Eden, the 23-Month Old!

Toddler Time
One of Eden's Christmas presents was signing her up for the Toddler Time class at the park district. The class is one hour on Saturday mornings for 8 weeks. It's a pretty openly structured class. There's 6 other kids and their parents in a large play room (where Eden's birthday party was). Some play time to start, then pre-school style "circle time" on the rug where we all do songs and introductions. Eden's favorite part of circle time - and the entire class - is when we do introductions. We go around the circle, and each child gets a turn holding a cut out bumble bee on a stick - and we sing a song: "Hickety Bickety Bumble Bee/Won't you say your name for me/Eden - Eden/that's your name!" Eden is OBSESSED with that bumble bee! So much so that on Saturday mornings when we are getting ready, I tell Eden it's time to go see the bumble bee and she gets SO excited!
The rest of the class, there's an art table set out, large motor climby toys and ball pit and then just a whole bunch of toddler toys set out on a bunch of tables. Eden observes the other kids but doesn't really play much with them, which is perfectly normal. All the kids just do their own thing. It is cute to watch them during circle time dancing and playing with bubbles together!
I enjoy taking her to this class, if only that it's one hour a week where it's all about her. She gets to play crazy and my attention is all on her. And everything there is geared to her age. She is always so worn out after this class!

Sister Fun
Addison & Eden have really grown into buddies. They've developed a few games and activities that are really theirs. They have a few bouncy balls that they throw around in the kitchen, and then there's some crazy running around the house that goes on. I don't really understand it, but they love it and it's a nice break for us to be able to just watch our kids have fun. Eden is so independent and happy to do things on her own, but I love seeing her get so hyper and hear her laugh hysterically at Addison!

Eden, the 22-month old!

December 15 - January 14

Breakfast with Santa

We got Christmas week started with Breakfast with Santa at the Rainforest Cafe. Eden was more into the fish in the tanks than Santa himself, but as long as she had a good time that's all that matters. Our table was right next the fish tank wall so she was very entertained!

Christmas
Wow, this Christmas was so incredibly tiring. Somehow, not so much for Eden - she kept going and going and going. 
On Christmas Eve we headed up to the Simon family Christmas party up at Uncle John and Aunt LuAnn's in Milwaukee. As usual, the night was filled with a ton of fun and running around. We had to keep an eye on Eden with all the craziness but for the most part she was very well behaved and didn't get into any trouble. She enjoyed gift opening, but only at the point that she was able to open and play with one of her presents.
After all the gift opening and games, all us grown-ups were rockin' out to some Aerosmith and the like on Uncle John's big stereo system. And Eden was right there with us. At this point it was after 9pm, but she was dancing all crazy, spinning around - not at all phased by the loud music. As the dance party continued, it was so obvious how tired she really was, but she couldn't stop spinning around. Eventually, she was spinning out of control and stumbling around like a drunk baby. But she kept going! It was hilarious and I think a Christmas memory we will never forget.
Christmas Morning, Santa came! Eden was very excited for her new LeapFrog laptop. She sat right down in front of it and pressed all the buttons. She's pretty easy to please :) We had breakfast and opened presents, but before we knew it Grandma G and the gang came over for more fun and presents. We were thankful to get Eden down for a nap, she must have been so tired. But she's our perfect little Eden, so never let on how tired she was - no temper tantrums or meltdowns.
Christmas Night - no sooner did Grandma G and the gang leave, than we were on our way to another Christmas celebration at Aunt Mo's. Eden was having a great time watching their dog and chasing their cat, but her favorite thing was a little Hallmark dog that barked Jingle Bells and rocked back and forth on the coffee table. Eden couldn't get enough of it!

Mary Poppins

For the 2nd year in a row, the weekend following Christmas we went to the Lincolnshire Marriott with Grandma G and family to see a play. This year it was Mary Poppins..and this year, Eden wasn't a very good spectator. Last year she sat mesmerized staring at the stage. This year she was very wiggly and not wanting to be held. So, I ended up roaming the halls with her so she could run back and forth to her heart's delight. Better luck next year!

Key Lime Cove

Following Mary Poppins, we stayed the weekend at Key Lime Cove. It wasn't so much for Eden - but we did take her into the pool one time. Otherwise, we just stocked up on toys to entertain her in the hotel room. The first night we were there, the girls thought it was the coolest thing ever to all be in one room sleeping, and they were up for an hour goofing around and laughing hysterically.
Eden was in the pack n play and Addison in the bed next to her. Addison was jumping around being goofy and Eden just stood up the whole time watching her and laughing and hopping around in the pack n play.

New Years Eve
Continuing on with the fun, we headed up to Milwaukee for New Year's Eve at the Vogel's this year. Eden had fun running around with the kids, but also got to lounge and watch a lot of TV with the Vogel twins.

