Mockingbird

15 Months!

Adisyn had her 15 month check-up and she's staying on track! She's 19 lbs, 3 oz and 29 inches long. All of her 12-18 month clothes are out of our upstairs storage, which is mostly summer things hoping she could start wearing them. Even though Adisyn is wearing 12 month size clothes, her pants are still too big around the waist and I usually have to fold up the legs too. But, it's really all about the brand because some things fit really good, some are too small and some are way too big. There are some 9-12 month clothes that are still in her closet that fit fine, but all of the 6 - 9 month clothes have moved out. For some reason I hate putting them away because they're all so cute! But, we have a lot of 12-18 month summer clothes to look forward to! Surprisingly she's still in her size 3 shoes. But, just like anything else, it depends on the brand because I found that the Stride Rite that I bought on consignment fits her a lot better than other brands, which are way too big in the same size! I can't wait to put all of her cute sandals to use that found on consignment too!

Adisyn almost had her first kiss when we went to see Jefferson. They were playing together and I noticed Jefferson leaning over towards her, but Adisyn backed away. Later on they were walking around and Jefferson started doing it again. I asked Paige (his mother) if he likes to give kisses and she said they he doesn't even give her kisses! But when Jefferson leaned in Adisyn started pushing on his face to get him away. I guess she's playing hard to get!

On St. Patrick's Day I found a cute green dress that Adisyn could wear in her new 12-18 month clothes. It seems like all the other green clothes are really summery. Mark got out of work early so we went to McAllister's Deli (which has my favorite sweet tea by the way) and had a nice little family dinner.

St. Patrick's Day

Eating at McAlisters doing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Picking out what book to read

We also had a great Easter! We weren't sure how Adisyn would do with the whole Easter egg hunt, so we first practiced Easter morning, before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Once we showed her the Easter basket and what to do with the eggs, she picked it up right away! She went around the living room picking up all the eggs and putting them in her basket. We then all went to North Carolina to Grandma and Grandpa's house and they also hid some eggs for her. She was a natural! She loved it! We had Easter dinner there, then made the trip home. We all had a great day!
 

Easter morning

Easter morning with her bunny (that she got when she was a baby)

Easter egg hunt Easter morning



She found all the Easter eggs!

Making sure all the Easter eggs were in her basket

Just arrived at Grandma & Grandpa's

Picking up all the eggs

Easter picture with Grandma & Grandpa

Carrying her Easter basket and her new ducky around everywhere



Easter evening - she has her Easter bunny outfit on



The first week of April we all went to the beach for a little weekend get-away. We went to Brookgreen Gardens http://www.brookgreen.org/ and it was a beautiful place! Adisyn has learned how to smell flowers and with all the flowers now in bloom she loves looking at all the colors and smelling them all! Her favorite part was the zoo and they had a walking tour to watch them feed all the animals. She loved walking around, feeling "independent" going from animal to animal. When they would show us a new animal she would say "hi" to it. She met a little boy on the trail that was 2 weeks older than Adisyn and he was so much bigger than her!

Watching the horses

Watching the cows

 

Family picture at the swamp aviary

Adisyn with Liam - she was trying to talk to him, but he wasn't interested

Adisyn having fun on Daddy's shoulders

Adisyn watching the birds in the swamp aviary - I was worried she wanted to get too close to the birds in the water!

Later that day we went to the beach. It was a little chilly because temperatures were in the mid 70's, but there was a cool ocean breeze, but that didn't stop Adisyn from enjoying playing with daddy in the sand! Mark would build a sand castle and Adisyn would have fun knocking it down. Mark was showing her how to pack the bucket with sand and she followed in her footsteps and was doing it right with him. I brought her to the water so she could feel it on her feet, even though it was cold. We watched the water come up to our feet and Adisyn wasn't sure what to think of it. Then, the next little wave came up to our feet and it was a little stronger than the last and Adisyn feel on her butt. She was more shocked than anything, but I grabbed her and scooped her up and she just cuddled up to me as we took her back to the hotel. We had a relaxing and fun weekend!

Watching the waves

Adisyn wasn't too sure about the waves at first

Walking in the sand

Making sandcastles with Daddy

 

Playing in the sand

I noticed Adisyn is talking more and more. She can repeat some words if you ask her and she loves to "talk" on the phone. When I call Grandma, Grandpa, MiMi or when daddy is working, she is getting good about saying "hi" when they answer and is pretty entertained with the whole thing. She has a set of keys that have a car door lock/unlock buttons on them and she thinks it's a cell phone, so she talks on that too, as she holds it up to her ear. She even has a toy rotary phone that was given to her (I didn't know they made them any more) and when I showed it to her, she acted like she knew what it was and she picked up the phone and said "hi dada".

