Its amazing

Sometimes how much I love Ally amazes me. Sometimes, well pretty much all the time Ally amazes me. Being a mom is a lot different than I thought it would be. It is harder in ways I did not expect, and easier in other ways.

I've been wanting to blog for a while about some of the stuff Ally is into lately. I'm learning that as she gets older its harder to capture everything in a picture, and sometimes I just want to enjoy the moment and not try and get a picture of it, I worry the effort to get the photo will ruin the moment itself.

Toy Story - we've said that this is a bit of an obsession. It is. We are very careful about what we let Ally watch on TV - Sesame Street is the only TV show she can watch, at the gym nursury sometimes she watches Dora if its on the TV there (a lot of time the TV is off, which we like). As for movies we've watched Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc. We tried Jungle Book but that was a bust.

So Toy Story - Ally has some Buzz Lightyear pajamas we got her at WDW and a pair of Toy Story ones we bought on ebay. She loves to wear the pjs after her bath, which might be because we bribe her to take a bath by promising she can wear them. She has some figurines to play with as well. She talks about the characters all the time. We bought her a Mr Potato Head recently - which she calls "Mistah Ted" She also knows who Barbie dolls are, and always points them out at the store, she thinks they sing, b/c in the movie they sing back-up on the theme song.

Memory - she remembers all kind of things, like the fact that my dad calls his dog Java, Javvie as a nickname. She knows the words to lots of songs - (we sing all the time) - and she is so funny with "No more monkeys jumping on the bed", right now she is in her crib talking about all of this (Barbie dolls, Javvie, monkeys, baby beluga) its a riot.

Bananas - we cannot keep enough bananas around. Tonight she ate 2 while we reading books before bed. I think it was her 3rd of the day. Yes grandmas she is still pretty regular, she just loves bananas.

Food - Ally continues to be a picky eater, but we seem to be winning the battle a little by requiring that she try a bite of what we made for her to eat before she asks for something else. "else to eat" is a common phrase, and we've decided as long as she trys the real meal we won't force the issue, and will feed her something else. It is a battle, but she is 2 and lots of things are a battle right now.

Milk - she still will not drink it. Becky got her to try a few sips of chocolate milk last week, but none since then. I swear she knows how much we want her to drink it. I would feel so much better if she would drink it.

Weight - And I think god is laughing at how he paired us with such a skinny child. It truly is a challenge to try and get her to gain weight when we are trying to watch ours so carefully. Its hard to buy full fat cream cheese and light cc, regular bread and 1 point WW stuff. Becky made no-fat muffins the other day, and we laugh every time we feed Ally some. She could really use extra-fat muffins. But we are determined to raise a healthy active daughter. She knows all about exercise because we go to the gym, Becky has run some 5ks, she has seen Becky do yoga and calls the yoga mat "mama's exercise mat", we go for walks, and make Ally walk. Ally loves fruit, and since I don't like anything but apples, this is one of my greatest mom accomplishments. Ally likes all kinds of fruit, not just bananas. When we go to Whole Foods (or any other other supermarket) she asks for (demands) watermelon. Not cookies or goldfish crackers, but give her a small container of watermelon and she'll sit in the cart and eat it while we get the grocery shopping done.

Potty - I am actually scared of potty training. Ally shows no interest. (just like no interest in milk) I just hope what everyone says about "her time will come..she's not ready yet" is right. Because frankly the time for her to want or like milk from a vessel other than a bottle has not yet come. She has a will/mind/determination of steel. I like to think she gets this from me, and my mom is quick to remind me that paybacks are tough, and Ally's spunk as I like to call it is payback for my childhood. I am so proud of her spunk and attitude, but a little scared of it too. Hopefully chocolate and other bribes will help with potty training.

Hair - We all got our haircut recently, yes we all go to the same salon and Feri cuts all of our hair every 5-6 weeks. I hope someday she won't hate me for the fact that she has short hair. (I had short hair as a toddler and always vowed my daughter would have ponytails and braids and bows and such. I think I look weird in my toddler pictures with short hair, my mom finally let me grow it out when I was in kindergarten, I remember it took forever.) But to be honest I think Ally's short hair is cute and easy and seems to suit her. Then there is the fact that she won't wear clippies or bows, she pulls them out. Compound this with the screaming about getting her hair washed and I say it stays short until she asks for long hair and can help take care of it.

Being 2 - "She's 2...well almost 2 1/2" we find ourselves saying this all the time, to each other, to our parents, to our friends. Its like saying it out loud helps us deal with the two-ness. Sometimes 2 is not fun. But now I realize that this 2 shall pass and soon we'll be on to another phase, another developmental stage. Sometimes 2 seems like the best age.