Reunited!

Audrey's boyfriends have moved on to the older toddler room, so she hasn't seen much of them lately. When I picked her up this evening, I saw that her boyfriend, Callen, was in the room with her. Audrey immediately got up from her seat on the floor beside him, started cleaning up her stuff (and others' stuff), but didn't say hello to her mom. Callen, on the other hand, let out a big, "HI!" Her teacher reminded me of their close relationship, which picked up today right where it had left off. She said that Callen's class had too many kids for the number of teachers this morning, so she asked Callen if he wanted to come next door with her for the day. He apparently didn't give her the time of day. Until, that is, she mentioned Audrey's name.

"If you come next door with me, you can play with Audrey all day??!!"

"YES!"

And they did just that. I guess they hung out in the corner playing with toys and reading each other some books. And, of course, having many conversations only they understood.

When Audrey took care of everything she felt needed to be cleaned up, she headed for the door with my keys, and said "Bye!" to her teacher, her class, and me. After two requests, she decided to allow me to tag along with her for the ride home. As we were leaving, I looked back and saw a big grin on Callen's face.

"BYE, AUDR-EEEEEE!"

They'll be reunited in a week. We'll see if they make it...

18 Month Photo Shoot!

Audrey had her 18 month photo shoot today. Her hair is so much longer than even six months ago, and she looks so different from her pictures a year ago. She was a little shy with the photographer in the beginning, so we tried to get her to smile. Leave it to her dad to get her to show her beautiful smile (by having her doll attack his face...but hey it worked!). By the end, she was finding some props to include in her pictures to keep the photo shoot going!

Out with the old...

Audrey "helped" me clean out her closet to put away some of her clothes that no longer fit. She mainly helped by taking out each of her books from her bin, and reading each outloud to me, making the various sound effects for any animals she came across. This was a nice distraction from my sadness of putting away some of her too-small clothes. We came across two hats, both from when she was born. A pink one for her first couple days, and a red/white candy cane hat for her homecoming trip on Christmas Eve. She wouldn't humor me by trying on the pink one, but she did try to put on the Christmas Eve hat. It still fits, right?

Roar!

Look what Audrey made at school! Isn't she the cutest lion???!!

18 months!

One and a half years-old. As Grandma S would say, Wow!

Let's see, Audrey is talking up a storm (No, Yes, Fris, Mommy, Daddy, did I mention No?, turtle, more, please, thank you, bye, hi, Audrey, grandpa, meow, moo, dog, tree, milk, zebra, Uh oh, did I mention No?). And much, much, more. Careful what we say as she repeats most things now!

She loves her dolls. Rides in the car. Her teachers. Daycare. Other kids. Dogs, turtles, and any other animals. Ice cream. French fries. Fruit. Yogurt. Swimming! T-ball. Playing catch. Peek-a-boo. Showing off. The Pookie dance. Singing. Blowing kisses.

She does not like flies. Scared of them and other bugs. We're working on the fly one though. The other night at dinner, she got so scared of a fly that landed on her that she ended up eating dinner in my lap. When the fly landed on the table, chair, etc., I would wave and say "Hi fly!". Audrey just kept saying, "Bye fly!"

She is more and more fun everyday. And more and more of a little girl. Where did the past 18 months go?

Happy Father's Day!

Oh how Audrey loves her daddy. The swim lessons. The view from his shoulders. The countless books. The howling during her Doggies book. The ABC song. The dancing. The waving good-bye until she can't see him in the drive anymore. The returns home to see her when she squeals and runs around, too excited to stop to say hi for very long. The mommy-doesn't-do-it-that-way-but-it's-fun-if-she-doesn't-see-it things.

Since she was pretty little, he's tossed her over his shoulder and asked, "Where's Audrey"" as he spins around to find her. This has become one of her favorites. She giggles and squeals, and her eyes just light up as her daddy tries to find her. The other day, as he was spinning her around, I saw her holding her finger to her mouth, indicating to not tell him where she's at. She had a grin from ear to ear and loved that he couldn't find her. I just kept wondering when she had gotten so big.

What she really loves is the mornings with her daddy. She knows there's no chance I'll get out of bed much earlier than required (except this morning!). But her daddy, he's her morning guy. Granted, she gets up earlier than either of us would like. She will come to bed with us, and if she does fall back asleep, it's usually on Eric's chest. But, usually, she's bouncing up and down, pointing out our (closed) eyes to us, rolling, twisting, squealing, singing, anything but sleeping. The minute Eric is up and about, she wants out of bed to hang out with him.

