Things I don't want to forget

When I wrote the last blog I knew I was leaving out some really adorable things that I had intended to write down simply because I never want to forget the way she was at this early stage in toddler-hood.

1) The other day I was visiting with my neighbor in the front yard while Allison entertained herself with leaves, flowers and acorns. Then I hear 'weee! weee!' over and over. I turn around to see her seated on our driveway (that has a fairly steep slope) and she is very slowly scooting her way down. Then I realized that she is pretending that the driveway is a slide at the playground because that's exactly what she says when she goes down it! Weeeee!

2) She discovered airplanes yesterday. I heard a loud one fly over our house when we were outside and I pointed it out to her. She was VERY excited and spent the rest of our time looking for them. At one point she pointed to one passing by and said 'PANE!"

3) She is learning to build with legos. At first she was only interested in taking apart anything that was assembled, but she has begun experimenting with putting them together herself. She has finally figured out that both pieces have to be facing up, but her alignment is still off. Instead she compensates by just pushing as hard as she can (which obviously doesn't work). Her arm will actually shake from the strain! When she gets it right she claps for herself.

4) A few weeks ago she was watching football with Frank and she noticed the refs giving the signal for a touchdown so she put both arms up by her head. Then the TV panned to some fans clapping and going nuts so she started clapping. That's been a favorite ever since. We say 'touchdown' and her arms go up, followed by clapping and 'yay!'. Fast forward to last Monday night. We were driving home from dinner at my moms and she was really fussy in the back seat and I figured she was just ready for bed. Then I look back and realize that she's got her arms up in 'touchdown' and was just mad that we weren't playing along. We had about 10 rounds of 'touchdown - yay!'.

5) She also is learning 'peek-a-boo'. The cutest thing though, is that she doesn't understand that the point is to cover your eyes, so she covers either her mouth or her cheeks. Then she throws her hands back with a great amount of enthusiasm. Sometimes she will cover my face and do the same thing. :)

6) She is learning to sing. Back when she was really young I remember asking Frank to put her to bed and sing to her. 'What should I sing?' he asks. I blanked on a lullaby and just suggested he sing the ABC's. He's been putting her to bed with that song ever since. Now when she knows it's time she will start singing before he does. It goes 'Aaaa Ccccc D'. She doesn't have the letters perfect but she's right on with the tune. She also tries to sing the 'D-D-D-D-D Dora' song, which comes out as just a bunch of D sounds.

7) Her new dance move reminds me of Ray Charles. She sways really big from side to side using mostly her head.

8) She past the stage of not wanting something on her head few months ago, and will now bring me a bow and put her head down and wait for me to put it in her hair.

9) She can now walk backward, and is pretty proud of herself for that.

10) She got a pack of stickers about a week ago from a friend of mine. I started by putting them on the back of her hands so now she assumes that that is the only place a sticker can go. She will point to them and hold her hands out palms down waiting for one on each hand.

I think that does it for now. Sorry, no pictures today. :(

Beep!

If you keep up with me on Facebook, you know Allison was sick all last week. She ran a 103+ fever for 4 days, had swollen lymph nodes, wouldn't eat, and she was so miserable that she ended up sleeping with me and Frank for a couple of nights (we NEVER do that!!). The doctor told us it could be the flu (even though she tested negative), mono, or tonsillitis, but without blood work we couldn't confirm. Once her fever went away she was still very tired, but we assumed it was because she had had such a long week battling the fever and not eating. She is also cutting two molars, so we factored that in. But now she's sleeping around 17 hours a day or more, which includes a morning nap that she hasn't had in about 2 months. This kid has mono. I'm totally convinced. I was baffled at where she could have contracted it until I read up on mono on Web MD and found that since I had it in HS, I can still be a carrier of the virus the rest of my life. It has active and dormant periods, and when it's active I have the chance of spreading it. I also learned that up to 50% of people are immune to the virus - which explains how I've never given it to Frank. Luckily, you will only ever display symptoms of mono once in your life - so I'm safe! I say all that so people don't feel like they need to stay away. In another week Allison will be less contagious, but even then you're fine as long as you don't let her lick you! No need to quarantine the family!

Now that that's out of the way, here is all the cute Allison news. When she was sick last week I was checking her temp every couple of hours, and she didn't like to be bothered with the big beeping thing in her ear so I made a game of it, and made a big deal when it beeped. She caught on and started taking the thermometer and putting in either her ear or her sheep's ear and saying 'beeeeep!'.

She's picking up new words all the time, but she doesn't repeat them often. Some of her new words are: puppy (which she says very clear), baby, socks, cookie, cracker, Dora, eye, nose, flower, cheese, and papa. I'm sure there are some I'm forgetting. It's strange to hear her talking a little. She usually surprises me with her words. I'll have no idea she can say something and one day she'll just point and label something out of nowhere. We are trying to teach her a few words for bath time - faucet, shampoo, and fish (one of her bath toys). So far she's only attempting shampoo. It always comes out either pey-pey (??) or pooooo. Maybe I should have called it soap. :) When we were at the grocery store a couple weeks ago she saw the shampoo on an isle and started telling me 'pey-pey! pey-pey'!

