- abby always brings you something (insert random object here, some blocks or a leaf) and then she say "look what i brought for you!" in this sing song voice. so cute!

- she also frequently tells us "she'll be back in a minute" 

- when howie is playing a video game and she wants him to stop, she grabs the controller from his hand & tells him "the game is all done"  

- she still really loves to "play dora" and serve us dinner. she says "it's dinnertime mama!" 

- everything is a vacuum. like she plays with her toys pretending they are vacuums and she's still really fixated on the vacuum. LOL

- she really enjoys popeye's biscuits and gets super excited when we eat popeyes for dinner.

- she loves seeing the moon!  it's been clear out the past few nights so we've been able to actually see it and it makes her SO happy!  she waves to the moon and asks the moon if it wants dinner LOL

i had some time off work this week, i was off tue-fri so i spent the whole week with abby pretty much. it's been really nice. before, when i would take PTO, abby would still go to maria's & i would sleep or hang out at home and just get things done. you know things you can't do with a little one around :)

but since maria has been coming here, i felt pretty rude asking her to still come and watch abby just so i could be off the hook.  and honestly, i am glad abby & i had the time together. i don't know if you would call it bonding, but it has been nice just hanging out even though we didn't do anything necessarily SUPER exciting or fun.

tuesday we met up with my dad for lunch at al & andy's and went to petsmart to visit the adoption kitties. abby really likes to visit them in the store.   we also got some clothes at the carter's store since it is right there b/c she had a sudden growth spurt and is now officially a 2t.  some of her 18 month stuff is still fitting her but if i am buying anything, its all 2t.

on wednesday, we drove to gene & jude's for a hot dog for me and fries for abby.  because i was really craving one and what the hell else was i doing anyway?? LOL. abby likes being in the car and she definitely enjoyed the fries!

on thursday we went to the zoo as i previously wrote about :)

and on friday we just went to target and that was pretty much it.

we didn't do a ton today either....we did go to walgreens this morning so i could get my prescription & some other crap.  i had this idea to try & do a paper journal for abby but i just don't think it's going to happen.  i'm just not really into the whole analog thing anymore, sadly.  i do miss it- i really do, and i know a handwritten journal is way more personal than a typed one, but i can write so much faster this way & i think the words are the most important thing anyway, the recording of it, however it gets recorded.

so i found out how to convert blogger to a pdf & i will print it out at the end of this year (it's not as long as my own personal journals, to date it's about 35 pages though if i write here more often it will get wordier :))  but i figure i can print it off each year for her and have it in a binder for her to read. i've been recording here since birth anyway, even if i haven't been doing it quite as consistently as i'd like. we'll work on that :)

***

but back to the point, i'm going to really miss her when i go back to work. we've been having fun. i really like hanging out with her. she's so sweet & funny to be around. she's always saying "hi mama hi!" and she brings me things now and says "look what i brought for you!" and it'll be some blocks she stacked together or something. sometimes she'll bring it to you but then not actually give it to you, haha.

i feel like these days are precious and she's so smart and engaging and i just want to be there for all of it & spend that time with her.  it was so nice to be with her and not be TIRED from working all day & being able to give more of myself to her. i feel like when i come home from work, i'm just not my best self.  a) i'm tired and b) i'm often still thinking of work and the things i need to do for work and/or cooking dinner or things i need to do in the house, ie, i'm distracted and as much as i am happy to see her maybe i'm not showing it quite as much as i could be b/c of the things i already mentioned.

so i think what i am taking away from this is that i need to try & turn all that off when i get home and dedicate myself to her, the way that i have been this week. and don't get me wrong, i'm still reading and going on my phone but i'm definitely way more present than i am regularly. and even on the weekends....i'm still so EFFING TIRED from the damn week, it makes it hard to want to go for a walk and actually DO things with her b/c i'm just exhausted.

but i will really work on that b/c it really does mean so much to her and she really has enjoyed my attention this week too.

so i am glad i had this week with her and it has taught me something too. i really just want to be the best i can for her, and somedays i feel like my best is not the best :/
 but i am trying, and i guess i jsut want her to know that. and maybe someday, she'll read this and she'll have her own kids and maybe she'll be working a full time job and feeling a little guilty or having her own realizations and this will help her

If such a thing is possible, I have the most patient toddler ever. I wanted to go to Target today, but it was before Abby had breakfast. So I told her after we were done in the store, I'd get her a chocolate donut. She is always good in the store, she didn't need a bribe to behave, the donut was more of a treat.

