Christmas

I made Adia gluten free pizza for dinner Christmas Eve. She's been asking for "pitza" since Daddy had some a few days ago. She was all excited, sitting in her chair, ready to go until I actually put it in front of her. Then she looked at me like I was nuts. She tried picking it up and gnawing on it, but she wasn't a fan. Better luck next time maybe.


She then jumped in the tub to play with her new bubble bath and bath crayons. Both were a huge hit. She loved having tons and tons of bubbles. She also thought it was cool to have Daddy draw houses on the sides of the tub.


After she got dressed in pjs, it was time for the presents.




Adia was a present opening fool. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. Once we gave her the go ahead, she couldn't be stopped. At one point she was completely surrounded by presents and would rip off one piece from each one. She had some problems opening a few presents and she grabbed a tool to help. It was one of Cookie Monster's arms from her new K'nex set.






She loved her gifts and had a hard time deciding what to play with and what movie to watch.




Adia went to bed pretty late last night and didn't sleep in so she's been pretty cranky today. When I got up to pee early this morning, I came back to bed and Adia said, "Hi Mommy, Hi! Mommy pee?" She then cuddled up again and fell back to sleep, waking up around 7. She then ventured in to see DiDi and snuggle up with her.

Adia begged for more presents this morning and lucky for her, there were more. She had her stocking stuff to unwrap and the giant present from Gramma and Papa. The box was taller than her. She eagerly ripped into it, but had no idea what she was opening.


It was a play kitchen! Daddy spent the rest of the morning assembling it, with lots of cursing and annoyance. Meanwhile she dug into her stocking and ate 3 Hershey Kisses. When Daddy finished her kitchen, Adia was in heaven. She thought it was awesome and played with it for ages. Too bad we couldn't get her to eat anything.

I called my dad while Adia played and in the middle of our conversation, Adia came up and said, "More tocolate please." umm.. no.. she was already pretty moody and cranky. After a full blown fit in the afternoon that woke up Daddy and caused her to be in time out, she finally fell asleep. I laid her in bed and she slept until dinner! She was one worn out little girl.

Classtime and Trains

Adia spent the last couple hours on Wednesday in DiDi's classroom. They were making gingerbread houses and she wanted me to take a few pictures. Adia was terrified of all the kids at first, but quickly warmed up. She especially enjoyed all the boys who enjoyed chasing her around and around the desks. She thought they were awesome. She was laughing and squealing in delight. She even started talking for them, which she rarely does when she's acting shy.

After all the running, she wanted a snack. She ate 2 mandarin oranges, some M&Ms and some mini marshmallows. She's going to think that every time we go to DiDi's classroom, we get to eat something yummy. After her snack, DiDi showed her that she could write on the chalkboard. Adia was in love. This time she was surrounded by girls and was once again in heaven. She loves to be the center of attention.


DiDi had a meeting after school so Auntie Colie picked us up. We went to the grocery store to get ingredients for gluten free lasagna and then Adia fell asleep in the car on the way back to Gramma and Papa's house. She slept through the transfer to their couch and actually slept for almost 2 hours. I was able to put the lasagna together and she woke up just before it was time to eat. She was a hungry girl, but ended up wearing more lasagna than she ate. I took off her shirt, thinking she was going to get in the tub, but she was distracted by Papa. They're setting up for their annual Christmas open house and it involves lots of Christmas decorations. Papa was getting ready to set up one of his trains and let Adia help him. She loved it. She'd hand him track pieces and he'd put them together. When it was finished, he let her be the train engineer. She's been asking for the train since we left.




DiDi arrived after her meeting and ate some lasagna too. Then she had ice cream and Adia wanted some as well. She demanded sprinkles on her vanilla ice cream. She likes saying the color of the sprinkle before she eats it.


After her ice cream, Adia grabbed Papa's hand and said, "Want bath, Papa!" So they were off to the bathtub while we watched Mamma Mia. Adia came running out after her bath, yelling, "Naked baby!" We caught her long enough to put pjs on her and she was off again. She liked Mamma Mia a lot, especially the sing-a-long part with Honey, Honey because that's her favorite song.

It was late before we got back to DiDi's house. Adia didn't get to bed until 11 and slept until 8. I wish she'd learn to sleep in, but I can dream, right?