She is also finally beginning to adopt the new sheep we got her about 3 months ago (there's apparently a very long probation period). We bought it hoping she wouldn't notice that it wasn't her favorite sheep since it is EXACTLY the same minus all the wear. Nope, she knew immediately and the new sheep had been shunned. Recently though, she's been carrying both of them around the house and seems very proud of her flock.

She and Maggie continue to be buddies. She likes to pet her while telling her 'puppy' over and over. This morning she tried very hard to cuddle with Maggie, but Maggie was confused and bolted before Allison could finish leaning on her.

In not so cute news she is really discovering her opinion and how to express them (fits). I'm a little overwhelmed to see her act that way sometimes, and hoping I can be consistent enough to teach her correct behavior. I'm reading a book right now called 'Parenting by the Book', and it's giving me a lot of perspective on how to parent her 'God's way' and to always keep in mind the goal of raising a godly woman of character who is independent, selfless, and humble. That feels like a tall order in our society, but the tips in the book are very helpful. I'd recommend it to anyone who has a child around the age of two since the book suggests that about that time (maybe sooner) is when parenting takes a new turn and should be WELL established by age three. Just my two cents.

Cutest Ever...

We took Allison trick-or-treating last night for the first time! She was dressed as a fairy using a bunch of random things I had collected over the last couple of months. You'll recognize the tutu from her first birthday. Anyway, needless to say she was adorable!! The outfit turned out better than I had imagined, and I think she really liked it too.

Our neighbors were taking their daughter Ellie out at the same time, so we all went door to door together. Allison watched Ellie very closely as she dug into bowls of candy and put them in her bag. She caught on right away and started reaching for the large quantities of bright colored wrappers. Seriously, SO precious! I think we hit about 6-7 houses and then decided the girls had more candy than they'd ever be allowed to eat so we spent the rest of the evening handing out candy from our neighbors garage. I let Allison have a very small dum-dum (sucker) but I don't think she'll have any more candy.

These pictures are going to make you melt!!

These were taken at our house right after I finished getting her dressed. She was so busy watching Elmo, though, that she hadn't noticed the outfit. :)

Still focused on the TV.

That's the best her wings looked all night. They were way to big for her!

Now she gets it. She's really digging her costume at this point!

Prancing around the house. She was very proud of her pumpkin bucket.

Cant you tell? This is my favorite picture, by the way.

Showing off for dad.

This is her racing out of the front door to meet Ellie.

Now she's off to hunt acorns. It didn't take her long to stash a few in her bucket.

Still looking for acorns. This is what we do on days that are pretty. I sit in the front yard and she entertains herself by collecting acorns in a cup. Why should this night be any different?

Ellie hugging Allison

Ok, enough with the acorns.

Her first piece of candy! She was too excited to put it in her bucket at first.

But she's got the hang of it now and she's off to the next house!

Trick or Treat!!!

Punkin at the Pumpkin Patch

Frank and I took Allison to a pumpkin patch this morning, and she had so much fun! There were lots of goats, cows, and sheep for her to feed, a hay ride, and of course a lot of pumpkins to take pictures with. I didn't get any pictures of her feeding the animals b/c I was working the video camera instead - sorry! There were some goats to the right as we entered, and Frank showed her how to feed a pellet to one. She really enjoyed that, but apparently had only bonded with that first goat and refused to feed any others. She was also happy to feed the sheep (which I thought were quite agressive) and they looked to me like they might eat her tiny hand.

The smell was a bit overwhelming, and I wasn't crazy about all the dirt and mud (it's been raining all week). So any notions I've had previously about ever having any farm animals just went right out the window. Although I can't pretend that any notion ever existed.

We skipped the hay ride b/c Allison was getting tired, but did manage to get a few pictures of her before we left. She was uncooperative like most 1 year olds. :) She really wanted to pick up all the pumpkins so I had a hard time getting her to sit still long enough to snap a photo. We are taking our family portrait tomorrow, which I'm sure will be just as interesting.

I know I've been remiss at blogging lately so here are some fresh photos of Allison. Soak it all in!

Allison Update

I'm so long overdue for an Allison update. She had her 15 month well visit two weeks ago, and I meant to do it then, but time gets away from me somehow.

For all of you moms who are interested, she is 33% in weight and 83% in height - long and lean! She totally didn't get that from me! However, she did get my long torso and short legs (I'm so sorry, baby!). This percentage ratio plus my body type have made it extra challenging for me to find clothes that fit her. She needs 18M tops to fit her torso, but since she is so skinny they swallow her. But she wears 12M pants for the waist (and some of those are STILL to big) but they are the right length. I laugh when I see 18M pants and hold them up to her. The hem of the pants go past her toes when they are pointed. There's just no way those are going to fit anytime soon. That's why I put her in dresses so often - no worries about length or waist size! However, she now wears a size 5 in shoes, which I think is either big or average for her age.

