18 Months

Here we are at 18 months already! Everyone is right. . . time really does fly. However, I am enjoying each various phase of "growing up" that we have been through so far. I think 18 months might be one of my favorite ages/stages yet. She is exploring the world around her, talking more, and showing her affection. I might change my mind as we progress through this 18th month . . . she is saying "No" more and more. . . No temper tantrums yet, but I fear we may be getting close. . .

 Wt: 25lb 13oz (70%)

Ht: 33in (85%)

HC: 19&1/4 (95%)

I finally realized that she has reached the age where she needs some more interactive toys. Are we ready for pretend? We have really enjoyed her talking tea pot. Abigail makes a really good cup of tea, just watch out if you are Mr. Koala Bear! Your entire nose/face will be doused with tea! 

This is how koala bears drink tea. 

She also enjoys shopping around the house and picking up groceries with her new shopping cart. 

We happened to have a perfect spot right here to line up all the groceries. 

Grandmama gave Abigail another horse at their last visit. This horse is on springs and bounces up and down as well as back and forth. Abigail is a natural - she immediately hopped on and even started posting up and down! Will she be an equestrian like her mama?!?

We have found that she does not like the cold. When you carry her outside, Abigail puts her head down on your shoulder and snuggles in close. I don't want my little girl to be cold, but this is so sweet!

She is really starting to string words together to form her own little sentences, still using "ah" as a filler for verbs or other words she does not know. Yesterday she said "Mommy helps neigh neigh" (I was moving her toy horse to the other side of the room).

We got a Kitchen Helper stand to make washing hands a slightly less daunting task. This stand puts her at counter top level and so she can also help a little bit in the kitchen.

Here she is helping tear lettuce for a salad. Note Mommy's sparkly blue "Banded" headband (made by Daddy's company) that I wore for the Titans game. Abigail always likes wearing Mommy's "bows".

We love you sweet girl! Don't grow up too fast!

Pumpkin Fest

We had a great time at Pumpkin Fest over the weekend. It was very very cold and blustery! 

Abigail and Daddy are checking out the scene in downtown Franklin. 

This pumpkin weighs 1,000+ lbs!

Pumpkin Patch!

We had a great time this year at Gentry's Farm. This year we went into the activity area, which we did not do last year, and she was able to see some goats, roosters, and pigs. She enjoyed pouring wheat in a trough and wanted to go down any slide we came across, even if it was for much bigger kids. We were able to find a collection of pumpkins already in a wheelbarrow, (similar to last year) for our annual pumpkin photo shoot. Grandmama and Grandaddy came into town for this special event since they loved it so much last year!

Abigail at 18 months, 2012

Abigail at 6 months, 2011 

Here is a flashback! Abigail's first visit to the Pumpkin Patch last year.

 Abigail's favorite thing was pouring wheat at a trough station. She could hardly be torn away from doing this! She was hesitant at first, but ended up loving going into the hay maze. 

Mommy held her and took her through. Everything was alright once she found the slide. 

Abby wheee!! She LOVES slides!

Then Abigail and Grandmama took turns crawling through this tube!

 

 And she loves running! Here she is taking off in the field!

She is so pensive here organizing these pumpkins. . . 

Here's to another great year at the Pumpkin Patch at Gentry's Farm. Happy Fall Y'all!

4th Generation

On the steps of her great grandparent's house.

17 Months

Abigail continues to amaze us each and every day. I was told this week when I picked her up that she would probably be the first to move up to the next class because she is talking so much!

She is growing up so fast and continues to be quite verbal. Today was the day of two word phrases. She can finally say "more please" instead of just more, and without a huge pause between the two words. She loves to say, "I go", and "Abby_____ ", fill in the blank with nouns such as bow, book, water, etc.

Her first three word phrase was "I love you" (more like I ya you). When we put her in bed she always says, "night night, ya you", and more often this is voluntary, and not just repeating what we say. Today she said "purple bike JoJo" when we talked about how Uncle Joel came over and pushed her on her purple bike.

                                

Her favorite color is purple, or rather, that is always her first guess when we ask what color something is. Her next guess is always blue, and third, yellow. She loves to talk about "Bugsy" the guinea pig in her sunday school nursery room and she get tickled when she sees a picture of a guinea pig in her picture book. She loves to help buckle herself into her car seat and she wants to be involved in as many real life events as possible.

