When left alone...

This is what Addie decides to do with herself:



Now that Addie can get out of bed on her own she's taken to entertaining herself (and Beth when she's awake) after naps. She loves to get into the dresser and pull out clothes and shoes. In the pictures above, she had gotten out several of those little head bow things that baby girls use and decided to dress herself up in them. One around the neck, one on her arm, one in her hair.. perfect! This is how I found her after her nap.

She also loves to get the hangers off the low bar in the closet and then re-hang them later. Most of the time she's entertaining Bethy though. She'll pass her toys into her crib or sing to her or just be silly and make her laugh. They are quite the duo in the afternoons chatting and playing perfectly together until I get them out of their room. I've even walked in to find Addie sitting on the floor next to Beth's crib reading a book to her out loud. It was just perfect. She's such a good big sister!

Pretty Addie

This week I bought some fingernail polish and finally painted Addie's nails for the first time. She loved it!

I've always been afraid to do it before as she constantly had her fingers in her mouth and I don't need her eating nail polish, but now I feel a lot more comfortable with the idea. She's smart enough to understand when told not to do something after being told why.

Her perfectly pink little fingers and toes are just adorable by the way! How girly she is... and how much I love it! Can you imagine me of all people loving my little girly-girl? (Well, of course I love her, but I mean loving how girly she is!!) She absolutely loves to play dress-up now, which is pretty cute. She will get on her dress, a necklace, her shoes, have her hair done, and now flaunt her pretty painted fingernails. Oh and no outfit is complete without a handbag stuffed to the brim with toys and blocks and books. What a princess in training!! Oh well... what little girl doesn't dream of being a princess at least once? Might as well let her get it out of her system now... before all the bad traits show up that come along with being a princess.

Be Patient

I have to say that I'm pretty stoked lately as it seems that some of our parenting is finally sinking in with Addie. I'm sure there's been a lot that's actually sank in, but to have her give us blatant examples is pretty reassuring that we must be doing something right.

Lately Adalia has taken to telling Bethany "Beeeeee patient, Baby Bethany". While in the car riding places if Bethany starts to get cranky or even just plain ol' chatty, Addie will kindly inform her that she must be patient. Each time Beth opens her mouth to speak Addie counters with another "Baby Bethany, no talking. Be patient." Pretty much Bethany is not allowed to talk without being scolded and told that she must be patient. I'm not sure why Addie thinks that being patient means being quiet, but it probably has to do something with her being told to stop crying and waiting whenever she "needs" something right now!

It's also nice when Addie actually puts this saying into practice herself. The other day I actually told her to be patient as I was in the middle of cooking some food. I explained to her what I was doing, how long it would take, and how once I was finished I would then get her a cup of milk. She repeated the saying back to me again and patiently sat there waiting. When I was finished she told me all about how she was patient! Awesome!!! A 2 year old learning the value of patience. Amazing. I'm sure it will fly out the door as soon quickly as it came in, but for right now it's just awesome.

Cuddlerific

Tonight Addie and I spent some much needed cuddle time on my bed after Bethany was asleep. I think they've both been needing a little more face time than I've been giving them and I need to fix that. We laid on my bed all cuddled under the blankets just talking. It's so wonderful to finally be at that point when your child can actually carry on conversations with you. Granted, they are still pretty hectic, and filled with a lot of repeating each other, but it's amazing to ask her what she wants to do tomorrow and get an answer: "Go downstairs and watch Mickey Mouse." hahaha

I just think it's so cool when you step back and think about it. Of course she's a brilliant kid (who's kid isn't?), but some of the things we take for granted as adults are just so freaking awesome to witness in children. Like the fact that she now understands the concept of time. Tomorrow follows today; it will start when I wake up in the morning. Or how she can remember the activities of not only today, but days, weeks, even months ago. (If I have to hear about Uncle James' animals from 3 months ago one more time..)

Watching her make a decision as simple as picking out a movie is terrific too. It's not just a movie.. it's a choice.. her choice. Something she tries everyday to establish, her independence, is just thrust upon her every evening before her movie time. You can watch her relish the moment as she walks back and forth eying the 10 or so DVDs laid out for her approval. Beaming, she'll pick a movie and remind me that she also learned a new phrase recently.. "Addie made good decision". That you did there kiddo, that you did, Peter Pan is an excellent decision.

