Zoo trip #3

Abby and I went to the zoo for the third time this summer with a friend of mine and her two boys.  Each time we go, we see different animals and do different things.  We had never been to the petting zoo area at the zoo, so Abby got to brush a goat.  She didn't like, however, feeding the goats.  You had to feed them through the fence or allow the goats to put their front paws on the fence and feed over the fence.  That was too much for Abby.  She'll just brush goats, thanks.  

Poor Brent misses out on all the fun we're having this summer!  :(

While the cat's away, the mice will play!

Contrary to what this blog tends to make you think, but Brent and I are together a lot and spend plenty of family time together.  With that being said, Brent went down to Lake Cumberland with his buddies this weekend for a last minute guys' trip.  I guess that makes me the nice wife (that's what Brent tells me anyway) since I "let" Brent participate in all these golf outings (he had 3 in a 10 days!), a guy's trips and any other activities that take time away from our family.  Really, though, I have to admit that I really don't mind that much.  Despite the fact that I am Mommy 100% of the time, I kinda look forward to my time alone (when Abby is napping or down for the night).

So far this weekend:

• Abby and I had a picnic lunch at the park with a co-worker friend and her daughter.  Rosie and her daughter, Lyla, met us for a 2 part date.  The first part was lunch and playing on the playground and the second part was going to The Cone for ice cream and riding on the coin operated rides.  The weather was gorgeous and it was fun to play outside enjoying the cool July breeze.  
  
• Abby and I went to play at a friend's house.  Andrea and her two kids, Xavier and Juliet.  We played in their backyard where there was a blow up bounce house, a sandbox, a water table AND a baby pool.  After the initial apprehension of the bounce house, Abby quickly became efficient in climbing in and out and bouncing in it.  I think several times too, all 3 kids were playing at 3 different stations.  We then stayed for dinner and the adults enjoyed Indian (YUM!) while the kids ate kid food.  
  
  
  
  
• We ran errands - Meijer, Kohl's...Abby is a great shopper!  
• Abby took an early nap - like 2 hours early!  I didn't fight it and just let it happen.  She slept for close to 2 hours, so the girl needed it.  And she managed to stay kind the rest of the day until bedtime.  I was worried she'd be a crankpot in the evening after napping too early.
• Abby and I had a spontaneous date with Lily (and Heather and Ryan) to the Cone (again!).  They were up in our neck of the woods and called us up for a ice cream date.  We can't turn down ice cream and a chance to play with Lily!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Story time

I have loved taking Abby to the library this summer for storytime.  It has been our Tuesday morning routine for the past several weeks. The librarians there do a great job of putting together a theme and finding books, chants, dances and simple activities to keep a child's attention.  

Abby has also loved picking out some books for us to check out.  And by "picking out books", I mean Abby pulling random books off the shelf and me having to place them back on the shelf and then I find 10 books that I think she'll enjoy and shove them into a bag as somewhat as quickly as I can.  I noticed this week that she knew what direction to run when going to the children's section of the library.  

Abby's Language Update

Abby language has burst again and it is so fun to watch!  She's beginning to put two words together spontaneously and even imitates 3-5 word phrases.  

Spontaneous 2 words:
Hi Mommy
Hi Daddy
Hi Lacey
Hi Elmo
Elmo sleeping 
No poopy
No _______ (whatever it is we're asking her what she wants or to do)
Blue cup
Mommy's cup
Daddy's cup
Abby's cup
Mommy's spoon
Daddy's spoon
Abby's spoon
Mommy's shirt
Daddy's shirt
Abby's shirt
Mommy's chair
Daddy's chair
Abby's chair

Are you seeing a pattern here?  It's cute and this is what our dinner conversation consists of - labeling what all the colors are of our food, plate and utensils and who they belong to.  Abby continues to learn signs.  Her latest signs that she uses regularly are:

blue
black
change (as in diaper change)
dirty
car
socks
shoes
beer

She is beginning to sing songs to herself too.  I've caught her singing ABCs and Twinkle twinkle (which by chance has the same tune as ABCs).  She also likes to sing/chant along to Five Little Monkeys and when it's time to say "no more monkeys jumping on the bed"...she actually attempts to say it!  I have it on video, but it's not letting me upload it.  But be rest assured, it's darn cute!  

