Christmas Day

Teagan really enjoyed Christmas this year. We spent a snowy Christmas Eve with Paul's family, where Teagan got to open her first round of presents. On Christmas Day, she wasn't sure she really wanted to wake up for presents, but when Paul mentioned "toys" she decided she was ready to get out of bed. She was so excited to see the presents under the tree and her stocking. Teagan kept busy playing with her new toys all morning, and then we spent Christmas afternoon/evening with my side of the family where Teagan got to open her third round of presents with her cousins. It was really time for bed when we got home, but we let her stay up for a bit longer to play with all her new toys. What a fun day!

The video is about 3 minutes long, but it has her really cute reactions to the presents and her stocking.

Super Star!

One of Teagan's new words is "sunshine." The sun was bothering her in the car the other day and she was saying "too sunshine." When we got home, I guess she thought the Christmas tree was also too bright because she put on her sunglasses and was standing by the tree saying "sunshine."

Teagan loves her Daddy's hats. She thinks it is really fun to see Daddy wear them, but she also likes to put them on herself. We should get her a hat that actually fits her and see what she thinks.

We recently got Teagan her own robe to wear after our shower in the morning. She looks like a giant marshmallow, but she stays cozy and warm. I'm actually jealous of her robe. It's much more plush than mine!

Tee Dell New

We got our first snow of the year on 12/2. We woke up to a lot of snow flurries and snow sticking to the ground, roof, and bushes. Teagan was fascinated with watching it out the window and we took her outside for a few minutes. When we asked her what she thought about the snow, she said "wet." Unfortunately, the pretty white stuff only stuck around for about an hour.

Teagan loves to write with a pencil and to dictate words for us to write while she watches. She usually says "name" and repeats all the names we say when we write her name, our names, and all the names of her cousins. She is so cute when she says her own name. She pronounces Teagan Adele Knutson as "Tee Dell New."

We are enjoying hearing Teagan talk more and more now, and of course we think she's the smartest toddler ever! She says two word phrases frequently now and will even say some three word "sentences." I love it when she comes to me, hands me something, and then says "right back" before she runs off to get something else to bring to me. She is a little happier riding in the car now as long as we talk the whole time. It's fun to be able to actually have conversations with her.

Wash, Wash

Teagan has now discovered the joy of playing with running water in the kitchen sink. This is a good thing and a bad thing! On one hand, it keeps her busy. If I need to chop vegetables, or load the dishwasher, it is a pretty surefire way to keep her occupied and out from underfoot. It's a bad thing though because now she wants to play in the sink all the time! She picks up her little stool, carries it to the sink, and then climbs up and says "wash, wash." The answer "not right now" just prompts her to ask louder.

Minnesota Trip

We just got back from a quick trip to Minnesota. Teagan did really well traveling and spending time with a lot of her relatives. The first 2 days of our trip were spent in Montevideo, my mom's home town. One of my cousins recently had triplets and there was a baby shower for them. Teagan also got to see her ND aunt, uncle, and cousins, along with 2 of my cousins, 2 of my aunts, an uncle, and my great aunt. After traveling back to the Minneapolis area, we visited with Paul's grandma, aunts, uncle, and a cousin on his dad's side of the family along with several aunts, uncles, cousins andTeagan's second cousin on his mom's side of the family. It was a busy, busy trip, but Teagan handled it very well.

Fall Fun

Despite all the rain, we still managed to have several fun fall outings in October. Teagan and I spent a morning at the Arboretum with some friends, and all the pumpkins were a big hit with the Little Ones.

Teagan and I also went to the pumpkin patch at Owens Farm. Teagan enjoyed feeding the goats at the farm and now says "food" whenever we look at books with farm animals. We also went on a hay ride, but the highlight for Teagan was when she got to run around the pumpkin patch.

Paul, Teagan, I went to Huffhines Art Fest with some friends. Teagan rode around in her wagon and liked the hay bale maze.

On Halloween, we went over to Beth & Steve's so Teagan could go Trick or Treating with her cousins. Teagan was dressed as a dalmation and we pulled her around the neighborhood in her wagon.

18 months!