Biker Babe!

We were thrilled to show Grandaddy and Grandmama Abigail's new ride! For now she gets a free ride, but pedals are there whenever she's ready!

Huntsville Trip

We finally took a little summer vacation. A weekend trip to Huntsville to visit friends. Abigail had a great time with Grace (almost 5) and Jackson (2&1/2). We enjoyed hanging out with friends, playing on the swings & in the sprinkler, going on walks, grilling out, going out to eat, visiting the Botanical Gardens, and Abigail LOVED playing in the Woolsey's big fun playroom. Thanks Woolsey family for a great visit!

Here are some pics from our visit to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens

Headed into the Children's Garden

Getting lost in the flower maze

Daddy and Abigail in the butterfly garden

There was a scarecrow contest going on at the gardens. Families and companies designed scarecrows with different themes. Abigail LOVED the Elmo scarecrow. We had to go back a 2nd time after the butterfly garden to see Elmo again. 

Walking around the gardens. . .the perfect time to work on Touchdown!--just in time for football season.

We are out of this world!

First Authors

Most Wednesdays, we attend story time at the library where MiMi (far right) has a children's program. How cool is it that your grandmother is a Children's Librarian? We love it when Mimi does the program, but sometimes she has guests. Wednesday, Abigail got to meet her first real authors and illustrators of this book, Herman's Journey, a true story about a caterpillar going on a trip with them and turning into a butterfly along the way. Thanks Mimi for buying us the book and the fun caterpillar finger puppet!

*(actually. . . these are the 2nd authors that Abigail has met, because she has obviously met Grandmama who has written her own book. So, these are her first children's book authors.) 

This is often what Abigail does during story time. . . wander around! She often has her own agenda for the morning. Snacks are often required to keep her sitting still for 2-5 minutes at a time. Ah well, I think (hope!) this is within the range of normal for 16 months. . .  

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Hang with us. . . there are a few glitches I've yet to figure out with this new template!

16 Months

At 16 months (+3 weeks, she'll be 17 months next week), Abigail is truly a joy. She is constantly learning and there is never a dull moment. She never ceases to amaze us with new words and actions that she learns after only a few trials. We could really teach this kid anything. Her mimicry is stellar. She loves to walk very fast to the point that she is practically running, and at times will not sit in your lap for very long before squirming out and getting into the next thing. She has learned the word "no", and she knows what a "no-no" is, however at times she chooses to do things that are no-nos, like pour her milk out onto her tray, and throw her bowl or plate on the floor. She does not do this often, but I fear there may be more of this in the future. We have done a one minute time out here and there, but not often enough to really have a system down. She is a good eater, and I no longer have my anxiety that she's going to be an extremely picky like her father was. She still signs some, but is adding in words with her signs, and usually says "more" instead of signing it. We were impressed that she quickly picked up the signs for "Grandmama" and Grandaddy", since she can't say these words yet. She often signs "all done". After she's all done with her dinner, she'll wave her hands over mommy and daddy's plates if we haven't quite finished eating as if to say to us, "hurry up and get all done!" She can say "Abby", but is still working on Abigail. She likes to listen to songs in the car, and likes to have the ABCs sung to her and will try to sing along. Daddy has taught her the hand motion for "touchdown", just in time for football season, and she can also do hand bumps and give high five and hugs. Sometimes, if we're lucky we'll get night night kisses. She used to always give us kisses before bed, but lately, she has become a little stingy with kisses. Sometimes she is so eager to get in the bed, that she doesn't seem to have time for this! She sleeps very well, 12+ hours each night plus one 2 hour nap at home (sometimes more!) and usually naps 1 to 1&1/2 hours on her cot at school. She likes to say, "night night" whenever we're finished reading a book. She loves to blow bubbles and get the mail. She loves to dance (more like bounce), and we are working on jumping with help from mommy. She will point out a baby whenever she sees one, and will say hi to just about anyone.

I am baffled when they tell me that she does not talk that much at school because she is very verbal at home.
Here is our word list so far: Maybe we are being generous. . . she really is generally only saying the first syllable or so of these words, (i.e. ba, ma, da, etc.), but there are some words like mommy, daddy, hi, bye, bow, bubble, bible, knee, & baby that she says very distinctly. Thanks Eric Carle and Bright Baby books for helping us learn animals and colors!

