Weekend Full of Milestones

Ever since Abby turned a year old, she's been going through a developmental growth spurt. This weekend was a big one for her.

Friday, I took Abby to Damon's work to play with a couple of his staff's dogs. Two of the women he works with have these teeny dogs that they bring in to work with them. Abby had a blast. The first dog had had a bad experience with kids, so he didn't hang around very long because he was terrified of Abby and kept barking at her. The second dog was this 3lb. Maltese/Poodle mix puppy. She was adorable! Abby would slowly reach out to touch her, and the puppy would lick her hand as soon as she was close enough. Abby thought this was hilarious.

While we were at Damon's work, we took Abby through the dining room to see the residents. Since she's gotten better at walking, she doesn't like to be held for long, so we let her go. The residents really enjoyed seeing her walk in the aisles between the tables. One lady gave Abby her menu, which was in a leather folder, and Abby took it with her for a few feet before she sat herself on the floor to "read" it. She loves books. She's not patient enough to sit while we read to her, though.

On Saturday, we went to Red Robin for lunch. We decided that Abby is now old enough to get her own meal. She's not a baby anymore! I ordered her the chicken strips and french fries because she loves chicken. Seriously, she'd be happy eating chicken all day long if we let her. It came with 2 big chicken strips, and after I peeled the breading off and shredded it for her, she ate an entire one and about 3-4 french fries.

That evening, I managed to get the remote from Damon during a commercial break in the NFL playoffs, and found the Dog Show was on. I said, "Abby look! Dog!" and repeated the word "dog" several times. Once she saw what I was pointing at, she was hooked. While she watched, she said "dog." She didn't get the "g" sound, though, so it came out "do," but it was clear she was talking about the dogs on tv. Also, earlier in the week, I would say "thank you" every time she'd hand me a piece of food instead of dropping it on the floor and she'd imitate me with "takee" every time. So far, she's only said each word the one time, but she's getting there.

We've been trying to slowly wean Abby off her bottle. At first, she'd only take a sip here and there from her cup, but every time she did I would get excited, clap and say "YAY!!!" Now she's put the two together, so whenever I say "YAY!" she'll start clapping even if I don't.

One last thing she figured out this weekend was that she can put toys in things. We bought this instrument set for Christmas where the smaller instruments fit inside the plastic drum. This weekend, she would put whatever toys were handy inside the drum. It's about time she started carrying her weight around here. Now that we know she knows how to put things away, it's time she started picking up after herself. LOL!