Alyssa’s getting to be a little sneaky, these days.  It’s kind of “bad”, in a way, but it’s so cute, it’s hard to be upset at her, sometimes.  She typically spends a lot of time in the living room, playing with her Big Sis during the day.  However, she does have a few toys in her own room, including the play kitchen that used to be Katrina’s.  This is one of her favorite things to play with.  So, the “barricade” that we use , since a baby gate won’t go across the opening from our living room to our hallway is one of those large, Rubbermaid bins, filled with other toys that both girls love to play with.  In the past couple of weeks, however, Aly has figured out how to get around it – she does what any of us do – push it to one side & go through the opening.  She doesn’t really do this very often, but if one of us needs to go to another room for a minute (the bathroom, for example), she will attempt to follow.  But, we’ve recently discovered that she’s really not trying to go after us.  Instead, she wants to be in her room, playing with her little kitchen.  This is where she winds up, most of the time, when she does “escape” the living room.  The other day, she wound up in there & her Daddy got on to her by saying, “Aly, no.  You need to go back to the living room”.  And, rather than just walking out of her room, she looked at him, looked at the bucket of plastic food that was sitting by her play kitchen, ran & picked it up, then made a “mad dash” (as quickly as her little legs could carry her) back out to the living room.  It was so funny, Jeremy couldn’t help but just shrug & laugh, rather than getting on to her any more for it!  Ah, toddlers…  😉

Alyssa loves to do what her Big Sister does, when she can, it’s so cute!  We tell Katrina all the time that “she copies you because she wants to be just like you, because she loves you so much”!  This makes both of them grin & giggle.  It’s fun to watch them interact with each other, but it’s so funny how Aly just repeats every little thing that Kat does, too.  She follows her around & just thinks she’s so big.  Right now, we all enjoy the shadowing, of course.  Katrina is a good influence on her Baby Sis & we’re proud of how well they get along.  We know that may be subject to change in the future, but so far, things are going well.  Some of Alyssa’s favorite things she’s recently picked up are using the use of a blanket when playing “peek-a-boo” & not only giving a “high five”, but also a “fist bump”, which also gets all of us laughing.  It’s great!  🙂

Alyssa’s latest skill that has really developed since she was a newborn is mimicry.  She likes to pretend to do everything she sees, at least.  Some of her most recent, cute gestures include folding her hands together when we say grace before meals & “giving kisses”, which is actually more like making the “muah” or “smacking” noise with her lips, into the air, while her face is next to yours.  And, although we haven’t given her ketchup or other dipping sauces with her food, yet, because they are a bit messy for someone her age to maneuver, she likes to pretend, by “dipping” her fries (and other finger foods – doesn’t really matter if it’s something that you would typically dip into a sauce or not) in the air.  She moves them up & down, against the tabletop, prior to eating them.  It’s so cute!  We love watching our sweet baby learn & develop!

Alyssa’s personality is definitely developing lately.  We’re just not sure if we like the direction it’s going, sometimes…  Her favorite phrase lately seems to actually be just one word: “No!”  She can’t just say it, simply & gently, the way we say it to her, either.  Instead, if we’re telling her to do something & she doesn’t want to at the time, she will *yell*, “No!”  We know that this is pretty normal for any toddler her age – the “terrible twos” are right around the corner, but we had hoped she wouldn’t be showing early stages of them, now, of course…  😉  Occasionally, we can’t help but laugh at her, because not only will she yell, “No!”, but she will put her little hand on her hip & give us this frustrated look, like she really means business!  We understand that she’s not just trying to act out, but that she’s trying to take a stand & become more independent, so it’s not a huge deal.  Now, if she throws a crying fit with it, then she gets sent to her crib for a few minutes, to calm down.  This disciplinary measure is necessary *much* more rarely, though, because she seems to be beginning to understand how to communicate in nicer ways, for the most part.  We love our “baby girl” & enjoy helping her learn to develop good habits, of course!  🙂

Alyssa just looks up to her sister so much!  It’s cute how she follows her around the house, points at her & says, “Sissy”.   She has begun really trying to play with her, too.  Aly will initiate a game of “Got Ya’”, which is similar to tag, only more “gentle” – the girls will tag each other gently, touching one another’s hand, shoulder or tummy & say, “Got” or “Got Ya’”!  This is usually done around the house, but they like to play it across the table, when we go out to eat sometimes, too.  Alyssa also loves to babble at Katrina & to “snuggle” her, by nudging her head on her big sister’s shoulder, it’s so sweet.  Sometimes, she will “tackle” Kat & giggle about it.  Of course, Katrina’s big enough that she understands not to tackle Aly back.  She just laughs & asks us for help in pulling Alyssa off of her, if need be…  We’re glad they dote on each other so much & hope that their sweet sibling relationship will always remain a good one.  🙂

