Allie has recently achieved what I guess is some form of milestone:  her speech and vocabulary are now not only about conveying wants and needs; but having a conversation.  And boy has she become a chatterbox.  It's funny though, because I really can get a glimpse into how her mind works!  Here is a sampling of the types of things she has been saying:

• Reflecting back on an evening spent with Grandpa shortly after Grandpa’s shoulder surgery: “I put my pillow pet on grandpa so his boo boo would stay nice and warm.”


• Chattering in the car about the movie, “Finding Nemo”: “Mommy, the blue fish in Nemo was crying because he didn’t want the shark to take off his clothes. He didn’t want to be naked.” (Not sure where she got that idea!)
• Requesting me to open the sunroof while eating goldfish in her car seat: “Mommy can you open the roof so the goldfish can be nice and warm? They cold.” (Note: it was very cold outside. She just wanted the sunroof to be open!)

• Requesting me to unfold her new “Cars” blanket when I put her to bed: “Mommy can you open the blanket and put it on me so I can see Mater?”

• Conversation between myself and Allie about her two teachers at school:
Me: “Did Ms. Sandra give you a hug?”
Allie: “Yes Ms. Sandro gave me hugs and kisses!” (Allie calls her Ms. Sandro)
Me: “She did? That was nice! Did Ms. Cheneice give you hugs and kisses too?
Allie: “No. Ms. Cheneice just talk to me about waffles and peanut butter.” (Waffles with peanut butter happens to be Allie’s most requested breakfast meal. Ms. Cheneice must have considered that a riveting conversation topic!)

• Wanting reassurance at bedtime that she will get to drink milk in Mommy’s bed in the morning (our usual routine):
Allie: “Mommy, you bring me milk in Mommy’s bed?”
Me: “Yes, in the morning you can come in Mommy’s bed and drink milk; but right now it’s time to go night night.”
Allie: “OK, that will be GREAT for me.”

• Responding to request from me to put her flip flops on so we can go to gymnastics: “Mommy I don’t want to wear flip flops because they are only for the water cool!” (I must have told her that at some point.  Oops!)

• Responding to a question about what she might like to do for her birthday party this year: “Mommy I want all the kids to come over and we have a dance party and a BIG princess castle and a cake with Mater on it. And Lightning McQueen on it.”  (Not sure what I will call the theme for that party!)

It is a lot of fun to have a conversation with Allie these days!

Hair Twirling

Allie has been twirling her hair since as far back as I can remember. As an infant, she would twirl her hair around her tiny finger over and over while she drank her bottles.  Now, at 2.5 years old, she still does it when drinking her morning milk and when going to sleep at night.  Most of the time she twirls; but other times she lightly yanks it. 

Our morning ritual is for me to get her out of her crib and then put her in my bed with a sippy cup full of milk.  She reclines while she drinks it; and twirls her hair. 

I haven't wanted to draw attention to it - negative or positive; so I've never mentioned it to her before.  But a few weeks ago I decided to finally ask her about it because I was curious to see if she was aware that she did it.  While she was drinking her morning milk, I just asked her, "are you pulling your hair?"  She pulled her cup out of her mouth and flashed a really big smile, as if she was excited to talk about it.  She said, "yes, I like that!"  I said, "you like pulling your hair?"  She nodded yes again.  Then she said excitedly, "you wanna touch it Mommy?"  It was so cute.  It was like she was offering to share this REALLY cool thing with me.  So I said, "ok!" and I gently pulled on a piece of her hair.  I could tell that it really pleased her that I was interested to try this thing she loved so much.  Then she corrected me, "no mommy, like this."  And she twirled it and then lightly yanked it.  I said, "ooooh, ok!"

I haven't thought about it again until yesterday morning.  I was lying in bed with her while she was drinking her milk and twirling her hair; and I just asked her if she would hold my hand.  I wanted to see if she would give up the twirling to hold my hand.  (She loves to hold hands.)  She nodded "yes" and then grabbed my hand.  We laid there for a few short seconds like that; but then she took the cup out of her mouth and said to me very matter-of-factly, "Mommy, I can't hold your hand while I'm pulling my hair, ok?"  I just laughed and said, "ok we can hold hands later." 

