Monthly Moments with Little Sweetie: December 19

And the holiday celebrations continue! We started out Thanksgiving out with the annual Run Thru the Woods. Little Sweetie worked really hard on her mile!

L and Little Sweetie are ready to run!

Kids gearing up for their race!

Coming into the finish!

The kids with their medals!

All smiles as we prepare to eat Thanksgiving dinner!

Taking advantage of Thanksgiving break to see a movie as a family!

Now that Thanksgiving was over, it was time to prepare our hearts for Christmas! We had a lot of fun visiting with Santa Claus (multiple times) and watching Little Sweetie's stage debut as Mary in her preschool's Christmas pageant (her best friend, K, was Joseph).

At each Santa visit, Little Sweetie was very clear on what she was hoping for: a new blue bike, a waterproof watch, and a hooded bath towel that looks like a German Shepherd. Very specific, this one!

The kids did a great job in their Christmas performance!

I think these two are ready for the holidays, don't you?

And being the holidays, our little chef was very active in the kitchen! So many culinary creations this month!

Popcorn bread.

Cranberry sauce.

Stuffing.

Cookies!

And when she wasn't cooking, she was busy being very creative! Lots of drawing and other projects this month.

Sadly, I can't remember what each of these masterpieces was called!

We made bath bombs. It was quite the project, but we did it!

Science time! Working on hydraulics.

But of course, my favorite times are when she is being an amazing sister to her brother. She understands more about how he is different now, but she is using that understanding to work to include him and interact with him more. She said that even if he doesn't talk as much, he's thinking about things in his mind. I love how she loves him.

Being goofballs together!

Sibling hugs!

My favorite part of the day.

Height and Weight

Coming in this month at 41.2 pounds and 42.25 inches.

Love this face!

I can't believe I filled out the last page of this little one's baby book! Growing up so fast!

Personality

She is so fun and so silly! Everything is roses until she gets tried because she thinks she doesn't need a nap (she's wrong). Tired Little Sweetie turns very quickly into Little Grumpy. She's also becoming her new favorite word, 'obstinate', which is both fun to watch and infuriating to interact with. Basically, everything we know as adults are wrong and Little Sweetie thinks she's got all the answers because she says so. It's not like watching myself as a child at all...I mean, oops.

One of her favorite silly things to do is get her picture taken with the Target dog or outside of restaurants.

Developmental Milestones

Her level of focus is very impressive right now. We see it in so many things, how she can make it through cooking a recipe, or get involved in an art project, or play a game. She's very good at entertaining herself too and adjusting to the situation.

Just chilling at the hospital for one of Big Brother's many appointments. Her maturity has obviously had to grow quickly being a special needs sibling, but it still amazes me.

Fun Tidbits

I was very excited this month to take Little Sweetie on a special Momma-Daughter day to see her first musical! Beauty and the Beast had come to town and she loved it! She made it through the entire show and it was so excited to share this experience with her. Lots of pictures with this ham, and yes, we wore matching outfits!