Visiting Santa ... or not

Ally had been talking for a week about how she wanted to visit Santa. After last years traumatic ordeal we decided we didn't think we should do it again. She kept asking so last Friday we decided to give in and go check out the Winter Wonderland at the new Bass Pro Shop. We thought it would be far less scary than the crazy mall and we also had never been in there before. Clearly we underestimated how popular this store was and we also didn't know you needed a fast pass to see Santa.

We came in at 7 pm and saw a small line. We get in line and the girl working asks for our time card. We didn't know that you had to pick up a pass that told you what time you could come back to see Santa. Really? She gave us a card that said come back at 8:30. WHAT? Ally was really into the whole winter scene and all the displays they had set up so there was plenty to do. The place is gigantic. Beautiful decorations and little games for kids to play. We did a lap and checked out the live fish tank where they were doing a demo, a ton of life sized stuffed animals of all kinds, the grill area then made our way into the bowling alley and restaurant. That area is underwater themed and the special lighting they have makes you really feel like you are under the ocean. It was really awesome and Ally loved watching the fish and the bowling. We got some ice cream from the little old fashioned soda fountain and then headed back over to get in line.

While we waited Ally waved at Santa so we were sure this was a good sign. She was pumped up and ready to go. We didn't wait long in line before it was our turn. As soon as we started walking up the red carpet and Santa said hi she freaked and jumped straight into my arms. Wouldn't look at him and was hanging onto my arms with the death grip. The more he talked to her, she harder she was shaking. Not crying or screaming but wasn't going to let go so we could get our free picture. Would even take the candy cane! We walked away and back to the car. She declared " Idon't like Santa" and that was it.

Two Best Friends

Yesterday morning, I was getting Ally packed up for school in the kitchen like I always do in the morning. I was getting my stuff together and realized I forgot my rings so I ran upstairs and came down to find this: Ally and Ella sitting on the floor reading books together. It was the cutest thing! I asked her what she was doing and she stated the obvious- I'm reading the bear book to Ella. I was able to get my camera and my phone to snap a few pictures of the cuteness and Ally even smiled for me. She usually hates getting her picture taken but she was loving it. She kept on reading to her with her hand on her back petting and hugging her until I got everything ready and it was time to put her jacket on. What a funny kid!

Viva Las Vegas

Saturday after Thanksgiving we packed up for a quick trip to visit Uncle Co Co in Las Vegas. He took a job as a development assistant with UNLV athletics in August and this was our first opportunity to get there. We made plans fairly quickly and didn't really tell Ally (aka Childthatneverforgetsanything) too far in advance so she was so excited to finally be on the way. We had an easy flight from O'Hare to Vegas and used our Hilton points for a 1 bedroom room at the Grand Vacation property just off the strip. When we got there, we immediately went to the football stadium to watch UNLV vs. San Diego State and to see Corey. He got us up into our own suite with buffet service. Football wasn't great but Ally was wired after traveling all day so even though it was 10pm on her watch she was running all over the place.

We took Ally out on the strip to see the aquarium at the Mandalay Bay then to see the lions at the MGM. We also made a quick stop at M&M Wold so Ally could see all the different kinds of "potty candies" and pick out her own flavors. We went through the Old Downtown and checked out the Freemont Street Experience so watch all of the lights. Corey took us to some good restaurants and we got to drive through Red Rock Canyon which is very close to his house. Ally did not enjoy the water show at the Bellagio but she was very excited about all of the Elmo's and other characters she saw begging for money on the streets.

When we visited Corey at his office, they were setting up for the Professional Bull Riding championships so we saw a lot of real live cowboys coming in. The arena was full of dirt in the rodeo ring but we dint see any of the animals. We walked around the campus a little bit and the weather was great. Most of the students were bundled up but we just had jeans and sweatshirts on. Ally did great on a strange schedule and was very good about going to sleep in the hotel. Not a great eater but that's not unusual. She napped at Corey's house in the afternoons so it was nice to just hang out there for a little while and meet his two roommates.

Our flight home was a total disaster! We were scheduled to leave at 9:20 am but weather delays and then ultimately mechanical issues cancelled our flight. We should have been home by 3:30 local time but didn't end up even boarding a plane until 6:45 in Vegas. We ate all 3 meals in the airport and Ally napped and ran all over the place. She loved the people movers and we rode every one of them multiple times. She didn't sleep a wink on the flight home but she was content playing and watching movies. She finally fell asleep once we were on the shuttle at O'Hare back to the car around 1:30am. Karl and I both had to be at work for afternoon meetings so we pulled into the driveway at 5am and slept until about 9 before getting up and ready for work. We let Ally sleep in and thought it would be best to get her to school for lunch and nap at the regular time to help her adjust. Again, she did great but we were SO exhausted. Quick trip but well worth it!

Vegas Trip Photos

Thanksgiving Day in Pictures

We hosted our first Thanksgiving at our house in IL with Grandma Sharon, Grandpa Henry, Aunt Susie and the 3 dogs: Ella, Bob and Samantha.

Future Rockette

Now that Ally actually pays attention, I decided to introduce her to the Macy's parade again this year. Its one of my favorite events so I was hoping she would get excited too. As soon as she saw the Rockettes start their routine she got really into it. It was so funny and Karl quickly got his phone and start recording it. She may not be tall enough but maybe they will change their requirements 16 years from now.

Undies

Ally has been wearing "undies" every day for almost a month now. She has a collection of Disney Princesses but she prefers to wear Tiana. She has been doing great both at school and at home during the days. Last week she had a couple accidents at school but other than that, she has been exclusively going on the potty all day and into the evenings. We still are wearing pullups when we are out and about but for the most part those are usually dry. She is getting the hang of the overnight thing so it probably wont be long before we are more trusting and go all in. She loves to get stickers or candies when she does a good job and has gotten a few new books each time she goes a week with no accidents. Her big vocabulary has really helped with the potty training because she is able to tell us exactly what she needs to do and when. Its usually just a matter of how far away from the potty we are at that time. We are really proud of her and altough she certainly doesn't think its a big deal, we cant wait to be done buying pullups!

