Birthday Boy, Bye-bye Binkie & Hello Big Girl Bed!

It's been a busy few weeks in the Plaster household. The title of this post says much of what has been going on. I'll spare you the details and give you pictures instead!

Here's Malia playing "I'm gonna get you!" with LL. She insisted we have party hats for Damon's birthday dinner.

Here's the whole gang...

My little sweet boy! I can't believe he's one year old!

He got a night lamp that shines stars on the wall that matches Malia's ladybug one.

It took him a little while to catch on to the cake!

Kurt caught Damon sleeping while sitting up. He was rocking forward and backward while sleeping, resting his face (and then back of his head) on side of the pack-n-play.

Precious cat time...

Right before a much needed hair cut:

Gettin' into trouble...

The 'cage' has reappeared in our basement since Damon has become mobile.

Malia finally moved to a toddler bed. The transition came two days after we said goodbye to her soother. It was going so badly that I decided we would just add the bed switch to the mix- get this misery out of the way as soon as possible! Needless to say, none of us (except Kurt!), has been sleeping as well since the change. I'm hoping she'll get back to napping so I can get some things done in that precious time! The first night we got rid of the soother, I cut it the tip off and handed it to her. She put it in her mouth, pulled it out, and said "It's broken, Mama. We need to fix it!". After telling her we couldn't fix it and that we didn't need to because she's a big girl now, she said "We need to get a new one!". I put her in her crib at 7 pm, and she didn't fall asleep until 11:30 pm! During these 4 1/2 hours, I gave her 2 bandaids (for imaginary owies), said 5 prayers (she'd say: "Mama, c'we have a prayer?"), got in her crib twice (yes, you read that right), sang I don't know how many songs, and wished during the entire time that she would just fall asleep. Finally she relented, but if you saw her today, you'd see the bags under her eyes. Poor thing!

It has been too long!

Malia throws as many toys as possible into her crib so that she can be entertained before (and after) she actually sleeps at nap time. In this severe case, I removed some items so she would have some place to lie down. I am not ready to move her to a big bed! It is so nice to have her contained, and she still loves her crib.

Here are the sock monkeys I made for the kids for Christmas.

Here's Malia playing with her doll house on Christmas day. It was just as much a gift for me as it was for her. Luckily she loves it!

Damon loves the vacuum! Even while it is on! Here he is chasing it.

Malia is a good kitty mama. She likes to make sure Nya has blankets and a pillow so she can go "nigh nigh".

Malia loves being a princess. Thank you for the outfit, Liz!

I love watching Malia interact with other little people her age. It's so fun to see her play with friends.

Here she is trying to catch some snow on her tongue.
The kids love playing in forts! (Damon just dismantled one in this picture.)

Poor kitty...

More fort fun!

This was our first snow shoeing trip as a family of four. It was fun to get out!

Yes, we had to bust out the soother. It was a weak moment. But look how happy she is!

Fun times at the zoo.

This bird let us stand within about 18 inches.

Other fun tidbits:

-Last week Malia busted out with "Jingle Bells", except her version was "Tinkerbell", pronounced "Dingabell".

-Damon is getting into everything! He finally started crawling this month and he has really taken off. Malia will sometimes cheer him on and say "You're doing it Damon! Good job!". I love the look of satisfaction he has on his face while he's on the move.

-A couple of times Kurt has put Malia to bed (after saying a prayer with her), only to have her cry "Mama!". When I come in, she asks "Mama, can we have a prayer?". So I say a prayer with her, and then kiss her goodnight. On one occasion, I heard her say her own prayer after I had left the room, listing some things/people she is grateful for (including her favorite nursery leader).

-Yesterday I almost had to take one of the kids out of sacrament meeting because they were making each other laugh. It's hard to get mad about that!

-We've been talking about Damon's upcoming birthday. Malia insists that he needs a birthday hat. Stay tuned for pictures of his birthday!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Wor-Wee!

We love you!!!

Don't mind the poor quality video...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ladybugs and Dinosaurs

Sundays are rough!

When Malia first tried on her costume she danced and giggled in front of the mirror in excitement! She loved it (except that the tights were "too tight!"...the largest size available at the store was only 24m but I couldn't resist)

Here she is dancing to some music in the parking lot at our ward's trunk or treat.

We only went trick-or-treating to about five houses. Malia was afraid of all the scary Halloween decor. When approaching a door, she would say "Mama- hold you!" and cling to my legs. Then, when someone would open the door, she would keep her head down until the candy was visible. The highlight of the night for her was going to Aunt LL's house for the first time. She didn't know that's where we were going, and was quite surprised when "Worr-Wee" answered the door.
Malia was very territorial with her bucket. I hid it the day after Halloween. Should I feel guilty for eating her candy? I do. But has that stopped me? No.

Introducing: Damon the Dinosaur

Guess what happens when you leave a toddler with her younger brother for even a minute: TROUBLE!!!

Loving the park on a beautiful sunny day!

This little sweet boy (who we've lately been referring to as the "ringwraith" for his amazing vocal talent) now has four pearly whites!

I finally got the courage to cut Damon's hair. The back of his head was practically begging for some clippers! In case you're curious, yes, I did save his hair. It seemed odd to me to save a boy's first haircut hair, but I did anyway. He looks so different to me now!

The poor guy didn't know what was coming...
Here is the before shot:

And after:

I've even cut more off since this was taken a couple of weeks ago.

Here is our little mama. She is so lovey to her dolls/animals. One of my favorite things is to hear her talk baby-talk to her dolls while she wraps them in burp cloths or hot-pads. This afternoon I put Damon down to sleep and he was fussing a bit. I left the room and had a sneaking suspicion she had gone in the room after I left, which she knows she shouldn't do while he is trying to sleep. I went upstairs to ask her to leave him so he could sleep, and when I went in, she was looking over his pack & play singing "Twinkle Twinkle". So cute! She then handed me a "blanket" (actually a crocheted pot-holder) to put on him.

Here she is loving the baby chicks at the farm.

Damon is such a chill baby!

I love the looks on each of their faces!

Malia's first pony ride. She did better than I expected!

Can you say: rat's nest??

Malia could entertain herself forever at the sink!

We love carrot juice in our house. It's one of the only ways Malia will happily consume a vegetable. In fact, she often cries for it first thing in the morning when she wakes up. "Carrot juice, Mama!!"....No problem!

Here is the finished quilt! I bought the fabric over a year ago...but I'm glad it's done! We've been talking about switching Malia over to a big girl bed.

And, for a couple of random tid-bits...

-While in the tub this morning, Malia exclaims: "Bubbles everywhere! That's pretty crazy!"

-Yesterday it was Nya's birthday. Very genuinely, Malia tells her: "Happy birthday, Nya creature!" (She also suggested we make her a cake!)

-Today I told Malia she has beautiful nails (they are long and feminine, unlike mine). She then said: "Gramma painted toenails. That's awesome!" (She was remembering Charlene painting her nails last month).