Kindermusik!

Starting in September, I have taken Lydia to Kindermusik class every Wednesday morning in Sioux Center.  They offer classes for multiple ages, but Lydia's is for children ages 1-2.  We enjoy 45 minutes of music time and socializing time for Lydia and Mommy!  The teacher, Miss Heidi, is wonderful and takes the time to capture some great pictures.  Here's a few from our first "semester."

Lydia loves to sing the Welcome Song while using the ball...patting, poking, rolling, and bouncing!

We get the opportunity to play many different instruments and learn early concepts such as loud/soft, up/down, and fast/slow, to name a few.

Lydia takes part in large motor activities, such as jumping, stomping, and tippy-toeing to the beat.

We love to go for basket and horsey rides!  Lydia is also learning a bit more sign language in the class.

Pay no attention to my chipmunk face, please!  :-)

Cousin McCoy and second cousin Grady are also in the same class.  McCoy and Lydia often switch mommies.  :-)

At the end of the session, we have quiet/cuddle time.  Sometimes we rock and sing with a stuffed animal, but Lydia loves to swing in the blanket hammock with McCoy!

Almost the whole gang!

 Their class also had a fall party the week of Halloween.  Lydia was pretty proud to be able to wear her butterfly wings!  

A couple of weeks ago, we had a Kindermusik Celebration day!  Daddy and both Grandmas were able to come to Lydia's class to see what she's been doing.  One of her favorites is bubble time!

Keeping the beat with jingle bells

Cousin Merritt and Uncle Craig even got in on the fun!

We're on a small break from now until the end of January, which will probably time out just right for us with all the winter weather we've been having!  We will be very eager to start back up in two months!

Snow Fun...or Not?

We had our first snowfall last weekend, and it was a bona fide dumping!  I think the total was right around 14 inches!  The forecast looks about the same for tomorrow, too!
Anyway, Lydia got her first taste of playing in the snow for this year.  She was out once last year, too, but couldn't really move well since she had just started to walk.  This year, Lydia was excited to put on all the snow gear and go outside, but she didn't really appreciate the snow once we were out.  Lydia stuck to the scooped sidewalk and was content to "draw" with an icicle in the snow...and then it was time to go back in!  We'll have to try again another day!

Stuck in the snow!

Don't mind the pumpkin/snow combo!

Little Baker!

Lydia was Mommy's big helper and made some definitely-not-from-scratch blueberry muffins!

She had a blast pouring and mixing!

Then she put all the muffin cups in the tin.

Finally, Lydia "washed" some dishes!  She was completely soaked, but she did this for almost 30 minutes!  Win!

Thanks for being such a great helper, Lydia!

23 Months

Lydia is one month shy of being two!

Decorating our tree

Lydia's schedule remains about the same.  She wakes up between 6:30-7:30 am, takes anywhere from almost 1-2 hour nap at 2:00, and then goes down for the night at 9:00 pm.  I have no idea how much she weighs or how tall she is, but I haven't noticed any significant growth spurts in the last month.  The dreaded eye teeth have started to (kind of) make an appearance finally.  This may be affecting her appetite, or Lydia is just playing her toddler card and deciding that she doesn't want to eat every once in a while!

Loves playing in the basement!

Lydia is talking more and more all the time, and she frequently strings a few words together.  Her biggest accomplishments this month are being able to jump, knowing the color words for black, pink, and blue (her fave!), and showing a continued interest in counting.  When somebody counts from 1 to 10, she will chime in at the correct time with the numbers 2, 3, 6, 8 and 9.  We've got half of them down ;-)

So big!

Lydia's likes this month:

Counting, coloring, Minnie Mouse, 101 Dalmatians, trying to be sneaky and get into the Christmas tree ornaments, climbing, playing in the basement, pizza, looking at Christmas lights, spinning in circles (her new record is spinning 34 circles in a row before falling, laughing, & repeating!  I may have to rethink ballet lessons!), playing with her Little People nativity, chasing after her cousins, and preferring either grandma to her parents!

Lydia's dislikes this month:

Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn...pretty much any food associated with a traditional Thanksgiving meal!  She's also not a big fan of playing in the snow, her mittens, or most of her toys.  We can tell she's ready for Christmas/birthday time!

Decorating Grandpa & Grandma TC's tree

Some highlights from this month:

10/30: went trick or treating to the grandparents/great-grandparents, and two stores downtown!

11/14: headed to cousin Seth's 7th birthday party

11/18: Kindermusik celebration!  Daddy, Grandma Moss & Grandma Ten Clay came to Kindermusik class to see what it was all about!  Afterward, we went to Pizza Hut with Uncle Craig's family, too!

11/22: Since our Bridges Bay plan with the Moss family were postponed because of the weather, we were able to go to Vander Lee Thanksgiving this day.

11/26: Headed to the Den Hartog Thanksgiving meal

11/27: Went to the Vermeer Thanksgiving meal which, thankfully for Lydia, it was pizza!  She ran around with approximately 17 other great-grandkids and loved every minute of it!

11/28: Helped decorate our Christmas tree and looked at the lights Daddy put on the house

11/29: Went to the Moss Thanksgiving where she once again proceeded to hardly eat and have a blast playing with the other littles!

Total cheeseball!

We're looking forward to another big month of about seven Christmas celebrations, lots of cousin time, and having a birthday party for a special TWO year old!  We love you, Lydia Ruth!