Stroller ride.
Teething
Tea set
Donald duck house
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Poor Matt's late-night projects
It's 2:30 and we're both still up. Funny how our old brains don't work as well at this time of the night/morning anymore. I'm on deadline, and Matt's trying to finish a big website project that's been keeping him up til 4 most mornings. He just can't concentrate on all that java script and html language when Avalai's buzzing around. Maybe once he finishes this one, he'll get to have at least one good night of sleep, poor guy!
Stinkin' echoes!
The hilarity never ends with our dear Avalai! After a long stressful day of deadlines for Matt and I, we went to Ruby Tuesdays to use our BOGO Free entree coupons. Avalai was a star at eating her salad bar plate of peas, grapes, cheese, noodles, olives, cranberries and green beans. And then kept begging to eat my salmon and Matt's rice with peppers in it. She's such a good girl for the most part. We just absolutely CAN'T keep her STILL! She bobs and spins her head and neck around constantly...usually to the beat of whatever music she can hone in on. She does NOT like when one song stops and there's a few seconds of silence before the next one starts. She immediately notices and says alarmingly "Oh No!! Mugick top!" And she can just barely express her worry before another song starts and the "head bopping" starts right back up again. She also wiggles and twists in her seat, and has recently been trying to escape from her carseat straps. I think she's just looking for a challenge that will keep her from having to sit there bored. I think her active little mind never rests. She's such an observant, creative, imaginitive, busy little girl. It wears us out and cracks us up at the same time.
Upon leaving the restaurant, she immediately spots some "tores" nearby and starts her chant, "Tores Mommy. Goatrey tores (grocery stores), Mommy. Peeeeas? I see it! Dey it iss!" "Mom-mart", she yells with absolute glee!
We had to go there to get 2 or 3 things, so as we drove nearer and were looking for a space to park, she's going "Yes, Yeahhhh! Mom-mart!" I looked over at her and laughed as I said, "You're so stinkin' cute!" Well little miss Copy-cat repeats my remark with her own observation tacked on... as she says,"So tinkin' coot! ....Tinkin' !! P.U.!!!" as she's scrunching up her nose and sniffing like she knows just what I'm talking about. I guess double-word meanings and phrases like that would be confusing for a just barely 2-yr-old!
Matt and I were rolling with laughter as she keeps sniffing, thinking that must be what we're laughing at. Then just as we gain our composure, we walk into Wal-Mart, and she hollers "Uhhh,...(pause) Uhhhh.....(pause), and then brightly exclaims, "Echo! ......Echo!" For some reason, the entrance there definitely has an echo and your voice sounds totally different in it. And she remembers it every time. After we grabbed our couple things, and got to the line that always takes FOREVER...she quickly struck up a conversation with a nice man in front of us. He was amazed at her vocabulary and vibrance. "She's going to be on stage or something," he said. She's so well-spoken and friendly!
Then as we left...Avalai had to say "Buh-bye to everyone, and she intentionally said "Buh-bye" like 6 times as we entered the "echoey" area just before the exit doors. She just loves to hear her voice in there. It's better than our bathroom where she has begun to love her little "echo" game. She yells "ECHO" and listens to the reverberation as she grins and adds. "I hee it. Litten. I hee it!", and then repeats the game over and over with an occasional, "Mommy tay it." or "Daddy tay it." which we often oblige. I mean how can you resist? It's amusing how such simple things that entertain and astound toddlers!
Upon leaving the restaurant, she immediately spots some "tores" nearby and starts her chant, "Tores Mommy. Goatrey tores (grocery stores), Mommy. Peeeeas? I see it! Dey it iss!" "Mom-mart", she yells with absolute glee!
We had to go there to get 2 or 3 things, so as we drove nearer and were looking for a space to park, she's going "Yes, Yeahhhh! Mom-mart!" I looked over at her and laughed as I said, "You're so stinkin' cute!" Well little miss Copy-cat repeats my remark with her own observation tacked on... as she says,"So tinkin' coot! ....Tinkin' !! P.U.!!!" as she's scrunching up her nose and sniffing like she knows just what I'm talking about. I guess double-word meanings and phrases like that would be confusing for a just barely 2-yr-old!
