11 months and 1 word

Before I had a baby, and even when my baby was still very young, if someone had asked me "how old are they when they become toddlers?"---I would have probably said "2." But nowadays, I feel like Addie isn't a baby anymore! Is she a toddler already? She's doing SO many things that I feel like a toddler would do. From the way that she sits on her knees while playing to saying real words (yes! more about that later), she's definitely grown out of baby stage. To use my friend Megan's phrase, we'll call Addie a "Twoddler." She's in betweeen baby and toddler right now.

Here are some photos from her 11 month photoshoot




Look, ma! No hands!








And some other recent cuteness...

As the weather has been cooling off it's been brrrr....COLD for some of our morning walks. Gotta bundle up!

New fleece pajamas are sized 18 months...they're still a little big for even our tall girl.

Loving her new smile--the scrunch face :)


And yes, we have a first official non-mama/dada word! Drum roll please......

DOG.

I think if we actually had a dog, her first word may have been Spike, Sadie, Moose, Otis, or Maverick (just a little shout out to some of our family friend dogs out there). But since we don't have a dog, we have to settle for saying "hi dog!" to every dog we pass. And in our new neighborhood we walk a lot. And there are a LOT of dogs. So imagine our surprise and happiness when one day I said "see the dog?" And Addie said "DOG" clear as day. Sometimes it comes out "Dob" and sometimes it comes out "Daw" but she's said it with the "G" and all sometimes, too. Our little social butterfly will spot a "daw" before I do and say it's name and start waving frantically. SO much fun.


Happy 11 month birthday, Adeline. No matter what anyone says, you will always be my baby girl :)

Goofiness and adventure and cuddles.

Addie and I got to spend the day with Uncle Dan and Grandma Eva. Dan took a ton of photos and here are the best of the bunch! Goofiness and adventure and cuddles all around.

So much fun being had in the Silvestro household

I never understood those parents who wanted their kids to do "tricks" for friends and family. Leave the kid alone, I thought. Okay, now I get it. When your baby starts doing such cute things, you want to share it with the world. Here is a video that encapsulates some of the fun tricks Addie has been doing for us lately.




Addie does stuff from Monica Silvestro on Vimeo.

Appeasing the grandmothers

We've had some computer problems lately, which is why it's been a loooong time since the last post (9 days) but the grandmothers are getting itchy for some new blog pics, so here's a post with some of the newest photos...we love you, Grandmas!!

Addie is enjoying the new house a lot. There's so much light, she's often chasing sunbeams. :)


One of Addie's fun new tricks is to make an "O" with her mouth when we whistle or say "Addie, can you whistle?" We've caught it on video, and I promise that it'll be up soon, but for now, a still photo of this funny little "trick" of hers.

Farmer Addie enjoying the sunbeams yet again.

Hi! How are you? Remember when I visited Austin when Addie was just a little bitty bit in my belly? She's happy that she fits in that cool t-shirt now.

When we spent the weekend at the beach with Shannon her family, Shannon brought a deck of cards to play with. At that point, Addie was too young to enjoy the sorting and shuffling of the 52 pieces of cardboard. She just kind of sucked on one until it dissolved in her mouth. Now, she is old enough to have fun pushing them around, picking them up and putting them down and carrying them across the house. Oh...and there's a corner bitten out of the Ace of Hearts.

The temperature is starting to cool off in DC, and we have had some beautiful weekends. Last weekend we went on a picnic with our friends (and now neighbors!) Joe and Renelle.


Here is Addie looking for one of the dogs hanging out by the picnic bench. Addie was kind of wary around dogs, but since we moved to the Shirlington area and go on walks all the time, we see dogs ALL OVER THE PLACE. As a result, Addie is getting used to dogs and likes watching them. In fact, a couple of times when we've said "Look, do you see the dog?" Addie responds with "Daw" which sounds a lot like her "Da" for Stevo, but with rhymes closer to "Dog" :) Maybe it will be her first official non-mama/dada word? Only time will tell!

Goofball

Double Digits!

Addie turns 10 months old today. Double digits. It's quite crazy to think that in a couple of months, she'll have been blessing us with her beauty and spunk for an entire year! I almost don't want to think about it because it went by SO FAST. On the other hand, I can't even remember life without Addie.

Oh wait...yes, I do...that was a world where I could leave the house in a shirt without spit up, drool, or blueberry stains on it. A world where I didn't have to pack the entire house up with us before we left for the smallest errand. A world where the phrase "Emergency Cheerios" would have never crossed my lips.

But it was also a world without open-mouthed drooly kisses given upon request. A world without belly laughs let of at the slightest hint of a game of peek-a-boo. Squeals of delight at seeing a squirrel run up a tree. A world without the spirit and laughter and fun that Addie brings to us every day. I sometimes miss my old independence, but I wouldn't trade it back for all the emergency cheerios in the world. And that's a LOT ;)

So here are some pictures to commemorate the big 1-0!

Oh, and if you're waiting for a rocking chair picture, I must say that Addie sitting placidly in the rocking chair smiling for the camera for minutes on end just does not happen anymore, so no more comparison pictures without risking a big bruise on her head from leaping off happily to the floor.

How many teeth? Our little jack-o-lantern still only has two on the bottom, but now there's a new one on top with the hint of yet another top one coming in....can you see the glistening of the drool on her chin? Yum :)


Sometimes she seems SO big...


...and other times she seems so little!


Her favorite game is emptying. Emptying her bookshelf. Her toy box. The basket of shoes we keep by the door. She's curious about EVERYthing and her attention span ranges from quite intense--playing wtih the same toy for 10 minutes (which, in baby time, is like a year)...


...and other times, she's barely even touched one "toy" (i.e. my purse) before she's turned around and set off for another "toy" (i.e. my keys)


All the crawling/scooting/pulling up/pushing her shopping cart around can tire a girl out. When she yawns, we call it her baby lion roar.


Who IS this big girl and where did my helpless little baby go??? If someone can find my little tiny baby again, I'll give you a reward. An economy box of emergency cheerios.

Addie on the move!

Grandma-san Silvestro snapped a few pics from our trip to NJ, so here are some more of the cutie pie on the road last weekend:

Wow...I get to sit in the WHOLE bathtub when I come here.


Here's Addie chiming into to the refrain for her post-bathtime song "Little Bunny Foo Foo"


If a banana could make everyone this happy, the world wouldn't need anti-depressants, just bring on the Chiquita!


Addie was excited to play with Steve and Doug's old firetruck. She got the chance to practice...


...being on the move!