Saturday, July 16, 2011

18 Months

Some things I don't want to forget about this stage...


Probably like most kids her age, Aubrey loves to climb.


She likes to try to stand in her high chair during the entire feeding time, unless it's something she can feed to herself. That seems to keep her on her bottom for a little longer, anyway. Several times, she's managed to climb onto her tray. She has quite the upper body strength and is determined. A dangerous combination. :) She likes to jump off the ottoman. If she jumps into the pool, she doesn't mind if her head goes under. As Tyler says, she's "fearless." As a result, this fearless Love has also had a few fat lips and bruises and other such minor maladies.



Aubrey is opinionated. When it comes to food, all kinds of cheese are her friend. A girl after my own heart. :) She lets me know what she wants, and if she is uninterested, will say "no" and turn her head away. Like many things, Big Brother can get her to eat bites of things she refuses to eat for me. This compliance for Big Brother is not only with food, but with other things as well. For example, if she refuses to hold my hand in the parking lot, she will hold Tyler's hand. Squirt.

 

She has some favorite books. When we read, she squeals and giggles to share her enjoyment and mimics the emotions of the book.

One of her favorites is So Big! (An Elmo book). This week, I introduced her to a CD of Elmo songs. Now, every time we get into the car, she asks for "Mamo" and happily bops along.




Of course, she still loves those off-limits items. Sometimes, she goes after things and gives us a mischievous look, peeking at you out of the corner of her eye with a sly grin. The other night I let her play AlphaBaby for quite awhile. Basically, all she has to do is touch the screen and numbers, letters and shapes appear. They are named when they appear and can be manipulated. She squealed with delight over and over.

Happily Playing AlphaBaby

Love her.

Botanica

Thursday evening, I took the kids to check out the new Children's Garden at Botanica while Wayne played frisbee golf down the street.

It was amazing! We had a great time. We also enjoyed the other gardens, and the butterfly house, along the way. Even though the high was in the 100s that day, there was plenty of shade and nearly all of the exhibits included water somehow - fountains, misters, etc. We'll definitely be going back.



Sunday, July 10, 2011

a little catch up

We've been busy with a little of this (working, painting, swimming at the YMCA, going to the park) and a little of that (a fun July 4th party with friends, taking the kids to the Sedgwick County Fair by myself, date night)...but have I taken pictures or written about them? No. Sorry Grandparents who live far far away.

Here's a small tidbit from today, only because I'm already writing...with not much else to say. :) At 12:30 pm, I not-so-wisely but full of enthusiasm, headed out for a walk. It was WAAAAY too hot. When I had to take a break so that I wouldn't pass out, I was feeling quite pathetic. I was taking A Break. From a Walk. Wow. When I arrived at home, separately, both Tyler and Wayne strongly suggested that I take a shower. Apparently I smelled about as good as I felt. :) .

Random side note: Today I thoroughly appreciated this article explaining that mysterious "outside smell." Wayne and I have discussed what this is for a long time. (And really, had no clue what it was).

It ended up getting up to 111 degrees today, so Wayne and Tyler enjoyed swimming and later running in the sprinklers to try to keep cool. I felt quite dizzy again later on - don't know if it was still from the heat, but I'm going to blame it on that. Ha!

Time for this heat wave to let up!



That's it for now. :)