Okay, so I know this blog is about her, but look at the pretty flowers her Dad brought home for me. Aren't they pretty in the candlelight? The best part is, they were totally unexpected...he finished his thesis...his work...and brought me flowers! What a blessing! 

Mommy Mimic Results in Big Uh-Oh!
Notice anything out of place in this picture? If you look closely, you can see my shoe on her right foot. Dad and I were in the kitchen fixing dinner when she came around the corner giggling to herself...she had put my shoe on her foot and was limping all around the kitchen. Pretty cute, we thought, but then the shoe fell off and she fell down, and you know what she said? "Uh ohhhhh" with the biggest "O" shaped mouth, she looked like a Charles Shutlz Peanuts character in the Christmas movie. Now, THAT was cute. 

Aren't You Hungry, Bella?
Yesterday morning, the little chick found her mittens and wanted to wear them all around the house. But what do you do when you get hungry? I brought her some cereal and she figured out how to stick the pieces to her mittens to eat them...then decided Bella the Bunny needed to try some, too.
 

Goin' Splunking!
She's ready to explore...she found Daddy's headlamp and wanted to try it on...so we let her and she didn't want to take it off! 

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

This morning we woke up to a white wonderland of snow outside, and Flaminguito thought it was fascinating. Right now, she's knocking on the window to go back out, but we came inside to thaw out and get ready for church. Here she's sledding on the mound in our backyard, she giggled and tasted the snowflakes and ran in circles with Dad and me, but once she took her mittens off we headed back in to thaw the little fingers out in warm water.

Here's the birdy pair together!

Aren't they cute? I think so!

Are you tired of pictures yet? 

Aren't you playing, little cousin?
The two girls played an after-brunch duet for us, with Flaminguito on the harmonica and Cousin A watching some fancy finger work on the piano keys.

Cleanest Baby Contest:
She loves to vacuum with our new central vac...she gets so excited when she picks something up and gets this adorable expression on her face. After Thanksgiving dinner, she helped swiff the floors at her aunt's house, too...picture of this to follow...

The shortest, swiffer, picker-upper!

A mushroom grew a bit deformed and the hostess, my sister-in-law, created a wonderfully birdy centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner.

Music Maker

She's discovered her love for music...every night now we play the piano, wooden flute, guitar and/or harmonica...which she's figured out fairly quickly and is really quite good at! Of course, like all babies, Flaminguito loves bedtime songs and, because she signs with me, we cannot sing a song without adding signs we already know...like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (my favorite is when she makes the diamond with those tiny little fingers) . But lately she's figured out how to do "I'm a Little Teapot" and it's just about the best rendition I've ever seen...she can barely keep upright when she starts to tip and by the end of the song, she's laying on the ground with one hand on her hip and the other out for a spout. I've never enjoyed teatime so much!

THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR...
So, only 2 more days until Thanksgiving and I feel it would be prudent to tell you about some of the things I am thankful for that I stumbled upon today...like the woman at the grocery store in the really cute scarf who made me feel like a good mom again after my little chick took a swan dive off the bench onto the hard, cold floor...hitting her face and biting her tongue. Okay, why was she up there in the first place, you're asking. I asked the same thing...after the fact...you see, we went to the grocery store today, thinking it would be a fairly quick trip being only the Tuesday before the holiday, but I was wrong...very very very wrong. In fact, I was so wrong that Winco had extra personnel to handle the crowds of chaotic shoppers. It was worse than a weekend...and weekends are bad at Winco. So, the little bird patiently followed me around, tasting every sample I'd let her have and drinking juice before I paid for it and investigating the structural stability of every bumper at the end of every aisle (or just playing with the bright yellow tall things, but I think she was investigating). Finally, we go to check out and the little chick runs circles around me while I unload the cart-all of my life-savings worth-then gets back in the cart and, like her good little mommy said to do...sat on her bottom until we stopped at the end of the conveyor belt so I could pack the bags (that's why we go to Winco, you pack your own bags and save money). She desperately wanted to help and stand on the bench where the bags reside, so I let her, keeping one hand on her always...you know...just in case...always, that is, until I leaned over to put a bag in the cart and in that 1/2 of a second, she spotted a green bean...and everyone knows a green bean left behind is bad luck...terrible luck, apparently. So the little darling bent down to pick it up...but she doesn't quite have the whole balance thing perfected yet, and she fell of the bench...I lunged for her but could only pick her up after the fact. The poor dear, she wasn't crying, she wasn't sobbing, she was wailing, and she was still clutching her green bean in one hand and her newly purchased string cheese in the other but now had a bloody tongue and probably a throbbing head. She apparently bit her tongue upon impact and it was everything I could do not to start crying right along with her. I think the only thing more painful than childbirth is seeing your own child in pain...it chills me to the core to think she's hurting...and to know that I could have prevented it by not making one not-so-bright decision, well, you understand. So I don't know how much time had passed, 5, 10, 15 minutes? an hour? But the cashier came to tell me to take my time and ask if we needed any help when the wee one decided, suddenly, to act as if nothing had ever happened...she points at the conveyor belt where a bunch of bananas sits and says, "that." Then bites her string cheese and kisses her reflection in a mirror near her height (on the floor, this time). Suddenly it occurred to me we might well have been a spectacle in the store as I look up to see all eyes on me...then the woman across from me asks what happened and if everything's okay. I tell her and also mention how foolish I felt when she says, "it's okay, we've all done it...and if we haven't yet, we probably will soon." Until that point, I'd kept my cool, but as I left the store, I felt a few tears hit my cheeks, perhaps because of the cold, wintry air, perhaps because of the bright sun, or perhaps because of the kindness of other mothers...other women...other people in general. It might sound cheesy, but I'm thankful this holiday season for the kindness of others...and of course, for the obvious, like my beautiful blessing of a daughter, my loving, supportive husband, my wonderful parents, brother and sister and my in-laws, all my friends, etc. etc. etc. You see, this woman could have said something like, "you shouldn't have her up there" or "be more careful next time." But her wonderful selection of words made my heart happy. I realize only I can choose my feelings, but because of her response, I chose to feel happy...so happy it brought tears to my eyes. So why the picture of the little chick in a red hat and mittens? Oh, because I liked them...I thought she was cute in them.