Teagan had her 18 month check up last week and did really well. It's hard to believe she is already 18 months old! She is now 34 1/2" tall (98th percentile) and 25lb 2 oz (60th percentile). Looks like she is still on track to be tall like her Daddy! Her doctor was very happy with her language skills and the nurse couldn't believe it when Teagan asked to use the potty while we were there. She was very impressed when I told her that Teagan uses the potty at least 75% of the time.

Busy Girl

One of Teagan's favorite things to play with is a phone. She loves the real thing, or will just pretend that whatever toy or object she has is a phone. Her conversations are always the same! "Ya, ya, ya, bye-bye."

Teagan is such a big talker now. She's plays with her dolls and stuffed animals, constantly narrating what they are doing or what she wants us to do. She still mostly says the first syllables of words, but has been learning more two syllable words lately. She is recently mastered "apple" and is quite proud of that!

Big Red Wagon

We decided to get Teagan a wagon this weekend, and she has really been enjoying it. With a cushy blanket and pillow, Teagan seems quite comfortable! We always put her in the wagon sitting up, but she seems to prefer to just lounge and sprawl out. She giggles when her Daddy is the crazy wagon driver and she loves to go around corners really fast.

Tonight when we went for our nightly wagon ride/walk, Teagan wore her Stars Jersey to show support for her team. The game didn't start until after her bedtime, but she showed her team spirit anyway.

Mothering

Teagan has recently taken a lot of interest in "mothering" all her stuffed animals and baby dolls. I made a little sling for her and she has decided that only her stuffed kitty should be held in the sling. A few nights ago she started pretending to put her doll and animals to sleep. She wraps them up in a blanket, picks them up, and then says "shh, shh" as she bounces them. Then she lays them down and says "night, night." Today I got out a doll cradle and she had a lot of fun putting her doll in that and rocking it. She also decided that the cradle would be a good thing to use for feeding her baby with a bowl and a spoon. It has been really fun watching her pretend to be "Mommy Teagan."

Mama's Helper

You would think it would be a little easier to keep up with the house as Teagan gets older, but it's not! Seems like the only way I can get anything done around the house is to put Teagan on my back. Luckily, she loves it. She often comes to me saying "back, back" or will go get the Mei Tai that I use to put her on my back. She loves to "help" vacuum, and will immediately start saying "back, back" if she hears any mention of vacuuming.

In other news, Teagan has started saying her first 2 syllable word . . . "elbow." It's pretty cute.

Having fun

Teagan is still really enjoying her playhouse. Especially now that she has figured out how to do the slide all on her own. She also loves to squeak the doorbell and roll her toys down the slide. She's not very sure about sharing it with other kids though! We had 5 other kiddos over today for a playgroup, and when another child climbed in the playhouse with her, she burst into tears.

ND trip

Teagan and I recently got back from spending a week in North Dakota. My nephew Owen was born on Sunday 8/9 and Teagan and I arrived on Wednesday 8/12. Teagan did really well on the two flights each direction. I was a little nervous about traveling alone with her, but really, everything went pretty smoothly.

Teagan seemed to enjoy her time with her cousins. She liked it when her older cousins Will (5) and Ethan (3) quizzed her on animal noises, and impressed her daddy when we got home with a new one they taught her. What does a wolf say? Aaawooo! Teagan's version of a howl. She was a little intimidated by Aaron who is only a few months older than her, but did enjoy his toys! And of course, like all of us, she was fascinated with her newest baby cousin Owen. She asked to hold him a few times, and tried to "tell" April and I what to do as far as putting him in a swing or giving him his paci. Teagan also really enjoyed the stairs at April's house. We don't have any at home, so she wanted to go up and down the stairs nonstop!

Overall, we had a fun trip. If only we could get there on a direct flight. I'd love to go more often.

Climbing

Teagan has been practicing her climbing skills a lot lately. The playground and the couch are her current challenges, but she discovered last night that she can climb in and out of her wagon all by herself. She seemed quite proud of that and has been having a lot of fun with it.

Teagan also had us laughing last night when she was trying to imitate some Bollywood moves she saw on TV. We tried to videotape it, but she was more interested in the camera and didn't want to perform.

All grown up

Teagan is learning how to do so many things on her own and loves to practice all her new skills. She says "off" to tell us when she wants her clothes, shoes, or a bow off, but has recently started practicing putting her own clothes on. She can do pretty well with getting a shirt on, or more often, 2 or 3 shirts on! She hasn't managed to get pants on yet, but she certainly tries. She has also decided that baby sized silverware is, well, for babies, and insists on using regular adult sized silverware. And I guess she thinks she has the potty thing all figured out because sometimes I catch her showing her stuffed animals how to use the potty.

