Thanksgiving!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Toledo with Adam's family. Granny, Aunt Patti, Uncle John, Karen, Jerad, John, Emma and Andrew made it such a great day for us and for Cori! Oh and Max too. Granny's cat.

We ate too much, watched video's from Granny's visit to Alaska to see Jenni, Greg, Gwen and Amelia and then watched football. How about those Lions!! Yeah!

Cori did have one little accident. She lost her balance trying to put a block on the garage floor at a friend's house. She basically did a hands free header into the asphault and scraped up her nose and her forehead pretty good. Poor kid. She cried and cried and cried. I think she will live. But of course we will have to postpone the Christmas photo until her nose clears us. But then again, hey, she looks just like Rudolph!

Cori ate an Egg!

And that dear friends is BIG news. Cori ate a scrambled egg and liked it! I think we may be on the verge of a breakthrough in the picky eating department. At least we hope so. Now if i can just get her to eat some carrots and sweet potatoes.

Two days ago Cori pointed at a blanket of Adams that has the Cleveland Brown's Helmet on it and said "thats a circle". When i saw that she was pointing at the earhole on the helmet, i had to agree with her that yes, it was indeed a circle. She now knows circles, stars and squares. Not by any prodding from me, mind you. We just look at books and we point out what the pictures are and tell her the names of things and she repeats. I guess her little brain puts together the information and spits it out. Kids are like sponges.

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and don't eat too much turkey!

It's been so long...

It''s been so long since i have been on here that the page actually asked for my password to make sure it was really me!!

All in the Haines House are well. It is getting colder and colder and so far our experiment to not use the furnace and only use electic heat is working out great! Cori is getting bigger and more ornery every day. I am not lying when i say she is getting bigger. I think she had another growth spurt. All the clothes i got for her on ebay had better still fit this winter! She is getting taller by the minute i tell ya.

She is talking up a storm and her new favorite phrases are, "Help, I'm Stuck!" and "Freeze Bobos". She watches a lot of Go Diego Go, so if you are familiar with that show you will know who the Bobos are. Today at the grocery she said "Hi" to everyone we passed and they all think she is so cute and stop to talk to her. Which is great, but it makes the trip to the grocery last quite a bit longer than i would like. :)

I am beginning to see the process of her independence. She doesn't ask me to read as many books as she reads to herself. She is content to pretend play with her toys and baby dolls and doesn't need my constant interaction. This is sad and good at the same time. I am getting more laundry done but i am sad that she doesn't "need" me as much.

We have made a breakthrough in the vegetable department. If she has ketchup to dip them in, she will eat them. So ketchup with every meal! Still no pregress in the meat department but we keep trying.

We are all in a tizzy getting ready for Thanksgiving and trying to find money for Christmas. When you are broke you tend to focus on the reason for the season a little more and the presents a little less. Not a bad lesson for us to learn.

To Nap or Not to Nap.... That is the question.

And the question we have no answers to. The last couple of days, the sleep cycle of this house has been somewhat erratic. And that is for EVERYONE, not just Cori. Some days she takes a 3 hour nap, others it is only about 45 minutes and then there is the whole waking up at odd hours of the night and being wide awake and not going back to sleep. Adam and i are pretty ragged.
I think this must be our punishment for having a baby who slept pretty well when she was teeny tiny. Now, as a toddler, she can't decide if she is sleepy or not. And after a solid week of this, both Adam and i are at the end of our ropes. Surely, this can't last forever!
The toddler is an odd bird. She won't eat regularly. She won't sleep regularly. And for two parents who like things pretty regular, it has been a testy time. And it can't be all that fun for Cori either. I just hope it isn't a phase that lasts too long. And thank God i don't have to go to work every day!

Dora Saves the Snow Princess

Over the last few weeks, Cori has become totally "Dora-fied". It's Dora this and Dora that. Nick Jr. has been running comercials for Dora Saves the Snow Princess, a one hour Dora movie. Whenever Cori sees the ad, she just freaks out. So Adam and i planned to let her watch it when it came on Monday night. We set her up with her drink, a blanket and a pillow (since it started at 8pm, which is near bedtime for Cori) and when we came in from letting the dogs out, this is what we saw. (pics above) At first i thought it was totally hillarious, and now i am mortified that i have turned my child into a Dora couch potato!

The other picture above is Cori feeding her baby. She has become very interested in pretend play lately. She makes her dolls "talk" to each other, pretends to eat food out of play dishes, and takes care of her baby. It is pretty cool to see her imagination develop.

Chick or Cheet

Chick or Cheet is how Cori was saying Trick or Treat last night. After two houses she had the idea and was running from house to house. I could see the wheels turning in her head, "ok, Chick or Cheet, they give me something, thank you much and i'm outta here!"

Cori was singing and doing her bee impression all through the neighborhood. I guess maybe i should back up and explain that we went to Kerry and Scott's house in Englewood for trick or treat night. It is easier for us as we get to see the kids in their costumes, Cori has someone to trick or treat with, and Adam's shop isn't too far from Kerry's house so he can get off work and come right to trick or treat with us.

Mom was a HOOT!!! That is her in the Cruella DeVille costume!

Shots and a Check-up

Cori had her 18 month check up today and Adam and i went with her. I made Adam come because i knew she was getting shots today and i had to hold her the last two times for them, so it was his turn this time. And it isn't fun to hold Cori while she gets her shots. She cries GREAT BIG tears and it breaks your heart. I am sure that it isn't a picnic for her either.

She weighs 23 pounds, and is 30 inches tall. She had moved from the 25th percentile to the 30th! Whoo hoo! Now i guess i get to brag a little... the doctor told us that Cori is off the charts developmentally. She knows about 100 words now, can use a fork and spoon, knows her body parts and animal sounds and is quite the little chatterbox. She can stack about 6 blocks at a time, walk backwards, read books to herself (well, Cori's version of reading) and run. She is also using sentences from time to time. Two nights ago, she told Adam and i that she needed a snack. "Umm, i need a snack". We made her repeat it just to be sure.

So now that i have bragged shamelessly about my smart kid, i hope that she never feels like i am pressuring her. I just want her to be the healthy, happy kid she is now for a long long time.