Matt and I were rolling with laughter as she keeps sniffing, thinking that must be what we're laughing at. Then just as we gain our composure, we walk into Wal-Mart, and she hollers "Uhhh,...(pause) Uhhhh.....(pause), and then brightly exclaims, "Echo! ......Echo!" For some reason, the entrance there definitely has an echo and your voice sounds totally different in it. And she remembers it every time. After we grabbed our couple things, and got to the line that always takes FOREVER...she quickly struck up a conversation with a nice man in front of us. He was amazed at her vocabulary and vibrance. "She's going to be on stage or something," he said. She's so well-spoken and friendly!
Then as we left...Avalai had to say "Buh-bye to everyone, and she intentionally said "Buh-bye" like 6 times as we entered the "echoey" area just before the exit doors. She just loves to hear her voice in there. It's better than our bathroom where she has begun to love her little "echo" game. She yells "ECHO" and listens to the reverberation as she grins and adds. "I hee it. Litten. I hee it!", and then repeats the game over and over with an occasional, "Mommy tay it." or "Daddy tay it." which we often oblige. I mean how can you resist? It's amusing how such simple things that entertain and astound toddlers!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Doctor gives a good report, & bangs get a little shorter.
Oh how I love to read books in bed with Avalai. She's such a captive audience who loves my dramatic voices and effects! She's becoming quite good at "reading" them herself too! I recently gave her an "Itsy Bitsy Spider" book about how the baby spider gets blown around, and on his journeys, the spider lands on various farm animals and they blow, shake and sneeze him off. She loves it. While I was getting her pajamas and toothbrush ready, she sat in the floor and "read" the book kinda like this. "Bitty pider...oh no...ball down! Where da pider? Where da pider? (Gasp, gasp) Dey he iss!!" as she points to the pig's nose where he landed. "On pigk notes. Onk Onk!" (Giggle, giggle, next page) "Haaaah.... Where da pider? Where da pider? (Gasp, gasp) Dey he iss!!" she repeated. "On goat! See him? See him?" and so on and so on through the whole book! Sometimes pausing to point out the "daggon byes, cattails, buh byes (butterflies), and bady buds (lady bugs)" sprinkled throughout the pages as well. I was quite amused. I need to carry my video camera around with me for a couple days just to catch some of this stuff!
Today we went to the doctor's for her 2 yr. checkup. Avalai loooved her doctor's appointment. She was excited about seeing "Docker Wahd" (Doctor Guwad) the whole way there. The office ladies always love her, but now that she's even more talkative, they just crack up behind that window the whole time we're out in the lobby waiting. Avalai was naming all the Disney characters on their walls, and saying "Lellow tair (chair) I sit lellow tair!" As she rushed over to the table with books on it. She gasped at their huge shelf of books, and set out to begin reading as many as possible, all the while asking "What diss Daddy? What diss?" for ANYTHING she didn't know.
We thought she'd get shots, but Dr. Guwad said none til she's 4. She was such a perfect little patient. Playing right along with the stethoscope, and opening her mouth so wide, he didn't even need his tongue depressor. Dr. Guwad said there are always a few kids who brighten up his office the moment they walk in...& she's one of them. He was very impressed with her language skills & knowlege of her colors etc. She definitely didn't want to leave!
As for her measurements, she is 33" which is only the 25th percentile for height. Dr. Guwad said based on our heights (Matt's and mine) she should definitely be more in the 50th percentile at least, and he expects her to hit a growth spurt soon to catch up.
She's in the 75th percentile with her weight of 28 pounds, so we can start giving her 1% milk instead of that disgusting old fatty whole milk!! I was very glad of that!
He said that she's so bright and advanced that he has some 4 year olds that don't know what she does. He thinks that's largely because we take time to engage and stimulate her. Like playing silly games with her, and reading to her, and letting her help us with so many chores that we do. So, that's encouraging.
As we left and she said her goodbyes to everyone, they all smiled and aahed at how adorable she is. It's hilarious, and we think she's cute too, but she sure turns on the charm when she's out in public!!
This evening we went and got her first haircut in a salon! They're clients of ours, and they love her dearly, so they were excited to give her that first "trim" even though it was just her bangs. She danced and twirled, and jumped around the salon until Daddy's haircut was done. I just can't keep that child still. I seriously don't think she remembers how to walk! She jumps, skips, hops, spins, runs, dances...even marches everywhere! It's often dizzying!
She loved her carrots and black beans, tuna and broccoli for dinner. I'm so glad she loves all the good stuff in addition to the occasional cookie :)
It was a good day overall. We'll see what she twirls into tomorrow!