Dancin' Eden
By now, Eden is used to being dragged along to Addison's activities. But lately she's been getting into music and dancing, so it was adorable to see her watch Addison's dance class. She walks right up to the window on the door and was trying to dance along with what the girls in the class were doing. Guess we'll be signing her up in a year or two!

iPad Pics
By now everyone knows how much Eden loves the iPad. But this month we were treated to her documenting it by finding the camera app and taking about 200 pics of herself. Selfies, yes, but not the usual ones. These were just pics of her very seriously looking down at the edge of the iPad over and over. 

Counting and Alphabet
Our little genius Eden continues to amaze us. While in the cliche milestones she has been "slow" (crawling, walking, talking) - she's miles ahead with some other things. Mainly numbers and letters. She knows the entire alphabet and can count up to 10. She points out letters all over the place.
Just another example of how amazing our little Eden is, and that she just does things on her own timeline.

Eden, the 21-Month Old

November 15 - December 14

Eden Loves Colby Jack
Eden has always been fond of Colby Jack since she was old enough to notice his existence. But especially lately, she's been super cuddly with him when he walks up to her. Even when Colby is just laying on the couch or the floor, Eden will run up to him and tackle him, giving him squeezes and burying her face in his fur. She always looks at his face and laughs. We know Colby loves the girls, and he just sits there and takes it. He has an uncomfortable look on his face, but he always comes back for more.
She does like to pat him on the head and sometimes she gets a little rough, so we are disciplining her on that. But for the most part she is gentle with him - just annoying :)

Eden Loves iPad
One thing Eden loves more than anything is the iPad. We have several apps just for her, saved in her own folder. She knows how to find them and how to navigate around the apps/games very well.
When she asks for the iPad, she knows to go to her designated "spot" - the ottoman in the living room. She'll go running out there and knock off any toys that are on the ottoman to clear room for the iPad.
We do have to set limits and monitor, only letting her play for a certain amount of time then we take it away. The only way we successfully get it away from her is by immediately distracting her with another one of her toys or by reading her a story.
We've been able to find some great apps that are teaching her letters and words.

Eden Loves Letters
Eden really knows her letters well. She points them out whenever she sees them and can say most them very well.
Her vocabulary is growing too. She can say butterfly ("bwah-bu-wah"), eat, monkey ("key-key"), Santa, hohoho, meow and woof woof. She also uses her sign language for "more" all the time.

St. Nick's
St. Nick came to the O'Neills house this year! We put the girls' shoes outside their bedroom doors and in the morning they both got a handful of change for their piggy banks. In her stocking, Eden got Goldfish and puffs and an Alphabet book and a new toy smartphone that she was immediately addicted to.

Eden Meets Santa
Eden got to see Santa a few times before Christmas. The first time was Thanksgiving weekend at the library. He came up on a fire truck. Eden was not scared at all to sit on his lap, she was just mad we took her toy phone away so we could get a good picture.
The next time was at the mall, we waited in line for awhile, but there was a lot to look at in line. It was a Despicable Me theme so she was all about checking out all those decorations. She sat on his lap like a good little baby and the hardest part about taking the picture was getting her to stop looking at his beard! But we got a great picture of two happy girls smiling with Santa. Very rare, indeed!
Then, we saw him briefly at Breakfast with Santa at Rainforest Cafe. She's say "ho ho ho" when she saw him from a distance.
We're so happy she was not at all freaked out by Santa, as many toddlers this age are. Yay Boopers!

Eden, the 20-Month Old

October 15 - November 14

Halloween
Next year Eden will be old enough to tell us what she wants to be for Halloween, but this year - we took advantage and to Addison's wishes, we were all Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A rare costume choice for two little girls, but boy were they adorable! The costumes I found were so cute! While we saw many other Ninja Turtles at Halloween events, we didn't see any other girl ones. Kids would even pass us and say, "Look - a GIRL Ninja Turtle!"  as though it was the coolest thing ever.
We wen to a Halloween Fest at the Elk Grove park district, and Eden had a great time in the play area. She crawled up and went down a little slide first, and never looked back. She went up and down, around and around on that little slide for a long time. It was fun seeing her toddling around and having so much fun.
One time she went down the slide a little too fast and fell forward, cutting her lip a little (I think on her tooth). I picked her up right away and sang to her and she stopped crying pretty quick. That's a great thing about Eden, she lets you know she's upset, but she gets over it pretty quick as long as we tend to her.

Trick or Treating
We were hit with a downpour on Halloween this year which was a huge downer! We were so looking forward to Eden running down the sidewalk and going up to houses. Even though she still can't eat most of the candy she'd get, I think she really would have enjoyed collecting the candy and of course the reactions she would get. (I've found that real little kids get the most candy cuz they are so cute - even though they can't even eat it!)
We braved the storm for a little while and carried her up to several houses. But we took a break to dry off and left Eden inside, it just wasn't worth and just too hard on us to have to carry her and an umbrella and candy bucket. Better luck next year!

Eden, the 19-Month Old!