Adisyn likes music. She will dance when she hears it and she has some drums that she plays and will dance as well. Her favorite songs are still "If You're Happy and You Know It" as she will clap her hands when they tell you to, but she also now plays along with "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Patty Cake".

Her other favorite things are:

Food: bananas (she gets very excited when you ask her if she wants one), black beans, oranges, yogurt, bread (or anything she can hold onto and eat), and drinking from a straw (which she has been doing for some time, but she's really good at it now)

Toys: baby dolls, toy keys, her rubber ducky, and bubbles


She loves putting her "bracelets" in the bathtub!

Games:  her rocking chair (which she will entertain herself by going on and off of it continuously), chasing Daddy around the couch, chasing the cat and puts her rings around her wrist like bracelets during bath time

She loves to sit in her rocking chair with everything!

Clothing:  her shoes, her pink hat, and anything for her hair (although she won't always keep her headbands in, now that she knows how to take them off)

Trying to put her headband on herself

She wanted to keep her headband on all morning!

Things to do: She loves to cuddle, give hugs, give kisses (but she looks like a fish when she's doing it), she likes to pick out books and sit on your lap to read (but it doesn't last too long) and point to body parts: she knows where her: nose, ears, mouth, lips, teeth, hair, head, ears, tummy, belly button, hands, and feet are. She also loves her playhouse. Adisyn's cousin Sarah gave her the playhouse and Mark put it together about a month ago, but she wasn't able to use it. One of Adisyn's favorite things is taking things out of the cabinets, so we put some Tupperware and cups in her playhouse and she can play with them now in her own house. We haven't been able to use the playhouse much yet, but when it gets warmer it's going to be a nice shady spot for her to go! Adisyn really likes to swing and go down the slide. She's almost able to do the slide on her own now!

She loves sitting in her chair in her playhouse

Washing dishes in her playhouse

Her new words are: "kitty" when she sees any cat, a picture of a cat, or even a small dog, says "milk" or more like "mmm", "nose", "eyes", "book" or "bbboo", "shhhh" with her finger over her mouth (especially if the dogs bark), "eat", "shoes" she points out her shoes any time we see them or anyone else's shoes, tells Zoie "ahh" when feeding her (she gets that from us telling her "say ahh" when we feed her a bite), "zozee" for Zoie's name, "poop" at times, when she's urinating or pooping in her diaper, and she will even sit on her potty when I'm using the bathroom sometimes.

As we're spending more time outside it gives us more opportunities for Adisyn to explore new things. She is mesmerized by the many new things out there and we just love watching her learn each day!

 

Snow Day

14 Months!

We've learned that having a toddler means that you really have to be creative on entertaining them when it's too cold to go outside. Sure, they're more easily entertained than say, a five-year-old, but they can get tired of the same ol' thing all the time. After all, they're learning and exploring more and more every day. This past month we found some cheap entertainment:

- Pet stores are like a mini zoo; they have so many animals to look at and Zoie can come with us too!
- Book stores have fun play areas
- Many cities now have indoor bouncy parks which have a "toddler" zone
- Librarys have play areas and story time

It might not sound like much, but these places are new and exciting for any toddler! We had the best time at the indoor bouncy park: http://www.mountainplaylodge.com/Mountain_Play_Lodge/Home.html

We were going Asheville, NC to visit some friends for dinner on February 23rd. It was very cold that day so we decided to the Yarbroughs to meet us there so Adisyn and Amelia could play before dinner. The girls had a great time and enjoyed it much more than we thought! The separate toddler area had some climbing toys, puzzles, a big play house and a inflatable just for the little ones! I was amazed how Amelia and Adisyn just crawled right in and were playing on all the bouncy things inside! They had a lot of fun together! After we left the Play Lodge we went out to eat with our friends Jessica and TJ, Brandi, Robby and their daughter Emma, and the Yarbroughs: Katie, Kyle and Amelia. It was the first time that Emma, Amelia and Adisyn were all together.

Amelia & Adisyn playing in the canoe

Playing together on the piano

Adisyn playing in the play house

Going through the tunnel

Adisyn in the bouncy, she went right to the big ring

Adisyn comgin out of the bouncy

 

Amelia and Adisyn playing

 

Emma (22 months), Amelia (17 months), Adisyn (13 months)

Since it's been so cold, Adisyn seen her 1st snow on February 13th. The snow was beautiful with big snow flakes and we got a couple of inches, enough for Adisyn to "get her feet wet". The day that it snowed Grandma and Grandpa were visiting, so Adisyn loved looking out the window with Grandpa watching it coming down. When there was enough on the ground, I took her outside so she could see what all the commotion was about. She looked at it in amazement!

