I Want What You've Got

Here are December and Samuel playing together on his birthday!

Samuel is such a cute little boy. December is being silly for him, and he is indulging her by giving her a big grin

Not all was fun and games, though. Do you see the greediness glinting in her eyes? She has just stolen that book away from Samuel (and he looks pretty broken-hearted about it, too)!

But everyone gets along when Sesame Street comes on!

Dear me, kids sure don't need to be taught how to be selfish! It is very much born right into them! The whole time December and Samuel were playing together, December was constantly taking toys away from Samuel. She only wanted what he was playing with. She is not a good sharer yet. I was getting after her every couple of minutes. I sounded like a broken record, "December! Let Samuel play with that. You share with Samuel. No, you don't need his toy right now. Hey! Do not take that toy away from him! December. Samuel is playing with that -- you wait." and on and on. She did occasionally play with him nicely. She likes giving him hugs and kisses, which is pretty cute to watch. He doesn't appreciate getting those kisses as much as December likes giving them, though.

Learning Sign Language

December has a Baby Einstein movie called "First Signs." It's where sign language is taught for words in a baby's world, like Mommy, Daddy, milk, blanket, sleep, etc. December has had this dvd for a few months now, but last night she started mimicking alot of the signs! Here she is doing the sign for "baby."

To sign "baby," you hold your arms in a cradle-like position and rock your arms back and forth -- in this picture December is rocking her baby.

Here December is signing "Daddy." You're supposed to hold your hand out like you're showing the number 5, then touch your thumb to your forehead. December's version is pretty close!

December is signing "kiss." The real sign for kiss looks very little like this, but December is blowing a kiss, and that's close enough... :)

The sign for "eat."

She is signing "drink." You're supposed to wrap your hand around an invisible cup and lift it to your mouth, tipping the "cup" as you do. Here December is tipping her head instead of the pretend cup, but she's got the idea!

Sign language for babies is usually meant to help babies that aren't able to talk express themselves better. It's kind of funny that December is learning these signs now because she can say just about all of the things she's signing. But that's okay...it shows she's learning new things, and that's good!

Naomi and 13-month old baby Noah (the English family) invited December and I to go to a community gym today. On Wednesdays they have a toddler gym time where they put out all sorts of fun blocks, balls, trampolines, parachutes, tumbling mats, etc. for the kids to play with. It was fun! There were about 15 kids there, and as soon as Noah's feet touched the gym floor, he was off and running to play with the toys. He couldn't get there fast enough! I set December down, and for the first 30 minutes, she stayed within a 5-foot radius of my legs, just watching all of the other kids. I think it was a bit intimidating for her at first. She often does that when there are many children around...she just watches them. It takes her a while to get into the action, and she sticks pretty close. That's quite the turn-about for her, because in any other situation, she'll go exploring without a care to how far away Brad or I are or what kind of danger she's in. But when there's a few kids around, she just stares at them. I think she had fun, though!

It was amusing to watch these 15 children all doing what they call "parallel play." Kids in the toddler years don't really play with each other; they all just do their own thing beside one another. None of those kids cared what any other child in the gym was doing (unless he was trying to steal a coveted toy away). Each child was in their own world, playing by himself. What a funny thing to see so many kids in one place, each one playing by himself! December was no different -- she got in there with the best of them and played all alone.

December and Her Bear

December has just woken up from her nap and is very happy. She likes to play with this bear that Brad got me while we were dating.

December is being silly -- this is her "surprised" face

More sillies!

There's the cutest girl in the world (I can say that cuz I'm her Mom)! :)

The Zoo

Today December and I went to the zoo with a couple of the seminary wives, one of whom has a little 5-month old boy.

December is trying to point at a bald eagle (you can see a little white dot at the top of the picture -- that's the eagle!)

There's the eagle a little closer

The elephants! They were my favorite! Do you see the baby elephant hiding among the mother's legs? I couldn't get enough of him...he is so adorable! He is two weeks old and already weighs almost 300 lbs.

Here he is again! As we passed by the gift shops, I saw a little stuffed elephant, and I really wanted to get December her own little Morty, like Caden's elephant! But I restrained myself :(

Guess what! My dear mother is coming out for a visit in three weeks! YAY! I am soo excited! The time can't pass quickly enough before she comes. Hopefully we'll take her to the zoo, too! Tonight Brad went to a museum to hear a lecture about the Dead Sea Scrolls. He went with Christopher, one of the seminary husbands who lives in our apartment complex, so Della and baby Samuel are having December and I over! We're going to do a Daddy's Night Out dinner for ourselves.