Ally on the Piano

Ally has taken to playing to piano when she goes to visit Aunt Susie's house. Karl took this video of her showing off on Sunday. Not sure if there is a future in this or not but its fun to watch her play.

Happy Halloween

On Friday, Ally's school had a big Halloween party for all of the families. Ally got to put on her fairy dress and go play games and visit with her friends. Each room had different activities for the kids and they got lots of candy and treats. She was very good at the cake walk and the matching games. She was very excited to show off her costume and especially liked playing with her wings.



For trick or treating, we got home from school and rushed to get ready. There were a lot of kids in the neighborhood out and about, dogs too. Ally got to see her dog neighbor Brody who was dressed as a pumpkin and also Willow who was dressed as a bumble bee. She was more interested in watching the other kids in their costumes than she was in getting the candy herself. It was tough to keep her focused and walking on the sidewalk because there was so much to take in. She did not want to ride in her wagon like we had hoped but she did a decent job walking along. After about 45 minutes down the street we went in for dinner and to hand out candy to other kids coming by. I wouldn't say she totally understood what she was doing but she certainly liked filling her bag with candy. So far isn't too interested in eating it but we are ok with that!




An extra special thank you to Great Grandma Sandy for all of her hard work on Ally's beautiful costume. It was just an idea in passing that turned into anything better than I could have ever imagined. It looked just like Abby Cadabby, Ally's favorite Sesame Street character and as soon as she saw it she knew exactly what it was. We cant say thank you enough and are so excited it will fit her for a while yet.

Birthday Parties

Ally had three great birthday celebrations in three different places. First we had a party in Oshkosh with lots of family and a few friends the weekend before her birthday. She had a great time playing with all the cousins and seeing everyone. She chose a ladybug theme for her parties so we had a ladybug cake, decorations and she wore her pink and black to match. I had to work on her actual birthday and Karl was going back to Purdue for the football game so we did an abbreviated celebration at home the day after with just the three of us and the presents from us. The following weekend we had a small dinner celebration in West Lafayette with Karl's parents and some family friends with more cake and presents. This time Ally got to experience her first Dairy Queen ice cream cake so that was very exciting. I realize this post is way late and no one has received their thank you notes from Ally yet but you know what they say, better late than never!





Thanks to everyone for making Ally's 2nd Birthday so much fun. She got so many great toys and cute clothes! Thank you notes are on their way this week, sorry for the delay...

For some reason the slide shows don't want to work so here are the album links to try:
Ally Turns 2 in Oshkosh
Ally Turns 2 in West Lafayette

Smarty Pants

Ally is now into pointing and directions. Yesterday we were on our way to school from the doctors office. We were stopped at the light just before turning onto the road her school is on. She points to the left and says "We have to go that way". I looked back to see where she was point and was surprised that she was correct. I asked her, "You are right, how did you know that". Her response was very simple- "Because I'm so smart."

Boy do I feel stupid...

2 Year Statistics

Today we had Ally's 2 year well visit. She weighed in at 26 lbs and is 33.5 inches tall. She seems long and lean, tall compared to her friends at school but is only in the 41st percentile for both. Doctor said is she continues on this path she will likely be in the 5'4"-5'5" range if she doesn't hit a major growth spurt.

She checked out great with no issues and took her hepatitis and flu shots like a champ. Still not a fan of Dr. Ho but I think that's more stranger trying to talk to me than because he is a doctor. She loves the fish tank and getting stickers so she forgets the shots pretty quickly. We were in and out today so it was great. Pays to be the first appointment of the day!

We know that we are beyond lucky to have a happy and healthy little girl. Next scheduled visit isn't for another year so we will see what happens between now and then.

Allyson is 2!

Today is Ally's 2nd birthday. Hard to believe but its true, the terrible two's have arrived. She has turned into an adorable little girl with a huge personality all her own. Watching her develop has been so amazing. Frustrating at times but sometimes you just can't help but laugh at her. Her motor and verbal skills are very advanced and her memory is honestly amazing. She can recall a lot of details and can have full conversations about her day. She remembers people and very small details, both good and not so good things. Sometimes when she gets really tired at night or when she is riding in the car, she will recount her entire day out loud complete with songs and directions she hears at school.

Ally is at the stage where she knows right from wrong but hasn't figured out how to lie yet. She always tells me what each friend did at school and always talks about who was naughty, who had timeouts and exactly what they did to get the timeout. She absolutely knows when she has done something she isn't supposed to do and will follow it up with "I'm in trouble" or "thats naughty." She has had one timeout at home and one at school that we know of. She understands the concept and gets very unhappy if you threaten her with a timeout. Disciple has gotten more important very quickly and we are still learning. What works one day does not always work the next and that is very frustrating. A few things lately that have been really tough: getting her dressed in the mornings and bed time.

Ally has become very specific about her diapers/pullups so getting her dressed and undressed is like torture sometimes. For some unknown reason Huggies can't make a box of pullups with the same design and Ally is so picky about what design she will wear. I can't even tell you how much time I spend chasing her around to get her dressed all because she is melting down over which princess is on her pullups. Makes for some unhappy mornings at least once a week. Bedtime is also becoming a similar struggle, more so this week than ever before. She has always been a champion sleeper but getting her calmed down with a routine has started to change. Rather than reading and rocking in her chair then laying down on her own, she wants to read books herself- a ton of them. She says "no turning the lights off" and throws a huge fit if you turn them off or take away books before she is done. Just when we thought we had everything going so well with bedtime, she changes it up.

Her eating habits haven't changed much over the last few months. Still not a great eater but she goes in streaks. Loves fruits of all kinds but won't eat much meat at all. Between Ally and Karl we go through multiple gallons of milk in a week. Her skills with utensils are pretty good and some days she only will use a fork and some days she only wants to use her hands. Bibs are a thing of the past and going out to dinner is starting to involve the rejection of the high chair. She won't sit still on her own because she is just so busy looking around and wiggling. Some days she does great in a high chair at a restaurant and some times its a screaming fit until we let her sit on her own in a regular booth or chair. Her favorite foods are still about the same and seem pretty typical for a toddler: macaroni and cheese, noodles with sauce, corn dogs and rice dishes. Ally definitely has a sweet tooth and loves ice cream, cookies and cake.