BIG EATER...BIGGER AFTER EATING NOISE MAKER...if you catch my drift...or hers...
She may be a baby bird, but she's getting to be such a big eater! Look at her sitting at the table and eating lunch with Dad...(note the turkey falling out of the sandwich, though). She loves to eat with us now, and it cracks me up to see her try to imitate us. Tonight I made a pot of italian wedding meatball soup...mmmm...she says after trying a bite. While I was stirring the pot I held her in one arm and took a bit out to sample...after blowing on it, she did the same...as she does with anything that varies from room temperature...hot or cold, she'll blow to cool it off, anyway, she got so carried away with blowing that she starting spitting (not on the soup, I'd moved away by now) and she thought the spit flying was pretty funny so she did it even more. Then, after taking some to Dad at the office (almost done with that Thesis...homestretch now and he turns it in tomorrow, if all goes well...send your prayers!) she started blow-spitting again and laughed when it hit her hands...so then she discovered she could make loud farty noises if she did it into her hands. So...this was the music we listened to on the drive home...pphhhhhbbbbttt! hee hee ha ha ho ho ho...she's such a funny girl! I'd never seen (or heard) her make herself laugh so much with neither Dad nor I to entertain her.

Water! Water!
This was her first sign that was really obvious, we were camping up the Naches River and she started signing for water like crazy! 

Little Helper
Until I learn to put photos where I want them to go, this will have to do...here's the wee one helping dad collect the leaves that decorated our yard... isn't she helpful? If you look closely, you can see her leopard pants...she wears these everywhere! For some reason, leopard legs are fascinating and are a requirement over pajamas, as in this series, under a skirt or dress...for church clothes, as a cuddling lovey...and they accompany us just about everywhere. What? You don't have a favorite pair of pants?!?

 

Is that a serious static issue or did you just wake up? 

Happy Halloween! Here's the little chick as a pink poodle...rocking out to a little Dave Matthews Band dvd before trick or treating while Dad and I get things ready to go.

Yay! I carved my first pumpkin!
Didn't she do a pretty job, too? If you look closely, you can see the pacifier we carved out where the mouth should be...it was, afterall, a baby pumpkin! 

"Where did it go?"
This is the little chick's favorite game of the moment...hiding things and asking "where did it go?" Here, she was happily playing Dad's guitar with a pick, when she decided it would be more fun to drop said pick in the hole. Then she asks, "where did it go?" Doesn't she look concerned? Dad loves this game, especially while he's playing actual tunes on the guitar and the little chick drops one in so he gets to stop playing, turn the guitar upside down and fish out his pick. At least he's getting to go fishing for something, right? 

Messes.
There are certain messes I enjoy finding. Like this one, after sneaking into the Halloween candy she'd hidden from the night before. I round the corner from the kitchen after a bit too long of silence from the other room only to hear: mmmmm....mmmmm!!! mmmmmm!!!!! and a mouth full of chocolate and a pile of spit out wrappers on the floor.
Other messes I enjoy are baby dolls covered in bananas or pizza sauce. Why enjoy these discoveries, you might ask? Well, I think it's downright fun to imagine what must have been going through her mind at the exact moment of the mess making. Like, "wow, this banana is soooo good, I bet my doll would enjoy it. But she's not eating it...maybe if I shove it into her face harder...maybe she likes it as eyeshadow..." Things like that give mess finding an entirely new dimension I never knew existed. Now I wish I would have taken a picture of that doll before I cleaned it! 

My fabulous family!
Aren't they adorable? I just had to share this picture we took during lunch today. I think they are so cute together! What a couple of blessings.