Mischief

No box of anything is safe in this house anymore! Teagan has become quite skilled at opening sealed boxes and then quickly emptying out all the contents. She likes to help me unload grocery bags and sometimes she will take off with a box. Before I know it, she is pulling out every bag or kleenex. At least she has a lot of fun doing it!

In other news.... Teagan said her first sentence today, sort of. She was looking out the window at the broom on the patio and said "Dada, bu, swee". Translation: Dada sweeps the bugs.

Cookie Monster!

I made chocolate chip cookies this afternoon, and Teagan really liked them! I've made cookies in the past and she's only been sort of half-interested. Today though, she wouldn't let me offer her bites, she wanted her own cookie! I knew this was bound to be messy, so I put her in her seat with a bib and let her go at it. She decided to use her finger to first dig out the chocolate chips and eat those. When I was cleaning her up, she even had chocolate under her fingernails. Oh my. And now, whenever she walks through the kitchen she points to the cookie jar saying "more, more!" I guess she's a little cookie monster now!

Froggy Friend

Teagan's absolute favorite toy is her stuffed frog. She carries the frog all around the house and loves to give her frog hugs and kisses. I have seen her try to give the frog a drink from her sippy cup on several occasions and the other day while we were eating yogurt, she was quite upset with me when I wouldn't let her give the frog a bite. One night when I was cooking dinner, she was upset that I wouldn't give her "nuh nuh", her word for nursing. I suggested that she give her froggy nuh nuh and she actually pulled up her shirt and tried. So cute.

She also has several other stuffed animals that she loves. They include a dog, a cow, and a penguin.

4th of July

We had a very busy, but fun, 4th of July. We started the day bright and early by going to the parade in Plano. My dad got there early and saved us a spot in the shade. Amazingly, the shade and the breeze made it very comfortable outside. Teagan did great at the parade and was most interested in any dogs that she saw (both spectators and parade participants). While playing with some lollipops, Teagan managed to get one open. Before we even noticed, she already had it in her mouth! So she got her first taste of lollipop and seemed to like it. After the parade we went to Allen to have lunch at Beth's house.

After leaving Allen, we drove to Duncanville to spend the afternoon with Paul's family. The first two times we tried to take Teagan swimming, she was not interested. Today was different. She had so much fun splashing and kicking in the pool.

Thank goodness for Daddies!

Teagan sure loves hanging out with her Daddy. Every day when she wakes up from her nap, she walks out to the living room looking for him saying "Daddy?" as she looks around. On Father's day she woke up and then leaned over and gave her daddy, and only her daddy, a big kiss! She is also a little preoccupied with bugs and I am teaching her that Dad is the one who takes care of that. Tonight when she thought she saw a bug in the kitchen, she went over to Paul in the living room saying "bug" and pulled on him to get him to follow her to take care of the bug.

Multi-tasking

Teagan loves to help sweep. If you even mention that the floor needs to be swept, she will go over to the broom and point to it saying "sssss" until you come and get the broom. When I couldn't find a toy broom for her, I just decided to get her one of those small hand held broom and dustpan sets. She loves it!

Cuteness!

Dallas Zoo

We celebrated my birthday on Monday by taking Teagan to the Dallas Zoo. At first, she seemed relatively un-impressed. She looked at the animals, but didn't really seem very excited about it. She was so serious and quiet! The things that did make her smile though, were Daddy holding her and bouncing her around and then lunch time! After about 2 hours at the zoo, we decided to head home. On our way out we walked by the penguins for the 2nd time, but this time they were all swimming in the water. That was very interesting to Teagan. She loved standing right up against the glass as the penguins swam by. We got her a stuffed penguin toy that she loved playing with on the way home.

Old toy, new fun

Teagan has rediscovered her blue rocking chair that we used to always put her in when she was younger. I moved it into the kitchen and she likes to sit in it to play, eat a snack, or send a quick email from her Blackberry. It has a good seat belt so when she is buckled in I try and take full advantage and do a quick chore like load or unload the dishwasher. Always much easier without little hands "helping."