This last Sunday, my Mom, Susan, Greg and Joani came up for the second half of Christmas. We had a good visit, although always too short. Isabelle always has so much fun with everyone, after she warms up to them. I don't think she understood that they were coming by that day, until the door opened, and in walked four people with bags of presents. She just stood by the tree, where she was trying to get into trouble by playing with the glass ornaments.

After a few minutes, she started to talk about her morning, with the 'D' heavy vocabulary that no one could understand. Then she was running into her room to get a stuffed animal or two, and tell a story about it or hand it to someone to play with. Which they were glad to do, until it was their turn to hold David. And he was in a very playful mood, lots of smiling and laughing. And drooling. He's starting to teethe, so every now and then, the saliva starts, and he starts to chew on his knuckles. He's not really a thumb sucker, but he sure works the back of his hand.

Then the gift exchange began. Isabelle was a little overwhelmed. So many presents going in so many directions, and then there were the bows. She had fun ripping presents apart, of course, but she also had fun putting the bows on her sweater, then on my shirt, then on her butt/back. She's so funny the way she remembers things sometimes. Right in the middle of opening presents, she remembers playing A-B-C Horsey with Grandma Jeanne a few months ago, and runs over to Grandma and says, A-B-C? And she starts to climb onto grandma's lap.

This girl of ours is always entertaining us with her creativity, and general silliness. One of her
latest stunts was during dinner last night. After her main course, I offer her a little cup of pudding, which is one of her current favorites, and she starts to eat it as you would expect, with a big grin. Then she sees that I am still eating some chili, which I have crumbled up some crackers on top. She tells me she wants a cracker, so I give her one. Then she splits it in half, puts down her spoon, and scoops up some chocolate pudding. Mmmmm, saltines and chocolate pudding. She loved it.