Bye-Bye

We've finally got some waving going on around here. It's weird that she can walk completely by herself now and still can't wave, but such is life with babies. Tonight, though, I finally got her to wave... sort of. It was the smallest little open-handed, arm up and down sort of thing, but hey it's a start right?

The MorningRoutine

The morning routine in our household is pretty well set, and has been for a while now. We wake up each morning to Addie and Bethany "talking" back and forth to one another in their bedroom: "Baby Bethany.. Baaaabbbbyy Bethaaaannnyyy... Ackgh.. babababa.. Baby Bethany.." On and on it goes, and you have to hear how Addie draws out Beth's name.. it's freaking hilarious. I'll try to get that one on video for you.

Next we come down the stairs, making sure to make the "whooop" sound as we go under the ceiling part about 5 stairs from the bottom. Please don't ever forget the "whooop" sound, else all hell will break loose.

Then comes the perfectly placed pillows on couch, that must be angled just right before Princess Adalia will lay her sweet head upon them. Mickey Mouse must now be put on the tv.. don't offer up Tigger&Pooh, Handy Manny is not even an option, and no we will NOT be watching Tinkerbell this early in the morning. Only Mickey Mouse.

"Need somefing drink" Now comes the breakfast ritual. Milk and a fruit bar.. or when we want to really spice up the day, milk and a pop tart.

Ok we're set..everything's in place. The milk cup is perfectly perched on her lap, the pop tart is ready for the eating, the mouse is in the house.. "Good morning mommy."

Outdoors Time

Today Erik and I spent a while working on our dreaded yard. It's really the first time we've gotten out there to do anything other than mow this year. (It's hard to care much about your yard when they have a 30 foot hole in part of it.) We've been edging the sidewalk and were able to really increase the width of the walking space on the section we got done. I can't wait to get some more cleared away tomorrow. Addie was quite the helper, or so she thought. Nothing like slowing down the whole process just to let her help "shubble and sweep". Listening to her try to talk with a banged up lip was also pretty interesting today.

Bethany is finally enjoying the grass and likes to crawl/walk/tarzan across the yard now. You can see in this video how well she's getting at standing up completely unassisted. She was having a bit of trouble in the grass though, I think it will take some time to get used to walking in it.

First Trip to the ER

2 years, 5 months, 23 days, and about 20 hours... that's how long Little Miss Adalia Lea made it before making her first visit to the emergency room.

Today while heading up to take her afternoon nap, Addie tripped over the hallway rug and face-planted directly into the corner of the stairs. Erik says she cried for about 30 seconds and then handled it really well. He called me while at work to tell me what had happened and that he thought it looked pretty bad, but she seemed ok and had fallen asleep for her nap already. I assumed it wasn't that bad if that was the case and went on with my day.

After I got home Addie remained in bed napping for about another hour. When I went up to get her, she seemed a bit off and she wouldn't speak to me at all. I could see the scrape/bruise below her lip, but was afraid to open her mouth and take a look. I knew if it was busted up in there it might hurt her to open up. At this point I called my mom seeing what her opinion was. She wanted me to take her in, I didn't want to waste the money or time if it wasn't all that bad.. I mean kids get scraped up and I'm not one to run to the doctor for every little bruise. I should've known what she would say lol. Once I finally finagled my way into her mouth, I could see the gash was pretty bad. I decided it was time to take her in.

Addie and I headed off to the emergency room, Bethany in tow. It turns out it was a good decision. The doctor was a bit torn on if she should stitch it up or not as the inside of mouths tend to heal quickly on their own and stitches have a habit of falling out in there. She went back and forth for a minute, reluctant to stitch, but worried about how "flappy" it was. Finally she suggested we go ahead and stitch it and then start her on the meds. If the stitch falls out, it falls out, but it eased her mind. I loved how she kept looking at me waiting for me to make the decision. I know I'm the parent, but I was expecting her to tell me what she thought should be done for sure and then I'd say ok or not ok.

