Our First Christmas

We had a nice, relaxing Christmas here. It was a lot of fun watching Leah open her gifts and get excited about each one. It took just about all day for her to get around to opening everything since there were so many play breaks. After the major haul she received, she now definitely knows the word "present" and when we say the word, or when she sees a picture of a wrapped present, she points to underneath the Christmas tree!

Her little play kitchen (which took John and Beppe 4 hours to put together!) was a major hit and she has been having so much fun with it. It's so cute watching her busily stirring in the pots and pans, turning on the stove burners, shaking salt and pepper into the pots, asking what the play food is and then pretending to eat it, washing her hands in the sink, putting things in the microwave and fridge, and bringing us plates of food. She also loves playing with the cash register and credit card machine, and scanning the food and putting it into her shopping bag or shopping cart. Speaking of which, she just loves pushing around her new shopping cart around and filling it with just about everything and everyone (all her dolls and stuffed animals).

She drags us very forcefully by our fingers over to her kitchen and pulls us down onto the floor so we will sit and play with her. And once we're there, we ain't goin' anywhere! Luckily, there are three of us here so we can each take our shift sitting with her on the kitchen floor!

The other "big" things she really loves are her new little vacuum and her new play tent, but she basically loves all her new stuff and it's definitely going to keep her very busy for a long while.

Oh, and she also loves her new, soft teddy bear that her foster family sent and now sleeps with it and gives it lots of hugs and kisses!

I'll put up some pics later, but you can see what we've been up to in the slideshow....

Play kitchen

We're really lucky to have the Step2 Company right in our area, just 10 minutes away. They have a great store that we've been to several times lately. They even have free play times, which I just found out about. Leah loves playing with all the stuff there and we've been trying to figure out which play kitchen to get her for Christmas.

We know she's definitely ready for her own kitchen because she plays with her little tea set every single day, several times a day. It's so cute watching her carefully bring the teapot, the 2 tea cups, the tray of cakes, and (just lately) a tray of play muffins to one spot and sit and have a little tea party. She loves to "feed" us and pour tea for us.

So we decided on this adorable one, which is their newest one, and we think she'll love it. It seemed to keep her busy for quite a while there. Little does she know.....