We had a great day today which included brunch, a nice Sunday drive, playing, and more playing.

Happy Father's Day to Audrey's daddy. (And your wife loves you enough to even dress your daughter in a Cubs dress for the day!)

The Hat!

Audrey got a new straw hat today, and didn't want to take it off! How unusual for her. She especially loved wearing her hat while jumping on me...

Play Ball!

Audrey enjoyed playing with her new t-ball set yesterday. I spotted it at the store in the morning, but waited until Eric got home to open it. Audrey talked to the box with the little boy playing ball all day! She tried to get me to open it several times, knocked it over a few times more to draw attention to it, and waited not so patiently for it to be opened. I had planned to have her out in the front yard hitting a few balls in a Cardinals outfit, but Eric arrived home earlier than I had anticipated. (He must have known my plan...)

Audrey has also started to play a lot with her dolls. She had been playing with the dolls at daycare, so I bought her one a few months ago for home, but she really didn't care until the past few days. Now, she brings her dolls with her everywhere. Yesterday, one of her dolls went to the park and the store, and both went all around the house in her play stroller. I even got to take care of one of her dolls while I was getting stuff done around the house - Audrey had her eye on the other doll but wanted both to get some TLC. She likes to say, "Baby, Baby!" and cover them up (face and all!) to go to sleep. She also gets really mad at them when they don't quite cooperate (why don't you both fit in the stroller together! keep your hat on! keep your blanket on!).

She and cousin H should have fun together this weekend - I only hope Audrey doesn't learn how to put us to bed, like cousin H!

Happy Birthday Grandma S!

Audrey spent a good part of her Monday making a picture for Grandma S's birthday. I asked her in the morning if she would like to draw grandma a picture for her card, and she answered with an enthusiastic Yes! She immediately headed toward her chair and waited patiently for me to get out her crayons. I have never seen her so engrossed in an art project. As you can see from the video, she likes to ignore her mom these days. I mean, don't interrupt an artist at work, geez! Especially to try to say birthday! The funniest part is that Audrey always likes to watch her videos back. When she watched this video, she kept saying whatever it was I was prompting her to say in the video. She also tried to get her milk cup that she could see on the video!

She was so proud when her picture went into the envelope, and even helped get the card into the mailbox to grandma. Too bad we couldn't hand deliver it!

Girl Talk

Everyday becomes more and more fun to carry on a conversation with Audrey. She is repeating most things directed toward her, and she is becoming more and more clear to understand. She loves being able to make decisions on her own, and of course to be offered choices. Granted, she mostly says No, and I have to hide my smirk when she says No to herself (!), but she is saying many other things as well. We had a particularly endearing conversation before bed last night. Not sure what all it included, but mostly it was about her day. She said Yes! when I asked if she had gone outside, and she lit up when I went thru listing all the kids in her class, and asked if she was friends with each of them. She shook her head Yes! so vigorously that she bonked me in the head when I asked if she was friends with Callen. I always ask her if she knows that mommy loves her lots and lots and lots, and usually she just smiles. Now, she says, I know, or Yes! The highlight was when she said I love you, and signed it, too. Turned me into a teary-eyed mess. Eric came in her room, having mowed the entire lawn during the time we were still reading and talking, wondering what was taking us so long. He sees me crying, Audrey giddy and happy, and says, "What, is it because she's getting so big?" Yes!

Say I love you to daddy too, and I bet he'll let you stay up later as well!

Shoes!

Audrey *really* likes shoes, just like any girl should! She tends to hand her daddy his shoes when he misplaces them (oops, left them in the living room - let me hand you those to put away!) but will try my shoes on if she finds them. Yesterday, she put a pair of my shoes on and was walking all around, even walked her toy dog while wearing them. She also helped sort some laundry in them! She's quite good in heels and LOVES how loud she is when walking in them! Look out world!

We also spent time on something for Grandma S's upcoming birthday. Stay tuned on Friday!

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears!

We chose a beautiful, 80 degree day for Audrey's second visit to the zoo, yesterday. I asked her in the morning if she wanted to go to the zoo, she said, "no". (Favorite word since the loss of nu nu). We talked about the animals she would see, and she was very excited to wear her turtle shirt. She kept lifting up her shirt to see her turtle, and would say, "tur-tle". We practiced our animal sounds on the way there, an activity she usually requests more and more. She is learning what a sheep says, but to her, a Baaaaa (at least my Baaaaas) apparently sound like laughing, so she laughs (haa haa!) when we ask what a sheep says.