Third Week of Summer

The third week of summer started out eventful and then turned a different kind of eventful...

Tuesday began by going to the zoo with my friend Jill and her two boys.  It was raining and so we were on the fence with whether we should actually go or not.  I'm glad we did because the rain cleared out quickly and it was gorgeous!  

After the zoo, Abby crashed in the car on the way home and continued to take a good nap before our evening activity began.  Abby went to her first Reds game!  

On the way down to the Reds game she ate 2 1/2 chicken nuggets and several french fries
(Thanks Mc D's).  Then while we were at the game she ate her dinner I had packed - hot dog, string cheese, strawberries, blueberries and an applesauce pouch.  She also had a few peanuts and some pretzel from neighbors.  Not to mention a sippy up of milk on the way down and then a whole sippy cup of water while she was at the game.  Needless to say, she ate a lot of food!  And guess what happened?  She woke up in the morning and displayed her food all around her crib.  Greaaaaaat.  I don't think it was any allergic reaction, I think she just ate too much.  

Abby and Daddy got to go to the pool together (without Mommy).  That's still a work in progress...  Abby isn't comfortable in the water, but I think we just need to expose her more often.  Abby is a cautious one so she's not the type to just jump in without fear (I may count my blessings later...).  There were tears and lots of clinging to Daddy.  

A couple days later, we went to the pool again and there was improvement in Abby's attitude towards the H2O.  It also helps that Lily was there (who's not as cautious and more dare devilish) and Abby is a monkey-see-monkey-do kind of gal.  So she was jumping in and was even wearing Lily's 'water wings' and loved gliding through the water.  I promptly bought some off of Amazon when we got home.  

This summer is shaping up great! Abby is getting to experience lots of things and I'm enjoying sharing it with her!  

Swimming

Abby enjoyed playing in the swimming pool on Saturday afternoon.  I was shocked to see Abby dumping water over her head.  She's been going through a phase where she doesn't like water running down her face, but maybe we're on our way out of that phase.  Even though the blow up pool lost air and I attempted to blow it back up 3x while in use, it still worked as a pool.  I added some cut up sponges and measuring cups to the water and I'm pretty sure those were the biggest hit of toys played with in the pool.  Score!

Happy Father's Day

Abby was busy making a Father's Day gift for her favorite Daddy!  

Abby pointing to yellow

Abby enjoyed painting her hand...

The final product!  Daddy gave it two thumbs up!

I made this fingerpaint and it wasn't the thinkest consistency that I was expecting, but it made vibrant colors - at least in the bowls.  Next time I make it, I will allow a diaper clad Abby have her way with the paint and allow her paint her body.   

I found the recipe on Pinterest.  I made two batches because I thought I made the first one wrong since it was so runny.  However the second batch I accidentally added too much (doubled it!) cornstarch and shockingly, it didn't thicken the fingerpaint at all.  Odd.  

The recipe:

• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 2 cups cold water
• food coloring
• containers for finger paint

In a medium saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch together. Add water. Heat over medium heat for 8 minutes or until the mixture thickens. Will thicken more as it cools. Divide into containers such as baby-food jars, and add desired food coloring to each container.

Spaghetti Dinner

I couldn't resist snapping a few shots of our spaghetti dinner tonight.  You'll notice that Abby is not in a highchair, but on a booster seat in the chair.  I tried that this week on a whim and Abby has done really well, so I think our highchair days are behind us.  Say it ain't so?!  My baby is getting so big!  

Second Week of Summer

I seemed to have crammed all the summer fun activities into these past two weeks!  We've been busy!....And I'm pooped! But I love it!

On Tuesday Abby and I ventured to the library.  Abby had never been and I think she had more fun running from Abby-sized chair to Abby-sized chair than looking at books.  I managed to pick out a few to check out and we then stayed for "StoryTime".  A couple of librarians picked a few books out to read and the pages were projected onto a screen for all the toddlers and preschoolers to see.  In between books, there were songs, chants and movements that Abby kinda followed.  She mostly liked clapping after each one was finished.  The library does this weekly, so I may make this a weekly activity.

