Adalynn is so full of personality. She has so many darling faces and still seems to be the highlight of everyone’s lives. She is definitely a much loved little girl. She absolutely adores all of her brothers and loves being with them, playing with them, and being where they are at (especially if its outside). The boys get so sad when she has to go down for naps and then beg to get her up if they even hear a peep coming from her room. It’s really cute how much they love her. Their friends seem to adore her as much as they do too. The boys love helping her say words “Adalynn say ________” and laugh hysterically when she copies what they say. She gets a big kick out of it too and will continue to do that thing over and over again to make her brothers laugh even at her own discomfort. For instance one day the boys all wanted me to poor lemon juice in their mouths as they like to compete to see who can NOT make a funny sour face. Adalynn wanted to try it out too but it was obvious from the look on her face that she didn’t like the lemon juice at all. The boys were all hysterical over her reaction though and so she kept asking for more and more…because she loved that she was making us all laugh. She sure is a crack up!
Adalynn right now seems to be very much a girly girl. She loves being up on the counter with me when I’m doing my makeup and tries to mimic everything I do. She likes me doing her hair and putting in bows and getting dressed up in her “pretties.” At the same time though she is very much not afraid to get down and dirty with me, Adam, or the boys and she LOVES dirt. And I mean LOVES it. We have to refrain her often from getting into it because she doesn’t care sometimes that she’s all dressed up for church and in her nice clothes when she sees it and she will automatically want to go and put her hands in it, sit in it, or throw it in the air! She especially loves playing in it if Adam or I are out working in the yard weeding or watering the lawns or mowing. She will just sit and play in it right along side us.
Adalynn is a huge eater right now too and will literally eat and eat and eat until you don’t think she can fit a single thing more into her big round belly. She loves food and especially seems to be fond of cereal, bananas, and strawberries. She is also really starting to like smoothies. Green ones, fruit ones, you name it. She prefers to eat hers with a spoon though and is actually quite good at not spilling when eating that way.
She still is drinking several bottles a day with almond or rice milk, but also loves sippy cups of water. And she LOVES water bottles (although they mostly end up soaking her) instead of being drunk by her. She’s still picky on the temperature of her ba ba though and only likes it slightly warm (we usually warm it up for 30 seconds).
For breakfast she usually does an 8 oz bottle, a whole banana, dry cereal, and then she loves anything berry. Frozen blueberries, fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. She will do most fruits but seems to steer clear of peaches and apricots and oranges right now. Not sure why but they aren’t her preference yet.
As far as veggies – she’s a bit more pickier. She’ll do spinach in a green smoothie but not on its own. She will usually eat broccoli (raw or cooked), occasionally carrots, potatoes, and cucumbers and tomatoes. The veggies we are working on with her at the moment on (that we eat on a regular basis) are green and yellow squash, peas, green beans, and avocado. They seem to be less to her taste bud liking.
Adalynn is still an excellent sleeper and the good news is that she is finally getting good at co-sleeping. She’s been in her own room since birth and is used to the quiet but with all the vacations and trips we take she’s finally getting good at sleeping in the same room with others. She actually did AWESOME on our last big trip to California and slept like a champ the entire time. She even did naps pretty well with or without Adam or I there to snuggle her. We are glad to finally have this breakthrough! Adalynn usually will still take an afternoon nap for 2-3 hours and then sometimes will even still do her morning nap from around 10-11:30ish. She then goes down around 8 and then sleeps in until 8 or 8:30. Its really quite ideal and we are grateful for that.
One of the things we like best about Adalynn right now are her GIGGLES. Oh my are they ever cute and it melts all of us when we see her so happy and having so much fun. Some of the things that make her giggle are playing peek a boo, tossing her in the air, putting her on your shoulders and dancing, running after her, when Mom and Dad pick her up and chase the brothers, or when she does something to make her brothers laugh. Their laughter makes her laugh. Its darling.
She is starting to sing her own little songs (our favorite being baby shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Mama shark doo doo, Daddy shark doo doo) and Popcorn popping. Its so cute to hear her try to say all the words and do all the actions. She can pretty much say every work we can and will recite the entire alphabet back to us if we say it with her. She also counts to ten.
Some of her favorite things to do right now are to go on walks in her stroller (oh MY is she possessive of that thing), get rides in the red wagon, ride bikes with her brothers outside (in her case she does the wiggle bike and toddler bikes). She loves to read books with Mom, get zirbirts and tickles from Dad, look out the window (she seriously LOVES this and asks for me to put her up on the stool so she can see outside all day) and to dance in the kitchen. She also loves going to playgrounds, going down slides, riding in swings, and throwing around balls or frisbees. She’s is really at a fun age.
Everything isn’t always rainbow and butterflies and we are starting to notice quite the little attitude coming out in little miss as well. Lately she has resorted to screaming tantrums, pulling on things for dear life, saying no to everything you ask her, and hitting when she doesn’t get her way. And oh boy can this girl scream. You would think she had her arm cut off from some of her screams but they are usually just because she wants something someone else had FIRST, and they aren’t willing to give it to her. For instance just yesterday she freaked out because I put our towel bag at 7 peaks on her stroller (where she usually sits) to help hold it down so it wouldn’t blow away (it was very windy). She was VERY upset over this because thats where SHE sits. Or if one of her brothers has a toy that she wants and they don’t immediately give it to her when she goes over to take it away – she has a complete melt down. And although she is upset and tantruming I’ve found the best thing to do is just to pick her up and give her big hugs and snuggles and tell her I know it can be frustrating when you don’t get what you want but that we need to share. She always fights me at first but within a few moments she softens right up and melts into me like a rag doll and the tantrum ends. So that is at least good. She responds well to affection.
Speaking of affection – we sure do love that about Adalynn. She is a true snuggler at heart. When you pick her up from her nap she will snuggle right into you. If you have a soft blanket she will nuzzle into it. She loves to put her head down into your body and nuzzle in as close as she can get. It is quite adorable. She also will sit and pat your back when you hug her. I think that is one of my favorites. She is great about giving kisses too – right on the lips and she loves kissing and hugging all her brothers goodnight.
One of our favorite things about her right now is just hearing the way she says things and seeing her trying to figure out her world. For instance on our drive down to California this past week we were all getting excited about seeing the lights in Vegas. When they finally came into view Adam and I said, “look Vegas!” in an excited voice. She then started repeating the exact phrase over and over again each time like the first with as much excitement that a little 22 month old could muster. “look Baaguusss! She would scream excitedly! We all just laughed and thought it was the most adorable thing ever.
In short, we just absolutely love having Adalynn in our family and couldn’t imagine life without her. She brings so much joy into each of our lives and her cuteness is usually the reasons for all the smiles and laughter in our family. We sure do love her and the wonderful spirit and feeling she brings into our home! What a precious gift she is to us all!
