Happy Girl

Such a happy little girl!  Abby loves to read while we're traveling...and wearing her sunglasses of course! 

On the move

Abby is now running.  I have to admit, it is so cute to see Abby run.  Her hair, cheeks and arms just bouncing with each step.  And usually when she's running, she is laughing.  I love to hear that laugh too. 

In the first video that after she runs, you'll hear a 'bonk'.  That was Abby literally running into the couch and then falling back onto the ground.  I was expecting a fuss, but she just hopped back up and kept on running.  Run, Forrest, er...Abby, run! 

While we were playing at a friend's house, Abby found some heels.  At first she didn't want anything to do with them, she'd shake her head, wave her hand and say "noooo" with her lips pursed out so cutely.  She then saw her friend, Lilliana, walk around in them and suddenly (shock!) Abby was more wililng to try them on.  And this is what happened.  I couldn't get her to take them off! 



Jumping Queen

Abby is becoming the jumping queen!  She's getting really good with actually getting air between her feet and the ground. 

Lacey

I haven't updated (or really mentioned) Lacey in a while and I thought it was time for that to change.  Overall, Lacey is really good.  She really is a good dog and I know we chose the right dog for our family.   

This past weekend, Lacey got some special treatment!  I took her to the dog park by herself (no Abby in tow) and she had fun running around. I've gone before with Abby and Lacey gets very protective of Abby.  She won't allow another dog to come close to Abby and I witnessed some nipping to get her message across.  She is not like that at home, so it was a shock for me to see it at the dog park.  But it makes sense.  That's one of my favorite qualities about Lacey: she's a protector when she needs to be and the rest of the time, she's a lover licking you all over. 

After our trip to the dog park, I took Lacey to get a bath!  There is a pet store (Pet People) that provides everything we'd need to give a bath: towels, shampoo, brushes, apron, dryer.  All I need to bring is the dog.  No time limit either.  And the best part?  They clean up the hairy mess I leave behind!  It's all for $10-$15.  That's worth it for us. 

This picture is taken after the bath and before she's totally dry and so she's fluffy.  Lacey doesn't care for the dryer so much and I tend to go in circles chasing Lacey trying to contain her to the corner of the stall.  My favorite part is the smell of her fur afterwards - I've never smelled a more delightful puppy.  

Abby and Lacey are sweet together.  Abby loves to pet, swat, pull, tug, mount Lacey and Lacey just takes it.  She never nips or snarls, however, she'll just jump up instead and often scare Abby by the quick movement.  If only Lacey would just sit there and take it.  At least that would provide more opportunity to capture a photo!  

ABCs

Abby has been singing the ABCs...and I'm so impressed!  She knows the song and will fill in the blanks when we sing together.  She was a bit difficult to capture on video.  Hopefully you can follow along!  

Licking the Bowl

Abby is loving using the spoon.  She was able to eat the applesauce in the bowl, but a girl just can't leave the residue and not lick the bowl clean...or 'drink' the applesauce from the bowl.  

This girl cracks me up!  I dare anyone to tell me you're not laughing or at least smiling after watching this video!  

Swinging

The weather has been gorgeous this week!  After work, I picked Abby up and we went straight to the park.  She has recovered from her temporary fear of swings and now loves them.  She requested swinging many times while we were at the park.  She also loved the slide and running around from equipment piece to equipment piece, while dodging other kids.  

Abby's communication update

Abby is communicating with us so much!  Not only is she endlessly repeating words we say, but she is using her words to tell us her thoughts.  She is also putting words together to make some simple sentences.  

As my SLP eyes watch Abby absorb language, it makes my heart proud that she picks it up so quickly and readily uses it.  I'm amazed at typical language development.  Doing what I do, I often lose sight of what "typical" language and overall "typical" development looks like.  Abby, thankfully, grounds me with that realization and can only make me a better SLP.  On the flip side, it saddens me so much that Abby has surpassed the preschool children that I work with in terms of speech, language and overall communication skills.   

Just last night Abby and I were hanging out in the front yard and Abby signed "closed" and said closed.  She then pointed to the front door.  Without looking, I responded with something like "Oh, do you want the door closed?".  She nodded with a huge grin on her face knowing that I understood her correctly.  I then turned to see that our front door was standing wide open.  Thanks Abby for telling Mommy!  

