Baby carrier of her own

I am the absolute worst when it comes to waiting on presents until Christmas/birthdays, etc. I can hold out ok on my own gifts, but I pester (mostly Will) endlessly for folks to open my gifts to them early. I just love it! So it is no surprise in this house that Edie got one gift early this morning: a baby carrier of her own. Edie rode in one like this for many, many hours of her life, especially when she was a tiny one. She would sleep, gaze at passers-by and even nurse all within the confines of her carrier. These days, though she's still quite happy in it, I don't find as many occasions to use it with her increased walking stamina and our lamentable new dependence on car transportation (baby carriers make a ton of sense when you are on and off of trains and buses all day!). But she still has fond feelings for her "Ergo" - the brand of carrier we use, for which Edie has become an unwitting walking advertisement for since that's the name we taught her for it.

Anyways, I've been tying her baby dolls to her with bandanas for sometime and decided to make her a proper one for Christmas. For a novice sewer, I think it turned out all right! It was really simple and fun to make. And it is dang cute on her, if I do say so.

Shelby Bottoms

In Munich, we lived near the English Gartens. This gave us daily access to one of the largest, loveliest parks in Europe, full of trails, rivers, wild life, and, of course, beer gardens. I sure miss it there, but I am finding more and more about the treasures we have in our neighborhood in East Nashville and I must say, we've lucked out again. The Shelby Bottoms Greenway - between 1/2 and 1 mile from us, depending on what entrace we use - gives us access to beautiful scenery and trails, as well as a Nature Center with activities for kids. Edie is too little for the events I've seen there so far, but she's not too little for the Center's adjacent Natural Playground! Today was our first trip there and it was great. A playground made entirely of sand, dirt, sticks and stones, complete with a fir tree fort. After playing, we took a walk around the trails and gave the dogs their turn to have fun. And with temperatures approaching 50 degrees, we were comfortable even on a cloudy day - we sure are loving these mild Tennessee winters!

Happiness is a Warm Cinnamon Roll

Christmas came a little early.... which is a very nice way of saying that I opened one of Edie's presents the other day. It was a Learning Tower from her Grissom Grandparents and I was so excited to start using it! It's basically kid scaffolding, giving them a safe way to be at your level while you cook, clean, or do other standing tasks, and kids can participate or at least check in with you. Edie LOVES it! She is a great self-entertainer, but like most toddlers, those moments she wants your (read: Mom's) attention, she becomes quite agitated when she can't get it. This gives her the ability to climb up, say hello, count some lemons and watch me chop potatoes, and then down she goes to her next task.

Her first big Learning Tower activity was frosting cinnamon rolls with her Dad. She started out frosting, anyways. About 10 seconds in she wordlessly picked up a roll and began devouring. I have never seen a more self-satisfied Edie.

Thank you so much, Grandma and Grandpa!!

Play doh time

I finally got Edie a pack of Play Doh. I loved the stuff as a kid but I wanted to make sure we were past the everything-in-mouth stage before I tried a soft, salty, squishy toy. Well, I can't say the stuff hasn't been licked just a tiny bit, but mostly she just loves playing with it. Even by herself, she hums and laughs and goes to town for ages with the stuff. Now mommy-santa is wishing she'd bought her a dough utensil set for the holidays.... I think we'll get by with plastic cutlery and fingers for now, though.