"Ketchup"

just catching up on my blogging a little:

Adele is really into Halloween right now. Anytime she sees anything Halloween related (including orange cheese at dinner tonight) she says, "boo." One of our neighbors has ghosts hanging in her trees, and I taught Adele that ghosts say "boo" when we first saw them. Since that neighbor has a ton of other Halloween decorations in her yard, it makes perfect sense that Adele associates the word "boo" with all things Halloween, I guess.

We tried to take her to ZooBoo (in the cold, rainy weather) on Saturday, but what we didn't know was that it didn't start until 2. We got there about 11. By 1:45 we had a very tried little girl on our hands who was scared of all of the "boos" and didn't really want anything to do with them. We took her home and will try again later. If I ever find the camera (or get up out of my chair to look for it) I'll post pictures of our little Ladybug. She was cute wearing her costume the whole time, regardless of if we were there for the scheduled event or not!

She continues to do well with potty training. She isn't fully in "big girl pants" yet though, because she does have a little bit of a stubborn streak in her. She was not very interested in potty training at all during Fall Break, so we didn't push it. Plus, potty training is a bit difficult when wearing a ladybug costume at the zoo!

In other news, she has started talking up a storm. She will repeat just about any word that we say. In addition to her infatuation with Halloween, she loves all things Elmo, purple and Cookie and will answer (with arms outstretched) "this much" if you ask her how much she loves them!

She has started to understand the telephone and will grab ours and say, "hello" in the cutest voice ever, but when it comes to actually talking to someone on the phone, she's still a bit mystified. She did request that I call Bapa last night at bedtime, but she was distracted by the time Memaw answered, and Bapa wasn't home anyway.

Her favorite animal is the elephant, thanks to Bapa's awesome elephant noise. If you live near us and have a chance to see Adele anytime soon, just ask her about it. (Asking about Bapa, elephants, or Bapa's favorite animal will do the trick!) Otherwise, stay tuned, we've been trying to tape all of her cute-isms lately (however, she hasn't been very cooperative lately.)

She can now "sing along" with the ABC song (with her favorite letters, at least). She is especially fond of the letters Pp, Ss, Xx and Zz.

She loves riding in the new mini-van, and has become quite adept at telling us which direction to go. She knows right where the park is, and is often disappointed when we don't listen to her and go "that way" (she points).

I feel like there are a million other things to brag about, but I can't seem to remember any of them right now. Daddy and I agree that 21 months (is she really THAT old???) is an awesome age. We fall in love with her all over again about twenty times each night. Every time she goes to do something (even when she has her little tantrums) it is the cutest thing ever. I'm very glad that we're expecting number two during this stage, because it makes me appreciate Adele growing up, and I'm not too eager to keep her as my "baby."

Potty Training!!!

I apologize for not having any pictures today, but Adele has been working on potty training, which basically means that she runs around the house without any bottoms on...at all. She has learned how to take her diaper off, and that is usually the very first thing she does when we get home from Miss Jenny's. And off the diaper stays until bedtime. (And even then, once I get her overnight diaper on, she immediately wants to "pee pee"...)

She's making pretty good progress at home. We still put a diaper on her when we go anywhere, and she's great when we're out and about at keeping the diaper on (thank goodness!) She has only had a few accidents, and that was mostly because we didn't get her to the potty in time (once she was strapped in to her high chair, and we didn't understand what she needed.)

She has even pooped in the potty for the past two nights. Hopefully tonight will make the third!

Daddy is not at all into this phase, but I must say, it's kind of exciting watching our "baby" grow up right before our eyes!

Adele's Newest Favorite Pastime

Miss Jenny, Adele's babysitter had her baby, Annie at the beginning of September. We were a little bit nervous about how our "baby" would do at daycare with another little, tiny person there. So far, so good:
Adele and Baby Annie:


In fact, Adele loves Baby Annie so much that she has started carrying her doll everywhere with her and has even been "taking care" of her:



Mommy and Daddy couldn't be more excited about Adele's recent behaviors-we just hope this phase sticks around for a while:
Our "Little Bean" is expected to arrive sometime this May, and Adele is already shaping up to be a fantastic Big Sister!

Busy Fall!

It has finally started to feel like Fall here in Indiana, so here are some pictures of Adele doing, well..."Fall" things...

We went to a Pumpkin Fest a few weeks ago, Adele liked the hayride and the pumpkins, but wasn't a huge fan of the blow-up attractions. Silly girl!


Here she is "decorating" the pumpking Bapa grew and brought her from Wisconsin:

Princess Dress!

While Memaw is in town, she's working on sewing a practice dress for Adele's flower girl dress for Aunt DeeDee's wedding. We went to pick out fabric yesterday, and I decided to have her sew a pink dress so that Adele can wear it for Halloween (and be a princess). Here she is with what's done of the dress-I think it's priceless!



The pictures aren't the best quality, and it was bedtime, so Adele wasn't very cooperative, but I'm sure there will be more pictures when the dress is done!

Picnic Lunch with Memaw

Miss Jenny had her baby last week, so Memaw and Bapa are here for 2 weeks to play with Miss Adele while we're at work. I stumbled upon these and couldn't pass them up:

Pudding

Last weekend, I took Adele shopping with me. She demanded that I get some pudding. I'm not sure that she's ever had pudding before, and I wouldn't say that the jello pudding boxes are all that attractive, but that didn't matter to Adele. She saw those little boxes and wanted one! When we got home, I decided to go ahead and make it with her. She was a very helpful assistant!