Alyssa is just such a silly, happy little girl!  It’s hard to get on to her when she does something she shouldn’t, but she’s beginning to learn more & more what those things are, and for the most part, how to listen to her Mommy & Daddy, when we tell her, “no”.  She just keeps picking up different expressions & it’s fun to watch her personality develop.  Recently, Jeremy & I both were awakened to a habit that we share, viewing it through Aly’s eyes, anyway.  She has begun to grunt when she picks things up, even if they are not heavy at all!  We realized that she started this the other day, after one of us leaned over to get something that was just out of reach.  I don’t remember if it was Jeremy or I, but naturally, you tend to say, “Ugh”, or something of the sort, when doing that.  I know I typically make some kind of grunt-like noise when I lift something heavy, so I imagine she’s seen/heard me do this recently, as well.  In any case, it’s just so cute & funny to hear out of her little mouth, especially when all she’s picking up is a plastic toy that will fit in only one of her hands!

Although Alyssa’s not even 2 years old yet, Katrina’s eye doctor wanted to go ahead & check her eyes & make sure that she does not share the same condition Kat has, because it can be hereditary.  So, this past Wednesday, both girls had an appointment.  Aly did surprisingly well, for someone her age, anyway.  She sat still on her Mommy & Daddy’s laps, as the doctor looked in her eyeballs.  The only part she didn’t like was having eye drops put in, so that her pupils could be dilated.  She laid down on the table, but I had to hold her hands, hugged around her, so that she wouldn’t rub her eyes.  She fussed a bit, but once they were done, I was able to hold & comfort her.  She enjoyed the wait to see the doctor, since they have some good toys in the waiting room.  It turns out that she might be slightly nearsighted, but there are no signs of Amblyopia, so we are remaining hopeful that her vision will stay that way, or even improve, with time.  The doctor wants to see her again in a year.  It will be easier to explain to her what’s going on by then, at least…  🙂

Alyssa just thinks she’s so big, it’s cute!  She got in trouble a little, just recently for something she didn’t realize she was too young for, though…  It’s kinda’ funny, so I thought I’d share…  Katrina has a small, kid-size table that she typically sits at, to eat her meals & to do art projects, & things like that.  Since Aly’s not quite old enough for that sort of thing, just yet, she still eats in her high chair.  But, just a few days ago, when her Big Sis was in school, Alyssa decided she was going to climb into Kat’s chair & sit there for a minute.  It was sooo sweet & funny, she didn’t really get into trouble then.  It was the next day, when she decided she was going to get out her Sister’s markers, crayons & other art materials that she was told, “No-no!” about.  Thankfully, she only dumped them out, onto the floor, rather than trying to use them, but still…  I think we’re going to have to put them up, out of her reach, pretty soon, until she understands a bit better that those are Sissy’s things, not Aly’s.  😉

Alyssa’s getting to be such a little ham, lately!  She cracks us up!  But, it’s extremely cute, too.  It doesn’t matter where we are, or what we are trying to take a picture of, she grins her best, looks at the camera & says, “Cheese”!  And, of course when we giggle at her, it just causes her to do the same!  We love that she is becoming such a bright, happy toddler & that she enjoys posing for pictures.  Her Sister acted the same at that age (and still does, at times), so it must run in the family…  😉  It will be especially fun at her Birthday party in a couple of months, to see & hear her, all ready for those action shots!

Our sweet baby girl is such a little copycat lately!  Of course at this age, it’s to be expected, and it’s one of the best learning tools.  Aly loves to repeat words, even though she may or may not use them again, on her own, later.  She also enjoys mimicking our actions.  She’s really developing her personality & we love watching her pick up on these skills, as well.  She has been eating with a spoon for some time, but just recently, we’ve started giving her things that could potentially be really messy, such as cereal with milk & letting her eat them on her own.  She does really well, it’s just funny the things that she has picked up on, having been fed by us – for example, when a piece of food falls on her tray, she now tries to pick it up & throw it back on the spoon or in the bowl she’s eating from really quickly, so that she doesn’t waste it!  We’re proud of her for trying, though & can’t wait to see what new words & actions she will learn in the near future, as well!

