As you can guess since Abby will be two in less than two weeks she is a handful. I swear it's a good handful 98% of the time and we're elated to be having the handfuls that we have compared to other parents out there.

One of the times that Abby is most stubborn is at lunch or dinner time.  (For the record, she's an angel in the morning at breakfast...)  We often find ourselves reminding her that it's time to eat, not time to throw things on the floor or watch Elmo or Signing Time on the computer.  Meal time is for meals.

On Monday while Anny and I were in the kitchen cleaning up and getting things ready for dinner prep we could hear Abby quietly playing in the living room.  She was playing with her castle toy, complete with people and a huge dining table.

The one-sided, aimed-at-toys conversation we overheard was:

"Sit down."
"Dinner, sit down."
"Sit, Eat."
"SIT."
"SitSitSitSit!"

I'm not quite sure where she has heard that before...

All of her meal time troubles go away if you give her a cookie:

Abby's Play Kitchen!

It's finally here - the blog post about Abby's new play kitchen!

I was inspired by a blog post I found HERE that did something similar, but I kept parts of their idea and added some of my own.  As an added bonus, my brothers' scroll saw is in storage, so I got to buy myself a new one!

I started with the Ikea RAST end table.  At $15 it was probably cheaper than if I went out and got nicely finished wood and cut it myself, plus it was a great, square starting point.  (Cost so far: $15)

Then I cut a hole out to put in a metal bowl from our kitchen.  We have too many bowls as it is, so giving this one to the project made sense to us.  I added a piece across the middle to support any weight Abby might apply, as well as to divide the box in half - one is the "oven" and the other side is currently non-purposed.  This is also the point that I had to buy a new scroll saw, which was both fun and awesome at the same time!  (Cost so far: $15 for project, $29.99 for saw)



The tricky part, and the part that required the most thinking, was the faucet.  I scoured Ebay and Craigslist for a real kitchen or bathroom faucet, new or used, for several days before giving up.  I looked at prices in stores, but the cheapest was about $30.  I could not justify that in my head.  I decided to make something out of PVC pipe, and I think it turned out well.  It's two pieces, a p-trap and a part that fits into the p-trap.  I had to cut the bottom piece to get it into the tight space, but that was easy.  The two pieces cost me a total of $3.  (Cost so far: $18)



I had a random piece of nice, finished wood laying around the house that is only about 1/4 of an inch off of fitting perfectly with the table, so I used it.  I'm not much on perfection - it gives me nothing to complain about later if there are no flaws!  We think the wood was a shelf to an old entertainment center.  Cost: free.  (Cost so far: $18)



Since I have about a dozen mouse pads at my office that do not get used (they come with new computers, and we've gotten ten new ones in the last four years) I decided to put them to use in my project.  I cut circles out of the mouse pads to make burners.  They are not attached for two reasons - we might paint it so they would be in the way, and I don't know how we would attach them properly.  Oh well.
I added stove top knobs that are actually casters from tables at my office that were on their way to the trash.  They were screwed into a 1x2 across the top at the same time that I put a kickplate (1x4) on the bottom to keep toys from sliding under the kitchen.  (Cost so far: $18)



I added an oven door and Abby immediately knew what the whole project was!  You will notice that the knobs here are pink - it's because the casters from the previous picture were too large with the door on the oven - it would not open!  I ran out to Target and picked up some dresser knobs for $5.  Ended up at Ikea the next day and could have gotten better looking knobs for less money, but what's done is done.  (Cost so far: $23)



And that's the whole thing!  If we had bought a wooden play kitchen in a store we would have spent at least $125, and the cost for one can go up to numbers that I'm too embarassed to type!  I spent $23 and about four total hours on this project by using mostly scrap wood from around the house.  You can also check with your local hardware store (or Ikea!) for scrap wood to save on the cost.

Here's Abby enjoying her newest toy!

She Had the Strangest Dream...

It is my assumption that Abby had a bizarre dream last night.  That's the only explaination that I can come up with.  Here's my story...

