Christmas

Quick, before the new year, here is a quick recap of Sabine's Christmas, 2010:

We spent Christmas Eve up at Grandmom and Grandpa's house, where Sabine first discovered her love of cookies. Some of the gift highlights include a new ladybug tent:

and her first train set. This is a particularly special set, Sabine's great-grandfather made it for Grandpa when he was a little boy, and it has now gone through several generations and survived to encourage all sorts of "whooo-whooo"-ing from Sabine.



Another unexpected favorite was mommy's old hobby horse, which hasn't seen this much love in 20+ years!



On Christmas morning, all of Sabine's immediate family gathered at our house, where we had a nice breakfast and another venture into gift opening. Sabine got the hang of pulling the wrapping paper off, but she couldn't be bothered to do it more than once or twice. She wanted to play with whatever it was that she had just unwrapped. So we left a few presents under the tree to open at a future date. We figure this is probably the last Christmas where there will still be unwrapped presents sitting under the tree a week later!

Some of the highlights from that morning include some books that play music (from Aunt Dani):



And a pink dog from Nana Lin.



Doggie barks and "runs" behind Sabine when she pulls the string, so we've heard a lot of squeaky barking this week.



Then we all went over to Sabine's great aunt and uncle's house for Christmas dinner, where we had a wonderful time catching up with all of the extended family. I forgot to bring my camera, but we had a lovely visit, and ate too much good food, as usual. Sabine had a lot of fun, and hopefully we'll remember to bring the camera next year!

Thanks to everyone for the great holiday!

Leading Up to Christmas

I realize I'm a little behind, what with it already being AFTER Christmas, but there are too many pictures and not enough time. We had fun getting ready for the holidays this season. Sabine helped pick a tree out,

and was particularly curious about why we were bringing it into the house. Once we got the lights on, she was entranced. She's always been a big fan of lights. "LAAAH!"

The next day we actually got to decorating the tree, and Sabine very helpfully pointed out all the balls and bears. Conveniently, they both are called "ba-ba."

Sabine's newest sign is for "baby," so she's very keen on pointing out babies wherever we go. Fortunately, we got several Christmas cards with babies on them (and dogs, which are another favorite!), so we have spent a lot of time at the mantle examining the cards, and occasionally kissing them. Once we got the rest of the tree decorated, we brought out our angel tree-topper. Sabine's face lit up, and she kept signing "BABY!" and reaching for the angel. So we brought her down, and all Sabine wanted to do was kiss her. It was ridiculously sweet.

Sabine got a darling new party dress from Nana Lin, but since mom and dad are party poopers and don't let her stay up much past 7:30 PM, we had to have our own little holiday party in the middle of the day. Sabine didn't mind the dress, but was not so keen on the shoes. She prefers to go barefoot.

We had a few outdoor lights hung up this year, and Sabine always likes to watch us turn them on each night. She has enjoyed looking in the store windows when we go shopping, especially since some of them feature trains at this time of year, and she liked watching the ice skaters at the local outdoor rink. We didn't quite have the courage to try pulling her around in a little sled on the ice this year...maybe next year.

Sabine also had her first taste of fondue, and while she still prefers string cheese to all other kinds of cheese, she now clearly says "Eeeese" for both "cheese" and "keys." (We've been practicing her "s" sounds in the bathtub.)

All in all, it has been a great December. Both she and the cats are going to miss the tree and decorations when we have to take them down. Fortunately, there are some Christmas cookies to help see us through that hard time. (She's a big fan of cookies, it turns out.)

A final look at the tree on Christmas Eve. I love how you can see the tree lights reflecting in her eyes. Little did she know what was in store!

14 Months

Today Sabine turned 14 months old. I say it every month, but I just cannot believe how fast time is going. This is a really fun age; Sabine's absorbing so much, she is getting better at communicating, and is generally a really happy kid. She's also cutting another molar, and we've officially started transitioning her to one nap a day. It seems to be working for her sleep needs, but the transition has thrown her schedule off, and the molars are not helping. We're going to try and lay low this week, since there is certainly a lot of excitement coming next weekend.

