This week in the Atchley home 6/16 - 6/22
Heather | June 23, 2008 10:28 am |
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Phoebe has found her voice—mostly in the evenings. It is usually after dinner and a bath but just before bed she just jabbers and jabbers with a few squeals mixed in.
Phoebe turned 11 months this week. Still no teeth but getting very close on the walking. She is much more cautious than Sophia was. She can walk alongside me holding one hand. The farthest we have gone is from the couch to the fridge, which for a little girl learning to walk it is pretty far! I am so proud of her and just know she will be walking independently by her 1st birthday.
BJ enjoyed a night out with himself and picked up some books at Barnes and Noble and then watched Incredible Hulk. He didn’t seem too terribly impressed with it but enjoyed seeing a movie in the theater more than anything I think. The books purchased were: American Gods by Neil Gaiman (which I am reading and thoroughly enjoying right now) The Road by Cormack McCarthy (BJ currently reading),The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett, and lastly Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card. It seems like it has been MONTHS since I sat down to a good book that I read every night before bed. Actually, come to think of it the last book was winter last year—Empire by Orson Scott Card.
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Sophia and I went to the same pool we have gone to the last few weeks with the same group of friends. We had such a good time but I added to my sunburn from the week before. Sunscreen WAS put on my back but my neck and shoulders still burned. Grrrr, I am tired of hurting and itching. We went Phoebe free this time (daddy worked from home and helped watch her). I think it was totally to Sophia’s benefit. She spent the first hour in the same floaty and unsure of herself. Without Phoebe I was able to commit all my attention to her and by the second hour I had her out of the floaty, not clinging to me, and running from the edge of the pool to about 5 feet from the edge. I was also able to finally take some pictures!
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BJ and I have mentioned here and there before about Sophia being a little GIRL and others also being girls or BOYS and such. She has really taken to it this week and we took the opportunity to clearly define boys from girls. She can almost always accurately identify each gender now and seems to be very proud of herself.
I am a clean, organized person and have tried to instill some of this lifestyle into Sophia. Teaching her to pick up after herself, don’t touch things when your hands are dirty, clean up spills on the carpet and tile, etc. One morning just before she got into her seat for breakfast she seemed distracted and upset by something on the floor. I finally saw what she was looking at….it was a dime sized spot of marinera sauce from a couple days before. She was determined to clean it up so I had to wet down a rag and let her (by herself) wipe it until she was satisfied with the results. I thought it a little neurotic of her, but hey, look at her example! I also thought it good and sweet of her to do so and try and help.
Working for my mom one day this week I allowed Sophia to play in the packing peanuts. She has a HUGE container full of them so I plopped Sophia into them. She wiggled around and stomped for a bit until it tipped over and she hurt her head. Granny had the good idea of getting her a smaller box to sit in and fill it up. We did so but while transferring some peanuts we realized what all her stomping around in the big bucket did. It was slowly shredding the peanuts into a fine pulp. So instead of big ones that were easy to pick up and clean I had fine little bits everywhere that were sticking to everything! I took a picture of some of the mess with my camera phone. It was exhausting to pick up and only vacuuming in the end really did the trick.
Sanctuary! Phoebe is consistently sleeping through the night! We had a couple nights where Sophia wandered in and that was about it.
We have tried to crack down on potty training and decided to use M&M’s as enticement. The first day I sat her on the potty and explained the reward system to her. She went tinkle and was given 2 treats. The next day she sat on the potty and wasn’t doing anything but asked for a treat. I was surprised she even remembered, but unfortunately she did not earn any that time but was not upset when she didn’t get a treat since she understands the terms.
Saturday we went to the Dallas Zoo and had a blast. We went as soon as they opened at 9am so we were able to leave by 12:30 when it started to get really hot. We rented a double stroller from there and hoped that with them sitting side by side they wouldn’t fight too much. It worked perfectly with only minimal fighting. (BJ, this makes me feel even stronger about wanting to buy a doubler stroller or a sit and stand!) Sophia got to ride a pony and pet a guinea pig and rabbit. Sophia got to bring home a large blue and white snake we have named “Hissy Fit” and a giraffe shaped sports bottle. Phoebe got a zoo keepers shirt with lots of animals on it. We can’t wait to go back!
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