More Teeth

Tori is getting her eye teeth, so she has a very runny nose as a result. She will wipe it though if you give her a tissue and will blow, too. She finally slept soundly last night and woke up cranky. She was nice and warm and did not want to get up, unlike her brother who popped up out of bed this morning.

Getting There

Tori slept from 9:30 to 9:30 at Grandma and Grandpa's but is not faring well at Mom and Dad's. She got up at 4:00 this morning and kept talking in our bed. We let her watch Dora for a few minutes, but she was cranky, so we put her back to bed. She didn;t have much of that either, making for a really tired Tori and a really tired set of parents.

Tori continues to talk, with "Buzz," "Backpack," and other words pouring out of her left and right. She also enjoys showing off and likes to make faces at whomever might be interested. She took two baths yesterday, all of own doing, and watched Dora again and again. Tori is very bossy now, too, demanding that Ollie stay out of her bath time and the cats stay off her chairs. She even gets bossy with me and demands that I leave her daddy alone.



Tori and Ollie were both glad to see us and haven't let go of us since. Tori likes to sit in our laps now and page through books. You must read fast to keep up with her page turning. Ollie, meanwhile, just insists that he is going to stay home forever and ever!

Vacation

Tori headed off to Grandma and Grandpa Erickson's with her big brother Ollie this past weekend. She wasn't concerned at all and waved goodbye to us before she left. She did open her presents from her grandparents and Aunt and Uncles. She loved the Dora stuff and figured it out right away.



She's become a book person lately and the Dora book will probably be the new favorite for awhile. She's also become a ham of late and loves having her picture taken. She now has to see her picture after you take it on the LCD screen of the camera. Her brother taught her well in this regard. She's also taken to making faces lately. So one night after a bath, I frizzed her hair a bit and she became the Tori Monster.

2nd Christmas

This will be Tori's second Christmas. Last year she only knew how to chew on the paper. This year she'll run around with it in her hands while we open her gifts for her. For her Christmas we got her:

Tiara (every girl needs a Christmas Tiara)
Rocking chair (so she quits stealing her brothers)
plates
play stove
water toys
Little People airplane

And once again, my memory fails me. Tori has only messed with the presents once, but is more interested in eating the candy canes (with the wrapper on). She also likes the ornaments and lights, but has left the presents alone. She'll still be in the dark this year about Christmas, but she will enjoy it more next year.

Quick Pics

Haircuts

We are all in desperate need of haircuts and are going to get them tonight. Tori's hair is out of control, and I hope she will behave tonight. She needs a cut all over. If only she could get a cut like her hero Dora the Explorer. She loves that character and insists on watching her in the morning and at night. She does a little jig every time we turn on the DVD. I only wish I had noticed this before I went Christmas shopping!

Terrible Toothing Tori

Another tooth is on its way in, we aren't sure which one. She has 3 molars, but it might be a eye tooth. One looks like it is coming through, but its hard to tell with her. They get right to the surface and then a different one pops through. You can definitely tell that she is teething. The past couple of days she's been crabby and had lots of diahrrea. That only happens for her when she is teething. She's also been waking at night after her first set of medicine wears off around 1 am. If she goes back to sleep, it'll only be for 30 minutes before she fusses again, so its best to medicate and give her part of a bottle when she first wakes. Best for our sleep and hers.


Splashing at the Children's Discovery Center

Other than that, she's turned into a Dora the Explorer FREAK! As soon as we get home, its "Doa, Doa, Doa" until we put it on for her. Then when the Nick Jr. frogs come on screen, she gets excited and lets out a yell. After that she is captivated by "Doa" and her adventures, only stopping for bath's. She insists on carrying the DVD case around with her and gets upset if you take it from her. Even when she woke at 4 am this morning and we brought her to our bed to sleep, she sat straight up pointed to the TV and said "Doa". She went back to her own bed because 4 am is too early for her, Dora and our sanity. However, it looks like "Doa" with be with us for awhile. I'm glad Ollie likes the show too.

