Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Joy to the World!

 

A little bit of pre-Chrismas joy:

 

(She did beautifully earlier this morning:  Mary was going to have a "BABY!" named "JESUS" and Joseph led her on his "DONKEY!"  But then, as we retold it, she got a little possessive of the donkey. "MY donkey!")

 

 

 

 

advent

I've never celebrated advent before.  But I read about this tradition and thought it might be lovely.  I don't want busy-ness and pressure and material things to cloud my mind during this time of year.  I want to focus on what Christmas is about... Christ.

I want Christmas for Lucy to be special and sparkly and wonderful because of the wonder of a God who would become one of us to lead us to Him.    Not because of a make-believe benefactor (not matter how jolly).  I'm not anti-santa.  I'm not going to freak out if her sitter happens to have a 5 foot tall santa front and center in the living room.  (Which she does :) ).  But I want all this santa /gift stuff put in place.   A little entertainment.  Not the center of this special season.

My friend Bonnie shared this resource on her blog for an advent tree.  I printed it off and cut out the little ornaments and we've been reading stories and hanging ornaments every night. 

The stories are ones building up to Jesus' birth.  One thing we're doing to make it extra-special is to read the stories by candle-light.  She LOVES this!  Candles mean birthdays, so after we read, hang the ornament, and pray, we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blow out the candle.  She sings SO enthusiastically and heartily.  It is precious! 

I secretly filmed us, because her singing is so adorable.  I smushed it into a video (I took out most of the actual story time, partly because I am rushed by a little lady who's ready to sing, and it almost didn't make sense that night as I tried to hurry through!  We'll work on content next year :)   Sometimes it's so fun we do it twice!  The part at the end is the second time through, when we're a little sleepy and a little silly.  It's been a really fun (cheap) and meaningful way to add to this Christmas season--I think this new tradition is a keeper!

 

favorites today...

"Ow!  My face hit me!"

" Ooooow!  My poopy hit me!"

"Poopy-ray, pees!"  (Chipotle, please)

"I baby-doll.  I baby-doll.  I baby-doll"  (Murmuring to herself in the back seat)

"Yay! John here!" (When a deliveryman knocke don the door)

"Halelula!"

counting, story-telling, spelling, what?

Lucy Joy!  You are taking off!  This has been a big week.  First of all, after struggling to get 1-2-3 in order, you just started counting to 8!  You've done it several times.  I was really surprised to hear it!  (You throw a five in after 8 and that loops you right back around to 6 and 7, but you'll get to 10 soon!)

On the way to Ms. Connie's the other day, you kept saying,
"Storytime?  Storytime, mama?  Okay. 
Once-pon-ti. (Once upon a time).
lawkejfoinsadlij (a little gibberish).
Theeeeee END!" 
I got about 12 stories that morning :)

You've enjoyed drawing lately.  When you're especially proud of your artwork, you say "Fri-fri ME!" so we put it up on the fridge.  You handed me a crayon and said, "Name, ME!" (so that I would write your name on it).  I started writing and said out loud, "L..."  YOU filled in with, "U...C....Y."  Nana and I looked at each other, pretty much flabbergasted.  You're spelling?!  That's just crazy, Lulu!

Lucy, you have been my big buddy lately.  As we talk through where we're headed, you ask me, "Mama play, too?" to make sure that we're sticking together (and I'm not just dropping you off).  As we "work" at the coffee table, coloring, drawing, and watching Puppy Mine YET again, you have been pulling up your little stool riiiight beside me and saying, "Side-t-side Mama."  Sometimes you lay down, and invite me, "Mama lay down side-t-side me!"  When I'm washing dishes, your favorite spot is on the counter next to the sink.  When I'm putting on make-up, you're lathering on the chapstick right by me.  When I'm headed to the potty, you joyfully shout, "I go too!"  When I walk in the door to Ms. Connies, I hear your running feet and, "MY mama!"  Tonight you said, "Tree!  I try!"  You pulled your little stool over to the light switch and lit up our tree.  You just beamed.  I just can't imagine a sweeter dallop of joy in my life than you are, Joy-Baby.  You are such a blessing from God!  You make Mama so happy.

what Lucy says

Here's a little of what Lucy is saying these days (in addition to the adorable John-namings):