Let It Snow!

Daddy's work Holiday Party was on Friday night. Adia hammed it up, running in circles and getting everyone's attention. She really liked all the babies and wanted to take them home with her. She was even willing to share her new toy.


Saturday morning, we headed up to Portland with Gramma, Papa and Daddy. We hadn't visited Daddy's relatives up there in ages so we figured it was time. Adia slept for the beginning of the drive and woke up in time to eat lunch. Adia likes Burger King, especially their "apple fries."

Adia was a little timid at first at Daddy's Aunt and Uncle's house, but since they have two dogs, she quickly warmed up. She was calling them Gramma Cindy and Papa Dave by the time we left. She ran around like a maniac and really liked their Christmas tree. She even got to spend some time with her second cousin, who's only a year older. They were hilarious together and ran around and around the coffee table. Since it was already bitterly cold outside, we decided to forgo the lights at the zoo and instead check out the lights at the speedway. Adia fell asleep just minutes before we got there and ended up sleeping through the whole thing. She wasn't alone, Daddy slept through them too.

We woke up to a fine dusting of snow on Sunday. Apparently it was much worse in Portland, but Vancouver didn't get much at all. It was just cold with a bone freezing wind. Adia was fascinated with the white stuff falling down. She hasn't seen snow since April, so I don't think she really remembers it.


She was really good about wearing her hat outside. She actually has a fit now if we're outside without it. We decided to venture to the local mall to burn off some energy and get out of the house. Adia studied the snow and kept squealing in delight. She fell asleep in the car though and we walked around the mall while she dozed in the stroller.




When Adia woke up, we ate lunch and had some ice cream. Adia was more interested in the play area that was right next to the Baskin Robbins. Papa finished her ice cream instead and she played.


We hit a couple more places along the river before going back to the house. Adia enjoyed playing with the dogs before eating dinner. She was a live wire, but particularly enjoyed having Auntie Colie around. She got to the point where she'd just lay down anywhere on the floor, lift her shirt and yell, "Tolie!" All because she wanted a belly blow. It was hilarious.

We started the slow drive back home on Monday. What's normally a 2.5 drive took 6 hours because of the bad weather. It was horrible. Luckily Adia ate a HUGE breakfast before we started on the drive. She soon fell asleep and slept for the longest time. When she woke up, we were moving at a snail's pace outside Salem. It was awful, but Adia was a champ. We sidetracked her with M&Ms, until Papa's supply ran out. We stopped at the next rest stop we could and Adia was able to spend a little time in the snow. She absolutely loved it and through a fit when we had to get back in the car. I don't blame her. Being in the car that long is torture for her.




We ate dinner in Springfield before driving back home. The roads were worse the closer we got to Eugene. Colie left us to go by Corvallis before meeting up with us again in the morning. Adia wasn't interested in dinner, she just wanted to run and jump and play. She was starting to get a little delirious in the car before we stopped. We made it home and Papa and Gramma decided to spend the night with us. Adia was thrilled, but she was especially excited about all the snow on the deck.


Adia was up bright and early because she remembered Papa and Gramma were still in her living room. She snuggled up between them and watched Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda. Daddy and I carefully got in the car and brought back breakfast. While we waiting for Colie to join us, we took Adia outside to play in the snow. She was in heaven. She absolutely loved it and even wore her mittens. She kept getting upset when they'd fall off and she'd ask someone to put them back on. Papa put snow on her back and she giggled. She even got hit with a couple snowballs, which she said were, "COLD!" She screamed when we took her back inside, but her hands were like ice.
















The drive back to Florence wasn't too bad. There were some bad spots and we had to wait at an accident, but once we hit the tunnel, it was smooth sailing. Adia was excited to see DiDi and Pig. She was a little upset that the snow was missing here. She did tell us that our car was "poopy" though because of all the muddy snow and ice frozen to the bottom of it. We went to Papa and Gramma's and Adia was shocked at all the Christmas decorations. They had plenty of snow in their yard and an ice street. We actually slid a little on it.

I have more pictures from yesterday, but I need to upload them. Adia had another fun day yesterday. She visited DiDi's classroom.