Potty training has somewhat regressed or just come to a standstill. She goes on the potty most of the time but still has wet diapers in between. Not much interest in wearing big girl 'unnies' and some days she just flat out refuses to go on the potty. I assume she is like most kids in that she gets easily distracted. She may say that she has to go potty and start walking that way but something catches her eye and she forgets. Public restrooms are also a little scary for her which is understandable. All the advice we have been given or read says that they let you know when they are ready so we continue to try and let her go at her own pace.

This week we moved into the Beginner Room at day care and the change has really been positive. Many of her friends moved up in August and she was a little sad about that. The toddler room was getting very crowded and loud, with lots of running and screaming. She likes the more structured group environment and loves to play outside and sing songs. Her retention of information is incredible so she can sing a ton of songs, her matching skills are really great as well as color recognition and starting to recognize letters. All of a sudden she can count to ten and is very, very close to reciting her ABCs with the song. She has also learned the days of the week and the months of the year. She knows everything in a song so she can recite them but may not know specific things like you can ask her what day is it but she wont know what comes after 3 if she isn't actively counting something. Ally is still a leader and likes to be the boss.

Favorite color- yellow
Favorite TV show- Sesame Street
Favorite food- fruit snacks
Favorite Movie- Despicable Me (aka Gru Movie)
Favorite toys- puzzles, princess barbies
Favorite book- Head to Toe by Eric Carle

Favorite songs- wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, monkees in a treeCan count to ten
Very close to reciting the whole alphabet

Knows all basic colors

Knows basic sign language
Cant survive at night without her blanket

Funny and Not So Funny

Yesterday as we are driving home from school, Ally was having her fruit snacks in the car. She says to me "Mommy, you hold my fruit snacks. I am too busy."

This week we have also experienced our first time-out at home and yesterday was her first time-out at school. Her time-out at home was from deciding to throw toys at daddy and not apologizing and her time-out at school was from pushing and having a bad attitude about it. She can be very defiant at times, especially now that she is learning the difference between right and wrong. She knows when she does something she is not supposed to! Doesn't mean she likes the consequences or deals well with them but we need to be better and more consistent with our discipline before it ever becomes an issue. Ally may not be 2 yet but she is smart...sometimes too smart.

Funny Things Ally Says

This morning I was packing up my purse and bag to go to work and talking to Ally at the same time. I commented that I needed my phone so she said she needed to take hers as well. Hers is a small purple Tinkerbell flip phone that makes sounds. On the way to school she was enjoying some cheerios and pretending to talk on her phone to a variety of people. She was then pretending to take pictures of things with it and said, "mommy, I'm going to take your picture". I turned around while we were at a stoplight and said ok. Ally put the phone up to her eye to press the camera sound button and says "Say Cheese Curds". Spoken like a true Wisconsin-ite!

Learning Sign Language

One of Ally's day care teachers is well versed in sign language and has spent some time teaching the kids simple words. She learned "more" and "please" very early on and now that her verbal vocabulary is exploding, her sign language repertoire is as well. Its pretty amazing actually because we don't specifically work on these things at home. They will randomly come out when Ally talks to us (or to herself) and we just sort of assume she is right. Here are things she has started signing lately as she says them:
More
Please
Thank you
Boy
Girl
Friends
Sit down
Yes
No
Sleep
Eat
Drink
Colors: red, blue, black, green, yellow

Her ability to retain information is incredible and you can really tell her imagination is starting to grow. She will run through things she has learned in school while she rides in the car or will randomly use signs in regular conversation. Better invest in a book so we can actually be sure she is doing things correctly!

Funny Things Ally Says

I have been meaning to do this for a while, but I think I am going to start compiling the funny things that Ally says. She is a little too smart for her age and has a rather advanced vocabulary so she comes up with some good stuff. Today on our way to school she looks over at the construction site on the side of the road and says, "Holy cow thats a big dump truck! Mom, do you see that?"

Rewind: Discovery Kids Museum

When Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Henry came to visit in July we decided to make a trip to the children's museum in Bloomington/Normal. We heard good things about it but weren't quite sure what to expect in terms of Ally sized activities. It was so fun! The place has three floors of fun stations and activities for kids of all ages. It was a little overwhelming at first but once she got the lay of the land she jumped right in. The first floor had a small area with a slide and tunnels to climb through, water area, a grocery store, pizza making and delivery, trains, and a big health and wellness area that included fun experiments for you body parts. Ally really liked the slide the best. The second floor was the ag area with lots of farm related stuff and some machines you could build and play with. Ally liked to put balls and scarves into the tubing and watch it fly through the maze. The third floor was the art and theatre area with a puppet show, stage, art room, and a giant glass wall to paint on. She definitely got into the painting and had a great time making a mess with that. There happened to be a girl scout troop up there so she liked watching the big girls play on the stage.

Overall we really enjoyed the museum and think it will be even better for us as Ally learns how to focus her attention. She was moving from activity to activity very quickly and it would probably be tough to spend much more than an hour or two there right now. We got a family pass so we plan to visit often and bring friends.