Today we went to the doctor's for her 2 yr. checkup. Avalai loooved her doctor's appointment. She was excited about seeing "Docker Wahd" (Doctor Guwad) the whole way there. The office ladies always love her, but now that she's even more talkative, they just crack up behind that window the whole time we're out in the lobby waiting. Avalai was naming all the Disney characters on their walls, and saying "Lellow tair (chair) I sit lellow tair!" As she rushed over to the table with books on it. She gasped at their huge shelf of books, and set out to begin reading as many as possible, all the while asking "What diss Daddy? What diss?" for ANYTHING she didn't know.
We thought she'd get shots, but Dr. Guwad said none til she's 4. She was such a perfect little patient. Playing right along with the stethoscope, and opening her mouth so wide, he didn't even need his tongue depressor. Dr. Guwad said there are always a few kids who brighten up his office the moment they walk in...& she's one of them. He was very impressed with her language skills & knowlege of her colors etc. She definitely didn't want to leave!
As for her measurements, she is 33" which is only the 25th percentile for height. Dr. Guwad said based on our heights (Matt's and mine) she should definitely be more in the 50th percentile at least, and he expects her to hit a growth spurt soon to catch up.
She's in the 75th percentile with her weight of 28 pounds, so we can start giving her 1% milk instead of that disgusting old fatty whole milk!! I was very glad of that!
He said that she's so bright and advanced that he has some 4 year olds that don't know what she does. He thinks that's largely because we take time to engage and stimulate her. Like playing silly games with her, and reading to her, and letting her help us with so many chores that we do. So, that's encouraging.
As we left and she said her goodbyes to everyone, they all smiled and aahed at how adorable she is. It's hilarious, and we think she's cute too, but she sure turns on the charm when she's out in public!!
This evening we went and got her first haircut in a salon! They're clients of ours, and they love her dearly, so they were excited to give her that first "trim" even though it was just her bangs. She danced and twirled, and jumped around the salon until Daddy's haircut was done. I just can't keep that child still. I seriously don't think she remembers how to walk! She jumps, skips, hops, spins, runs, dances...even marches everywhere! It's often dizzying!
She loved her carrots and black beans, tuna and broccoli for dinner. I'm so glad she loves all the good stuff in addition to the occasional cookie :)
It was a good day overall. We'll see what she twirls into tomorrow!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Cook out, and clean out!
After church, Wimbledon's historic match between Federer and Roddick kept us from heading straight to a cook out at one of our client's homes. Avalai skipped her late morning nap, and that came back to haunt us!
Avalai was thrilled to go to a party with "kids", and kept asking on the way "Kids? Kids Mommy?" So we assured her that yes we'd see kids once we got there.
Besides her now ususal blowing kisses at the red lights to turn them green as she says "Ummon geen"...she was reading a fairly new animal picture book on the way. I wish I had video taped that ride! First she was saying each animal name and then making their signature "noise". The ones...like the giraffe...that she didn't know a noise for...she made up a noise for them. We even asked, "Oh really? Is that what a giraffe says?" And she was insistent that she was correct, and repeated the same noise.
We started tuning out the zoo of noises behind us, until we started hearing, "Umm ear bunny!...Umm ear!" (Come here) And then, "Umm ear monkey!...Umm ear!" I looked back at her, and she's touching the animal picture and trying to pinch the picture up as if she can just pull the animals right out of that little book! Hilarious to see!
Once we arrived, she hear the happy screams of kids playing while we were unbuckling her seatbelts. "KIDS" she screamed! She couldn't contain her excitement.
And once we got around to the backyard, she took a quick glance of the entire place...stopped immediately to "say hi" to the doggy, and then made a beeline to the playset!
