Manipulated and outsmarted by a 17 month old
I hate to admit it, but she's smarter than Rob and I...

Ally hates being stuck inside. When she wants to go out, she grabs our fingers and tries to drag us towards the door. If we know she's going that way, we don't usually let ourselves be dragged. If she drags us toward the kitchen, we go - we assume she's hungry. Last night Ally grabbed Rob's finger and dragged him toward the kitchen. When they got about halfway there, she changed directions and headed toward the door with a big grin on her face. She fooled him!

Ally hates wearing a hat outside. Monday, she was throwing a fit on the landing by the door, wanting to go out in tha rain. She saw that I wasn't giving in, so she put her hat on and gave me sad puppy eyes. I gave in and let her go to the garage.

We've been having a contest of wills about sitting down to eat. She'd like to wander around the room with her food, and I'm trying to make her sit. She thinks it's a game. She laughs at me everytime I sit her back down. Last night I told her she could get up if she put her banana down first. She understood me perfectly, and set the banana down and got up. She walked around the side of the picnic table, looked around the room, and as fast as she could, grabbed the banana and her cup and took off running. Her expression was priceless. It said "She thinks she can stop me? Well, I'll show her!" Rob couldn't help laughing.

We'er in over our heads :)

Teenage Wasteland
Ally has definitly got her own taste in music. Some songs on the radio she completely ignores. Some she shakes her whole body and nods her head and really enjoys. Yesterday on the way home from work "Teenage Wasteland (The Who)" (Yes, I know that's not the real name of the song...It's "Bob O'Reilly" or something off the wall like that) came on the radio, and she loved it. She was just dancing away in her carseat.

Other hits: "Party Town (Glenn Frey)", "Shout (Tears for Fears)", "Cheeseburger in Paradise (Jimmy Buffet)"

Hokey-Pokey
I started to sing the Hokey-Pokey to Ally the other night and discovered that somewhere along the way, she learned the idea of the song. She can't put her arms/legs in, but stands there so that you can do it for her. Then when you get to the turning around part, she knows it's time to turn around which she can do all by herself. This is great because she's pretty hard to turn around without help. It makes you tired really fast. There is a Hokey-Pokey Elmo at daycare that is constantly losing batteries, because they play with it so much. Ally absolutely loves it. The while we were singing, she went and got her Tickle-Me Elmo and tried to make him clap his hands with us.

I hate this weather (cont.)
Last night was horrible. Ally is teething and not in a great mood anyway, but she was so much worse because she couldn't go outside. I opened the garage door for her once, so she could see the crappy weather for herself. We sat in the garage (Ally in her stroller) for about 15 minutes last night before she realized that the rain wouldn't quit. Then she climbed out of the stroller and ran into my arms to come inside with me. Later she threw a screaming fit trying to drag me out the door. Where is summer?

biscuits and gravy success
I've been trying to figure out how to make gravy for about 8 years now. When I was in college, Rob and I got a craving for it and tried for the first time to make some. I called my mom and asked her how. She gave me directions over the phone and we made some. it tasted like wet flour. We have tried many times over the years, with more phone calls to Mom ("too much flour", "not enough flour", "let the flour cook before you add milk", etc) and have always failed. Most of the time, it came out tasting like flour or milk. Last time I failed, I called my mother to cry once again, but she wasn't home. So I called a friend of mine who cooks. She told me I wasn't using enough grease. That was about a month ago.

Sunday I got enough courage to try again. I sent Rob to the store to buy biscuits, and he came back with both biscuits and cinnamon rolls - just in case. Terri was right though. I had to use more grease. I am now a culinary success! (at least at this one meal) Hooray for Terri!

weather
What is up with this weather???? Last week I was having fun dressing Ally in "new" clothes trying on the cute little shorts outfits. I pulled most of her longsleeves and pants out of the closet. Good thing I didn't throw them in the attic yet. I even had to get out her winter coat again ('cause she wanted to go outside so bad. I can't count the number of fits she threw this weekend becasue we wouldn't let her go outside to freeze) It's almost May, for God's sake!! I'm very peeved

garage sales
Ok, I admit it. I'm addicted. Ally has 3 slides outside, a sandbox, 2 battery-operated cars, 2 bookshelves full of books, a closet overflowing with clothes, and I still can't stay away from garage sales. The problem is... I almost always find something good. I may not need it, but I like buying Ally toys, and I like buying them cheap.

