Cuteness

These are some random shots from the week.

Ally had a dress on, so here she is sporting the bloomers - but these 2 pics are of her "between changes"Lately she has caught on to the actually talking on the phone, so she walks around talking on the phone and then says Bye..bye bye. She started doing it after Becky said Bye and hung up the phone. It is just hilarious (to us at least).

Ally is resisting her bath - show is showing Pooh the outside.

The picture above is for my mom. This is Ally walking around with her sock/ice cube dangling from her mouth. My mom's greatest triumph so far as a Grandma is putting an ice cube inside a clean wet sock. Then Ally (or any child) can suck on it and it soothes her gums. Becky refused to try it - it grosses her out, then in Florida a dew months ago my mom made one for Ally and Ally LOVED it. Apparently Ally is teething again because one night this week she got a sock out of her dresser, walked to the sink and held it up for the ice cube and water. She was so happy to get it and suck. I just think the whole thing is hilarious.

Ally got a new stuffed animal this week; Cookie Monster.

This shot probably belongs in the Testing post below. Ally somehow got my work keys and wanted to suck on them. I just love the expression her face. I can only imagine what she is thinking.

My sweet sweet baby girl. (yes those are the keys wrapped neatly in her hands.)


Pink sunglasses!

Back porch fun

We love our house. Most people I know love their house, but one of the best things about our house is the back porch. It is just big enough for our grill and some chairs and a few things for Ally. We recently purchased a new grill and this cute folding chair for Ally. Won't the chair be great for the beach this summer? Ally - standing on her new chair. She is so small that in order to get into most chairs she climbs up and then stands in them, while we tell her to sit down on her bottom.
Sitting down like a well behaved toddler.I thought it was so funny - she was so intent staring at our neighbor's yard with her dress all hoisted up.
Then she squatted down and I could see what she was looking at - its Midnight, the dog next door! (Midnight is a black c.ocker s.paniel that is the black blob on the left next to Ally's head.)



Here is Ally sitting in her wagon. She got this wagon from her friends the Grecos. Thank you again for the great wagon. Ally as you can tell really likes to sit in it.
And climb in and out of it.



Smile shot!

Singing

We, like our parents before us, sing with Ally a lot. She loves music - asks for it to be on in the car and at home all the time. Lately she has learned to sing along with some of her favorites. Itsy Bitsy Spider is how we say it (I know some people sing eensty weensty), but its Itsy Bitsy for us. Above its getting ready to go up the water spout.
The spider made it up the spout!
Now its on to Patty Cake. [On a side note, Becky and I have realized that our families sing Patty Cake differently and we have combined our 2 versions into a hybrid Patty Cake - do you think we could record it and make a mint?] Patty Cake Patty Cake Baker's Man

Bake me a cake as fast you can

First you pat it

Then you roll it

Then you mark it with an A

Then you put it way up in the oven for Ally and me.

More more - please can we sing some more?

Testing..testing.. testing 1, 2, 3...

This photo montage is to illustrate the testing going on at our house right now. Its so hard to be stern with all this cuteness, by we're trying. We're also amazed at how clever an 18 month old child can be. So Ally found Becky's watch and ran to her chair to suck on it oh, I mean play with it!
Here she is opening her mouth to suck on it. Literally - and the whole time Becky is saying "no mouth, no mouth Ally, no, no!, no mouth"
Finally Becky holds out her hand to take the watch away, and Ally moves it away from her mouth.
So what does Ally do? Slide the watch down her arm and lick her arm around where the watch is!
Oh - you said no mouth? I thought that when I moved the watch you would forget about me sucking on it.

See, I am so cute, now I am drinking water from a straw cup, an maybe you've forgotten that I have the watch.
Maybe if I walk around and try and push this loud obnoxious wonderful toy that Aunt Beth gave me for my 1st birthday, that I am finally big enough to push you'll forget that I am wearing your watch. But UGH this toy is heavy - why doesn't it work?
Maybe it will work if I hold the watch instead of wearing it?
AHHHH I got what I really wanted! Hugs and kisses from Mommy! And I still have Mama's watch!

A Whole Apple

A while back we posted some pictures of Ally eating large pieces of fruit - it was about 1/2 of a pear. Recently she started eating an entire large piece of fruit. Pictures below are Ally and the apple, at the end is the result of her efforts. We think she did pretty good for a little person with no molars! I think I'll eat my apple at my own pint sized table and read my big book of words.
Why do you keep taking pictures? The flash is distracting me from my reading.
Oh wait - in order to eat a big piece of fruit I must concentrate - can't read and hold an apple.
Look -I've got a bite in my mouth!And its all over me. If you click on the picture to see it bigger you can see I have apple juice and saliva all over my mouth!

Aren't you proud of me?

The finished apple.

Weekend Fun

Lots of pictures yesterday and today. Things (life) has been so busy we had been slackers about taking pictures of Ally. It does not help that she is not as cooperative as she used to be - now it takes a lot of effort to get her to look at the camera. Here are my favorites from yesterday and today.

I took Ally to a toddler park in our neighborhood. It was a beautiful sunny day - and she HATES wearing hats. She cried and fussed until a very nice boy put on his "fireman hat" to show her hats were fun. He also gave her a carrot to make her feel better. You can tell both tricks worked.

We went to I.KEA yesterday and bought Ally this small table and chairs. She loves it. She still needs help to get into the chair, but soon she'll be able to climb up all by herself.
Oh the joys of toddler-hood. Just in case you thought Ally was an adorable angel all of the time, I took some pictures (and a video) today of one of her hysterical tantrums. Its unbelievable to me how quickly she goes from inconsolable to happy. Just below is the height of the drama - note the huge crocodile tears.Then just a few minutes later she is stretched out on our bed with this happy look!We had brunch on Saturday at Paul and Charlo's house. It was nice to see their daughter Ali who just graduated from college. Congrats again to all of them. It was such a gorgeous day we ate outside on the deck and had fun in the yard. Ally especially liked climbing / walking on the lounge chairs.





I hope everyone is having a fun, relaxing and safe M.emorial Day weekend. The past 2 days here have been great, and we're thrilled to have more fun together tomorrow.

Weekend

Sorry for the long time without any post. Most people who read this know my GrandmaMimi passed away 2 weeks ago. Then we went to NY to spend Mother's Day with my mom and this past weekend we traveled to Chicago for my Grandma's memorial service. It was a beautiful day and the ceremony was just want she would have wanted; all of her family (children, grand children and great grand children) there to celebrate her life, all 90 years of it. I always felt so blessed to have my grandma around for so much of my life, and I am pleased that in November we went to visit her, the pictures and memories from that trip are very special.
All of this to say, that while I took lots of pictures this weekend, there are not many cute shots of Ally. It was a lot of traveling for a short time, and her schedule was pretty upset. She was a trooper though, through both flights, and 2 nights in the hotel. (She actually slept through the night both nights, and napped on my shoulder during the flights) It was wonderful to spend that time with my family, and introduce Ally to members she had not yet met yet.

This is best picture of Ally - she was trying to escape the luncheon and run around the hotel lobby!
Ally cuddled in to me, with my Uncle Phil.

This is my older brother, Frank, his dog Hope, and Ally with Becky. Ally was so happy to meet the dog.

In other news Ally had her 18 month doctor visit yesterday. She was declared in good health; she weighed in at 20 lbs 3 oz and 30 1/4 inches tall. Yes, our petite thing remains a very light weight. We were given instructions to try and bulk her up, but not to worry too much. We go back in 2 months for another weight check. Developmentally Ally is doing great. No shots or blood drawn this visit, so we did great too!