Pediatric GI

Adia's pediatric GI appointment was this morning. She's hit the age where she knows she's in a doctor's office and she's not happy about it. She fought the weight, height and head circumference check, but was happy to play in the exam room. She seemed to really like the doctor. He played catch with her while he talked to us. When it was time to listen to her chest and look in her ears, Adia just sat in my lap. She didn't complain at all or try to get away.

He told us that all of Adia's symptoms sounded like classic celiac disease. Her blood test came back negative 9 months ago, but it's not too accurate for children under 2 anyway. The next step would be to give her gluten for 2 months and then do an intestinal biopsy. That would give us a definitive answer, but none of us want to put Adia through that kind of torture. He said that if it was his child, he'd wait until she was older, but before she went to school. That's what we prefer to do too so we'll probably wait until she's 3 or so and keep her gluten free until then. He also recommended all her family members get tested since it's hereditary. At least we'll just do a simple blood test.

I'm glad our suspicions were correct and on a good note, Adia's gained 1.5 lbs in 3 months. She's now 22lbs 1oz and 31.25 inches tall. She was fully clothed at the time, but she's still gained quite a bit. She's also still on her 3rd percentile growth curve, but that's good. She hasn't dropped off of it either.

O Christmas Tree

We went Christmas tree hunting on Sunday. Adia hadn't napped yet so she fell asleep in the car and she was completely out. We took her out of the car, put a hat on her and wrapped a blanket around her. When the hat didn't some off immediately, we knew she was going to be asleep for quite awhile.


When she got too heavy for me, I passed her off to Papa. We walked around a bit and found our tree, all 4 feet of it. It's a tiny thing, but exactly what would fit in our living room.


Once our tree was in the car and Papa and Gamma had decided on one of their trees, we attempted to put Adia back in the car. That didn't go so well. She knew we were trying to set her down and she woke up groggy and upset. Her mood changed quickly when she noticed she wasn't in her normal environment. She was excited to see all the trees.


Adia was even more excited to see the horse next door. She's all about animals and lately she's been particularly interested in ponies.


Gamma and Papa were able to find a tree large enough for their front room. Adia watched the tree get a shake down so all it's dead needles would fall off. She was mesmerized.


We went to dinner and then went home to decorate our tree. Adia kept saying, "pretty tree!" She wasn't very good at actually putting the ornaments on the tree, but she definitely tried.


Everyday she demands, "tree on!" If we turn off the lights to leave the house, she gets upset. I can only imagine what she's going to be like when Christmas is over and it's time to take the tree down.

She's been pretty silly lately too. In the mornings, Adia's been getting up with Daddy and letting me get a couple extra hours of sleep. At first, she'd get upset that I wasn't getting up with her, but this morning she jumped up, gave me a ton of kisses and hugs and then yelled, "Daddy!" She ran down the hall yelling, "mommy sleep now." She woke me up at the usual time, 9am.

I have pictures to post from tree hunting and funny stories to share, but I also have a video. Adia loves the Elmo's World Happy Holidays DVD. We've watched it more times than I can count. Adia's favorite part is the "Dreidel" song. She does, what we've affectionally started calling, the dreidel dance. She gets super embarrassed if you say anything about it (or she happens to notice a certain Mommy is taping her).

DiDi's been here since Thursday night and Adia's been loving it, especially since piggie's here too. Friday night we watched movies and ate ice cream. Adia did a really good job eating ice cream by herself, sitting at her table. When she had finished hers, she drank the melted ice cream out of the bottom of the bowl and then ran to steal DiDi's. She ended up eating most of DiDi's ice cream too.


I have to write this so I don't forget it because it shocked both DiDi and me. Daddy's sick so DiDi bought him some cough drops. Adia was carrying them around the house and since they had a strawberry on the front, she thought they were candy. I took them from her and she got upset. I told her they made sick daddies feel better and were only for daddy. She thought about it for a minute and said, "ok." A few minutes later she pointed at them on the counter and said, "Those daddy's because he's sick." Both of our jaws hit the floor. When Daddy popped one in his mouth that evening, Adia didn't ask for any either.

