Saturday, February 14, 2009

25 Things about Allison

These surveys are floating around everywhere these days, and I can never think of many interesting things to say about myself so I'm filling it out for Allison instead.

1. She used to sleep on her back as a baby and grew to HATE being on her tummy, but now that she can crawl I frequently find her sleeping on her tummy with her knees tucked under her while sucking her thumb. It's so cute!
2. She has learned to feed Maggie all of her Cheerios from her high chair.
3. She has an umbilical hernia, which causes her belly button to pouch out or look swollen. The doctor said it should fix itself by the time she is 3 or 4 years old. I've gotten used to it, but I frequently ask her where her 'big 'ole belly button' is.
4. She favors her left hand, and always has.
5. When she's tired she gets very excitable and will very quickly alternate between a laugh and a cry. Now that's a girl!
6. She hardly ever stands flat-footed. She's usually up on her toes!
7. She loves animals more than people. We are definitely taking her to the zoo next year.
8. She likes to play in her crib after a nap.
9. She sleeps with a stuffed sheep that we call her 'fat sheep'. She likes to cram it in her face and roll around with it. Ever since she was little she has enjoyed sleeping with something against her face. It used to scare me, but I've accepted it.
10. She knows that camera = smile.
11. She loves things she cant have, and since learning object permanence, I can't hide them from her as easily.
12. She says 'da da' but not 'mama' no matter how much I work with her - although she has no idea what she's saying.
13. She's fascinated by older children. She will stop whatever she's doing to stare at them.
14. She only really pays attention to me when I sing to her - she LOVES music. She only watches TV when I put on her Praise Baby DVD (Thanks Margaret!) or when I'm watching a sitcom and the theme song comes on at the beginning.
15. She lets me cut her fingernails without any struggle.
16. We found out accidentally that she likes chicken crispers from Chili's. Our 2 year old neighbor shared with her at dinner when we weren't looking!
17. She has started noticing when I eat something and will watch me with her mouth open as if asking me to share.
18. She has freaky night vision. The other night I was in her room about to give her a bottle and I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face but she reached out for the bottle when I picked it up. I figured at first that her eyes had adjusted better than mine, but after sitting there 10 minutes I still couldn't even make out her face.
19. She likes to fake cough.
20.She has a long torso and short legs like her Mama.
21. She hates to sit still, but there are a few places that she will accept it like her carrier or in her highchair.
22. She almost always has her mouth open and her tongue out.
23. She doesn't like cold food and won't accept a bottle unless it is at least warm - although we are working on eating yogurt.
24. She is a lot stronger than I thought she would be. I have a hard time prying things out of her little fingers - like her spoon!.
25. She kicks her legs when she eats, and if I don't feed her fast enough she speeds up the kicking.

Now that you've read all that, here are some pictures to reward you! I've mentioned a few times that we had to lower Allison's bed because she was climbing up the side too well. I finally got some pictures of her attempts at escape. Can you tell she's pretty proud of herself?





Friday, February 13, 2009

Sweet Kisses

In honor of the upcoming "holiday", I thought I would share something very precious that melts my heart. Lately, I've spent a lot of time playing with Allison on the floor because she is very intent on standing whether I help her or not. She will pull up on anything she can get her hands on! That's not to say that she is any good at it yet, but she tries. Most of the time she gets half way to standing and will fall back or to the side. I believe that if she were my second kid I might just let her figure it out the hard way, while earning a few bruises in the process, but instead I sit with her and make sure that she doesn't hit her head on the way down. So what is a mom to do while sitting on the floor watching her baby play? I kiss her! Most of the time I will kiss her on the neck and make a game of it because it makes her laugh, but I also kiss her chubby cheeks, her forehead, and her hands when she tries to stick them in my mouth.

Last week I read an article on Baby Center talking about how at this age, my baby may start trying to give me a kiss back! I take all of those things as gospel if I really want her to learn it, so I've been waiting - but I didn't have to wait too long... Just two days ago while I was sitting beside her on the floor she leaned in to me, nuzzled her head into my neck, and licked me! Afterward, she went right back to playing so I figured it may have been my imagination. But my little gift from God continued leaning over to "kiss" me throughout that day, and ever since. I have to say, that even if she is just mimicking, it was still one of the most precious moments we've had. Every day her attachment to me seems to grow and I am eating it up! These are the times that make every hard time with her worth it.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of her in her Valentines outfit that she got at shower from my old office. (Thanks Windy!) Check out her perfect push-up (last pic) and the new pyramid stance she likes!





Thursday, February 5, 2009

Eight Months

If any of you are keeping up with Allison's age, you'll know that she turned eight months today. Assuming you made it that far, you'd also know that I take pictures of Allison every month, so you are probably expecting this post. You were right! This month was no different than the rest. Here we go with an insane number of pictures. This is a great time to work in that extra scrolling practice you've been putting off. Enjoy! (WARNING: Naked hineys in this entry!)