She's a Full-Fledged Toddler!

Our little baby girl is growing up. I tell everyone she's 1 1/2 years old (not 72 weeks or 18 months)! I look in the rear view mirror and no longer see a baby, but a little girl! It didn't happen overnight, but yet it took me by such surprise! There is no question that she's now considered a full-fledged toddler!

We want to cherish every one of these little accomplishments and enjoy this phase because, she's growing up so fast! I'm afraid to blink - she might be starting pre-school!

These are a few of the cute things she is doing now:

• walking around in Mommy's high heels
• climbing on the couch, into chairs by herself
• she is really good at stacking blocks and building towers w/ her legos
• likes books, turning the pages, and pointing out pictures
• she walks fast/runs, walks up stairs w/ one hand on the rail, can kick/throw a ball
• points to lots of body parts correctly: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, tounge, hair, toes, tummy, elbow, ...
• scribbles w/ pencils, pens, crayons
• feeds herself using fork/spoon, drinks from a cup
• she is always pretending to talk on the phone; holding it up to her ear w/ no hands (like Mommy, i guess)
• taking Hailey for a walk
  

• laughing, cracking herself up
• walking backwards
• she is always gathering an arm full of things to carry into the other room
• playing outside w/ sticks, rocks, leaves, acorns, dirt...
• she helps me put the clothes in the dryer from the washer, then takes them out for me to fold - I'll take all the help I can get with laundry!
  
• loves her babydolls
• she's so sweet, and gives such good hugs and kisses to Mommy & Daddy

We are constantly amazed by Ali and her ability to do and say so many new things. She understands nearly everything you say to her, and is in the phase where she repeats nearly everything you say. She is building quite the vocabulary...
These are just a few of her words that came to mind:

• "Bye Bye" - for good bye and for airplanes (b/c they go bye bye)
• "Please", "Thank You" - she has very good manners ;)
  
• "Uh Oh" - one of her favorites
  
• "Love You" - this one will melt your heart
• "Ali"
• "Baby"
• "House"
• "Shoes"
• "Duck"
• "Bath", "Bubbles" - she loves her bath, especially w/ bubbles!
  
• "Book"
• "Blocks"
  
• "Moon"
  
• "Truck"
• "Up", "Go", "Stop", "No"
  
• "More", "Snack", "Juice", "Ice"
• "Hot", "Cold"
• "Night night"
• "Hailey", "walk"
• "Bryleigh" & "Ellie"
  
• "Thank you Rye" - this started out sounding like "Thank you eye"
  
• "Thank you Daddy" - awwww!
  

Some things are in her own language, but very clear once you learn to translate...

• "All dome" = all done
• "Eyes" = eyes and sun glasses
• "Balalaba" = banana
  

Hmmm... ever wonder what they dream about???

Zonked...

Did she think this Sam's shopping cart resembled her crib?

Could she be dreaming about:

her Initial concept drawing...

building some Prototypes?

testing out her qualification build?making some modifications to the drawings...
and verifying her Final product!

Future Engineer?wearing High Heals!

Driving a tractor...
That's my girl!
How's that for well-rounded?

~It all starts with a dream...
ever wonder what they dream about???~

1 1/2 already!

Our Happy Little Florida Girl is 1 1/2...
Out for a bicycle ride to enjoy the nice fall weather in Florida!

Ali's 1st ponytail!

Friends, Family and Fun - Aug 2010

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Alis first year - April 2010

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Ali's 1st Christmas - Dec 2009

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Summer Fun- Aug 2009

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Ali's Adventures to Jamaica - June 20, 2009

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Fathers Day - June 2009

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Nana & Guga to visit...

The giraffe's were out and about at the zoo...

Then we stopped in at the splash park to cool off...

Church on Sunday...

Ali Graduated her ISR Training!

90 degrees in Florida...
Ali all dressed up in her heavy winter clothes and ready to float!

Part of the final training for ISR is to practice the same skills fully clothed.
This is a picture of Ali floating in her heavy winter clothes...
The training required Ali to float for 5 full minutes - she did great!

Ali, we are SO proud of you -

Initially, I was skeptical of the ISR training.
It was more than worth it!!!
Highly recommend to all -

Amazing!!! How incredible!!! WOW!!!

17 Months Old Already...

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.

~Angela Schwindt

Such a classic...

and another classic...

I think she grew 3" this last month!

I love this one too...

Beautiful blue eyes...

So inquisitive...

Watch out...

I love to hear her giggle...
"Bye-bye"
(that's her favorite word right now)

WOW, What happened to my little baby?!?

She's not really a baby anymore, and not all that little either!

Ali can float on her back all by herself...

Ali has been taking ISR training by Infant Swim Resources. The goal of ISR Training is Survival... They teach them a swim, float, swim sequence so they can swim for a few seconds, roll over to their back to rest and catch a breath, then roll over and swim again.

Today, we were playing in the pool today and she wanted to swim back and forth to Eddie and I, and she wanted to swim to the steps like she does in lessons. She was doing great. She was so proud of herself too!

We put her on her back to practice her float, and she was doing it all by herself! We had our hands out of the water all together and she was floating on her back (concentrating hard, but with a little grin). I'm SO proud of her!
This is only her third week of lessons, so I'm excited to see how she progresses in the next week or two!

This is a pict of her that I took during lessons last week - I was in the water with her today when she was floating, so I have yet to get a waterproof camera - this may be good reason enough...