Boo!

Yes, it's Calista's second Halloween. But this is the first one that's been fun! Partially because last year I was horrible sick, but mostly because Calista is so much fun!

We started preparing by reading a Halloween book from the library, and dressing in Minnie Mouse skeleton shirts. Because, you know, why not?

Then we carved our Jack-o-Latern.

This year, a cantaloupe was our medium. It has made our outside entryway smell amazing, like tasty melon! Yum. Kyler's the designer and artist this year, by the way. Didn't he do awesome?

So, we've done enough prep. Now it's time to dress up and have Calista get told she is beautiful by complete strangers!

Calista was, as you can see, a butterfly. Or a fairy? I don't know. 

She did have a wand, though.

In keeping with the spirit of the day, we made monster faces with Mr. Potato Head.

Actually, who am I kidding? Every Mr. Potato Head face looks this... interesting when Calista is the designer.

We also had a dance party brought to you my the Sesame Street Saxophone.

And the letter H.

Then, we headed to the mall. In exchange for a small donation to the food shelter, Calista got a treat bag, a pumpkin to decorate, and the materials.

Calista's pumpkin!

There were also numerous stores that were giving out candy to trick-or-treaters.

Ready to go look cute in exchange for candy!

And off she goes! Wait up, Calista!

Watching her with the people at the mall was very entertaining. Calista loves people. She likes to be talked to and smiled at. She will walk up to someone... and then stop, once she is several feet away. From this distance, she will continue to smile and flirt... but from a distance. If the person comes to close to her, she retreats back further until she is at a "safe distance" again. The length of the safe distance changes depending on how well she knows you. People at church she will get much closer to, but generally will back away if they seem to want to pick her up. Some people, however, can pick her up. As Calista gets to know you better, your "safe distance" decreases. It's really cute. And rather sensible.

Pushing the stroller at the mall, because, you know, she's a big girl.

There was one woman at the mall Calista would actually take candy from. Calista would take a piece or two, and then immediately reach back for the bowl, drop her pieces back in, and grab two new ones. She did this over and over. The store clerk thought it was adorable... and it was. After she started chewing on the wrappers, though, I made her keep the candy and we moved elsewhere.

 She sucked on the candy wrapper for quite a while, finally managing to break it open and get to the good stuff.

 Yeah! Happy Halloween!

Oh, the silliness

It's another month gone, and it is becoming increasingly obvious that Calista The Baby is being replaced by Calista the Toddler. 

Except in pictures like this. It was a long day.
She is growing up so much. Her favorite things are still books, music, and food. That has not changed.

New Sunday shoes, tights, dress and book!
She loves to run around from one end of a room to another, hiding and playing.

She also enjoys coloring and playdough...

...though getting her not to eat the playdough and the crayons can be a bit difficult.

Dance!
She is such a silly babe.

Hiding behind her plate.

Wearing my shoes...
...and playing with a bucket.

So much fun!

Pretending to be Mommy.

Or just playing with her high chair.
Speaking of chairs...

One day I watch her roll the computer chair from its proper position all the way into her bedroom. She was so proud of herself!

On this day, she had us put on and take off every pair of shoes (or boots) she owns over and over again. So silly!

She enjoyed the Calgary Temple open house, and was relatively good for it. As good as you should expect a 15-month-old to be.

Calista enjoys "helping in the kitchen.

 I even let her wear an apron.

She enjoyed it.
She also enjoys getting into everything.

 Her closet...

The boxes under her changing table...

The diaper pail, What a silly baby!
In addition to being silly, she is also very deliberate. Case in point: Calista was playing with Kyler's phone today, and she handed it to me to hold for a little while so she should play with something else. When she put it in my hand, the phone ended up being face down. This simply would not do! She had to reach over and put it right side up before she could play with the other thing properly. A few minutes later, after playing with the phone again, she handed it to me and the same thing happened. Again, she had to set it right. I love that babe!

We've had some snow the last few days.

 Calista wasn't quite sure what to think.

The she tried to run down the driveway, so I decided to go for a walk with her.

Every once in a while, she'd bend down and brush at the snow on the grass. This went well until...

She fell over. You can even see her head print in the snow. Calista didn't actually cry, but I did decide our walk was probably done.

Now, for some more videos. These three videos I've called "Being Calista (1 and 2)" and one last one I called "Please." These all represent how the happy Calista spends her time.

Finally, she is 15 months today!