Allison has also gotten her 8th tooth this week. She now has the top four and bottom four. I'm convinced that I will see more though very soon. Today she was running a low fever and is very - I repeat, VERY - grumpy. She's been on a one nap schedule for a few weeks, and we've been very successful at it. Today, though, she really needed some extra rest (or maybe that was just me!) and so I let her take a 30 minute morning nap with the assumption that she would wake up maybe not happy, but at least content. Boy was I wrong!! Almost from the moment I took her out of her crib I could tell that she was in one of her moods. That's also when I noticed that she felt extra warm, so that may have something to do with it. So I started to think of things that make her happy. First on the list - a Ritz cracker and some juice. The juice was rejected but she held onto the cracker like it was a lifeline. I sat her on a chair to eat the precious cracker and went to put something away in the kitchen and she immediately starts wailing. So I pick her up and rocked her while she sobbed. At some point she drops her cracker and I pick it up and take a small bite of it to show her how good it is which was the WRONG thing to do apparently because that bumped up the crying to screaming. Ok, so what else does she like? Baths! I start running the water and try to take off her shirt but she is still clutching the cracker which wont fit through the sleeve so I have to take it away very briefly, but you can guess the reaction. Once the tub is filled, I put her in and start showing her toys, but she continues to cry and just wants to get out so I grab her and hold her again, but this time my shirt gets all wet! Plan three - Praise Baby! After the failed attempt at a bath, I wrap her in her duck towel and put her on the couch (cracker in hand!) and I turn on her favorite Praise Baby DVD. She looked so cute in her duck towel, though, that I couldn't resist snapping a couple of pictures before I ran to get her diaper and a change of clothes. At some point between the time I took the picture and got back with her diaper she managed to pee on my couch (sigh) but she HAS started eating her cracker finally! This day is not over, and I fully expect more drama tonight. In fact, she's crying in her crib right now - just an hour into her 2 hour nap time.



Allison is also talking more than I expect her to. Her favorite thing is animal noises. She currently knows: cow, dog, chicken, monkey, duck, lion, snake, and sheep. I haven't managed to get it on video yet, but about once a day she'll actually perform and do all of them when asked. As far as actual words, she says: sit down, cracker, Maggie (Maaaaa), shoes, no, yeah, baby, diaper, kiss, ball, wow, and of course mama and daddy. She is starting to imitate words now, too. Last night I was babysitting for a little girl named Rylee, and I asked Allison to say her name and she responded with "ReRe". So cute!

Watch out! She can also find her belly button, and YOURS! She likes to lift her her shirt and peek at her belly-b, and then lift yours up as well! Or, if you're really lucky like me, she'll pull out the top of your shirt while you're holding her to see if she can see it from that angle! :)

Lately she has gotten much pickier about what she will eat. I sooo miss the days that she would cram anything into her mouth that I put on her tray. The child wont even eat mashed potatoes! That's not American! One thing that I've discovered that really helps is ketchup! She LOVES to dip about anything in it! It's messy, but at least she eats!



No more time for updates, since she is now up from her nap and banging on my keyboard! Sorry I don't have more pictures!

2009 Book List

I've always loved to read, but this year I can't seem to get enough. Here are the books I've read so far this year (in no particular order). After I finish the one I've got, I'll have finished everything in the house that I would find interesting. I've got some gift cards to Borders, so if you have any suggestions (based on what you can see that I like below) I'd love to hear them!

1. Crime and Punishment - Dostoyevsky
2. Emma - Jane Austen
3. Persuasion - Jane Austen
4. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
5. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
6. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
7. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
8. The Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult
9. The Memory Keepers Daughter - Kim Edwards
10. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Alexander Solzhenitsyn
11. About a Boy - Nick Hornby
12. The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
13. To the Golden Shore - Courtney Anderson
14. The Testament - John Grisham
15. Same Kind of Different As Me
16. The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (reading now)

Holiday Card Designs

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had some fabulous holiday cards lined up for this year, and they are now ready to be debuted! Take a look at your amazing selection! What do you guys think??

The "Divine" collection comes in either a fresh look with greens, blues, and browns or I can change them to a more traditional red and green design. The possibilities are endless!! The rest of the patterns are in a classic vintage style that is very popular this year. This is going to be a tough decision, but you can't go wrong.

Each style is printed front and back on a nice card-stock paper (envelopes included). The gray area represents where a photo will be placed. Book your holiday session soon and take advantage of these amazing designs!!

www.kristinbarnettphotography.com

p.s. - take a look at my site to check out my new logo!!