Getting ready for Christmas

Now that Laurel is too and much more aware, we are talking about Santa and Jesus. She attends sunday school at church frequently and is slowly getting used to chatting about more religious ideas. My mom has a little nativity scene up and Laurel already understood without much explaining that the baby in the manger is Jesus, the same one we talk about at church. She loves the little figurines and thinks they're fun to play with, but they're more delicate and so she gets upset when she knocks the angel off of his perch.
We got a tree from a nearby vendor and brought it home to decorate. If i were Laurel's age, I'd think this was pretty strange, but she just dove into decorating it and loved to handle all of the little ornaments. She played a tune on one of them so many times that it broke. She thinks all of the angel ornaments are her babies:). Her first ornament hung was from our visit to Disney World this year. She likes to look at the lights on the tree and we hung lights inside the condo since we're in a complex and not a house anymore.
We have also started to wrap presents and she loves to help with the tape. I put a little piece of tape on her finger and she puts it where i tell her on the package...most of the time! She signs her name with a scribble on the gift labels and sticks them on the top. Together we write her name, she likes to see and hear me tell her the letters. She has a great memory because she knows for whom each gift under the tree is for. Every now and then she'll go over and point to the presents and shout out who is getting them.
Without much help, Laurel has also learned who Santa is this year. She understands he is coming and will bring her presents. But she won't go near him with a 10 foot pole at the mall! Maybe someday we'll get a seated picture with Santa. I guess a large hairy man could be intimidating!
We still have lots of presents to wrap and cookies to make before Christmas arrives. I'm sure Laurel will be a great helper for all things.

Thanksgiving 09

Here's some quick pics from our Thanksgiving at Mike's house. Christy is living with Mike while Angie and Joe's house is being renovated, so we had the privilege of visiting his home for the holiday. They put out an amazing meal in a beautiful setting. The kids had fun with each other as usual!

Laurel likes...

Now that Laurel is a little over 2, packed with personality and likes and dislikes, I thought it would be fun to make a long list of things she likes and doesn't like around each birthday. A little late this year, but here goes the "Laurel likes/dislikes at age 2" list.

Laurel likes:
Mickey, Minnie, Disney, princesses, Ariel, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, Disneyland, Disney Store, babies, milk, her blanket, pasta, clothes with disney characters, to have to jackets zipped, dress up clothes, shoes, princess shoes, her thumb, lollipops, gummi vitamins, peas and corn, bread, watching movies, coin operated riding toys at the mall, french fries, cuddles, stacking anything, jewelry, older kids (ryder and sierra in particular), animals, beach, playground, climbing, jumping, green dresses, to feed us or a baby doll, apple juice, monsters inc., to play in her kitchen, to dance, to sing songs

fav shows: dora the explorer, mickey mouse clubhouse, handy manny, ni-hao kai-lan, smurfs, olivia, go diego go. she still like some sesame street, but seems to be moving on.

books we're reading right now: olivia, go dog go, corduroy

songs she likes: 6 little ducks, old macdonald, wheels on the bus, slippery fish, abc's

she can count to 13 with some help, name the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue purple, white, brown and black, point out circle square, star and heart

Laurel does not like:
trying new foods, sleeping with socks on, a dirty diaper (potty training around the corner!), having her hair fixed up, having her hands dirty, to sleep in her toddler bed all night long,

The Halloween Recap

Laurel had a great time for Halloween this year. Of course, we all did since she enjoyed herself! On the 29th, we went to Disneyland with Ryder, Leora and Grandma. Laurel wore her Minnie dress, and sometimes the ears after some protest. The park puts Halloween on after hours in California Adventure. There's trick or treat stops all over the park, some dance party spots, a handful of rides open and a parade. Laurel always gets a thrill over seeing Minnie and Mickey and had a great time with Ryder.

On Halloween, we all went down to Orange County to trick or treat with the cousins. We met up in Rob and Cyndy's neighborhood and caught up with them on their candy route. Sierra was dressed as Jasmine, Amber as a fairy for the Tinkerbell world. Each of the girls had a light up pumpkin "wand" to light the way. Laurel carried her green pumpkin for candy and attached herself to Sierra at every opportunity. Sierra guided her around to houses and helped her to the door. Laurel is just crazy about her cousin! Amber and Laurel walked about hand-in-hand when Sierra was too far away. Laurel was a little afraid to go up to the doors and talk to strangers. But with the help of cousins and Grandpa, she made it up to several houses and brought home a nice collection of sweets. Afterwards, we went out to dinner with the Grandmas, Grandpa, Christy and Mike. Laurel is now crazy for candy and loves her "M's", especially the peanut ones.

