Firsts!

The first "first" is that Ally took off her shirt all by herself last night. In case I have not said this yet Ally loves her crib. We usually put her to bed around 7-730PM, typically she does not fall asleep until 800PM. This week she has been awake playing and talking and jumping in her crib until after 9PM. That is 2 hours in her crib happily playing. When she stays up that late she tends to wake up early around 5AM so we give her some milk and she goes back to sleep for several more hours, its 9:25AM now and she just woke up! She is now happily babbling in her crib awake but that is 14 1/2 hours in the crib sleeping for only 12 of them!

The first is that at 5AM when Becky went in to give Ally a bottle of milk Ally was standing in her crib half naked. No shirt - it was on the floor with all of her other toys (yes she throws her sleep toys out of the crib). Ally's diaper was askew, and Becky said she thinks if it had been another 15 minutes Ally would have taken off her pajama pants and diaper! I'm sorry we did not get a picture of the hilarious topless Ally in her crib. But I do have some other pictures from the week.

Update: Ally woke up - and she was at it again - shirtless in her crib, with her toys and shirt unceremoniously tossed to the floor. The pants looked like they were not going to last long, either!

I had been looking for a long time for a small backpack for Ally to keep a sippy cup, snack, small toy and diaper in so she could take her own bag to the park. I finally found one on the internet at T.ough T_raveler! People who read this from upstate NY will remember TT backpacks. Well this one is just the perfect size for Ally. So check her out sporting her first backpack!


Remember I said Ally loves her crib. One morning this week she asked for sunglasses and her gym bag proceeded to jump and run around her crib wearing sunglasses. Who knew a crib could be such fun?

Tired

When Ally starts to look this wiped out and exhausted and its not yet time for bed, we turn on SS (AKA Sesame Street). If Ally is really tired she sits in her chair enthralled for most of the episode. If she's not then she gets up, walks around and we turn it off. Can you tell she was tired?

To be honest we have mixed feelings about TV. We've read all the stuff that says TV is bad until after age 2 but we feel that SS actually helps Ally learn her numbers and words, I just wish we didn't feel guilty letting her watch it.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great Labor Day weekend with really nice weather. We even hosted a group of families from one of Ally's playgroups on Labor Day evening for a barbeque at our place! One of the highlights was that Olive's Dad pulled around 4 kids at a time in our little wagon from Julia and Karina - two in each seat - through the crowd. The photo below shows the scene!

We also had the opportunity to serve popsicles to everyone, and for many of the kids it was a first popsicle. Ally was able to show them how it was done! Check out that face in the wagon!

We had a great time having over a bunch of fellow parents. It was really nice to have everyone in the same child-watching boat helping watch everyone else's kids. A great end to our weekend!

Photo Shoot

Recently I tried to take a mama and Ally picture. As you can see Ally wanted nothing to do with it. Mama and Cookie Monster did not seem bothered by the tantrum, and I of course captured it on film!

This cat loves this girl

This is the kind of thing Becky photographs so that I don't miss things while I am at work. We feel very blessed to be the proud owners of 3 wonderful cats. Carl, our youngest (but not the smallest) is by far the most patient with Ally. It took him a few weeks to get used to her. When we first brought Ally home he hid in our bedroom and never came out when she was awake. But then he realized she was here to stay and since then, about a year ago he has put up with more than his share of baby/toddler abuse. Here Ally is using him as a pillow - or maybe she is bracing herself on the couch to try and push him off with her head. You can decide.

Another great thing about the cats is that they are a wonderful distraction for Ally so when she does get upset we suggest she find one and see what he is up to. So far it works like a charm.

Two more recent pictures of Ally and Carl:

I think its obvious Ally loves the cat too.

Aquarium

We took Ally to the Aquarium for the first time. She always likes to look at fish when we see them at a restaurant or the pet store, so we hoped she'd like the actual aquarium. She did for about 45 minutes and then she played in the toddler area for 15 minutes and then we left.

Where are we and what is this place?

Ohh those are Penguins?

Ally and mommy at the huge 3 story fish tank!

She was enthralled with the fish for about 2 minutes, until we saw a shark in the tank! Then Ally kept saying Bye so we would move on.

The interactive tide pool was a hit - above Ally is touching the hermit crab.

She even touched the starfish!

Just for Grandma Barbie

Grandma Barbie, I thought you might like to see that my cats are no longer using the doll bed you brought me as a bed, I am using it as a chair now! Thanks again for bringing it. I really like it.

I hope everyone likes the new blog look. I was excited to wake up this morning log in and see that everything looks different. Mama loves the new picture of me, and mommy thinks the flowers suit my personality. I especially like the colors. I can say and identify blue now so my moms were excited I noticed the change!