Happy 18 Months!!!

My peanut is a year and a half today! I know it was a little overboard, but I decorated a cake to celebrate. I really do it more for me, because I think it's fun to get out all my cake stuff and play.
Alison took one bite of the cake and was done. Oh, she really is ALL Ben. Instead, all she wanted was an Andie's Mint. Really? A mint is all she needs to be happy? I just don't understand how it is that I give her an entire cake to devour and she doesn't want any part of it. I made cookies the other day for a play date with Emerson's and she won't eat those either. She'll ask for a cookie all day long, but then when I give it to her she licks it once and then carries it around for about an hour. This morning I put a cookie on her breakfast plate and she didn't touch it. I remember as a kid my dad would let us have dessert for breakfast (I'm pretty sure he still does it and adds peanut butter to whatever it is-now that's what I'm talking about!) and I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. I just wanted to share with Alison some of life's simple pleasures...I guess I better figure out what that means for her.
Doesn't she look just like my mom in this picture?

Granddaddy!

First, let me explain Alison's outfit in the video. Alison had been wearing my favorite outfit that day (see the next video) and I wanted to keep the jeans clean so she could wear them the next morning, but I was going to let her have ketchup with dinner, which always ruins her outfit...so I put her in a temporary outfit (i.e. her swimsuit cover up...I thought it would be fun). She didn't really care for the temporary could-get-dirty outfit and kept trying to take it off.
Anyway, Alison has been talking up a storm lately. Every day she pulls out her little photo books and looks at all our family. She usually points out Kent (granddad) right away, but I caught her saying nana and grandma. I thought it was cute how she turned it into granddaddy and grandmama.
I've been bringing William Boomer over every Thursday since we moved here for a play date with Alison. This week all of the Boomer kids came so George and Katie could go to a funeral. It was Hannah's birthday so we tried to make it a special day. Benjamin is the only one not in the video because he was out in the living room reading and avoiding the chaos of Alison's room.

The Climber

The first part of this video shows you why we bought Alison a slide. She is not allowed to climb on the coffee table, but I let the rule slide once for documenting purposes. I also knew the slide would be a good thing for Alison because in the last week she's started saying, "WEE!!" and throwing her hands in the air when we drive down a hill in the car. There are some things I just don't know where she learns it. Well, all my predictions were right and Alison was very happy that we got the slide.
I feel like I'm starting to sound like my mom more each day. This isn't a bad thing, it's just funny to me how I hear her voice in my head throughout the day. I think Alison has lots of fun things to play with now and she really likes them, but she still won't just go play in her room. If I tell her to go play she starts crying like I've banished her to the dungeon. I started getting a little frustrated at my little stuck-to-my-hip tike this afternoon and I said, "Alison, you have a room full of fun toys! Go PLAY!" Oh, I remember my mom telling me this countless times. We'd be at the pool and I'd hang on her legs instead of swimming and diving. When we traveled I'd hang on the back of her seat when she had set up lots of things for me to play with.
You might want to turn the volume up before you watch this video.

A little organization

Organizing Alison's old clothes was a long term project on my
'to-do' list. By some miracle Alison slept for over 3 hours this afternoon and I was able to check it off my list (I LOVE checking things off my lists!). Ben was watching the KU basketball game while I sorted through sizes and put them in neat piles in containers. We got a little caught up in reminiscing about when Alison swam in itty-bitty outfits. It's funny to me how clothes can have such significant meanings, but I definitely got a little choked up as I remembered her at each stage of her life. When I got to the end of the pile I realized I had put some summer clothes in there that might still fit. And since it's much warmer here I pulled them out to see if they still fit. After we got home from swimming at the Y and getting a Sonic dinner we had a little try on old clothes party. Ben was trying to run through songs for Church in the morning before Alison had to go to bed, but he kept getting interrupted with laughter. It was hilarious to see her in things that a couple of months ago fit fine and now are way too short. Her little belly is so big now she looked pregnant in a couple shirts. She looks so grown up now and it just melts my heart.

It's play time!