Poor Matt! He's such a good Dad!! Patiently, he helped her climb the rope walkway to get to the slide, then ran around to catch her. He kept her out of the dirt pit, and pushed her on the swings etc. She never will stay on any apparatus for more than a couple minutes. So, he helped her hop off when she was ready to move on to each thing. She watched crickets jumping, and stood back calmly as other kids pushed past her to go down the slide first. She never minds if they want to cut in front. She's almost just as happy watching them go down as she is when she slides down herself :) Throughout the 2 hours that we were there, Avalai wanted only to play on that playset... and despite our attempts to distract her, she'd missed that nap, and was not willing to compromise on her wishes! If we had not been at this friend's house with a lot of people that we don't really know...we would not have put up with such demands. But why is it that so many of our normal rules and standards go out the window when we just want to keep kids from pitching a fit in front of everyone? I do a better job in a grocery store than among a group of coworkers! And she was just soooo tired that she wasn't reasonable at that point. So poor Matt spent his entire time chasing her around the play area. With her energy level, I leave the chasing up to him! His dad says that he was the same way. My mom says I was NOT! So...HE gets to run after her, which he willingly does without complaint. He's a great dad! All the other men were playing yard games, and he's keeping her from getting hurt or trompled :)
We had great taco salad, but I always leave those parties kinda hungry. I'm no burger and hotdog fan. And you can only eat so much macaroni salad :)
For the rest of the day, I tackled some house clearing. I'm determined to make my house less embarassing by getting through some of these boxes that piled up throughout our shifting and remodeling before and right after Avalai was born. I accomplished so much! And the trashcan won't even hold all that I disposed of! Matt was so proud! If only I had 3 weeks of non-stop time to do it in, I'd have a sparkling, organized home. Since that won't happen, I'm getting through it one box at a time.
I'm finally going to bed with a sense of accomplishment:) We'll see if I can tackle something else tomorrow.
Avalai was thrilled to go to a party with "kids", and kept asking on the way "Kids? Kids Mommy?" So we assured her that yes we'd see kids once we got there.
Besides her now ususal blowing kisses at the red lights to turn them green as she says "Ummon geen"...she was reading a fairly new animal picture book on the way. I wish I had video taped that ride! First she was saying each animal name and then making their signature "noise". The ones...like the giraffe...that she didn't know a noise for...she made up a noise for them. We even asked, "Oh really? Is that what a giraffe says?" And she was insistent that she was correct, and repeated the same noise.
We started tuning out the zoo of noises behind us, until we started hearing, "Umm ear bunny!...Umm ear!" (Come here) And then, "Umm ear monkey!...Umm ear!" I looked back at her, and she's touching the animal picture and trying to pinch the picture up as if she can just pull the animals right out of that little book! Hilarious to see!
Once we arrived, she hear the happy screams of kids playing while we were unbuckling her seatbelts. "KIDS" she screamed! She couldn't contain her excitement.
And once we got around to the backyard, she took a quick glance of the entire place...stopped immediately to "say hi" to the doggy, and then made a beeline to the playset!
Poor Matt! He's such a good Dad!! Patiently, he helped her climb the rope walkway to get to the slide, then ran around to catch her. He kept her out of the dirt pit, and pushed her on the swings etc. She never will stay on any apparatus for more than a couple minutes. So, he helped her hop off when she was ready to move on to each thing. She watched crickets jumping, and stood back calmly as other kids pushed past her to go down the slide first. She never minds if they want to cut in front. She's almost just as happy watching them go down as she is when she slides down herself :) Throughout the 2 hours that we were there, Avalai wanted only to play on that playset... and despite our attempts to distract her, she'd missed that nap, and was not willing to compromise on her wishes! If we had not been at this friend's house with a lot of people that we don't really know...we would not have put up with such demands. But why is it that so many of our normal rules and standards go out the window when we just want to keep kids from pitching a fit in front of everyone? I do a better job in a grocery store than among a group of coworkers! And she was just soooo tired that she wasn't reasonable at that point. So poor Matt spent his entire time chasing her around the play area. With her energy level, I leave the chasing up to him! His dad says that he was the same way. My mom says I was NOT! So...HE gets to run after her, which he willingly does without complaint. He's a great dad! All the other men were playing yard games, and he's keeping her from getting hurt or trompled :)
We had great taco salad, but I always leave those parties kinda hungry. I'm no burger and hotdog fan. And you can only eat so much macaroni salad :)
For the rest of the day, I tackled some house clearing. I'm determined to make my house less embarassing by getting through some of these boxes that piled up throughout our shifting and remodeling before and right after Avalai was born. I accomplished so much! And the trashcan won't even hold all that I disposed of! Matt was so proud! If only I had 3 weeks of non-stop time to do it in, I'd have a sparkling, organized home. Since that won't happen, I'm getting through it one box at a time.