Rewind: July Sullivan Family Reunion

The weekend of July 23-24 we went up to Oshkosh for a few days. We actually left on Friday and stayed until Monday to give us some extra time and we also got to pick up Uncle Corey on the way so he could come too. We had a family reunion at the lake on Saturday so we spent most of the day playing in the water and eating. Ally is a little fishy so she had a blast jumping around, digging in the sand and playing with all the other kids. The water was fairly clean and a decent temperature. Mom, Kelly, Mark and Grady kept her busy in the water and we even got to go out for a short ride on the new pontoon boat- which was when she fell asleep. There are a few kids her age there and she was very excited to see so many people. The highlights included getting a dollar from Great Uncle James Humphrey because Ally can say his name clearly (an only family joke) and raiding Great Great Grandma Bea's candy dish for M&Ms just like we used to do. On Sunday we played over at Grandpa Joel's house and Ally had a great time with Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Paul. She was doing all of her tricks and everyone was very impressed with her singing, reading and counting skills. Monday we had to head for home but we could not leave without meeting Nicky and baby Adelle. Ally wasn't too interested in the baby girl but I was so happy to see them and hold her. She is adorable and growing so fast! Ally hasn't really cared much about all these babies we have been visiting lately, mostly because all of them have been boys until this time. She was a little concerned about me holding the new baby and was playing a little shy with Nicky but she was very gentle and gave 'baby dell' little hugs and pats on the head. We had a great weekend and Ally came back with 2 new princess barbies to play with.

Lucky

Ally has a new friend, his name is Lucky. He stays at Grandma Julie's house and Ally loves him!

Note: She has had this since Christmas but just recently decided he was fun and not scary.

Our Baby Can Read

I have been trying to capture this on video for weeks and I finally got most of it by secretly taping her from behind. She absolutely loves this book and knows every word and all the actions that go along with each animal. It is adorable!

Weekend Visit to Purdue

Last weekend we made a quick trip back to West Lafayette to visit friends and family. Ally had a lot of fun playing with grandma and grandpa! We went to the park behind their house a few times and Ally showed us how she can hang like a monkey and slide. She helped grandpa water the plants and had breakfast with Aunt Susie. Grandma came with us to get her hair cut by our favorite stylist. She sat in the chair by herself and did pretty well, we only had to bribe her with fruit snacks. Hilory is amazing and Ally was done in record time. She really hated the cape/giant bib more than actually getting her hair cut. I wish I would have taken some pictures of that because her hair was absolutely huge when Hilory was done pulling it and combing it out to cut the ends. So funny!

On Saturday we met up with some friends to take a tour of the basketball arena and see all of the changes that have been going on there. Heather showed us all around the upstairs and all the new offices and meeting spaces and a little bit of the construction going on the actual court. Its going to be amazing when its all finished in November. Ally had a great time sitting in all the chairs, seeing the volleyball staff and running down the halls. It was a little hard to see because I definitely miss all my friends from work and we miss going to all of the events. Karl got to put on the old-new Pete head which was sort of scary but he was pretty excited about it. We then stopped for a treat at Snowbear to give Ally her first and last experience because it is closing in August. Very sad about that- thats where Karl and I met and had a lot of good times with our best friends. The specific store that we worked at was closed a few years ago but there will officially be no Snowbear at all when we come back in the fall. Ally loved the fresh chocolate custard and made a mess with her cone.

Sunday we stopped in Indy to visit the Conners. We had not get been able to meet baby Caleb so we got there for lunch and some playtime. Ally and Lexi are 5 weeks apart and Paige is a great help to them. Ally liked to talk about baby Caleb but she was way more interested in toys and playing with the girls. Paige loves Karl now so she played games on the iPhone with us and the little girls ran around destroying things. Ally got to play with the princess barbies which she has never really seen before but has been in love with since she knows the characters from her pull ups. The girls are so cute together! I got to hold Caleb and hang out with Katie and Nick. I don't know how they do it with three little ones but I really wish we got to spend more time together. I didn't take many pictures but here are a few from the weekend. Enjoy!

Side note- Ally can recognize anything Purdue (on her own) so all week she has been saying things like 'Ally visit Purdue' and 'Ella with grandma at Purdue'. Again, she is too smart- she calls anything with the P or Pete or a train Purdue.

Princess Pull Ups

Ally has been very serious about this potty training business for quite a while now. I had sort of assumed that our vacation would have slowed her progress but she has gone full steam ahead pretty much all on her own. She tells us when she needs to go potty at home, uses the potty regularly at day care and just last week started using the potty when we are in public places. She has two different styles of seats at home- her own singing potty chair in the downstairs bathroom and the potty seat that fits over the regular toilet upstairs. She has shown preference for the seat but I'm not sure if that's because it has Elmo on it or it is just more comfortable for her. Her progress at this age has just amazed us but we are taking advantage of it! On our trip to target last week, we invested in some princess pull ups for her. They are much easier for her to take on and off herself and gets her used to the concept of how underwear will work. Genius idea if you ask me. She absolutely loves them! Right now she is using the pull ups during the day and regular diapers at night until we get to the point where we aren't taking off wet diapers/pull ups. We also picked up some big girl underwear (Disney princess variety) so we are going to start testing out those in the evenings at home and see how she does. She is by far ahead of most of her classmates at school but I think the exposure to kids going to the bathroom at school is really what got her going so early. At this rate we may be diaper free by age 2.

Ally gets very excited about putting on a new pull up so I had to take this picture right when she woke up the other day. Her hair is so wild!

4th of July Weekend

The weather was beautiful all weekend and we had big plans for our holiday at home. On Saturday Karl went golfing so Ally and I went to check out the play area at one of the near by mega-gyms in town. It was really hot even at 10am but Ally had a great time playing with all of the toys made of recycled materials. She especially loves the swings and I am pretty sure she could spend all day on them. The slides were way too hot to even touch but she had fun chasing me and climbing on everything. This place also has a small outdoor water park area so my plan was to use the playground and check our the water stuff in the morning and then come back to swim after nap but we went around back to where it is and noticed there was no water. Sad! We visited a new cafe for lunch and Ally ate great even without a highchair. After nap, Karl was back and we did some shopping to get ready for the rest of the weekend. Sunday we planned to go to a local water park that we had heard good things about. Its part of the sports complex in East Peoria and was much bigger than we expected. They had a large kiddie area with sprayers and a slide, a deeper pool, lazy river, tube slides, and a giant climbing structure that sprayed and dumped water from everywhere. Ally didn't like the lazy river as much as we had hoped but she loved running all over the kiddie area. The water was up to her waist at the deepest part and was full of kids. She loved going down the slide and playing int he fountain style sprayers. Definitely not afraid to get her face wet! She is a little fishy and things that she can crawl on her hands and knees (swim) even when its a little too deep for that. She was not happy when it was time to leave but lunch and nap time were needed.

