the destroyer...

Caleb and I taught Sunbeams in our last ward.  There was an adorable little girl in our class whom we dubbed "the destroyer".  Anything she got her hands on turned to shreds.  Stickers, paper, crayons, erasers, even earrings.

Well, as it turns out, our own little Jane is not so different.  But instead of shredding things with her hands, she uses her teeth to wreak havoc in our house.

Things that babies ought to be chewing on?  No thank you!  Teething rings and rubbery toys hold no appeal.  Board books that are supposed to be durable?  Yes please!  That thick cardboard is too tempting for her little rodent teeth.  And anything with an adhesive label?  Irresistible.

Her little teeth marks can be seen all around our house.  These are just a few examples:

christmas time...

Christmas is so much more fun with a 13 month old!  It is also more challenging.  All of our Christmas decorations are in storage, so we bought two $2.50 tubes of shatter-resistant ornaments on Black Friday.  As it turns out, it was the only way to go.  None of that, "Our baby looked at the tree for about 10 minutes and hasn't gone near it since," for us!  Every day, for the whole month and at every house we visited, Jane was a tree destroyer.  She never left them alone.  

I didn't even get a chance for the before picture, but here is the after.

Doesn't look like a lot of ornanments, does it?
That's because they were hidden all over the house--

I'm wondering if Easter might be more Jane's style.  

And so shameless going about her dirty business:

(if anyone knows how to make the video rotate, I'd love to learn!)

We went to Utah for Christmas, and, despite the fact that it didn't snow, it was wonderful!

Jane's Christmas dress

Ward Christmas party (ugly sweater theme, obviously)

Opening some presents before leaving for Utah
(the bulky ones that wouldn't fit into the car)

(these last two pictures make you wonder why it

took Caleb and I so long to get married!)

Opening presents in Utah

Grandpa Jer showing off his new "gripper" gloves

It really was a great Christmas!  Although more complicated, Christmas is definitely enhanced by the bright eyes of little ones.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY 2012!