Alyssa loves her little voice!  It’s so cute & fun to hear her, too.  For the most part, she will just babble, chattering on & on, incoherently, with a few choice words that she actually knows, thrown in the mix.  She *does* have a good vocabulary for her age, but she doesn’t always choose to showcase it.  However, the other day, she got into a little pattern of words that she knows, along with some babbling in between.  She repeated the pattern quite a few times in the car & it really had us all giggling & grinning.  It basically began with her babbling a little bit, then saying, “BIG”, rather loudly, followed by more incomprehensible chatter, then the word, “COOL”, again with the babbles, then the word, “Wow!” in an almost awestruck whisper –  as though she was so amazed by herself!  We like to think that in her own little way, she was saying something like, “I am just so BIG, and that’s really COOL; it makes me say, ‘Wow!’” over & over again.  She really is getting to have such a fun, little personality!

Alyssa’s really becoming a little “tiny dancer” lately!  It’s so cute!  She has always loved music, especially being sung to, even when she was just a newborn.  But, this week, she really just started “getting down”!  She likes to twirl around in circles & say, “yay”!  She will do this, even when there’s no music playing, though…  She also likes to clap her hands & bob up & down (bending her knees) to the music.  She especially loves it when her Big Sis starts dancing – she will try to follow her moves, smiling & giggling the entire time.  We love watching our girls!  They can be so entertaining!  And, it’s sweet how they like to amuse each other, and us, as well!  🙂

Even though she’s not even 2 years old yet, Alyssa already has a favorite song.  It makes her happy & calms her down when she’s fussy.  When she’s not being held, she will dance to it & when she’s in someone’s arms, she’ll sing to it & applaud at the end.  This is the Alphabet Song, or as some like to call it, the ABC’s.  It’s cute, because she has always been very prone to soothing by being sung to.  But, it doesn’t matter where we are or what we’re doing – the Alphabet song gets her calm & happy.  She also knows & will sing along with many of the letters, especially the ending ones.  She could be in an all-out fit, over something, and as soon as you begin, “A, B, C, D, E, F, G…” she will stop and listen and even contribute!  It almost makes me wonder if I’m giving our baby some kind of strange “quirk” to where she *has* to be calmed down by it, ha-ha!  But, I honestly think that at this young age, she’s just fine & whatever works is great!

Alyssa is typically not a well-tempered baby, when she doesn’t get exactly what she wants…  But then again, what almost-2-year-old is, really?  A cute thing happened this past week that made us realize that she is heading back in the right direction, though.  She has some stacking rings (a common, plastic toy that babies like to play with) & for some reason, she likes to put 2 of them halfway on her feet & walk around on part of them, as though they are high-heeled shoes!  This is adorable enough, in itself, of course…  But, the other day, I needed to put her actual socks & shoes on her, while she was in the midst of playing this way, so that we could all go out somewhere.  When I picked her up, she got mad, as she typically does & started fussing at me & kicking her feet, even though I handed her the rings that were previously on them – she just *had* to let me know that this was *not* what she wanted, at the moment, ha-ha!  Anyway, while on her changing table, she began to calm down, when she realized that she could now put the rings on her arms, like bracelets.  Being the small-armed child she is, they naturally fell down to her elbows, though & she didn’t like that idea, especially when one seemed to get “caught”, where she couldn’t pull it off of her own arm – hence the need to fuss at her Mommy again, which she began doing.  At this point, although I was trying my best to get her socks & shoes on her feet quickly, to avoid any “toddler confrontation”, I decided to try an experiment: I smiled at her & gently, but sternly said, “Help?  Do you need help?  Say, ‘help, please’.”  To my amazement, she completely stopped mid-fit to beam up at me & actually ask, “Hep?”  I immediately helped her take the ring off of her arm & handed it back to her.  She grinned & proceeded to put it back on – now, it was a game that Mama would continue to play with her, at least for a few minutes, while finishing up tying her shoes.  Every few seconds, we went through the cycle of her getting one of the rings “stuck”, near the bend of her elbow & looking at me & saying, “hep?” or “hep, peas?”, then I would respond by helping & giving it back to her.  Who said learning can’t be fun!?

Alyssa’s vocabulary has really been taking off, once more.  It’s hard to count how many words she now knows, but she has been actually repeating many of what we tell her, coherently, lately.  It’s really cool!  Some of her new ones are, “open”, “Elmo”, “up”, “down”, she even knows & can say her own name!  We even got her to say her Aunt Ashley’s name on the 4th of July, as well as saying “Nana”, but only one time for each word.  She wasn’t up for performing much that day, I guess.  Still, it’s really cool to watch her little mind work & pick up on things.  She has been singing the ABC’s now, too, as well as she can.  She gets a few of them right, although most of them are just mumbles, for the most part.  She’s just a’growin’ & we couldn’t be happier!