We saw Gamma and Papa on Saturday morning. Adia was up with DiDi and actually let me sleep in a little bit. Adia ignored Papa at first was busied herself with Gamma's purse. We think she was punishing Papa for not seeing her last time. She soon forgave him and was all about playing with Papa. She swung her around by his feet, hung her upside down. She was a very happy girl and never wanted him to stop. She was super upset when they had to leave.


Adia's been obsessed with her Doodle Pro. I think they're the best toys for kids Adia's age. She can write to her heart's content, erase it and start all over. She can't write on anything else either. It's terrific. The perfect no mess toy for my artsy kid. I think we need one for home and one for the car. She especially likes getting her hand traced or requesting houses and apples.


We've had a lazy day today, but sometime this afternoon, Gamma and Papa will be back and we're going Christmas tree hunting. Of course, the weather turned cold, rainy and windy. We're going to freeze!

Not much to report. We're sick again and Adia's pediatric GI appointment is next week. We've mostly been staying at home, trying to get healthy and stay warm.

Adia's been a real goof. She'd just finished dinner when I asked her to give daddy a kiss. This is the expression she made.


On Wednesday, I had a doctor appointment for some pain I've been having. Adia was willing to ride in the elevator and after several failed attempts to get off on the wrong floor, she finally decided to wait until we gave her the okay. She was great during the appointment, even though she started it thinking it was her appointment instead.


That evening we went out to dinner with Gamma. When Gamma knocked on the door and we opened it, Adia smiled at her and then looked around Gamma. She looked down the stairs and said, "Papa?" I guess she knows they two of them go together. When DiDi arrived last night, Adia smiled at her, but pointed at GG and screamed, "Piggie!" She now thinks DiDi and Piggie are a packaged deal too.

She's been stealing my phone rather frequently lately. Usually she wants to call or text DiDi, but yesterday she talked to Tanae, while she sat in the fort Daddy made her. When Daddy got home from work yesterday, Adia started trying to drag chairs from the kitchen into the living room. We couldn't figure out what she was attempting to do until she started yelling, "Fort!" Daddy then built her a fort that stayed up most of the day.




She's still obsessively watching Kung Fu Panda along with Wall-E, Cookie and Thomas. She even sacked out on our bed to watch Tarzan while I was printing Christmas letters.


Last night she got particularly mad because Daddy and Mommy were watching Doctor Who and wouldn't let Adia put in one of her movies. She threw multiple fits (didn't help that she hadn't napped) and kept bringing us cartoon after cartoon.


picking out a movie


having a fit because we won't watch it
Adia was happy to wake up and find DiDi AND Piggie this morning. DiDi had to go to a dentist appointment though. Adia didn't throw too much of a fit because she left Piggie behind.

Thanksgiving, Panda and Elmo

Thanksgiving was awesome. For the first time, we had everyone here. Gamma and Papa brought a big folding table and extra chairs and set up in the living room while I cooked. She had plenty of people to keep her occupied and distracted so she wouldn't try to hang on me. Once the table was all set up, Adia claimed her spot and kept asking for food. When it was finally time to eat and I brought her plate out, she started yelling, "My FOOD!" She acted like she was starving, but didn't end up eating much of her "chicken." She did like the special pumpkin pie I made her. She didn't nap all day so she was kinda of cranky when we attempted some pictures.




After eating, Adia used the table as a fort. Eck would chase her under it, Adia laughing the whole time. When he tried to get more pie, she threw a fit and started yelling, "Eck!" When Papa cleaned off the table and got ready to put it away, Adia started screaming, "Table! My Table!" She was not happy with Papa for taking her table away.

The girls, Auntie Colie, DiDi, Gamma and I, left Adia with Daddy, Papa and Eck so we could see Twilight. Adia was crying, clinging to me, when I tried to leave. Daddy said she cried for a bit after we left, but soon started acting very very tired. Daddy went to bed with her and they both fell asleep. When he moved slightly, a little bit later, Adia sat straight up in bed and yelling, "Don't go Daddy!" She never knew when we came home or I slid in next to her, but she snuggled up close when she woke up at 2am. Too bad I wasn't faster to my feet though because she peed on me! Neither of us were very happy, but we both got cleaned up and went back to bed. When Adia got up at 6:30, she walked into the living room saying, "Table? My table?" This girl has a great memory.

