Taylor and Christine: Christmas in Virginia

This year, Christmas with the Shipmans was at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. None of us had been there before, except maybe Summer, but we all enjoyed being together and were thankful to celebrate the birth of Christ.

A few scenes from Christmas morning.

Natalie constantly wanted to give Isaac things - usually his pacifier; sometimes books. She also enjoyed climbing in his chair. :)

Me trying to prevent Natalie from climbing in Isaac's chair while he is in it! Distraction by book!

Side note: This book, "From Head to Toe," by Eric Carle, is one of Natalie's newest favorites. On each page, an animal does something different, and the child is asked to do it, e.g., "I am a penguin and I turn my head. Can you do it?... I can do it!" A couple of them are a little complex for Natalie, but what we have been so impressed by is her retention of language in complex applications. Her favorite page has been, "I am a gorilla and I thump my chest. Can you do it?" A few days ago we were reading a Pooh book, and characters called the Chestnuts were mentioned. She immediately thumped her chest, despite the Carle book having not been read that day.

Another difficult one for her to figure out was, "I am a buffalo and I raise my shoulders. Can you do it?" Raising her shoulders was a strange motor skill for her. She does this cute thing where she sort of tucks her neck in to her shoulders and raises her arms. A few days later, we noticed her raising her shoulders while we offered her a snack of raisins. I suppose lots of affirmation works wonders, because now when she wants raisins, she raises her shoulders!

Natalie trying to figure out why both her baby doll and baby Isaac are called "baby."

Loves her belly button. Still a skinny mini.

She loved playing with Silas's cars. Zooming them along the window sill was quite fun!

We got to go to yet another children's museum in Lynchburg! It's hard to get a good shot of Nat while she is so focused and on the go; let's just say she thoroughly enjoyed and exhausted herself.

Nana and the youngest grandbabies.

Brooklyn and Josiah were so sweet to Natalie. They both read to her, and she just ate it up.

The Keenes visited us on their way back to Florida, and when Natalie saw them (especially these two!), she looked at us with unabashed joy, like, "You didn't tell me they were coming!!"