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Sunday, December 23, 2012
Santa baby III
The Poort clan gathered on Christmas Eve eve for the annual family photos. In what can only be described as a Christmas miracle, all 5 official photos turned out great. 1. Amy & Jason's kid's 2. Adam & Melissa's kids 3. Poort "kids" (in its 41st year!) 4. Poort grandkids 5. Poort grandkids with Grandma and Papa. This group can have fun anywhere and seeing all of the cousins running and laughing together just made us that more excited (if that's possible) for Christmas Eve festivities.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Sloane Nicole - 2.5
You are 2 and half years old and are way over due for an update. To be honest, I'm not quite sure where to begin. There is just so much to share about the process of you becoming you. To put it simply, you are awesome. You are funny, you are smart, you are kind, you are happy. BUT you are 2 1/2 so you are also crazy, bossy, defiant, and frustrating.
You love to sing and perform. You've taken to standing on your little perch in front of the fireplace some nights and performing a song. 90% of the time it is "Mama Mia." You love to burst into song when we are out in public and the attention you get from everyone at the grocery store only fuels your fire to put on a show. You are loving all of the Christmas songs and you think Papa’s ukulele is amazing. Some recent performances:
Obviously we need to work on you coming out of your shell. You are not scared of strangers (we’ll be talking about stranger danger soon but for now I love that you are willing to strike up a conversation with anyone.) Recently you love to tell people, “Merry Christmas” in a sweet voice then two seconds later scream, “AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.”
This has been by far my favorite Christmas ever and that is 100% due to you. I love seeing the magic of the holidays through your eyes. You LOVE Santa. When we arrived to have our picture taken with Santa you started shouting at him the minute you saw him, “Hi, Santa. Santa! HEY SANTA!!!!” It was hard to keep you quiet while the family in front of us finished up. The minute they were done you marched right over, climbed up on his lap, and started chatting away. You want a pink hat and a doll house. You are obsessed with Dutch, our elf, and are constantly giving him updates. “Dutch, I went poo poo in the potty at school today. I a good girl. Tell Santa.” “Dutch, I so sweet. Go to the North Pole and tell Santa.” “Dutch, I help mommy. You tell Santa, okay?” Recently you started making funny faces into the ornaments to see you reflection. It’s hilarious to watch you.
You are generally good at sharing. I always love to see you give your favorite book to your sister or hand over your last bite of cookie to your dad without any prompting. But that also means you expect everyone else to be good at sharing too and you don't understand why your friends at school don't immediately hand over whatever toy you've asked for. Unfortunately, you sometimes respond with a hit, a shove, or screaming "SHARE WITH ME" in their face. We've been working on using our words and you've gotten a lot better, but there is still some work to be done. At home if one of us has something that you want and don't hand it over, you run to the other parent and say, "Mommy, daddy's not sharing with me." Tattle tale.
You are a natural leader and I love that about you. Soon enough your sister will be old enough to follow you everywhere and take most of your orders. You sometimes need a reminder that you are not in charge. You don’t like that. But you need to remember that your mom’s college nickname was “the boss.” There’s only room for one of us, kid.
You moved into a big girl bed a couple of months ago and it’s been an incredibly smooth transition. We were terrified of what might happen but you were a cool little cucumber. The first time you were in it and I left the room you jumped out of bed and ran over to try to open the door. I stood in the hallway holding the doorknob and wondering what we'd gotten ourselves into but you've stayed snuggled in there ever since. When you wake up in the morning or from a nap you will call for us and stay in bed until we come to get you. It's pretty baffling to me.
While the big girl bed transition was easy peasy, potty training has been a challenge. You are great with number 1 and rarely have accidents. You’re now good with number 2's at home too but that took a bit. Daycare is another matter. You pooped your pants most days for a few weeks and had me at my wits end. It was the addition of Dutch the elf at home that finally motivated you to overcome your fear of pooing at school. There is still progress to be made but now you’re getting good at heading to the bathroom instead of sullying your beloved Rapunzel underpants.