• "Up ME, Mama!"  (With hands out to be lifted up)
• "I too, Mama."  (We do about everything together)
• "I try."  (Becoming very independent)
• "Tuck in me!"  (When our covers get a little tangly)
• "Puppy mine!"  (Requesting the song "Snuggle Puppy."  Every. 1.5. Seconds.)
• "I like-y too!"  (Her way of saying she likes something.  This is rare and has only described sweet potatoes and Uncle John's new haircut).
• "My milky fall down."  (It used to be just fall... now we say fall down).
• "______ hit me eye!"  (The start of a little tattling and a little fibbing).
• "Mama funny!"  "Nana silly!"  (This girl knows her stuff)
• "I stuck!" (When she or something she's playing with is stuck.  This sounds unfortunately/hilariously like "I suck!", so we may or may not try to get things stuck to hear it.)
• "Me, Mama!"  (Like, "look at ME, mama!")
• "Monkey snacks!"  (These are fruit snacks which sometimes feature Curious George.  They are the best thing of all time, and she requests them daily.)
• "Mirror!"  (This is dictated after we put in her hairbow every day.  She's got to check out the results of all our toils, and she LIKES what she sees :)  As Bonnie Meyers said, I think these Ethiopian sweeties have a little bit of the blood of the Queen of Sheeba in their veins!).
• "Dit up. Dit up.  Dit up."  (If I'm taking a little too long playing on the floor, she's all business.... Very serious and trying to help move the process along.)
• "Cookie Elmo John!"  (I know it's in the last post, but I hear this SO often.  She proudly proclaimed, "Cookie Elmo John!" to the people in line next to us for the nursery and to our guests the minute the came in the door.  It's a pretty big deal, people.)
• "I did it!"  (A nod to the many, many Dora episodes we've watched.  Accompanied with two fisted triumphant hand raise.)
• "More beans?  More?"  (Lots of play kitchen talk, and everything she serves up (and many things I serve up in the real kitchen) are "beans".  (Can you tell who's budget cooking?))
• "Hola!"  (Lucy is somewhat shy around new people, but she busts out with HOLA loud and clear.  And we've noticed a trend with her use of Spanish.  All people with long, black hair get "Hola!"s (Hispanics, Indian or Asian women, goth teenagers... They're all fair game!)
• I say, "Lucy, you make Mama..." and she replies "SO happy!" I just let that sentence hang one day and she chimed right in with EXACTLY what I was going to say :) Maybe she's heard it a few times...

All things John and wonderful

Lucy is just crazy about her Uncle John.  She asks if we're going to see him almost every day.  Recently, she began adding a "John" to everything she loves.  I think of it as almost adding a "Saint" to things.  Saint Theresa or John Elmo.  You know.

So, please allow me to introduce a few of Lucy's most favorite things, donned with the name of one of her most favorite people.  We have...

"Elmo John"



 

"Cookie Elmo John"

 

 

"Baby John"

 

 

"John Mommy"

 

And, 'tis the season for

"Baby Punky John"

 



 

This has been cracking us up!  She gave all these John names, and calls each thing this name EVERY SINGLE TIME.  We hear A LOT about "Cookie Elmo John".  I love that "Baby John" is a lovely black girl.  And I'm a liiiiiiittle insulted that John Mommy is supposed to be a grandma!  But I'm super happy that this girl loves her Uncle John.  He's SO good to both of us.  I may just start "John-naming" things, too.  So have a John-jolly day, full of sun-John-shine! 

PS.  My mom will be totally on board.  When she messed up my name, she called me "Macy" (our dog).  Later that week she messed up John's name.  What did she call him, you may ask?  "God." (It's true.)
 

Lucy's first year video

Prepare yourselves for some serious adorable-ness!  Lucy's recent birthday made me go sorting through all the lovely picture I have of this girl.  I made a little video of her first year (birth to 1) of my favorite pics and videos.  I set it to Snuggle Puppy (from Sandra Boynton's Philidelphia Chickens c.d.--which we (both) love!).  She LOVES this song, and it was THE song I'd sing in her ear to calm her down.  She still requests it sometimes.  Once I finish sorting through the birthday footage, I hope to have another video of her second year.  It was so fun to make (revisiting that tiny baby and our first adventures).  And Lucy has really enjoyed watching it.  She requested it twice this morning.  She smiles and laughs at herself.  The really cute part is that she is really watching others to see them watching (and enjoying) her in the video.  She caught Uncle John's eye one of the first times we watched it, and smiled back at him, and then pointed to the video (like, "Pay attention!")

 

Without further ado, here is the link to her first year video:

 

Lucy's first year

 

 

(It's also on the bar at the right, under her forever day video).