Alyssa learned a couple new things this past week.  It’s so much fun to watch toddlers imitate their surroundings!  We’re pretty sure she wasn’t saying it before going to her Grandparents’ house, but on Easter morning, while we took pictures, she kept saying, “cheese”, every single time!  We’re almost certain she picked it up over there – Grandma tends to take lots of photos of her sweet, little granddaughters, whenever she gets the chance!  😉

Another thing she began showing real progress on is her eating habits.  She used to always try shoving food in her mouth, no matter the size, without taking any bites at all – whatever fit, that’s what would go in & whatever didn’t, she just let fall out, onto her bib, the tray on her high chair, etc.  Well, just this week, she started taking actual bites of things!  We can now give her whole crackers, cookies, even French fries & she eats them “like a big kid”, for the most part, anyway…  She has also been using a spoon more frequently.  We used to never give her things in bowls, because we were worried that she would just dump them out, either on her high chair tray, or on the floor.  But she recently seemed to stop throwing things on the floor, which is something she used to do at almost every mealtime.  So, along with the spoon, we tried giving her food in her little, plastic bowls & she’s doing pretty well with it, so far!  She tends to hold the spoon in one hand, while eating with the other, but it’s progress, nonetheless…