Every day is something new…

I think back on Ashlyn a year ago, when milestones were measured by the month and a simple action like picking up her head was considered a great achievement.  I look back on the past few weeks, and it’s hard to keep track of them all.  The rate at which she’s learning is incredible, every day she shows us something new.  Her vocabulary keeps increasing, as does the frequency in which she uses real words to communicate.  “Hello” and “Byeeeee” are now said regularly, and in the proper situations.  It’s neat to hear, but I’ll admit it’s a little sad when she says “Byeeee” as soon as I hand her over to Ms. Indira at daycare.

She’s also started to learn body parts.  In a span of 45 seconds, I took the pictures below after asking the following questions:

Question:  Where is your nose?

Question:  Where is your mouth?

Question:  Where is your ear?

Question:  Where is your baby fro?

   

Okay, so maybe the last one wasn’t real, but the rest were!

You may have remembered a picture from the January 5th post of Ashlyn eating a popsicle.  This is how she eats it as a dessert.  Here you can see the progression from “Mmm, banana!”, to “Wait, this colder than bananas..” to finally “coooooooollldd!”.

 

And now, since you people seem to like pictures, here’s four more.  You’ll see Ashlyn in the snow, Ashlyn with Aunt Sisa, Ashlyn playing with Mommy, and Ashlyn conquering the stairs.  You won’t see Mommy just out of frame ready to catch her.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Ashlyn wanted to give a special Birthday wish to her Daddy, but since she is not yet gifted with his wonderful writing skills she chose to be cute causing me to take a picture instead (this is Heather if anyone is confused).  Now this picture wasn't actually taken today, but as I was perusing pictures on my iPhone I noticed the TV in the background:

I assure you I did not press pause or even notice this at the time, but this accidental image captured Ashlyn's and my sentiments exactly. We have the best husband and father two girls could could hope for. Happy Birthday Jeff, we love you!!

15 Months and counting!

Today was Ashlyn’s 15 month appointment with the Doctor and I’m pleased to say that she passed the tests with flying colors.  She moved up a bit on the growth chart thanks to a recent growth spurt (and the accompanying eating frenzy).  She’s back in the 75% percentile in height.  Her weight was the same, around 40%, and her noggin’ is still holding steady at 75%, mainly because of all the hair. 

Or, as Grandma would say, she’s a genius and needs the room for that big ‘ol brain.  According to the Doctor, Ashlyn falls into the “advanced speech” category, due to the 10 or so words that she knows (the 18 month checklist had 6 words as the target).  She’s also right in line with her mobility skills, which is a good thing.  I still remember thinking that she’d never stop doing her little crab walk across the floor, and now she’s walking like a champ.

A surprising discovery at the Doctor’s came from Ashlyn’s teeth.  While Ashlyn was warming up for the post-shot cry with a pre-shot cry (she knows what the table is for, and starts crying as soon as she’s laid down on it), Heather noticed some white at the back of Ashlyn’s mouth.  It turns out that Ashlyn has already grown 2-3 molars!  This is great, because she hardly put up a fuss from them, especially compared to the first few teeth.

She’s also getting her first taste of popsicles.  I was hoping this would also be a milestone with the Doctor, but alas the question “Does she eat popsicles?” did not come up on the questionnaire.  We must be focusing on the wrong things.



She’s still not quite sure what to make of them, but it helped her learn a new word: “cold”. She learned that one fast, and now will say it when you take her outside without a jacket.  This did help on the questionnaire at the Doctor’s office, so maybe the popsicles weren’t a bad thing after all.

I hope everyone had a great New Year!  I know we did, we were wild and stayed up to 10:30pm.  15 month olds don’t know the concept called “sleep in”.

Another Christmas in the books…

If you recall the last Christmas, you may remember that Ashlyn spent most of the night in the hospital.  So after that, this Christmas by comparison had no choice but to be good.  And it didn’t disappoint.  Ashlyn still doesn’t get what Christmas is all about of course, but her birthday in October was a good warm-up to the paper tearing extravaganza that would follow a few days ago.