This past week Sabine got to go to the zoo for the first time, because Colorado has been having unseasonably warm weather. We met Sabine's friends B and E (and their mommy, my good friend!) there, and while I was very excited for Sabine to see a REAL lion:

You can see that I was perhaps a bit more excited than she was. They didn't move much. (But Sabine did recognize them enough to give a good Sabine-growl/squeal.) The highlight of the day for all the kids really seemed to be the pond full of ducks and geese. You know, like the kind we see outside of our house. *sigh* Sabine and B spent a long time watching them swim, and honking at them. We also got to see the giraffes, and at least they were moving. They are really big animals. It's been a long time since I've been to the zoo.

Later in the week we went up to visit Grandmom and Grandpa, and to finally see Grandpa's trains, up close and personal. They were...loud. But Sabine "whooo-whooo"ed all day long. Clearly the trains made an impression.

Sabine also discovered Great-Grandmom's Mexican maracas. Those were a huge hit.

She's already got more rhythm than I do (although that's not saying much) and she is turning out to be quite the percussionist, too. Fortunately, Tupperware can withstand a good amount of toddler drumming. Tupperware is also very convenient for holding and dumping small objects, like Aunt Dani's cat toys, which is a new favorite pastime.

The Many Faces of Sabine

Sabine just went through a huge growth spurt. I think she's finally about to transition into 12 month-size clothing, we are having to re-baby proof the house because she's starting to be able to reach things (like the iPod), which were previously just out-of-reach, and she's learning the hard way that she can't stand up under things like our barstools anymore. She also had a few more hairs come in, whoo-hoo! She's also growing some molars, which is less fun.

Her personality comes out more and more every day, too. And there's a lot of it. See for yourself:


Excitement is hard to contain these days.

Very Serious Baby is a Sabine classic. Daddy decided to name it, so now whenever he says "Blue Steel!" she flashes this look on command. It's a party favorite.

This is to convey surprise. She is not actually surprised, she just flashes this look when she wants us to know something in her vicinity is unexpected and worth noticing.

And, of course, happy baby. (With Nana Lin and Aunt Dani.) Sabine has a lot of smiles, but this is a classic, and a genuine one. It gets broken out around family a lot.

She Speaks

Last week was a huge week for Sabine, developmentally. She now can say "up," "down," "bye-bye," "dada," "ant," (and thus, also "aunt") "eight," and most importantly (to me) "mama." Sabine can now get down the stairs as well as up, although we are careful to stay behind our little speed racer at all times. She shakes her head for "yes" and "no," although "no" tends to get more use.

She is a big fan of lions, whether it's a picture, stuffed animal, or cookie jars shaped like a lion; and she likes to roar whenever she sees one. It kind of sounds more like a surprised mouse right now, but we're working on a deeper growl.

Sabine had her first bite of pizza, and hasn't looked back. Definitely daddy's girl, it's all she wants to eat now.

We also met Grandmom and Grandpa at the mall to ride the little holiday train they have running right now.

Sabine seemed to enjoy it, but she was equally impressed with the model railroad running in one of the store windows. I think it's time to go visit Grandpa again....

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you had a happy Thanksgiving, wherever you were! We certainly did, Sabine was thrilled to have her grandparents and her Aunt Dani all in the same house at the same time.

Sabine was fascinated with Grandmom's glasses:

and kept everyone entertained with her antics while we waited...and waited...and waited for that darn turkey to cook.

Seriously? Not even any cheese dip to tide us over?

Fortunately, once the turkey came out of the oven and Sabine had a nap, we had a lovely dinner, which we were too busy eating to remember to take any pictures. But the camera came out for dessert, just in time for Sabine's first taste of ice cream.

It was a success.

We all went to bed early, but took one quick family photo. We may be disheveled and in various states of getting ready for bed, but rest assured we were well-fed and happy!

13 Months

Tomorrow Sabine will be 13 months old.




(Sometimes boots can be a little tricky to run in.)

There's been a lot of development in the past month, not the least of which is language. You can tell she's on the brink of talking. In addition to "a puff," "dada," and "up," she's also attempting "mama."(Be still, my little heart.) It actually sounds more like "nya nya" right now, so Nana Lin should get some recognition, too. The b-words all get the same sound, so right now "BUH!" or "A BUH!" translates to: bear, bunny, book, or bath, depending on context.