Adia, DiDi and Daddy hit up the Black Friday sale at Toys R Us. I stayed home and just enjoyed the peace and quiet. They got some great deals and I was told that Adia was an angel. I wish she'd be an angel when I tried to shop. They came back to drop off their goodies and I jumped in the car with them. We hit up Borders, where the only one who got anything was Adia, and Old Navy, where I got some new clothes for cheap. We had to bring Daddy home after that so he could go to sleep, but we went back to Old Navy to return one of the pairs of pants I bought. Adia started to get cranky and doze off in the cart in Old Navy so I picked her up. The second her head hit my shoulder, she was out. I waited in line for ages, Adia asleep on my shoulder. DiDi and I went out to lunch afterwards and Adia slept through it. She woke up just as we were leaving the restaurant.

We went to Walmart next, hoping to still find a copy of Kung Fu Panda. That is most definitely Adia's favorite movie. We found what we were looking for and headed home. Adia couldn't wait to watch Panda again. Since we got it last night, we have already watched it 5+ times. I kid you not. When it gets to the end of the movie, Adia will yell, "Remote! Again!" and we start it all over again. At least it's a funny movie or I would completely lose my mind.

Adia, DiDi and I were so tired last night that we crawled into bed at 8:30 and slept until 7:30 this morning. Adia had no idea what she had in store for today. At 10:30, we went to Sesame Street Live! Adia loved all the kids as we took our seats, even playing Peek-A-Boo with the little girl behind us. She liked her new shirt, insisting on wearing it, but she still had no idea where we were and what we were doing.



The second Elmo came on stage, Adia's face lit up and she was in a world of her own. She clapped to the songs and yelled for Cookie. She attempted sitting/standing in her own seat, but she apparently doesn't weigh enough to keep the seat from folding. She ended up in DiDi's lap until intermission and then all hell broke loose. It never really had her undivided attention after that, but considering the show was 90 minutes long, she did really really well. I think our biggest complaint was that Cookie Monster never reappeared after intermission and that's her favorite character.





We went out to lunch after the show because we were all starving. Adia was excited to see the tortilla chips and gobbled down several of them. When the waitress took the basket to get us more, Adia started yelling, "No CHIPS! More CHIPS!" She ate some of her rice, but wasn't too interesting in her quesadilla. She did like playing in the fountain outside though. She asked me to push up her sleeves and then she splashed away. She was having the best time until she splashed water into her own face and got it in her eye. Then she wasn't as happy, but her unhappiness didn't last long. It was back to splashing before we pulled her away for ice cream.








Adia's getting really good at naming colors and it was particularly obvious when we were picking ice cream. I chose pumpkin for us, but Adia said, "No, I want to blue one!" No way were we sharing cotton candy ice cream. I used to get that for her, but she would never eat it. She did eat the pumpkin with chocolate chips though. After finishing her ice cream, she was off and running again. I tried to get a cute picture with her, but she wouldn't hold still. She wouldn't hold still for a picture with DiDi either. She's just an opinionated ball of energy anymore.






She stopped at the fountain on our way out and we had the worst time trying to get her to leave. She would have stayed all afternoon and night if we'd let her.


We drove to Freddie's before going home. Adia had to ride in a race car cart and a blue one at that. We had the hardest time finding one in the first place, but it was yellow. She was cranky and cheered up a bit when we traded for a blue one. She also got 2 new cars and a Little People Airplane. She has to wait for Christmas for the airplane though. She also pooped in the store, something she hasn't done in ages. I changed her when we got back to DiDi's car and it was a mess. It went all the way up her back and was thoroughly stuck to her. She fell asleep on the way back home and slept through the transfer to our bed.

DiDi left while Adia was sleeping. Adia woke up and quickly realized DiDi was gone. She started crying, tears streaming down her face while she pitifully cried for DiDi. It was heartbreaking. After lots of cuddles and promises that she'd see DiDi again soon, Adia ate some cookies and milk. I couldn't get a good dinner in her, but she did eat some toast and an orange. When she was eating, she noticed that the pig was gone too. That caused more crying.

Now she's built herself a bed on the floor, lots of pillows, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Baby, Purple and her blankie. She's just laying there watching "Panda" and is totally happy. I'm thinking we'll have another early night tonight too.