A Typical Afternoon

My moms and I all went out to the porch to hang out while Mama grilled our dinner. I decided to play with this plant.




Then I ran off and got in my wagon. Someone said 'no' to something, though!
Then I wanted to go inside.
But I got distracted by a bucket.
And I found a ball! Maybe I can throw it into the street from the top of the stairs and watch my Mommy go chase it.


Mommy brought me back the ball and I threw it off the stairs about 15 more times. It was fun. Then dinner was ready! We went inside to wash up.





Now that I'm clean, I'll play with the water at the bottom of the sink until it drains away and I have to get down. Time for dinner!

Mommy's Birthday

Yesterday was Mommy's Birthday. Mama and I got her an ice cream cake from her favorite ice cream place. It has Grasshopper Pie ice cream and oreos and I heard it was really yummy, I refused to eat it but mommy and mama said it was delicious. I'll let mommy write the captions to all the pictures she took. But I must say it is pretty funny to have my mom's pull out the camera at the park. I think I'm the only kid there who gets her picture taken so much. Moms say its to share with all of you so I hope you appreciate how difficult it is to be coordinated and photographed all at once. It may look like I'm ignoring the camera, but really I am doing my best to look normal.

Here is the cake! Becky had the whole first year of Ally's blog made into a book for me as my gift. It is so great, and I love it!

I just had to get a picture of Becky and Ally together. It was a beautiful day yesterday and Ally finally climbed up the big kid apparatus at the park. She was ready to try her luck at the balance beam but Becky coaxed her away from it.

Before we knew it she was climbing up the BIG slide all on her own. It amazing how quickly she scampers up.

And then slides down.

All the way to the end.

Sometimes she looks so serious. I guess being a toddler is hard work.

After the park we walked up to Star..bucks. Becky wanted an ice coffee and we got a croissant for Ally. She was super cute and goofy sitting in the big leather chair. It was pretty hot outside and she was thrilled to be in the cold air and she would touch the leather and sign and say cold. Sometimes I just can't believe how lucky I am to be her mom. She is so adorable and fun and just perfect for us.

Showing off her croissant.

In June we ordered a new couch and it was pretty neat that it got delivered on my birthday! What better gift could I want than this great shot of my 2 favorite people on our new couch! They look so happy together.

It was not all fun and happiness this weekend though. Ally is seriously teething. I mean that honestly. She woke up from her nap on Thursday and had a bruise on her arm in the shape of her mouth, b/c she had sucked and gnawed on her arm so hard. She didn't break the skin - but its pretty bad. And a teething Ally is one with a very short attention span and one her does not nap well. The picture above is from this morning, right after she woke up. All she wanted was to be held and cuddled. Poor thing - her gums are SUPER swollen and we just feel bad for her. But I have to confess it was nice to have her snuggle in to my arms, and yes she is chewing on her cup.

As a nod to my mom I wanted to show her that Nali likes the doll (er cat) bed too. I plan on documenting all 3 of our cats enjoying it. Ally thinks its a step and we keep telling her "NO don't stand on it...see the cats sleep on it., You can sleep or sit on it too."

Re-adoption

Yesterday was a big day for me. I was formally re-adopted by my moms here in Massachusetts. I officially now have a middle name, Suzanne! Before I had no middle name, but now my name is complete. My Grandma Barbie and Grandpa Frank came from NY to share the experience with us and we have a really fun time.

Grandma brought Carl (my favorite cat) a cat bed all for him. She told mommy it was supposed to be for me, and every time she saw Carl on it Grandma would shoo him away. But Carl is kind of like a toddler - he doesn't always listen and he thinks its a bed just for him. Since he is so patient with me and lets me pull his tail and crawl all over him and stuff I don't mind sharing it with him.

We had to go to a big building and wait in a court room. I didn't mind since I had my sippy cup of water to chill out with.

There was a nice man in a black dress who signed some papers and everyone clapped. Then we left. It was a lot less waiting and less stressful than the US embassy in Guatemala, I was glad about that.

Here is a picture of all of us in court room.

