Direct Line to Abby

There's a lot of Abby Love going on in this house. Abby is one of your best gal pals, an adorable 23 month old who always makes you smile. The new ritual these days is you ask to call her on your pretend cell phone every night before bed (and often before naps as well). You'll yell out "Amby!!!" and point to the phone and insist I call her, stat.

It's not ok for me to just call and say "Hi Abby, Finley wants to say Lilah Tov (good night)...no no no....we need to tell her about our day, and what we ate, and where we went, and we need to do all that, even if you two spent the day together!

And it doesn't end there. When my neck finally starts killing me from reading a book and craning my neck to keep Abby on the phone (that's right, if I put the phone down you freak out and yell "Amby!!!!" all over again) I then tell you Abby went Lilah Tov. You wave goodbye to her and then say "Emellay!!!", who is my dear friend Emily, Abby's mum (well, I guess she's her Mom, not Mum ;) Anyhow, we then continue the conversation with 'Emellay' until she too, miraculously goes Lilah Tov.
You'd think it would end there, right? Nuh-uh. You guessed it...you now ask for "Ryruu!!!" being Ryan, Abby's Daddy. I cannot believe it, it's so funny! So I spend the entire evening with a crick in my neck, reading you books, and reading their whole Abby family books as well.

When Dad puts you to bed (which is most nights, except lately while you are sick and insist on being a Mama's Girl) he must do the same routine. He and Ryan occasionally speak guy talk...but I think for the most part it's "Abby, did you see how pretty Finley's hair looked today?" and "Abby, did you see the giraffes at the zoo?" and "Ryan, aren't our girls just so adorable?"

OK, maybe the last one he didn't say...I'm embellishing. :) But I wanted to document this adorable (yet slightly painful) new routine of yours. What I think is so sweet about it is just how much you are able to show your love for others.

Happy Valentines Day

I'm glad I got this picture of you today...because the heart shirt didn't last long between the huge amounts of teething drool coupled with the throw up of the day (day two) :( Yup, you are sick...again! But we still got some good love in and danced together and read books and snuggled. Amidst that there was a lot of nose and chin wiping, and trying to unstick your hair from your face. Pretty picture, eh? But it was all done with love. :)

Happy Valentines baby, love from your mummy and daddy. We love and adore you, sickipoo snot and all.

Having a Ball

Yesterday after music class we went to the park to meet with a friend who was in town from Orange County. She turned it into an awesome Valentines playdate and had balls for each of the kids to play with. Most of the kids were playing on the slides etc for at least an hour, while you sat on my lap and ate lunch.

But then all of a sudden, you took an interest in the balls, that were there the entire time...and went nutty chasing and kicking them and throwing it to me! You couldn't get enough of it! Your wicked little giggle came out full force (lately you've had this crazy giggle that is really low and long and sounds a teeny weeny bit evil!!) Haha....it cracks me up! You had the same giggle in class when we danced and you had the other ladies laughing too!

Anyhow, after the playdate and nap you saw the ball in the house and got all excited again and played again and again with it. Lots of fun. I actually didn't think you would be into it...but you surprised me!

Get on Board (Choo! Choo!) the Potty Train!!

Well, this picture sure looks successful, but to be truthful, you have never ever peed in your potty to date! I recently bought a Potty Training kit by Baby Signs since you love to sign, and thought that might be a fun way to incorporate potty training into our lives. We're not technically potty training, but potty familiarizing at this point.

The kit came with a video teaching signs for Potty (you are doing the sign in the picture) and other helpful signs, and a catchy little song that includes the line "If you want to wear a pair of big kid underwear, get on board (choo choo) the potty train! If you want to learn to pee on the potty just like me, get on board (choo choo) the potty train!!" You get the drift. I only type it all out because I haven't gotten the song out of my head for days!!

Anyhow, I know you have no idea when you are peeing, or wet or whatever, so I thought to just have you enjoy the time and have interest in your new potty. You don't seem to mind it, but you certainly have no idea what it's for...considering you stood up after sitting on the thing for ten minutes, and then peed standing up a few feet from the potty! And you didn't even notice! It was funny. This will be a loooong process! But that's fine...we've got plenty of time!

You have been enjoying though playing without a diaper on...which makes my heart rate rocket so I'll have to figure out how to incorporate your new found love of going au naturel with the beige carpets and persian rugs! I think it's so healthy for you, so I certainly want to encourage it. It would suck having to wear a diaper all day and night long...especially when you have such sensitive skin, as you do.

Anyhow, this is probably TMI (Too Much Information) for you, but one day when I am an old lady you'll be talking about buying me diapers and you'll see that I did it for you and it's your child responsibility to your crazy old mama. What goes around comes around...let's hope you have hardwood floors when you have to take care of me!! ;-)

Music to my ears...