But then I paid and forgot that i had a $30 gift card I had wanted to use! So I actually had to drive back to Target (because of course I remembered when I was nearly home) and Abby was asking for her donut. So I told her we needed to go back to Target really quick but then we'd get the donut.

Then we waited in line at Target guest service and like a dope, I had forgotten my phone in the car (naturally this is where the gift card info was) so we had to go back to the car & then go back in Target and meanwhile, Abby is really getting concerned that this donut would not materialize.

But she was Soooo patient. She surprises me so much! I told her that we had to wait a few more minutes b/c Mommy is a spaz (not my exact words haha) but then we would get the donut. She never screamed, cried or threw a fit and i KNOW she wanted that donut badly

And now we are home and she is thoroughly enjoying her delicious donut!! 

(this was originally shared on Facebook) 

i really need to stop letting so much time pass between these entries.  i write about abby a ton in my own regular writings but i really wanted to have a special log here just for her.  

she is so big lately. so much less like a baby and more like a little kid everyday!  i go from being so happy to be around her (it's so much fun to spend time with her, she's just a fun little person to be around, so curious about the world and so interested in everything you have to say about it) and sad that the baby years are really gone. 

we went to the zoo today, which was a lot of fun, and i was actually getting teary eyed at the DOLPHIN SHOW of all places b/c she's getting to be this big kid who has her opinions and ideas and it just sort of hits me at these odd moments in time, like suddenly it's like OMG i wouldn't be at a dolphin show if she was a tiny newborn!?   i don't know how to explain it without sounding like a complete loon but i think other parents would probably understand.

i had one of those moments last weekend when we took her to the pumpkin patch & she was riding the ponies (which she LOVED omg) and it was just like, omg who is this big girl???

she is very sweet and i really truly do just like spending time with her.  i think it's just a fascinating concept to me that she is her own little person.  before she was her own little person too, of course, but it's so much more pronounced now.

a lot of time has passed (i haven't written since July tsk tsk) so i'll just talk about how she is lately and hopefully write more often :)

- she is suddenly very concerned when her hands are dirty and she is always asking for napkins or wipes. LOL. this is unfortunate when you tend to eat with your hands over silverware, hehe.

- she likes to be read to more lately.  esp before bed. she fights us on bedtime but she does like her stories and if she hears a few stories (sometimes the same ones) then she is more willing to go to bed

books she likes right now:

nobunny's perfect
brown bear brown bear what do you see
i love you stinky face

there are others but i can't think of them right now.


- i think really it's jsut a lot of fun to see the world through her eyes and it's fun to teach her things and point things out to her that are exciting for her and so commonplace for us, like the big fountains we encounter (the one in rosemont) etc. 

and the moon, she is obsessed w/ the moon ever since the SUPERMOON lunar eclipse and she wants us to take her outisde to see the moon all the time, it's very cute.  and you really just can't help but drop whatever you're doing and just be like, ok let's go see the moon LOL

the smallest things jsut make her so happy. xoxo

some cute things abby is doing lately:

• reading one of her books and turning each page and saying “once upon a time”
• she pretends to scare us by going “boo!”
• she calls the computer mouse “abc mouse” and lately asks to watch lazy town a lot. i’ve been playing her episodes on youtube.
• she pretends to play guitar on the swiffer and has an actual toy guitar and loves the one in the basement (the real once) she says I’m dancing now too!
• she yells at the cats to sit nice and asks them “what are you doing?”
• she always goes to the window when soemone leaves and watches them go (she is equally excited when someone comes back)  
• she always says “nana go home!”  when maria has left for the day.
• she pretends to type on the computer after watching me. LOL

i haven’t written a blog entry in a while. she’s been so cute and funny lately.  i actually just looked it up, since may!

we had her 2 year appt last weekend.  she was an absolute beast for the appt but i fully expected that. she’s old enough to have an opinion about the things happening but too little to understand why it’s necessary.  she really hates being measured.  they have this long rollout measuring tape & they have her lay on it (instead of the metal measuring thing that they line up to baby’s head & feet) and she was just NOT having it, and then they had to do a finger stick for a lead test - and NOPE not having that either. she needed 3 people to hold her down for that. :(   poor kid.

she grew about 2 inches & gained one pound, so that was good. and for this appt, they had us fill out a questionnaire ahead of time (for development) and i am guessing everything is on track b/c they really didn’t bring anything up.  dr joyce saw us. he did ask about her going up the stairs b/c i said she still crawls but she will go up if you hold her hands (walking).  so everything looks to be on track.

