Lauren Elizabeth is growing, growing, growing! Her most recent feat is saying "Gigi"! This happened on 11/10 and she says it in a high pitched voice and very slowly and distinctly. On 11/12, she said "Grandma"! and she says it somewhat fast.
You can also ask her "What does the cow say?" and she'll pooch her lips out and say "mmmoooo". She also knows what the dog ("wow, wow") and the cat ("eeee" in a very high pitched, soft voice) says.
She has REALLY taken to watching TV, especially Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins. I wish that we had never introduced her to TV now that I know how much of a trance she can sink in to...and she's only 16 months!
She is teething a lot right now...her left lower molar came through on 11/6 and she chewed on her thumb so much that it left a blister and then sore. I tried offering her a pacifier (what mother wants her child to start using a paci at 16 months?!?!! but I just felt so sorry for her), but she had no idea what to do with it.
And I hate it when she won't sit in her chair to watch TV, so I asked our optho friend what he thought about the parental myth that watching TV up close will damage your eyes...he said that it wouldn't. So, I'm going to stop arguing with LEB about it.
Miss Heather watched Lauren Thursday night so we could go to the JSL Holly Fair Preview Party. I had to work the auction and this was our first year going. We had a fun time...Eric especially did with the live auction. We leave for Eleuthera, Bahamas next week ("won" from a previous auction) but Eric and Dr. Melzer seem to think that it would be fun to go to Abaco. So, they bid on it...and "won" it. My...oh...my.
Sweet Lauren after bath time
All dressed and ready to see Santa at the Holly Fair Champagne Brunch.
Uh-oh! Melt down alert! This doesn't happen often! Last year, Lauren seemed to really like Santa. That is definitely NOT the case this year! One look at him and she wanted to make a run for the door!
I was so surprised, too! She really likes the Disney characters in person and it never dawned on me that she wouldn't like Santa.
Taking a break to look at the Gingerbread men.
Even trying with Daddy proved to be unsuccessful. Oh well.
"Dada, I'm not even going to look at him. Let's just go. Okay?"
On Saturday, Lauren spent her morning dressed in her Gator cheerleader uniform to send off Daddy and Uncle Gabe to the UF vs SC game in Gainesville.
Isaac's brothers were at a birthday party, so she had him all her herself...plenty of attention.
She had a fun time being outside at the farm...
talking to Isaac and giving directions...
while showing off her moves.
Isaac even took us on a golf car ride to see the cows in the pasture.
Soon after Eric left, I dressed LEB in her FSU uniform to be a Nole fan for the rest of the afternoon. FSU played Clemson that night and Grandma kept Lauren for me while I went to the game.
It should be noted as a huge event that this weekend marked the 1st time that Lauren did the Gator Chomp AND FSU Chop! She learned the gator chomp on Thursday (Eric taught her in less than 5 minutes). So, Friday I was standing in the front yard with Miss Heather and said "Lauren learned the Gator chomp yesterday. We need to re-start our homework of teaching Lauren the Seminole Chop." (This was Heather's instruction at the beginning of football season, but Lauren didn't seem to catch on 2 months ago.) Then I said "Lauren can you go 'ooohhh, oh, oohh'..." and showed her the chop. She did it IMMEDIATELY and with the voice!! Heather and I just clapped and clapped!
That afternoon, Lauren was in her high chair when I told ERic about it. Standing on her right side, he started doing the Gator Chop while I was doing the Seminole Chop on her left side. She (seriously) looked at Eric...looked at me...looked back at Eric...looked back at me... and then ... did ... the ... Gator Chop! ha! Dada won...for now.
We celebrated Gigi's birthday while tailgating on a beautiful night before the Clemson game.
Kenny and the girls
Eric and I got back to Chipley VERY late that night and we spent the night at Grandma and Pa's house.
Lauren and Eric ready for church.
We picked Lauren up from the church nursery after the service and Gigi and Pops were waiting outside the nursery door. Lauren has gotten very attached to Pops and when Gigi went to pick her up, Lauren ran right past her to get to Pops. She gave him the biggest hug...Poor Gigi! But it melted Pops' heart. :-)
After church looking at the cows. Lauren LOVES the cows.
Having lunch sitting beside the big boys.
Lucas taking it easy.
We have started teaching Lauren how to color with crayons. Here she is with Eric "practicing".
Of note this week: Lauren was standing up in the bath tub when she slipped (while trying to lift one leg up under the faucet--?--fun play!) and fell face first into the side of the tub. She got a 4 mm cut in her upper right eyelid along with a black and blue eye. It didn't bleed long and wasn't deep enough for stitches, but goodness did it hurt.
Putting together a puzzle at library time this week.
Trying to use a fork with her scrabbled eggs. Sometimes it's just easier to manually put the food on the fork. :-)
Straining her neck to watch the TV while eating.
On Thursday, Ganny and Granddaddy came down to visit, play and go out to eat for Granddaddy's 82nd birthday. Gigi and Pops were on their trip to DC and we are not going to be in town on his actual birthday.
We Skyped with Aunt Kay and told her about all of the good food we were going to have at Captain Anderson's. ha!
Lauren is all ready to go!
I know that I just said that I hate how much Lauren loves TV, but we really wanted to have a nice, quiet dinner so we brought along the DVD player with Nemo. Oops. Another "I will never..." sentence thrown to the wayside.
Playing at Dada's office. We didn't know that she knew how to climb on the table...well, now we do!
On Friday night, Miss Heather came to keep Lauren while Eric and I went to the Bay Hospital Gala.
We had a fun time with a few of my co-workers -- and I loved seeing Eric in a tuxedo! Yay!
We'll catch you later when we return from Eleuthera! Wish us luck! Because of some booking difficulties (thanks to Continental canceling our flight 4 weeks before our trip!), we will be using 3 separate airlines which means that we will collect our luggage 3 times, go through security 3 times, change planes 3 times...with 2 toddlers!
Here we go!!
