Chanukah - Night 7, The Night for Building

Erin is a pro at unwrapping presents by now.

She loves to build things with David.

It seems that the old-fashioned Legos (read, those of my childhood) have been replaced by K'Nex. Erin is not a typical girly girl who plays only with her kitchen stuff, coloring books & dolls. She is also amazingly inquisitve & loves to learn how things work. Ever since she was a baby, she enjoyed building things. These K'Nex allow her to use her imagination in ways I would never have considered at the age of 5. I was too busy playing dolls.

Chanukah - Night 5 by Cousin Deena & Her Family

Baby & Erin Bear have to say the blessings too.

Cool! Another Leapster game, & it's more princesses!

Hello Kitty boombox. You think Erin's going to have fun with this?

She flipped when she saw the guitar.

My niece Deena & her family insist upon spoiling Erin. As a child, Deena only wanted David & me to give her tons of cousins to play with. She takes great pleasure in spoiling her little cousin as much as possible. Thanks Deena, Brad, Noah & Riley!

On the Fourth Night of Chanukah You . . .

Light the Chanukah menorah & chant the blessings

Smile about the REALLY BIG present


Unwrap said present with gusto

Grin crazily cause you've been begging for this for months

Have Daddy put your new Terrainiac together

And, finally attempt to break everything in the house by remote control

You Tricked Me!

Erin has been asking for a high chair & crib for her baby dolls for ages now. David & I kept telling her that she had enough stuff for her dolls & didn't need more. When we went shopping for Chanukah gifts, she was told that this stuff was for her cousin Riley. When she opened her gifts tonight, the first thing she said was "Hey! You tricked me! This was for Riley!" Needless to say, her smile made the whole trick worth it for us.

Allergic to December 4th?

It's been an exciting Chanukah holiday so far. Tuesday was the first night & went beautifully. That is until about 2:00 a.m. when Erin woke up. She was screaming for me that she needed to go potty so I went & brought her in. (Still can't figure out why she won't come in on her own.) When she'd finished up, she decided to climb into our bed. That lasted maybe 5 minutes. Then she jumped up & vomited all over the bed. GROSS!!!! David never moved so quickly in his life. He has now mastered changing bed linens & putting up a wash while totally asleep in under 5 minutes.

Needless to say, I kept Erin home yesterday & called her pediatrician. When the nurse called back 10 minutes later, she told me this was going around & would last 48 hours. Thankfully, the whole thing was over by 6:00 last night - no fevers, no vomitting. I kept her home again today because she ate nothing at all yesterday. Today it took her forever just to eat a mini bagel; however, she ate it willingly.

When I talked to my dad & stepmother last night, I mentioned that this was the exact date she got sick last year. My stepmother has decided that Erin is allergic to December 4th. Hmmmm. . . She may be right.

Hopefully, she'll be fine for tonight since she didn't enjoy unwrapping her presents last night. Of course, she's been wearing her Hello Kitty slippers all day & hasn't put her Hello Kitty magnet board away yet. I wonder what she's going to open tonight?

Chanukah - The First Night

Erin made the menorah we're using in school this year.

Not quite awake yet. She wasn't really ready for candle lighting & presents. It didn't take long though!


Scissors!? To open a present!? Huh??

She's awake now & loves tonight's present.

Erin's been begging to get aquadots since they came out. She's well aware of the rules she has to follow if she wants to keep using this. It was so worth her smile to give her this present tonight.

I've always wanted to have something like a Christmas village. I finally found Chanukah House! Ebay is my friend. :-)

Chanukah Fun

Erin loves Chanukah!! Yes, as you can see, she has a blast getting presents. However, my darling daughter also looks forward to saying the blessings each night & saying "Happy Chanukah Momma & Daddy!" David & I are filled with such pride in Erin. This is the 1st year that Erin was able to chant each of the blessings right along with us.

Each year, on the first night of Chanukah, David makes latkes (potato pancakes) for dinner. Erin's 1st year home, she was eager to try them since she had recently started eating real food 100% of the time. Last year, she wanted nothing to do with them. This year, she couldn't get enough sour cream on them!

My friend Vivian & her daughter Kerri gave Erin 2 books for Chanukah this year. I can now officially recite "I Have a Little Dreidel" all on my own! It seems that Erin loves the song so I had to read the book at least 3 times each night. Not such a bad tradition at all.

I can't wait to see what next year brings us at Chanukah time!