The picture below is Abby playing on the computer while we were waiting for the story time to begin.  At home she's not allowed to touch the computer and so I think she was confused why all of a sudden I was wanting her to put her hand on the mouse.

On Thursday, I met with some of my speechie ex co-worker friends (and their children) at Jump and Jack's - an indoor playground.  There was a toddler area which was perfect for Abby.  We met during lunch time and stayed afterward to play, therefore Abby's nap was WAY later than normal.  I'm always impressed with how she just goes with the flow.  She conked out on the way home and woke up just in time for us to jet to our next event!

Abby and I met up with some friends for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.  It's been 3 years since I worked there and surprisingly, there were many faces that I recognized.  People just can't seem to leave the Cheese.  I guess that's a good thing?  Abby learned a new trick - holding a spoon on her nose!  Abby watched Bethany do it once and within seconds or minutes Abby had hers on her nose.

On Friday, Abby and I went down to the Bisher's house to play.  No big plans, just hang and play.  And that's what we did.  We also ate lunch there and then came home to nap before we headed out in the afternoon to yet another friend's house!

Below are pictures of Abby on Brady's lap - he was so sweet with her.  He kept wanting her to play with him and picking her up.  She climbed up onto the couch by herself to sit on Brady's lap.  Luckily, he's young and cute otherwise, we'd be worried!
 

Garrett and Abby are watching some cartoon on TV...He's about 15 months older than Abby and I'm sure they'll be great playmates when they get older!

Stay tuned in for more summer antics!

First Week of Summer

I am so thrilled to be off work for the summer!  And I'm even more thrilled to spend some quality time with Abby doing fun summer activities.  

I didn't waste any time packing in our summer fun!  On the first official day of summer, Abby and I went to the zoo with Steph, Ethan and Cole.  The weather was perfect and although there was a backup getting into the parking lot and into the zoo itself, the crowd seemed to dissipate as we made our way through the zoo.  I pulled Abby and Ethan in the wagon (which they did great staying seated while I pulled) and Steph pushed Cole in the stroller.  As I mentioned the weather was superb and the kids were even better.  No meltdowns, no moments of "where did my child go?!", and we all had a great time!  

We didn't see all the animals on this trip, but we did see lots of animals that Abby loved identifying: duck, turtle, bear, fish, snake, lion.  Abby rode the train for the first time - last time we came she fell asleep and so I got to wait around while Steph rode with Ethan (Cole didn't exist yet).  We packed a lunch and found a shaded table to eat before we left for the day.  That's the beauty of going with someone who has a zoo membership, we can stay for short periods and then leave knowing we can go again another day!  Thanks Steph for sharing your zoo pass with us!  I look forward to taking Abby again soon.  I think we'll be going several times this summer.  

Abby looks like she's going incognito with her flapped hat and sunglasses.  But a fair skinned girl has got to do what a fair skinned girl has got to do!  She doesn't mind wearing the hat or sunglasses, so I'm thankful I'm not fighting that battle.  

A few days after the zoo, Abby and I trekked up to Lima to do some strawberry picking!  I stayed with my Sue and Dennis (Brent's mother and step-dad) for the night and the next day headed out to meet up with Steph, Ethan, Cole and Di (Steph's mom).  The kids were generally pretty good while the adults picked strawberries.  We did have to do some crowd control, but the kids did allow 3 adults to pick 7 buckets of strawberries.  

  

 I think this last photo is one of my favorites of the day.  The other favorite is the photo of Abby and Ethan holding hands!  Ethan was initially grabbing Abby's hand to hold, but after a few pictures he was done and when we tried to get 'just one more', we kept telling Ethan to take Abby 's hand.  Abby was the one who reached out to grab Ethan's hand.  It was a very cute moment!  

Abby loved picking (and eating) strawberries!  She entertained herself pretty well by walking up and down the narrow aisles with an empty bucket in the crook of her arm.  She'd walk up one aisle touch Steph's back, walk back down the aisle, go down the next aisle and touch my back then turn around and go up Steph's aisle.  Over and over again.  Some like to call it OCD, but I'd like to see it as "typical toddler repetition" and a well behaved child.  

Abby conked out before we hit the highway so I continued on to made the trek back home to West Chester.  

Summer is shaping up well!  What else is in store for us this summer?  Stay tuned!