Alyssa the Toddler

Ok, I have to accept it. My baby is no longer a baby, except for being the best snuggler in the world. She yells. She throws toys. She says coherent words all day long. She wants to do things by herself. She refuses to eat if I don't give her a utensil of some sort. She's in nursery already! With Scotty I was counting the days until he hit 18 months and I could enjoy some semblance of church again. Alyssa is feisty but not quite as crazy as Scotty was, and she's always in Eric's care as I spend my Sundays chilling with the primary kids and jumping around like a monkey.

A few months back I started posting some words and signs in the sidebar and I'm just realizing that the lists are hopelessly out of date. It seems like she picks up a new reasonably intelligible word every day. Here are some of my favorites:

elephant (el-la-la, with lots of sticking her tongue out)
monkey (mon-ey! usually with emphasis and pointing)
Scott (sot)
flower (flow-ah)
car (ca-vroom with sound effects)
jump (juh, while bouncing)


She still signs some things, usually to save time. For instance, her mouth will say "food mama!" while her hand signs please. I suppose it counts...

She loves to find my phone and babble, always telling me she's talking to Dada. She takes him on tours of the house pointing out everything she knows. It always starts with each individual shoe and sock, as those are some of her favorite things.

She also loves to play with Scotty. She brings books to him and he shows her the pictures and asks her to make the animal sounds. When he's playing on the floor, she'll come lay down close by and wait for him to come tickle her. Some of my favorite moments each day are hearing these two play. She is a happy kid (sweet and spicy) but she saves nearly all her giggles for her big brother.

Pictures to come, as recently I've been the one running around instead of holding the camera. Fortunately my mom documents our adventures :o)