Covering all the bases

December will be a busy month for us, and possibly a confusing one for Delia. We're looking forward to her first "aware" holiday season, but this also means the beginning of a delicate balance between two holidays. Our goal is to enjoy both Hanukkah and Christmas, and to avoid any unfortunate contact between Menorah and tree.

Here's a visual example of Delia covering all the holiday bases:


Grandma and Grandpa bought Delia cute reindeer pajamas.




She was wearing them this morning as Daddy read her "The Runaway Dreidel."

Someone's in the kitchen with mommy

Several days before Thanksgiving, our oven died. We got a new one yesterday, so this afternoon Delia and I did a little baking to test it out. She was pretty happy to play with her stove, refrigerator and sink while I made a big mess nearby.

We had fewer smiles this morning, though, when we went to see Dr. Hamm for Delia's 18-month check-up. He said she's doing great. She weighs about 27 pounds and is approximately 32 1/4 inches tall. I can't give you exact measurements, though, because the nurse was not very patient with Delia's squirming and said "good enough." Grrr! Dr. Hamm says he doesn't like to make predictions before age 2, but his best guess is that Delia will be about 5'7" when she is fully grown.



Delia likes to climb onto this oven lately. It's scary!



Peekaboo.




Washing the dishes...

Turkey with Guggy and Moe

We've been referring to David's parents as "Grandma and Grandpa" with the understanding that if Delia came up with other names, we'd go with those. At one point during Thanksgiving in Atlanta, Delia told us we were visiting "Guggy and Moe." I'm not sure where this came from, but I think it's pretty funny. For now, I'll use "Grandma and Grandpa" on the blog until we're sure "Guggy and Moe" is a keeper.

(And yes, mom, we're working on "Bubbe." I think she almost has it!)



Delia torments her grandmother by favoring Grandpa when it comes to snuggling. When she tripped in the kitchen, though, she went to Grandma for a nice, long hug.



Delia's Great Grandpappy read to her on Thanksgiving morning.



Before dinner, Delia shared some of her crackers with Uncle Billy.



When we got home on Saturday afternoon, Delia got to choose between the Yellow Jackets and Bulldogs T-shirts grandma bought her. Daddy was happy to see Delia pick the Jackets shirt (sorry, Uncle Billy), but Tech lost the game.

Graffiti artist

When we bought sidewalk chalk for Delia, we thought it would be a nice way for her to draw temporary pictures on our walkway. It rarely rains here, though, so sometimes we get to enjoy her work for weeks at a time.

New words, old pictures

I haven't taken many pictures lately, but I have been keeping a list of Delia's words to share with the doctor at her 18-month check-up next week. Her pronunciation is garbled, but her vocabulary is growing -- 57 words and still counting! (In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that I have included "words" like woof-woof and wee on the list.)

Most of you have heard Delia say, "I want that." (I hear it 50 times a day!) She can also say: what's that?, all done, apple, happy, hi, peas, socks, me, baby, cd, water, hot dog, dirty, more, and Elmo. (Wouldn't this make a fun Magnetic Poetry set? Example: "Me happy, Elmo. More dirty peas? All done.")

While Delia is picking up new words every day, she still has not learned to keep her hands to herself. Here she is with some friends at a recent outing:




Nathan didn't mind Delia holding his hand...






...but Reese didn't go for it!

Let's pretend

Delia has been pretending for some time now. She will kiss her baby dolls and ask us to rock them. She has offered her teddy some of her juice, and she knows how to "pretend" eat her plastic play food.

Yesterday was the first time, though, that she pretended with invisible things. Her Halloween bag was full of cookies when she woke up. ("Cookie" is one Delia's clearest words.) David and I stuffed ourselves silly on invisible cookies which Delia fed to us.

Later in the day, we all went out to try to get a picture to use on our holiday cards. Delia petted the pretend ducks and shared her sippy cup with the pretend rabbit. (She also tried to stick her finger in his nose. This is a new skill of which we are not quite so proud.)

By the way, none of these photos will be on the holiday card this year.

Cold, but not cold enough to stay inside

We dug a hat out of the drawer this afternoon so we could go outside to play. Bubbe made this cap for Delia last year. It was waaay too big then, but it's just right now.

Delia played on her slide and got very dirty, then worked on her pine cone collection. We're gathering pinecones for Katie's wedding centerpieces. Delia has gotten quite good at finding the nicest ones. She calls them "paw-paws."

Goats, remote controls, and football

We had a fun visit in Massachusetts last week. We went to Ingledsby Farm in Boxford, where Delia got to feed some goats. There was a sheep and a donkey in the same pen, but they didn't stand a chance of getting near Delia's food. Goats are pretty aggressive!









Bubbe had lots of toys, but Delia especially loved the dozen or so remote controls.





We went to Aunt Maureen and Uncle Steve's house to watch the Patriot's game. Delia read stories during the commercials. She loved the game. Every time we cheered, she thought we were applauding her.