A few "firsts"

Summer wearing mommy's shades (photo courtesy of Uncle Jordan)

Today was a day of 3 "firsts" for Summer"

1) She completed her first puzzle ALL by herself
***We have a puzzle that Great Grandma Obermayer gave Summer for her birthday this year that has 8 large colored wooden shapes.  Over the past months, Summer has been able to sometimes get the right shape in the right spot, sometimes not....and even when she does match the shapes, she often can't get the shape turned right to fit in the puzzle slot.  However, today she did the whole puzzle all by herself!  I dumped the pieces on the floor and she put all of the shapes in the right spot and turned them the right way all by herself.  She even said "oval" and "star" for those two shapes as she put them in the puzzle.

2) She said the word "milk" for "milk"!
***Summer has been using the word "ba-ba" for both water and milk, no matter what type of cup it is in, ever since she was 10 or 11 months, despite the fact that mommy and daddy continually call it "milk" or "water".  Today, for the first time, she said "milk"!

3) She went up and down the stairs all by herself.
***Summer has been crawling up the stairs by herself for about 5 months.  She has also been able to "slide" down the stairs on her belly for about 4 months.  However, she has not been able to start at the top and turn herself around without any help, and come downstairs.  Usually what happens is that she will climb upstairs, play for a while, and then call to me to come help her turn around in order for her to come back down the stairs.  Today she went up by herself, got a toy, came to the top of the stairs, turned herself around, and slid down on her belly all by herself! 

In other news, she is getting a lot better at her pronunciation of words.  For example "Tucker" went from Ca-Ca, to Tuck-ee, to now almost exactly Tucker.  She is starting to better pronounce the "end syllable" of her words.

She repeats almost everything we say and is constantly learning.  We are working on our colors now.  She calls almost everything "red" but in the last few days is pretty consistently identifying "green" and "pink" in some of her color books, along with red.

She also mimics our body language.  Most recently she has picked up "shrugging" her shoulders, and will repeatedly shrug first one shoulder, then the other, then both!  I cannot help but laugh out loud!

Her tantrums are getting MUCH shorter and this past week she has been much more obedient.  She is getting really good at obeying "stay here" when we are in a store she will stand next to me vs going exploring.

She loves to help me put away laundry, and will continually come back to me asking for something else to put away!  She closes open drawers and cabinet doors.  She loves to sort and put things into things and take things out of things.  Does this mean she will be neat and organized?!?!?  I hope!  ;)

This morning we were at a friend's house and Summer found a baby doll and a little bottle and started feeding the bottle to the baby!  I'm not sure where she learned it but it was pretty cute to watch!  I am so excited for her to be a big sister!

Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving in two parts!  For the first part, we met in Apple Valley the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Here are a few pictures.

Lovin' the purse

Silly smile

Pushing Baby

With Uncle Ty and Aunt Sarah and Roco

Kisses from Mommy

Reading with Grandma and Great-Grandma Sandy

Grandma is good at reading stories!

The fam

 For Thanksgiving Part II, we drove to Fergus Falls.

Summer and Grandma

High five for "Dor-din" (Uncle Jordan)

Model coming down the runway....Summer LOVED wearing these necklaces and had them on ALL weekend!

Model going back down the runway!

Bathtime at Grandma's was so much fun.  Grandma got out all sorts of mixing bowls and spoons and Summer played for almost 45 minutes "cooking and mixing" the bathwater!

Cuddling with Daddy after bathtime

Summer LOVED playing with "Bante" (Uncle Javonte's) track and matchbox cars.  "A-Den" (Again) and again we would race them down the track and she loved it!

With Second Cousin Kopel (9 months)

Summer LOVED the pumpkin pie!!!

Dancing with Kopel

Summer also enjoyed pulling around a little train that Paul played with when he was little.  Another favorite toy at "Gum-ma and Gum-pa" (Grandma and Grandpa's) house was a little push popper that Summer pushed all over the house!

 Finally, here's a video of Summer putting on her necklaces that were referenced in one of the earlier pictures.  As you can see, she has fun wearing them! :)



We had a great time seeing family and Paul and his brother and dad even got to get some hunting in a few times!

15 month appointment

I am 15 months!

I weigh 23 lbs (50th percentile)

(I was weighed on the standup scale this time, just like mommy!)

I am 31 inches tall (60th percentile)

My head is still quite large! (95th percentile!)

Here I am waiting for my 4 shots :(.  Mommy says I did very well.

Putting Up the Christmas Tree!