She had a perfect view of the animals while perched on her dad's shoulders. She pointed at lots of animals and had her mouth gaping open the majority of the day. What do you mean there's a REAL elephant over there? And penguins? And a LION! She got to pet some goats with daddy but unlike the other parents at the zoo, Audrey's daddy didn't let her touch the sharks (Duh!). Eric and I saw a tortoise but Audrey didn't spot him. Maybe next time.

We knew her favorite animal would be the lion, but didn't promise her she'd see one. The male lion was passed out but the lioness was prowling around. I told Audrey to Roaaaaar! and see if she'd come over. She did, no doubt due to Audrey's fabulous replication of a real lion's roar! She was fascinated, and the other people there taking a look at the lions laughed at Audrey's impression.

We finished the day with some ice cream, and a nap for most of the drive home. Minor complaint at the end of the drive, at which time we started singing the alphabet song, one of her favorites which she tries to sing along with.

Eric: Are your mommy and daddy good singers?
Audrey: No.
Eric: Are you just saying that?
Audrey: No.

Why did I want the pacifier gone again???

The end of nu nu

Audrey parted ways with her nu nus yesterday. Like a big girl, she gave her pacifiers to the babies at daycare. She handed the infant teacher the container of her pacifiers, and Audrey's teachers oh-ed and ah-ed praising her for being so big. Things were going fine as we headed back to her room to get her bag and papers from the week. As is typical, she started to walk out with me, holding my car keys. This time though, she stopped in front of the infant room, and waited for me to open the door, you know, to get those nu nus back! I reminded her about having said good-bye, and her teachers were very helpful in praising her. We left without problem, and I praised her over and over on the drive home.

During dinner, I broke the news to her:

"So, tonight we'll take a bath, read some books, say our prayers, talk, and drink some milk. But, there will be no nu nu."

Audrey stops chewing, and looks over at me and says - "Huh????"

I knew the concept of giving her pacifiers away would be hard to get at this age, but I did want there to be something to remind her of having parted ways with them. Last night was a rough night getting her to sleep, really rough since she was so upset. It took her an hour to fall asleep, crying when we'd leave after reassuring her periodically that she was ok. But, she slept thru the night, and we of course showered her with praise again this morning. Over and over again.

So, I was wondering how naptime would go today. Since it was Friday, Eric was in charge.

"45 minutes to fall asleep. Slept for 30 minutes."

Well, now that doesn't seem right! God bless daddy for not giving in!

Tonight, she was totally wound up, and I thought for sure it would be rough. We talked as we do before she goes to bed, and talked about the plan for tomorrow. Her eyes lit up when I told her she could have something special for breakfast in the morning if she didn't cry when going to sleep.

And she didn't. Total silence. Asleep in minutes.

Admittedly, I'm a little sad. She's getting bigger and makes changes to things so quickly and easily. Before I can even adjust! No more Maggie Simpson using her pacifier. Upside down.

I think she deserves a chocolate donut for breakfast!

It's ok.

I was talking with Audrey's teacher tonight about her thoughts on having Audrey collect her pacifiers at home, and then "give" her pacifiers to the babies at daycare. She thought this was a great idea, especially since Audrey has started to fall asleep without her pacifier at daycare. She thought Audrey would really take to this idea, and shared with me how empathic Audrey is to the other kids in her class. There is a new little girl in her class, and this little girl has been having a very hard time transitioning to her new classroom, crying when dropped off, and often during the day. Of course, it was not too long ago that Audrey (and her parents!) went through this. Her teacher was sitting on the floor consoling this little girl earlier today, and she said that Audrey came over and patted the little girl on the back, and kept saying, "It's ok. It's ok." She also shared that if someone in the class starts to get upset, Audrey will bring a toy over to him/her to help them feel better. This reminded me of the other night, when it was storming outside, Fris was hiding under an end table and behind some pillows, shaking as she usually does when there is a storm. Audrey came over and tried to hand Fris, over the pillows, one of her favorite books, to help her feel better. Fris didn't take it, but I'm sure she appreciated the sentiment. :)

These are the stories I love to hear and witness, to reassure me that we are raising this little one the right way.