Gobble, Gobble and Ho Ho Ho

This is exactly what Thanksgiving is all about . . . a baby in a diaper and cowboy boots . . .
Okay, maybe not. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't get too many photos at Thanksgiving this year, but it was one of the best I've ever had. Food, family, and fun (and not working for 4 days!!) was what it was all about this year. Below is a photo (not a very good one) of my uncoordinated family trying to play football in the yard. Mimi kept stealing the balls, so she had a blast. We found the best arm in the family belongs to my neice Luckett (the little one in the photo below) who definitely does not throw like a girl. She, Jean-Nicolette, and Anderson were able to go to Zoo Lights with us while they were in town for Thanksgiving.
The Darby family Thanksgiving was also wonderful, and Mimi loved playing with Olivia and JR. Here Mimi and JR are in a tight race for the loudest gobbler (or "Bobble Bobble" as Mimi likes to say).

And here is our excuse for not raking the backyard . . . Mimi LOVES playing in the leaves. It's been a little too cold to play recently, but a few weeks ago she and I spent over an hour piling up leaves just so we could jump in them.

This is the year when we really need to think about what traditions we want to have for Christmas. How many Santa gifts should she have? Do we let her open one gift on Christmas Eve? When do we read the Christmas story? Do we have special food? Oh, the decisions. Although I know she won't remember any of this, it's still a lot of fun to see her notice the lights and decorations for the first time.

Clint and I decided to buy a real tree this year for the first time, and we love it. Mimi woke up one morning to the tree having decorations and lights, and she was so excited.

My mother gave Mimi an early Christmas present -- A MOP!! Ha ha! Mimi is OBSESSED with mops and brooms. I have no idea why because she rarely sees me use one! When we got home from church today she ran straight to the mop and started on the floors. It's about time she started pulling her weight around here!!

Our child is a parrot

It's time once again for a "Guess what my child can do!" post where I bring myself up to date on all the new, exciting things Miss Mimi has learned to do. These are very important to me because I never remember to pull out the baby book, and all this is happening so quickly that I can't keep track. So, here we go:
1. Clint has taught Mimi to say "Poo Poo."
Why, yes, I am very proud. While Roulhac's Preschool is doing a fantastic job of teaching her music, art, and her alphabet, Clint is teaching her about her body. Faaan . . .tastic.
2. She is repeating so many fun words. These are just a few of her new favorites:
Doctor, Purple, Green, Blue, Up, Down, Cracker, Hooray, Please, Thank You. She will repeat many words now even though I know no one can understand them but Clint and me.
3. She is learning some animal sounds and woke up one morning ROARING in her crib!
4. She finishes some lines of songs: "EIEIO" in Old McDonald; "Up above the world" in Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; "Now I Know" in ABC's.
5. She yells out random letters with more enthusiasm than necessary when we pass a sign with big words "A! B! G! E! P! ME! BAY!" Okay, I know some of those aren't letters but she's trying. Occassionally she will fill in the letters when I pause during singing the alphabet. The best is when I get to "W X" and she finishes with "Y Z"
6. She has added even more dance moves. The best ones come out when she hears the theme
song to Curious George! She shakes her booty left and right while also swinging her arms up and down simultaneously.
7. Whenever we pass a mirror she smiles at herself and yells, "HI!" Then she sticks her fingers in her cheeks and tilts her head side to side like she does when she sings "Your face will surely show it"
8. She repeats family members' names when I point to them in pictures. My favorites are "Bop" (Clint's dad is Top), "Bamy" (this is my sister Amy), and "Livvie" (our neice Olivia)


Also, we went to the doctor last week for her 15th month check-up and she is no longer in the 5th percentile -- Little Bit is now in the 25th for height and 50th for weight!! This is GREAT for my baby who only weighed 5 1/2 pounds when she was born! . . . but it sounds like she's too short for her weight . . .


Here she is with her cousins Lainee-Luckett and Anderson in the Grove. They had a blast playing in the leaves and letting Mimi steal their football occassionally.

Mimi was yelling out plays to them . . . or at least that's what it sounded like. She may have been yelling out her alphabet . . .

And I'm seriously considering getting a leash for my child. This is how she stood during the sea lion show the last time we were at the zoo because she wanted to steal another child's toys. Then we spent the rest of the time chasing her . . . she's fast and I'm slow and out of shape!!

The Notorious P.I.G.

Since Mimi slept through most of Halloween last year, this on was a biggie for us . . . or should I say it was a PIGGY for us (terrible, I know).

