Merry Christmas

Ew--I completed a post, and for some reason it disappeared, so I have to start over...

Christmas was so fun. Augi was excited and very spoiled by Mimi and Papa. She got a book and dolly from Santa. We have contemplated the whole issue of "lying" about Santa. We have decided it is not an issue for us. We will pretend there is a Santa because pretending is how children practice so many things. It is their job. We will pretend a nice jolly elf called Santa brings little boys and girls a present on Christmas just like we pretend to eat pickles and cookies with the Monster and Ostrich. If she asks us if Santa is real, we will say no, he isn't real, but isn't it fun to pretend that he is! The spirit of Santa is what we will celebrate. As for this year, she couldn't care less about Santa. She loved opening the presents at first, but she got very tired after a while. Eventually, she would throw the gifts and shout, "No!" if we handed her one. We let her take her time.

Yesterday we went to the park to feed the ducks. Oh my god...those birds were hungry! As we walked to the pond, they spotted us. There were probably 300 birds walking towards us. They nipped my fingers a few times. Augi found it very amusing. I was a little frightened. I was sad for the gimpy birds. Augi kept signing "more eat" because she wanted to feed each and every bird.

Well, staying true to the T.B.Brazelton "Touchpoints" theory, Augi has had a cognitive spurt recently which always results in no sleep at night. She woke up the other night at 3 and insisted we play babies for a few hours. Last night she woke up several times to practice all her new words. It is now past 9 pm and she is bossing her daddy around as they play cars. Who knows when we'll get her back down. She is talking up a storm now and she is following all sorts of directions, and speaking of pretend play--she was playing with her doll house today. The dolls were sleeping, eating and going "poop". That's pretty much Augi's life, so she is playing what she knows.

OHHHHH! I PASSED MY LICENSING EXAM!! We just found out today. One more hurdle (the easy ethics exam) next week and I will be fully licensed to practice. Hooray!