Grandpa & Adisyn watching the snow
 

What is this stuff?

Adisyn was very excited about her snowman Grandma made

Mommy and Adisyn in the snow

Here's some videos of Adisyn seeing the snow:

Another exciting thing this past month, since about the 15th, is that Adisyn now wants to walk everywhere! She is more and more confident with her walking abilities, is able to pick things off the floor, stand up without holding onto anything and go where ever she wants to! The best thing about this is that she can explore where she wants to! It allows her to be able to play like a "big" girl. She also now says "more" and does sign language to show she wants more, can use a spoon, helps to put on clothes and shoes, put Mommy's slippers on, tries to brush her teeth by herself, eats a banana & packets by herself, washes her hands with help, cleans off the table with a napkin, throws away trash, puts away toys, and picks up little things on the floor and hands them to you (instead of eating them). She still loves to say "hi" and "bye" very clearly and as soon as we walk in the room to pick her up at daycare she immediately starts waving and saying "bye" to all of her friends.

Did I mention that I love this age? I think I say that every month. Each month I just find more things to love!

Sneak Peak

13 Months!

 

 

 

For Adisyn's second year we decided to change the pictures up a little. Even though I really loved the monthly stickers, it was getting difficult to get her to keep them on. Mark, then, thought it was a good idea to use the chalkboard, seeing it was one less thing we had to keep from moving....Adisyn is really hard to keep in one place! She is more and more active by the day! The pictures are harder than they look, but they all manage to come out cute! I hope you like the new style!

It's been really cold lately, too cold for me in South Carolina (in my opinion), so it really limits our outdoor activities. We are more than ready for spring and being able to get out more now that Adisyn can do so many more things! We did have a few nice days mixed in with our cold weather so we got to get a sneak peak of the spring to come!

Adisyn went to her first gymnastics class. We all went to The Little Gym where they had a free introductory class for 10 month - 18 month olds. Her favorite thing was hanging from the uneven bars. At first she wasn't too sure of it and I held onto her hands. But, by the second try she wanted to do it again and she started swinging her legs and could do it on her own. She also liked the balance beam, which she was really good at, and playing with all the balls. It was really fun and it really wanted me to find some "Mommy and Me" activity that we can do together. It was even funner because Mark was there too!

1/26/13 at "The Little Gym"

This month we celebrated Jefferson's birthday. Jefferson and Adisyn were due on the same day and Jefferson was born on January 21st. Adisyn had a fun day at the big party and she got to see McNeill and Reynolds too! 

1/27/13 at Jefferson's birthday

 

McNeill, Jefferson, Adisyn and Reynolds

Adisyn didn't really like to be in between the boys, as you can tell!

We started going to story time at the library. The local library has a fun time every Tuesday where they sing, play with puppets, read a story and what ever else goes along with it. I'm hoping this will help Adisyn get more comfortable playing and following along with group activities, without feeling like I'm always "leaving" her, like I have to do at day care.

Since last month Adisyn now says the word "baby", "utt ohh", banana (but it sounds like "nana"), "up" and knows the words (and can point) to your nose (or nariz in Spanish) and tummy. She also knows so many words now that it's amazing; she can point to the balloon, cat, dog, chair, milk, fan, and more and more each day. She loves to point to our tummies and she thinks it's hilarious. Her and Mark have a cute ritual where they will just laugh hard to each other and its so cute! Adisyn just laughs louder and louder. She also covers her mouth when she coughs (most of the time), rolls the ball back to you, picks things off the floor from the squatting position and stands up to give them to you and knows what a hair brush and tooth brush are for. She actually rather "brush" her teeth herself than have you do it for her. It seems like she knows something new every day!

Adisyn still loves to wave at everyone. As soon as I pick her up from daycare, she automatically waves to everyone in the classroom. Her teachers tell me she waves every time someone leaves the room. She is walking a lot more between her toys and to her toys. She seems to still prefer to crawl when she wants to get somewhere quick but with a little encouragement, she is getting more comfortable walking!

We went to a local consignment sale and got Adisyn her first bike. It's been a cold, but we had a few days of good weather so we went to the park and so she could try it out. She really seems to like it and it allows her to see much more than she can in her stroller. We can't wait to try it out more when it gets a little warmer!

Speaking of bikes, Adisyn went on her first 8 mile bike ride! We have a seat that we pull behind the bike and she really liked it! We had one warm day and we thought it would be perfect for a bike ride. We're really looking forward to the spring!