On Saturday night the Stills had several little animals over for their first Halloween party and trick-or-treating. I'm a terrible mother and forgot Mimi's bag at home, so she carried around a sucker in each hand the whole time! Poor little thing! Here she is with the little lion Reese and puppy dog Emerson. (I'm so sad I didn't get a group photo with ladybug Hadley and monkey Banks.)

On Friday she woke up with a fever, and we were so sad she had to miss her party at school. But did that stop her from still being festive? Of course not. She went to the doctor dressed as a pink lady bug. While she was there she had an interesting diaper, and Dr. Mathis started calling her the Little Stink Bug! (Sorry, Mimi! Clint's face looks like she's done the same thing here!) Oh, and she just has ear infections and was cleared for trick-or-treating.
Last but not least, the Halloween pajamas (or "jommers" as we like to call them at the Darby home). And do those jommers glow in the dark? Well, of course they do! They scare the living daylights out of me when I go in her room to check on her in the middle of the night.

Baptism, Football, and Legwarmers, Oh My

This is a random assortment of tidbits from the past week -- some significant and some not so much. Who am I kidding? Everything I post is extremely significant. This is MY child we're talking about here. So on with the pictures.

First of all, Mimi was baptised last Sunday, and we were so excited to have some of our family at church with us. It was a very special day as we were committing to our daughter to give her a strong Christian foundation (so the pressure is on since we did this in front of God and everybody)! Of course she was a little wiggle worm through the whole baptism with all her waving at the choir and trying to jump out of my arms to see her grandparents.

Since we had planned on doing this when she was about six months old, her baptism gown was a size 6 month, which still fit the Little Bit. She was not happy with the long gown, so we have no photos of her in it. This is one from the day, so I guess it will have to count!

These are her super-cute cousins JR and Olivia. Mimi is so crazy about them!

The day before the baptism my parents (Poppaw and Bebe) were so sweet to keep little Mimi and let us go to the Ole Miss game! So on to the legwarmers. Definitely the least amount of significance here but still a very important part of Mimi's toddlerhood -- therefore blogworthy. And the tie-dyed dress we found for her in Chicago is just an added bonus. I will add that what she is doing in the photo is some-what significant. She loves flipping through her photo albums and gets really excited when she recognizes someone (especially her Top or Poppaw. Those 2 guys cause some giggles).

Don't ask.

Well, okay, you can ask. Mimi has learned that if she stands on her head then we will pick up her back legs and flip her over. And she will not stand up until we flip her over. This can last for hours if we fail to notice her.

"Where's Mimi?"

"Oh, she's just standing on her head in the kitchen with her bottom in the air waiting on someone to flip her over."

Photo Session with Lauren

While we were in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, our friend Lauren took some beautiful photos of Mimi. It was an unusually cold day, and I love how pink her nose is in some of the photos (especially when I made her wear the short-sleeved dress!). Here are just a few.

Weekend in Nashville

This weekend we went to Nashville for my sweet friend Meghann's gorgeous wedding at the Governer's Club Mansion. Meg is a good friend from college, and I was so excited when she asked Mimi to be a flower girl. I must point out that Mimi couldn't even hold her head up well when Meghann asked, so she really took a gamble on Mimi even being able to walk down the aisle. When it was showtime for Mimi, Clint dropped her at the back at the back and Miss Priss ran to me down the aisle swinging her short little arms as fast as she could!Do you know The Itsy Bitsy Spider . . . or maybe If You're Happy and You Know It?This is Meghann and, well, not her husband. I didn't have a good pic of her and Jesse, but I do have one of her and her new brother-in-law Charles, who is the singer in Lady Antebellum. I know I'm a goober, but he was such a super nice guy and was so sweet to Mimi. I think this makes him blog worthy.
Mimi climbed all the way up the mansion steps . . . several times. Thanks, Daddy, for letting her do whatever she wants!

We were able to stay with my sister, and Mimi loves playing in her cousin Coco's room. She was busting a move in this photo.And I had to take a photo of her festive Halloween outfit.

Another month slips by . . .

. . . and Mimi keeps growing and growing. Of course, I knew this would happen, and I do want this to happen but not so quickly. Just yesterday Clint said, "I want her to stay this size and keep doing the silly things she does right now." I think I said the same thing last month, and the month before, and a few months before that. The truth is that each month gets better and better, but it's so hard for me to believe that life could get any better than it is right now.
Since we're officially out of the baby stage and into being a toddler, Mimi has to do toddler things like riding on a multi-colored Dora at the farm toy. This noisy little car/scooter is a constant fixture in our den along with the classic red Cozy Coupe. My parents brought some little pumpkins for our Little Pumpkin the last time they visited. Mimi thought the smallest one was her new baby doll, and she carried it around all afternoon . . . until she threw it on the floor and broke its stem.

