Talking Up a Storm!

Addie just turned 28 months last week, and the biggest change these days is by far her language development.  She is talking so much, and her pronounciation is getting clearer and clearer every day.  Strangers are always commenting on how well she speaks for a 2-year-old.  Here are some of her latest phrases:

I can't believe how many books I have.  I just CANNOT believe it!

Have you seen my Pooh Bear book, by chance?

No, mama, that's ridiculous.

Aawww, Daddy. I'm so glad you're home. I love you and I missed you today!

Mama, I want some Snapple, Pop, Craps (Rice Krispies).

Daddy's workin' today at his job site.

Here comes Ko, the white beast! He's a maniac, and a bonehead, and a Labrador, and a monster!

Mama, could I have a bed-night snack?  Just a tiny, tiny bit?  Just one small sample?  My tummy is hungry - see, listen, he's saying, feed me, feed me!

Awwww, I love your necklace (shirt, earrings, dress, etc). Where'd you get that from?


I could go on and on....it's so fun to hear what she comes up with these days.

After several weeks of vacations, houseguests, and some big changes (new nanny), things are finally settling down here in our household.  We are looking forward to a relatively quiet fall.  The summer was a whirlwind, and I think it's good for Addie to have some downtime. She has started toliet training, although she's still not completely interested. She started going to a ballet class once a week, which she loves - her favorite move is sashay, sashay, sashay.  She also started up on her Music Together class - luckily it's a late afternoon class this fall so I usually can make it to her class.

We also started going to Parent-Child Circle at the Waldorf school once a week. Addie and I both love it.  We play outside, make bread, and interact with the nicest group of children and their mothers. It's such a relief to get to know some other parents with a more similar, gentle parenting style that we try to foster.

Addie still loves the beach, puzzles, playing outside, puppets, dressup, and tons and tons of BOOKS!  She will sit for at least 30 minutes at a time just reading through dozens and dozens of books by herself.  She has the names of more than 100 of her books memorized.  She absolutely loves reading and looking at her books. She also is really into painting, stamping, glitter glue, and markers right now.  She loves her arts and crafts!

Fun Week!

Addie had a particularly fun week this week, July 24-30, 2011. First, on Sunday, she went to her first movie in the movie theater with Jay and I.  We saw Winnie the Pooh at the Sarasota Hollywood 20 Theater in downtown Sarasota.  She was so exited to have her kiddie pack with popcorn, pink lemonade, and fruit snacks. She ate a TON of popcorn! She had to sit in my lap because she wasn't big enough to keep the seat from folding up on her....her little bottom would fall right through the opening between the seat and the back of the chair :)

This week she also got to make enchiladas with Grandma Julie. She liked rolling them up and putting on the "sprinkles" - chopped cilantro and green onions.  I thought they were a little too spicy for her, but she loved them!

On Friday, Jay came home early at 3:00 so that I could work for a few hours. He took Addie on a "Daddy Date" to Lido Key. Addie was so excited when I told her she was going bye-bye with Daddy. First, they went to look for one of Addie's shoes that I lost this morning on our trip to Mote Marine (another fun thing she did this week!), but they couldn't find the shoe. Then they walked a little by the water, and then they went to South Lido Park so Addie could play on the playground. It's a very nice park with lots of shade. Then they walked around a little on St. Armand's Circle and went to Tango's to pick up some sushi takeout for supper. That night when Jay gave her a hug and kiss good night, he asked if she had a fun day.  She said, "Thanks, Daddy, for takin' me to the park."  It was so touching that she spontaneously thanked him for a little thing like taking her to the park. I think Jay will be taking her on a lot more Daddy Dates from now on!

Addie at 26 Months

Addie has changed so fast during the past couple of months. She talks in full sentences now, and random people are always commenting on how well she talks for a 2-year-old. She also has the most amazing memory. One of her favorite things to say lately is, "Remember that, Mommy?" or "You remember that, Daddy?" Then she will proceed to tell us about something that happened weeks or months ago. She will see something that reminds her of an event that happened in the past, and I guess it just triggers her memory. Here are a couple of examples:

Last weekend I asked Addie if she wanted to go play with her friend Morgan.  A few weeks ago I invited Morgan and his mom Aimee over to play and then sent some of Addie's toys home with him.  At first she was just fine with Morgan borrowing some of her toys, but when it came time for them to leave, Addie got a little upset.  So yesterday when I asked if she wanted to go play with Morgan, she looked at me suspiciously, and said, "Sure, but he's NOT going to borrow my Nemo!"

The other day we were playing in the office, and I mentioned something about a flash of light. Addie said, "You remember that, Mommy? When he flashed me and I was hanging from the bar?"  At first I didn't know what she was talking about, but then I realized she was thinking back to her photo shoot over a month ago where she was playing at my friend's workout studio, and the photographer was "flashing her" (taking photos using a flash).  She then said, "I had fun hanging, and I danced in the mirror, and I played with those big balls..."

I can barely remember things from month to month. It amazes me that she can.

She is also starting to understand the concept of humor and will "laugh" when we do during adult conversations. She even made a joke the other day - we were in the car talking about dance class and gym class. I asked her if she would like to attend again. She said, "Sure, Mama, you can take me to music class." And then a long pause....and she said, "And maybe Jim can take me to gym class" with a big smile on her face, like she knew it was funny.  I thought that was very intuitive and smart that she made that language connection.