New words Abby is saying:

outside
no mama
no dada
hi dada
bye dada
up mama
Papa (Grandma isn't there yet)
more milk
please 
more wawa (water)
eat (she's doing this much more spontaneously to tell us she's hungry!)
sunglasses
pants
shirt
Elmo
other sesame street characters - Grover, Oscar, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Big Bird...)
change (knows sign too!)
diaper (knows sign too!)
clean (knows sign too!)
I pooped (she will tell us when she poops!...I think potty training is just around the corner!)
Oh, snap!
Aw, man!

She is beginning to learn her colors - she's learning them in sign language too.  

I love to have her repeat silly words: "bomb diggity" as in Dada is the bomb diggity.  

I have a feeling that we'll be spending lots of time outside this spring and summer as Abby loves to be outside!  In a stroller, on a slide or just running around the yard, she loves to be 
"ow-si"  and cries when we have to come in.  

Book Worm

Who doesn't love a good read in the car?  And the book is that much better when I'm wearing my shades!  

Plane Fun

Over Easter weekend, I got to fly solo with a toddler to Kansas City.  Jealous, right?  Actually, it wasn't as bad as you may have imagined or may have witnessed with other toddlers on planes.  With Abby being a pretty laid back girl and with a relatively short plane ride, I knew I had to expect the best, but be prepared for the worst.  I prepared myself with several things.  I then responded in red in how successful the items were for Abby and myself. 

1. New books that Abby hadn't seen before - thank you Target dollar bin!  These books came in handy - she loved having me read them and label all the pictures and words. 

2. An empty water bottle with several pipe cleaners in it. This wasn't as entertaining to Abby as I thought it would be.  It did entertain her for a short time, however.   

3. A travel sized magna doodle.  She has seen one of these before, but we don't have one, so it was still somewhat novel.  Again, not the winner I thought it was going to be, but it did entertain her.  However, she didn't care for the drawing so much as taking the writing utensil in and out (and in and out...) of it's holder. 

4. A phone full of photos of videos of herself and other familiar people, so when she requests "mo-mo" (movies), I can keep a toddler happy.  This helped while at the gate. 

5. Dental floss.  I read on a blog somewhere that their toddler was entertained with dental floss.  It's small enough to pack, so why not throw it into the mix?  Didn't even get this out.  I think the folks around me would have thought I was a looney toon if I purposely searched my bag for dental floss for my child to play with.  I did have it if I got desperate. 

6. Lots of snacks.  Don't want a hungry toddler on your hands. Fo shizzzle!  She was a snack queen!  Yogurt melts, granola bar, airline cookies, cheerios, goldfish, teddy grahams, you name it, I had it!

7. 2 sippy cup filled with water and milk.  The TSA folk had to check the sippy cup of milk to be sure it wasn't tainted with any illegal substance, but it came in handy!  Of course!  Don't go anywhere without a sippy cup! 

8.  Don't tell Abby this, but I packed a pacifier too.  She hasn't used one during the day in many many months, but again, if I got desperate...  Didn't use at all.  (Thank goodness!)

The flight to KC was full, so we spent the flight in constantly changing positions on my lap (without kicking my neighbor!), standing akwardly in between my legs (she could only face me, if she turned away, she had to lean back), or standing/sitting in the aisle.  There was a younger baby across the aisle, so Abby was slightly entertained in the "baby" across the way. 

Nothing beats a good ol' airport McDonalds breakfast!

 

A repititious game of put monkey in stroller, take monkey out of stroller, put monkey in stroller, take monkey out of stroller....repeat...



At the end of the first leg - a happy (and quiet) toddler!

After a quick nap in the car, we joined Grandma's friends for a girls' lunch!  Abby was a delight!

On the way home, I was equally as prepared with activities.  As I was boarding, the flight attendant even saw that I had a child and automatically changed my seat to an empty row (score!).  I was excited for Abby to have her own area to play in and not be worried about kicking our neighbor.  I was surprised, however, that unexpectedly, she fell asleep on my chest before we even took off!  She conked out for the entire flight and woke up right when we began to descend.  I wasn't expecting it, but I'll take it! 

Overall, Abby was an EXCELLENT traveler and honestly, I knew she'd be great.  Can I say that?  Does that sound conceited if I do?  Well, I said it.  Our next plane ride will be later this summer when we fly to Boston for our Davis family reunion!  Hopefully, I can say the same for that trip.  Plus, I won't be solo, I'll have extra hands and extra entertainment!