We started taking Music Classes! Since you love to dance and groove at home I thought this might be something fun for us to do on Saturdays while Dad is working. The good thing about this class is you can sit on my lap the whole time and it doesn't feel like we are throwing away our money like it did when we went to My Gym (because sitting on my lap at My Gym is counter productive to the class experience, whereas in this class it's set up that way). So far you seem to like it!

The demo class we went to I thought was totally lame and was not prepared to sit through an hour of it once a week...we were even told not to talk like normal people in class to one another but use our "Siiiingiiing voiiiiices" (sounds like a cult when you are there!!). But throughout the class you seemed to feel comfortable and relaxed. The teacher plays guitar and we sing fun songs, and she brings out silk scarves that we dance with, or a big bucket full of instruments that you get to bang and clang on. All in all pretty fun stuff. The hour goes by super fast and we leave happy.

You always reenact the class a few hours or days later by telling me "GOL!" (meaning 'girl') and then you start to sway, clap, and dance. That is how you reenact music class. Sometimes you also point to yourself and say "Ninley" (for Finley) and then point to me and say "Mama" (that one's obvious, no translation needed) and then you go into the swaying routine again. Meaning we were both there and we both clapped and danced. It's so funny. You only reenact good things. (Oy, we've been reliving Chuck E Cheese for 3 days now with your fine reenactments!! It's actually the same routine but instead of saying "GOL!" you say "MACK" for mouse, and sign mouse at the same time). Actually, sometimes you will reenact a fall by saying "Bonk" and bumping your head on whatever it is you bumped on.

You would make a terrific baby witness or TV dramatization baby actress in your reenacting abilities! I wonder if there is a market for that.....? :)

A little Chuck and a little Cheese makes Finley a Happy Girl!

Today we went to Chuck E Cheese with some friends. You would think the main attraction is not the pizza (it shouldn't be), nor the big screen TV, nor the creepy giant mouse spinning vinyl (or so I imagine-oh, I can just imagine you reading this in 15 years saying "Mum, what is VINYL???"). But once again, I digress...

You would think the main attraction is what they make all their money on...the GAMES! There's a ton of them, geared for all ages, including a carousel ride, and cars, and ducks, and frogs, trains etc! Wow, don't they look like fun!!

Nope, all you wanted to do was watch the giant mouse. And hold a lemon. you did put down your lemon for a brief moment or two to clap for the big mouse. What's a mum to do but join in? :)

Wawwuuu!!!

It's all I hear from your mouth these days! You are truly water (Wawwuu, for those of you who do not speak Finley-Speak) obsessed. It's become a true (I mean real bad!) obsession. You wake up yelling Wawwuu, you go to sleep saying it, you ask for it in the car, in the stroller etc. And not for consumption, I should mention. Purely for pleasure.

I keep half full water bottles all over the house and car so that you can shake them around. I put your Learning Tower up by the sink so that you can fill up cups and pour them back out. Dad lets you help him fill the frog humidifier in your room with water. We fill the pitcher and let you pour it into the bathtub. The list goes on and on. So yesterday I bought you the best gift ever! A water activity table!!!

Your face lit up when I told you I had a surprise for you this morning. I told you we had to dress warm and get your crocs on and that it had something to do with water! Oh you couldn't follow me fast enough to the back yard! Lo and behold it was a great gift and kept you busy for 45 minutes this morning (I had to pry your shaking, wet and crying body away from it so that we could have breakfast before heading out to meet friends!!). You were like a little chemist, pouring water here and there, over and over and over again, and giggling away at the bubbles you made by pressing some buttons. Fun Fun Fun! Even Maddie loved it and considered it a gift to herself as well; a brand new giant water dish!

After nap, well, you know the drill, "Wawwuu" was the call from your crib! But I wanted to get Maddie out on a walk first so we got in the wagon and went for a walk first but all you could ask was when were we going home and playing with the water? (well, that's my version of what you were saying. What came out of your mouth was screeches of "Wawwuu!!! Wawwuu!! Wawwuu!!" and when I would say "Do you want to play with the water when we come home" your little body jumped up and down (as much as you could with your seatbelt) saying "YEAH!! YEAH!!" Very fun.

So back to the house we went...as the temperatures dropped and you were drenched and cold and it was dark out, you still didn't want to let go of the table, and once again, I brought a crying, wet and cold baby inside. Took all your wet clothes off and you refused to wear anything at all. So now I'm shopping for an oilcloth apron for you!! Perhaps I'll pretend it's mine and then you'll be sure to wear it! ;-)