Christmas is coming!

I'm so excited for Christmas! I know it's not even Thanksgiving, but I'm fully in Christmas mode.  I have some shopping done, most of my decorating planned, and we got Kera's Christmas pictures taken today.  Kera will definitely know more of what's going on than last year, but I still don't think she'll completely comprehend everything.  But I don't care, I'm still making an advent calendar for her and having St Nicklaus come, and some other fun things. I'm especially excited about her advent calendar.  She loves animals right now, so I found these super cute finger puppets! So we'll have a special animal each day.  

She is just growing in leaps and bounds, in every way imaginable.  She suddenly can reach all of the things that we put out of her reach.  She amazes me every day with new words and mimics everything we say.  Even her mannerisms show she's really learning.  I love this stage!

Troy started counting with her as they went up the stairs when she started crawling.  The other day, out of no where, she climbed up the steps and counted the whole way up!!!  We were shocked, although we shouldn't be since she's been hearing it for almost a year.  I guess that's why it's important to start early.  We have been reading an alphabet book for months, too, and the other day we were passing a poster and she pointed and said 'A!' I was shocked, so I stopped, and she pointed out the 'o' and 's' as well.  

School is still going well... She absolutely loves going.  I almost cried the first time she took off running to her teachers with a half-hearted "bye!" to me as she ran.  But she still occasionally has days she clings to me, and she's always just as excited to see me afterwards, so I guess it's okay.

Kera loves reading.  We seriously spend hours each day reading books.  She should be able to read some of those soon, as many times as we've read them to her!  It's hard to discourage her, but after reading the same book for the sixth time that day, it's tempting to distract her with toys!

I'll be sure to update with some Chrismas stuff once I'm allowed to start decorating!