Thanksgiving Update full of Gratitude

Shaela is walking all over the place. Yesterday, she was practicing walking backwards intentionally (she usually backs up when the dogs are running by her). Today, she was walking backwards and in circles spinning with her bunny slippers on! She speaks a lot of baby talk or what seems to be words, not sure all the time. She still is pointing out "Stars!" everywhere, even brief flashes on TV commercials. She knows "ball", "halvah"(a favorite snack), and mommy's white ski "jacket".

We had a great Thanksmas in Green Valley with Grandpa Paul, Grandma Bev, Great Grandma Alverna and Uncle Kurt and Snuggies the dog. Shaela enjoyed playing with Grandma Bev and looking at the clock on Grandma and Grandpa's bed. She also really enjoyed the dancing snowman which she activated by a push button.

Shaela has a shoe fettish. She was thrilled to receive new "shoes!" and slippers, they were her favorite gifts other than the bags and boxes the numerous other gifts came in. She wanted to carry the bags around and get inside the boxes. Shaela learned the sign for "shoe" and is constantly signing it for her favorite shoes and boots.

Shaela also understands the concept of gratitude already! We taught her the sign for "thank you" right before we left for AZ. During her whole stay there, she was constantly and appropriately signing "thank you." It really is quite endearing.

Shaela had a bit of a melt down after we left. She seems to really love spending time with family and is disappointed to leave. She began a new phase in her development of "hitting." We are in the process of teaching her not to hit but to be "gentle." It is quite interesting when she suppresses hitting us, she will then proceed to hit herself. We had to do some major clearing.
I suppose this is a natural way of releasing anger. She has gotten a lot better about not hitting us, but she will hit her books and inanimate objects like her dolls when she is mad or upset. The only problem is when we try to give her food or water and she wants to hit it. Boy, talk about frustrating!

Thanksgiving in L.A.
We went to Uncle James, Uncle Doug and Cousin Benjamin's house for Thanksgiving with the whole Sie clan. It was wonderful for her to see her cousins again. She also got to meet her Aunt Su Su for the first time. We had a scrumptious and great time.

Unfortunately, Shaela got very sick. We think it was from the cute little boy in the airport who sneezed on her twice before I could pull her away. Shaela ate very little on Thanksgiving and then when we went to bed, we realized she had vomitted all over herself and the bed. Justin quickly changed the sheets and washed them, while I took Shaela into the showers. When we all settled back down for bed, an hour later, we awoke to her vomitting again. We did this 5 times that night. Welcome parenthood! She had the wickedess diarrhea as well for several days. On Sunday, the morning of our departure, I felt nauseaus, but accounted it to eating runny eggs. The whole long trip back I didn't feel well. Justin was a saint. He wins the award for difficult tasks while parenting. Shaela's BMs were explosive and stinky and tended toward leaking. Justin changed two of these diapers on both our flights in very tiny airplane bathrooms. Yuck!

Shaela got a red car from Nonna that she was a little shy getting into (I think she was afraid to be stuck in it) but she loves looking at herself in the side mirrors and beeping the horn.

We got several inches of snow several days ago, and it has been very cold. Shaela refuses to wear a hat and mittens and hates to wear her two layer coat. So we put her in sweaters and use one layer. I'm not sure how to handle this when we go to Breckenridge over the holidays and we want to go sledding. I think I will try to sew stars on her mittens, she may be more amenable to wearing them.

We will be quite busy the next few weeks, so many blessings during this holiday season to you all! No time for Christmas cards this year, so consider yourself fully greeted by all of us!
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Love, Debbie, Justin, Shaela, Kobi and Tara