Alison got 2 dolls for Christmas and loves playing with them. The other day she started putting her babies to sleep, which is quite ironic considering she has been a terrible sleeper lately. She'll pick up the doll, pat it's back, shush it and turn in circles. Then she'll say quietly, "Baby sleeping".

The second part of the clip is another one Alison's new favorite games...horse rides! This clip just makes me crack up. I love how Ben plays with Alison. He's always making up new games for them to play and will be right in there pretending with her. It also makes me laugh hearing her say, "neigh". This afternoon I was hunched over in the oven scrubbing like a mad woman, when Alison climbed on top of my back and yelled 'NEIGH!!!'. Maybe I should teach her to say, "Gitty Up!" We'll work on that tomorrow.

Lessons Learned

I finally found swim diapers today. I've been excited to take Alison swimming since we joined the Y and I was told that swim diapers were easy to come by around here since it's so warm and we're close to the water. I finally found some after a couple of stores and dug through boxes tonight to find Alison's swim suit. I was curious to see if they still fit. They're both 12-18 month, but her little belly is much bigger now. This is Alison a year ago in the same swimsuit we squeezed her in tonight.
Yesterday was full of many lessons. Alison learned that it is very naughty to climb on top of the kitchen table and open the jar of peanut butter. I learned that nighttime oral gel equals only being up once at night, instead of 6 and Ben, well Ben learned the biggest lesson of all. Ben learned not to put a baking sheet on the bottom of the oven. Now this is a sad, but somewhat funny story. Ben will randomly think of something he wants to eat and will go to great lengths to make it. Some of these creations have been Auntie Annie's pretzels, jalapeno poppers and the best ever oatmeal cookies. This week Ben decided he wanted gyros. So after planning and shopping and prepping, the cooking began. While the meat was in the oven it began to drip, so Ben put a cookie sheet underneath it so our brand new oven would stay sparkling clean. After the meal he left the cookie sheet in the oven to let it cool down before he washed it. Well, he forgot to take it out and I found it yesterday when I put some bread in for dinner. I grabbed a dish towel to take the sheet out but it wouldn't budge and the towel began to char. Ben had put the sheet directly on the bottom of the oven and it melted to it! You could say I was pretty mad. Ben took a whack at getting out. He wanted to use a knife but I suggested not making matters worse. So he grabbed a wooden spoon and shoved it in between the cookie sheet and the bottom of the oven. The spoon caught on fire and the cookie sheet now is folded in half. He eventually was able to get it out and the cookie sheet and spoon are in the trash. My poor new oven has part of a baking sheet stuck on it and I don't know how to fix it. I tried SOS pads and they did nothing. Any suggestions?

Videos

Ben got me a video camera for Christmas and it's super nice, but it took me until now to figure out how to get videos on the computer. Actually, it's a small camera that plugs directly in the computer so it's really dumb that it's taken so long. At first I thought the gift was completely not fair. Ben's a great gift buyer, so it's not surprising his gift surpassed the coffee grinder and body wash I gave him, but I went to great lengths to buy him a video camera last Christmas. Now he had to go and get me a better one. I do use the camera a lot for my little star and it is really handy, so I'm not going to complain. I can also edit videos and make movies really easy now, so hold on to your seats for some major motion pictures!
This is a compilation of clips we took at dinner one night. Ben was asking Alison to say words she is fully capable of saying and she was being really silly. The video ends with Alison singing the ABC's. Not many of the letters are understandable or in order, but I still think it's super cute.
Last night I was cleaning up the kitchen and Ben was playing with Alison. Her little snorts and giggles lured me in. What's more fun than being a kid and jumping on Mommy and Daddy's bed?

Alison loves going in the den and finding instruments to play on. We've allowed her a select few to play with; this little flute, the hand drum, the piano, the egg shaker and tuner. I want her to have a love for music and from the looks of it, I don't have to worry.