Last night Anny went up to church for her month Women's Group gathering where they talk about boys and stuff.  (Not really, but that is what I say!)  That meant that Abby and I got to spend some quality time together playing and reading books and such. 

At bath time something happened, though I don't know what, that made her mood change from "this is fun" to "get me the hell out of this water or you'll pay!"  Nothing happened in the water, and I could not get her to tell me what hurt.  I'm guessing that she's just crazy. 

After getting her into her PJ's, through tears, we sat down for our daily dose of Signing Time on the DVR.  She cuddled really close for the first half, and I pried her off during the latter half to get some other things taken care of.  Part of getting her to sit on her own was to give her the famous Purple Hat.  It seems to be in every other picture on our Flickr Site because she wears it all the time.



I had to take the hat away before bed time, of course. That went over okay and with very little notice, really.

Then came 2:30 this morning. With everyone sound asleep, we were awoken to hear "PURPLE" being yelled from Abby's Room. Then "HAT!"  That was followed by "PURPLE HAT?!"  Anny got up and assured her that the purple hat was okay and that it was time for sleep, not hats. 

I am assuming that she was having some sort of dream about her beloved purple hat, but can't ask her what was going on because she has no clue it even happened!

When she got up at 5:15 and we went out for our breakfast time, she very quickly found her purple hat and they were united once again. 

Weird.

Parent Teacher Conference

One of the perks of the the wonderful daycare that we have is that we have real feedback from our teachers on a daily basis, and twice a year we have a sit-down, parent teacher conference with the lead teacher.  (We could rave about this place until the cows come home, and then I remember how much we're paying and it helps to level things out...)

Last week we had our first of two (three?) PTC's at Abby's school, and all is right in Abby's developmental world!  Hooray!  Actually, she is doing better than her classmates on the charts, but that's because she is older and associated more with a boy who has since moved to the older classroom.  She got check marks down two pages of "Developmental Goals of a 12-24 Month Old" and has begun to check things off on the same type of list for 24-36 month olds.  It's really hard to believe how much she has developed, grown and just become a whole little person over the last six months.

There were two comments that stuck out on the otherwise Abby-Praising Pages:

1 - "Abby has developed an aversion to wet and sticky things - like finger paints."
Umm - what child does not like finger paints?  It would seem that my daughter does not like them.  She is the same toddler that does not like rice because of the texture.  Yesterday afternoon I tried to work on this, but Anny pulled out the paintbrush that I had stashed on the table (out of sight) before I popped open the paint.  Oh well, we will work on this one.

2 - "Abby is beginning to show age-appropriate aggression."
Yeah - our toddler is beating people up.  Not other-toddler people, either.  No, not really.  Abby is very routine and schedule oriented.  When I had her home last week sick for a couple of days I tried to stick to our normal routines, and she kept me to them!  Even her nap was on time, at her persistence.  Turns out that at school if they try to spring something on her (even as simple as "time to change your diaper") she can be pretty forceful about not moving.  She has even been caught on several occasions pushing her teachers!

All in all, Abby's progress is awesome and she's ahead of the curve on a lot of things.  Really, as long as she's having fun, we're happy.  (But it was totally awesome to hear someone else say what we've been thinking!)

New Videos!

Abby loves to sing as much as she loves to dance. Okay, sort of. Here are two songs that we've learned at Sunday School. These songs have saved us on more than one occasion! At least twice she has been having a meltdown and we'll pull out "Twinkle Twinkle" and it brings her back down to a calm and sensible level!

Please enjoy:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star from Anny and Rob on Vimeo.

And also enjoy "If You're Happy and You Know It!"

If You're Happy and You Know It.... from Anny and Rob on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving Weekend - Abby Style!

Thanksgiving weekend was one of fun and adventure for Abby!

On Wednesday we went to the turkey farm to pick up a fresh turkey, or two, and also took some time to explore.  We saw cows and cats of all ages and sizes.  Abby was fascinated by all of it!