Alyssa has just been moody lately, which is sometimes a good thing, and more often than not, well, not such a good thing…  We were able to take her to her Aunt’s graduation this week, where she did a nice job of staying quiet & being entertained, at least during the ceremony.  Once it was over, though, she didn’t want much to do with anyone.  She kept getting fussy, for no reason, other than the fact that it was past her bedtime, we’re pretty sure…  The next day, we took her with us to Katrina’s best friend’s Birthday party, where she just fussed, practically the entire time we were there!  Again, it was right around her usual naptime, so we’re pretty sure the “culprit” was once again sleepiness, especially since she was perfectly happy, once she woke up from her nap, later that same day.  She has had her “extra happy” times, too, lately, which have been nice, though!  We took her to swim at the girls’ Uncle, Aunt & cousins’ house yesterday & she absolutely *loved* that!  Of course, it was *after* naptime that we all got together, so… lesson learned: you can’t take a sleepy baby anywhere (or, at least not an 18-month old, with a mind of her own)!  😉

Alyssa’s got a new gesture that she just *loves* to do! She picked it up from a couple of books that we read to her at bedtime & it is so cute! Especially when we get to the page in her Elmo book where the Sesame Street gang is in the library, she will put her finger to her lips & go, “Shhh”! There is a picture on that page of Elmo doing it, and it is also part of the text. Of course, it’s even funnier when she does it out of context! It doesn’t matter if we are in the car, or she just got up from her nap, or she & her sister are playing, she loves to just say, “Shhh”! Then, she proceeds to babble at us in whispers, which gets us laughing even more! She understands, in a way, which is good, but of course she’s still just a toddler & picking up things as she goes along… We love our sweet, silly, baby girl! 🙂

Alyssa loves playing indoors, but hasn’t had a lot of experience outside, just yet.  Well, on Sunday, we took the girls to play at a playground in our neighborhood & she just had a blast!  She didn’t want to go on anything by herself, but with some help from her Mommy & Daddy, we were able to get her to climb up on the “big toy”.  She liked watching her Big Sis run around & slide down the slides.  She even slid down, on our laps, which she seemed to enjoy.  Her favorite thing was the baby swing, though.  We didn’t push her very high, of course, but she seemed to really love the feel of the light wind, as she went back & forth.  She would give us huge smiles & say, “Whee!”  She also loved watching her Daddy & Big Sis swing in the “big swings” next to her.  She pointed & giggled & just had a ball!  It’s fun watching her enjoy activities with us!

Alyssa just keeps on growing & learning.  She has developed some really cute gestures this week.  When we play with her toy food, she will rub above her belly & say, “nummy, nummy”.  And, she loves to snuggle, now.  She will just come up & put her head on you, in a loving way, it’s too sweet.  She likes to do this one while she’s being held, too.  Another thing she does lately is to answer any question you ask her with, “yeah”.  For example, “Are you okay”?   “Yeah”.  Or, “How are you”?  “Yeah”.  It’s really funny when, like the second example, the answer doesn’t match the question.  It’s still pretty cute, though.  She loves to make us laugh & will giggle along with us.  It’s so much fun to watch her little personality develop!

Because Katrina’s new Barbie doll house wouldn’t fit in her room, as things were, Alyssa just “inherited” a few of her Big Sister’s toys this week.  On Wednesday afternoon, I rearranged things so that we could fit Kat’s Birthday present into her own room.  We had already discussed moving the play kitchen as well as the Dora house & Disney Princess Babies castle into Aly’s room, so we knew Katrina would be fine with it.  What we didn’t know was just how much fun Alyssa would have with all of her “new” toys!  She was walking back & forth down the hallway, handing us play food & talking (well, babbling) about it all day, it seemed!  It was so cute watching her pretend to eat the stuff & she would giggle when we made “eating sounds” with our mouths, too.  We know it won’t last, but at least this year it seems pretty cool that Alyssa got her own “presents” on her Big Sister’s Birthday, as well!  🙂