Pumpkin Patch
This year we snuck in a trip to the Pumpkin Patch with a looming thunderstorm on the horizon. But, we were able to snap a few pumpkin pictures when we got there, that turned out to be one of the best sister shots we've ever gotten!
We visited the goats and sheep for a bit, but then the rain hit and we just had to keep Eden dry in the stroller while Addison & I were on the hay ride.
A little disappointing but we got the basics done. 

Eden's portraits
After a successful photo shoot with Addison in the spring, we rehired the same photographer and went to the same destination (Busse Woods) for a family photo shoot, with an emphasis on Eden.
When Addison was around 15mos we had a family photo shoot which we have proudly displayed as a canvas print in our living room and I've been waiting to update that to include Eden.
My thinking was to do a fall one as our other is summer, so we can rotate the pictures depending on season. Well, even though it was the first weekend in October, it was 80 degrees and one of the most ridiculously humid days ever! We did our best to stay dry but we were all sweating like crazy. Not ideal situations, but we were able to get some great pictures of Eden that capture her personality so well. And, even a few family photos too although it's difficult to wrangle 2 kids in a cute pose while trying to smile nicely ourselves!!

Bunny Book
Eden has gotten really into books in the recent weeks. She loves to sit on our lap and read book after book. Her favorite one right now is a Snuggle Bunny book that has a bunny puppet on each page. It's a large book and the bunny is very snuggly, so she loves hugging and giving it kisses while we read the story. She's also slept with the book several times where she's got the bunny puppet snuggled right up next to her.
We hope the love of books stays. It's our best way to spend quality time with her since she is so independent and not demanding, so much of our attention is pulled to Addison who is so much more demanding and outgoing. But with books, Eden does demand our attention and she knows she gets it that way so we want to indulge her.

Eden, the 18-month old!

Walking....false alarm?
We were so excited once Eden took her first steps and assumed since she took so long to start, she wouldn't look back once she did.
She went from one step, to four steps to 12 steps in that very first evening - but by the next day she only walked a handful of times. It was like that for a few days, then we went up to Milwaukee for the weekend and everyone was so excited to see the newly-walking Eden! Well, she did not deliver. She didn't even stand up on her own, just crawled everywhere like that's the only thing she knows to do.
Could be because of the new environment, could be because all the people? But it was a little damper. For the next couple weeks she walked half the time, then shortly after it was mostly walking, only resorting to crawling if she really wanted to get somewhere fast or was a little unsure.

Football Sundays
We're training our daughters well :) The girls know Sundays are Football days! With Bears and Packers games on, sometimes right after another, and us both being in Fantasy Football, we dominate the TV from noon til bedtime on Sundays.
Sounds like abusive parenting, right? Well, in our defense, it is seriously the only time the girls AREN'T dominating the TV! We never watch TV til after bedtime, so Sundays during football season are our days. We will still play with the girls all day, of course. Eden doesn't seem to mind at all. She enjoys watching the games and points and babbles at the TV a lot. Or just hangs out and reads her books. I think she just enjoys hanging out in the living room with us all there!

Eden, the 17-Month Old!

Eden's First Vacation!
At the end of July, we went on a family vacation for the first time since Addison was around this age (we went to Galena). But this was our first weeklong vacation since our honeymoon over 5yrs ago - yikes!
This vacation was part of Grandma G's 50th Birthday celebration with the whole family. Even Great Grandparents Kathy & Jim were there too and Great-Grand Aunt Donna! We headed up to a rented house on Carpenter's Lake in Eagle River, WI.
We were concerned how Eden would be on this trip, being that she was still crawling, and there's not much that entertains her other than toys and TV. So we packed a ton of toys to make it feel like home for her. We brought along baby gates too as we'd need to Booper-proof the place!
Eden did mostly hang out in the living room and play with her toys. I took her for a few long walks and she did play on the beach a couple times (it was chilly!). She really enjoyed everyone's company too and would interact and laugh with them.
Her favorite was cousin Erin, anytime she'd play her flute. Eden was mesmerized by the sound of the flute and by the flute itself. She kept taking it away from Erin to study it. So cute! Anytime Erin brought it out, Eden would crawl over and sit right in front of Erin, patiently listening. She sure is a musical little girl!
We were also worried that Eden would be bad in the car. She isn't under normal circumstances, but this was a 6-hour trip. Much to our surprise, she was great! She was quiet and would either sleep or just look out the window or play with her little toy iPod, etc. I guess we shouldn't be surprised anymore when Eden is easy-going, that's just who she is...and we love it!

At Last...
And of course, I can't forget to mention the single most important moment of Eden's 17th month....On her 17 month birthday, EDEN WALKED!!!
After months of walking all over with push toys and upside down tables (yes, that was her favorite walker!), we finally got Eden to take a few steps on her own. In the same night, she went from 4 steps all the way up to 20+. She would still resort to crawling if she really wanted to get somewhere fast in the weeks following, but as the days went on, it was much and much less frequently. 
We are so happy and proud of our little walking Boopers!