Mama / Mommy
Dada / Daddy
Mimi
Papa
Nana (Aunt Nan)
Jojo (Uncle Joel)
Doe (Uncle Dale)
Lala (Aunt Lauren)
(Signs grandmama and grandaddy)
More
Milk (ma)
Mail (also ma)
Ball 
Bee
Baby
Bow
Weee (as in what you say when you go swinging)
Apple (papple)
Pear
Uh oh
Night night
Bye bye
Hi
Book
MINE - I cannot believe she has learned this word - we are in for it now!!!!
Water (wa-wor)
Rain & Cheese - she can say these but doesn't say them often
Oh no! (This is our favorite phrase right now)
Yay!
Abby
Bath (also ba)
Bag (also ba)
Boo boo
Knee
Shoe
Dog (da)
Please (pee, or bee)
Bible
Bubble
Poo poo
Pee pee
Diaper (pie-per)
Potty ? (she says Baa-ti, and we are not sure exactly what this is)
Choo Choo (does accompanying hand motion-learned this when she saw trolleys in downtown Memphis)

Animal sounds:
Neigh
Meow (again this is ma; whenever she sees a cat, she says, "ma")
Woof woof
Moo moo
Baa baa
Ssssssss (for snake)
Whoo Whoo (for owl)
Roar roar (Raa raa for lion and bear)
Ooo ooo ooo (for monkey)
Fish (she makes a fish face-also thinks turtles are fish)
Oink oink (usually this is just "uhh, uhh" but one time she said "ainey ainey" for oink oink!)
And did you know that a duck says "ma, ma, ma, ma, ma"?

Colors: just getting started! Usually blue is her first guess
Purple
Blue
Yellow (yay-yo)

We love you Abigail!

Abigail's First 5K!

Bright and early this morning, we headed downtown for the "Titans Back to Football 5K". We were already excited about football season (some of us more than others), but this was a very fun event to get things started. It was great running onto the field to end the race. When we first signed up, Rich and I were planning on running on our own. We were thrilled to find out that strollers were allowed, 

so Abigail could join us and have her first 5K!

 Here we are at the start line

We are headed up over the Cumberland River towards downtown - first big hill! 

Down the back stretch. I didn't mind taking the stroller on the downhill.

Running with Daddy

We got to run through the players field entrance tunnel.

Here we are headed out towards the finish line on the field! 

Here she is wandering around after the race.

After the race, Abigail enjoyed pushing the stroller. 

She likes that there is a spot on the stroller that she can push, just on her level. 

Rich loves the Titans! 

Family pic on the field after the race. 

My makeshift Jake Locker jersey. From the front it looks totally legit. 

I thought "1ST 5K" was fitting for Abigail's jersey. 

 On the field with Daddy

I think Rich will be teaching this little girl a lot about football. 

Cheerleaders cheered us on at the start and finish line, 

and we got to grab a quick pic with a few of them.

Since we had the stroller, we were given a special exit off the field, headed right towards the locker room! 

Headed out after a great race, Go Titans!

She Can Say Her Name!

She has got Abby down. At one point she says, "Abby-aaahhh",

then "Abby-gaaa", which is so close to Abigail!

Bye Bye Swing Set

All our hopes, dreams, and future fun times on this swing set,
dashed in the night by this large falling tree. 

Abigail assessed the damage. She stared for a long long time and then simply said . . . . . 

"uh oh".

Our Growing Girl

I was told today by her teachers that Abigail is really into exploring and becoming much more adventurous. During outdoor playtime at school, she went out of her comfort zone of the area around the swings, and ventured over to the big kid area with the slide. And, she ate salad?!?!? This was hard for me to believe since she has never eaten salad at home, but apparently if you cover it with honey mustard, anything goes.
Today she also said, "Yay!", and showed her teachers that she knows what a train/trolley says, "choo choo!" They have not been lucky enough to see hand motions yet, but I'm sure she'll show them soon. Choo choo comes from her visit to Memphis where she saw trolleys downtown. She also tried to jump in the kitchen today! This might have been encouraged by mommy who still had "Jump Your Jiggles Out" or some other nursery rhyme stuck in my head from the ride home. She also thought it was hilarious to hold her hands together and move them around in a circle in front of her like some 80s style dance, and when I copied this, she just lost it! We love you sweet girl!