Like this weekend. It was crappy outside, but I thought three would be less people out, and more good stuff left. So Rob and I drove around forever, driving past real slow to see if there were any toys, but not even getting at most of them, cause it was cold. We found a couple of them that would have been great last year - they had a lot of the toys we already have. We even found a primary colors Little Tykes toddler bed, but we don't have anywhere to store it, and we're not ready to use it yet. After an hour and a half, of buying nothing, we found a Little Tykes art desk, exactly like the one Grandma has (that Rick found along side the road for free) It's in great condition, just needs some of the crayon scrubbed off and some stickers removed. only $15. Ally loved it. One problem - we don't have a truck anymore. We managed to get it into the backseat by sliding Ally's carseat to the side, but it barely fit. Now, we just have to wait til it gets warmer tobe able to clean it up. I know she'll love it. So that justifies the obsession... doesn't it?

chins and cheeks
I'm been teaching Ally the secondary parts of her body - like chin, knees and stuff that you work on after you've got the major stuff identified. For some reason, she thinks you have to pinch to show where stuff is. She pinches her legs which isn't so bad, but she pinches cheeks hard. She doesn't yet know th difference between chin and cheeks. You ask where her chin is and she pinches it, but you ask where Mom's chin is and she pinches my cheeks.

testing
I'm working on putting the photo albums on the pictures page. This is just a test to see how to do it.

still sleeping
Went right to bed again last night. Rob is so smart, he's annoying. Saturday night before her bedtime, I was tired, so I laid down on the floor next to her playing. She ignored me, but right about 9:00, she grabbed her refrigerator ABC thingy and attacked me. -- The ABC thingy, Ruth bought for her. It's a lot like the animal one Glinda and Bob got her. The letters fit in a spot on the base, and when you put it in and push it down, it sings a song. It also has a button you can push to hear the alphabet song. -- Her mobile plays "Twinkle, Twinkle" which, we all know is the same tune as ABC. So anyway, she came and laid down on me, got comfy, pushed the song, and laid her head down. So I asked her if it was night-night time, and we got up to go to bed. I turned her mobile on and she went to sleep. After the fights we've been having about bedtime, I'm left with a feeling of "Is that all???"

Sign Language
Well, I guess Ally knows more sign language than I had thought. If you tell her to say please, she wipes her hand across her belly and/or chest. If you ask her if she's hungry, she puts her fingers to her mouth for eat. I've seen "more" many times (mostly in regard to cheese) and last night, I said thank you and she started playing with her chin. I think that's close to the right sign for thank you???

School project
Okay, one of my classes had me do a web-site. The assignment was to create a one-page web site that details a non-profit organization. It could be an existing one (and you would have to research what to put on it) or an imaginary (and do no research just imagination). You can guess which one I picked. Anyway. This is it-> M.A.T.H. It is mostly finished. Soon, I will add a couple pictures of Marisa and Naomi.

speakers and uh-oh
I played a kids CD on the stereo on Friday night. I've done this many times before, and she's never paid any attention to the mechanism of it. But Friday, she learned that the music actually comes out the speakers! She stood near one dancing, and everytime the song ended, she said "uh-oh" and turned up her hands for "where'd it go". Then 2 seconds later when the song started, she got a big smile on her face and started dancing again. Then, on Saturday and Sunday, if she wanted her music on, she would walk over to the speaker and point and poke it.

Pooping Monkeys
Bob and Glinda got Ally a Little People lift-up-flap book - or whatever it's called. One of the pages has 9-10 flaps with monkeys hiding underneath. I taught her that monkeys say "ooo-oo-ooo"" and did the monkey arm thing. So when you ask her what the monkeys say, she flaps her arms like a chicken and grunts like she's got to poop. I love it. The other day, she was sitting at her table making the monkey noise. A couple minutes later, I realized from the odor in her pants that it wasn't actually the monkey noise at all.

Sleeping
For my probation period at the new job, I had to change my hours to 7:45 til 4:15. (previously 7:00 - 3:00 w/ 1/2 hour lunch) Ally would wake up at 5:20 - an hour before I needed to get up, we'd go upstairs, she'd sit with me for 5-10 minutes, then want breakfast. I could get her somthing to eat, flip Disney Channel on and go take a shower. I hate getting off that late in the day though, so I switched my hours to 7-3:30 (hour lunch). You wouldn't think that would affect our schedule, right? Wrong. Now, she either wakes up at 6, or doesn't wake up at all 'til we get to daycare, and I start changing her clothes. I think she does it on purpose just to drive me crazy.

