Phoebe's First Word!!

She speaks! Thanks to playing outside, a stinky tennis ball, and a bouncy plastic ball, Phoebe's happened across her first real word besides Momma and Dada: BALL! Yay! Since the weather has been so nice, we've been taking her out back to "play," even thought the only interesting thing out there was this gross old tennis ball that the dogs don't even play with. Apparently this was a treasure, though, as Phoebe grabbed it and walked back and forth, back and forth, back and forth on the deck with it, mostly just carrying it, but occasionally dropping and rolling it. I felt like a bad mom for letting her play with this nasty old thing, so I ran out and bought her this big purple bouncy ball, and somewhere in there she started saying "Ball!" Hooray! Now when she sees either ball, she says "ball" over and over and over again- sometimes like a question, sometimes screaming it, sometimes like she's talking to it- she's cracking us up!!

First Pony Tail and Plates

Phoebe had her first pony tail in today- and man, did it make her look older that just 15 months! She still needed some clips on the sides, but her hair is officially long enough for the single pony- yay! Since I've been on maternity leave, one of the things we've been working on here at home is meal time etiquette: eating off a plate, using a spoon, and not throwing the sippee cup. The plate thing is going really well, except when she's done- if we don't grab the plate, it's history. She holds the spoon the whole time she's eating, and occasionally stirs or smacks her food with it, but that's about it on utensils for now. She's doing pretty well with the cup too- much less throwing these days, but we still have to take it when she's done or it's on the floor. She wants to walk around with her cup when she's done now, too, which we only let her do with water- there's too much experimentation going on still to allow milk to be toted around- you know, as in, "Oh, when I turn this upside down and shake it on the couch, milk comes out- what fun!"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! We all wore our green today- obviously Phoebe had LOTS to choose from!!

Grammy & Grampa Come to Indy!

We had a great time last weekend when Grammy and Grampa came to Indianapolis for the day! They brought presents, took us all out to lunch at Olive Garden, spoiled Phoebe rotten at the mall (while Grampa relaxed elsewhere, successfully avoiding the shopping experience entirely!), and came back to the house and played with Phoebe! They were quite impressed with her walking skills, and she had fun hamming it up for them and showing off her room and her baby-brother-to-be's room too! She had lots of fun with Grampa, reading him books, having him read her books, showing him how to put all the books in the bag, how to take all the books out of the bag...you get the idea! Thanks for a great day, Grammy and Grampa! You should come visit more often! :)

Phoebe-in-a-box

This is how- and where- Phoebe spent the last part of her evening tonight. I was switching out her cold weather clothes for her spring clothes, and had her bins on the floor. She flung all of the neatly folded clothes out of the bins (grr, says Mommy) and stepped right into this bin like it was made for her to do so. She nestled down in there, grabbed her Sesame Street book off the changing table, and sat there contentedly looking at her book. What a ham! Towards the end of this little situation, she was ready to get out of the box, but couldn't figure out how, she I had to extract her. Too funny!

Sesame Street Books

Phoebe's Great-aunt Jacqie got her these Sesame Street mini-board books for Christmas when she was first born, and she has recently decided that these are just the bee's knees- she carries these books everywhere! It's too funny, because she is having more fun with these books than any of her billion toys right now...a good sign, I think! She's cracking us up too, because she wants to carry four of these at once, which is next to impossible for her, so she'll get a few steps, drop one, and stop and say, "Uh-oh!" Then when she bends down to pick up the dropped book, the other ones fall, and she says, "Oh!" and when she can't pick them all up again she gets frustrated and cries...so, Mommy to the rescue: I found this little blue bucket at Walgreens today, and got it for her to carry her books around in. She LOVED it- best $2 I've ever spent- she was so excited, and carried the blue bucket of books all over the place tonight. A+ for Mommy!

First Trip to the Park

We took advantage of the BEAUTIFUL weather today to take Phoebe to the park for the first time! She had a great time, not so much because of the playing, but because she was so busy walking through the mulch and keeping an eye on all the other kids! The park is hard work for a toddler!

Swing into Spring!

Here's Phoebe, swinging away at the park, holding on for dear life! She seemed to enjoy her hair blowing in the wind, and watching the other kids swing next to her too! Most of the time she had this really intense lok on her face, like she was trying hard to hold on, stay upright, and figure out what was going on all at once! She would laugh a little bit, but then go back to the intense look again- it was too funny!

Cupboard Cutie

This is what Phoebe did to amuse herself while Daddy was putting away groceries this morning...what a goof!

Last Green Shoot- Whew!

Let me say it again: I could NOT be a professional photographer- not only do I lack the skill, but I lack the patience- and right now, the mobility as well! Chasing Phoebe around her room for an hour, crawling on the floor one handed, camera in the other, trying to be funny and get a smile out of her...it's a wonder I haven't gone into labor this week! Whew! But it's been worth it- I got to play with her, and get some good shots of her with her books- all in a good day's work!

Playground

It was a beautiful day out today- FINALLY! It was pretty windy, but warm- the kids were playing outside when I went to pick up the Phebes today. This is the first time I've ever seen her play outside; last year when the weather was nice, she just sat there in the grass when we took her out. It was so funny watching her walk around, crawl on things, and ride that little scooter- backwards- across the playground. What a biggie girl!

Crazy Orangutan Baby

Ok, so these monkey jammies were quite fitting- Phoebe's only been walking for a couple weeks, and there she goes, speeding from room to room, looking like some crazy little orangutan or E.T. or something. Hilarious!!

Our Little Reader

Here's our little reader!This is one of her new favorite things to do- she loves to walk around with these little bitty board books and "read" them. Usually she'll come over to me with one if I'm sitting on the floor with her, and she'll sit on my leg and show me the book. She only sits still long enough for me to get through about half of it, once we point to all the characters and pictures, and then she's off again. She also does what you're seeing in the video- she will go off by herself, plop down, and flip through the book while "redaing" to herself- I'm sure that whatever she's saying makes sense to her! She did this tonight when Matt was home too- she took off with my Learning Italian Phrases book, sat down against the bedroom door, and started trying to learn a foreign language. What a prodigy! :)

The Green Machine

Here's some more photos from the Great Green Photography Scene!

More Greenery

Well, we had Green Clothing Photoshoot Number Two tonight- fun times! I could NEVER be a children's photographer- I do not have the patience. I love to take pictures of Phoebe, but not when I'm trying to get specific shots or specific faces, like, oh, I don't know, SMILES for one! I made more noises and stupid faces, and she would just look at me like, "You're an idiot. I will not smile. In fact, here's some snot- have taking a picture of THAT Mommy!" Hmph. But, as you can see, out of the bajillion photos I took, there were a few keepers after all...tomorrow night, it's photo shoot three...can't wait... :)