|
Piper's First
Christmas!
Piper has had a lot happen to her over the last few months. Since I
updated the webpage in November, she's gone through three major holidays;
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. While the other two were more
adult oriented, Christmas was all about Pea.
 Gifts
arrived from Daddy around November and Mom started giving them to her in
December, making it a very long Christmas Holiday. This way she
would be entertained and challenged by her new toys instead of inundated
all at once with a bunch of toys. As she became bored with one toy,
Jill  would give her
another. While this worked, it soon became apparent that Piper's
extended family was going to spoil her and she was soon overwhelmed with
brightly wrapped packages for Christmas morning
Come
Christmas morning, Piper sat around i n her Jammies, awaiting her
time to get ready for a party at her friend Jack's house. As it
turned out, Jill and Piper Joined Todd, Angel, Jack and Angel's sister
Catherine for a Christmas day dinner and the opening of presents.
She was dressed in a cute little white Christmas outfit, perfect for the
extended rounds of gift opening and playing.
From
Jack, she received a gourmet kitchen! Or at least a gourmet kitchen
trainer to play with when she gets a little older. Then she'll be
ready to help Daddy cook all those fancy meals when he gets
home...
So, Wha'd ya
get?
 In
addition to the ton's of toys and books she
received, Piper received her favorite things--clothes! Shown here
sporting a fine pair of Oshkosh B'Gosh overalls, she found the selection
to be perfect for the upcoming cooler Colorado months while maintaining
that unique style that she can call her own.
 In a
twist of color and style, this sporty two-piece offers both practicality
and comfort in an attractive package. Designed for the baby on the
go, this combo truly epitomizes depeche' mode (fast fashion) as diaper
changes are quick and easy while the jacket provides the optional
flair. This is truly a Piper original!
 On the
activity center front, Kathy T wanted to get something for Piper that
allowed her to use up all that rambunctious energy and still give her the
option to hang around. Voila! Introducing the  baby de-energizer.
Made for
today's over-active, well behaved bouncing babies, this portable, springy
suspender gives Piper a place to watch Mommy vacuum and move a bout without making her roll
around to get a better view. When used properly, the bouncer
provides hours of jumping fun and exercise while also providing a place to
rest your head when the bouncing tires you out and little hooks to
hold all your favorite toys. Made of high-impact plastic and
industrial strength elastic straps, you can bounce all day with a fourteen
pound cat sitting in the tray--of course it becomes far more difficult
then... |
Aunt Betty and Uncle
Rick's
 ...and a few surprises! A few
days after Christmas, Piper and her Mom went over to Aunt Betty's for a
not so routine visit. Once there, Piper was surprised with a
beautiful walk-behind, ride upon toy tricycle. Mom received a very
nice baby remembrance box to hold the teeth that are slowly working their
way in (once they fall out).
Not to be
outdone, Piper decided to try out the toy and
show mommy that she has been practicing her sitting and standing
techniques in her crib at night when she's supposed to be sleeping.
For the first time, Piper was standing, unsupported by Mommy, with only a
toy for balance!
Ok, while the
adults shake their heads in disbelief at Piper's newfound skill, they
decide it was just a fluke and figure that they should probably just sit
her on the thing and take another picture for Daddy in Korea to use on the
website--if only she'll stay put and not fall over!
 A bit
put off by the lack of confidence in her ability, Piper not only sat on
the toy meant for a toddler twice her age (and a bit longer in leg) she
stretched out her feet and grabbed onto the handlebars and slammed that
new puppy in reverse! Now it was Piper's turn to laugh at the
adults as they all fell over in shock!
A tribute to
daycare
During the week, Piper is dropped off to be
taken care of by her daycare. Bearing in mind that this means that
the majority of her day is spent in the care of others, it is important to
recognize the contributions they've made to Piper's extraordinary--in my
humble and unbiased opinion--development. Krysta, in particular, has
quickly become one of Piper's favorite adults. It is evident that
Piper is one of her favorites as well because she takes such phenomenal
care of her and always tells Jill what her daughter does in the course of
the day.
In
addition to catering to Piper's rather exuberant personality, Krysta and
the others introduced her to pancakes (now one of her favorites),
fishsticks--with the batter removed--and a myriad of other interesting
foods. They play with her, talk to her and give her all the care and
attention that we would give her if we were home, except that these
professionals provide a diversity and experience tailored to Pea's
demanding needs that Jill and I could approach, but not duplicate with any
amount of effort.
For this,
and so many other reasons too numerous to mention, we thank our daycare
parental counterparts and only hope that as she moves from the infant room
to the toddler room, that she finds friends as caring.
Don't Forget...
 Pictures of Piper can be found on our Archives picture
page. I've arranged them by month, so you can see how she's growing
and notice, as we do, how she's becoming more adept at expressing
emotion.
I've
taken the liberty of reducing the size of the photos to allow folks with
slow dial-up connections to view the larger versions (800x600) without an
extreme wait. If you'd like the full-sized images (2272x1704) to
print on a good quality printer, see our distributors...
Susie - East Coast
Dan - Midwest |
