Go Cubbies

Yesterday afternoon we went to a Cubs Spring Training game. This is an annual get-together of "friends of the Rosings" as I will put it. There were about 20-30 people, half of which we didn't know, but all congregated enjoying a tailgate and a ballgame. Actually, it was more like those with kids congregated, and those without kids congregated. Some inter-mixed. :) I guess I probably never really paid attention pre-kid.

Anyway, Alli had lots of friends to play with, especially since a lot of us had babies all the same year (mostly girls). So everyone had brought a few little kid toys and we threw the babies on a blanket and let them just fight it out for toys.

It was a great afternoon of baby-socializing and learning how to nap in large crowds. Alli did great. Her nap was unfortunately short because mommy's arms and legs kept falling asleep. The hand-off to daddy woke her up and that was it. Bummer. I'm gonna have to work on that! :)

All in all, it was a great day and so much fun to see everyone. The game? Didn't see one ounce of it!!

General Fun

Alli is just having a great time walking and crawling all around the house. (Walking is with the help of an adult.) She's still on her toes when she walks - I'm waiting for her to figure out that she's more stable on flat feet, but whatever. I'm sure my little genius will figure it out soon. ;)

She continues to be a happy little girl, loves being tickled and climbing on mommy and daddy on the floor.

Her new habits: throwing spoon and sippy bottle over the edge of the high chair onto the floor, peek-a-boo where she crawls behind the sofa and then peeks out to see if you are coming, crying when we put her on the changing pad to change her diaper. I think the crying is because she always thinks that means she is going to have to go to bed!

She is starting to get shy around new people now. She eventually warms up to them, but she's pretty quiet and almost lethargic when she is put in a crowd with new adults.

I've Been Waiting For This Day!

Alli is really good at taking things "out". If it's in a basket, she will take it out of the basket. If it is in the laundry, she will take it out of the laundry. The last week or so, she has been "sorting" her toys. First she puts them all in a pile over here, then she picks them up one at a time and puts them in a pile over there, and then over here again, and then over there again. But now the last couple of days, one of those "piles" was back INSIDE the basket where it originated. :D So excited. Can I get her to put her toys away now? Maybe not. And I notice that when she's done playing, the toys are never in the pile INSIDE the basket, they are always on the floor. But it's a start!!! :)

Other than that, Alli is still crawling all over and exploring every room in the house. She also prefers walking if we are around. We have to hold her hands, arms, or body for her to balance and she still walks on her tippie toes, but she likes it - big smiles all the time as she walks around the house like that. No cruising on the furniture yet...

We also broke down this weekend and paid some real money for some shoes for Alli. I had ordered some shoes online before our ski trip, and they fit, but they always came off easily. Now that she's crawling (and turning the tops of her socks black), we decided a good pair of shoes (that really fit) would be in order. Marcie, who watches Alli during the week, suggested Stride Rite because they have some really good shoes that stay on. So we went. Well, we didn't get to purchase the shoes that Marcie suggested. Why? Because Stride Rite doesn't make "narrow" shoes, and Alli's feet are so narrow that none of the velcro shoes will stay on her feet. (No wonder I kept having problems!) So they said she would have to go into a shoe that tied. Bummer, but that's okay. She got measured (hated it) and then the lady came out with some cute shoes. Kim had asked about how quickly Alli's feet will grow and when she might grow out of them. The lady sorta laughed at him and said apparently her feet weren't growing too quickly. Her shoe size was closer to a 6 month old than a 10 month old. Oh boy. She's going to have my feet. Not that that's bad, but I remember only having one pair of shoes ALL the time because we had to get them from Hush Puppies - the only brand that made narrow shoes. And they were expensive. So only one pair ever and then we would go back and get that pair again when I outgrew them. Looks like we're in for a similar treat with Alli.

10 Months Old

I can't believe we have a 10-month old daughter already. And what a little personality. Alli is 'super explorer' with her crawling skills. She goes from room to room (usually following daddy or mommy or Baggy) and explores whatever she sees. She continually runs circles around her "exersaucer" table when we work in the office, and she sings and dances with mommy all the time.

Our happy girl is a real joy.

Here are a few pictures Kim snapped last weekend. This is her table playstation that she now pulls up and kneels next to. If you look closely, you can see her little bottom teeth in the first pic.

A Mobile Infant

Kim and I were kinda dreading the time when Alli went mobile. I mean, we have gotten pretty used to being able to plop her down with her toys and continue doing whatever we needed to do around the house not having to worry about her.

