Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

We had some leftover snow from our holiday photo shoot last weekend (I know, I'm such a tease), so I promised Teagan we could go outside and play with it as long as she let me take her photo.  We even got some friends, Gavin and Ella, in on the action.  Declan liked throwing the snow on the ground before I could snap a photo, and Teagan had fun blowing and throwing the artificial snow.  Although it was chilly it was actually a beautiful mid-November weekend so we can't complain.  I guess this is just a small taste of what's in store for the coming months - although knowing my kids they will not complain because they love to play outside and they love snow!

Declan's Words - 19m

Declan has been going through a word explosion recently so I thought I would post about all of the words he knows so we can look back some day and be reminded.  He probably has at least a few more that I am forgetting.  He's almost up to 50 words at this point, which is a big jump from 18 months when he was at about 15.  

mama, dada, ball, more, down, hi, up, bye, uh oh, Declan, bubbles, waffle, shoe, sock, out, all done, cookie, Ella, stuck, help, uppie, ow, bath, Boo, apple, home, no no, nose, cookie, snack, Outside, cat, dog, no, ouch, yay, nice, hot, whoa, blocks, hat, TT, owl, door, please, water, Bapi (paci), fish

He also knows some animal sounds (oink, and "ooooo" for owl to name a few).  I am loving that he's able to communicate - things like "more" and "all done" are very helpful when we're trying to figure out what he wants.  If he is in the other room and we hear "no no, no no" we know he is doing something he knows he's not supposed to do, which of course sends us running to check!  He also says "no" if he doesn't want something, and although that is a relatively new word, he has been shaking his head "no" for months now.

In the last month Declan has become all boy and all toddler.  Climbing, diving, getting into mischief, and then laughing devilishly like he knows he's pushing buttons.  Ramming his carts and toys into things and saying "whoa".  But he's also playing and learning and growing (and testing limits).  


What I really want to share with you are photos we took last weekend for our holiday card but I will try to hold off for a few more weeks so I don't spoil the surprise.  So here are a few iPhone photos of our sweet and mischievous little guy.

Happy Birthday, Mame

Tonight we celebrated Grammy Sue's birthday.  Jenna, Chris, and Max came over, and Naomi, Greta, and Abbie joined us by video chat.  We had pizza and cupcakes and enjoyed a nice family evening.  It was low key, but a nice way to have a mid-week celebration.  Happy Birthday, Mame!

This goofy face kills me