Gobble gobble…

As the name implies, Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks.  And based on this past weekend, we have a lot to be thankful for.  Over the course of two days, Ashlyn got to see or hear:

• 1 Great-Grandmother
• 2 Grandmothers
• 3 Grandfathers
• 1 Mom
• 1 Dad
• 4 Aunts
• 4 Uncles
• 2 Cousins
• 3 Cats
• 3 Dogs

I’m personally incredibly thankful to have such a wonderful family, and it’s a great feeling to know that Ashlyn will grow up with so many who love her. 

If that wasn’t enough, she also got to eat a lot of turkey, sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole.



While this next picture has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, it was a special one for me to take.  This quickly made my top 5 pictures of Ashlyn ever taken.


















That’s Heather, just a few months older than Ashlyn is now.  If you wonder where Ashlyn got her hair from, now you know.  I really, really like this picture.

So yeah, it was great holiday weekend.  We ate a lot, saw a lot of family, planted a tree, and had a good time.  Ashlyn learned to play with a cat instead of beating on it.



And she also found her first Christmas gift before she was supposed to.  Sneaky little girl.  At least she's smiling, so hopefully she'll like it.  I remember my mother taking back a race car set that I found only to learn later that she bought two and the one she was taking back was the more expensive one.  I thought about playing the same trick on Ashlyn but realized that she's only a year old and probably forgot about it 30 seconds after toddling away.  Plus we only had one toy.



I’d type more, but it’s time to eat some leftover turkey.  Gobble gobble!

How quickly they learn…

It’s amazing how much Ashlyn is learning, and how fast she’s doing it.  Only a few weeks ago we were counting the number of steps, and now she’s stomping all over the house.  She’s learned to open cabinets, and so Saturday morning was spent putting in safety latches.  So far they have managed to keep Ashlyn out, and mom and dad on a few occasions.

This picture has nothing to do with anything I said above, but the flying duck is funny to me, so I’m posting it.

Ashlyn also decided it would be fun to play the part of the cute little baby on Saturday morning, and got snuggly with grandpa and momma.  Not for dad though, she just whacked me on the head and giggled.  Hmph!

The picture below worries me though.  She’s only 13 months, and is already getting sneaky on us.  Notice the business card in the back hand. 

“What card?”

Yeah, we see you Ashlyn.  You better not try to steal my sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving.

From daughter to parents…

This past week has been an interesting one as far as “things brought home from daycare” goes.  Ashlyn caught a stomach bug on Wednesday afternoon, which meant that Ashlyn was sent home from daycare to Dr. Mom.  I spent the day with Ashlyn on Thursday making sure she was better.  Heather did a good job though and mostly she just played during the day.

Yep, the stomach bug seems to have drained all the life out of her, poor girl.



Unfortunately, she passed the stomach bug onto mommy and daddy, which practically knocked us out of the parenting game for the weekend.  Heather ended up calling Grandma and Grandpa Wolfe, who entertained the little one for us on Saturday so we could rest.

But on to happier times.  Ashlyn has a learned a few new things, and here they are in random order:

First, she has learned that that crawling over and under things is fun to do.  This has made chasing her around more interesting since she’s capable of falling from higher up.  Joy!



Making mommy and daddy laugh by posing for pictures is also entertaining, and it makes for some great pictures.



Using a cat as a wheelbarrow is amusing.  Especially when the cat is too stubborn to run away.



Straws are a great way to get juice without spilling it everywhere (even little Aggies can drink without spilling!).



And finally, she learned that putting half a banana (pronounced “Bee-yaw” by Ashlyn) may not be the best way of eating things.  This picture isn’t pretty by any means, but it has the look of a picture best brought out when she’s older and her friends are around.



Speaking of “bee-yaw”, her list of words is steadily growing, and I’ll end this blog post with the ones we’ve identified so far:

• Mommy - “ma ma ma ma ma”
• Daddy - “da da”
• Bye bye “ba ba”
• Banana - “bee-yaw”
• Cat - “caa” (she doesn’t end with the “t” sound yet)
• Dog - “du” (this is actually fairly intuitive considering the dog in question)
• Gig ‘em - “gig fmbph”

And with that, “ba ba”!

A very quick word..

I'm hoping to get some pictures posted soon.  This past week has been incredibly busy, and I simply haven't had time to get a proper blog post together. 

On a side note, last week marked the longest I've ever been away from Ashlyn.  I flew out on Wednesday afternoon for great-grandmother Russell's memorial service and came back to DFW Friday evening.  Heather was kind enough to bring Ashlyn to the airport, but I got zero reaction from the little squirt.  When she gets in a new situation, she tends to get very calm and starts looking around at everything to take it all in.  She was in that mode at the airport, and while I didn't get the happy reaction I was hoping for I was still glad to see her. 

On Saturday, I counted 38 steps in a row before she tipped over.  She walks everywhere now, and is about to be moved out of the infant room and into the toddler room at daycare.  Our little infant baby girl is now a toddler.  How time flies.

And finally, today is Grandpa Flinn's birthday.  Happy birthday Grandpa!  Enjoy your fishing trip.