Mimi keeps things in her hands all the time -- Little People, a plastic cell phone, puzzle pieces, the remote control, and the small measuring spoons and whisk she's holding in the photo.

Since Fall is finally here and our house has been a little cool at night, Mimi now has her first official pair of "slippers." They're big and fuzzy and pink, and she loves stomping around and chasing the dogs in them. (Check out that belly!)

I haven't taken the time to download a video in a while, so here we go. She's not doing any amazing tricks, but is just being her normal, silly self.

13 Months Old and My Name Is "No, No, No"

I am sad to say that Mimi is no longer a baby . . . she is a wild little monkey! I don't exactly know when this happened, but it seems like it was overnight. Since she turned one she has become so independent and fiesty (these are the exact words of her preschool teacher, Miss Jackie).

For example:

She wants to walk everywhere and refuses to hold my hand or be carried . . . and her little knees are covered in scabs :(

She HATES to be fed. She only wants food that she can eat by herself (tomatoes, bananas, strawberries, and pasta are her favorite), and she sweeps all her food off the table when she's finished.

She insists on stealing small liquor bottles out of the cabinet and yells at me when I take them from her (I finally put a latch on this cabinet today . . . and she yelled at me when she realized it!)

I have to put her in the sleeper hold to change her diaper.

She wags her finger at Ruthie whenever she barks too much and tells her, "no, no, no."

She plays tug-of-war with Ruthie and her toys and squeals with delight if Ruthie jerks her down.

I have observed her push others out of the way to get to a toy.

On the other hand, she has learned SO much at her new preschool just in the past month:

She can play "Ring around the Rosies" but likes to sit down way too early.

She tries really hard to do the hand motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Wheels on the Bus."

She sleeps on a mat at school.

She comes home with coloring pages and other "art projects" she's worked on that day.

If she accidentally drops a toy, she says, "pick up, pick up" . . . and then she usually throws it down.

When I ask her "where's the blah blah" on the page of a book, she usually gets it right. Well, sometimes she gets it right :)

Mimi LOVES being outside and picking up sticks, acorns, and leaves . . . and sometimes she even pulls weeds!

She is so sweet to Spike and likes to share her food with him (but never offers any to Ruthie!).

Mimi has been trying to play with her toys in the dogs' water bowls (and sometimes the potty!), so I have been taking her bath toys outside and letting her play with them in big bowls of water. She gets herself, the patio, and anything within a ten foot radius completely soaked.

I was cleaning out her closet and found my favorite baby gown of hers. I tried it on her and it still fits! I thought it was so sweet but I could tell the length was annoying her.

What a perfect way to END the post -- Way to go Rebels for beating the Memphis Tigers!

Preschool, wedding weekend, and our new favorite thing in Memphis

No more Mother's Day Out -- Mimi is now in Roulhac's Preschool!! She's been attending for about 2 weeks now, and we couldn't be happier. Normally when we drop her off in the morning she cries a little, but she has literally jumped out of my arms to see her new friends this week. No tears . . . no chasing me with open arms . . . yeah, I'm a little sad.
They had a huge water slide last week, and I stopped by to try to take some photos without her noticing. Of course, she noticed so all of my pictures are of her screaming . . . but I still think they're cute. We visited my parents in Corinth a couple of weekends ago when our air went out and rode to Pickwick on Saturday afternoon. Mimi loved seeing the water and the boats.Last weekend we went to Jackson for a wedding, and Mimi went crazy in the hotel. She loved to run full speed into the closet mirror, stick her head in the air conditioner so her hair could blow, and pull all the toilet paper off the roll. I'm so glad she's able to entertain herself in a small hotel room!

Hooray for babysitters!!The Botanic Gardens has recently added "My Big Backyard," which is a couple of acres of treehouses, sandboxes, creeks, little play houses, bridges, and flowers that are all geared towards children. I had no idea what we were in for when I decided to stop by and check it out this afternoon. Oh. My. Gosh. It is absolutely amazing.Mimi's favorite part was the "rain," which is an area that looks like a front porch with a tin roof. Every 15-20 minutes it thunders and kids start running from the other areas to get drenched under the rain. I had no idea how Mimi would react to this, but she ran straight to the middle squealing and giggling. We were so not prepared, so her clothes (and mine) were completely soaked. And this is what she did when we got home . . .