I'm finally going to bed with a sense of accomplishment:) We'll see if I can tackle something else tomorrow.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Celebrating the 4th with zoo animals, pizza & cookies
Since we got to see fireworks at the Shorebirds game last night, we decided to sleep in this morning, and after a nice, relaxing, lazy day...we ran over to the zoo for a little bit in the early evening. Oh my goodness...I think our child BELONGS in a zoo! She's right at home...saying "Hi"...and "I lubboo" to all the animals. She WON'T leave one exibit without the promise of another one...and as you walk the paths with her, she's repeating "Moy aamals. Moy aamals!" She loved the flamingos, the llama, and the bison especially (which she was calling a "yak" because when she asked her Daddy "Wuss dat?" He told her it was a yak. Avalai was telling every child and parent that passed by "Iss a yak! See it? Dey it iss!" They all chuckled at her...and as I walked farther down toward the next exhibit, I noticed that the sign in front of the "yak" said it was a "bison"!!! Goodness did we feel stupid. I didn't think to question Matt. I assumed he had read a sign that told him it was a yak! Then I felt dumb because I do know that yaks are mainly up in frigid climates unlike this hot day! Duh!! We tried to tell Avalai that it was really a bison, but I don't think she believed us, and we just confused her greatly!
This zoo trip wasn't a long one. Not quite an hour. So as we were heading out, because the zoo was closing, Avalai had a 10 second melt-down. She did NOT want to leave the animals! And as the tears of separation were flowing, we see her stop for a second, regain her composure, and say with every ounce of hope she could muster, "Tores??? Tores?" Like, well, if you take me to some stores, then I guess I can bear to leave the zoo. Since we were already planning to at least go to the grocery store for a couple things, we quickly promised that we'd go to stores. That calmed her, and literally every 30 seconds in the car as we drove to the grocery store, she'd pipe up "Tores? Tores Mommy!! Yes!" And we'd assure her again that we hadn't forgotten. We just weren't there yet.
We also picked up our favorite Uno's spicy chicken flatbread pizza. It has wowza sauce, and we get lots of kalamata olives added, since that's Avalai's main pizza request. If we even mention pizza she hollers "Ollies? Ollies!!" She eats all the kalamata olives off her pizza first. Black olives have no taste...so she could care less about them, but she'll scarf down green ones or kalamata ones.
She's been nicely asking for cookies for a couple days now, and I promised her we'd try to make some. So, after dinner tonight, she helped us make some chocolate chip cookies. That's quite an experience with a 2-yr-old! She really wants to help, but boy does she make a bigger mess. I try to be patient with her as she's trying to scoop dough with her little spoon, and bits get flung around the kitchen... she just wants so badly to do it herself now.
She was very proud of them when she finished...and watched them go in the oven as Daddy took her down for a bath. And magically, when she came back upstairs in her little bath towel... they were just coming out of the oven ready to eat.
So, we turned the tv to the NY City Macy's fireworks special, and watched the skies light up in an amazing spectacle as we all had milk and cookies on this Fourth of July.
A great way to celebrate together :)
This zoo trip wasn't a long one. Not quite an hour. So as we were heading out, because the zoo was closing, Avalai had a 10 second melt-down. She did NOT want to leave the animals! And as the tears of separation were flowing, we see her stop for a second, regain her composure, and say with every ounce of hope she could muster, "Tores??? Tores?" Like, well, if you take me to some stores, then I guess I can bear to leave the zoo. Since we were already planning to at least go to the grocery store for a couple things, we quickly promised that we'd go to stores. That calmed her, and literally every 30 seconds in the car as we drove to the grocery store, she'd pipe up "Tores? Tores Mommy!! Yes!" And we'd assure her again that we hadn't forgotten. We just weren't there yet.
We also picked up our favorite Uno's spicy chicken flatbread pizza. It has wowza sauce, and we get lots of kalamata olives added, since that's Avalai's main pizza request. If we even mention pizza she hollers "Ollies? Ollies!!" She eats all the kalamata olives off her pizza first. Black olives have no taste...so she could care less about them, but she'll scarf down green ones or kalamata ones.
She's been nicely asking for cookies for a couple days now, and I promised her we'd try to make some. So, after dinner tonight, she helped us make some chocolate chip cookies. That's quite an experience with a 2-yr-old! She really wants to help, but boy does she make a bigger mess. I try to be patient with her as she's trying to scoop dough with her little spoon, and bits get flung around the kitchen... she just wants so badly to do it herself now.
She was very proud of them when she finished...and watched them go in the oven as Daddy took her down for a bath. And magically, when she came back upstairs in her little bath towel... they were just coming out of the oven ready to eat.
So, we turned the tv to the NY City Macy's fireworks special, and watched the skies light up in an amazing spectacle as we all had milk and cookies on this Fourth of July.
A great way to celebrate together :)
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