But now here she is, mobile as can be. And WE LOVE IT! If it were ever possible, she's even MORE fun being mobile!! When we work on the computer, we put her in her "exersaucer", but hers is different in that the table is stationary and there is a seat that spins around the outside of the table. She has gotten really good at "running" in that seat - round and round. Now Kim and I have fun "chasing" her and she giggles like crazy.

Alli is a big help putting laundry away too. You give her a basket full of clean clothes and she will empty it for you! On the floor of course, so you have to be pretty quick putting the stuff away, but what a big help! ;)

We're having fun seeing what she explores and where she decides to crawl. It's amazing to watch as her world expands before her eyes. She's able to pull up to a kneeling position at her table play station (but not to standing yet). The toys are almost a thing of the past as she would rather explore than play with the toys right now.

She's active, vocal, mobile... Yes, we like this new version of our baby just as well as the last version! :)

Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma

Alli is continuing to explore with her new-found freedom of crawling. Bagheera, not so happy about it! But the giggles that come out of Alli when she spots the dog and starts going for the attack are just priceless! And yes, we had to get some outlet plugs for a couple of the outlets she seems to like a lot.

Alli's babbles have possibly turned into association, although it could be just my wishing it to be so. There are times when I pick Alli up and she says "mama". I say, "yes, mama". Not sure if she really associates me with "mama", but she seems to say it most often when being held by me or when looking at me. I also find it fun that when Bagheera comes into a room and I say "hello Bagheera" that she'll turn around and say "ba-ba". Sometimes going on her "Bagheera attacks" she will giggle and say "ba-ba".

No "da-da" yet. Kim's bummed, but she doesn't even babble that sound yet. He still gets the bright-eyed giggles though when he enters a room or when she hears his voice. I'm sure we'll be seeing an association with a babbling sound soon.

Switch!

Alli is doing so much better today. I went to work, after dropping her off at Marcie's around 9am. Marcie said that the morning she really didn't feel well, you could tell, but by the afternoon she was our typical Alli - full of energy and smiles.

But here's the funny thing about Alli today. This morning after her morning nursing I put her on a blanket in the great room with her toys. Usually she plays with them while dad and I finish getting ready. Yesterday morning she just sat and stared, all lethargic. This morning, I could hear her giggle as I walked away and I thought "yes, she's feeling better". When I turned around though, there was no Alli on the blanket. Instead she had gotten onto her hands and knees and started following me! This is a big change - she was crawling, but never more than a few "steps" at a time. Now she was going across the great room floor!

Tonight at dinner I gave her some water in a sippy cup. She hasn't taken to the sippy cup yet, she prefers to drink out of a normal cup (like mom and dad do). But we keep trying the sippy cup periodically because she's going to have to get there someday. Tonight I gave her the sippy cup and she took it and started sucking down the water like she had been doing it for months! Wow, that was interesting!!

After dinner, Alli and I went into her room to play with some toys. Suddenly, with her "hey, I can crawl across the room" skill, she zoomed in on the nightlight. She crawled directly over to it and started reaching for it. I told her "no" very sternly. She giggled and put her hand down. Oh boy. She reached again. I said "no" again very sternly. Again, giggle and the hand went down. This kept occurring so I decided maybe I should give her a little swat on the hand. Yep - giggle. Oh boy. So this is going to be interesting over the next bit if "no" is a game that results in laughter. We'll keep working on it. I'm blaming Baggy for her thinking it's a game! :)

Over The Hump

Yesterday I stayed home from work to take care of Alli. The poor thing had had an awful night. She didn't sleep more than about an hour at a time, and just wanted to be held the whole time. Needless to say, mom here had a difficult night as well trying to accommodate. When we finally were up in the morning, I sat her down in the living room with her toys like we do every morning. Instead of grabbing at things, playing, exploring, etc., she just sat there and stared into space. Wow. Not my typical little girl. She didn't cry, she just sat. She also wound up with diarrhea, so I was nursing her often to make sure she had plenty of liquids. She wasn't eating her solid food either.

Being that we were now on day #4 after the ER, I decided to make an appointment with the pediatrician. We went in at 3:00 in the afternoon and the Physicians Assistant said that she probably still has croup, but the steroids are doing their job by keeping the swelling down. All the infection was in the upper throat area, not the lungs, which is a typical thing with croup. She did notice that one of Alli's ears was red, so she prescribed some antibiotics to prevent ear infection.

When we got back from the visit, Alli turned into herself again. She started playing more and talking, crawling around, etc. It was good to see signs of our little girl.

She's still pretty congested and still requires a lot of holding to get her to sleep, but we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now I just have to make sure all the coughing that I'm doing is merely allergies, and not the croup virus caught from Alli!