Christmas 2014

Christmas was so different for Dania this year!  She understands who Santa is, doesn't quite get that he comes and brings presents on only one night.  She understood the decorations and appreciated all the neighbourhood lights and our tree.  She understood how to open presents this year too!  We made her the dollhouse and that was definitely from Mama and Daddy (are you kidding me?  I want credit for making that.  Santa didn't do anything there!) and she had a few gifts from Santa.  We didn't do stockings because she doesn't really understand that Santa fills stockings and pillow cases.   She had so much fun playing with the new toys and was only a little overwhelmed with everything on the big day.  So much to choose from!  

Something that has really struck me was her love of the Christmas music.  She is such a musical little girl and Christmas songs are so easy and simple that I would hear her singing them and know exactly what she was singing.  I am also told that she dances the whole day long at daycare.  She is doing really well there and even talks about one of the girls.  It's so funny to hear.  This is a little girl that cries a lot, which furthers my theory that Dania is very empathetic.  Daycare is having the effect that I wanted because we were at a friend's house for a party and there were a bunch of kids running around and she was only hesitant for about an hour instead of the entire time.  She even started playing a game of catch with two of the girls, which I had never seen her do before!  It was so cute to watch her figure out how to play and how the older girl encouraged Dania to do well.  I was not the only person who was impressed with how it all went down.  I even had a friend get a little teary-eyed... she was quite far into the wine, but I loved how proud she got over Dania because of course that's how I feel too.  

Now, as she is becoming more independent she definitely is challenging us more and more.  She is so quick to just scream if we say no.  We are actually having to use time outs on a daily basis to calm her down.  She is also purposely not listening to us when we ask her to do some things.  It can be quite infuriating but I know it's part of development in all kids.  I still can't believe HOW different she is from last year at this time when she hardly said anything, not interacting very much with people other than Mike and me, and completely clinging to me in a larger group.  She's so awesome.  She even made us our first Christmas presents through school.  We got the classic mold of her hand and a couple ornaments.  AND!  She will be getting her second hair cut this week.  It's been over a year since her first but it has finally grown thick enough and long enough that it needs a shaping.  I'm looking forward to the new year and all the new growing and developing she will do!

Pantomime Time

For the fourth year in a row, I've participated in the annual pantomime at a local community theatre.  No, not MIME... pantomime.

Pantomime (informally panto), is a type of musical comedy stage production, designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is generally performed during the Christmas and New Year season. Modern pantomime includes songs, slapstick comedy and dancing, employs gender-crossing actors, and combines topical humour with a story loosely based on a well-known fairy tale. It is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers. (Thank you Wikipedia).

Anyhow, it's the reason I've been missing several nights a week from home and super busy and unable to update.  Once the show opened, I am the busiest I get all year.  This year, I was excited to bring Dania to a dress rehearsal to see Mama on stage and to hear some of the songs.  The kid doesn't sit to watch anything longer than 15 minutes so I didn't want to bring her to an actual performance and leave an empty seat for the majority of the show.  She totally blew my mind and stayed for 1 hour 16 minutes!  That was the entire first act and 2/3 of the show!  She LOVED it!  I have to say, I loved seeing her from the stage and it was adorable how she wasn't quite heavy enough to keep the folding seat down completely.  Whenever a song started, she'd start dancing and the seat would fold up and down.  I come out on stage and hear her say, 'Mama!'  Adorable.  She would even participate when encouraged...it might have come late, but she still did.  For example, "Say 'hi' to Lightning everyone!" (Lightning is the horse) and 5 minutes later you could hear her say "HI LIGHTNING!"  The other actors kept telling me about stuff she'd do or say while they were on stage.  She also loved the dog puppet one actor always had on him.  Every time he came on stage I could hear her repeat "baby dog" and say 'hi' to it.  She kept talking about it at home too.  I had to tell her that he wasn't a baby because his name was Ol' Feller.  Well, he became Ol' Baby Dog from that point on.  She would also tell everyone "Mama blue eyes, Mama play" because I had sparkling blue eye shadow on as my character's name was Sapphire.  After she saw me on stage, she actually got excited when I would prepare to leave in the evening.  'Mama sing, Mama dance, Mama play' and then constantly repeat Ol' Baby Dog over and over and sing the name.  She talked about Ol' Baby Dog so much I had to bring her in before the show one night so she could see and talk to the puppet personally.  My coactor was so awesome and sat with her and the dog for a good bit of time while Dania just kept hugging and kissing and petting the dog.  She still sings his name every day!  

I gotta say, this kid LOVES to sing.  She has even become obsessed with the song Let it Go from Frozen.  Now, she hasn't watched the movie, but she will watch the music video 21 times back-to-back no problem.  I was even told in the grocery store that she was a good singer as another lady recognized the song... I wasn't even prompting Dania, she was all on her own.  

She is also loving Christmas music.  Mike always has it on in the car and of course every store plays it.  She is always bopping her head or dancing.  I'm actually very excited for Christmas this year.  I have put over 250 hours into building her a doll house.  I started in July.  Photos will come when I can show off the WHOLE thing.  

She also just had a visit from Gramma for a few days.  It was great watching them together.  Plus, she got Christmas gifts early, not that she gets what Christmas is, she just got excited because she got new stuff!  Above is her Elsa and Olaf and she also got a scooter.  She carries Elsa everywhere.  So cute.