Gaz and I continue to mend, but in the meantime I have two tidbits for you:

First, is that thanks to a visit from the completely awesome Grandpa Will, our printer works again. That means that I can get back to work doing mailing labels for the long-overdue Christmas cards and many thank-you notes. Huzzah!

Also, we've got a bunch of new words: butt, walk, and . . . man, there are so many that I can't think of any more through the haze of cold medicine. She's much better at accurately mimicing us, so beware, all who visit.

But now back to our regularly scheduled tantrum for no good reason.

Wiggleworms!

We had our first class today and it was so much fun! There's singing and wiggling and all sorts of wonderful fun. Gaz threw a wee bit of a tantrum when I had to fight her to give up the maracas at the end of shakers time, but fabulous teacher Lisa was prepared with bubbles. I must try that at home!

Lil' G is sacked out now on the couch. Her little cough is worse when she's sleeping on her back, so the couch is an ideal nap venue. Very easy to prop her up on her side. She's Miss Molly Moodswing still, happy as a lark one second and raging baby the next. I'm looking forward to her feeling better soon!

new things

Gaz can now sign and say "bed" (which often comes out more like "bee") and does so quite often. Usually she wants me to sit on the bed while she opens and closes the door from one side, then the other, but she's using it appropriately, so I won't complain.

She's got another sniffle (coughle, to be precise) but is weathering this one better than the last one. She had a low fever today, but is back to normal now. She starts Wiggleworms this week, so she better be healthy by Wednesday!

Wheeeeee!

We are having an absolute blast lately. There have been tantrums, of course, but by and large Gaz is wowing us with how much she understands and can do. To wit:

- Today we called her to dinner and she showed up at the table with a spoon in hand, ready to eat! No one told her to bring a spoon, but she did!

- Today I found two Gaz-sized plastic forks and a Gaz-sized plastic spoon in her onesie. She's been picking things up and hording them for later. Why she thought she needed all those implements, I have no idea.

- We were pretending to give shots with her animal hospital play syringe, and she really liked giving me "shots." I said "Ouch! Oh, that's not bad," and then Gaz started saying "nah bah."

- She's also working on "hello" (huh-oh) and "Dipsy" ("Deeesee"). She's got Po pretty well down, but Tinky Winky and Lala apparently sound way too funny for her to try to repeat.

- She helped me sort laundry yesterday, and is really good this week about bringing her socks and/or shoes and/or jacket to one of us when it's time to go someplace.

- Her ability to express what she wants, while still complicated at times, is really improving dramatically. Sometimes it's just pointing, but she's really good as acknowledging when I've hit upon what she wants. I'm amazed every day.

- Her fine motor skills are taking off too, as she's much better about really using the keys for her recently-acquired key toys. I'm very proud of my girl.

- She has a new toy laptop computer (a gift from Auntie Lis) and she LOVES it! Now she can be just like Mama and Dada. If only ours were as sturdy as hers. She's been sitting on it, throwing it, and who knows what else when I'm cooking breakfasts and lunches.

Overwhelmed!

I don't know what to say, except I am continually amazed, agog, and so deeply grateful for the love and support of our families. We have experienced such generosity this holiday season, it doesn't feel like "thank you" can suffice to show how much all your gifts mean to us.

Thank you all so much, from the bottom of our hearts! You all mean so much to us, not because you give us gifts, but because you're here for us. Words just cannot sum up my feelings adequately enough.

So to all of you--and you know who you are--our deepest thanks and our prayers that they blessings you bestow on us are returned to you a thousand-fold! (And yes, for some of you that would mean that we're hoping you get a thousand fabulous children's books. ;-) )