Christmas 2009

Christmas this year was busy, but very exciting. It was a holiday of firsts - first time Erin was properly introduced to the concept of Santa Clause. First time we woke on Christmas morning in our own beds, in our own house. First time we didn't have to travel 500+ miles (although the amount we drove exceeded that to be sure). First time in untold years that the Miller side of the family all celebrated together. All in all it was wonderful, bountiful holiday with great food, fun presents, and lots of family time.

And there were pictures:

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And there was more video than decency allows us to inflict on our dear readers. So here is one, unedited, highlighting two of Erin's favorite toys Santa brought: a kitchen and a baby doll. Not that he intended these to be played with together in such fashion.

Why toddlers should not be parents from Ms. A on Vimeo.

Getting into the spirit

Time spent so far: 1.5 hours

Pieces assembled: 6

Pieces left to assemble: 17

Number of different screws/pegs: ~90

Number of F-bombs dropped: innumerable

Hours till Christmas morning: 30

On Language

It occurs to me that Erin could be transitioning from "toddler" to "kid" now that she's using parts of speech I don't even know the names of.   Just now I found myself Googling "prepositional phrase".

Dance uniform

After bath tonight, Erin wasn't quite ready to get the jammies on yet. So she pieced together this outfit. She's modeling by spinning around, dancing to the music in her head:



Shirt: "I heart Nature" by Roots
Underwear: Elmo, of course
Leggings/arm warmer: Baby Legs
Socks: Trumpette, size 0-6 months

Snow in Orinda!

Apparently this happens every eon or so.

Earlier than the rooster

Some small person in the house woke up early this morning. About 4:35, approximately. By 5:30 it was apparent sleep was done for the night so the McMiller household got a bright dark and early start this morning. There are advantages to these early mornings. Here's what we've done so far:

Made, ate and cleaned and egg, bacon, toast breakfast
Fixed the stopper in one sink
Replaced the drain pipe of the kitchen sink
2 loads of laundry
Changed duvet covers
Made 3 emergency "Go-bags"

Bought more emergency supplies off the Red Cross list

Talked to PGE worker about safety posts around the meter
Baked 1 batch Maple Cookies
Watched 1 episode of Sid the Science Kid

Wrote 1 blog post

Time now: 9:00 AM

Bedtime is better with friends.

Erin snuck into our bed with a few pals... she couldn't resist the new sheets!

Latest exercise fad....

... toddler push-ups: