Addy is using her words to communicate. It is amazing to watch her work so hard to form a word and then beam with pride as she realizes she has said something that makes sense to us. Language development is also mysterious, in a way, as you never know what words and concepts have made the biggest impression. It makes me think twice about the words we use on a daily basis, as those will probably be some of the first added to her vocabulary! Addy loves climbing onto chairs, couches, and highchairs. She is our little monkey, although she has yet to link her ability to climb with getting things out of reach or off limits. Whew!
Addy has several favorite books including Peek-A-Boo Snail, My Daddy and I, Hug, The Going to Bed Book, In My House (touch and feel book), My First 100 Words, The Little Composter, My Little Book of Words, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See, and any lift-the-flap books.
Addy loves pointing to and touching Mommy’s eyelashes and teeth.
When Mommy tells Addy she has a baby growing in her tummy, Addy lifts up Mommy’s shirt to see this baby for herself!
When other people are clapping, Addy will join in. She tries to “roll ‘em up” for pat-a-cake, but it ends up looking like wild flapping arms.
Addy says OWWW for wow, UH OH when a ball gets lost or her sippy cup gets dropped, BOCK for block, and FIFE for five or fine. She loves saying FIFE whenever you say a word that starts with “f.” Her latest words are SSSSSSOCK, STUCK, and SNACK.
When you ask Addy what a snake says, she responds, “Sssssssssssss.”
Addy finds books she would like to have read to her, hands them to the reader, and then turns away so she can “back it up” into his/her lap for a story.
When Aunt Britty, Aunt Lyddia, Grandma Vicky, and Grandpa Mark were coming down to watch Colby at state football, Mommy and Daddy asked Addy if she was excited to have Aunt Britty stay for the weekend. She responded by vigorously shaking her head NO from side to side, which made us laugh and the head shaking continue. Now when we ask Addy if she is excited about anything, the answer is always NO with a head shake!
Addy likes to go to the closet to find a washcloth before her bath.
Addy can “gobble” like a turkey by brushing her lips with her fingers, but she hasn’t quite figured out how to make the gobbling sound yet.
Addy loves her fleece footie pajamas. When Mommy was putting away laundry, Addy spotted a new pair and immediately fell in love with the “horsey” on the front. She ran around the rest of the night holding the pajamas and eventually went to bed clutching them. An hour and a half past her bedtime when we could still hear her screaming and being a monkey despite multiple attempts to check her diaper and offer water, an exasperated Mommy took off Addy’s cotton pajamas and put the fleece horsey pajamas on. Problem solved. We have a very persistent little girl!
One morning, Addy was throwing balls around the living room. She knows our rule is that only balls can be thrown—not toys. She looked at Mommy, deliberately tossed a green cup across the room, and then ran over to the Jumperoo for “timeout.” Somehow her “excitement” for timeout was not quite what Mommy was hoping for.
Addy did really well at the Roltgen family gathering for Thanksgiving this year. We learned that playing catch helps her adjust to all the commotion and new people. Addy bonded with Alice Schreiner, one of Daddy’s young second cousins. By the time we arrived in Colby for Thanksgiving, Addy seemed to be a little overwhelmed. She spent most of the weekend clinging to Daddy and pulling him around by the finger. We realized later that we should have brought a ball along!
When Addy is very excited about a food or activity, she breathes heavily. This HUH HUH HUH is usually reserved for bagels with cream cheese and going downstairs to throw balls in the storage room with Daddy.
When we ask Addy if we can see her prettiest smile, she scrunches her nose and eyes into a ridiculous funny face.
Lunch with the daycare kids often involves funny face time where we all try to make each other laugh with our silliest faces. When Eli was first learning how to make a funny face, he would squint his eyes and bat his eyelashes, but he could not figure out how to scrunch up his nose at the same time.
Addy loves throwing balls. She has a quite extensive wind-up that sometimes results in the ball being released behind her. Other times, it’s a softball fast pitch. Our favorite is the “run full speed toward the target with arm raised and refuse to let go of the ball, despite being asked repeatedly to throw it, until you are at point-blank range with someone’s face!”
Addy’s new favorite word is “YEAH.” Do you want to play with the ball? YEAH. Should we go on an adventure? YEAH. Is Mommy the best? YEAH :)
We may have discovered the “magic” stuffed animal who will eventually help with potty training. “Reindeer” was found in one of the Christmas bins, and Addy has a new best friend!
Uncle Jay babysat one night when Mommy had a meeting and Daddy was at parent-teacher conferences. Addy did a great job “teaching” him the bedtime routine by leading him to each activity, starting with the closet to find a washcloth for bath. Uncle Jay struggled a bit to interpret the HUHs and pointing. He also said bathtime involved every toy and letter being dumped into the tub and lots of splashing. How much actual washing took place is questionable!
Addy loves grabbing Daddy’s finger and leading him around the house to all her favorite spots, mostly the gate in front of the stairs to go to the basement.
Addy is a climber. She likes crawling onto chairs and sitting like a big girl. When Daddy was home for the day when Mommy had the flu, she insisted on eating all her meals from a regular chair. She will also try climbing into her highchair at mealtime and up onto the couch without help.
When Mommy had the flu, Daddy took Addy to school for his first two classes. She enjoyed throwing balls with the kids and sitting in the desks. The kids informed Daddy that her “reindeer” stuffed animal is actually a “moose.” Oops!
When the flu hit our house, Addy only threw up one time in the night. She went back to sleep with Daddy on the couch while Mommy tried to get some rest.
When we read My Little Book of Words, Addy fakes a laugh during the line, “A chuckle is a little laugh.”
Naptime at daycare is usually easy to identify. It starts with someone throwing toys, followed by a tantrum over being asked to only throw balls. Soon, everyone has lost his/her sense of balance. After a few minutes of walking around like drunk babies, we start the naptime routine!
Addy is a big fan of “wooden soldier” legs. She walks without bending her knees in an exaggerated manner with legs out to the side.
Photos continue to be a challenge as we try to take nice pictures, but we usually get a stone face or blank stare. Lately, we have seen a smirk after multiple requests for a smile, so it appears Addy knows she is being a turkey when the camera is out!