We were having problems again with bedtime, but I think that was linked to my hours too. Getting home that late in the day made it seem like I had a lot less time with her in the evening, and wasted an hour in the morning, cause I was too tired to do anything. Rob pointed out to me that I wasn't being consitant with bedtime, and was confusing her. So anyway, we're back on track it seems. 3 nights in a row with absolutely no crying at bedtime. Hope it keeps up!

M-O-O-N That spells Moon
Last night, Ally discovered the moon. We ate supper out on our patio and she was climbing between Rob and I. All of a sudden, she stopped and stared up. It was a clear night, so she had a great view. She was amazed! She just kept pointing up. She kinda slumped down a little and laid in my lap looking up. It was so cute.

I kinda like this
Ive been playing around with the neat stuff available. I can do photo albums and everything here. I'm converting all my old stuff to this. It doesn't require membership. I can set it up as an entire web site that can be accessed anywhere. I'm not finished yet, but once I am, I'll have links that will take you all arond what I've posted.

Ads
It's a free site, so there are bound to be pop-ups. Sorry about that. I think it's going to work though. Let me know what you think. You can post comments, or drop emails

Check it out
Ok, so this may be the new format for my updates. I don't really like the idea of being one of those people who keep a blog, but I've got to face it. That's mostly what I've been doing before. This format may be a little easier though. We'll see. I'm experimenting with the system now.

Last weekend we stained some more, but were kinda burnt out on the whole thing, so we didn't get a lot done. It's getting closer though. Rob has to work all weekend coming up, so I probably won't get much done. Ally doesn't leave me alone outside for too long, although she does play pretty well by herself with her outside toys. She runs from one slode to the other..

Ally learned sign language for "more" at day care, but I didn't know it. She sat down at her picnic table, with nothing to eat the other day while I was doing dishes. I looked over at her and she was just sitting there, so I left her alone. A minute later I looked closer. She was signing "more" and patiently waiting for me to figure it out. I felt to bad. Now that I think about it, she might know please too. (it's rubbing your belly) She's all the time touching her belly, but it may be that she just likes playing with it.

We have clothes galore! You all know how many newborn clothes I had. Well, I have quite a bit more than that for her now. For one thing, I have both seasons out now. Some days we still need long sleeves and pants and some days it's shorts weather. For another, she's in two sizes. New 18 months clothes fit her just right. Some of the garage sale ones are getting a little tight. New 24 months are a little baggy (some of them. Why can't they make sizes the same size???), but all the hand-me-downs from Marley are 24 months and 2T, and most of them fit great and Ruth gave me A LOT. Plus, last year, I hit the clearance racks and got some cheap 18 and 24 months summer clothes. We're set. We could probably go 2 months without wearing the same outfit twice. We're kinda hurting in the pj department right now, but that's only because it's too warm for fleece, but too cold for summer pj's. I just hope Marley grows faster than Ally. In a couple years, Ally may be giving Marley the clothes she outgrows!

Her hair is getting really long. I almost have to put it in pigtails now. Otherwise, it's always in her eyes. Most of the time she lets me do it now that she has gotten used to it, but sometimes, I just have to walk around the room following her trying to brush it on the move. Lately, she's started finding the ponytail holders and pulling them out. Then, she looks at them at them and tries to stick them to the top of her head. I put them back in and she pulls them out. She gets so mad when they won't stay in when she does it though.

The other night she threw a fit 'cause she wanted to go outside. It was raining and cold, though so we wouldn't let her. Rob took her out to the garage to prove it to her and she saw the car and got excited about a car ride. So, we decided to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream. On the way Rob mentioned that he was getting a milkshake and she perked right up. She loves milkshakes! She started signing more, more!

I went to take a bath the other day and after about 5 minutes, She was looking for me, so Rob brought Ally down to see me. She tried her best to get in the tub with me. She rubbed my bubbles all over her shirt and dripped water on her feet, and reached over the side to splash me. But that wasn't enough for her. She tried to throw her leg over the side and get in. Well, she couldn't quite do it (Mostly because Rob and I were trying to stop her), so she leaned down and tried to pick her foot up with both hands and put it over the edge. She kept losing her balance and falling down, but she'd get right back up and try to pick up the other foot. Rob could barely keep her out. She has such a good time in her bath. It never fails though. If I take her diaper off before I fill the tub, she pees on the rug and we have to wash it again. Im' thinking about getting a potty seat for her to sit on. It's still too early to be pushing potty training, but it would be a good opportunity to get her used to the idea for the future.