Back in November, we decided to grow my daughters hair out, but her hair kept getting in her eyes.  Bows come in and out easily, so I decided I’d try to make her some headbands.  You could make some for yourself, too, and your daughter might be extra excited about wearing headbands, just like Mommy.

Materials Needed:

• material
• an elastic hair band/ponytail holder without the metal
• coordinating thread

Instructions

1. Measure around your toddler’s head to the nape of her neck.
2. Cut your material to the appropriate size and iron flat.  [Cut a rectangle that is double the width of what you want your headband to end up, plus about 1/2 in for seam allowance and 3 inches less than measurement you got from step 1.  I think I cut mine 3.5 x 15.5inches.  If you want it to be reversible with two different patterns, cut accordingly.]
3. Measure in on the bottom ends in about 1/2 “  on each side and mark, draw a line up to the top corners and you will have a tapered rectangle.
4. Fold right sides together “hot dog style” and iron flat.
5. Then pin together and sew around, but leave a “U shape” opening in the bottom, as if you were sewing a pillow.
6. Turn tube of fabric inside out and iron flat.  Also, fold a 1/4 inch or so on each end and iron down.
7. Put elastic pony tail on one end inside the flap created in step 6.  Fold the 1/4 over the pony tail, and sew straight down.
8. Do the same with the other side.
9. And you’re all done.

I made the headband in the pictures and a pink one.  I also made a reversible one: one side black and one side red.  Abi loves them.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Abigail was so fun to watch this Christmas.  This year, she was able to open presents by herself and say things like, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I like Santa Claus.  Santa Claus says, ‘Ho, ho, ho.’  Thank you for the present.”

Abi had 6 opportunities to open presents:

1. On Christmas Eve, we opened one present each.                                  



2. On Christmas Day, Jonathan, Abigail, and I opened presents at our house. 
3. Then, we went over to GramB and PapaBon’s and opened presents with my siblings, their spouses, and our nephew.                                                                                                



4. On the 26th, a package came in the mail, and she opened a present.
5. On the 27th, while Jonathan’s parents were here, she opened some more presents from them.                                                                                     



6. On the 28th, she opened some presents from my aunt and uncle.

On the 29th, she woke up and said, “May I have more presents [to] open, please.”  Umm, no, but nice try.

Other highlights:

• My parents got a toy dog that Abi named “Mr. Floppy” because his ears would flop as he sang a Christmas song.  At first, she was a little timid of him, but then, she started asking every two seconds to “Push Mr. Floppy’s paw” so she could dance, jump, and spin to his music.                                              



• It snowed about 7 inches early, early Christmas Eve.  In fact, the snow is still on the ground at our house.                                                                                          
• You can see more Christmas pictures here on the updated Photos page.

Here are some things you did in your 20th Month:

• Besides talking about family members and friends, here are some cute, random things you have thanked God for in your prayers: Mr. Bear, the big ball, rabbit, humidifier, the turkey, Santa Claus, towel, bed . . .
• You love stairs, which you call “big steps.”  We can’t keep you away from them.
• You have your pronouns mixed up when you say things like, “Mommy, hold you please.” or “You want the big ball, please.”  We do correct you, but we do kinda like it.  Other than that, you’re still amazingly advanced with speech.  Strangers can understand you and carry on conversations with you.
• For the past two Sundays and a Wednesday night, you have cried when we left you in the nursery at church.  This is confusing to me because you love going to bible class, and they say that soon after we leave, you do great.  I guess you’re getting attached to Momma again.
• Also, two times during this past month, you have woken up early from your nap crying.  I’ve gone in there and done something I’ve never done before: gotten you out of bed, sat in the rocker with you, and you actually cuddled me and stayed still for more than 30 seconds.  I’m not sure how much of these times you were asleep, but you held onto me for about an hour each time, and I loved every second of it.
• Your canines on top have poked through, but they’re not fully grown yet.
• You have been fussier lately when we’re out in public.  You had never cried or pouted in public until a couple of weeks ago.  So, that hasn’t been much fun lately.
• You’ve been better with eating this last month.  Hopefully that will continue.

As always, we love you tremendously.  Here’s your 20th Month Video . . .

Sorry for being the worst blogger, again.  We were on Thanksgiving vacation from Wednesday-Saturday (pictures to come later).  And since we’ve been back home, I’ve had to catch up on laundry, do regular household things, and finish up my Christmas shopping.  I still have a few Christmas sewing/making jobs left, but at least I don’t have to shop!

About the pregnancy: I’m feeling Baby move a lot more for the past week or so.  In fact, Baby’s moving now.  Last week, I started feeling better with the nausea/vomiting.  Since I felt good for more than 3 days, I thought, ‘I’m better finally.’  And then, Monday happened.  UGH.  Definitely not over the all day sickness.  The past three days have not been fun.  Please, please God make me better!  Okay, sorry about the whining . . .

Picture of Baby #2 at 13 weeks

I am now 20 weeks along, and knowing how my previous pregnancy went, it probably means I’m more than half way done!  Yea!

So, next Tuesday is the big Sonogram.  The one where we could find out the gender.  We’re still debating about whether or not to find out.  What do you think- objectively?

My cousin Katie got me thinking that it’d be fun to wait until delivery day to find out.  If we already had babies of each gender, I would so wait until delivery day.  But, I’m not sure since we wouldn’t have boy stuff if Baby is a boy.  And then, I thought since this is probably going to be our last baby, it might be fun to be surprised.

Either way, I think surprises are fun, so we’re thinking we might not let anyone know regardless of whether or not we find out.  Is this rude?