This year was fun because Summer was old enough to participate (a little!) in decorating for Christmas this year!  We made homemade pizza for dinner and then dug out the Christmas stuff from the basement.  While Mommy and Daddy were putting up the tree, lights, and decorations, Summer had fun looking through last years Christmas cards....it kept her entertained for quite some time!  When it came time to hang the ornaments, Summer did a great job!  We had a bunch of plastic (non-breakable) ornaments we bought the year we got married and these worked perfectly for her to hang on the low branches, because if/when  she dropped them, they bounced rather than breaking!  Here are a few pictures and videos.

Watching Daddy put up the lights

 

Helping mommy hang ornaments

 

 

Tucker got a special bone....serving as the perfect distraction from getting into the ornaments!

Paul hung up lights outside this year--our first time doing so!  You can also see our first snow of the year that came today.

Our finished tree!

The stockings :-)

Learning and Growing

Summer is really growing up!  At 15.5 months she is understanding and talking so much! 

Today she had her first phone conversation that was actually two-way! 

Today after our run, Summer and I walked together on the sidewalk, and she pointed out trucks (and said ba-bye when they drove past!), cars, leaves, sticks, puppies, our house, etc and we collected leaves and sticks.  She learned the word "wagon" when we saw one.  She obeyed when I told her not to go on other people's lawns, and stayed on the sidewalk instead. 

It is so much fun teaching her because she loves to learn!  These past few weeks, besides expanding her vocabulary, she has learned 7 or 8 different animals and their sounds as well as how to identify 7 or 8 different body parts.  For the first time this week she said "dank dooooo"  (Thank you) completely unprompted when I gave her her milk (and continued to say it over and over when I gave her something---so cute!).  That same day was also the first day she said "duv ooooo"  (love you) completely unprompted (I almost melted it was so cute!). 

Unfortunately, along with the vocabulary, understanding, and dialogue, also comes with it the opportunity to say "no" when mommy tells Summer to do something.  Lately, we have had several extended tantrums, unfortunately, as Summer tests the waters to see if Mommy means what she says.  Although these tantrums can last up to 45 minutes of crying and dramatic tantrum style kicking  (!!!), Mommy has been teaching Summer that obedience is very important for a little girl to learn, and when Summer does finally choose to obey, life is much happier for both Summer and Mommy.  Summer is a very smart little girl, and knows how to test, but she is also a very smart little girl in that it only takes one or two tantrums before Summer learns that Mommy isn't going to change her mind on that particular issue!  Each time a rule or line is tested and held firm, Summer usually won't try to cross it again (at least for a while), which is so nice!  I am very proud of her, and continue to pray that her strong will would be used to bring glory to the Lord as she learns to use that will to hold firmly to what is TRUE and RIGHT.

I couldn't love my little girl any more, and I absolutely LOVE being with her as much as possible.  This age is so much fun watching her grow, smile, laugh, learn, and coming running to me for a hug.  It's the best.  I am so blessed.  I love you, Summer Tenleigh!!!

Introductiong Our Little Boy!

We had our ultrasound yesterday, and we learned that Tommerdahl #2 will be a boy!  We are very excited!  The ultrasound went very smoothly and we couldn't believe are fast we were in and out.  Our ultrasound tech was very nice and was able to tell us that baby was a BOY!  Even though I was guessing boy, it is still very weird to start saying he/him/son in regards to our baby, as all we have ever known is she/her/daughter for Summer!  We brought Summer along to the ultrasound because we wanted her to be able to see the baby.  She did great, and would point at the screen and say "baby"!   It is so much fun to be able to picture this little guy now when I feel him kick.  I wonder what he will look like!  I wonder what he will enjoy doing!  Already it has been fun to switch from generic prayers for his health and that he would love the Lord, to more specific prayers that he will be a strong man of God!  We love you already, baby #2!

Summer, what does this animal say?

Once a week I have been subbing over at Apple Valley High School, where I used to teach, while Grandma Kirkwood has the day with Summer!  For the past month or so, Grandma has been teaching Summer the sounds that different animals make.  Tonight, Summer walked over to me with a little monkey and said, "oooooh, oooooh, oooooh", so I decided to quiz her on what she had learned from Grandma.  Here is what we caught on video....

Trick or Treat

I'm not sure who had more fun trick or treating this year---us or Summer!  It was pretty fun to watch her run up to the houses and look for the candy.  She loved holding her purse which held the candy, and when we got home she pulled the candy in and out of her purse!  Here are a few pictures and video from our night.

Helping to hand out candy to the trick or treaters

Trick or Treating with mommy

Trick or Treating with Daddy

With Neighbor girls Faith and Noelle