna Cwause) and Christmas and what this season is all about. LaRae is enamoured with the idea of Santa Clause. I got her Christmas outfit and told her that we were going to see Santa and that she could sit in his lap and get a picture to look at all year-long. We got her all dressed up Saturday afternoon and out the door. She was grinning ear to ear at the Santa Village in Bass Pro Shops. Her entire face was lit up and she was shaking with excitement. We waited our turn. We watched a few children visit with Santa and then it was LaRae’s turn. She walked slowly to him, holding my hand. She stood at his knee and just stared saying “Sanna Cwause!” She didn’t make it to sitting in his lap, but she pet his furry cuffs and got a candy cane from his bag. We’ll consider this a practice run and hope for pictures this weekend. I really need to get those pictures for Christmas cards!

We had our first camping trip Labor Day weekend. We left Saturday after I got off of work. After we got all packed and made about 10 stops (exaggeration) we made it there about 5:00. We met Nate's parents, who had already been camping a few days at Coldwater. It is a wonderful, peaceful place right next to coldwater creek. The name is fitting because the water is freezing! We got our new tent set up with the help of Nana and Paw-Paw and LaRae. LaRae was a good helper. She tried real hard to drive the tent stakes into the ground. She helped lay out the tent and wander around to check out the campsite. She tried so hard to be in five different places at the same time. She was all eyes with excitement. The campsite was packed with people, about 60 campers there. There were fun friends to be made and people to talk to. We roughed it in a tent, one of three or four tents, out of a sea of RV's and horse trailers. We got the tent set up only to find that I forgot the air pump to blow up our air mattress. We figured we'd run to Wal-Mart in the next town over and pick one up. We went to crank the car and the battery was DEAD with no warning. Rach and Ken were kind enough to let us borrow their truck and we were on our way. It took us almost two hours for about a 20 mile trip. We stopped twice for directions. When we got back we had hamburgers on the grill and enjoyed some adult beverages and good conversation :) LaRae could not get her shoes off of her feet fast enough. She remained barefooted the entire weekend. We were fortunate to have no bumps or boo-boo's. LaRae stayed up until 9:00 or so Saturday night. She was running on pure adrenaline. Nana danced with LaRae and she was out. She slept in the horse trailer with Nana and Paw-Paw the first night. I think she enjoyed it as much as they did. Sunday morning Nana brought LaRae to me in the tent. We snuggled and tried really hard to wake daddy up, but he wasn't having it. LaRae and I helped Paw-Paw feed the horses, went on a walk, saw all different kinds of dogs and met new people. Nana and Paw-Paw saddled up and were going for their morning ride. LaRae was treated to a ride on Bella first. She LOVED it. She seems so confident in the saddle. It is a really neat experience to see such a small child on such a large animal and be completely confident and happy. LaRae finally had her nap around 1:00 and slept for about two hours. It was nice to sit and just read a book. If I were at home, nap time would be getting some dishes washed, laundry folded or picking up toys. It was a few hours of peace for me and Nate. After nap time, we went for a swim in the creek. Nate played his guitar some and LaRae enjoyed getting in and out of the guitar case, putting her baby in the case and trying to close it on herself. Poor Nate had to get the battery out of my car, which was harder than anyone imagined. After getting it out, him and I went to Brewton, AL again for a car battery. Nate got the battery in and the car cranked right up. LaRae helped Nana and Paw-Paw feed the horses again. We saw that some neighbors had their pony, Sammy, saddled up and riding. LaRae got to ride the pony. That was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. She was thrilled to be on Sammy. She grinned the entire time. Her turn was short, but she didn't argue to get off. She is very reasonable child. We enjoyed a steak dinner that night. It was yummy! We had steaks, baked potatoes and grilled corn on the cob. We had some rain, so we crammed into the horse trailer and ate. It was close quarters and LaRae had a case of her sleepy crazies. When she gets tired, she gets insane. It was a good and interesting dinner. She didn't stay up quite as late Sunday night. She and Daddy fell asleep in the tent. I twas a mucky, wet night. We luckily had a box fan in the tent, so it wasn't quite as bad. Nate's bed got a little wet, but nothing bad. Him and I were both more worried about LaRae getting cold. I had my nightly venture to the bathroom. I enjoy the walk, it is the quietest part of the night, everyone is in bed. All you hear are the AC's running in the campers and the horses every once in a while. Monday morning Nate had to dart back home to get a homework assignment done. LaRae and I stayed behind to enjoy the day. She helped water Bella and Babs, the horses. She proceeded to water herself and the horses too. The sprayer for the hose had a really nice mist setting that she couldn't spray us with, but got her wet enough she was happy. It was a good 45 minutes of entertainment. Rach joked and said we should have brought lawn chairs. You never know what will catch LaRae's attention. After Daddy got back, him and paw-paw took LaRae swimming in the creek. She dunked paw-paw and daddy in the creek several times. Apparently, it was enough that Paw-Paw was able to get a breath and go back under. I got the car packed up and Rach helped me get the tent down. We got on the road about 2:00. We did not even make it out of the gates of the park, about a three minute ride, and LaRae was OUT COLD!!!! She slept the entire two hours home. When we pulled up to our driveway, LaRae was awake. She started crying, "No home, No home, caaaaaaaammmmmp."