How did you decide whether or not to find out Baby’s gender?  Specifically, to those of you who waited, are you glad you did?

Another question: We took Abigail to Baby #2’s first sonogram, but we’re not sure if we should take her to this one.  We want it to be special, and it was hard the first time, because we were constantly having to answer Abigail’s questions/comments.  Also, we were wanting Jonathan to video record Baby’s movement on the monitor.  So, did you take your older kid(s) to your new baby’s sonograms?

Abigail at 20 weeks

Ever since I got pregnant again, I’ve been watching Abigail and wishing that she wouldn’t grow up.  I hate to think that I might be “replacing” her baby time with a new baby.  I know she’s becoming an awesome toddler, but I wish she could still be “little.”

We had two Halloween parties: one the night before and one on Halloween.  We took Abigail to the first one but decided to let her stay the night with GramB and PapaBon for the second one.  I forgot to take many pictures of the first one.

I’ve got a Bun in the Oven, and Jonathan’s the Bun Maker

You can click on the pictures to see the details of my costume.  It was simple to make, and it was super cheap!  We only had to buy the apron ($3), chef hat ($3), spray paint, and a hot glue gun.  We had all the other stuff on hand.  The oven box is made from Abi’s Huggies diaper box.

As you read here, she was a little lamb.

Halloween night we went to a party thrown by our besties, Tiffany and Justin (Tinkerbell & Peter Pan).

Nancy & Jacob came as a UPS worker and his package

The Bookers were the Swine Flu

Our team won in charades

And our pumpkin tied for first in the Pumpkin Contest

So, at the end of the night, we went home as winners of the “Date Night Package” (a Chili’s gift card, wine glasses, and roses, in a cute basket.

Near the first of October, we took Abigail to a Corn Maize.  First we made sure to have her do the “insert head into cutout”

With pumpkins

She loved feeding the animals: goats, sheep, donkey, chickens, ducks, pig

They also had the cutest little baby maze made out of stacks of hay.  I think she could’ve spent hours playing hide and seek

Here’s a short video clip of her playing in the maze.

Then, she took her first hayride out to the pumpkin patch

After that, we did the actual corn maze, but she wasn’t such a fan because it was dark, and we had to hold her.  But she loved the animals and the baby maze.  And it just so happens that we’re going again tonight with Jonathan’s work.

Abigail will give you a hint about why I haven’t been blogging lately . . .

Sorry I’ve been going through a blogging drought lately :(  But good news for today: Sonia gave me an idea about what to write.  Here was her comment to this post:

i watched abigail’s video a while back when you posted her talking.  she is very advanced.  is there anything that you are doing that you would recommend to help other parents?  is she around other children alot or just you?  i am happy to see how your little one is progressing.  she speaks better than some 2 1/2 year olds.  she is still the cutest!!!  take care and i will read your blog for futher entries.

Thanks Sonia!  I’ll try to recommend some things that might help other parents.  And no, she’s not really around other children a lot– in that she does not go to a daycare or preschool.  I stay home with her.  But she does have bible class on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights with toddlers her age.  And maybe about once-twice a month, we have a play date, but she’s the oldest of the group.

Now, let me first say that she is my first and only child, so who knows if our next child will be to the same level as she.  And I’m not a speech therapist, doctor, or anything like that.  With that said, I do feel like we did some things to help Abigail get off to a great start with speech.

1. When she was a newborn, I read to her constantly.  Every single time we nursed for the first 4 months or so (after that, she got distracted), I would read aloud whatever I was reading at the time, normally a BabyTalk magazine.
2. Also from the time we brought her home from the hospital, I talked to her as if she were blind.  I’d hold her and say, “I’m walking to the white refrigerator.  I’m opening the door.  I’m taking out Orange Juice.  I’m closing the door.  Now, I’m going to sit down . . .”  I literally narrated everything I did.
3. Even if we were just sitting around and not being active, I talked and talked and sang and sang to her.
4. She didn’t/doesn’t use a pacifier.  So, when she wanted to communicate, she could with words because she didn’t have something blocking her mouth.
5. We never babbled to her with baby talk (as in using poor grammar, not real words, only sounds.  But I did use a sing songy voice and try to be animated with my facial expressions) OR repeated her when she made sounds, rather than words.  If she said, “buh buh” for ball, we wouldn’t say, “Yeah, here’s your ‘buh buh’”, we’d say, “Okay, here is your BALLLLLL.”
6. We praised her like crazy when she’d say a word– even if it didn’t sound much like the actual word.  We’d yell over the top and clap, “Yea Abigail.  You said ‘please’.  Good for you.  You’re so very smart.  Can you say ‘please’ again?!”  We did this instead of getting sad/frustrated when she didn’t say words.  We learned by training our dog that positive reinforcement works best when training a new skill.
7. I made her communicate with words in order to get “rewards”- like getting down or getting a snack or a toy.  When she would point or whine or gurggle (she never really grunted) for something, I ignored her.  I told her she had to say, “please, up, down, or out” to get what she wanted.  And I didn’t give her what she wanted until she did this.  She learned really quickly that she had to articulate what she wanted.
8. We taught her a few signs, like “more, milk, all done”.  We also learned this from teaching our dog tricks that signs help reinforce words.
9. I respond every time she says anything, to reaffirm that what she is saying means something.  I’ll say, “yes, tell me more, okay, that’s good,” etc.  Every time.
10. Whenever she starts to cry, I say, “What do you want?  Can you tell me with words? I’ll help you if you can tell me with words.”

Here is a video of her saying our favorite 3 words:

Does anyone else have any tips or questions?