Christmas Videos!

Playing with the toys from her stocking on Christmas morning.

Christmas Videos!

Tamsin had so much fun dancing while Uncle Joel played guitar.

Playing Music

Tamsin loves music! Tonight she was playing her keyboard with one hand while drumming with the other and singing Twinkle Twinkle very loudly. The funniest part was that the drumsticks was in her right hand but the drum was on her left so she had her arms completely crossed.

She loves the Wiggles now and is always singing and dancing to their songs. It's so funny hearing her sing to herself while she's playing.

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Let's play!

Let's play! is Tamsin's favorite phrase. Today she said Let's play dollhouse! She took everything out of the house and then she had all the dolls sit on chairs. She picked up the oven and said cookies! and pretended to eat them. Once I recorded I'm not sure if she was saying cookie, treat or something else.

It's so fun to see her imagination. She was eating soup today. It was a ball that she put in a bowl and was eating with a plastic shovel. She's so entertaining!

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Tuck in for naptime

This one requires an explanation. Her book asks "Who wants to be tucked in?" Then each animal says "I do" and there's a blanket to tuck them in. Next page says goodnight baby whatever then asks who else wants to be tucked in. Tamsin is reading the book so you'll hear her say I do! Then an animal name and tuck in! The last page asks if you are ready to be tucked in and that's when she points to herself. Last thing she says is "close eyes" which she obviously isn't doing. We're still working on that nap.

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Today's Masterpiece

Tamsin loves to draw and I thought today's was especially good. She keeps yelling "Write name!!" so that's how it has her name all over it. Pretty soon she won't need my help!

She was smelling the crayons today and saying mmmm pretty! I drew a flower for her and then she sniffed that instead and said it was pretty! too.

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ABCs

I've been taking lots more videos since I figured out how to upload to YouTube from my phone. Here's Tamsin in the car singing along to the ABC song. You might not be able to hear her the whole time, but she had most of it down.

pretending to sleep

Tamsin likes to pretend to go to sleep, and she even fake snores! If only she thought really going to sleep was fun.

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Test blog from phone

Tamsin playing dress up

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Fall morning

Tamsin and I were the first ones up today (as with every day). We were walking past the bedroom where Mike was still asleep, and Tamsin put her finger to her mouth and said, "Shhhh... QUIET!!" It was so funny because even though the shhh was pretty good, quiet was said in her usual very loud declarative voice.

Then we went for a walk. It started out slow because Tamsin had to pick up and carry every twig we passed along the way. Finally I picked her up. She was chattering away like always, but then I realized she kept saying Y! Y!. I saw she still had one of her twigs and it was forked at one end just like a Y.

Later on we passed a house with pumpkins on a low wall. I noticed them because I heard Tamsin counting 1...2...3...4...5...6 Pumps!! (how pumpkin sounds for her). I looked over, and, sure enough, there were 6 pumpkins in a row. Here they are:

No no yes

This video is dark because Tamsin was supposed to be going to sleep. Poor little girl has a stuffy nose and a fever, but she's still pretty happy considering. She's been running around saying No No Yes Yes because she has a book with no nos and yeses. She'll even do something she knows she shouldn't and say No No! Doesn't stop her from doing it, but at least she knows...

In case you didn't believe me...

Sorry about the quality - I was holding her.

Bragging about Tamsin

I think it's time for a post just to brag about all of the amazing things Tamsin can do now. I really don't know if she's all that advanced or not, just that I'm completely blown away by so many things! Today while eating dinner, out of nowhere, she started counting. I've heard her count before to 3 or 4, but she went all the way to 10! She also can spell her name and will just randomly start yelling T! A! M! S! I! N! She also knows her colors and shapes and the alphabet (sometimes). The other day she brought me a shape book and then went through and pointed to each one and said Square! Oval! Triangle! She sees letters on something and will point and say M! or B! She knows most of them. She says so many words. Her diction isn't always clear but I guess we can forgive that in a 19 month old, and we usually at least understand what she's trying to say. Her favorite phrase right now is All gone! She'll move all of her food off of her tray to the table so she can say it, or her blocks from the couch to the floor so she can look at the couch and say All gone! She is very excited about car horns. When she hears a car unlock she yells Bop! Bop! (Beep beep). She'll pick up car keys and pretend to push a button and yell Bop! Bop! I want to post video of all of this, but she doesn't perform on command and usually tries to grab the phone or camera as soon as she sees it. I promise I'm not making up any of this!