Toddler speak is the cutest, sweetest thing if you've never experienced it. I am trying to keep track of the little sayings.

LaRae loves to sit on the cracker. The cracker would be the counter. We usually hear, "sit on cracker, on cracker, mommy up on cracker."

Anytime she sees a body of water, the bay or the beach, or a really large puddle, she makes the sign for bath and asks to get in.

LaRae and I were leaving the house this morning, heading to her Nana and Paw-Paw's house. I noticed that Dara (bear-bear) had got into our trash. As she was coming in the house, I scolded her, saying, "No Dara, bad girl! You're a bad girl." LaRae picked that up quickly and practiced it on our way out. She proceeded to say that Paw-Paw, Daddy and Nana were bad girls. When I finally got to spend time with her tonight, she proceeded to tell Ding-Ding that she was a bad girl and Pogo (Pobo) wasa bad girl. It's really cute hearing her try something new out.

LaRae is a talking machine. She is regularly saying 4 to 5 word sentences. It has been such a sudden development; I think it's caught us all off guard. She went from 1-3 word sentences to 4-5 word sentences in a week. I have some videos on facebook if you've not seen them. We are also on Skype, if you aren't on, join and see our funny girl! She is pretty much potty trained. She loves her big girl panties. Right now, Elmo panties are her favorite. She asks for those almost every morning. This keeps me busy with laundry! She is wanting to do more and more by herself. She attempts to dress herself. After trying for five minutes, she allows me to do it. She also wants to brush her hair and her teeth. She gets a turn and mommy or daddy get a turn. She is extremely affectionate and funny. She has got a sly sense of humor. I love it. We're approaching her second birthday and we still have a 22 lb baby. She's a pixie :)

LaRae is changing everyday. I feel overwhelmed when I really think about how fast she is growing. I still see so much baby in her, but she is such a big girl. Potty training is going great. We got a little off track, but I think that was more our fault than hers. She tells us when she needs to go now, which is a tremendous help! She is talking, I mean really talking now. She is telling stories, tries to spell her name, repeats almost anything we ask her to say, and will at least try to say the last syllable of everything we say. She is still only about 22 lbs, full of energy and curiosity. Her new phrase is "Come me" when she wants something. It comes out more like "Comme." I love hearing her little voice when she talks and her interpretation of words. She is pretty self sufficient when it comes to feeding herself. I wouldn't venture to give her a bowl of cereal and a spoon, but she's doing good. She still adores her animals. We got a new kitten named Pogo. He is so kind and patient with her. She's actually pretty good with him, considering she's a 19 month old toddler. LaRae thinks that because she can pick Pogo up, she should be able to pick up Spaz and Dara too. That's a sight to see. We've gained access to a pontoon boat, thanks to Nate's great family. We go out every weekend. LaRae loves it. She is like a fish in the water. We are all gaining a pretty nice tan from it too!