And if presents weren’t enough, she also got to meet the new addition to Aunt Sisa’s family, but Ashlyn wasn’t too sure about Baxter the bear cub.  Aunt Sisa and Uncle Jeff swear that it’s a Golden retriever.  But as you can see below, I think they were lied to by the breeder.  See if you can pick out the animal that looks least like the other two.

 

And while this isn’t Christmas related, we think Ashlyn may have an interest in modeling.  She’s already mastered “Blue Steel”.  And for those who don’t get it, go watch Zoolander and you may find the joke funny.

 

So this Christmas was a good one.  Breakfast with the Flinn’s, Lunch with the Wolf’s, and Dinner with the Wolfe’s.  Ashlyn was so tired at the end of the day that she slept in late the next morning and didn’t make a peep.  I’m thinking we need to do Christmas more often.

Thanks everyone for making this a wonderful Christmas for Ashlyn.



Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas is right around the corner..

With 2 days left until Christmas I’m happy to report that our Christmas shopping is finally over.  Ashlyn looks to have a good Christmas ahead of her, based on the amount of wrapping paper that she’ll get to play with all day.  Eventually we’re hoping that she’ll play with the toys underneath the wrapping paper, but I don’t want to get greedy.

I was thinking of something to post this time around, and Ashlyn was kind enough to give me some material last night.  But before I go into that, here’s a few pictures showing words that Ashlyn has learned.  The first is “sock”.  She’ll say this word when she sees a sock.  These are fun because she knows that mommy and daddy want her to wear them, which of course means that she takes them off minutes after having them put on.  She’ll try to put them on every now and then, but she’s not quite coordinated enough yet.

See that look on her face? That's the "I know you don't want me to take this sock off but I'm too cute for you to stop me" face.



Another word she knows is “ipod”.  Yes, I know this is a little sad and proves how much of a geek her parents are.  But in our defense, there’s toddler apps on there that show animals and the noises they make, and other little games.  Heather can ask “Can you bring me your ipod?” and Ashlyn will find it, bring it over, and then sit on her lap so that Heather can bring up one of the games.  There’s an app for pretty much everything, but I haven’t found one that will change her diaper for us.



She also knows “book”, and will bring one to you if you ask, but I didn’t have a good picture for it.

And now on to the material I referenced earlier. Ashlyn has an interesting reaction to changes in her environment. She doesn't cry, or hide, she gets very quiet and watches. Eventually she'll warm up to the new situation and will start playing, but never like she does when it's just Heather and I. Last night Ashlyn started jabbering and playing fetch with the dog, and as a dad my first reaction is to reach for the camera. This is the result. I don't know what Ashlyn is saying, but she sure seems passionate about it. I particularly like the pose around 45 seconds into the video.



Okay, so I realize this video is probably one that her parents get a kick out of while everyone else scratches their chin saying "what's the big deal?". But this is a blog about Ashlyn, and I haven't posted a video since the first few weeks and I wanted to give everyone a taste of what she's like when she's not in observation mode.

Have a great and Merry Christmas, and if you're lucky enough to have a tradition like my family does, we'll see you at Joe T. Garcias on Christmas Eve. Nothing says Christmas like church and margaritas!

A busy weekend!

Some weekends are quiet, the word “quiet” being a relative term with a 14 month old, but this weekend was a busy one.  It started off with some playtime on Friday in the loft, which was converted last weekend into an official play area for Ashlyn, complete with table, easel, and shelves for toys. 

We also had fun with the wheelie popper thing that Grandma bought her for Christmas.  She never seemed interested with it downstairs, probably because it wouldn’t pop very well on the hardwood.  Pop pop pop.  Thanks Grandma.

Saturday took us to downtown Ft. Worth, where we took Ashlyn to see some trees lit in every color currently available in LED lighting.  It was pretty cold, but she had a good time with it.  As with most babies, lights are fascinating things to Ashlyn.

I don’t have any pictures of Sunday, but it was spent Christmas shopping and having dinner for Uncle Bruce and cousin Heidi’s birthday.  Since I don’t have any pictures of that, here’s one of Ashlyn stealing a coke.  Close enough, right?

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.