Sabine knows a cow says mooo, although it sounds more like "bruoo" right now, and knows a lion says roar, which comes out sounding more like "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" with a big grin. Her favorite, and most accurate sound, though, is a train. We can hear the local train go by several times a day, and while I block it out anymore, Sabine always announces when it goes by. (Grandpa's little girl.) Normally she's more enthusiastic, but doing because mommy says so is a lot less fun than announcing it's going by RIGHT NOW!



Physically, Sabine's still working on jumping. She's also been walking backwards a lot, recently. She's doing more and more independent play, including spending time looking through her books by herself.



Her comprehension is amazing. She's able to identify several animals when we ask her to point them out now, and she follows instructions really well. (When she wants to.)

This has been a really fun month, both because of what we've done and how Sabine's developing. She's pushing her morning nap back later and later, which I think means we'll be transitioning from two naps a day to one nap a day pretty soon. That will make our days easier and more flexible in a lot of ways, but we are not going to do it until she's definitely ready. Still, it's exciting to think about what's in store; not the least of which is SNOW, and all the fun activities that can entail! We're ready.



Happy early Thanksgiving!

Happy Belated Birthday, Aunt Danielle!

(Picture actually taken at Sabine's birthday, in her new ball pit, a present from Aunt Dani.)

We went out to celebrate last weekend, and here's the only picture I have for now:

But you'll have to trust me that we had a lovely time, and Sabine even behaved reasonably well for how long we were at the restaurant.

Recently, we've really enjoyed watching Sabine's language develop. She now says "up" and "dada" in context, and makes the sign for "dog." She also does a jig on command, it's kind of a cute, one-footed stomping. It's seems to get used both for dancing and for expressing impatience. She also broke it out in the bathtub last night, and was delighted at the incredible SPLASH she made. (Mom may have been slightly less delighted.)

Sabine is getting more physically confident every day, too. She's been walking around on her tip-toes for weeks. She tried the teeter-totter with her friend B this week, and tried desperately to follow him around the playground. Fortunately, B is a very good friend, and when snack time came around, he generously shared his goldfish crackers with Sabine while she incessantly kept signing "MORE MORE MORE" at him. She seems to be more adventurous with climbing on things, too. Daddy also showed Sabine how to jump today. Mostly it was bending her knees and throwing her arms in the air, but it was a good start.

She still prefers when daddy helps her jump, though. That usually elicits the most squeals of delight. (And starting with walking on daddy's feet is never a bad thing.)

Extra Ladybug

Just because she's so cute, and we have SO many photos, here are a few more:

Ladybug Halloween

We had a beautiful evening for trick-or-treating this year. More typically, Colorado kids are running around with big coats under/over their costumes and snow underfoot. We tried to take lots of pictures to savor this nice, mild fall weather.



Not a bad view, eh?

Nanna Lin came over earlier in the day and brought Sabine a big, stuffed pumpkin, which Sabine loves. Then Grandmom and Grandpa and Aunt Dani showed up to help get Sabine into her costume.

We headed out to try a little trick-or-treating, but before we could go anywhere, Sabine had to show Aunt Dani her pumpkins.



Then there was a fair amount of picture-taking, so Sabine worked on smashing a piece of candy in its wrapper. The plastic apparently made a very satisfying sound, she hung onto that lump of candy for a long time!



Daddy walked Sabine over to see a couple of neighbors, and Sabine got a kick out of seeing all the decorations and other kids.



Once we got home, there was a ceremonial Tasting of the Candy.



Sabine took a few bites, but I think it might have been a little sweet for her. Mostly she enjoyed crunching the candy in its bag, and practiced handing pieces of crunched candy to various family members.




That's fine. More for us.

Then we let Sabine stay up and have dinner with everyone, and then she went to bed. Fortunately, she had such a busy day that she slept through the handful of trick-or-treaters who came by after she went down.

A successful holiday, overall!

Little Helper

Sabine is very keen on helping us around the house these days. She helps me carry laundry, close the dishwasher, and look under the couch for lost cat toys. She also helps her daddy floss in the mornings:



And Sabine likes to help people kiss her favorite stuffed animals. (Here, her friend E is the vaguely-willing recipient of this help):



And even though the weather's getting cooler, she still likes to help me carry the keys to the mailbox when we go to check the mail:



And now that's she's one, she fortunately understands she needs to start pulling her weight around here.



Man, I love this kid.