my tornado is resting

 

When Ally was born, she was so sleepy and so mild mannered that I believe we assumed she would always have those attributes. Even when she refused to sleep, or when nursing her was like wrestling a spider monkey, we somehow continued to think of her as mellow. I believe that perhaps we are overcoming this early judgment and realizing that, far from calm, our Ally is quite a bundle of energy. She may sleep well, but for goodness sake when she is awake, she is awake, the race is off, and you better try to keep up.

We see other children her age play happily with a toy, or just stand and look thoughtfully at things. They have a certain, well, stillness. Not Ally. Ally's favorite game is chase (I chase you, you chase me!) and rather than sit and play with toys, something that catches her fancy (and you'd better hope it's not the ipod) gets carried around the house as she climbs on chairs, rolls on the floor, and moves again and again from one space to another. She squeals and shrieks and dances and has strong opinons about books, diaper changing, and walking. Apparently she has started to bully a 2-year-old at daycare (!). And in that strange juxtaposition of sweetness and defiance that is a toddler she crawls into our laps, gives us hugs and makes her loving chirpy sound, reaches up to be held and delights in our animated renderings of her books, and our hearts break.

shoes

When Ally began walking, we realized that it was time for her to graduate from Robeez to shoes with a bit more substance so she would be prepared for all the trail running and fire walking in her future. Rob learned of a cool shoe company called Preschoolians that makes shoes for toddlers with very flexible rubber soles. They sounded pretty cool, but due to incorrect sizing (on our part) and slow shipping (their part) it took awhile for Ally to have her first pair of real shoes. This Saturday they finally arrived and Ally is smitten. She carries them around the house and tries to put them on her feet herself.

quack, quack

One of Ally's first words was "quack," quickly followed by "duck." So much like attending her first rock concert, on Saturday we took her to see DUCKS LIVE!

We fed the ducks Cheerios and the barrier protected the ducks from Ally's exuberance, which is good.

For the past few weeks we have seen a rapid increase in Ally's vocabulary. Here are her distinct words: hi, Mom, Daddy, home, shoe, quack, duck, towel, apple, ball, hat, girl, boy, wow (we're not sure about that one), Leela, Ally, and hot. Most are pronounced quite well with the exception of Leela, which sounds like "yee-yah," and girl, which sounds like "guhwul." It's very charming.

buzz buzz

The opening of the Simpsons movie heralded the redecoration of many 7-11 stores into Kwik-E-Marts. At first glimpse of these stores, I'm sure our friends can imagine Rob's excitement. Unfortunately the Kwik-E-Mart close to us is notoriously low on Simpsons novelty products, so we haven't made the trip. But today Rob received from a coworker a can of Buzz cola! After work and in the midst of a post-dinner romp around the condo, we thought it would be fun to get a picture of Ally holding the can of Buzz cola.

This was a mistake.

Ally was delighted with the can, and began to shake it. Then she dropped it. Then she shook it some more. Then she dropped it in such a way that the top of the can burst open, yielding a brown-tinged fountain of stickiness all over the foyer, stairs, carpeting, herself and, of course, her Mom and Dad poised with camera at the ready. It took some moments for the pressure in the can to reduce so that we could grab the can and put it in the sink. It was bath time, so we cleaned up Ally... and then spent the next hour figuring out how to use a steam vac on our carpets, wiping down the baby gate, and showering.

So, the lesson of the day is, don't give babies a can of soda. It's really as simple as that.

more new tricks

This week, Ally learned to pour water onto herself during her bath. She usually was able to pour the water on her shoulders, though she poured it onto her face a few times.

She also learned that Harry Potter is a book everyone needs

and that sleeping with ones bottom in the air is a great way to nap.

d material

A material: educational, interactive play, probably involving singing the alphabet in a few slavic languages with letter-oriented body movements and gestures

B material: interactive play, like tickling, games, and rowdy singing of wiggles tunes

C material: something involving random wandering around the house holding a pair of electronic gadgets, such as the magnetic kitchen timer or tivo remote

D material: gosh, I hope she doesn't get hurt, but at least she's not screaming any more.

curious new observations

Illustrating her innate organizational skills, Ally has taken to stacking pieces of fruit in her hand. Yesterday she stacked six triangles of kiwi on the palm of her hand (not all directly on top of each other, of course-- just all in her palm) and balanced them there while admiring her work:

Far from suggesting that all new behaviors are pleasing, she also has become quite strong willed. During a recent walk, after enjoying some time in the swings she refused to return to her stroller, stretching her body straight, kicking and crying. After a few minutes I gave up and let her walk, which she loved. But. Still.

A nice feature of condo life is that Ally can wander pretty freely in safety for the first time. With a gate on the stairs and our bedroom door shut (blocking access to kitty food and litter), she can roam and play without constant supervision, which was never possible in our last house. I can now make dinner before she goes to bed and Ally "helps."