Oh, Christmas Tree!

The Christmas tree is up! Between the cat and the toddler our ornaments are only on the top half of the tree, but I think it looks pretty good :)

Our little tree

Looking at the lights with pops

She looooves the lights

Weekend Pics! (One of Those Times I Actually Like Portland in Winter)

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Ours was fantastic. Thankfully the weather on Saturday and Sunday was great (meaning it didn't rain all day) and so we were able to get out. I love downtown Portland and we had a great time walking through the PSU Farmers Market and going down to the river. It was really hard saying goodbye to Wes as he left for work today :) Happy Monday!

Year round farmers market at PSU .

So many goodies.

And flowers. Who knew?

Winter veggies.

Beautiful Portland State.

Christmas is in the air!

Who's that handsome guy?

Rosy cheeks :)

A Dickinson-Joscelyn Thanksgiving

We cooked, we ate, we're stuffed :) Happy holidays!

Heading out on a family walk for last minute supplies.

Love that girl :)

Whoo hoo! Papa's home for a long weekend!

Too cute, those two.

Oh hey smiley girl!

The trio

Love my family

Thanksgiving baby

She's ready to chow down!

Yummy!

Time to celebrate!

Dinner is served!

De-lish

What I'm thankful for :)

Big Girls and New Babies

Wow. Ten days since my last post. I need to get on it! I have to say there's not much going on around here and I try not to put too much boring stuff on here, so I've stayed away. But last night I found out my dear cousin Jo Lynne was in labor with her second child and within four hours little Sullivan was here! Seeley is officially no longer the baby of the family!!! I am so happy for Jo and her family and I've been spending all day thinking back to the exhaustion and bliss of those first days with your new baby. I've been enjoying all of Seeley's big girl developments and I just had to share a video. Last time everyone saw Seeley she was only taking a couple of steps at a time. Now she is running, climbing and strutting all over the place. It's entertaining and exhausting and kind of terrifying (like when she tries to "climb" on the t.v.) Take a look and happy Monday!!!

DSCN2027 from tanya dickinson on Vimeo.

Leaving Your Child Alone

Contrary to my normal schedule, which is writing at night, I'm doing my blog post this morning. And Seeley is at my feet playing. We've been inside all week because her cold came back and I've had some interesting insights. I can't play with Seeley all the time. And I shouldn't. Children need to learn to entertain themselves and explore their own creativity. I realized that the idea that I should always be there as a playmate may in fact be detrimental. It's adorable to watch her play and read and look out the window and it's fascinating to see what holds her interest.
I think I feel like I should always be playing with her because I'm imposing my adult brain on her. I'm used to being entertained. To things happening in front of my face to occupy my time. But I remember being a kid, when time evaporated and I could be consumed with wonder and experimentation. I have a distinct memory of staring at a carpet and looking at the fibers and the way it was woven. I don't think boredom exists for children.
Seeley is an only child and that's new territory for us all. She will not have siblings to run around with or build forts with or hatch elaborate runaway plans with. I don't know how to handle that. I suppose it's all about a balance between being with friends, with family and herself. As it is for us all.

Relaxing in her own little world.

Alone time.

Baby on the Move! (Video)

We've been spending a couple days this week at the Southwest Community Center's open gym for little ones. It's basically a basketball court filled with balls, gymnastics equipment and little cars for kids to ride. It's beyond cute. Seeley completely loses her mind when she's there. I had to be one of those parents following their kid around with a camera because it's too adorable to resist. You'll see ;) Happy Friday!

DSCN2012 from tanya dickinson on Vimeo.