After the court thing we went to my "Mama and Me Spanish Class". Mommy and Grandma went shopping and picked out some really cute dresses at the 2nd hand store. I can't wait until I am big enough to wear them! After class we went to the park and I was able to demonstrate my slide climbing skills to Grandma. She was really scared I would fall. But I did not.

Grandpa Frank watched all the fun from a bench.

After the park I took a nap and then we went to the pool. As you can see mama and I had lots of fun in the pool.

Here mama and I are with Grandma and Grandpa in the pool. It was so much fun and I didn't cry at all. Mommy says I am getting to be a big girl. I even let grandma and grandpa hold me in the water!

After the water I dried off in my cat towel eating a cracker.

After swimming we went out to dinner. Unfortunately I was not feeling so well - teething is painful and when my mouth hurts I am not so much fun to be around. I was a lot of trouble for my moms who had to take turns eating their dinner and walking me around outside on the street. But since everyone but me is smiling in the picture above I guess I was not too much of a challenge.

When everyone was done eating their dinner Grandma and Grandpa surprised mommy with a piece of cake for her birthday. Lots of people sang her a song. I thought the candle was pretty neat. I didn't want any of the cake, I just ate the strawberry next to the plate. They looked really pretty and tasted yummy.

Finally we got to go home and I could play with my toys.

And play peek a boo between Grandma's legs!

It was a great day. I am so relieved to finally have this official stuff taken care of. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a fun time.

Going Up is more fun than coming Down!

One of Ally's latest favorites at the park is the slide. For months now we have been encouraging her to go on the slide. She would have NOTHING to do with it - she wasn't even a big fan if Becky went down it with her (slides as an adult are not my thing).

But lately she has been obsessed with climbing up the slide. Saturday we went to the park and she finally managed to scale the slide - check out her battle and success below.

Here I go just getting started on the climb, they say the first step is the hardest!

Check me out - this is not so hard.

Ohhhh oops I slipped - can you tell I love this "slipping" thing?

Nah nah ha ha Check me out - I'm getting there.

Uh oh I "slipped" again.

Hmmm this climbing thing is hard work.

It takes a lot of concentration when you make it to the top not to "slip" all the way down. Did I tell you I gained 10 ounces in 2 months? I am still not yet 21 pounds, only 20 lbs 14 oz, but still 10 oz in 2 months means its a lot harder to swing my legs over like this.

Oh now I made it to the top, turned over to face the slide and go down on the bottom like my moms said. Umm this is scary will someone help me?

Weeeeee that was fun. Can I do it again?

I love the slide now!

PS - this super adorable dress is courtesy of Grandma Debbie. Thank-you

A Belated Fourth

Happy Fourth of July...on the 17th! Okay, we're a little late with the post, but we left for vacation on the 5th...

In the first shot, you can see Ally at play with her stroller and Elmo, a favorite pastime. She has her gym bag (pretend diaper bag) in tow, and we think she was pretending to be a mom.



For our 4th of July celebration, we went to the zoo! We had a great time, and depending on our holiday plans, may go again in the future! We saw one of Ally's favorite animals, the giraffes!
We also saw one of the wandering peacocks. While Ally can say this animal's name, unfortunately she drops the first syllable.
We saw Ally's other favorite, the Gorilla. She loves to look at pictures of them in books and thump her chest. When presented with them up close at the zoo, she finds them terrifying. To get this shot, Julie sacrificed and ended up with marks on her neck where Ally grabbed on for dear life.
After this nice gorilla visited us and Ally kept saying "bye. bye. bye-bye.", we moved on to the next viewing window. We stood a few feet from the glass to see a big male gorilla off in a corner. When another family joined us, the male gorilla we were watching from afar started walking towards us. Then about 5 yards from the glass window, he suddenly sprinted for the glass, jumped on the glass with all fours and pounded really hard with his palms, jumping down and running off. It was very loud and very scary! We all jumped, and were all quiet for a minute. Then Ally said the right words..."bye. bye-bye." This time, we really agreed!