Last Friday, we drove to Oklahoma City to visit Peter, Nicole, and Annette. Annette has turned 3 years old and she was having a birthday party on Saturday.
This was our first road trip and all I can say is Abigail was a dream passenger! When she was awake, she was cheerful, funny, and entertaining. When she got tired, she just fell asleep without a fuss. We had brought an album called "100 Silly Songs" and we all sang and danced to it as you would imagine a family doing on any comical, stereotypical road trip scenario.
Our visit was the first time Abby and I got to meet Annette. Boy, what a chatty little sweetheart she is! A very out-going personality. It took Abby a little while to really warm up to her environment and show her true self. It was obvious, though, that Abby and Annette got along well, which was heartwarming to see. I really hope that the two of them will have the opportunity to be great friends as they grow up.
Here are some photos from our visit.
Above: Annette (as Spider-Girl) and Abby getting lunch
Above: At the party - Abby gets a tattoo!!!
Below 3 photos: The koi pond - mesmerizing Abby and all the kids at the party
Derrick (Nicole's brother) and his twin daughters who are days older than Abby
Below 2 photos: After playing with the coy, Abby and Annette thought it would be hilarious to toss balls into the pond and make their fathers fetch after them Below: Grandpa with Annette and Abby before the party Below: The kids and grandkids, mixed up and with the dogs. (Left side: Paul and Cecilia holding Annette and Annabelle. Right side: Nicole and Peter holding Abigail and Aella) Here is a video of Annette during cake and the Happy Birthday serenade.
What: Her very first chore - feeding the cats Who: Daddy taught her what to do and she gets better at it every day When: Started over a month ago, Abby at 20 months of age
Description: She has been faithfully doling out food for our cats every day for over a month now. She loves her chore and will even remind us of it when evening comes around that it is time to feed the cats. Before and after she fills their food bowls, she will try herding Tigger, Belle, and Gizmo downstairs to go eat. It's a joy to watch her so determined to perform well in her new responsibility.
A few weeks ago, I told you about Abby's fun little ride, which she calls a wee-wee-weeee. She now insists on using it for towing around the house:
a) all of her stuffed animals (not too difficult)
b) our cats (fairly difficult - see video below)
and c) Uncle Allen (not possible)
The video below shows Abby struggling to pull her wee-wee-weeee with our approximately 20 lb cat, Belle-Belle. She even tried to pick up the cat to put her in the box!
Abby began humming tunes back in January - wordless songs. Recently, she has been following along as we sing. This video clip shows her singing a song all on her own. It took hearing it a few times for us to figure out what song she was singing, but it's definitely discernible.
If there's one thing I do not like about Abby's current daycare, it's that we do not get a good idea of what they have been teaching her and how she responds. We get a high-level lesson plan for the week, but I don't really care that my child is learning about transportation, per se, rather I'd like to hear that they're teaching them that cars go "Vroom!" or that airplanes fly in the air while boats cruise on water, etc. What songs/books are they singing/reading and which particular songs/books do Abby get excited about.
None of that.
We talked to the director and they just referred us to our weekly newsletters and the daily reports. (The daily reports are 3 sentences long. Always. And the first sentence is always: "Abby had a great day today!" Regardless of whether or not she actually did.)
So, we're still trying to work through this communication issue.
Anyway, by chance, we discovered something cute that Abby has been learning - she really, really likes the song "If You Are Happy."
(Note: We took this video after Abby had already performed it a few times and she obviously wanted to move on to her books towards the end of the video clip.)
All of last week, I was concerned that there was something wrong with Abigail's left leg. When she walked, it looked stiff and awkward and it always seemed out of synch with her right leg. I kept having my mom, dad, and brother watch her walk, but no one could quite pinpoint anything wrong, especially since she still ran with great ease.
Come this week, we now realize she was trying to learn to gallop!! (Although, she calls it "skipping.")
We had to prompt her to do it tonight so we could get it on video.
The first part of the video is of her practicing her throws. She shouts, "diu" at the beginning, which means "to throw."
Abby had a fever this morning, with cough and runny nose, so we stayed home today. By late morning, she was feeling pretty good. Here are some cute pictures of her.
Oh, by the way, she's wearing new leggings by BabyLegs. They're little leg-warmers - like ones from the '80's, but pretty fashionable. Having these allow her to be able to wear skirts and dresses without scratching up her legs. And because they're not tights, diaper changes are super easy.
^She looks just like Paul in this shot!
^Playing with her Princess carriage - she LOVES this toy.
The video below is of Abby "flying." She sticks her arms out behind her as she walks towards you. No one taught her to do this, she just did it one day during one of our evening walks. The word I use is Chinese for fly - "Fei!"
When she wants to dance, Abby climbs upstairs to get to the railing outside of our bedroom and requests her dancing song, "The Ants Go Marching."
Also in this video you can see the progress we're making in teaching her to go down the stairs. She is able to - and willing to - go down about 5 steps these days.
Abigail started walking without holding our fingers on Sunday, 8/31. Today, at school, she was walking with a lot of confidence all over the classroom. Her teachers have officially deemed her a walker! This video was taken when she got home from school today.
Above: Annette (as Spider-Girl) and Abby getting lunch
Derrick (Nicole's brother) and his twin daughters who are days older than Abby
