So grown up

We're slowly becoming aware that our itty bitty baby isn't so itty bitty anymore as Allie approaches her second birthday. She is one amazing little girl. She's growing up and we are constantly on our toes. A few weeks ago we had to move her art table up into her bedroom because she discovered that she could climb on it!

She already knows what she wants: The keys and the phone! And the toy versions just don't do. Oh my.

She tries to fill some big shoes. She loves playing with shoes and she especially loves flip flops as well as untying our shoes as we are putting them on.

I'm not really sure what she was doing here, but her expression was really intense and priceless.

Our neighbor feeds the ducks from his balcony so we see the ducks a lot. Dada showed them to her and she was mesmerized. She looks for them now whenever we go down to the garage.

One of our favorite things Allie does these days is sing. We especially like singing at bedtime. I wish I could take a picture. We recently gave her a blanket. She doesn't usually keep it on, but we cover her up with it (its one of Mama's baby blankets!) and give her Hippo and Penny. Then Dada and Mama sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," in all our out-of-tune glory. It doesn't sound pretty, but Allie loves it. She sometimes sings along in her gibberish language. And when we're done she claps, sometimes so enthusiastically that she tosses Hippo and Penny. We give them back to her and pat her on the tummy and say good night.

Eating is still hit or miss. I suspect it will be like that for a long time to come. But we recently discovered that she likes plums, in fact, she loves them. She has her old favorites, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni & cheese, spaghetti, pizza. But some days she won't even eat those. What she eats one day most certainly isn't what she'll eat the next.

There's almost nothing she won't repeat after us. I had her saying "Durso" today. She says "Allie," but doesn't put together "Allie Durso."

She plays games with Mama and Dada or by herself. She got a play picnic basket from Grandma and Grandpa and spends a lot of time taking things out and putting them back in, drinking out of the cups and eating from the plates. There's a little red and white checkered napkin that she uses to "cleeeeen up." Or she'll set the picnic on it like a table cloth. She plays with her blocks, building tall towers. Capitalizing on how she likes to "cleeeeen up," we make an effort to pick up the toys together before bed. 

She's growing up though. Over the last few weeks she seems to have discovered fear or at least more separation anxiety. She cries when one of us leaves the room. She's also started the tantrum habit. Sometimes there's a tantrum over every little thing. We've definitely learned to ignore this weekend! Naps are getting shorter, I'm afraid she might be moving toward giving them up entirely. Compounding this she hasn't been sleeping well. We hear her crying in her sleep and saying "no no," like maybe she's having a bad dream. I don't want my baby to be afraid!  

Its been such an adventure. I love seeing her learn. I love her quizzical looks as she studies a person or thing. She still springs up the moment we come into her room in the morning and gives us a smile and then promptly lays her head on a shoulder to try and go back to sleep. Her face lights up whenever we mention Baby Einstein or when we turn her music on in the car. What else will she learn in the coming year?