Hair Cut

January 12th, Ambree finally at over 2 1/2 yrs old, got her first hair cut. A lollipop was needed for encouragement, but overall she did fine. When Daddy came home, she turned around to show him, "Daddy, look at my princess hair!"

Before:

During: After:

Let's Pretend

Here are some of the more ridiculous things that have been added to my job description:

Chase and be chased by a 2 1/2 ft T Rex for literally 15 minutes, thanks to a costume I found on discount at the Disney Store. Fifteen minutes is a long time to run, especially if you're not a runner like I'm not. I was sweating and finally had to sit and rest because I was dizzy from our circular course around the coffee table!

Ride a sleigh to the North Pole, taking turns posing as either Santa Claus or Frosty, led by reindeer, of course. This is particularly ridiculous because we don't "do" Santa- no talk about him bringing us toys or setting out cookies. But she did see him everywhere this season, including shows, where she absorbed everything. But its also ridiculous because it involves a grown woman sitting on a push toy that she has imagined into a sleigh. Once she wanted me to sit on the steering wheel like it was the back seat- I basically had to squat over it to make sure it didn't just break. This reindeer game doesn't last long anytime I play.

One of the less physically demanding new tasks involved trying to find imaginary bugs. Obviously you can't see them, so it proved to be difficult. Luckily she loves to play off of someone elses imagination, too, so I can pretend all sorts of random things are bugs.

I also work as a train conductor and/or T-Rex, who offers rides on the Mommy Train/T-Rex. Before nap times, I found that a quick ride on my back shortens our routine to about 4 minutes. Defininately worth it :)

Probably the most difficult things I am asked to do, but of yet unable to complete, involve requests with Chloe. Chloe is not great at playing hide-n-seek, sitting for tea time or flying. I may not get a good review at the next quarter in this department.

Ambree's First Drawing

Ambree has mastered drawing circles, polka dots and stripes. She draws them on everything. Since receiving a doodler she has been hard at work on these skills. (Thank you cousins Phyllis, Pam, and all)! She will draw a circle, only to have the two ends not meet up perfectly- oh, no! that's not a circle! and quickly slide across the eraser to start again. This Christmas season has also seen the first of her actually drawing recognizable things, namely legs. Ambree can add legs to anything you draw, and does so out of necessity. I've also seen her accidently draw different letters and recognize them, ooo, an 'A'!

But today I talked her through her first drawing of a person. Draw a big circle, now a stripe for the mouth, two dots for the eyes, some stripes for the hair, now the legs. She was very impressed with herself, as was I! Then she added hands and fingers, more 'squiggilies' (that's what she calls her hair when its really curly after a bath), toes and even eyebrows.