Things Abbey Doesn't Like

Several weeks ago I posted a list of things Abbey loves. While for the most part Abbey is a happy little girl who gets excited about new things, she also has her dislikes and she lets us know what those are. The list below is just a few of the things Abbey doesn't like:

1. Long-sleeved clothing. This is what really got me thinking about this list. Sunday while getting Abbey dressed for church she threw the biggest fit when I put her in a very cute long-sleeved onesie Suzanne gave her at summer time. This is not the first time Abbey has gotten upset about long-sleeves. With the weather changing we now put her in long-sleeved PJs. Most nights she'll pull on the sleeves and fuss. Twice I've gone in to get her out of the crib in the morning and she's managed to pull one arm out of the sleeve! She also gets upset if we push the sleeves up when she eats. About the only time she'll tolerate long-sleeved clothing is when we put her in her sweatshirt to take her outside--and that's because she knows she gets to go outside.
2. Brushing her teeth. While she is find chewing on her toothbrush, Abbey cannot stand for one of us to actually brush her teeth. She gets very upset and will 'run' away from us if we take the toothbrush away from her and make a move to actually get her teeth clean.
3. Doing her hair--hence the ugly, long bangs. Now that Abbey's hair is starting to grow, I've tried several times to put it back but she gets so upset I've pretty much given up. She'll wave her arms around and thrash her head back and forth in an effort for me to stop touching her hair--and so I do. (When we're in Utah later this month I'm going to ask my sister-in-law to cut Abbey's hair, but I have a feeling it isn't going to go well.)
4. Sitting in the shopping cart. Actually, to be more acurate, Abbey doesn't like to sit in most instances--this includes her highchair and the stroller--but the shopping cart is the one place we struggle the most to get her to sit. Even if we strap her in she'll wiggle and squirm and cry and yell in an attempt to get to stand up while we're shopping. Report me to Child Welfare, but we've now resorted to letting her stand up in the back of the cart.
5. Being cleaned off after eating--but this is the same for most kids actually.

Washing the Car

Two of Abbey's favorite things are being outside and spending time with her daddy. So what could be more fun then helping Eric wash the new 4Runner?

Learning to Draw

Several years ago my mother-in-law let us borrow all of Eric's baby pictures. I spent hours scanning these photos so I'd have my own copy and I've enjoyed being able to look back and see what Eric looked like as a child. The picture above is one of my favorites of him because it shows the beginnings of his interest in drawing--something he's done ever since. So today when I was surfin' the 'net and letting Abbey tear apart my office I was excited to see her trying her own hand at 'drawing' (beware the mess you see below).

She may not be an artist some day, but I sure think she's cute.

Outside

I wish this picture of Abbey had turned out better. She's so difficult to photograph because she just wont stay in once place for very long. As you can see from this picture she comes in blurry, while the background is crisp and clear, but the look on her face is just too cute not to share--something about her inquisitive little eyebrows makes me love it. When Eric saw it he remarked about how she didn't look like a baby in the picture. She is growing up so fast. As I've remarked before, she loves being outside. Behind her are the rocks she loves to pick through and carry around as she plays--sometimes she'll even let me stack them for her. She now understands she needs shoes to go outside and it's not uncommon for her to find her shoes, walk to the front door and fuss to go outside. Recently when she was sick we knew she wasn't feeling well because when Eric took her outside she didn't want to get down and play--this is very rare. Now when she's outside if she hears a dog she'll say "da da?" and then make a silly little noice that is obviously her barking like a dog. It's so much fun to watch her learn!

New Car

After months of talking about it, Eric and I finally bought a new car! It's a 2007 Toyota 4Runner and we love it. With all its safety features maybe we can talk about traveling to Utah in the winter months again. Because we're keeping the Honda and selling Eric's truck, this is 'his' new car. Talk about an expensive 30th birthday gift!

Things Abbey Loves

I started thinking about how quickly Abbey was growing up and learning and decided I wanted to make a list of all the little things she loves and make her fun to watch:

1. Going up and down the stairs by herself (even though she fell down them on Saturday--don't worry, she was only up about two steps, at least that's what Eric told me).
2. Shoes: taking them from one end of the house to the next (she doesn't cry anymore when we put them on her because she knows it means we're leaving the house).
3. Being outside: she loves to pick up rocks and carry them around in her little hands (we have to be careful of saying the word outside because if she hears it she'll stand by the front door and cry until we take her out).
4. Her pink blankets: she now has two of them because she couldn't bear to see me take the first one away from her long enough to wash it (and, yes, she loves both of them just the same).
5. Daddy: today she was in the highchair eating and he came upstairs. As soon as she saw him she smiled so big and started to babbled at him--her own way of saying 'hi'.
6. Her thumb: we have plenty of pictures to blackmail her with when she's a teenager.
7. Other kids: yesterday I had her out in the hall because she was being too loud and fussy during sacrament meeting and a little girl walked by. Abbey flashed her her biggest smile and watched her walk by.
8. Bananas: at the grocery store she fusses and cries when we put them in the cart--right up until the checker scans them and we finally give her one.
9. Dogs and--I'm afraid to say it--cats: she loves to smile at them, just as much as she loves to smile at other kids--though she doesn't understand (or care for that matter) that these creatures are not smiling back at her.
10. Her Mommy (I hope). She is aways so happy to see me when I get her out of the crib. She will bring me things: her shoes, the rocks she's collected, the food she's found under the highchair, a book to read her, her pink blanket so I'll pick her up and snuggle her in it. She smiles at me when I growl and chase her. She crawls on my lap and trys to take away my book, pulls off my glasses and leans in when I ask her for a kiss. I love that she loves me.

At the Carousel

Last week my friend, Lose, was in Missoula. Her husband, David, has a flooring company and he is in the process of redoing the flooring at the local Wal-Mart and Lose was in town for the weekend visiting. I met her and her two girls Caras Park--located in downtown Missoula. In addition to having a kids jungle gym (though I think they call it a castle) it also has a carousel. (see: http://www.carrousel.com/) We let the girls play for a while and then we took them on the carousel. Because the horses are very large and go up and down, I decided to play it safe with Abbey and not try and put her on one of them. It's hard to know if she had a good time going 'round and 'round. She did her usual: sucked her thumb.


After going on the carousel, we walked to a nearby resturant where Eric and David met us for late lunch/early dinner. It was so much fun spending time with Lose, catching up on old times, and getting to take Abbey out to do something new.