We went to the Sasquatch Zoo today. Before you laugh or knock the name of it, it was actually a pretty decent place. I made fun of it myself and was honestly a little afraid we'd go and see a couple of goats, maybe a cow or two and a handful of horses. I was pleasantly surprised when we got to see lions, tigers, a bear, peacocks, gators, deer, bobcats, wolves, etc. We did get to see goats, in case you were wondering. There were in fact, at least a dozen goats. The really cool thing about the whole day was the fact that we all got to hold two lemurs! LaRae grinned ear to ear the whole time and poked their faces and said "eye, eye." The owner of the zoo also hosed the white bengal tigers down for LaRae, so she could see them get a bath. It was hot, I mean, sweltering hot today. I can't imagine how good the water felt to those tigers. On a side note, LaRae LOVES cars, buses, trucks, vans, trains, airplanes, motorcycles, basically anything on wheels. On the way to the zoo, we stopped for gas. The gas station was across the street from a little airport. LaRae got to see a helicopter land and she thought that was great! She's talked about the helicopter and the lemurs all day.

LaRae's vocabulary is up to about 200 or so words. It's impressive. We sing the alphabet and spell her name to her. She attempts to do both, which sounds very cute. Her memory is amazing. There is no fooling this child now. She still asks about her Uncle Poo-Poo and talks to his picture. She will point something out that happened months ago and talk about it. I still get surprised to see the events she remembers. A few months ago, her Nana caught a lizzard and they played with it. Nana let it go in the oak tree in our front yard. LaRae still points to the tree, says Nana, does her lizzard face and then says hand. She is talking about her and Nana holding a lizzard and letting it go in the tree. She sees trucks that look similar to her Paw-Paw's and points them out to me. Potty training is hit or miss. Some days are great and others don't go so good. LaRae was really sick a few weeks ago and we're still getting back on track from that.

LaRae talks to my mom and dad on Skype. It's been wonderful for keeping in touch and for them to see eachother. My mom and dad came to see us this past weekend. LaRae has graciously renamed Grammy and Grandpap to "Ding-Ding and Pap-Pap." I told her three or four days that her Ding-Ding and Pap-Pap were coming to see her and spend a few days with her. We did this up until they were here. It took her a minute to place them, but once she did, she piled Pap-Pap up with remote controls, pillows, stuffed animals and dolls. Once my mom sat down, she received the same royal treatment. We had a real tea party, hosted by LaRae and treats provided by Pap-Pap. He brough mini-cupcakes. We put water in LaRae's tea pot. She did a wonderful job of pouring tea for everyone and passing out cupcakes. We ended up with only one soaked towel. She kept saying, "more, more" to the cupcakes. It was really cute. We saw Grandma Sheri in Pensacola and shopping on Saturday. LaRae wished Ding-Ding and Pap-Pap and good night every evening and gave them sweet hugs and kisses. She has been asking about them and their car since they left.

There has been so much going on. It seems like I can't keep up anymore. LaRae is now using the potty pretty consistantly. We aren't pushing anything, but I do remind her that she needs to try to go every so often. Living in the woods makes it easier too. We sort of use the woods as a potty too :) Potty training and being out on 8 acres can be hard, so the cover of the trees works just as well.

LaRae is talking up a storm now. She is like a mynah bird. She copies everything we do and say. We have to be very careful about what we do and say now. She can tell us she wants up or down, outside, out and open. I am not sure I can keep up with the vocabulary she has now. She has her ever growing repretoire of animal sounds. She's got about 100 words or more. She understands so much. She can recognize and say the color purple and blue. She never ceases to amaze me with her mental capabilitites. It seems like I am in a constant state of awe with this little girl.

LaRae's Uncle Poo-Poo (Dan) came to see us last weekend. There's a back story on the name. I used to love driving Dan crazy with the name Danny Poo-Poo. He called me Beatrice because I hated it. Well, Poo-Poo has carried on into another generation. I'm happy to say that LaRae loves her Uncle Poo-Poo. She shared the pleasure of dirt with him by giving him handfuls of dirt to him (that's an honor). Dan rode his motorcycle from Daytona in what I think was one of the worst storms our area has seen in a while. I still think he's insane for doing it. He made to our house late evening. He pulled up on his motorcycle and looked like the abominable snowman in all of his rain gear and jackets. LaRae took a liking to him right away simply because he rode a motorcycle. She is still talking about him this week. She pats the couch and says Poo-Poo and then makes a snoring noise. That's where Dan slept. She finds little things that her and Dan shared and says "Poo-Poo". I'm really glad he made the trip to see us and to get to know his niece. She thought an awful lot of him.