Miss Fall-A-Lot

Tori busted her head open on the fireplace weeks ago and now she has a black eye from falling into Grandma's coffee table. Last night, she fell off the pool table and had a red cheek for a while. She is such a daredevil and climbs and falls repeatedly.

Like Ollie, Tori has started getting angry about being strapped in her car seat. She fights when put in it and fight to get out of it. She can be a real pill sometimes. Ollie doesn't know what to think of his sister's moans and groans. He often wants to know why she is fussing. If only he could remember what he was like at that age.

Shopping carts are another sore issue for Tori. She hates being penned in them and would rather run through the aisles touching everything. She loves to be free!

Chitchatty Fish

Tori is quite the mimic. She repeats much of what she hears, so watch out if you are a potty mouth. She likes to go swimming in the tub and will turn on her stomach and arch like a fish. She will do that on the ground, too. She knows the word "bath" and will climb up the stairs and hurry to the bathroom. We have a fish in our midst.

Sick Tori

Well, Tori has finally caught our cough/cold. She woke up this morning coughing, so we gave her some cold medicine. I am almost over my cold, so that means Ollie should be, too. Poor Tori. She almost made it past this thing. If only Ollie hadn't spit water at her in the tub. Yes, they like to suck down bath water and spit it at each other in spite of getting yelled at. They also like to dump water on each other and themselves and cackle about it. Tori thinks it is extremely funny to pour water on her head.

Speaking of heads, ask Tori where her head or hair is and she will point to her head and thump you on the head, too. The same goes for the nose. She won't say "nose" or "head," but she will point to them. Maybe we'll teach her where her mouth is this weekend as well as her eyes.

Picky Eater

Tori used to eat almost anything. Now she is more particular about what she eats. Last night, she was a very fussy eater who threw a fit until she finally decided to eat spaghetti-os and ravioli at the island. She refused to sit in her high chair. I spent nearly an hour coaxing her to eat and sliding food onto her nasty fork. She has to eat with a fork or spoon, unlike Ollie who would scoop up his food with his hands. It was quite the ordeal that I am hoping I do not have to repeat tonight.

Troublesome Tori

Huts and I are always joking about child #3 being our troublemaker, but lately, Tori has been fulfilling that role. She refuses to ride in a shopping cart and climbs on everything. She gets into everything possible from the refrigerator to draws to cabinets. She knows where the water is on the refrigerator and where her cups are, and brings the two together quite often, no matter how many other cups she has out. She also pushes buttons and is notorious for changing the TV channels. The other day, she reset the dishwasher and turned off the TV five times before she got into major trouble. She has also taken to climbing on the buckets barricading the stairs. Now we are going to have to stack the buckets two high. She is a live wire who keeps her and her aunt and her brother very busy!

Chatterbox

Tori is picking up new words all of the time. Show her a book on kitties and she says, “kitty.” Put her anywhere near the kitchen and she says, “nack”. Give her an empty bowl and she says, “more.” Before long, she is going to be talking and driving us insane like her brother.

She also likes to go to the toy store and touch all of the toys. She doesn’t like dolls, though, so we struggling to find her presents for Christmas. She does like shiny books, though, and phones. She also likes Dora movies. They make her squeal in delight!

Whatever we end up buying Ollie and Tori, they will be happy. They are happy kids in general who will play with just about anything.

Halloween

Tori's second Halloween was a little more eventful than last year. She was left behind at the sitter's while Ollie went to the dentist. She cried when we left. She was picked up by her Aunt Annie and brought to her Mama's for work Trick or Treating. She had her picture taken and walked most of the way. She even took some of the candy from the buckets.

After getting her chicken and dumplings on her costume (not the ladybug costume because it was too cold), she got cleaned up and was ready to go trick or treating. She went with Annie and her friends around our neighborhood. Around 7 she got headed home because she was cold, but she had a good haul in her bucket. She wasn't too interested in eating the candy, but she like playing with all of it in the bowls.

Once Ollie came home, they went to Arby's for more candy. Once home Tori was sent to bed straight away since it was past her bed time. She slept through the majority of the night, only fussing once. She was too tired from all the fun.

We don't have a picture of her in her costume yet, but we do have a scary one of her scar on her head.