Monday we planned to have friends over at our house in the afternoon. I had to participate in the 4th of July Parade for work since I organized it. Ally and Karl stayed home but the parade was really fun so hopefully we can all do it next year. Karl and I got things ready for the party while Ally napped and when she woke up, there was a small crowd in the house. Uncle Corey and some other friends from Bloomington came as well as quite a few friends from work. Karl was the grill master and served up steak, chicken and shrimp with a variety of marinades and everyone brought side dishes and drinks to share. The deck was the perfect shady spot to hang out and Ally loved running around and playing with everyone. We played football, ladder golf and wiffle ball and she showed everyone her climbing and sliding techniques. The fireworks are a big deal here but we didn't realize that you had to secure your spot at noon so we didn't make it down to the river. Ally was already up way past her bedtime and we knew there was no way we would be able to get down there and find a spot in time.

This was our first 4th at home in quite a while and our first in Peoria but it turned out to be a really great weekend. Perfect weather and lots of fun with friends!

My 2 Favorites

Playing With Family

Ally got to spend a few days in Oshkosh while I went to my marketing conference in Orlando a few weeks ago. She got to hang out with family, including one of her favorites Uncle Mark. Grandma took her to the parks and they did some shopping and spent lots of time playing. I got back to town on fathers day and we spend a few hours over at Great Grandma and Grandpa's before leaving town. Ally liked riding around the yard on the mower and even got a new hat. We were disappointed that we couldn't see Grandpa Joel or Great Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Paul, but we will be be back to visit and spend more time with everyone soon.

20 Month Photo Shoot and Milestones

While we were on the cruise, Ally turned 20 months old. She is closing in on the big 2 and the time, especially the last few months have gone by fast. I haven't done a post on her development in quite a while but honestly I have no idea where to even start. Seems like one day she just woke up running, jumping and carrying on conversations.

Current Obsessions:
Putting on lotion
Buckling her seat belt
Finding Nemo (yes, still)
Sesame Street products- TV show, movies, reading books and coloring books
Fruit snacks
Speaking in the 3rd person
Naming all of the people in the family she knows- grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, cousins...
Repeating and mimicking
Counting - 1,2,3...6
The Alphabet
Reading to herself

With her increased vocabulary has come quite a few funny moments. She is almost using complete sentences and they tend to come out a little bossy. For example, I was sitting on the couch ready to look at a book with her but she wanted to sit on the floor. She grabbed my arm, pointed to the floor and said "sit down here mama". She likes to talk about what people are doing like "daddy cooking dinner" or "Ally read it". She has also started to identify emotions and feelings like happy, sad, excited, hot, cold, dirty, wet, tired, hungry, silly, and funny.

A major milestone that we have been really taken by surprise with has been Ally's interest in the potty. Prior to vacation, we had been going on the potty every time at school. She has now gone a few times on the potty at home but we really aren't pushing. I have been taking her to the potty when she asks and she enjoys trying both at home and at school so we will continue to take it slow and follow her lead. It would be great to scale back the diapers! She doesnt visit the pediatrician until her 2nd birthday but I think he might be surprised to hear about this if it keeps up.

At this age, there are definitely a couple of new habits that Ally has picked up that I am not so fond of. Allyson is very independent and enjoys doing things herself, even things that obviously require help. She gets very upset if you don't let her buckle part of her seat belt, open her snacks, hold her own fork, cut her food, etc... Especially in the mornings when I am trying to get her in the car, she has her own pace and throws an absolute fit if you try to hurry her along. If she wants cheerios you better get the cheerios because a cereal bar isn't going to cut it! Getting dressed has become difficult sometimes and she is also becoming interested in taking off her diaper at random times. Its always been all about Ally but this stage of development requires a different sort of patience and understanding that its important for her to pick out her own clothes, comb her own hair, get the dog a treat, open the door herself, etc... My lesson from the last few weeks is that I better start getting myself going earlier to account for all this so I can make an effort to get to work on time.

Bottom line is that Ally is super fun and entertaining. Well behaved for the most part and loves to be the center of attention. The photos are from one of the nights on the cruise ship where she asked over and over to have her picture taken by one of the professionals. We didn't think she would actually do it but boy were we wrong. She knows how to take over a room already! All eyes were on her and she was loving it. We bought almost every picture they took.

New Orleans Aquarium

We decided to take Ally to the aquarium in New Orleans before we headed to the airport on Sunday. Karl and I had been there before but Ally has this obsession with all things Finding Nemo so we thought she would love it and we were right. She has been particularly interested in alligators and turtles and they had all of it. Some of the tanks were at just the perfect height where she could check them out on her own. After a few hours checking out the fish we stopped for an authentic New Orleans lunch then headed to the airport around 3. Of course Ally fell asleep on the way to the airport so she napped for about a half hour until we got to security then she was awake through the first flight, played in the Dallas airport and then fell asleep about 20 minutes from landing in Peoria. She did fairly well on the flights and passed the time playing on my lap, watching Nemo, snacking and checking other people out. She really did great for only being 20 months old!

Looking back on the trip, it was a lot of fun to take a cruise but I am not sure we would advise someone to take a child as young as Ally unless you have some help. We were happy to have grandma and grandpa along to give us some time to do 'adult' things and to let Ally be entertained by someone else at times when we would get a little frustrated with her. It was a big change from our daily routine but she handled it really well. As first time parents, we tend to over react to little things but when it comes down to it we really do have a great girl. She is just at that independent but still needy stage of toddler development which means that she knows what she wants and wants it now, and you better figure out a way to make it happen because she can only do it halfway on her own. Weather was beautiful, the ship itself had tons to do, rooms was better than we expected, clientele was a little suspect but made for good people watching so if you are looking for a great way to spend some money in the Caribbean in a week, consider it. Special thanks to Grandma Sharon, Grandpa Henry and the Eagins for getting us to do this and for helping out along the way!

