Put Me In the Zoo

A couple of weekends ago we went to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse. It was the perfect zoo for a young toddler. Not too big, not too small.

Wanna know which exhibit was Addie's favorite?

Not the dog...

Not the pig...

Not the pachyderms either...

It was....

The Penguins!!!

Miss Manners

The fastest way to melt my heart:

Cue the sweetest little sing song voice ever heard in all the land. Tank eww (Thank you) says the adorable little voice when given a toy that is just beyond the reach of her diminutive little body. It is by far my favorite thing to hear her say (other than Mama of course).

Addie's language has developed by leaps and bounds this month. Our little 15 month old is learning how to communicate verbally! She can say a couple of phrases (ok, some are really just compound words!) Sentences are just around the corner.

Other words learned this month:

• Moe (more)
• Bubbas (bubbles)
• Anna (Anna is our neighbor)
• Diepah (diaper)
• Bah (ball)
• Duck
• Ahh done (all done)
• Addieee (Addie)
• Hiiii Daddeeeee or Hiiii Mama

She has also learned animal noises as well. She knows that a cow says "moooooo", and that a sheep says "baaaah baaaah". She can also identify all of her body parts.

The video below pretty much speaks for itself. You've just got to love the bubbles in her hair!

I do realize that I ended a sentence with a preposition in that sentence. Having a child acquiring language makes me that much more aware of grammatical shortcomings. I'm working on it.

Medal of Honor

I found this story on CNN very touching. Most of the filming for this segment was done on Fort Drum. In fact the recipient was in Nathan's brigade on his 2nd deployment. You might want to grab a box of tissues first.

Workin' Hard

Over Memorial Day weekend my dad and uncle came to NY to help us rebuild our front porch. The porch had some structural problems from the get go, and they really seemed to get worse this past winter with the 215 inches of snow recorded in Watertown. We knew that it wouldn't pass the inspection in the condition that it was in when we put our house on the market.

Luckily my dad is a carpentry genius, and we couldn't be more appreciative of the help (and wonderful company) he and Uncle Sean gave us over the holiday weekend. I'm sure my dad is relieved that this is the LAST project he will help us on in this house. I have to say that I am actually looking forward to being renters for awhile.

Addison just had to be in the thick of the action. No matter how hard I tried to keep her engaged inside, she just really wanted to be out with the boys and the tools. She really tried to help by taking the screws out of the box and pushing them into the decking, and saying "eh eh eh." Fortunately Daddy let her help out a bit.

I will post pictures of the finished product soon. We are waiting for the wood to dry out a bit more before painting and staining. Hopefully I can find some before pictures too, but Nathan had the porch torn apart before I could take one. Just imagine the ugliest green outdoor carpeting you have ever seen.

Spin Doctors

A visit to the doctor usually involves a lot of waiting. Here's how we spend our wait time:

We are happy to announce that Addie has shown absolutely no signs on motion sickness. Nice!

Slow Down

Today in an effort to get our guest bedroom cleaned and organized I packed up Addie's jumperoo. And her swing. And her bouncy seat.

I took apart the Jumperoo and stuffed it in the guest bedroom (aka the junk room) months ago, but when I actually packed it up in a box and put it in the attic I felt as if I was officially saying farewell to Addie's babyhood. I have to admit that I teared up a bit. She was such a sweet baby, and I am sad that those days are over.

Don't get me wrong, I love, LOVE, LOVE the stage Addie is currently going through. She is so much fun, and I love watching her grow and learn. Despite the fact that she is walking and talking (and running!), I still consider her a baby. Well, actually I think of her as half baby, half toddler.

The problem is when you have a newborn EVERYONE tells you how fast babies grow up, but when it's your own baby it is so shocking. I just can't believe that we used to swadle her, carry her everywhere (boy those days are oooover), feed her every 2 hours, etc. Another problem we have is that Addie is 15 months going on 3 years. She really thinks that she's a big kid. When we go to the park she prefers to play with the preschoolers. Naturally I have to assume that this is due to her advanced intellect, but it does make her appear older than she is.

I feel like tomorrow I am going to wake up and she will be in school. I must admit that I am extremely thankful that I get to spend every day with Addie. I know that even though these baby days go by very quickly, I have been there for everything. No regrets!

The following trip down memory lane is more for me, but I hope others enjoy it as well!

Diamonds, and Emeralds, and Pearls, Oh My

So Addie has really been into jewelry lately. One day she found my jewelry box, and the rest is history. Nathan and I humored her a bit by letting her wear a necklace for like 1 minute (strangulation hazard). She was in hog heaven. We then moved the jewelry box out of her reach, which she continued to find and get into.

I don't know where her fascination in jewelry came from. I like jewelry, but haven't been wearing it for awhile. Before Nate was home I was lucky to get a shower, or have time to put makeup on. Needless to say, accessorizing was rarely a top priority. I think that Addison got her need to accessorize from her Nana, although I can't be positive.

A couple of days ago we were all eating breakfast and of course Addie was finished before Nathan and I had even started eating. She went into the kitchen to play in her drawer, which is filled with plastic bowls, cookie cutters, and other various kitchen items. When she came back into the dining room she was wearing sippy cup lids AS BRACELETS. She was so proud of her new jewelry!

Nathan is convinced that he will be buying Addie diamonds before she's 3. My oh my!