things she likes right now:

aristocats

thunder & the house of magic movie on netflix

lazy town on sprout

curious george

playing with her dora play kitchen & play food.

playing with her little people princess castle.

wow, have i neglected this blog!!!!

i really didn't realize it had been so long.

so what is going on? abby is so big these days.  she is almost two, after all.  and that fact blows my mind!!

she is speaking in little sentences now, and she is so funny & cute.

she is starting to be bad, though i don't know if it's on purpose or it's just the age. probably a combo of both.  but she is constantly playing in the cat's water dish which makes me crazy.  she also wants to jump on the couch (she has fallen off the couch once and bumped her head, she was fine, but cried) and we hoped she would learn a lesson, but nope. she was right back on the couch. howie yelled at her (and he has never really yelled at her) and she burst into tears but i think it scared her enough that now she knows going on the couch to jump is bad. she still tries, but if we give her a stern look and tell her to get down, she actually does now.

i had some lindor truffles from mother's day & she really liked them. she knows the word for candy but was forgetting it, but wanted one of those truffles so she was calling them "donuts."

she also likes giving high fives and she jsut sometimes runs up to you & asks for one randomly!! so cute!

she loves youtube and wants to see vidoes of cats & babies.  she loves the cats and likes giving romeo hugs & kisses, though he less pleased about this attention.  she also tries to drive sasha by her tail, like a rudder which pretty funny.   sasha doesn't seem to mind the attention as much, but i think she is just more used to abby since abby has always been around for sasha.  she also tries to get sasha to do things like follow her. she's used to ghengis who DOES follow her and comes when she says come.  cats, not so much :)

abby still likes the same foods. nothing new there. she says so much, i can't even begin to remember everything!! which is good.  ;) she speaks in little sentences now too.

she is really just a lot of fun to be around.  she is so curious & funny too.  she still loves her blankies!

abby is learning and growing so much lately!!

she can point to her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, and bellybutton.  in fact, i asked her where her bellybutton was today (she had a shirt on, obviously) and she tried to pull up her shit and then looked inside her shirt to show me. So cute!!

she says all sorts of things but i think her most recent word is "Car' and she is starting to parrot a lot, she says "cold" and "snow" and other random stuff too.  she is always saying new words now so it's hard to keep up with.

she has plenty of teeth now so eating is getting easier.  she can take bites out of things, so now most of her food is being cut into strips that she can pick up, we don't have to chunk it all up for her. she loves babybel cheese, and she likes quesidillas and toast! i made tilapia for her tonight and she loved that too!

she is so funny lately.  she likes to spin around in a circle until she gets dizzy. she enjoys if you pretend you can't find her, and go "where's abby?" she jsut can't resist that game even if is being cranky or hiding from you.  she can also do "so big!" now.  which is just the cutest thing ever.

i signed her up for my gym classes, we go to the one in skokie.  it's fun! she enjoyed the class but i think she may have been a bit overwhelmed, here's some  more about the class itself from my journal entry:

we had abby's first my gym class today!!

it is set up in a big room, and there are all sorts of baby toys & gym equipment for them to play on. there are slides, a ball pit, a climbing thing, balance bars, monkey bars, a see saw, a trampoline, and then some other mats & things of that nature.  when you get there, they let the kids run around and play for a bit and then they do the hello song & some "fitness" moves like arm circles and the like with your kids in your lap.

abby wanted NOTHING to do with anything involving the circle. all the other kids were sitting still all nice and she was being a crazy child. but i think she was confused by the sudden change in activity & didn't understand why we were suddenly sitting.  

after that they let the kids run around some more & then they bring out different things for the kids to do. like they had these loops that hook up to hooks in the ceiling and they let the babies hang from them, they also attached all sorts of swings for the kids to swing on and they built a little baby maze thing with tunnels and such.  (abby would not go in it)

abby seems to be a timid child. she is curious about things, but doesn't run headfirst into it. she just sort of hangs back to see what is going on.

they have something called separation time (lol) where the parents sit back and the kids play with a bunch of toys.  and she just sort of hung back, she didn't go after the toys like some of the other kids...she just found a toy near her and was happy to play with that.  

they also did a puppet show, and abby just loves stuffed animals....so when they were doing the show, she wanted the stuffed animals!! poor kiddo. so the teacher let her have it for a second and abby hugged it and then when they took it away she started to cry. poor abby :( she didn't understand. hopefully in the coming classes she'll understand more.

she is just so much fun. this is a great age.  she is really learning a lot now and is so much fun. some other new developments;  she fakes cries when she doesn't get her way, and we were able to get her to go up the stairs again!