Santa Jack and our silly Maggie

This picture just makes me laugh:


Jack's Aunt Amy sent a Santa costume for him and I just think it's so funny! He's getting to be so much fun - laughing, smiling, grabbing things and he's really been working on building up his meaty thighs :)
Here's one of Maggie opening a present from Mimi and Poppy on Christmas Day. I'm not sure why I didn't do a better job with her hair; she looks kinda like a ragamuffin.

Maggie was saying her ABC's today and I noticed she says them in a funny way. I'll write it phonetically for your enjoyment:
ABCDEFGHIJK Ella Mena PQRS Bananas TUV Dubba U XY M Z (She says the Ella, Mena, and Dubba as if they're actually a letter of the alphabet.)
I don't quite know why she stuck the bananas in there except she happened to be looking at some bananas and every time after that kept the bananas in there.

When we put her in bed at night we say "Good night, sleep tight" and a few weeks ago I started adding "Don't let the bed bugs bite, and if they do pick up your shoe and hit them 'til they're black and blue" She now adds that part herself with one Maggie-esque improvement. She says, "Hit them 'til they're black and blue and pink!"

For the third (or fourth?) and hopefully final time we are potty training! The magic ingredient this time has been M&Ms. We give her one M&M each time she goes on the potty and she's averaging about 3-4 times a day! Yesterday she even ASKED to go to the potty at the YMCA and actually went once she got there. I think this really will be the time it works! (If you have any tips for motivating her to go #2 on the potty please let me know!)

And finally, here is another bedtime story. Maggie has gotten VERY particular about how she likes to be put to bed. She has a hand knit blanket from her uncles Steve and James that she HAS to have directly on her back, then her down comforter on top of that and then she wants to be patted firmly. If you get the blankets in the wrong order then she lets you know and if you're not patting her firmly enough she says "Pat me HARDER!" She honestly likes to be patted as hard as if you're burping a baby.
When I was putting her down for her nap today she kept telling me all these things she needed, like "put the yellow blanket down on top of the huge blanket" and "put my lovey HERE" and she kept wriggling around and messing up her blankets while I was trying to arrange them to her specifications. Finally I was frustrated and said, "Maggie! Please stop wriggling around or I'll just let you fix your own blankets." She said, "Okaaaaaay, Mooooooooommmmmmmm" just like a teenager! I have seen the future and I am scared!

All right, I'm going to publish this post and go watch a netflix movie with Grant. Sorry if this is all over the place!

We're leaving to go to California in about a week so I'll try to put up more Christmas photos before then.

Meanwhile, if you have a minute, look at this cupcake lovey I just found. It is adorable! I guess I'm a sucker for anything with a cupcake on it.