Amber's Parenting Advice

Sandi and Amber were talking about baby sister this morning.  Sandi asked Amber what she is going to do when baby sister starts crying.  The expected response is to say, 'It's OK, It's OK'.  Amber had another idea.  "Baby sister needs a sweet potato." 

To clarify, we asked, "Do you want to give baby sister a sweet potato after you say, 'it's ok?' 

"No, we need to give baby sister a sweet potato first.  She needs to sit in the high chair and eat a sweet potato."

big sister Amber rocking her monkey in baby sister's rocker

Let's go see Santa!

We took Amber to the fancy mall in downtown Portland on Saturday.  She saw Santa and was very excited to see him. We told her that we will see Santa on Monday. 

Monday afternoon comes. I meet Sandi and Amber at the chiropractic office where Santa is hanging out.  As I'm taking her out of the car, she is talking about seeing Santa. 

We walk in.  There's Santa!

We approach Santa.  Suddenly, Santa isn't so cool anymore.

We place Amber on Santa's lap and our little pumpkin begins to cry. 

We quickly take Amber off Santa's lap and set her down to look at the massive Christmas tree filled with donated toys.  Fortunately, the tears dry off soon as she finds a stuffed panda under the tree.  Suddenly, she needs to show the panda to Santa, but she can only get so close before the train starts coming off the tracks.  Instead of handing the panda bear to Santa, she stays a safe distance and throws the panda bear at him.  The she starts telling him about sticky spiderwebs and they have a great discussion about sticky spiderwebs. 

By now, Amber has recovered enough for a family photo with Santa (as long as she is with mommy).

When Amber went back to the chiropractic office for her scheduled appointment on Wednesday, she asked about Santa and was disappointed he wasn't there.

This was last year's Santa photo.  It turned out so well, the office used it to promote Santa this year.

Master bath: finished

 Our master shower was in dire need of a new look; one that isn't covered in mold. 

We found a company to do just that.

We also installed a new floor.  It is a vinyl water-proof floor with a weathered wood look.  We are really pleased how it turned out and made the vanity pop.  Amber didn't have any opinions about this project.  (Though daddy developed a few since he had to install the floor twice.) 

Daddy broke the shower!

On the surface, nothing was really wrong with our guest shower, but the plumbing was old and tired and the shower was cheap and poorly installed.  Perhaps most important was that it stood in our way of a complete bathroom remodel. 

I hate plumbing.  Actually, I really hate plumbing.  There was no way I was going to rip into the wall and change out shower values and install new faucets.  Fortunately, my neighbor enjoys this sort of thing.  He agreed to set aside a Saturday to work on both master and guest showers. Before my neighbor arrived, I exposed the plumbing.  In Amber's telling, daddy broke the shower. 

before

after

Granted, you can't tell much difference between the before/after, but it was a vast improvement.

A couple of contractors installed the new shower surround and we are thrilled with the outcome.

In Amber's telling, 'No more wood.'

Our Little Ladybug

Amber was in rare form tonight. We took her out with Grandma and Grandpa to go Trick or Treating in our neighborhood. Amber ran and ran so much we could hardly contain her.

our cute little bug

in search of spider webs and pumpkins

Trick or Treat!

Amber has no idea what candy is but she sure loved picking out little boxes that shake.  We didn't expect her to get any candy (we just wanted to show her off) but she loved holding her treasures. 

Pumpkin Patch

Every October, we visit our local pumpkin patch.  This is the first year Amber interacted with it. 

looking for the perfect gourd

Pumpkins are just the excuse we use to get down there.  The real reason for our expedition is to see tractors.  They come in pairs, each time unloading and loading people to take them to the pumpkin patch.

Tractor Ho!

standing at attention to pay honor to the tractors

 Amber also wandered into the hay bale maze and found her way out.

surveying her landscape

pondering which way to go

executing her plan

Big Sister!

Amber is excited about Baby Sister coming.  She loves to look at mommy's tummy and see her baby sister.  She also likes to sit on Baby Sister's lap.  When we sing 'Ba ba Black Sheep', Amber makes sure Baby Sister gets a bag of wool too.

Amber has no idea what's coming her way....