Sunday, November 19, 2006

One Year and One Month

Where has the time gone? Our baby is growing into a toddler before our eyes! Just this week she has acquired several fun new skills. After weeks of practicing with her push-around truck and holding our hands, LL has taken her first unassisted steps, working from 1-2 up to about 6-7 in her longer stretches. She loves to stand up by herself and last night she ate her supper standing up...I would give her a bite and then anytime she lost her balance and sat down she popped right back up before she'd take another bite! Another meal-related trick is that she can now tell us she wants "more" using the sign. This is a big relief, since her usual way of letting us know she wanted more has been to scream at the top of her lungs! And to top it all off, we're hearing some recognizable words...last Tuesday evening we went over to our neighbors' house and as we were walking back home she waved and said, "Byebye." She also likes to say "beep beep."
The two pictures above were taken yesterday at the BR zoo. She loved the slide! We'd put her at the top and then she'd scoot a little to make herself go down, then laugh as her Daddy caught her at the end.
This picture reminds me of a similar one Nana took of AG in this jacket when she was just a little younger than LL.
Too busy pulling up, she's figured out how to take her cup along...hands-free! We are thankful for all her developments and excited to see what comes next.

We hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving. And we wish a happy birthday (today!) to PopPop!

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Sweet Sisters


Now that LL is 13 months, she is a much more engaging playmate for AG. They had fun this week playing together in this pink tent. LL loved to explore new ways to get in and out of the tent: the door, crawling under the sides...but by far her favorite was diving headfirst through the window. However, most times she does this she gets stuck and ends up hanging on the "windowsill" by her waist and then needs some help to make a full exit. Of course AG finds all of this very funny, and it is so sweet to see them enjoying playing together and hear them laughing with one another. Another sweet activity we saw them initiate this week was walking side by side, hand in hand! LL can take AG's hand and pull up, then walk beside her (at least as long as AG will go at LL's speed!). This thrilled AG...and us!

Here's the view I have as we stroll together, at least when the girls are not looking out for the next interesting thing they can spot as we continue to explore our new neighborhood. AG likes to go see the bells at the church nearby, which we hear ringing at 8 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. daily. We have had some cool days this week so the jackets are finally getting some use!

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Pretty Pink Princess+Pumpkin Pants



The scariest thing here in our neighborhood on Halloween night was not the costumed spooks running around candy-crazed...it was the swarms of all-too-real mosquitoes giving any little vampires a run for their money! (Welcome to the swamp!) But would we let them stop us from rounding the block to collect candy with our two little sweeties? Oh no! We simply put the "Off" on and hit the streets! AG loved wearing her fairy princess dress, crown, and wand (thanks Nana and Grandpa!) and saying "Tricktortreat" and "Tanktoo" to all the neighbors, and LL was pretty much just along for the moonlight wagon ride in her jack-o-lantern bloomers since we can still pretend like candy doesn't exist with her at this point (although she did enjoy chewing on an unopened bag of M&M's some of the way!).

Friday, November 03, 2006

Flowers, Football, and Family Fun

Last weekend we took our first road trip to MS since we moved closer. That three hour drive was nice! The girls had lots of fun with their grandparents and we got to go to the MSU/Kentucky game and almost saw our Bulldogs win! Above, AG gets an introduction to snapdragons from her Nana (they're not nearly as scary as they sound!).
LL had a special treat to initiate her into the "Bulldog family" on her first trip to MSU...a visit with the real Bully himself! It's hard to say which of them was more (or less:) excited judging from this picture, but she was pretty friendly with him off camera (and he's clearly used to attention from little ones!). Her PopPop was proud to show her off to old friends at the game.
LL got into the action in the stands during the game. It was fun for us to take her to such a special place (where her Mommy met her Daddy and her Gran met her PopPop!)
LL had fun with her Grandpa and Nana, too. She was even more friendly with their cats, Gus and Phoebe, than with Bully! Watch out, kitties... next visit she'll probably be on her feet!