Anniversary in Cozumel

Friday we woke up to the bluest and most beautiful water in the port in Cozumel, Mexico. This was by far the most developed stop on our trip and had a lot of shopping and restaurants within walking distance. We took Ally off the boat for a walk around the area near the port before we handed her off to grandma and grandpa. We picked up a few souvenirs at Senior Frogs and enjoyed some chips and salsa at Carlos and Charleys then it was time for Karl and I to head to our dolphin adventure. I have always wanted to swim with dolphins so Karl and I decided that this would be a great way to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. We traveled to a dolphin sanctuary about 5 minutes from the ship called Dolphinaris that is home to 19 trained dolphins. Half of them were captured (when that was still legal) and the other half were born and raised in the habitat that includes several big pools where people interact with them in a controlled environment. We got in the water and were able to learn about them up close, touch them as they swam by, give them a hug, get a kiss and dance with them. The real highlight was getting a ride from the dolphin which meant that you swam out to the center of the pool, reached our your left arm to the side while the dolphin swam around you then when the dolphin turned over you grab onto the fins and let them pull you back to the shallow part of the pool. It was so amazing! Our dolphins were Ashin (a-sheen) and Nike (nee-kay) and were two different species but looked very similar. The facility has it organized to the letter and each group of 8-10 people spends about 40 minutes in the water and they do 6 or 7 groups at a time. After our time in the pool we were able to see the videos and photos they take of each group and get some authentic mexican for lunch- along with the diet coke (coke light) that I had been missing all week.


We came back to the ship to find that Ally had a great time with the grandparents and was napping peacefully. She went swimming and had a picnic lunch in the room, very cute. I got to spend some time up by the adult pool and we got everyone cleaned up to get Ally fed and get to the show in the theater. The show was called 'Elements' and included dancers, singers, acrobats, magician and a special presentation of the crew. Ally was very entertained and at one point she thought the dancers costumes made them look like monkeys (they were actually birds) so she then kept saying "bye monkeys" for the rest of the show. We had dinner reservations at the Teppanyaki restaurant on the ship so we put Ally to bed and headed to the asian grill for the special cook-in-front-of-you show. It was fun and the food was really good, and at the end they even brought us a small anniversary cake and sang to us. Even though we were full, that night was the chocolate buffet so after dinner we got in the longest line ever to go through the buffet and fill our plates with different treats. It had been a long day so we ate them poolside then crashed.

Saturday was a sea day sailing back to New Orleans so we took the day to just relax by the pool and organize our bags to leave. We had to be off the ship at 10am on Sunday to pick up our luggage and get through customs. Team Purdue also came away with the progressive trivia championship Saturday night so that was exciting!

Roatan and Belize

The ship set sail from Costa Maya over night and we docked at the port on the island of Roatan off the coast of Honduras. Karl and I had planned for a snuba adventure that day so we had to be off the boat and ready at 8:30am. Ally stayed on the ship and had breakfast and played with grandma and grandpa while we were gone. We boarded a small bus and were driven about 25 minutes from the port to a resort area on a much nicer side of the island. You could tell that the area was specifically designed for cruise ship vacationers as it had a restaurant, bar, fresh water pool, animal habitat and a large beach area for the snorkeling and suba tours. We were interested in snuba because it is as close to actual scuba diving as you can get without going through the long certification process. Instead of each individual wearing a tank, there is one tank per group of 6 that floats on the surface of the water and you have 25 feet of tubing that connects each person. The tank then floats along as you swim so you get more freedom than snorkeling and we could stay under water for 45 minutes. Our group was dropped on the beach for brief instructions then we headed to get equipment-mask, regulator, weight belt and flippers. We walked straight out into the warm water, got hooked in and away we went. There were large coral reefs all around and fish but it definitely wasn't the depths or masses of fish like we had seen on our other snorkeling adventures. Still fun and definitely something I would do again. The down side was that we got attacked by sand flies while getting the quick training session so everyone came out of the water with big red spots all over. We freaked out thinking it was bed bugs or something but once everyone started looking the same way, one of the employees said it was the sand flies on the beach which looked like little gnats everywhere. Relieved but still gross... We got back to the ship in time to join the rest of the family for lunch, nap, and pool time. At night we continued with the trivia and dinner and saw the Second City comedy troupe perform. Ally also got to experience her first kiddie cocktail compliments of one of the bartenders Karl made friends with. We did not get any pictures of our snuba adventure and my camera fogged up from the extreme heat (105) when I tried to take some of the city from the ship so we don't have much to show from this day of the trip.

The next day we woke up in Belize City, the capital of Belize. We all got off the boat after breakfast to catch our 'Calypso Train Tour' of the city. The train was actually more like the little vehicles that you ride in from the parking lots at Disney disguised as a train but still an interesting ride. We learned a little about the city- they gained independence from Britain 30 years ago, they speak English or creole, the US dollar exchange rate is 2:1, seasons are hot or hotter than that, rains a lot, 2nd largest reef in the world is off the coast, people are not poor- they prefer to be called average, and they have to import almost everything. We saw a lot of schools and churches, as education is mandatory but not free and all schools are affiliated with some denomination. Before we got on the train they gave us water and a bag of plantain chips so Ally sat fairly well and ate a ton of chips while we traveled around the city. When we stopped and were let off to get back to the ship, we were immediately attacked by flocks of vendors trying to sell their crafts so we hurried back to the ship for lunch and pool time. Karl and I ventured to the casino after Ally went to bed but didn't have any luck with the black jack. The casino was a very interesting place!