The conclusion from my "experiments" is that she is very aware of her habit; but clearly isn't at all ashamed of it.  That makes me happy.  As long as it doesn't turn into pulling her hair out, I'm going to assume it's a harmless self-soothing habit that she'll grow out of.  I think it's a cute little quirk. 

Age 13 months:

Tonight's Bedtime Stalls

For the most part, Allie is pretty cooperative when it comes to going down for naps or at bedtime. As a matter of fact, she is pretty great about it.  But every once in a while, she blindsides me with some never-before-used and pretty creative stall techniques.  Tonight Allie called for me from her crib through the monitor right after I had just finished putting her down for the night.  I went back to her and she told me, "Mommy I have a boo boo in my ear right there (pointing to her ear)"  Sensing a stall attempt coming on, I said, "You do?  Well let me kiss it."  Then she got irritated and said, "I need to go to the DOCTOR!"  I said, "you want to go to the doctor?"  She nodded yes.  So I said, "OK we'll go to the doctor next week." 

I thought that would shut her down; but she continued. 

"Mommy, the doctor look in my ear right there and clean it?  She use a wipe on it?" 

I just went along even though I had no idea where she was getting this from.  "Yes."

"Mommy, you stand by me and watch Allie with the doctor?"

Was this still part of her stall attempt??  "Yes, I will" I said.

Then she said it again.  "You watch Allie and stand by Allie and the doctor??" 

"Yes."

And then she stopped asking questions.  She actually had me second-guessing my assumption that she was stalling.  I was actually starting to wonder if she was genuinely curious about going to the doctor.   

But then, as I told her goodnight as I was about to leave the room again, she started yelling out of nowhere, "Ow!  Ow!  My ear!" and started crying in a very dramatic and totally unconvincing way.  Now I felt really stupid.  I couldn't believe she had me going there for a second!

So when I finally got myself out of there and settled back down on the couch downstairs, here it came again through the monitor:

"Mommy!  The TV making noise and wake me up!" 

The TV was  not even on.  I chose to ignore her. 

After a long pause, she tried plan B:  "Mommy I want to give you hugs!" 

Oh please, how gullible does she think I am?!  (Actually, I'm a sucker for hugs..)

Then the dramatic fake crying resumed:  "Mommy!  Mommy!  I want to hold you!"

I went back up there; but the crying had already stopped and she had already moved on to her next stall attempt:  "Mommy, I need to go pee pee."

The good thing is that as irritating as all this is, it is equally as funny and entertaining.

Several months ago, I was shopping for undies for Allie.  I bought a pack of Hello Kitty-themed undies; and a pack of Disney Pixar movie-themed undies.  The Disney Pixar movie-themed pack came with undies featuring Nemo characters, Toy Story characters, Wall-E characters, and Cars characters.  At the time, the only movie Allie was familiar with was Toy Story (which she LOVED).  However, for reasons unknown, the "Cars" undies quickly emerged as her most very favorite pair.

Fast forward to today.  The Cars undies are still her favorite.  Almost every morning when I tell her to go pick out her panties, she asks me, "are Cars in there?"  And then I have to tell her whether "Cars" is currently in the laundry or not.  And when she's wearing the Cars undies and has to go potty, she often tells me in a very urgent tone, "Mommy!  I need to go potty!  I don't want to pee pee in the cars!!!!!" 

Recently, she actually started watching the Cars movie.  Her favorite character is Mater, the hillbilly tow-truck.  This morning when it was time to pick out panties, I told Allie, "the Cars are clean today!"  As she was putting them on, I noticed she was looking very closely at them.  She finally said, "Mommy, where's Mater?"  I told her, "Well, these panties only have Sally and Lightning on them." She paused for a second and then announced, "I am going to ask Santa for panties with Mater."

Needless to say, "Santa" has had a hard time finding Mater undies for girls...