I can't express how sweet this little girl is. LaRae is truely a delight. She's got her moments (saved especially for mommy), but she is a doll. She will give the biggest, sweetest hugs when asked to. She loves to blow kisses, pat you, and rub you. She loves her animals. She will sit down in the yard for possum (the outside cat) to sit in her lap. They have an agreement. Possum tolerates it pretty well and when done, she leaves and LaRae is ok with that. LaRae loves, loves bugs and anything that lives outside. I've had to get brave. I caught a lizzard for LaRae, but his tail broke off. I stopped on the road to get a turtle for her to see. We played with him for quite a long time. He was pretty boring to her. I got a snail for her. I caught a frog for LaRae and we played with him for quite a while. I finally had to take him from her so he could live. I told LaRae that the frog had babies he had to go take care of and she did her sign for love. I've caught several bugs for LaRae. Let me say, if you know me, this is a BIG deal. I've grown :)

Our days are busy. They are never the same. I like that. I love our life and wouldn't trade it for the world!

LaRae used the potty on Monday! She has been "potty training" one of her dolls for a few weeks now. She pulls the dolls pants down, puts her on the potty, waits a second and then gets some toilet paper and wipes her, puts the paper in the potty and flushes. She says "bye-bye" while it is going down. We keep a baby gate across the bathroom entry way so she doesn't get into the litter box that is in there. She went the gate and said "pee-pee." I thought to myself, what the heck and took her in. I got her diaper off and set her on the potty for 30 seconds or so. Nothing happened so, I left her naked, as bath time was getting close. She came right back to the gate and said "pee-pee." I brought her back over to try again. I set her on the potty and she peed! She was scared at first, but finished her business and was very proud of herself. She's done this again one time since Monday.

I don't know how to compress an AVI file. It was too large for this site, but check out LaRae saying a few things on youtube. It's really cute.

I am sorry for the lack of updates and pictures. Our camera has been on the fritz.

Nothing is sacred anymore. LaRae is climbing on everything. If she can not get up onto what she wants to, she is plotting a way to do it. Tonight, she attempted to climb our entertainment center. We put a quick stop to that. She will move certain toys to the couch to get a few extra inches in order to get up. LaRae loves to climb trees (with a little help). She has a few new words: diaper, purple, boo-boo, pee-pee, poo-poo and possum (po-um). She's getting close to potty training. I'm just following her lead. She is fascinated by the entire process. I can not believe how big my little girl is getting. She is such a sweet, funny little girl. She has the cutest sense of humor. We taught her how to "creep" up on someone. She will creep up and pretend to suprise us, adorable. She loves to hide and play peek-a-boo. She will have her face hidden and entire body showing. She thinks she is well hidden though. She is a pro at running. I love it. She keeps me busy. She gets to engrossed in play now. I watch for cues of needing a nap because she doesn't notice it anymore. Earlier today, she had her blankie and pacifier. We were winding down and she layed her blankie on the corner of a plastic crate. She layed her head on it and fell alseep. I did not realize it and asked her if she was ready to go rock and cuddle...I startled her awake, poor baby. I love seeing her do her job; exploring the world. I fall in love with her more and more everyday.

We went to the zoo today. LaRae LOVED it!! She instantly lit up when we walked through the gates. We were greeted by a pond with ducks and swans in it. There was an island in the middle with lemurs and a monkey on it. LaRae was clapping for them. She loved watching the Spider Monkies. She laughed when they started flipping and hanging upside down in their cages. She loved the tigers and lions. She roared for them. She was fascinated by these huge cats. She enjoyed the peacocks. If it were left up to her, she would have chased them around. We went on a train ride, which LaRae could have cared less about. She got to see some really big snakes and hissed at them. She did her little lizzard tongue at the lizzards. She was really cute today...of course, I'm a bit partial. We went to the petting zoo. I think that was the highlight of the day. LaRae is obsessed with giving treats to animals. She knows the sign for treat and wants to constantly feed the dog, cats and horses. She got to feed goats, rabbits, sheep and cows. She even got a bite herself. I caught her with some animal treats in her mouth. We saw some African dogs (not Hyenas) and LaRae barked at them. She loved it all. As soon as we got in the car, she passed out. I know we will be back very soon. I think our next adventure will be to the aquarium.