Happy day!

The 2012 Edition of the Rasmussen Family

A few weeks ago, we went and got family portraits taken. It's my goal to do them around our anniversary every year... so far, so good. Here are the pictures we got:

Calista, with her new walking skills, would not stay still for the pictures. Putting her on the rocking horse did get her to stay still. Go me.

We took pictures of both Kyler and I with the babe.

 In this one, she is signing "more." She wanted some of the cracker I had.

She started signing "more" again, so I held a cracker up for her behind the camera. This is her attempt to get it.

Family pictures!

When you're one, you can get away with stick your tongue out for pictures and still look adorable.

Kissing the cheeks!

I'm glad we got these done. Hopefully I'll keep doing them, so we can look back and see our family grow up a year at a time. Because, let's not forget, at about the same time last year, this

was the three of us.

The next (14) steps

It's that time again... the Babe is another month older! This time: 14. Can you believe it? I am not sure I can. Calista has had quite a month. Since her 13 month "birthday," she's learned to walk. The day before she learned to walk, though, she kept doing this:

Over and over again. Stand up in the middle of the floor, the slap her hands down on the carpet while making a funny yell. Over and over and over. I think she was experimenting with what to do when she fell? Who knows.

On Kyler's and my anniversary, we went to lunch, a movie, and dinner, kidlet-free. In between lunch and the start of the movie, we wandered around the mall with the cinema in it. And we found Beatles Rock Band for 8 bucks. Happy anniversary, us.

The result:

The girl loves to dance! And we're teaching her proper music appreciation early.

Some days are easier than others, which is life. The days that are hardest are the ones Calista decides she doesn't want to nap.

Which often end up like this. Her, asleep, way later than I'd like, and not in bed. At least she's cute, right?

Calista is also quite the little helper. She loves to feel like she's a part of the action.

Screwdrivers are for eating, right?

Kitchen drawers are some of the best toys ever.

Hmm, 1/4 cup? I really wanted the 1/3. Oh well, I guess this will have to do.

This is how you make food, right?

I discovered that I need to go through her laundry basket before I just toss it all in the wash.

Yeah, she just pulled a book out. And the other day, when I didn't check, a green megablok got a nice bath. Whoops.

Since she's starting walking, the park has gone from just a slightly fun place with an awesome swing

to an awesome place with an awesome swing and rocks!

We're still working on getting her not to eat the rocks. The best way is to accept them when she's offering them to you. If you don't let her give the rocks to you, she'll stick them in her mouth. What can I say? She's a baby who will have a healthy immune system?

I've been experimenting with Calista's hair. It's starting to get a little longer and fuller, so I decided to see if I could put pigtails in it.

I can! But she hates getting them done, and having me pull her hair taunt while I get the rubber bands in.

Do barrettes work better? Well... they work, and she is less grumpy about getting them put in. Success.

In the entry way, playing with the diaper bag and shoes. Silly baby girl.

Speaking of silly babies... we were folding laundry before Calista went to bed, and she took one of my (folded) shirts and kept playing with it. So I put it on her.

This was what she wore to bed that night. She loved it.

Since she's walking and getting taller, Calista can get into a lot of things...

Like flour that I, uh, left out within her reach. Oops. She tried to eat it. And then started coughing. And had to have a bath at 9 AM.

Calista absolutely loves to read. She will come up to you, a book in her hand, and then hold it out to you. Once you take it, she holds both arms out, asking to be picked up. Into your lap she goes, where she will gladly help you turn the pages on her book. Once it's done and you set it aside, she will slide off your lap, go get another book from her shelf or the library bag, and repeat the process. Sometimes over, and over, and over.

At not even 10 AM the other morning, this was our stack of books we'd already read that day. She's really good at following the direction to go get a different book. It's awesome. Actually, she's really good at following many directions. She will go to the bathroom if you ask her if she needs to use the toilet. She will go to the changing table in her room (stopping to pick up a toy on the way) and stand there waiting to be picked up if you tell her it's time to change her diaper. She will start heading for the door if you ask her if she wants to go outside. It's so cute, and also... almost a little sad. The Babe really is starting to grow up.

But sometimes, like when she's sick, Calista is back to being a baby again.

Including waking up every 2 hours or so. She had a stuffy nose and couldn't breath very well. Poor babe.

She's feeling a lot better today, though. Which is good, because she is 14 months!

Play a little birthday tune!