Dizzy Dancing

Tori's new favorite way to dance. She danced and danced at Grammy's house this week and got so dizzy she couldn't stand up, but still wanted to dance some more...

Favorite pass time -- reading with Pah

Ponytails At Last

Not much new going on lately with us. Tori and I are getting ready to spend next week with Grammy and Pa while Ej is working out of town. I have to be careful when talking about this because whenever Tori hears their names, she gets very excited and runs to the front door. I think she expects them to walk through the door at any time; either that or she's ready to leave to go see them.

Tori's temper continues to emerge as the days go by. I dare say we have entered "the terrible twos". She seems to cry more easily these days when things don't go her way. And she has started laying face down on the ground once in a while to have a cry. Last night she screamed the entire way through dinner because she wanted a 'snack' rather than the meat and vegetable dinner that was in front of her. Thankfully we are amused by these outbursts most of the time since they have been harmless and fairly mild. Knock on wood, she hasn't had a fit in public yet, though I am waiting for that day.

Here are a few pictures of our cutie from the last week...

Walking in Daddy's sandal

She managed to scoot with one foot in the sandal from the back door, all the way across the living room to the front window.

Getting ready for bed, sporting one of her new favorite camera faces

Tight squeeze, retrieve the cat's toy

Helping Daddy finish his cereal

Just because

Big Girl

As this stretch of independence continues, Tori decided this morning that she needed to sit in the regular dining chair instead of her booster. An arch of her back and a squeal let me know that it was a futile attempt to sit her in the booster so here's our big girl eating breakfast today...

Our Little Helper

As days and weeks go by, our little miss continues to stretch her independence. Fortunately we don't have too many breakdowns and tantrums, though she is very good at giving the shy, cold shoulder. If asked to do something she doesn't want to do, she either completely ignores us, or tips her head down, turns her back to us, and stands very still for a short while. I must admit, it is pretty cute to see her react in that way, and we are having to master the art of grinning and chuckling in such a way that she doesn't see.

Along with this new-found independence is the need to help us with whatever we might be doing. When I vacuum, there's Tori holding the cord for me. If I, foolishly, try to sweep the floor when she is near, she helps by trying to pick up the little particles and the broom bristles. Most recently she has taken an interest in the dishwasher and got to help Daddy unload it this weekend by handing him one piece of silverware at a time, and then one small plate at a time. The look of satisfaction on her face was priceless.

Tori also had the opportunity to help us in the yard this past weekend. Even though it was a little chilly, we were itching to get outside in the sunshine so we all bundled up and headed to the back yard. Thrilled at being able to run free, Tori spent quite a lot of time running around the back patio, and mastering the step from the patio to the grass...over and over and over again.

She also discovered that worms are pretty fun to play with...

and that our resident frog statue is pretty fun too. She had quite a lot of fun packing Mr. Frog around and repositioning him along the wall.

And when that wasn't enough, once again there was satisfaction in playing with the rocks and helping Daddy.

Happy Belated New Year

I know I'm a little late in the well wishes. 2008 got off to a great start for us as we rang in the new year with our best friends. Ej took a vacation the first week of the new year and we spent some time remodeling our closet, which has been on our agenda for a couple years now. The closet is quite long and narrow and we were in need of extra storage space. We took out the standard clothes rod that went the full length, in exchange for a his and hers double rod system in one end and an expanse of shelving units the remainder of the length. I love it and can't wait to finish the rearrangement in the rest of the bedroom. The next step is to paint our bedroom which has remained unpainted since we moved in two and a half years ago and we'll be on our way to my 'dream' room in our humble home.

While the year started out great, the end of the week proved to be less than desirable as we all 3 ended up with the flu. Thanks to Grammy and Pa who were able to come take care of Tori for a little while so Ej and I could recover.

Now that we are all back to normal, we were finally able to get some pictures taken to post. Tori has decided that it's fun to play ball up and down the hallway.

She has also become fascinated with zippers. The first thing she does when we put her jammies on is to find the zipper; she also has been obsessed with wearing her vest lately so she can play with that zipper. In addition, she decided it was alright to wear mommy's vest too. Here are a few of the recent cute pics of Tori. Enjoy!