Little helper

I remember when I was a kid and I thought it was so fun to wash the dishes. I don't remember when I changed my mind about what's fun. As shown above, Allie likes to try to help Dada take Monk out. She will reach down and try to put the leash on Monk and she tries to follow them outside. I can't help but wonder, when we start asking Allie to take the dog out, will she still think thats fun?

Our smart 17-month-old

She may not be verbalizing too much yet, but she's not dumb! She's soaking everything in. This week has been one of those where she's been kinda the same for awhile and now all of the sudden she is learning and doing all kinds of new things!

Allie can point out her nose and her feet, when she wants to, of course. Dada was talking about football the other day (because when doesn't he talk about football?) and she pointed to his football up on the fireplace mantel. She's had a runny nose for a few days and now she will wipe her nose if we give her the cloth and ask her to do it. Of course, thats also subject to her whim.

She's also signing "please" and "wash hands." Its funny to see the way she carries on sometimes. She hates to have her face washed, but seems to love washing her hands and the kitchen sink. Dada and I are always saying this, but its getting more important by the day: we must watch what we say!

Today Allie is 17 months old! Its still hard to believe she's growing up so fast. She runs around and has entered the temper tantrum stage as well as "play hard and get overtired later" and "ham it up for the camera and guests" stages. We had all three of these together last night, which made for a rough, but entertaining evening!

Our 17-month-old has just added another tooth to her mouth! She now has 12, four front teeth each on the top and bottom and four molars. It was the fourth bottom tooth that cut this week and made her a little miserable on Sunday and Monday.

We're so so many new things, I just hope the weather finally warms up so we can start exploring outside more!

The Madison Children's Museum

Today we made our first trip to the Madison Children's Museum. Its definitely not our last! We met up with Bridget, who is our daycare person, and her daughters Taegan and Gianna. We went in together on a membership. Allie loved the museum. It was so awesome to see her having so much fun! We can't wait to go back.

On the elevator going up to the museum. It was a mad house today! We heard its not usually that crazy, but perhaps today because its spring break.

With Gianna and Taegan. Allie loves these girls, especially Taegan.

There's a big area with all kinds of blocks and things to build with. We sat down and played with the blocks for awhile.

Then we went over to the other end of the room where there were all kinds of things to use for "baking" pies. And once the pie was ready, it went through the oven!

There is a car to drive and also to take pictures in. Allie liked driving it.

They have a big thing for the older kids to climb to the top and then go down this huge slide. Allie's too small for that, but she was just the right size for the saddle sitting on top of the slide!

We worked up quite the hunger and thirst, so we went to the cafeteria for a snack. Allie enjoyed her juice box along with some cheese and an orange.

And to end the day we went up to the rooftop where Allie saw some chickens. She loved the chickens.

On the rooftop with the Capital in the background. I'm not sure what I was looking at here. It was cold, I think about 30 degrees. But it wasn't too bad walking around up there.

It was cold, however, walking to our cars. We took another quick picture before heading home. It was a fun day. I wish I could say it tuckered Allie out early, considering she also didn't nap well today, but it didn't. We put her to bed at her normal time of 7:30 and she didn't go to sleep until after 8! I'm hoping that means she'll sleep in tomorrow.

Friday flashback

I've finally started going through our videos from Allie's life so far. I'm doing some editing and then I'll finally make the DVD that I've been talking about for the last year! Anyway, here's a flashback video to when Allie was only a week old, Nov. 8, 2010.

Enjoying the view

Last night Mama and Dada switched Allie's carseat from rear facing to forward. New recommendations came out a few days ago suggesting keeping seats rear facing until age 2, but we could tell her legs were getting long and she looked scrunched in her seat. Not to mention we wanted to be able to see her and let her see the world go by.

She was a little confused at first but then she decided she liked it. This morning she alternated between staring in disbelief at Mama and Dada (perhaps she didn't realize we rode in the car with her?) and staring at the trees and other scenery out the window.

I haven't put her in or taken her out of the seat yet, but Dada says its a lot easier facing the front and next to the door instead of in the middle of the back seat. And her feet extend well beyond the end of the seat, so she definitely fits better now. At the end of the day we agreed that changing the carseat was a good idea, a win-win for all of us!

Priorities

Mama got a package in the mail yesterday.

What could it be? Its Mama's new running shoes! Last week I discovered a Web site that had the exact same shoes I have now for a closeout price of $39.88! Even though it really wasn't in our budget I jumped on it and ordered them (with Dada's blessing, of course).

I was more interested in the item inside the box. Allie, however, was more interested in the box, or actually, two boxes! Notice how the pretty new shoes are tossed to the side. I guess we know where her priorities lie.

Today after work the boxes became places to sit or an object to use as a stool.

It was also an instant play center!

This simple box that gave Allie so much amusement reminds me how fun it is to look at life through her eyes.

As for the shoes, Mama hasn't worn them yet. I ran in the morning before they arrived and won't run again until Friday morning. But I might wear them to bodypump on Thursday morning. They're so pretty. :-)

Rainy day

Spring seems to have gone away for now. Its been rainy all day and we're supposed to get some snow tonight or tomorrow. And its cold. Boo rain, snow and cold!