We are home and recovering from our Christmas in Orlando. It was a great trip. We left Monday night, after I got off of work. LaRae slept most of the way. She would wake up, cry a bit and then go back to sleep. I think her crying was more of a protest than anything. She was THRILLED to be at my parent's house. She was so excited and running around everywhere. It was 2 am! Her and I stayed up until 4 am and finally passed out. She was so wound up and excited, that she just didn't want to sleep. There were lots of dogs and fish to feed treats to. LaRae's new favorite thing is to feed treats to anything and everything. She knows the sign for treat, so she thinks that she needs to feed Dara all of the time now. LaRae wanted to feed her Grammy and Grandpap's fish all day. She managed to slip a few bites of fish food in herself. Dan, Chris and Hope came over Tuesday afternoon with their two dogs. LaRae and Hope had pictures made on Tuesday. LaRae was a little ham for the camera. She loved being at the photo studio. There was lots to get into! Wednesday we ate too much at Velia! LaRae is an official Polish girl now. She loved the perogis, sauerkraut and peas and shrimp. We went for a walk in the neighborhood after dinner to look at the Christmas lights. LaRae loved it. She was screaming with delight. She thought the reindeer were horses and made horse sounds to them. She wanted to feed treats to them, as well. She danced in the street and loved every minute of it. Christmas Day we all ate, again! I think we eat more in those two days than the entire year. LaRae loved Grammy's carrott souffle and Uncle Dan and Granpap's rib roast. She got some awesome loot for Christmas. She had fun opening presents and seeing everyone else do the same. She was more interested in ripping the paper than some of the presents.

The most special part of the trip was seeing LaRae get to know her Grammy and Grandpap. She hasn't had an opportunity to really get to spend one on one time with them yet. She really warmed up to them. She had a little game with Grandpap and his fishing poles. She helped Grammy do laundry and gave her some really good snuggles. I wish we had more time to do this more often. It is such a special time to be with family!

There has been a lot going on in our lives! The holidays are keeping us busy. LaRae's vocabulary seems to be growing by the day. It is still a matter of one being able to understand her or not. We do, and that is all that matters! She says: hey, yeah, momma, dada/daddy, Nana, PawPaw, Jack, Dara, woof woof, meow, down, no, gone, go, out, bye and cat. She is signing some now too. She picked up on the signs FAST! We started a week ago and she knows food/hungry, drink/thirsty and shoes. The only reason I did shoes is because she loves her shoes. She likes to go into her room and get them out of her drawer sometimes. We are just doing basics so that we can ward off some tantrums. LaRae can "give five" now. It's really cute. She can show where her ears, eyes, nose, mouth and belly are. She loves to look at everyone's body parts. She compares Dara's nose to her nose. That's cute to watch. She will touch Dara's nose and then her own nose...then repeat. She does that for a few minutes at a time and then moves to a new part. LaRae is very much into moving things. She loves to push her highchair around, the kitchen chairs, her activity table, boxes...the cat. Anything that can be pushed and moved, she will do it. She has just about figured out how to climb the couches and that's bad news. We won't have anywhere to hide things from her anymore! She loves her books. She will bring me books throughout the day for me to read them to her.

LaRae has 15 teeth now. I only know this because we went to the pediatric dentist. LaRae was really good for her visit. The dentist and staff were awesome with her too. She will be going in for regular visits. She's got weak enamel on all of her teeth, so I want to stay on top of that. Speaking of teeth, LaRae loves to use them on me. We're venturing into the fun world of biting. If you have any pointers or tips, let me know!

I was just informed that "Rae is wild and has to live in the woods." I told her that if she is going to go live in the woods, she needed to give me her pacifier before leaving. Her repsonse, "Rae, reawwy not wild anymore. Pacifier pwease mam."

She was coughing, quite dramatically. I asked her what was wrong. She said, "oh not much, a hairball, like cat." I said, "ok, I hope you get that up ok." She said, "yeah, I fine now."

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