Laurel's 2 year check up

At the end of last week we had Laurel's 2 year check up. It was postponed twice, but we finally made it in! After much crying and screaming, Laurel finally had her weight and height taken. Maybe she remembers some unpleasantness from her last appt., but she was very scared this time around. She settled down in the exam room while we waited for the doctor. As usual, she enjoys playing with the exam tools and lights. She pretends she is a doctor and shines the light in my mouth:).
In total, she is progressing really well! Physically she is at least on average or above. She continues to be a head on a stick, but the stick is filing out! She is 50% on weight at 27 lbs. Her head is 90% and her height, at 35.5 inches, is 70%. The legend that you double the two year height would put her around 5'11" when she is done. We shall see! Everything else in her exam was on target and some of her behaviors are ahead. She can count to 13, which is definitely ahead. She is starting to string 2 and 3 words sentences together. Just 2 words is typical for her age. She knows more than her primary colors and can recognize at least 1/2 of the letters of the alphabet.
She also received a flu shot..tis the time of year for yucky bugs. Someday I will look back and read this post, so to add, she also had an H1N1 mist vaccine. I am debating going back and getting it myself but it has been a mad house in the city for everyone scrambling for the swing flu vaccine.
One of the things the doctor didn't ask about that I also think is pretty advanced - Laurel is learning to pretend! After our trip to Disney, she became a true Disney addict and has been carrying around her large stuffed mickey. She tells him to sit or to stand. She leans over and walks him infront of her as she walks. Today she practically dumped lemonade all over him at the mall when she tried to give him a drink of her juice. I think it may be time for a baby doll! She is also starting to get excited about playing hide and seek. She is pretty good at being the seeker. She will count frantically and then go looking. Her hiding needs some practice. It's all I can do to get her to sit quietly and not give herself away! Megan will count and she will stay quiet, but then when she says "ready or not, here i come!" Laurel gets over excited and jumps up giggling.

On a school note, Laurel moved up to the next class in school. The school has been downsizing for cutting back in this economy. So the classes rae now in 2 groups. She has been in the younger of the 2 groups, but her teacher thought she was ready for new kids, new challenges and more advanced play. Today was her first day in the new class and she did great! Laurel is definitely adapting to change easier and isn't so shy and timid as she used to be. I can leave her so easily now, she has really grown emotionally.

Laurel goes to Disney World

From October 11th through the 17th, Laurel, Alex and I took a trip to Orlando to visit Disney World. Laurel is all about Disney right now, to my great pleasure! She is also free to the Disney parks until she is 3, so it's really the perfect time to take her. She knows lots of characters, loves the princesses and really enjoys the rides and shows. So we scheduled the trip and has a blast! It also turned out to be a heat wave, so we did have to fight some humidity and uncomforable heat, but Laurel was always a trooper and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

We flew out early in the morning on the 11th and Laurel was a peach on the flight. She played with sticker books, watched movies and took a little snooze and we were there! We rented a time share that had lovely grounds, nice pools...and a free shuttle to the parks! Once we arrived, took a taxi to the resort, we checked in and got some groceries. With the exhaustion of the trip, we all dove into bed, despite the time change.
We spent Monday in Hollywood Studios which we thought would be similar to California Adventure but really only had 1 or 2 sites in common. Laurel really enjoyed the live shows, one of the Little Mermaid and one for Beauty and the Beast. She also had fun playing in the Honey I Shrunk the kids play area. We had a picture opportunity with Mike and Sulley from Monsters, Inc., but she was quite shy. Thankfully, a lot of the activities were indoors, so we were able to escape the heat.


We spent Tuesday at the Animal Kingdom. That park is usually one of my favorites because it is so beautifully laid out and is a nice time in the outdoors...but in the heat, not so much! We took in the safari ride and strolled through some of the animal walks, but ultimately found ourselves ducking into gift stores to escape the heat. We stayed long enough to watch the Finding Nemo Musical, which was broadway quality, and then shuttled it to Downtown Disney. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Laurel was startled by the animatronic animals at first but then seemed fascinated. We took a really relaxing water taxi down the river to one of the Disney resorts and hopped a bus to the Magic Kingdom for the after-hours Halloween fun. Laurel dressed as Minnie Mouse and ultimately...fell asleep:). Laurel was always very good at choosing to lie down in her stroller for naps, but the naps usually lasted only 40 minutes or so. On this night, she was exhausted. We had thunderstorms nearly every day, so we had to duck out of an evening storm when we first arrived. After the rain let up, we strolled around the park and did trick or treating, people watching and took in an awesome Halloween parade. The night was capped with fireworks and then we had to hurry to make our shuttle back to the resort.