Allie doesn't seem to mind it though. We set her loose outside the garage to see what she'd do. Well, she ran away without even noticing the rain! But mama and dada did mind the rain and it started thundering, so we went inside where it was warm!

Can she be anymore adorable?

A swingin' good time

Saturday morning started perfect. We had breakfast together and then Allie and Mama set out for a walk to the park while Dada went grocery shopping. Allie enjoyed the stroller and Mama enjoyed some exercise in our hilly neighborhood pushing the stroller. I've never tried to run with the stroller because walking is hard enough!

Then we got to the park. We played on the jungle gym again and then hit the swings! The swing area was wet last time we went so we couldn't.

Allie loved the swing. You can't tell very well from this camera phone picture, but she enjoyed it. Mama enjoyed pushing the swing and seeing her huge smile!

The only issue came when it was time to get out. I had to lift her out and then get her shoes out of the holes! We went to play some more, but Allie just sat down, so we decided it was time to go home. Allie had a snack of some cheese and a muffin and then had a good nap. A morning of playing can wear out a little girl!

Friday flashback: Growing and shrinking

Look how different we both look compared to last year! One of us is bigger, and the other is smaller. Which is which?

March 13, 2011

March 14, 2010

No mountain too high

Yep, she's climbing up on the couch now. With the cushion off, its just the right height. Keeping Allie contained just got harder.

Fun at the park

Before dinner tonight we went for a walk to the park. We let Allie out of the stroller and played on the playground a bit. It was so fun. It was just starting to get cold when Allie was really starting to walk last fall, so we didn't make many trips to the park. Now that spring is springing, however, we will be going there a lot.

The playground surface is pebbles and Allie had to "study" them with her feet before she'd walk on them.

Then when she was comfortable she went for the jungle gym!

And of course when she got up to the top, she went straight for the tube you crawl through. I could fit through there with her, but Dada had to climb up the other side so she wouldn't fall out of the tube. This was funny as it was a little awkward for Dada to climb up there!

Then Dada took Allie down the slide. They both had a ton of fun.

And then Allie walked around some more. We only had a half hour while the ham baked, so we didn't get to stay too long. But it was long enough! We let Allie walk the whole path from the park back to the road. If we'd had more time we would have let her walk as far as she wanted. She looked so off balance the whole time that we thought she'd fall. We also thought she'd go straight to the mud. She did niether. She was such a big girl!

I love these pictures. I'm not a photographer by any means and my camera isn't very fancy. But I love the lighting right before dusk! I'll have to get some of these framed!

This could have turned out badly

Well, it happened. I think this happens with all babies, at least I've heard about it with a lot of babies. Allie took of her diaper in the crib last night. Most of her sleepers are zip-up, but she still has two with snaps. She unsnapped the one she wore last night and undid her diaper. It was quite amusing to see in the morning because she was still wearing the sleeper, unsnapped, and the diaper was hanging down out of the sleeper! But she did pee all over herself, her sleeper and the crib.

It could have been worse though! Most of the time when I hear about this happened, the baby poops and rubs it all over the place! Instead we just ended up running later than usual because we had to give Allie a bath.

Freedom!

We took a mini-walk around the driveway when we got home from work today. Allie took advantage by trying to get away. She didn't want to come inside!

Enjoying the ride

Since finding out recently this blog has more fans than I though, I've been making more effort to take more pictures and write here more often. I've been enjoying it because its making me appreciate my family so much more! Its a lot of fun sharing here because I pay more attention to the every day fun stuff than I would otherwise. I hope anyone reading here enjoys reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Chocolate milk love

She loves milk, and she loves chocolate. So what's not to love about chocolate milk?

We went out for pizza yesterday. Last week Doug and I were talking about how we hadn't had pizza since starting weight watchers and we'd really like to have some. The next day I got a coupon from Pizzaria Uno in my email so we took is as a sign. We had deep dish pizza and it was SOOOOO good and SOOOOO worth the points (18 per slice!). Allie also tried chocolate milk for the first time and fell in love! We also found that she's become quite good at drinking from a straw, which will make going out to eat easier. It was a fun family outing and the perfect way to finish the weekend.

Not finished yet

Last weekend Doug was reading through a book of poems and stories for new mothers that was in Allie's room. He found this poem that seems espcially appropriate at this time in Allie's life (the original poem is about a boy, so I changed those parts).

"Remind me , God, that she is not finished yet.
When she tests me and I grow intolerant,
Let my example be a good one.
Help me discipline this child with affection.
Should I grow angry, let me guard against unkindness.
Support me in helping her to be curious,
to sample the wonders of the world.
When I find motherhood frightening,
grace me with strength.
Bless me with energy to do this urgent work.
When I forget that she is only a child, help me
to remember."

-Linda Goodman Robiner

I've been repeating that first line a lot since I first read it!

Building blocks

Last weekend we gave Allie two toys that we had originally gotten her for her birthday. We decided we'd gotten too much and saved the toys for Christmas. But when December went crazy and we didn't really do Christmas, we didn't give them to her then either.

One was a fisher price little people train with building blocks, the kind that snap together. She loved them instantly and caught onto the blocks almost as quickly. We came home from work every day this week and she went for the blocks.

The other toy was a xylophone. She hasn't caught onto that one as quickly, but she does enjoy it. We've been talking lately about getting Allie some more toys to stimulate her brain and these definitely fit the bill!