Here's another one of her 13 month pictures...you can get a little view of her bottom 2 teeth

Infant to Toddler

12 Months!

This year Adisyn went from a helpless newborn to a walking, babbling sweet-heart! Isn't it amazing what a baby can do in one year? Could you imagine if we accomplished as much in one year as a baby? She is turning more and more into a toddler every day. I officially got rid of all of her bottles (although she has not used them since before Thanksgiving) and although she does still use her paci, she is limited to sleep time and travel. She went through a phase for about a week when she really didn't want to eat anything, but now she prefers to feed herself finger foods. We have begun feeding her what we eat (most of the time) and she really enjoys eating what the family eats! At her 1 year old check up, she weighted 19lbs, 1 oz. She has transitioned from a newborn to infant and now to a toddler!

After having a family birthday on Christmas, we decided we just wanted to have a quaint little get together for her birthday. We originally rented out the clubhouse at our subdivision, but since we invited only a few friends who live near-by, we thought it would be more intimate if we went for breakfast. So, on January 12th, we went out for breakfast at the Grapevine Restaurant and it was perfect! Adisyn shared the morning with her friends McNeill, Jefferson and their families. They all did so well together!

 

After breakfast we spent the afternoon in Greenville. We went on a nice walk around the park and played at the playground. The weather was great! After the park we stopped by the Rousey's to help with their remodeling project. While Mark and Trey worked on their back porch me and Paige watched Jefferson and Adisyn play. It was a great end to the day!

For Adisyn's birthday weekend, we went to the beach. It was cold there, but we were able to swim in the indoor lazy river. Adisyn loved it becasue she had her own little tube and loved to kick her feet! We also went to the Ripley's Aquarium. We were the 1st ones in there so we got to take our time and Adisyn could really enjoy all the exibits. She really enjoys touching and feeling the glass and of course trying to catch the fish! We also went walking on the beach and Adisyn picked out some seashells. It was a fun, relaxing weekend!

Since Adisyn has turned one she has started a whole new chapter in her life. She started day care and is free to eat just about anything! Since Mark and I eat pretty healthy (most of the time), she eats pretty good as well. We're hoping starting eating healthy from the beginning will set up good habits as she gets older. Day care is very exciting as well since she is in the "1 Year Old" classroom, she is meeting new friends, is learning so much and gets to try even more new foods! Her first project was a penguin that she colored on her first day. I love the excitement of what she's going to learn and do that day! In fact, her 1st two days of school, she didn't even care that I was leaving and I had to kiss her and tell her "bye" with her not even watching me leave! I know that this will be such a great opportunity for her to grow and learn!!

Adisyn had her first bout with walking pneumonia and a few weeks later (at the beginning of 1st full week of daycare) she got RSV and then, two days later, a double ear infection. Since having pneumonia in December she already had a nebulizer so we were already prepared for the treatment with RSV. But, despite her not feeling well, all of the staff at the pediatrician commented on how sweet she was, as she still loved to smile and wave at everyone (even the people walking by in the hallway of the medical building) - she truly is a very sweet girl!

Adisyn has learned a few new tricks since my last blog. She now says "ball" and loves to roll or kick the ball. She still loves her dolly and loves to hold, carry and hug her. She also likes to say "yes" or "no" by nodding or shaking her head. Surprisingly she does this appropriately - if you ask her a question she knows it's a question and will answer you. More commonly now she likes to nod "no", but to know that she's learning to express her own wishes and wants is amazing.

Adisyn also does "squats", as I like to call them, because she bends and straightens her knees repetitively, like she's doing her exercises. It's funny because I never realized how much she was really paying attention because when I'm holding her sometimes I'll go "down" and "up" in the squat position because she would always think it was fun. Now she does them on her own! Every day this week she has been walking more and more to her toys (where before she preferred crawling). She also is preferring to stand to play more often now.

She LOVES the song "If You're Happy and You know It". She has the song on her CD that we listen to in the car, but once again, I didn't realize how much she was actually paying attention. Then, one day while I had Pandora Radio on, the song came on. It was a different version of the song that she has in the car, but when they said "clap your hands" she actually clapped her hands with the song! Now, every time she hears the song she claps along with it.

Zoie (our female German Shepherd) and Adisyn have developed quite a symbiotic relationship with each other. I have noticed that Zoie is really beginning to appreciate Adisyn, now that she's more mobile. Now, though, Zoie will hide under the table and Adisyn will sneak food to her when they think we're not noticing it. When Adisyn is all done with her food, she just starts feeding Zoie. At least Zoie is there to pick up any scrap that Adisyn dropped, but it's still funny to see them work together!

What a great first year! We are so proud of Adisyn and she is growing into such an inquisitive toddler! We can't wait to see what her 2nd year brings!