21 Months Old

Rebecca is 21 months old today!  It seems like I just wrote the 20 month post.  Rebecca is learning and growing so much.  This has been a month of some firsts.  Rebecca used her potty for the first time.  She stayed with a baby-sitter, at their house.  She had her first taste of juice.  She used a straw for the first time.  And she had her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich :)

Rebecca is really becoming a whiz at counting.  She now spouts off 1-10 like nothing (check out the latest video)...and she does it all the time :)  She is getting pretty good with 11 - 20 as well.  And will usually even go up to 23 or 24.  She's starting to learn the pattern of repeating nubmers.  She started saying 21, 22, etc. on her own before we even told her what was next.  Her counting book from Uncle Jason and Aunt Julie has been a big help!

She is still working on a new letter each week and learning how to spell a few new words.  Her most recent was "cup."

One major accomplishment this month is that Rebecca has started singing along with music.  She has been singing on her own for quite some time.  But a couple weeks ago Mary was singing along with a CD (and it was even a new one...had only listened to it a few times) and Rebecca started singing right along with her, holding out the notes, changing the tone of her voice, etc.  We didn't even know she knew the song, let alone that she could sing right along!  Since then she has been doing a lot more singing with lots of different songs.  She loves the new CDs she got from Grandpa and Grandma Voogt for Christmas.  We have a Sunday school sing along almost every day :)

Rebecca is getting really good with puzzles.  She especially likes her clock puzzle from Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom.  She knows almost all of the shapes already, including quatrafoil, parallelogram, trapezoid, oval and octagon.  With her love of numbers and shapes it seems as though we may have another math whiz in the family :)  Mommy and Daddy both love math too, so no big surprise there.

Rebecca is developing quite the imagination.  She is starting to use her dress up clothes from Grandpa and Grandma Voogt.  She loves to play with her little people and make them play, etc.  She still loves to pretend to cook, bake and take care of her babies.  She still loves to help Mommy with the real baking too.  Rebecca is really developing her own personality.  She loves to be silly and will find the strangest things hilarious.  She cracks herself up.  And she still loves to cuddle.  She gives the best hugs :)

We continue to enjoy our regular outings to MOPS and Kindermusik.  We are very excited for the next semester of Kindermusik to start next week!  It'll be fun to learn new songs, read new books and maybe make some new friends.

We are looking forward to seeing lots of family in the coming weeks...Grandpa and Grandma Voogt in two weeks, all of the Hollebooms (for Grandpa's birthday) on Feb. 6, all of the Hollebooms (for Carson's birthday) on Feb. 13 and possibly all of the Hollebooms again (for Grandma's birthday and Uncle Kevin's birthday) on Feb. 20.  Rebecca loves visiting with family, so we are excited to get so see everyone.

It's hard to believe Rebecca is only 3 months shy of turning 2.  We're trying to enjoy each day and each moment.  She'll be all grown up before we know it.

Let's Go Knights!

We went to our first Calvin basketball game of the season yesterday.  It was a lot of fun!  Rebecca got to try her new Calvin jersey.  I have to say, she makes one cute little knight :)  Rebecca wasn't sure about all of the clalpping and buzzers at first.  But she warmed up pretty quickly and was clapping along with the pep band.  As always she enjoyed getting to see Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom.  And Grandma got her a special treat...a soft pretzel.  She really liked that!  After the game Grandpa and Grandma came to our house for dinner and to visit a bit.  We had a great afternoon and evening.  We're looking forward to going to another game on Feb. 6 with the whole family to celebrate Grandpa's birthday.

Merry Christmas #4! And Happy New Year!

We spent the last few days in WI celebrating Christmas with all of the Voogts.  We left Mon. morning and got to WI mid-afternoon.  We relaxed and had fun with Grandpa and Grandma Voogt and Uncle Kevin.