You are quite the little manipulator. Sometimes when you are upset you will take a swing at me then quickly step back, plaster on a giant smile and say, "Mommy, I'm just playing with you. That not a hit. That was just a play." I want to yell "LIAR" right in your cute little face, but I don't. You also decided to use time outs as an opportunity to pee your pants for a week last month. Sneaky little bugger.
You love your family and spend hours naming your cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. There are 29 names to cover so it takes a little while. You are a counting and alphabet reciting fool. You actually know most of your letters too. Yesterday you held up a curved piece of a pretzel and said, "Look, mommy, its a U!" Your father and I are, of course, sure that you are genius.
You climb on everything and jump off of objects whenever you think you can get away with it. You are adventurous but have just the right amount of fear in you. Though I'm sure our first ER visit isn't too far down the road. You are dramatic (of course, you are my daughter) and the slightest bump will have you screaming for a bandaid or "ariel" (your Ariel ice pack). We finally had to make the rule that you couldn't have a band aid unless there was blood. When you are sad you want to be picked up so can lay your head on my shoulder, "Mommy, I need up so I can cry on your arm/back."
You want to do everything yourself. I hear, "No, mama, I do it" about a zillion times a day. You also love to help. You pull your little stool up to Hazy's changing table every time she needs a new diaper. You also want to feed her solids each night and you are very good at it. You bring her toys whenever she cries. If that doesn't make her happy you get right up in her grill and say, "It's okay, Hazy, don't cry." or "what's wrong, sissy." Hazel LOVES you.
You still take your afternoon nap (thank you, thank you thank you). You go to bed between 7:30 and 8 and usually wake up around 7:30. You wear size 4t. You will finally let us pull your hair back so you don't look like a sheepdog with your eyes covered all of the time. You love skirts and girly things. You are starting to have an opinion about your clothes.
You love princesses and baby dolls. You always tell people that your name is Ariel and that Hazy's name is Rapunzel.
You are an amazing little person who makes everyone around you smile. We are so incredibly proud of you and love watching you learn and grow each day. Your dad and I are so excited to be on this adventure with you and we talk each and every day about how in love with you we are. Stay cool, kid.
You love to sing and perform. You've taken to standing on your little perch in front of the fireplace some nights and performing a song. 90% of the time it is "Mama Mia." You love to burst into song when we are out in public and the attention you get from everyone at the grocery store only fuels your fire to put on a show. You are loving all of the Christmas songs and you think Papa’s ukulele is amazing. Some recent performances:
Obviously we need to work on you coming out of your shell. You are not scared of strangers (we’ll be talking about stranger danger soon but for now I love that you are willing to strike up a conversation with anyone.) Recently you love to tell people, “Merry Christmas” in a sweet voice then two seconds later scream, “AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.”
This has been by far my favorite Christmas ever and that is 100% due to you. I love seeing the magic of the holidays through your eyes. You LOVE Santa. When we arrived to have our picture taken with Santa you started shouting at him the minute you saw him, “Hi, Santa. Santa! HEY SANTA!!!!” It was hard to keep you quiet while the family in front of us finished up. The minute they were done you marched right over, climbed up on his lap, and started chatting away. You want a pink hat and a doll house. You are obsessed with Dutch, our elf, and are constantly giving him updates. “Dutch, I went poo poo in the potty at school today. I a good girl. Tell Santa.” “Dutch, I so sweet. Go to the North Pole and tell Santa.” “Dutch, I help mommy. You tell Santa, okay?” Recently you started making funny faces into the ornaments to see you reflection. It’s hilarious to watch you.
You are generally good at sharing. I always love to see you give your favorite book to your sister or hand over your last bite of cookie to your dad without any prompting. But that also means you expect everyone else to be good at sharing too and you don't understand why your friends at school don't immediately hand over whatever toy you've asked for. Unfortunately, you sometimes respond with a hit, a shove, or screaming "SHARE WITH ME" in their face. We've been working on using our words and you've gotten a lot better, but there is still some work to be done. At home if one of us has something that you want and don't hand it over, you run to the other parent and say, "Mommy, daddy's not sharing with me." Tattle tale.
