Christmas Gifts

Usually, I post something about gifts before Lucy's birthday. That didn't happen this year, so in case people are still shopping, I'll share lists and recommendations now.

Lucy
Lucy's Amazon list is here. There's a lot on it, so I thought I'd make some recommendations.

I must confess that Lucy watches too much TV. Because of pregnancy, c-section, breastfeeding a newborn, and having my gallbladder removed, I haven't spent the kind of quality time with Lucy that I wanted. I'm hoping that after recovering from my gallbladder surgery, I will be strong enough and Maggie will be big enough for me to do more with Lucy.

When she plays something, Lucy plays with blocks, cars and trains, her vintage Little People house, play dishes and food, doctor kit, play dough, and dress-up clothes. She also likes to paint. And she still loves books. And almost every night she wants to play board games before putting on pajamas. Two of her favorite things to pretend are Pirate Lucy, Super-Lucy, and Lucy Puppy.

Recommendations:

Games
Lucky Pirates
Animal Upon Animal
Preschool games other than Candyland

Painting
Bathtub paint, available at Walmart and in gift sets at places like Big Lots
Melissa & Doug Paint with Water. Any paint with water is good. That's just what Amazon has.
Art smock.
Finger paint paper.
Color Wonder paints.

Cooking/Food Toys
Food to cut.
Sandwich making set




Characters
Lucy isn't super-loyal to any character. Her birthday cake was Super-Grover, but the runner-up idea was a Gruffalo theme. Pajamas, books, or shirts with any of these characters would make her happy. Other specific items are noted. And despite knowing that she watches too much TV, I've put some DVDs on her list. We rely a lot on streaming shows, which means that she doesn't have much to watch without the Internet, so it's good to have DVDs of her favorites.

Shaun the Sheep has been a favorite for a long time, and she always comes back to it. We have the movie and some DVDs, but she doesn't have any plush sheep.
Gruffalo - Lucy likes a couple of books by Julia Donaldson, one of which is The Gruffalo. On her list are Gruffalo finger puppets, magnetic book, plush figure, and a collection of books from that author.
Paw Patrol - Lap desk would be great for coloring at church
Dr Seuss - We have several of the books, and she watches the Cat in the Hat on TV. A plush Cat in the Hat is on her list.
Wonder Pets - Painting Book
Sesame Street (esp. Elmo and Super/Grover)
BB-8 (Star Wars) - Bicycle Helmet was her favorite thing from the entire Target toy catalog. Plush robot.
Marvel Superheroes, especially Hulk
PJ Masks
Doc McStuffins - She always comments on the Lego block set.

Toy Storage Bags
For a while, I've been storing sets of toys in huge ziploc bags from Dollar Tree, but Lucy has started putting them on her head. She still doesn't understand danger or death, so my forbidding her to put bags on her head has had little affect. I stop her when I catch her, but it's best to switch to a non-plastic storage system, I really like big draw-string bags that double as play mats. We have one. They can be bought on Amazon. But a person with a little time and skill could make them.






Maggie
Maggie's list is here.

Maggie is just starting to sit and play independently. She likes balls, blocks, and stuffed animals. Most of all, she likes to play with her sister, so things they can play together are great (except for when Lucy doesn't want to share, but we're working on it.) We still have all of Lucy's baby toys, so Maggie doesn't need much. SHE DOES NOT NEED ANOTHER SHAPE SORTER. I love shape sorters, and that's why we have plenty already.

Recommendations:

Books
I've put a lot of cloth activity books on her list. She has a couple of cloth books without activities and loves them. I've also put some sheep books by Nancy Shaw. We own and love the other books in that series and would like to complete our collection.

Blocks
The Infantino Press and Stay blocks look like fun and might work with Lucy's bristle blocks, allowing them to play together.

Stuffed animal
Maggie doesn't have a favorite yet, so I thought we might try Dilly the Monkey. Dilly has clothes with various fasteners to learn. We don't have anything like this.

Puzzles
Maggie won't be able to do puzzles for a while, but the chunky puzzles double as wooden figures to play with.


Curious George
Maggie has just started to notice television, but Curious George is already a favorite. I don't plan for her to watch a lot, but we don't have access to George the way wedid when Lucy was smaller, so it would be good to have DVDs.



Natalie
I have an Amazon list. Things I really want are marked as Highest or High priority. I want a carbon monoxide detector, fire extinguishers, some face masks, dish wand refills, and a broom/mop organizer. I know. I'm wild and crazy and dream big.


Matt prefers money.

Magpie

We aren't calling her "magpie," but Maggie sure can talk, and it sure is funny. This morning I was the only one up and was getting ready for church before getting the girls up and ready. While in the bathroom, I thought I heard one of the girls talking, so I peeked in on each of them, but both were sound asleep. That happened two more times before I caught Maggie talking in her sleep. I watched her for a while while she babbled with her eyes closed. And then she opened her eyes and continued to babble. The sounds this morning were normal babble sounds, but she's got some sounds she's picked up from Matt and Lucy. Matt's allergy cough is back, and (as Lucy did at about the same age) Maggie has decided that coughing is part of human speech, so she coughs at us sometimes. She especially does it to Matt because she's trying to speak his language. Maggie has also started making high-pitched squealing sounds. Sometimes I can't immediately name which girl made the sound. Maggie has learned the squealing sound from Lucy, so she often uses it to talk to Lucy. When Lucy starts responding in kind, I have to tell her to stop. Entire conversations of squeals are more than my ears can handle. Maggie coughs and squeals at me, but she also pulls out the "mumumum" sound when she's really hungry and wants mama milk from the source. She and I pretty often have two-way conversations. The most remarkable thing about Maggie's talking is how she mimics sounds. I've heard her repeat "car," "no no no," and "delicious." She's only 4.5 months old. She wants to talk like the big people so badly I think she'll succeed at a younger age than Lucy did.

Checkups

I'm very behind on my blogging, but I wanted to give an update after Maggie's 4-month and Lucy's 3-year checkups this morning. They're both growing and immunized. I'll try to write more and post pictures in the next few days.

Maggie
4 months
14 lbs., 4 oz. (41.6%), 25.5 inches (76.9%)

2 months
11 lbs., 7 oz. (30.8%), 23.25 inches (53.7%)


Lucy
32 lbs. (+5.5 since last year), 37.5 (+2 since last year) inches