Sea Day and Costa Maya

Our first full day on the ship was a day at sea sailing from New Orleans to Costa Maya, Mexico. The ride was smooth but it was very windy on the decks. We spent a lot of time at the pool and enjoyed both breakfast and lunch at the buffet. It offered the best options for Ally but there were so many people that it was tough for her to focus on eating and not get distracted. Two people immediately were drawn to Ally- the head service guy from Jamaica that would go around talking to people and yelling "wakie, wakie" at everyone during breakfast and the other was one of the servers stationed at the entrance to spray everyone's hands with sanitizer and say "washie, washie". Ally really liked her, she was from Peru and payed special attention to Ally every time we saw her. One of the female bartenders at the bar above the kids play areas also loved to talk to Ally and was sure to say hi each morning when we came out for breakfast. We played, walked around the ship, swam, ate lunch, napped in the afternoon, watched Elmo DVDs or Finding Nemo then got ready for dinner. The first night we tried to have dinner in the fancier dining room (not that you have to be fancy dressed, its just the formal dining room where you order off a nicer menu and sit at smaller tables) but Ally was really not interested in sitting still or eating. The day was a challenge with eating and she was also very clingy to me. She did not want Karl to do anything at all but we sort of attributed that to being in a new place with so many people. We were able to get her to relax in the room by watching her movie and reading books and she fell asleep easily. Since our rooms were connected, we were able to leave her asleep in the room with grandparents next door while Karl and I visited the bar at night to relax a little.

We got off the ship in Costa Maya after breakfast and headed out to explore. We had no idea what to expect and were just hoping to find a beach area. The port was really only set up for the cruise ship and consisted of a small village type area with shops, bars and a giant pool in the middle. The pool was surrounded by sand and beach chairs, a little spray park area, swim up bars and was the perfect place for us to play. Ally loved the water and all of the little fountains in the shallow part. It was treated salt water just like the water on the boat so it was warm and salty but not as salty as straight sea water. She was not too excited about the sand at first and made me carry her everywhere but after a little swimming she figured it out and had some fun with her bucket and shovel. She loved running through the little spray park area. It was the perfect size for her and she thought it was super fun to stick her hair into the water and get sprayed in the face. She was really fun to play with and did great outside all morning. Again, she didn't eat much for lunch but crashed for a long nap and woke up happy. One of her favorite things was to sit outside on the balcony with grandpa and every day after nap and the weather was always hot and sunny so it was perfect.

On the boat they had a progressive trivia contest where teams of 4 would compete each night to answer 20 questions to earn points. Karl, Sharon, Hank and John Eagin decided to compete so Ally, Gail and I either played in the kids area or came along to watch and help out if we could. It was a lot of trivial pursuit type questions but they also had music trivia and a movie trivia that were right up our alley.

Caribbean Adventure Recap

We are back on land and in the country following our 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean on the Norwegian Spirit. We had a good time and took a lot of pictures (mostly of Ally). Needless to say, Karl and I were a little scared about the whole idea of taking Ally on a giant ship in the middle of the ocean for many reasons: 1- She is very routined and this would be an obvious change to her daily schedule, 2-we weren't exactly sure of the sleeping arrangements, 3- what if we didn't pack enough of her favorite toys and books, 4- everything we read said there we no activities for kids under age 2 including swimming pools because of sanitation laws, 5- she climbs on everything and anything, 6- we haven't been on a plane with her since before she could walk and talk, you get the idea... We quickly discovered that she is a very smart and independent little girl and adjusted far better than the two of us did.

I want to recap each day of our trip and fill everyone in on the details of our special vacation but I will have to do it in segments because we have so many pictures. I will start at the beginning of the trip which is last Saturday, May 21.

Our flight was scheduled to leave from Peoria at 10:40am so I worked really hard during the week to have everything packed up and ready in as few suitcases as possible. Luckily our baseball schedule changed in my favor and we played day games leaving me with some free nights to get stuff done. Ally and I fit all our stuff into 1 big suitcase and Karl was in another, then we had a diaper bag with all the necessities, Karl had a backpack for important documents and electronics (iPad and DVD player with movies) and Ally had her very own backpack with some books and snacks. I packed along a few surprises for our trip to keep Ally entertained including a travel sized magna-doodle to write on and a kitty toy with clothes that snapped, tied, buttoned, and buckled. We were ready ahead of schedule and headed to the airport at 9. The Peoria airport is about 20 minutes from our house and is small but very nice. We parked, checked bags and got through the security with no problems in less than 10 minutes. We found a kiddie area and colored and played on the chairs there until it was time to board the plane. Ally did great on the flight to Dallas and kept busy checking out all the people, climbing on me and watching some of Finding Nemo. We didn't have much time between flights in Dallas so by the time we got to our terminal and tried to find something for lunch for Ally, we almost missed our flight to New Orleans. By the time we got up in the air, Ally pretty much passed out all the way there. Once in New Orleans, we took a taxi to the hotel where Karl's parents and John & Gayle Eagin were staying. We had ordered all the Ally needs for the trip ahead of time and had them shipped so we had snacks, diapers, wipes, juice, milk, etc... with them that we didn't have to pack for the flights. Best idea ever!

In New Orleans we walked around a bit, swam at the hotel, ate dinner and enjoyed treats at Cafe du Monde. Ally passed out in her stroller on the way back to the hotel and slept great in a crib in our room. The next morning we headed to the Port of New Orleans to go through the security lines, get pictures taken, sign paperwork and board the ship. We got on by noon and since rooms weren't ready until 2pm we explored the giant ship and ate lunch in the big buffet on deck 12 (think Old Country Buffet x 2). The boat had several restaurants and bars, a casino, gaming areas, teen club, dance club, theater, 3 pools, workout facility, spa, and a beautiful atrium. We had a room on the 11th deck that connected with the grandparents and had plenty of space to set up a pack-n-play for Ally. We set sail from the muddy Mississippi at about 5pm but Ally was so beat that she napped for 3 hours and missed the whole thing.

Vacation

Tomorrow we are off for a week of vacation. Karl and I always try to do something fun for our anniversary and this year we are taking a Caribbean cruise with Ally and Karl's parents. We fly from Peoria to New Orleans tomorrow then the ship leaves on Sunday and heads to Costa Maya Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Roatan and Cozumel before returning next Sunday. We are frantically packing and trying to be sure we have everything Ally could possibly need. We are nervous and but hoping we can all have a great time and enjoy the warm weather, sites and the beaches. Lots of stories and pictures to come when we get back on land.