A separate; but related story:  We recently ran out of band-aids (because Allie loves putting band-aids on for any and every reason).  When I went to buy more at the grocery store, I showed her the selection and asked her to pick out the ones she wanted.  They had an almost endless selection:  princess-themed, pooh-themed, hello kitty, looney tunes, etc.  As soon as she saw that there were Cars-themed band-aids, she immediately knew that's what she wanted. 

This morning she told me, "Mommy I have a boo boo right here" and pointed at her thumb.  There was no boo boo on her thumb; but I knew she was dying to put on a Cars band-aid, so I indulged her and she carefully applied a cars band-aid to her thumb.  When we got to school, she held up her thumb to anyone who would look and proudly exclaimed, "This is a Cars band-aid!"

Fuzzy Socks are Fun!

Allie is very fond of a particular pair of soft pink fuzzy socks that I own.  A few weeks ago when she initially discovered them, she pulled them on up to her knees, put her tennis shoes back on over them, and then kept them on for a few hours around the house. 

A few nights ago, she re-discovered them and took them to bed with her.  She didn't put them on -- just cuddled with them.  She also carried them around the following morning when she got out of bed -- as if they were a stuffed animal or something!  As odd as it is, I let her take them to bed with her again that next night.  It's harmless, right?  And I must admit they are soft.  When I went to check on her a while after she'd gone to bed, this is what I found. 

Usually, she refuses to wear socks to bed.  Maybe it's because they weren't pink fuzzy socks!

Oh, and on a separate note..  When asked what animal was on the turkey-themed p.j.'s she wearing in these photos, she answered, "gobble chicken!"

A Milestone Christmas

So, this is the first year that Allie has an awareness of the Christmas holiday.  Last year she was able to recognize Santa; but this year she understands that he will bring her presents.  She's also able to help decorate the tree, make ornaments, help bake cookies, name things she would like Santa to bring her, enjoy giving presents, get excited about lights, learn Christmas songs, learn the Christmas story, enjoy productions etc., etc.  I'm enjoying it so much that I'm having a hard time not completely overwhelming her with holiday-related activities.  It's SO fun to experience the holidays through her eyes.  I bought an advent calendar for the first time ever.  (Each day you add a sticker and watch the manger scene come together.)  I also bought a gingerbread house kit for Allie and I to make together; but haven't had the energy to take on the inevitable mess that I know will come with it.  (Actually, I'm second-guessing that particular choice of activity!)

Because I have such fond memories of having my very own tree as a child, I gotAllie her very own tree this year and we decorated it the other night.  I purchased several individual ornaments, as well as a bulk package of plastic candy canes.  Grammy contributed a bulk package of mini glass balls, and another package of candy canes. When we decorated, Allie felt compelled to pair each individual ornament with both a candy cane and a glass ball and connect them all together via a single wire ornament hanger before hanging it as a "clump" onto the tree.   And of course she hung all the clumps in one tiny area of the tree.  It was hilarious and I enjoyed every second of it, even though I had to separate everything back out and distribute them evenly on the tree later.

Here is am example of the ornament-ball-candy cane clump:

I periodically ask Allie what she wants Santa to bring her just because it's so fun to see what she has on her mind at that point in time.  The only item she mentions every time is a bike.  Other items oftened mentioned are "animals" (I have no idea what she means though), "lots and lots of puzzles" (puzzles are indeed her favorite toy right now), and..... "a blue dragon" (presumably because she is obsessed with talking about the dragons in the Shrek movie and her favorite color is blue).   

Summertime Pool Fun

For the last 4 straight weekends, Allie has been in a pool either at Grandpa's or Grammy's house.  We've all been loving watching Allie adapt to the water and learn to "swim".  In the last month, Allie has gone from refusing to let go of you all the way to jumping in on her own and bobbing carefree around the pool with her floaties on.  She can even float on her back and kick with a kickboard now! 

(Oh, and lately, she's decided she prefers to swim naked.)

Following are some pics taken over the last few weeks.  At the end are a couple of videos of the first time she "swam" by herself.  Grandpa and I were so proud.