Tamsin reads a book

This is one of my favorite books that I got from Nana and Pappy when I was little (1986, to be exact). Tamsin loves it! I don't want her to rip the pages, but so far she just pages through nicely.

Lehigh Valley Zoo

Tamsin and I had a great time at the Lehigh Valley Zoo today with mom, Jenny, Kathy and Blake, and Cayden, Jordan and little Gavin! The kids loved seeing the animals. Tamsin learned some new animal names (goat, otter) and got to see lots of birds and animals. The cutes part was when Cayden and Jordan each took one of her hands and the three of them went walking together. So fun!

Visit from Mimi and Brad and Owen!

I'm a little late, but here are some pictures of our first chance to meet Owen! It was a quick visit but we were really happy to see Mimi and Brad and Owen here. Owen is almost as big as Tamsin! .

Ball! Ball!

A couple additions -

Yesterday we were eating at Panera and Tamsin was having fruit. I was cutting the grapes in half for her and all of a sudden she grabbed one before I could cut it and started yelling, "Ball! Ball!" She was so excited. After yelling ball for awhile, she started rolling the grape on the table until it split and then she ate it.

I managed to catch her yelling "Cat!" at the TV. She had been yelling it over and over but I only caught the end. She was watching a nature show and they had all kinds of cats on.

She also played out her in pool yesterday and we got incredible pictures. I'll try to post those soon.

New words

There's no way I could capture everything that's been going on or all of Tamsin's new accomplishments, so this post will just be about learning to talk. She's known many words for a long time now, but she wasn't consistent with them. Recently she's just exploded with all kinds of new words, and they're getting clearer and easier to understand. Sometimes it really sounds like she's saying something but it doesn't seem possible so I'm not sure if I'm hearing things. For instance, yesterday she was eating some broccoli for dinner (that in itself was a big accomplishment!) and I asked her what color her broccoli is. She immediately said "Grn!" So in addition to naming things, I think she 's getting colors like green, blue, and yellow. She also says "purple!" very clearly. Here are some of her current words that we're sure she said:

Backpack

Cloth

Car keys

Purple

Calliou

Cat (said repeatedly when a cat came on TV)

Ball (also very exciting when one shows up on TV or in a book)

Banana

Dog

All kinds of animal sounds - Roar, Baa, Woof, Meow

Pants

There are lots more all the time and sometimes really random words. In addition to saying more, she very clearly understands pretty much anything we say. She can point to pretty much anything in a book. Her favorite book is a farm with lots of animals in the background. She'll find the rooster, the cat, the bug, the caterpillar, the cow, the butterfly, and pretty much anything you ask her. She's still a happy, curious bundle of perpetual motion. She's always giggling and pretending and tearing through the house like a tornado. She definitely lets us know if she doesn't want to do something, but she's never just cranky or upset for no reason. It's hard to believe she's almost a year and a half already!

Tamsin's drum

Tamsin got a new drum and maraca set today. Here are some videos of her trying it out:

Small update

It's been a long time since I posted here! Since Easter we moved, I finished another class, and Tamsin grew quite a bit! She's so fun now. She runs nonstop and can say a lot of words. Most of the time they come out as a very emphatic, "Ga!" but sometimes they sound like the word. She still loves to make animal sounds, she loves to dance and especially loves doing anything outside. I'll see how many recent pictures I can post before she wakes up from her nap and I have to start chasing again!

Tamsin combing her hair.

Hugging her friend Jordan.

Being a super happy baby!

Easter

I went a little crazy with the pictures here so I won't even try to caption them all. We had a really nice Easter! It started with church where Tamsin and Evaleigh both made it through the entire service! Then we had dinner at Mom's with all of the family and had an Easter egg hunt for the babies. It's so fun having Leah and Joel and Evaleigh here! After all of the pictures there is a video of Tamsin demonstrating what a sheep says. She doesn't quite have the "Buh" sound incorporated yet.

Tamsin's Current Events

Ever since she could crawl, I would play "I'm gonna get you!" with her when she was crawling away. She always giggled when I picked her up. Recently, she started turning around and running towards me when I went to get her. Now she doesn't even wait for me to chase her. She walks away, then she'll suddenly turn and run as fast as she can straight towards me. I have to pick her up and say, "Gotcha, gotcha" and then she wiggles free and runs off again.

