Imagination and Improvisation

Early in the week the weather was cool, refreshing, and comfortably cozily chilly at night. We pulled out a cute sleeper outfit for Rhianwen that had her name on it and everything! It barely fits her, so we don't know how much use we'll get out of it, and we couldn't resist having a photo session with her in it!



She's just bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (as Grandpa would say)!

I feel like we had an incredibly creative week here with Rhianwen. Somewhere along the past 11+ months she has learned some serious moves! They can't possibly be from me...so, I can only venture to guess that Grandma Nanny Kim snuck in some lessons when I wasn't looking!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video HostingMore and more often, I find myself wondering, "Who needs toys?"! Rhianwen is becoming a wiz at imagination or maybe just plain old creativity. She does play a lot with her toys but always manages to find that common household object with a hidden potential that only she can unlock!



"Forget buying a halloween costume, I can look like an alien for free!" (Rhianwen figured this one out all on her own!).

Daddy had a hat just like this growing up and thought it would be cool to duplicate it!

There are some small benefits to still being in renovation mode. The ladder ended up serving as a nice little cave for Rhianwen to play with on a rainy day. We were so happy for the rain, but Rhianwen loooves playing outside. We normally just have her out from the time after supper until bathtime. It keeps her happy and preoccupied and mostly tantrum free.

"Rainy days don't get us down!"

Rhianwen has also enjoyed crawling into and playing in the newly painted cabinets! She just seems to like seeing the world from under there and throwing toys from there onto the kitchen floor. During the Clemson game we worked on teaching her how to navigate the one step in our house. She mainly just wanted to get as close the edge as possible and then kind so slide off of it. But she did manage to step down 3 or 4 times. When I started thinking about it I was amazed at how much coordination it takes to do that! We take so many things for granted in this life and it either takes personal set-back for us to realize it or a fresh look at everything through a new learner like Rhianwen.

We finally put one of the couches together, and after enjoying the "front porch" view from our picture window, Rhianwen decided an imaginary horsey ride would be just finishing touch needed to incorperate it into the house.



We are trying to get ready for Rhianwen's birthday and went to BarnesnNoble to check out which books Rhi liked the best. We ended up getting a touch/feel book with lots of baby animals that she just loooves. But of course, it was made in China. Oh well! The baby has chosen! Also, we have decided on plastic Gerber bottles, the simplest most basic design ever, cheap, and best of all, that are made right here in the USA and BPA free! Thank you for all of your votes! Rhianwen didn't flinch at the change, and actually loooves playing with the cap on the new ones. She puts it on and off of the bottle and is happy doing that for 15 min at a time! Great for the morning feeding! It gives us just a bit more time lazing around in bed!

Lastly, Rhianwen got to touch a real live toad last night. I'm not sure what she thought of it, but I managed to flip the toad over in my hand so she could touch his belly (otherwise, he just kept jumping out of my hand!). Life is so fun with a baby!