Adalia was an absolute champ in the exam room. She laid there peacefully on the bed while they felt around in her mouth and looked at the gash. I know she was in pain because she refused to talk and looked the part, but she was just such a trooper. The only time she cried at all was when one of the nurses held her head for the anesthsesia. The nurses were quite prepared for the worst as they had wrapped a sheet around her arms and held her head and shoulders. Addie got a bit scared when they grabbed her head, but other than that she was great. I reached up under the sheet to hold her hand and rubbed her leg with my other hand.

2 shots of anesthseia and 1 stitch later, she was good to go. The doctor and nurses were all amazed at how calm she was and how she handled the whole situation. They also said that she was so calm because I was so calm... (haha on the outside maybe, but my heart was breaking for her poor, big ol' sappy eyes) Actually I was pretty ok about the whole thing. It wasn't an emergency, and she was fine, just in pain and a cut mouth. (Bethy was more of a challenge to manage in there than Addie was!)

Addie was rewarded for her bravery with a trip to Wal-Mart and a new coloring book, some stickers, and some pudding. (Actually I bought up on pudding, jello, and ice-cream until I can figure out what other stuff she can tolerate in her mouth.. lucky her!! lol)

She finally spoke to me about 2 hours after we got home. But she's still mostly just nodding her head or using signs to communicate. (Haha! I knew they'd come in handy and weren't just for fun when she was younger lol!)

Clapping, Walking, and Necklaces

So my little walker has finally learned to clap! She's been clapping along with Addie all week now and it's so cute. I can't wait til she starts dancing too, that's the best.
Here she is showing off her super clapping skills:


She also learned to put on necklaces this week. I'm not sure how she learned that one at all, but I found her with it on over in the toy corner and figured Addie had put it on her. However, Bethany decided to show me for herself exactly how it happened and took it off and then put it right back on for me. Now anytime she finds the beads or ribbons she'll put them on around her neck or over her shoulders. It's amazing what kids can learn on their own too!


Beth can now also stand up completely on her own from the floor and walk wherever she wants to go. She doesn't even need to pull up on anything. This is soooo much faster than Addie ever did any of this stuff, so I'm pretty amazed. I really do think having big sister to chase around is all the encouragement she needs. I've got to get a video of it later for you to see.

And here's a video of Addie in her pretty yellow dress. A neighbor had two of the same play dresses, so she sent one home with us. Addie's in love with it now and wears it daily.

Learning to Cut

Addie has been having a blast this past week after I bought her her first pair of scissors. I can sit her in the chair and let her cut paper and then glue them on other pages with her very own glue stick and she'll be content forever!

Our camera is getting a bit whacked out, so the color is off a bit but here's pretty Addie making yet another one of her beautiful collages.

A Cold in August?

Well this week started off with me coming down with some sort of a head cold that I've now given to both of the girls. Boooo.

Addie's not too bad when it comes to being sick. She can tell me what she needs and she usually just sort of zones out on couch. Bethany, on the other hand, is no fun at all while sick. First of all she can't breathe through her nose and this makes sucking a bottle or binky a challenge. Plus she gets sooo hot. I think she has a slightly above average body temp to begin with so when she gets even the smallest fever she just feels like she's boiling. It only got up to about 101.8 (only lol) but the poor thing was just suffering like crazy.

We've had a few very long nights this week and I'm really looking forward to her feeling better and me sleeping better.

Finally Out of Bed

Adalia has finally learned to climb out of the bed on her own at the ripe old age of 2 years and 5 months old. For the longest time I have been trying to coax her out of her crib. At first I lowered her side bar completely, showed her how to climb out and use a little chair to get down. Then I removed the sidebar completely and replaced it with one of those mesh safety rails (she still flops a bit while sleeping). There is a space between her headboard and the railing that she uses to get in and out of bed when I'm there, but she refuses to use it any other time.

I tell her frequently that it's ok to get out of bed or to come into mommy's room to get me, but instead she'll simply stay in bed and call for me or just talk back and forth with Bethany, who's in her own crib.

Well today I came home from work to find Addie out of bed and playing with Beth. She was passing her toys through the railings and just playing away. Bethany was giggling at everything she did.

So we can finally say that Addie can get out of bed on her own, although I doubt she'll start doing it each time.