We took Wednesday for a mid-week break and just hung out at the resort. We chilled in the condo for the first part of the day, I spent most of the time reading the new Dan Brown book. After Laurel's nap, we ventured over to the club house pool, which was heated, and we all had a great time swimming and relaxing. A warm rain even came down while we were in the pool and everyone stayed in. Laurel was learning to blow bubbles in the water. She's a fish ready for swim lessons! There was a pier off of the pool area that went out into a neighboring lake. Laurel enjoyed buying fish pellets and feeding the fish in the lake.

Thursday was my favorite day, but I really love Epcot. We weren't sure Laurel would like Epcot as much, but we found lots to do and had a really fun time. Laurel is a little interested in dinosaurs, so she liked the ride in the Energy building. The Seas building was modernized to include a Finding Nemo ride, so of course she loved that. But she thinks fish are awesome, so so was content looking at the aquariums and watching the manatee and dolphins in the larger pools. At a little before 3, we had reservations in Norway for a princess lunch. We were greeted by a photo with Belle and later were visited by Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White and Ariel. Laurel was shy with Belle when we first arrived but opened up and was hugging the girls as they came around. She was so excited to watch them make their way around the room and come closer to our table. It was so sweet to watch her. We rode some of the rides in the countries and strolled in and out, enjoying the cultures. We left after the evening's lights and fireworks show.

Friday's trip to the Magic Kingdom was my least anticipated but one of the best times we had on the trip! Laurel loves everything about the Magic Kingdom, from the characters sightings to the fun rides, great parade, etc. There was a lot of cross over with Disneyland, but some of the rides varied in layout or was completely new to us. The weather had cooled and wasn't nearly as humid, so we were all comfortable, energetic and so was Laurel. We made excellent use of the fast passes and found ourselves constantly occupied with rides and activities and waiting in very short lines. While waiting for the parade, Laurel had fun chasing bubbles that some of the "cast members" were blowing for the waiting crowd of people. Here she is spotting Mickey in the parade!

On Saturday afternoon, we flew back. Laurel was great on the plane once again. We returned having had a great time, but we miss our vacation time already!

Vegas and a Road Trip! Part 1

Laurel and I went on a road trip from September 7 through 14th. This was some of Laurel's longest times in the car and she was such a good girl! On Monday, Megan, Laurel and I drove to Las Vegas to meet the Ondercin relatives who vacation there every September. We may be turning it into an annual reunion of sorts. We stayed at the Flamingo and had a room with a shared door into the room where Dad and my Grandma slept. Our days were fairly "scheduled", pool time in the morning, lunch/snack, upstairs for nap, afternoon activity after nap, meet up for dinner, clean up and bed time.
The pool at the Flamingo was very nicely laid out, very pretty...but freezing! Laurel loves the pool and always wanted to go in. We had to drag her out when her lips were turning blue and her teeth were chattering:).

I later found out that I left both my swim suit and Laurel's in the hotel room! Argh!
Laurel loves to jump into the pool. She is becoming more and more fearless. Most of the time she waits for me to hold hands and then take the leap...most of the time, so we have to be very aware! After our pool time and nap, we went out on the town for some afternoon fun. One day we went with Marie down to MGM Grand to see the lion and ended up staying around the area to go into the M&M store and walk through the Rainforest Cafe shop. I bought her some sticky tree frogs which became another character on the trip.

We then went across the street to eat in New York, New York at a mexican restaurant. Laurel has fun with wiki sticks:).

Another afternoon outting took us to the Mirage for Sigfreid and Roy's Secret Garden - aka the place where you see the white tigers. Plus other large cats, dolphins and some birds. The habitat was really nice, and the animals could be viewed from an extremely close distance! As usual, Laurel growled at the cats and really enjoyed looking at the dolphins. She's an animal lover for certain.

Laurel took a liking to the Bellagio fountains, just like me. We could stand there for show after show! We visited the conservatory at the Bellagio as well which is a visit I always make because of the beautiful flower display. The rest of the time for everyone else was spent at the tables or machines. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed on the gaming floors, but sometimes I was able to make it out during Laurel's nap or at night if someone else decided to stay in the room. Grandma would occasionally decide not to pull a late night and so I went down with Megan and Dad to try some tables.
Laurel had a great time getting to know family. As usual, she was shy, but eventually warmed up and even gave her own names to them. Judy was "Jewey", Grandma was "Gee-Gah" and she said Marie pretty well.

Laurel also became a little paparazzo on the trip:) Anytime she could steal the camera and take "artistic" shots, she would! Here's some of her funnies.