Saturday, January 15, 2011

Addie at 20 Months

It's hard to believe that Addie is already 20 months old.  She will be turning two years old before we know it!

Some of Addie's favorite things to do right now are going to the park, playing outside, playing with Dakota, reading, doing puzzles, matching, painting, coloring, drawing, stacking blocks, and lining up all her stuffed animals and dolls to feed them, read to them, and put them down for naps. She has mastered her shape sorter, geometric blocks, and her favorite matching game. She is all about Biscuit books right now, as well as Winnie the Pooh and Dora the Explorer. She has a Winnie the Pooh DVD that she asks to watch at least three times a day. She also loves animals and wants to go visit the kittens at our neighbor's house everyday.

I can't believe how many words she has learned in the past month. It seems like everyday she says a new word that we haven't even tried to teach her. The other day I came home from the store with a grocery bag, and she pointed and said, "grosh" (groceries).  I have no idea how she learned the word groceries other than she must have heard me saying it to Jay! She can easily repeat any one syllable word, but has a little trouble with two or more syllables...she usually just truncates or abbreviates into one syllable.  Instead of trying to say "Dakota," she just calls him "Ko."

She points to objects in books when we name them, and can also tell us what is in a picture when we ask what she sees. She loves looking at animal books and can name quite a few - cow, horse, donkey, tiger (grrr), lion, goat, sheep (baaaa), dog, cat, fish, and pig.  She is also getting good at her colors and can name pink, blue, yellow, orange, and green.  She can recognize and point to black, red, white, and purple.  She thinks she can count, but no matter how many objects there are when we ask her to count something she says there are two :)

She loves to help around the house, especially transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer and unloading the dishwasher - she does the silverware and the tupperware.  She also loves to sweep. She is so good at following directions...Jay sometimes uses this to his advantage - "Addie, take Dada's socks and go put them in the hamper."  And she replies, "Sure!" and happily takes them and dumps them in the hamper. But it comes out like, "Shhhuuurre" with a huge inflection in her voice. She doesn't say "yes;" she says "sure."  It's the cutest thing.  Even if she is mad or upset about something...like the other day she wanted to watch TV before bed and I told her no.  She started protesting and got upset and started crying. I asked if she would like to read books instead, and she said in a shaky voice, "sure."  She had been very good at saying "no" to everything (even when she meant yes), but saying "yes" was hard for her, so we taught her to say ''sure" instead.

She loves to hug and kiss everyone when saying good-bye.  Everyday when Jay and I leave for work, she says "hugs" and "kiss."  Whenever Ashly leaves at the end of the day she asks for hugs and kiss.  At the beach over Christmas there was a nice couple that we had met and visited with for a minute or two.  Then we decided to continue walking down the beach.  The couple said bye to Addie, so Addie ran up to them saying, "hugs, kiss."  Guess we'll have to work on the whole concept of strangers soon! :)

Time is flying by so quickly. She is learning new things all the time and is becoming quite the amazing little lady!

Christmas 2010

Addie had a wonderful Christmas with family, friends, and new toys, of course!  She really got into the spirit of Christmas and loved to drive around to look at Christmas lights, put bows on presents, give presents to others, say "ho, ho, ho" when she saw pictures of Santa, and definitely figured out how to open packages.

We had quite a few visitors in Sarasota at Christmas this year. Grandpa Pat came from Missouri for about 10 days, Uncle Jordan came from Arkansas for about two weeks, and Auntie Jennie and her boyfriend Marc came from New York City for about a week.  Grandma Julie and Uncle Adam were also in Sarasota.  On Jay's side of the family we had Grandma Kristi and Uncle Mark, Aunt Anita, and cousins Ali and Miranda.  We had so much fun going out to dinners, hanging out at home playing games, going to the beach, and just spending time together.

At Christmas Eve mass Addie enjoyed watching all of the children in the Christmas program, and whenever parents took a photo of their child and Addie saw the flash, she would yell, "Cheese!" at the top of her lungs.  She got more than a few smiles from the people sitting around us in church :)

Addie got so many fun new toys for Christmas...too many to name them all, but here are a few: Little Tykes Cozy Coupe car and a kitten pillow/blanket set from Grandpa Pat; new doll set complete with clothes, dishes, and accessories from Grandma Julie; waffle blocks, a keyboard, and other rmusical instruments from Grandma Kristi; a new doll from Great Grandma and Grandpa Munger; a homemade apron from Great Grandma and Grandpa Scoenfelder; money to put towards a music class from Great Grandpa and Grandma Baumberger; a potty time coloring/activity book from Uncle Adam; a Dora the Explorer couch from Uncle Jordan; a Juciy Couture track suit and some onesies from Auntie Jennie; puzzle, book, and geometric blocks from Uncel Jeremy and Chelsea; new books and a talking stuffed puppy from Ashly; and new clothes from mom and dad.  Santa brought an outdoor climber/slide, small table and chairs for Addie to sit at while doing arts and crafts and having tea parties, a doctor kit, books, paints, puzzles, and stickers.

One of her favorite gifts is a music class from Jay and I and Great Grandma and Grandpa Baumberger.  She goes once a week for 10 weeks to Music Together class.  She had her first one last week and absolutely LOVED it!  She was dancing, clapping, and following along with the teacher in no time. Now she insists on listening to the same song from her class CD over and over in the car...maybe not such a good idea to let her listen to that CD in the first place :)

It was hard to go back to work after spending so much time at home with Addie over the holidays.  She is at such a fun age and learning so many new things everyday.  We can't wait until Christmas next year!





































Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Nanny Ashly

Addie got a new nanny, Ashly, in November.  Addie and Ashly stay busy every day doing all of Addie's favorite things - coloring, reading, going to the park, playing with her dolls, doing crafts, baking, and so much more!  Ashly is so good about thinking of new and interesting activities.  Addie has learned so much, and she has such a great time with Ashly!  Here are some photos of a few activities and outings.

Cat Depot - she loves to pet the kitties!




Ringling Museum - she loves to smell the roses!










Our Little Scientist






Arts and Crafts



Decorating Cookies