The Neverending Weekend.

I am thoroughly enjoying having a four day weekend!  So much has gone on and we still have one more day!  Our Christmas was so much fun, I was all excited just to see Ingrid's face when she woke up and saw her presents under the tree.  She was very into opening presents, but she really wanted to play with everything right away.  We had to remind her there were more to open and she'd have plenty of time to play.  She got her tricycle, which she LOVES, and a baby stroller, and a talking Lola doll, some books, a toy toaster and microwave, a bag of blocks, and a little boat that you wind up in the tub.  I had found tons of stuff shoved up in my closet that I'd gotten way early and then forgotten about until I cleaned my closet three days ago, so she got more than we'd planned on getting her...

After play time and bath time, we headed out to my brother's house.  It was a rainy drive, but Ingrid slept and watched a dvd and we made it in good time.  I have a huge family, three siblings with their spouses and they each have two or three kids.  So the house was filled and Ingrid was a bit intimidated at first.  Then she found the kid's play room in the basement and we didn't see her all afternoon!  I had to chase her down to see if she wanted something to eat.  After a lot of begging by my four year old nephew, it was time to open gifts.  And not a moment too soon--Ingrid got really overwhelmed and tired and wouldn't sit in the same room as the whole family.  She begged for her blankie and wanted to go sit with only me, she was so tired, poor girl.  We quickly opened gifts and then she started saying bye bye to everyone, a good clue that she's had enough...

The ride home took forever, but alas, we made it in one piece.  We all passed out right away, at 9pm!  Long day.  Good thing Christmas is only once a year, it's exhausting.

So today we got to play with all our new toys!!  Ingrid got finger paints and a big roll of paper so we laid out a vinyl tablecloth on the floor and went to town.  I think Ingrid still needs a couple more months of maturity before we try this again, though, as her fingers went from paint to mouth a few times...That kid eats anything.  She didn't seem to into it, I had to keep showing her how to smush the paint around and she just kept giving me this look like "why?" 

Then later we were hanging out and I looked over to see this:

My little acrobat.

And now it's time to rest away the evening and gear up for another day of playing (and picking up) blocks, listening to talking Lola say the same six phrases over and over, and hoping Ingrid doesn't decide to climb any higher than the tricycle.