On Thursday Rob's dad and step-mom made the drive up from Florida, so we got to spend some time with them before dinner. 
At dinner there was quite a houseful of people.  I think we counted 12 around the table, and four dogs.  Abby at lots of cranberries and stuffing, but was not interested in much else. 

On Friday we did a little shopping, and finished decorating the house for Christmas!  Since we'll be in Saint Louis for Christmas, we put up a fake tree.  It is already decorated and Abby loves it.  It has come at the right time as we are working on identifying colors and the lights are much more interesting than crayons!

On Saturday we raked the front and back yards - and Abby tried to help.  It was adorable and I wish I had gotten pictures, but I did not.  This year we are composting our leaves, so it was especially fun for her to throw handfuls of leaves over the fence!

What did you do for the big weekend?

Apache!

Abby is always learning, and this morning she needed to release some energy. Is there any better way to do that than dancing? No. To that end, I taught her the Apache, to the song Apache by The Sugar Hill Gang.

I apologize for the shaky shot, but I was still prompting on when to do what.

Here's Abby:

Abby's Apache! from Anny and Rob on Vimeo.

Here's the "original" from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air:

Me and My Shadow

Last week Abby noticed something on the wall.  I assumed that she found a dirty spot from a spill or a dog toy or something.  Instead, it was her own shadow!

She "followed" the shadow along the wall, and got a little concerned when she walked toward the hallway and it disappeared.  It was adorable!  I tried to get video of it, but as usual she stopped doing it when I was prepared for it!

Instead of posting such a cute video, here is a cute picture of both Abby and her shadow. 

Some Attention on Dad Labs!

Umm.... My daughter is going to be very unhappy with me one day. At least it is MY name mentioned, and not hers...

(Warning - very Poopy conversation. Both gross and funny. Do not watch while dining!)



Watch more hillarious parenting over at DadLabs.com!

Abby Getting Some Web Attention!

We put the best-of-the-best pictures up on our Flickr page (HERE) and on occasion I tag a couple to the ParentDish group. Well, turns out they really liked on this week!

Click HERE for the ParentDish post of our little girl! Since she was chosen for a picture-of-the-day she is eligible for the picture-of-the-month!

Six Random Things (Meme)

Many thanks to Aunt Sarahlynn from Yeah, But Houdini Didn't have Hips for tagging me.

Sarahlynn asked specifically that Abby do this meme, as I have just done a much bigger one on my blog here. The responses are written in first person AS Abby.

This is a familiar one that goes like this:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Six Bits of Abby:
1 - Whether my parents admit it or not, I'm a co-sleeper. I might go to bed at night in my crib, but there's nothing nicer than waking up between mommy and daddy.
2 - My top two teeth are coming in! I've even begun to use them in conjunction with my bottom teeth to bite cheerio's in half.
3 - I have a slight rash reaction to sweet potatoes. Though my parents know this, they continue to give me sweet potatoes from time to time. They say that they are "testing it again." I think they just like to take care of diaper rash.
4 - I have learned to stand on my own in the last few days! I am convinced that I can walk before my first birthday. I only have six weeks to go.
5 - My favorite band is Trout Fishing in America. I really dig their music. My favorite song is 18 Wheels on a Big Rig. I like lots of other music, too.
6 - Beginning on my birthday I'm going to start one of those Project 365 things on Flickr. I'm too young to know that, as a Monroe, you're supposed to avoid camera time. They have a Project 365 pool just for kids, so I'll join that. (My cutest pictures are on Flickr already!)

Now I'm supposed to tage 6 of you. I don't tag folks often, but I'll give it a go:
1 - Chase or Steph at NeurosesGalore
2 - Amy at PrettyBabies
3 - Noah (or Natalie) at GrowingACritter
....Oh, I hate tagging people. So, to everyone who is interested but hasn't done who hasn't done it yet: have at it! And let me know that you did.