New Skills and New Weather

Fall is definitely here and this weekend it felt like winter was just around the corner. We got out Ally's winter coat and ventured out to the park. Becky had to literally hold Ally down and force the coat on Ally. And then once at the park Ally threw a huge fit every time she realized she was wearing a coat. So I kept her busy playing in the "big kid" area. Its so amazing to realize she is old enough to play there and does not need to stay in the toddler section all of the time.

Here she is modeling her new coat, and showing off her stepping skills!

The concentration on her face.

And the sense of accomplishment.
then she would run down the ramp and step thru the rungs again and again

Just a close up of Ally sporting her hood.

We're Thinking Halloween!

Get your pumpkins ready!

Ally's Book Discussion

I got Ally to talk quite a bit on camera on Tuesday. Usually when the camera comes out, she ends up running over to see pictures before I get the chance to take a shot! I had the camera out for long enough that she started to ignore the fact that it was there.

Ally loves to read

Ally loves her crib. We've posted lots of pictures about her jumping in it, sleeping, playing etc. But her latest favorite thing is to read in her crib. Every morning and every afternoon after nap she demands books. We're working on saying please, which she can do, but only with prompting from us. Not that I mind giving my daughter books to read in bed. It is so incredible to me - she will typically read 15-20 books before she lets us pick her up. She actually looks at each one and points out things in the pictures. I usually give her a couple books at a time and when she is done with them she asks for more, so we take out the old and give her new ones. Lat night before she went to sleep we could hear her over the monitor calling for books.
Here she is showing off her reading skills after her nap.

I am an avid reader so its delightful to me that Ally has discovered reading. I hope we can foster in her the same love of books that we have. Ally was very lucky at her welcome home party last year because she received many many books and a great wall mounted bookcase, so there are always plenty to look at. Besides Goodnight Gorilla and Head to Toe (which we keep in the living room, since she likes those read to her) Ally's current favorites are The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear (for some reason she is fascinated by the picture of the mouse and strawberry wearing mustaches), Good Night Moon (in either Spanish or English) and I love you like Crazycakes (which is a great book about a baby girl adopted from China) Ally chants baby to read this book by calling "baby, baby", and then she points out the airplane on their trip home, and the baby and the mother - we then talk about how Ally was born in Guatemala and her mommies went to Guatemala to get her, like the baby in book is from China.

Mix and Match

In case you did not already know I love to shop for Ally. Frankly I love to shop. Period. I'll shop for anything for anyone anytime and anywhere. Consequently Ally has a lot of clothes. But today's post is about mixing and matching old clothes and one very cute second-hand-store find.

Check out the fashion plate in her purple onsie (from G'ma Debbie), rainbow BabyLegs (see her sport them last winter here) and denim jumper with rainbow embroidery. I know I use cute a lot, but she was just too cute, people stopped us on the street and at the mall to comment. We just glowed with pride.

Becky has been teaching Ally to sing the Happy Birthday song and blow out candles so Ally will be ready for her upcoming birthday.

Fall Fun

This morning we went for a leisurely drive out west of Boston to an apple orchard to pick apples. The foliage right now is beautiful and apple picking is always fun. We got there right when the orchard opened which was a good thing, because by the time we left the line of cars stretched almost a mile waiting to get in. After apple picking we drove to the farm stand for apple cider donuts (yummy) and pumpkins.

The scenery on the way to the orchard:

Ally kept pointing to all the apples on the ground.

Then she got to pick one

And eat it

And eat some more

A lot of the apples were up high in the trees so Mama climbed up the ladder and picked those. Becky did most of the picking and I ate apples with Ally. Ally has a hard time starting the apple with their skin on so I would knew it a little and then give it to her. She would eat about 75% of the apple and then give it back to me, so I would finish that one and by the time I finished it she would find a new apple she wanted to eat. This routine repeated for about 6 apples. I think she caught on that they taste so good just off the tree.

After apple picking it was time for the pumpkin patch. The big pumpkins were fun to sit on and look at.

But Ally was really excited to see the little pumpkins, she could even pick them up.

And climb all over them

She really liked playing with the pumpkins.

This is Ally in the car on the way home.

Becky had this great idea to decorate our window boxes with hay and pumpkins, so when we got home she put up the new display and changed out our wreath to the fall one. We're hoping this display will last us thru Thanksgiving.

San Diego

We got home last night after spending 8 hours in a plane. 8 hours and no meltdowns from Ally or us. But we had a wonderful time in San Diego with my Uncle Phil and Aunt Suzie. My mom was there for our first day and went to the zoo with us.

Ally was super excited to see the gorillas

Ally and Grandma Barbie

The photo above was taken on the 1st night we were there - Ally was not sure what to think of Gruncle (Great-Uncle). But below was taken the next night and you can tell they got to know each other better.


We rode the ferry to Coronado Island and had a picnic lunch.


On our last day we went to Seaworld. The Shamu show was GREAT.

Ally loved it - she was attentive during the whole show, and only cried when we got wet. Yes, we got splashed by the whales, since Gruncle chose seats in the Splash Zone.

SeaWorld is affiliated with Sesame Place and now has a Sesame Play area where we could ride rides and meet the characters. Ally rode her very first ride and met Elmo and Big Bird!

One of my favorite pictures from the trip, my Uncle Phil, Ally and I all on the same level.

This trip was amazing. My Aunt & Uncle rented a place in downtown right near the water, so we watched cruise ships dock everyday and heard the trains all night. We saw lots of planes and helicopters and cars and buses. Ally was fascinated with all the different forms of transportation and towards the end of our stay when she heard the cruise ship horn she would say boat and the she knew the train whistle.

Its also really incredible to me to share Ally with people I love. Ally is becoming so grown up and it makes my heart melt to see her give my Aunt and Uncle a hug and say their names. Her speech is just blossoming - new words everyday and Becky and I are just thrilled to observe Ally learning new things.

To be honest I was a little scared of this trip. Ally has been acting 2 lately with tears when she doesn't get her way and tantrums when we say no - I think everyone knows what I mean...the 2 year old DRAMA. But there were no meltdowns in public (or private) and other than a short attention span at meal time Ally was so well behaved we were proud, but proud in an amazed sort of way - we were proud of Ally, but she was so good it was hard to believe we did anything to accomplish that - I felt ( and still feel) so lucky and blessed to have such a wonderful family.