Potty Training Herself

So Allyson has decided a 19 months that she is ready to start potty training. She has been going on the potty every time at day care the entire week! I was very shocked to find this out mid-week but its exciting at the same time. We have had a little potty in the bathroom at home for her which she sits on but hasn't done anything in yet. We sort of assumed that when she says "potty" it meant it was time for a diaper change but now we need to adjust and get her to the potty when she says its time. She is already well versed in how to pull her pants up and down and has quickly learned how to take her diaper off- she likes to practice a lot unfortunately. The staff at the day care continued to be impressed by her ability to retain information and mimic so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised about this new desire to use the potty. She is the youngest "regular potty" toddler they can remember and one of 2 in her current room that goes on the regular schedule they have. Not sure if this is just a phase or is the real thing but we will go with it and see what happens. Hopefully being away from day care with our trip next week doesn't set her back.

Corey the Master

On Saturday, May 7 my brother graduated with his masters in sports administration from Illinois State. We had big plans for the weekend and lots of visitors. Most of the family was arriving on Friday so we hosted a cookout at our house then Saturday we went to the graduation ceremony at noon, took Ally to moms hotel room for a nap then had a nice family dinner in downtown Bloomington. Uncle Mark, Grady and Aunt Kelly stayed at our house and Ally had an absolute blast with them! She was so excited to have people in the house to play with all her toys and chase her around and it was even better when she discovered that they were still there when she woke up Saturday and Sunday morning. Grandma Marilyn, Grandpa Jack, Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Paul made the trip and stayed in a near by hotel while Mom, Dew and Dad stayed near Corey in Bloomington. It was so great to have everyone here since only the immediate family got to see Corey at his undergraduate ceremony. The weather was beautiful and while the ceremony was long, Ally did fairly well and she loved running around outside while we took some pictures. No one ever expected for us to live close together so we were happy to have so many people visit at once. We are all so proud of Uncle CoCo! We captured the important pieces of the ceremony but its sort of long.- he actually gets hooded around the 3:10 mark.

The Joys of a Toddler

Over lunch I went to Target to pick up a few things we needed. I went to the check out with two items for Ally: a giant pack of diapers and a potty chair. I laughed to myself that these are sort of ironic things to be purchasing at the same time but I suppose that's what happens at this stage of toddler development. What brought this on you might ask. Let me describe it this way: Sunday I had to go in to work for a few hours. I come home, open the door from the garage to find my daughter standing in the kitchen with her pants around her ankles. She proceeded to pull them up and down over and over, very amused wit her new trick. Monday the teachers at day care told me that they snapped Ally's onesie over her jeans so that she wouldn't be able to pull her pants down. Her new favorite words are poop and pee and she has been aware of when both are happening for a few weeks now. She is also very interested in the habits of the dog and likes to yell "Ella pee" every time we let the dog out the front door or point to her tail and say "eeeewwww". Apparently all signs point to Ally being ready to give the potty seat a try. I have done extensive research this week and decided on a model from fisher-price. Who knew there would be so many options with so many reviews to read? At day care they have smaller versions of adult toilets to use so hopefully this interest in all things bathroom related stays around for awhile. Are we ready for this? Probably not but not having to spend any more money on diapers would be amazing!

Easter Weekend

I had to work on Easter so we were not able to leave town and spend the holiday with family. I didn't have to work until late Saturday so we made reservations to attend the Bunny Brunch and Egg Hunt at the Wildlife Prairie State Park. We had never been to the park but heard good things and it actually stopped raining long enough to get outside a little bit. Ally enjoyed her brunch but wasn't too interested in seeing the Easter Bunny. After the Santa Clause incident, we didn't even push. She was very interested in the duck and the real bunny they had on display for kids to look at. The weather was warming up so we took Ally along the trails to look at the animals. It was wet and muddy but we got to see some bears, bobcats, eagles, bison, a badger, a fox, wolves and play on the swings at the playground. There was quite a bit of time between the brunch and the egg hunt so when Ally started to get a little tired of being in her stroller we decided it was best to not stick around and make her run through the mud in her cute clothes for eggs with a million other kids.

On Easter Sunday, Ally came downstairs to find a basket full of goodies and a whole bunch of eggs scattered around the house. The rest of the day was pretty simple: put the eggs in the basket, dump the eggs out of the basket, repeat.... She loves the puzzle and immediately took out the pieces, told me what they were and put them back in the right spot. Genius! I had to work again most of the day so I didn't take too many photos but here are some from our morning time together. Enjoy.

Current Favorites

I love yummy granola bars

And talking on the phone

And color in my Dora coloring book

And dancing and clapping to Sesame Street

Ally Can Sing

Check out these great videos we took of Ally singing her favorite songs. She knows the hand motions and even some of the words. She is also watching Sesame Street while doing this so we will have to try again when she is more focused because she does a great job. Please ignore my terrible singing and focus on the adorable child!

Injury #2

After last weeks fat lip, this week she decided to add a black eye. Yesterday afternoon she was sitting on some pillows reading at school and slid off the pillows and caught the corner of her right eye on the book shelf. It just looked like a small bump and cut last night but already this morning its starting to make a pretty good black eye. Looks like I put a big stripe of purple eye shadow on just one eye! Poor girl, when did she get so clumsy? I know its part of being a kid but really- twice in one week.

Sad First

We experienced another first with Allyson yesterday: her first fat lip. I went to pick her up from day care last night and the teacher informed me that I wasn't going to like what I saw. Ally came over and I immediately noticed her big red and puffy right side of her top lip. Apparently there was an incident on the slide outside in the morning that involved her mouth and another child's head. The incident report wasn't too specific but it looked pretty cut up and swollen. They had iced it and it took her while to calm down and she kept saying "owie" and pointing to it. She was definitely a hot mess last night!

Figures that she would have an accident like this the day before picture day at school. I was hoping to use todays photos as her 18 month pictures but we may have to schedule something else for when her lip is back to normal. It did look better today and it doesn't seem to bother her as much so we will see how they turn out.