Milestones

Allie and Tyler both have been doing so many new things. They are such a joy to watch and listen to. And both of them are oh so proud of their new accomplishments.

Allie has been a busy girl! She went on her first vacation with Mommy and Daddy in the car. We drove all the way to Kansas City for a friend's wedding. I didn't think Allie would like being stuck in the car for such a long time, but she surprised us by being in a great mood the whole time! It was really fun to show her off, especially since she was all smiles and so patient about being carted around everywhere.

The biggest surprise was that we discovered her first tooth had come through the day we got back. She was that happy and cutting a tooth at the same time! We never even knew!

So, Allie officially got her first tooth in (her bottom left) on October 26th. She was 28 weeks old.

Then, yesterday, I noticed the second one poking through too! She got her bottom right tooth on November 3, one week after her first one came in.

Since we were going to be traveling, I didn't start Allie on solids until after we got back. Daddy wanted to be a part of this big step in his baby girl's life, so we waited until Saturday morning. She had rice cereal for her first meal, but wasn't really too excited about it. I think she liked her pretty pink bib better than the food. It's not that she didn't like the food, she just didn't show any excitement about having something new and different to eat.

It was much different from what I remember about Tyler's first meal. The first time Todd and I gave Tyler his cereal, it was so quiet. The only sound in the house was any talking that we were doing, telling Tyler how yummy his food is and what a great job he was doing. Now that Tyler is 3 and it's Allie's turn to try the new food, there was a lot of noise and activity in the house with him playing and driving his firetruck. He was chasing the dog and talking to us. Allie was a little distracted (as was I) and I just smiled to myself as I thought about how different things are for the second baby.

Yesterday Allie had sweet potatoes and she was much more excited about them. I guess she likes her veggies better than the boring rice.

Allie is also very good at drinking from her sippy cut with a straw. I went ahead and gave one to her, thinking she wouldn't be able to figure it out for awhile. The cup said 9 months on the package, but Allison is one smart girl. She can use her big girl cup like a pro. She also still loves to take sips from Mommy's glass when I let her. Now you can hear her tiny teeth pinging on the glass.

Tyler has been a busy boy himself, full of imagination and new accomplishments. He has been buttoning his own shirts and putting on his own socks. He has been dressing himself and doing his shoes for awhile now, but the socks and buttons were a little bit more difficult to master. He has been getting a lot of practice because he loves to put several different pairs of jammies on throughout the day and his favorite ones are the kind with the buttons up the front. The first thing Tyler does when we get home from being somewhere, is change into pajamas. Silly boy. He likes to be comfy!

While Allie and Mommy and Daddy were gone for the wedding, Tyler got to have a special week of fun with his Nana. They did all sorts of fun things. They went to the Children's Museum in the Woodlands, ate lunch with Uncle Mike, played at several parks, visited Toys R Us, and painted a birdhouse. But his most favorite thing was the going to Jumpaloosa with Nana. They went first thing in the morning and had the place to themselves. He became very brave jumping on everything. Tyler even climbed to the top of the really big slides and did all the obstacle courses. So, when he spotted those same things at the Fall Festival we went to, he was sure to tell us that he knew how to do everything himself because he had done it with Nana. And sure enough, Tyler did all the big kid stuff all on his own. He has definitely changed from the cautious boy he used to be! It's so fun to see him being so brave and so proud of himself.

He has also been so fun to listen to while he plays. The imagination is going full strength. All the little toys talk to one another. His train table has been a favorite everyday and he loves to dress up in his police and fireman costumes. He even has a police horse and a fire dog.

When Tyler found out that Allie was getting a second tooth and it was bothering her sleep a little bit, he announced that he would show her how he sleeps with teeth. He said, "I have been sleeping with teeth for a long time, so I can show her how I do it." I love the thoughtfulness.

Tyler also had another kind of milestone, the unfortunate kind. We made our first ever unplanned trip to the doctor after a bad fall. I figured he's doing pretty well since he's three and a half and this is the first time. He was hanging from his booster seat, pretending to be falling. The back of the seat, which is made to fold down and travel with, snapped closed under his weight and down he went. He caught the back of the head on the table and then fell forward into the edge of the chair on the way down. I took him to the doctor to make sure he didn't need stitches. After waiting for 2 hours to actually see a doctor, we were told it had already swollen shut, and although it was deep, it would be best to just do a steri-strip. Tyler was very happy to be avoiding the stitches. I took this picture when we got back from the doctor, but it actually looks worse today because the black and blue color is all over his eye lid. Hopefully it will be another few years (at least) before we have an accident like that again! It's not a milestone we would like to repeat.