Imagination

Ally's imagination has really been taking off recently. She loves to play with her bus and plane and people and have them go places. Usually the plane goes to "the beach" or to "Flowida" and the bus goes to the zoo. There is always a really long line to get on the bus to the zoo, as evidenced in the picture below. It's good that they have that giant banana in case they get hungry or a gorilla gets out of its cage.

Speaking of gorillas, when the two tired sick moms give in to more Sesame Street than usual, apparently the gorillas want to watch the show, too. I was concerned about their necks getting stiff in the front row of the theater, but Ally assured me that they would be fine.

Wooden Trains!

So we decided to buy a wooden train set for me Ally to play with! It is a really nifty one, as it is a zoo train complete with cars that the animals can ride in, and a powered engine. It is lots of fun. Here are some pics of our first train setup together.

Aunt Beth See Sharks!!

Aunt Beth came to visit for part of this week and Ally was very excited to see her. Because Aunt Beth gave us an aquarium membership for Christmas, and when we go we remind Ally of this, she has associated Aunt Beth with the aquarium. Early in the week when we started to tell Ally that Aunt Beth is coming, she would start saying "Aunt Beth see sharks, see sharks Aunt Beth". It was then we thought maybe we should visit the aquarium WITH Aunt Beth!

Anyway, Beth and Ally and I went on Thursday afternoon and we had a nice time. Ally got to see sharks, penguins, turtles, seahorses and starfish (and lots of other fish species that don't stand out to a 2 year old mind). Unfortunately, the aquarium isn't the best place for photos as it is dark and has lots of reflective glass. The best shots I got were of Beth and Ally in the touch exhibit.

We All Scream for...

Ice Cream!
Ally requested ice cream for the first time last night...she had always refused before. Mint Chocolate Chip...it was even green! Here are the action shots.

She began trying to lick, but she didn't dig that so much.

Then we gave her a spoon.
Okay, now I see why you've been trying to get me to eat this stuff!

She spent most of her time trying to locate the chocolate chips, and then eat the actual ice cream as her secondary objective. Here she has taken a giant spoonful and honed in on a small chip right on the edge of her spoon. Once that was taken care of, she ate up the ice cream on the spoon.

She kept making this joyful silly face where she squeezed her eyes shut and grinned big while gritting her teeth. I think she liked it!

Weekend with Grandparents

Before the big race, we had a big visit: Poppy and Grandma Debbie came for the weekend!

Ally made cookies with Grandma... And got to use lots and lots of sprinkles!

Grandma showed Ally just how sprinkle eating is done...

...and improved an already well-honed skill of Ally's.

Ally also found out that her Poppy is a fantastic story-reader.

And asked him to read book after book to her.

On Saturday, the weather was so beautiful we spent lots of time at the park.

And Ally and Mama got to play with the "BIG hoop".

Ally also showed off her ladder-climbing ability to Grandma and Poppy, all while making it clear she did not want anyone to help her as she climbed to the top.
It started to get cooler, so Ally wanted to wear her hood.

But we were still able to get one more family photo!

Saturday night, Ally got to eat some cookies and read books with Grandma Debbie.

Ally is so cute with her grandmas. With them being named "Grandma Debbie" and Grandma Barbie", it does get confusing to a 2 year old's language skills. While she does knows the difference between them, she keeps calling Debbie Barbie and Barbie Debbie. Try saying that 3 times fast!

After some books, Grandma and Ally got into some baby-doll bathing.

Grandma made sure Mama Ally gave her baby a good bath.

Poppy and Grandma Debbie hit the long road home Sunday morning, but Ally is still talking about them. She beams with pride when she eats a cookie. She points at the cookie and says "Ally make!"

I keep thinking each new stage Ally goes through is even better than the last - listening to her come up with her own thoughts and ideas as her vocabulary and language improves is so amazing! She keeps talking about Grandma Debbie and Poppy's visit - it is pretty cool.

Personal Best

August 2008 Becky ran her first 5k race. Today she ran her second, in an un-official time of 37 min 30 seconds - about a minute faster than last time and a new personal best for her. Way to go Becky!!! Again Ally and I went to watch and cheer her on, and took a park break while mama ran. Ally was a little confused when mama ran by and did not stop to pick her up! But once I told her we would go the park she calmed down. The weather is beautiful today, 50 and sunny - perfect for a race, and I got to hang out with my co-worker Alyssa, because her fiancee Joe ran the race too.

Over 4000 people ran the race. It was a St Patrick's Day race - run every year in conjunction with one in Ireland.

4000 is a lot of people - we were getting worried we would miss Becky.

But there she is - and with Joe right behind her.

Go Becky go!!!

Ally as you can see had fun on another tunnel slide.

The obligatory after the race shots.

Becky did really well. She was relaxed and said she felt great afterwards.

She felt good enough to give Ally her post-race banana!

First trip back to the park

We had our first real taste of Spring weather here this weekend. On Saturday I went to the park with Ally and it was still covered with slush and snow. On Sunday we went and it had all melted away. Ally enjoyed getting reacquainted with the playground equipment.

We went right after nap - she was still waking up, but looked so cute I had to take a few pictures of her.

Mama joined us after her run, and she helped Ally re-learn how to climb up the ladder to the big slide.

In case you did not know Becky is running another 5k! This one is on March 15. We are so proud of her, she has been training really hard for it.

Up the ladder they go.

Almost at the top.

Ally made it.

And she slid down!

So did mama!

Evidence that Ally had fun. She would get to the bottom and say again, again. So Becky would help her up the ladder again and climb up after her. It was fun to document the again in action.

Ally See

One of Ally's latest obsessions is to see everything. She wants to see our drink glasses while we eat dinner. She wants to see the big yogurt container after we scoop yogurt out into a smaller container for her. She demands "Ally see" everytime we change her diaper - yes we have to show her the dirty diaper and then she does an amazing yoga move to check herself out down there. "Ally see" the juice inside the cup. "Ally see" inside the can of soup...you get the idea.


I just really wanted to document this stage - its hard to take a picture of her "seeing somthing" so I thought I'd just share a cute photo of Ally eating some of Becky's award winning bread. Becky entered a baking contest at the MOS recently and she won an award for "her" coconut bread. I say "her" as it was really from a T.yler F.lorence cookbook. It wasn't a recipe contest, just a baking one, so it was fair! Congrats to Becky - a whiz with the needle and thread and also in the kitchen.

Future Hoops Star?

Now that Spring is almost here Ally has discovered (is almost obsessed with) basketball hoops. Thanks to very special Great Aunt Martha we had a gift card to spoil Ally with! So we decided to get a basketball hoop. The weather is still unpredictable enough that we set it up in the house. Can you tell how much fun Ally had playing with it?

She was super patient while we put it together. After we got it home and opened up we read the instructions which said to weigh the base down with sand. Who has sand lying around the house? Not us, but we do have an over abundance of Ice Melt - so Becky made a funnel and I poured the salt/ice melt into the base while Ally stood on her step stool observing the process.

It was also pretty cool, because I think this was the first toy we bought with Ally, where she actually understood it was something to play with and for her.

So excited to throw the ball the first time.

Practice and concentration make perfect.

Ahhh... the thrill of the throw.

And the joy and glee to be 2.

Or to be the parent of said 2 year old.

Ally even made a basket!