Nene's Christmas Tree and the China Buffet

Today we went to "Nene's" house to help put together and decorate her Christmas tree. Anna Claire loved being there. She didn't walk much on her own today, but was constantly grabbing my hand to walk around and explore Nene's house, and pulling up on the furniture a lot.

She seemed to have the most fun crawling right up to the TV. At home, she physically is not able to get too close to the TV because we have created a wall of toys to limit how close she can get. I think until today she really thought she could "skidoo" into the TV just like Steve and Blue on Blue's Clues. She looked so disappointed when she touched the TV and nothing happened. She also kept trying to give Kai Lan a kiss.

The Christmas lights were also a huge hit with her, we closely supervised and allowed her to play briefly with a strand of lights. That made her whole day. And she was sweet about giving them back when we needed them for the tree. Here is a pic!


After we left my mom's, we took Anna Claire to the New China Buffet in Oak Grove (mom lives near Gate 1, Ft. Campbell). She LOVED it. More importantly, she loved crab. Larry and I were both so stoked. We are shellfish fanatics, so we naturally want our child to be as well. Grapes and mandarin oranges came in a close second. Anna Claire also enjoyed watching all of the people, especially the waitstaff, who were stationed right behind us. They kept smiling, waving and talking to her, and she ate up the attention. One huge hurrah: NO food, I repeat, NO food under the table when we left. First time since I have had her that we've taken her to a restaurant and we haven't left embarrassed for the mess she left on the floor. What a big girl she is getting to be. Oh, and she loved getting to go in the ladies room and wash her hands. That was a really big deal for some reason!