Pinch Hitter

This post is coming from Addy’s Daddy this week. Mom is busy grading papers and Adalyn’s typing skills need a lot of work so I am stepping up for the team.
This is a big week as we prepare for Adalyn’s first birthday. I was entirely unaware how much was involved for a first birthday party. Our dining room has been taken over by party supplies and I’m still not sure I understand why the cake needs to match the napkins.
This past Friday Adalyn got her haircut for the first time ever at Patty’s. She loved the cape and as you can see in the pictures she had a great time being the center of attention.
Adalyn continues to be a very good eater. She is willing to eat almost anything we give her and generally only turns it away when she sees a better option, like a banana. She is also much more interested in everything mom and dad are eating. Mom did finally find something this past week that Addy hates, salsa. She was very curious about the salsa when we had tacos and was OK with just a small piece, but a whole bite was just too much.
Addy’s walking continues to improve and she is as adventurous as ever. She is also doing a much better job recognizing our words and following directions, at least when she wants to (she gets that from her mom). She has also become much more affectionate lately. She loves to give mom and dad kisses. She also likes to kiss the baby pictures in one of her books and will even give herself kisses in the mirror. This kissing phase is really cute but it does have her dad concerned.

Our Little Valentine

This week was certainly a crazy week. We had a lot of special events going on in second grade. Celebrating Abe Lincoln's 200th Birthday and having a Valentine's Day party all in the same week almost did me in!

Addy is now walking with ease. This week she has also mastered standing up without having to pull herself up on something. At times she still looks a bit like a drunken sailor as she maneuvers around, but she is getting around pretty easily. We have had a few close calls with falls, but nothing too serious--yet.

This weekend we met my family in Indianapolis on Saturday for a late celebration of my dad's 50th birthday. We met up with them in Circle Center Mall, so I put Addy down to show off her newly acquired walking skills. She was a bit hesitant to walk. I'm not sure if it was the unfamiliar surroundings or the fact that she didn't want to pull out her best trick so early in the weekend. We celebrated at Weber Grill restaurant (early in the afternoon to avoid all of the valentine diners) and browsed Circle Center Mall. After shopping for a while, we went to check into our hotel and take Adalyn swimming in the hotel pool. She loved swimming in the pool, but kept trying to drink the water. It was a very low-key trip and was nice to just hang out with my family at the hotel. Addy really enjoyed her time with them.

On Sunday before leaving town we met up with Cory (Derek's brother), Courtney, and Derek's mom for lunch. It was nice to see them and catch up on how Courtney is doing, they are expecting their first child in July (it's a boy!).

It seems as though Addy is recognizing many more words. She says baabaa every time she sees a dog. Adalyn loves dogs and gets very excited anytime she sees one, especially in person. This weekend while hanging out in the hotel with my family, Addy had obviously been working on a dirty diaper and I asked her if she needed to be changed. She then proceeded to walk over to her diaper bag and pull out the container of diaper wipes and brought them to me. Whether it was just a coincidence or not--it made her mama very proud. Derek was even prouder of the fact that she brought the wipes to me and not him! Among other new discoveries we have also found that she understands the words doorbell (she rings it on her toy house), duck, and horse.

Lately she has taken an interest in being read to. Each night before bed we read her a few books and one of the book has to be Goodnight Moon or Night, Night, Baby or she will continue to point to them until we pick them up to read. It has gotten to the point where I hear Goodnight Moon in my sleep; maybe we need to invest in the Spanish version, just to mix it up a bit!

This week is a short week for me because of Presidents' Day. Hopefully the four days of school will just fly by.

Baby Steps!!!

A few weeks have passed since our last post and it is official...we have a walker on our hands. Last week Addy started taking several steps in a row independently. This past week a few steps turned into many! On Wednesday evening Adalyn took 20 steps in a row. Although she is a bit shaky, she is walking from item to item with great enthusiasm. Adalyn is now 11 months old. Over the past few weeks we have seen Adalyn become even more independent. It is so much fun to watch her make new discoveries and take chances.

About a week ago we got carpet reinstalled in our basement. We took many of Addy's toys downstairs and she loves her new space. We also took down a small plastic jungle gym with a slide that I had bought last summer. She loves to climb all over it and go down the slide backwards!

We have also learned that Addy can eat like a champ. We have found very little table food that she will not eat. She even eats things that neither Derek or I like such as cottage cheese, pickles, etc. She loves to eat her veggies and bananas.

The weather was beautiful here this weekend and we got to take Addy outside in temperatures that didn't make her bury her face in our shoulders. Since the grass was water logged from the melted snow, we let her play in our rock flower beds. She loved investigating the rocks and throwing them. Watching her get dirty and play outside was only a glimpse of how exiciting this spring and summer will be!

This week we are looking forward to warm weather and over the weekend we are meeting Adalyn's Grandma and Grandpa Schum to celebrate Grandpa's 50th birthday. We are excited to see them and Addy is very excited to show them her walking skills!

Addy really enjoyed watching the Super Bowl from her rocking chair. She had recently started to stand on top of the chair and use it to climb to get to things.

Addy looking through a hole in her jungle gym.

Adalyn loves spaghetti!