Addie has picked up some not so nice words, such as "crap."  That one is courtesy of Jay...he uses that word all the time without even realizing it.  The other day Jay was helping Addie watch her favorite videos on Youtube. She asked to watch Nemo, so Jay found the one he thought she wanted.  Once she realized it was not the video she was expecting she said, "No, Daddy, no!  This one's crap."  Jay tried not to laugh and told her that wasn't a nice word to say, so she thought a minute and then said, "No, Daddy, not this one.  This one's terrible."  Another word Jay uses often :)  Guess we're going to have to start being really careful with what we say!

She is still a pretty light eater...she's just too busy. When she does eat she still loves her ice cream, hummus with pretzle chips, and most fruits. She also loves freezies, string cheese, and anything salty.  I tried to give her some crackers the other day, and she said, "No, Mama, I want the salty ones."  We were at Jim's pool last weekend, and he always has big pretzle rods for her to eat. He scrapes the salt off before giving them to her.  I guess she has finally realized that because she saw me scraping two pretzles together to get the salt off, and she said, "Stop, Mama, stop! I LIKE the salt."

Sleeping is still not her strong point. She goes to sleep in her bed just fine, but around 12 or 1 in the morning, she wanders into our room and either wants to get in bed with us or else she wants me to take her back to her room and rock her. Sleeping with us would be fine if she wasn't such a restless sleeper! She rolls around like crazy and ends up completely perpendicular between Jay and I, with her feet in his face and her head right against mine on my pillow. She also HATES to have any blankets on her, so if we try to cover her up, she will immediately kick them off.  Jay ends up going to the guest room at some point most nights. Addie has even taken to calling the guest room "Daddy's room" and the bed in there "Daddy's bed."

Addie loves to play with and "snuggle" Dakota. She also loves to walk to Grandma Julie's house where she can play in her little pool, her sandbox, and with her new playdough table. She and Ashly (nanny) do lots of fun things during the week like go to storytime at the library, visit the pet store, go to the craft store and toy store, visit the Ringling museum, go on some playdates, and play at the park. Ashly has been our nanny for almost nine months now, and Addie really has a good time with her.

Addie also likes to help in the kitchen. She enjoys chopping veggies with the chopper and helps stir whatever we are making for dinner. This weekend she helped me make cupcakes and even tried frosting them herself. That was a huge mess, so then I had her stick to putting on the sprinkles. We also made monkey bread, and Addie loved helping knead the dough. I hope her love of baking lasts a very long time!

Addie's 4th of July, 2011

We celebrated the 4th of July in Sarasota this year.  Cousins Janice and Phillip stayed with us for the weekend, and we had a great time hanging with them on the beach.

On the 4th, we had brunch at our house with Grandma Julie, and then Jay, Janice, and Phillip went golfing.  Addie, Grandma Julie, and I crashed a local neighborhood 4th of July celebration. It totally reminded me of a small town South Dakota 4th of July...hot dogs, watermelon, corn on the cob, and snow cones - plus face painting, sack races, pony rides, fishing game, and a fire engine for the kids to climb on.  Addie had fun playing on the playground, fishing for prizes, and riding the pony. She had the cutest little outfit on that she got from her Grandma Kristi.

In the afternoon, Jay and I took Addie to another local playground to play. It's nice when we both have time to take her to do something together. Then we grilled out and had dinner at our house with Uncle Adam and his girlfriend Kellie, along with Janice and Phillip.  We even had our traditional fruit pizza dessert (which I remember from when I was a kid)!

Addie didn't last long enough to see the fireworks, but she had a fun day. It's so nice to spend those long, relaxing weekends with her.

Lake of the Ozarks 2011

We took a family vacation to Lake of the Ozarks from June 8-14, 2011.  This was our annual trip to visit Grandpa Pat and the rest of the family while relaxing by the lake. Addie had so much fun playing with her grandpa, aunts, and uncles, riding in the boat, swimming in her little pool, going up and down all the stairs, swimming in the lake, and eating lots of freezies and ice cream.

We took several boat rides and had dinner at the "Pirate Restaurant" as Addie called it (Jolly Rogers). They had a playground, pirate ship playhouse, and Addie found a special treasure box key in the sand.

Addie loved watching all of us water ski and wake board. She cheered with us when someone had a good jump or a bad crash. She especially loved watching Daddy crash....and, as she says, "Marc crashed too." Poor Marc probably tried ten times and just couldn't get up on those water skis!  Maybe he better stick to track and field :)

A mother duck and about ten ducklings swam by the dock several times, and Addie just loved feeding them bread. She also saw turtles and the few tiny fish that her Daddy and uncles caught.

One of the other highlights for Addie was playing with barrettes with Auntie Jennie and Jordan's girlfriend Mary. They decorated Uncle Jordan's hair, and Addie thought that was hilarious.

On the rainy days we stayed indoors and watched movies (Finding Nemo about a dozen times), and one day we went into Osage Beach to have ice cream and play a few games at the arcade.

We had a wonderful trip and can't wait to go on another family vacation. Addie is such a good little traveler. She did great on the airplane and sat in her own seat without a problem. This was her first flight over the age of two so she had to sit in her own seat. She loves to fly and even does great waiting in the airport. Guess we'll have to start planning another trip soon!

Addie 2-Year Photos

Addie had her 2-year photos taken at my friend Kelly's workout studio, Apple Jelly Studios. Kelly had a guest photographer in for a day, so we took the opportunity for Addie to have a fun, indoor photo shoot, since all of her other professional photos have been outdoors. Addie had so much fun hanging from the ballet bar, dancing in front of a wall of mirros, and playing with the big workout balls and hula hoops.

Don did a wonderful job taking her pictures as well as with the editing. Addie looks like such a doll and I love how her little personality completely shines through in these photos.