Some quiet time

The first time we were in Virginia to visit, we spent an afternoon at the Boomer's and I saw 'Baby Wise 2' on their bookshelf. I commented that I didn't know there was a second addition and Katie said it was for toddlers. I asked if I could borrow it to see what I should have done in the last year of Alison's life. I did the Baby Wise techniques on her when she was an infant so it made sense to keep going. For the most part she was on track, but I missed the boat on independent playing. Apparently I was supposed to put her in the pack and play for a little bit each day to help her learn to play on her own and gradually move on to her playing in her room. Anyone who knows Alison would know that there is no way that was going to happen. Alone...yeah right. This week Katie introduced me to a blog by John Piper's wife (http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/) that is for Christian women that talks about being and a wife and mom. She was talking about reading that she's gotten done during her daughter's alone play time and I realized that I really did miss the boat on this independent play concept. It sounds wonderful. I would love for Alison to be able to play in her room by herself instead of following me around the house constantly. So I decided I was going start working on it, even if I was a year late. Thursday, I took her in her room and we played together for half an hour and then I told her she was going to keep playing and I was going to vacuum. Instead of playing she sat by the gate and cried the entire 10 minutes. Friday, she sat by the gate holding a toy and cried for the 10 minutes. Today, well today was victory! I told her it was time to play in her room and she said, "Okay" and without a whine played quietly in her room. I got carried away with changing the blog and before I knew it had been 20 minutes and she was still quiet. I wanted capture this monumental moment so I took this video (I know it's completely not entertaining, sorry).
We're starting to get into the swing of life in Virginia. We joined the YMCA. I started taking a Power Cut class and Ben started playing basketball there. They cancelled the class I wanted to take Alison too, but we're going to take a swimming class with her starting in March. We spent an afternoon touring downtown and went to the local museum. Our pantry problems are finally solved and I managed to solve the blinding light problem in Alison's room. I updated the pictures on the slideshow for your viewing pleasure.

My favorite little tush!

Last night Ben made the long trip to WalMart to pick up the pantry we ordered. I should have known better than to send him alone, but he convinced me that there wasn't room in the car with the big furniture. Ben has a special trait of not being able to come out of a store with only the things on the list-he has to pick something special up for someone in the house. This particular evening, the cats were blessed with this quirk. He got home while I was giving Alison a bath and slipped the cats new "house" in the living room. Alison was so excited to see Ben she ran out of the bathroom to greet him and immediately found the kitty house (with a kitty in it). I just love her little tush!

Suckers

(please excuse the PJ's...we were having a very relaxing Saturday)
My mom sent us a package with Christmas presents from my grandparents. They are always so generous to us and we're thankful for all that they share with us. There were three suckers in the package and Alison quickly unwrapped and licked all of them. We let her have fun carrying them around and tried to protect her path from getting sticky (but between the suckers and the snot pouring from her nose, it wasn't easy).

Kitty Love

I knew moving would bond the kitties together (just as moving to Michigan bonded Milo and Jake) but I underestimated how far the bonding would go. They now spend the day cuddling together or chasing each other around the house.
But when Smoochy need some quiet time, he leaps up to the top of the cabinets in the kitchen. There's no stopping him either. I certainly can't climb up there and get him and when I yell at him to get off the counter (his first step) he only jumps faster. Alison woke up yesterday with a horribly yucky runny nose. I broke out the 'Little Colds' medicated rub and the goober sucker. I'm making a mental note to ask for more than one sucker next time we have a baby. The hospital one is the best and after awhile they start to stink. Alison was not very happy about the cold and carried the goober sucker around all day and kept holding it up to her nose.

A Princess Mansion

We've been really excited and anxious to get Alison some "older" toys, especially now since she lives in a mansion. Saturday we went on a big Target run to get odd and ends for the house. ToysRUs was right next door so we decided to take a peek. I've had my eye on some things there and by a miracle they were all right by the door in the clearance center! Alison squealed and I joined her in excitement. She feel asleep on the way home, so while she slept in the closet Ben and I quietly assembled (which was much harder than we anticipated) her new toys so we could surprise when she woke up. We felt like little kids, filled with bundles of joy over a new toy. Our purchase was worth every penny when we saw the look on her face.


Alison also has a new favorite treat...green apples. Of course everything she asks for is either "apple" or "cracker" but it's nutritional and time consuming...2 very good things.