Tues. morning we spent a little time outside in the snow.  Rebecca is not too fond of bundling up, but she managed about 15 min. outside and even went sledding down the hill with Mommy and Daddy.  She preferred holding Mommy's hand and chasing the kitty around the yard.  Late morning Uncle Ryan and Aunt Shannon arrived. 

In the afternoon we opened presents and then had a great Christmas dinner.  Gandma Voogt always makes good food.  Rebecca couldn't get enough chicken and broccoli :)  Rebecca got some neat stuff...dress up clothes, books, a stationary bike w/ games, a floor puzzle, modeling clay, some My Little Ponies, a Leapfrog guitar, a full length mirror, CDs. 

Wed. morning Grandpa and Grandma Voogt took us to a children's museum in Appleton.  Rebecca was ready to run the moment we walked in the door.  She didn't hesitate for a second.  She loved it.  So much fun stuff to see and do.  Rebecca probably would have stayed there all day if we let her.  After lunch Rebecca napped while Daddy, Ryan, Shannon and Kevin went tubing.  It was a quiet afternoon. 

In the evening we just relaxed and worked on a puzzle.  And of course had another amazing meal...Rebecca's favorite...ham! (with ketchup of course:)  We headed home Thurs. morning after breakfast. and got home around 5pm.  Some of the other highlights for Rebecca were the kitty (Chester), the dogs (Scout - "cout" and Rowdy - "wowdy"), all the little people and of course being the center of attention and showing everyone how smart she is :)  Rebecca was sad to have to leave Grandpa and Grandma, but we're all happy to be home.  As always Grandpa and Grandma Voogt were gracious, accomodating, generous hosts.  And there was no shortage of great food and goodies.  We had a great Christmas this year, seeing all of our relatives.  And everyone was so generous!  We've all got new "toys" to play with :)

Now it's time to start the new year.  We pray for God's blessing on all of our friends and family in the coming year.

Merry Christmas...#2 and #3

On Friday we went to church in the morning.  In the afternoon we traveled to Grand Blanc to celebrate Christmas with Mary's relatives.  We had a party with the extended relatives at Mary's sister's house.  It was fun to see everyone.  And the kids had a blast!  Rebecca hated to leave Aunt Julie's house.  She wanted to play with Anna all night.  In the evening we headed to Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom's house.  Rebecca had a snack and went to bed.  All the guys decided to go to a late movie while the girls hung out at home.  Rebecca was so worn out from all of the playing that she slept soundly all night.

Saturday morning we had a party with the Hollebooms...brunch (with tons of yummy food as always:) and lots of presents.  Rebecca had a hard time waiting for everyone to arrive and finish eating.  She wanted to open presents right away...and almost did :P  Once we did get started Rebecca wanted to open all of the presents, not just her own.  She wasn't so much interested in getting stuff, she is just fascinated with opening something and seeing what's inside.  She's really into hiding/finding right now.  So opening presents was kind of like peek-a-boo for her :)  We all got lots of great gifts.  We feel very blessed.  Rebecca will lots of neat toys to play with for a while.  It was so much fun to see everyone.  Once again all of the cousins had a great time.  Rebecca is always so sad to leave.  She'll reiterate her trip to us over the next few weeks.  Last night she kept saying "Aunt Juwee says...hi buuu-dy" :) (Julie said that to Jonah while Rebecca was near by).  Then she'd say "baby Jonah change shirt" (Julie was changing Jonah's clothes when she said hi buddy).

We got home mid-afternoon yesterday (Rebecca slept most of the trip again...she was asleep within a few mintues of leaving), unpacked and relaxed a bit.  Rebecca enjoyed playing with her new Little People for quite a while in the late afternoon.  She was busy making them have a tea party, swing, go in and out the house door, all kinds of stuff :)  We can't wait to open more of her toys when we get back from WI.

Today we're taking it easy and packing up for our trip to WI.  We leave tomorrow morning.  We're excited to spend a few days with the Voogts.