Ayla's 22nd Month

Ayla's smile is so contagious. And she seems to be wearing one almost all of the time. I love to see her run into a room with total excitement to see a familiar face. Her giggle. Her run. I guess you could say I'm just a little bit in love.

I was skimming through pictures from the month and realized I hadn't taken but a few with my phone and none with the dslr. For this reason, I am especially glad that my mom's friend, Sue, took some of Ayla wearing vintage dresses for her Etsy site. 

She was all over the place and wouldn't hold still, but she did follow a few commands- "put your hands up high!"

and, "put your hands on your cheeks!"  

I love watching Ayla play with the doll house and her babies.

She is obsessed with babies, both real and pretend.

She loves getting all dressed up for dance.

She went through a pouty face phase this month but I think it has passed.

Ayla and TJ can be so sweet with each other. They also can be so not sweet to each other.

Ayla is tickled by almost any attention she receives from big bother.

They love to play on the scooter.

We took the kids to the Tallahassee Museum over Thanksgiving break with Grandma Doodle and Grandpa Wes.

Ayla was curious and excited to see animals on the other side of the fence.

Ayla played games with Grandma Doodle at the Crepevine. 

Ayla is always dying to join TJ on the floor during gymnastics. We were the only ones to show up during Thanksgiving break so the coaches let Ayla participate too. She was in heaven.

She loves all thing gymnastics (summersaults, trampolines, balancing, etc) but hanging and swinging is probably her favorite.

The kids are always excited to run around the neighborhood Christmas tree. 

We went with Kaeme to chop down a tree, but I'm pretty sure Ayla's favorite part of the experience was bouncing on this horse.

Ayla's 21st Month

Ayla is such a funny little girl. This month she started doing this shy, frown-y face thing, and I have no clue where it came from or why she does it. But she will occasionally, randomly do it, and it boggles my mind. She waves hello and bye to EVERYONE. Any time she sees someone she makes sure to acknowledge their presence and say, "hi"and "bye." At kids club she is known for it- anytime a child is picked up she says, "byeeee" and waves her full arm goodbye. When it's her turn to be picked up, she says, "byeeee" to all the employees while simultaneously waving that arm.
She is still obsessed with babies and baby dolls. She loves playing with Kalil and all of her princess dolls. I got out some old receiving blankets to give to a friend and Ayla kept opening them up and wrapping her dolls in them. She also likes to put her dolls in her little stroller (that she is borrowing from Kalil) and push them around the house. Ayla is especially possessive about that stroller- TJ is not to touch it unless Ayla is giving him a turn, otherwise she will flip out.
I took my 21 month old in for a check-up at her new doctor in Tallahassee, which happens to be the same pediatrician that I went to when I was a kid. He was concerned with her speech development and gave her a referral for speech therapy, which begins tomorrow. He also measured her height and weight which were both in the 90th percentile. He was impressed with her running and jumping and interest in books. The girl will do anything to get a book read to her.

We took a camping trip to Panama City Beach with cousins.

The weather was perfect, and Ayla was delighted to just float in the warm water the ENTIRE time.

Ayla is funny about animals. She is excited to see them, and she thinks she wants to touch them, but when she finds herself within arms reach she gets nervous.

Ayla and TJ both love going to church. They are absolutely horrible during sacrament, but at least they love nursery and seem to have a great time playing with friends there.

We signed Ayla up for a Mommy-and-me ballet class in the neighborhood.

She loves getting dressed up, and playing with the other girls her age.

They are so stinking cute in their little dance clothes.

Julian was so sweet to give Ayla a spontaneous kiss at the pumpkin patch. Ayla was delighted and gave him a few kisses in return.

For Halloween the kids dressed up as Tinkerbell and Peter Pan

We had a Halloween party at our house prior to trick-or-treating with first and second cousins. Fun was had by all. 

We went to ToysRus the day after Halloween to get some costumes for next year. Still in their pajamas, they ran around that store picking up dirt on their bare feet. We are so classy.

Ayla continues to be a monkey. She loves to climb in the bathroom sink, but her favorite place is the closet in her room where she swings from the upper rack.

We took a trip to Aunt Louis's Farm where the kids got to pet and feed the animals. I'm pretty sure Ayla fed herself more of the carrots and popcorn than she fed the animals.

TJ loved touching the animals and feeding them. Ayla, not so much.

She took her shoes off and walked through the corn maze back to our car.

We met up with friends at the Veteran's Day parade.

Before the parade began the kids ran up the steps to this court house and posed themselves for a picture.

And they colored patriotic pictures.

Ayla didn't even know the parade had started when she saw baby Pace. She spent the entire time trying to pick up, sit on, and push him in his stroller. He is such a good trooper and wasn't even phased by it. 

They didn't want to take a picture with me, but I made them anyway.

Ayla's 20th Month

There's no easy way to describe my almost two year old. Silly, sweet, cheek-pinchingly-cute, wild, free-spirited, and super defiant (but she's gonna grow out of that one, right?). She is getting fast on her feet (I have to run to catch her when she leaves my side), she is a monkey climber, half the time she is quiet and shy, the other half she is loud and friendly, at night she is snuggly, with babies she is gentle, but when she is playing with her brother she is rough and strong (she often muscles her way into getting what she wants). She get's excited about books, eating, and going on walks, and when she wants to do something she will say, "I do!" That's my 20 month old, all rolled into one.

Walks are fun, but with Anna they are even better.

The girl loves to splash in water.

She's always pushing buttons, trying to figure out how things work.

We took a walk down the street to see a family of geese. Ayla giggled the whole time.

Sitting in her special spot while TJ get's his picture taken.

This girl needs her 12 o'clock nap.

We went to Down Town Get Down and the kids had a blast bouncing.

Ayla got to play with some pom poms and meet the FSU cheer squad.

She also enjoyed playing corn hole with the boys.

Ayla had her first check-up and cleaning at the dentist.

We took another trip to Daddy's office, but this time she decided to be the dentist.

She figured out how to push the stool to the chair to climb up and over the bar onto the kitchen counter. 

Taking a nap on Daddy.

Enjoying some crushed ice with Kalil at the Robert's Fall Festival.

Giving kisses to Kalil at the pool. These two love each other.

Ayla's got her scary face on, she's ready for Halloween!