Ewww...it's stinky!!!

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A Long Time Coming

I've once again put off updating Addy's blog...imagine that!  Over the past two months our little Addison has changed so much.  She now has a full head of wavy hair, a mouth full of chompers, and is full of spunk!  She talks up a storm now and enjoys making animal noises on cue.  Her specialties are a monkey, cat, mouse, chicken, elephant, snake (Grammy taught her that a snake says, "sssss" and she moves her neck like a cobra), bear, and cow.  She's gotten pretty good at it and takes it very seriously...especially when growling like a bear!  She even growls at random strangers when we're out and about.  I'm thinking we're well on our way to having a "class clown" because she's a complete goofball and is happiest when she's the center of attention making us all laugh.  Her latest "trick" she started has been picking her nose (as you can see from one of the pictures in the post).  I will say that she mastered it right off the bat...that's my girl!  She skipped over using just one finger and jumped right to using both index fingers at the same time!  Just as I pulled the camera out to catch that Kodak moment the little stinker pulled one out, but luckily left the index finger in prime picking form so I could show the picture and tell the story to her when she gets older.  I don't know why, but for some odd reason she thinks that during dinner is the ideal time to do her picking...even if we're out at a restaurant.  Fun times!  My parents always told me there would be paybacks from how I always tried to embarrass them as a child when we were out in public.  I hate to say it, but they could be right about that!  

About a month ago I started watching my best friend's baby boy, Bennett, 2 days a week when I'm home with Addy.  Addison is obsessed with Bennett and is so sweet and gentle around him.  She is still napping when Beth gets here to pick Bennett up so she doesn't get to say her good-byes.  You'd better believe the first words out of her mouth when I open her bedroom door to get her up from her nap are "BABY" or "BABY GONE?".  Once I bring her downstairs, she checks anywhere and everywhere Bennett has been...the bouncer, the playmat, the bassinet...and keeps saying, "baby gone" with her shoulders shrugging the entire time like he's M.I.A.  She's even started wanting Bennett to come sit with her while she eats her breakfast in the mornings so she can stare at him saying, "hi" while waving in between bites.  Needless to say, she's definitely enjoying his company and I don't think he minds her company either.  She tends to get some pretty big grins out of him.  I just wish I knew what she was saying to him when she gets to rambling a mile a minute.  It's like she's speaking Chinese and he'll look at her like he knows exactly what she's talking about.  

This kid is most definitely the outdoorsy type.  She could stay outside all day long just exploring.  Picking and smelling flowers, playing in the grass, gravel, dirt, blowing dandelions, etc. 

Here's a condensed version of some of the words/phrases she's been saying quite a bit lately:

Banana, Chair, Apple, Dog, That's cool, Hey guys, Monkey, More, Drink, Done, Noodle, Baby, Hi, Money, Raining, Where'd it go?, Tickle Tickle Tickle, Bath, Teeth (she likes to look in our mouths and inspect our teeth when she says it---see the last two pictures of her playing dentist with her daddy), Shoe, Belly Button, Hair, Ew, That's Stinky, Yuck, Duck, Fish, Ball, Bubbles, Balloon, Bird, Peach, Beans, Tree, Chip, Cake, Book, It's a baby, Baby gone, The baby's crying...she says that anytime we're anywhere and she hears a baby crying-it's cute how she looks so concerned when she says it!  

Well, I'm going to stop myself now and by the looks of how lengthy this post has become, I'd say this post sure was a long time coming!  I could go on and on about how awesome our Addison is and how lucky we are to be her parents! 

Outside Fun

What's been going on in Addison's world you ask?  

Well, we've been busy taking advantage of the gorgeous weather we've had here over the past week!  Addison had her first trip to the zoo on St. Patrick's  Day.  Nick took off early that day and we met up with one of his co-workers and his daughter at the zoo.  They even brought along their wagon equipped with a canopy for the girls to ride in.  Addison loves riding in wagons so I knew we had it made!  She enjoyed scoping out all of her surroundings, but I'd have to say it would be a toss up as to what was her favorite part of the day...either the Cheerios that her new buddy so kindly shared with her during the wagon ride or watching the carousel go 'round and 'round!  She did lots of roaring at the animals which gave us all a good little chuckle.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the chimpanzees though!  We will be going back for a second trip before it gets too warm out so we can hopefully see more of the animals.  After we left the zoo we headed to my parents' house where she enjoyed picking up Grampy's golf balls, sitting on Grampy's tractor, and dancing on the chicken's cracked corn!  What a BIG day it was!!

We also took our first trip to Toys 'R' Us with Addison to get some fun outside toys.  We broke down and got a little Stage 2 jungle gym for her since she's wanting to climb anything she comes in contact with.  She was a little hesitant about it at first, but quickly warmed up to it after she discovered she could climb up the slide.  I think she enjoys going up the slide more than she does going down!  The novelty of the jungle gym wore off after a few trips up and down the slide and naturally, she picked up two pieces of mulch that kept her occupied for much longer...go figure!!!  She could spend hours toting around buckets to drop mulch, rocks, and leaves into.  Nick had fun blowing bubbles while Addison had more fun sticking the bubble wand in her mouth!  

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the snow they're calling for this weekend misses us and we get our warm weather back so we can continue getting outside more to play!  Here are some pictures of Addison's latest adventures!

Addy 'n' Leroy

Today was my brother's birthday so we decided to take lunch up to him at his feed store.  Addison LOVES going there and you'll see why!  

This is a little bit of what she did in our hour there:

She sat on one of the saddles he has for sale

     

She rode around on a dolly in the warehouse

 She cheesed BIG time after giving Uncle Jay a B-Day smooch

She had Grampy pushing her around the warehouse

 She met her new BFF, Leroy!

 She even got down on the ground with him...this kid is not afraid to get dirty!

She even played with Missy!

Missy gave Addy a good-bye lick!

Leroy followed her all over the place!  It was too cute!!!

 She was so gentle with the 3-day-old pygmy goat, Leroy!

He just tagged along with Addy!

Winter Wonderland

Nick and I bundled Addison up and took her out for her first adventure in the snow on Saturday afternoon and boy o' boy did she love it!!!  We kept trying to keep her in the shallow parts, but she was bound and determined to play in the deep stuff where she couldn't even manage to take more than just a couple of steps before falling face first in the snow.  Did this upset her?  Not a bit.  She thought it was hilarious and plopped down on her bottom to chow on some snow.  Not to worry though, I explained to her before going outside that we stay away from yellow snow!  She liked it so much despite the cold that she got upset when we took her back inside where it was warm.  Nick and I were freezing so I made us some hot chocolate and gave Addy a little bit to cool down in her cup, but she wasn't as impressed with it as I'd expected.  What kid doesn't like some hot chocolate after playing in the snow?  Then again, what kid enjoys falling face first in the snow?  Oh yeah, that would be our Addison!