Garden, Grandparents and Growing

We had a great weekend, enjoying the beautiful fall weather. On Friday Grandpa and Grandma Voogt came for a visit. Rebecca had a blast playing with them and showing them all the things she's learning. They brought her a toy CD player, and Rebecca could not get enough of it! She played the "ABC shong" over and over and over. When Rebecca's marching song (on her Kindermusik CD) came on Grandpa showed Rebecca how to march around the couch and the coffee table. She thought it was so fun! She marched around the living room all evening. Boy was she tired by bedtime :) Rebecca was sad to have to say goodnight. But also excited to see Grandma and Grandpa were still here in the morning :)

Saturday morning Grandpa and Justin worked in the yard. They extended our large garden so that more of our garden will get good sun. And they used the sod they dug up to cover our small garden (now just a regular part of the yard). We are excited to see how things grow next year! Thanks for the help Grandpa Voogt! Rebecca will love all the good veggies we get from our garden. Rebecca, Mommy and Grandma also spent some time outside enjoying the nice weather and watching the garden work. Grandpa and Grandma left mid-morning to go to Aunt Shannon's recital. And at nap time in the afternoon Rebecca crashed :) Grandpa and Grandma really wore her out :P She slept for several hours. In the aftenroon we got more yard work done and put things away for the winter.Sunday Daddy and Rebecca stayed home from church since Rebecca is still battling a little cold. In the afternoon we took a long walk outside and played outside a bit. We are trying to take advantage of these last few days of fall weather.Rebecca is learning so much these days. Her speech is really getting good. She says phrases/sentences very well. Even Grandma Voogt could understand pretty much everything she said. She can also say some things in French and Spanish. And she thinks it's funny :P The words sound different. Rebecca amazes us with her memory. She picks up on the smallest things and doesn't forget them. When we listen to her CDs she always knows what song is coming next (before the current song is done) and will tell you what it is. She also knows the words to just about every song she listens to. If you sing with her and pause/give her a second she'll tell you the next line. We can do that with just about any song. Even if we had no idea she knew any of the words! She does the same thing with her books. She can basically "read" them herself. You say one line, she'll tell you the next. As we try each book and song we're realizing she has them all memorized! Also, if you show her something in a magazine she won't forget it. The next time she sees the magazine she'll say "find ___," whatever it was you looked at before. She memorizes names, pictures, etc. We're amazed by how many of the chef's names she knows in our Food Network magazine. She'll point to one picture at a time and say the names...often both first and last.Rebecca is getting very good with her letters. She can recognize quite a few of them. And she does quite well with saying the whole alphabet. Rebecca loves to look at magazines and pick out letters.Rebecca is becoming quite the climber. Another 1/2 inch and she'll be able to get onto pretty much any table or chair :PShe is also very good at coloring, recognizing colors and recognizing shapes. We have to stay on our toes to keep her challenged. She soaks up anything new.
Rebecca is already a great baker. She wants to do it every day. Mommy loves having a little helper and is looking forward to years of cooking and baking together. She is also a good little mommy. She takes very good care of all of her dolls and babies, feeding them, changing diapers, rocking them, taking them on walks, dancing with them, etc.We're having tons of fun learning new things every day. Rebecca continues to amaze us. We're looking forward to Kindermusik on Wed. Rebecca wishes we could go every day :) She definitely has music/rhythm in her genes.