She already used the potty a few times! I think it was by accident during the week, but on the weekend I put her on it as soon as she got up and she went right away! It's still too soon for serious potty training, but she's definitely on the right track!

One of her favorite things now is to put things in other things and carry them around. Here are some good ones of her walking:

(Sorry they're sideways; I guess I can't hold the camera that way for videos like I do for pictures.)

While I was writing this, Tamsin decided to empty her bookshelf. Here's a picture of her with the bookshelf in the background before, and some pictures of her sitting in a giant pile of books!

Tamsin buys a potty

We went shopping for a potty today. Here's Tamsin checking it out.

Tamsin and the Laundry Basket

Tamsin was having fun tonight pushing some toys around in the laundry basket. By the time I took this, she had already pushed it down the hall to the kitchen and then back again. She's doing so well with walking now! You'll see a little of it here.

Our little toddler

Tamsin turned 1! I posted a bunch of the pictures on facebook (though not all of them) so I won't repeat them here. Her party was a whole lot of fun, and she really seemed to enjoy it. I was worried that all the people would be overwhelming. It was for a maybe a minute, then the twins came in and she got excited. She did more walking on her own that day then ever before and ever since she's getting more and more steady on her feet every day. She's officially a toddler! I'll get a video of her walking soon.

Here's a video from tonight. She was eating very sharp white cheddar cheese, demonstrating again that this is a girl who likes her food to have flavor!

One more snapshot addition

Ok, last snapshot posting and then I'm done for the weekend. Tamsin is learning so much, and even though she still only says "Mama," and isn't really into signing, she clearly understands a whole lot of what we say. She knows hug and kiss, and will crawl across the room to give me a hug when I ask her to. She'll even hug and kiss her stuffed animals. She also knows eyes, nose and mouth. This morning we told her to find Mommy's nose and she grabbed mine, then told her to find Daddy's nose and she grabbed Mike's. He'd really like her to start saying Dada, but at least she knows who he is! She's such a smart, sweet and affectionate little girl. We are very lucky!

One More Thing...

Something else to add - Ever since she started crawling, Tamsin would just suddenly lunge head first for the edge of the bed if she wanted to get down. Mike's been trying to teach her to turn around and go feet first, and she got it! Today especially, she's been getting really good at it. Here's a video from tonight. It's not her best since she kind of slides off sideways in this one, but you can see that she has the right idea!

Update for (almost) 11 Months

Christmas seems like years ago now, but we're just getting our tree down. Everyone's healthy again and it's so great to have Tamsin's happy personality back. She's coming up on 11 months(!!!) and I thought it would be fun to give a little snapshot into what she's like right now. Her personality and sense of humor are really developing quickly. Some of the things that make her laugh right now include:

• Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You? by Dr. Suess - this one always makes her smile when I read it to her. She loves books in general and will get upset i
• Farm animal sounds - I have a farm animal app for my phone, and every time I push one of the animals, she smiles, then looks at me to make the sound and say the animal name.
  
• Stealing glasses - it's even more fun if you put them on her.
• Peekaboo - she'll use a blanket, or even her pants while I'm changing her, to cover up her face and then uncover it to giggle.
• Tickling - of course.
• Clapping - Tamsin loves to clap! She'll giggle and then start clapping back.
• Baby Einstein Baby's First Sounds DVD - I shouldn't admit to this, but Tamsin does watch some DVDs. This was makes her giggle whenever the bee puppet or the sheep puppets show up. She'll clap at them, too, and wave when the kids say hello and goodbye. She also loves the music DVD that Leah and Joel got her for Christmas. One of the songs is really upbeat and shows kids dancing and she smiles and sometimes dances a little when she sees it.
• She thinks it's so funny when Mike pretends to eat her toys or chew on her teething toys.
  

I was wrong about her walking by Christmas, but she is very mobile. She's cruising and crawling all around the house and getting into everything. She gets really mad if you don't let her have something she wants, but luckily she can usually be distracted by something else. She's getting her appetite back after being sick, and is eating more that ever so I'm feeling relieved by that. She loves to play with her toys, or with whatever she finds around the house, and especially likes things that make noise. She even rubs her hand on the hardwood floor to make it squeak!

Finally, here's Tamsin earlier today wearing the Star Wars shirt she got for Christmas:

Tamsin reading

This after-Christmas illness has really kicked our butts, so I'll get around to posting Christmas stuff eventually. In the meantime, here's Tamsin reading a book this morning. She loves books!