You are a natural leader and I love that about you. Soon enough your sister will be old enough to follow you everywhere and take most of your orders. You sometimes need a reminder that you are not in charge. You don’t like that. But you need to remember that your mom’s college nickname was “the boss.” There’s only room for one of us, kid.
You moved into a big girl bed a couple of months ago and it’s been an incredibly smooth transition. We were terrified of what might happen but you were a cool little cucumber. The first time you were in it and I left the room you jumped out of bed and ran over to try to open the door. I stood in the hallway holding the doorknob and wondering what we'd gotten ourselves into but you've stayed snuggled in there ever since. When you wake up in the morning or from a nap you will call for us and stay in bed until we come to get you. It's pretty baffling to me.
While the big girl bed transition was easy peasy, potty training has been a challenge. You are great with number 1 and rarely have accidents. You’re now good with number 2's at home too but that took a bit. Daycare is another matter. You pooped your pants most days for a few weeks and had me at my wits end. It was the addition of Dutch the elf at home that finally motivated you to overcome your fear of pooing at school. There is still progress to be made but now you’re getting good at heading to the bathroom instead of sullying your beloved Rapunzel underpants.
You are quite the little manipulator. Sometimes when you are upset you will take a swing at me then quickly step back, plaster on a giant smile and say, "Mommy, I'm just playing with you. That not a hit. That was just a play." I want to yell "LIAR" right in your cute little face, but I don't. You also decided to use time outs as an opportunity to pee your pants for a week last month. Sneaky little bugger.
You love your family and spend hours naming your cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. There are 29 names to cover so it takes a little while. You are a counting and alphabet reciting fool. You actually know most of your letters too. Yesterday you held up a curved piece of a pretzel and said, "Look, mommy, its a U!" Your father and I are, of course, sure that you are genius.
You climb on everything and jump off of objects whenever you think you can get away with it. You are adventurous but have just the right amount of fear in you. Though I'm sure our first ER visit isn't too far down the road. You are dramatic (of course, you are my daughter) and the slightest bump will have you screaming for a bandaid or "ariel" (your Ariel ice pack). We finally had to make the rule that you couldn't have a band aid unless there was blood. When you are sad you want to be picked up so can lay your head on my shoulder, "Mommy, I need up so I can cry on your arm/back."
You want to do everything yourself. I hear, "No, mama, I do it" about a zillion times a day. You also love to help. You pull your little stool up to Hazy's changing table every time she needs a new diaper. You also want to feed her solids each night and you are very good at it. You bring her toys whenever she cries. If that doesn't make her happy you get right up in her grill and say, "It's okay, Hazy, don't cry." or "what's wrong, sissy." Hazel LOVES you.
You still take your afternoon nap (thank you, thank you thank you). You go to bed between 7:30 and 8 and usually wake up around 7:30. You wear size 4t. You will finally let us pull your hair back so you don't look like a sheepdog with your eyes covered all of the time. You love skirts and girly things. You are starting to have an opinion about your clothes.
You love princesses and baby dolls. You always tell people that your name is Ariel and that Hazy's name is Rapunzel.
You are an amazing little person who makes everyone around you smile. We are so incredibly proud of you and love watching you learn and grow each day. Your dad and I are so excited to be on this adventure with you and we talk each and every day about how in love with you we are. Stay cool, kid.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Santa baby II
We got to visit Santa again when he came to Jon and Judy's neighborhood for a visit. It was too bad that Jon was home sick and couldn't hang out with us (wink, wink). There were lots of kids waiting for Santa and everyone was excited when the big guy showed up to the sound of jingle bells. When he invited the kids to come and sit on his lap, they all giggled and took a step back, nervous to be the first one.
Then Sloane walked right on up and started chatting away. The girl LOVES Santa.
Success - and a candy cane!
Even Bobba took a seat on Santa's lap. Awkward.
Miles was not so thrilled.
Mayson delivers her letter so Santa gets her full list.
Then Sloane walked right on up and started chatting away. The girl LOVES Santa.
Success - and a candy cane!
Even Bobba took a seat on Santa's lap. Awkward.
Miles was not so thrilled.
Mayson delivers her letter so Santa gets her full list.
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