A Tad Bit Chilly

It's been cold lately. I'm sure everyone reading this has their own, equivalently extreme experience in the past few weeks, but we woke up to 16 degrees below zero this morning. Luckily it hasn't been particularly windy.

The entire reservoir in the valley is frozen over, although there are a few spots of open water in other areas. The Logan River is still flowing as well, which allows the animals and birds a few places to fish and drink. There has been an American Bald Eagle in the area lately, and he or she seems to be keeping close to the open water.

Violet has been oblivious to the cold weather. She is quite busy perfecting her toddle, exploring a new level of the house (what she can reach above her head), and now both unloading AND loading things. She loves to help unload the dishwasher, particularly the silverware. She'll proudly hand one of us each piece of silverware one-by-one so that we can put it away. She also enjoys unloading "her" drawer in the kitchen, which is full of oven mitts, dishtowels, and a few pieces of generic tupperware. I put that drawer together at the suggestion of our friend Jen Pollard, and it has proven to be a hit with little Vi. She unloads it piece by piece, often with shrieks of joy as she finds items hidden under the towels. And once she is done unloading, she now takes great joy in loading everything back inside it, piece by piece. She seems to enjoy doing the same with her bin of wooden blocks as well. We can only hope this becomes a habit!

Violet is also working on ever more signs these days. She made up her own sign for hair (grabbing a handful of hair and pulling it away from her head), has figured out the sign for "where?" and is working on the signs for giraffe and bunny rabbit, as well as others. She is certainly dedicated to her communication skills!


She is also working on eating with utensils. She's getting pretty good at it.

Mac and cheese with a fork.

* sorry that the formatting has been crappy lately. Something is up with Blogger!