as promised...

as i was decorating the little tree tonite, i heard my camera flash go off and i found this:

an oreo-encrusted, rosy-cheeked toddler who has stolen our hearts.

it reminded me to update you patient folks with some pictures

these pictures basically go in reverse order... sorta... just go with it.

e loves snowmen... her greatgranny t taught her about these little guys and she can spot them ANYWHERE.

even in a wine cork at the junior league shopping spree... lawdy. 

she is also REALLY into her nativity set right now... "baby jeeeeesus" gets to ride in the baby doll stroller, and gets offered some of her nighttime cup of milk... she also notices that joseph has a beard like daddy and mary is the mama... "mama mary"

this girl was born to be the center of attention... can you tell?

i love this pic of these two.... seriously, two of my favorite people on the planet. 

(i have a few favorites, don't feel slighted if you weren't in this picture.)

the horn that she's holding in both of these pics makes this little squeaky noise, and whenever she blows is aunt lisa chases her and tickles her (she started this a while back)... well, just like one of pavlov's pooches, eden still giggles when she toots her own horn. the previous statement is both literal and metaphorical.

"cheese, mama"

halloween costume... did i post this already... oh geez.

daddy's shooooes

i'm lovin' her golden locks these days... her hair has gone wildddd

holiday elmo. a must-have for your holiday decor this season

this was thanksgiving day... these two fell asleep on the floor, as nershi and i were snuggled up on the sofa. the perfect morning nap before a day of FEASTING... and being thankful.

eden decided to use her bath basket as a helmet (a choice entirely hers) for her "nascoupe"

its become a morning habit on days that lee gets up with her, that nershi stays and sleeps with me... and eden comes in bed with me for a few minutes... the cherry on top of THAT sundae of love? this morning, she runs in our room while i'm playing my usual game of possum and says "hey mama, i love you" and gave me the biggest hug.. melt. my. heart.

surgery still on go... eden STILL on antibiotics (3 weeks, and counting!) and wasn't getting all kinds of better... actually, she was getting a little worse. to the point of my "call the doctor" threshold. her resp. doc (not the one operating) prescribed some steroids for her... 

you know its getting complicated when the pharmacist sends home a separate sheet of paper with the dosing   for which days (days 1-3 do this, days 2-6 do this, days 7-9 do this...)

getting a few butterflies about surgery coming up, but i think its more of a feeling of "let's get this over with" than nervousness.

also, while i'm in such a blogging mood and can't sleep (hello, midnight!)... i wanted to update on her antics and ever expanding vocabulary... i'm CERTAIN i will miss some things... she's saying a LOT these days

talking:

wow... doing this alot and is very good about using her words to tell you what she wants. some of the words she says consistently and recognizably:

hey, bye bye--all those "obvious" words, elmo, big bird, cookie (the food and cookie monster), baby, abby (abby cadabby), baby jesus, tick tock, ALLLL the animal sounds and the majority of the animals themselves, the modes of transportation (boat, truck, tractor, car, train--though most of the time she calls it a choo-choo), peaches, snack, cracker, apple, banana, butterbeans, please, juice, milk, i love you, back up, no no nershi, good boy doggie, wolfpack, most of the family's names...and her friends names, buckle, swing, she can repeat just about anything you ask her to and... she will read you this book cover to cover:

(some times i say "what's that?" and point to something... and sometimes i say "where's the ___")

she's also piecing lots of words together... probably her longest sentence so far is "bye bye socks, HEY TOES!!" as she took her socks off while in the car one day... i almost had to pull over i was laughing so hard. she's pretty consistent with 3-4 word phrases... "more juice please", "back up, doggie" (what she says to him when he's begging at the dinner table!), "daddy go bye bye"

she knows the parts of the body, most of her alphabet (she sings most of the song, and is recognizing several letters), and counted to five (repeating all the numbers) for the first time this weekend! we are working on the colors... 

she can be affectionate when she wants to be... giving kisses and/or hugs... and i love the hug we get if we pretend to cry. when disobeying, we've reached the "i'm going to count to three" stage... which works most of the time... and we've dished out a few good old fashioned spankin's a time or two (+80% of them were because she was running away from a diaper change...deliberate disobedience when she fully understands what she should be doing). at this stage, i try to be very sure that she does FULLY understand what she's supposed to be doing before she gets a whoopin'... its tough sometimes to know if they just don't understand what you're asking them or if they know and choose to do differently--i'm learning consistency is key.

she is LOVING school... i'm 98% sure she's got a little boyfriend there... its cute... for now. heh. her teachers are wonderful and i see the fruits of their hardwork and love--combined with what she's picking up from her family and she is learning SO. FAST.... i can hardly keep up. i've waited almost two years for this stage... this is my FAVORITE age. (well, so far at least ;))

this is the age that i always enjoyed volunteering for at church--the 2-3 year olds...