Instamatic

pooksy pooks
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

Life is surely moving at break-neck speed. Just a year and a half later, she is now a little girl; interested in little-girl things such as which shoes she wants to wear and whether or not she can noodle us into giving her a second popsicle.
She masters more words every day it seems, and we can almost watch her hair grow. Her delicate curls are as delightful as her tiny demands for "I KEEM." She is also getting the nack of the pool. She is starting to kick her feet and pretend to swim as we hold her floating in the water.

It's officially SUMMER

sweet pea
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

Annabel went swimming twice today. Once at the South Berkshire Community Center in Gt. Barrington with her best friend Maya, and once with daddy at the Art Omi pool. Afterward she played a little stay-put frog in one of Ledig house's weathered Adirondack chairs. She loved Tommy's pasta and his key lime pie. Yum. She also was fairly good about drinking water from a cup. She is steady as a rock all the way to the last inch. At that point she's usually quenched her thirst and is testing the bounds of gravity and the cleanliness of the floor.

Such a big girl

Yesterday, Annabel had her 18-month well baby visit with her pediatrician. She weighed 19 pounds, 15 ounces (exactly one pound more than her 15-month check up) and she measured 31 1/4 inces tall (1 1/4 inches taller).
She trying to fit into some BIG shoes, I think.
The visit was actually good timing, since she started spiking a fever the afternoon before. Her temperature is still going up and down, and her throat was red, but her strep test was negative. She had hives today, but they were gone by the time Jed got to the doctors' office with her to have it examined. She's on the mend.
Of course, the illness itself was BAD timing: Jed's mom is here and was really looking forward to looking after her. Thankfully, she was still mostly happy and herself.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

Annabel and I took another break from our morning naps to cheer on Dad during his game in Chatham on Sunday. She yelled 'Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy' until she noticed her new Little People farm animals and decided to chant 'Moo, Moo, Bok, Bok.'
Jed's team won, (although it wasn't a terribly clean victory. The oposing team had kind of given up when someone from Chatham snuck one past the goalie.
Afterward we went to brunch at Caroline's with Papa and Ama (as she has taken to calling Grandma Lyn). She had some omlett some pankcake and strawberries. It was a great feast. The napless morning, however meant she slept through our afternoon yoga class. Ah ... Relaxation.

A little perspective

a little perspective
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

Annabel laughs with 'Aunt Lisa,' during a RECORD newspaper alumni wedding over the weekend. She spent her 18-month birthday celebrating the wedding of Rick Arthur and Marilyn Hipp in the beautiful Fabius countryside. Considering the trip made her forego her usual three-hour nap, and without the help of dad (who had to work), I think she did pretty well. She was happy and joyful and played under the table at all the most appropriate moments. She also saw butterflies (that the wedding party released but they refused to disperse; bears (the stuffed toy variety in the lodge where the reception was held) and talking horses (thanks to the farmer who made the percherons lips move just before the hayride). Excitements everywhere.

Let me guess. ...

whaddoilooklike CARNACK?
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

Yes, just a few hours away from being 18 months old. My does time fly when you're having fun. Tomorrow we are off to a wedding, so hopefully we shall have some pretty pictures of miss Bell in her special smocked dress for her next milestone portrait (which are still being posted at http://annabelcleary.tripod.com each month).

I know, I know. Where does she get the time for all this posting, she's so busy, busy, busy!
Lately her busy work has included putting the plastic coins in the right slots of the cash register at Lori's house; pounding plastic widgets through a hole with a plastic hammer; wiping up dog drool with her clean, fresh-from-the-laundry-basket clothes; and laughing at her parents' bad jokes.

One of the CUTEST things she did, however, we didn't even get to witness. As they were waiting for dear old mom to get out of work and whisk her away, the Risley girls had sat down with Annabel to watch the AMAZING tales of Ralph, the Motorcycle Mouse. It seems this little rodent is always getting himself into trouble and always in need of assistance to get him out of his predicaments. He falls in a hole, gets trapped in a box and chased by cats time and time again. In one scene he pleaded for help; and Annabel, being her sweet and helpful self, tried to enlist Tierney to step in and rescue him. "Help TEEte, Help!"

Summer reads

reading in the water
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

Annabel was thrilled when we visited the South Berkshire Community Center Sunday with friends recently and the pool toys there included books. She kept bringing them to me and saying 'THAT!' as if to marvel at the innovation of a waterproof book. I'm sorry I don't have any photographs of her face. She's so busy, she doesn't EVER want to look up when she's in the pool.

The most exciting news, of course, is that Annabel is finally saying two-word phrases: the first utterance was "Waffles Daddy" and now she's saying "ALL DONE!" It's very cute, she's so thrilled with the two words she says them over and over, getting louder and louder each time. (Occasionally even taking a bite of food in between each prase). She's also having a ball lately playing in her kitchen, making pretend breakfasts of cylindricle foam eggs and even adding pinches of her pilfered herbs. She's getting much better and controlling things with her hands, gliding the right parts into their corresponding receptacles. She is amazing to watch.

Dad's toys

Dad plays with toys
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

We got a bit of a late start on Friday. We got drawn in to playing on the sun porch with the FAO duck, when, lo and behold, Annabel spied daddy working out the kinks in his truck. She ran right over to the window, started slapping the pains and yelling, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy. It was very cute.
Today she had a four-hour nap in the morning and went to lunch at the Taconic Diner with "Papa, Ama, Mo, Mama and Daddy. She ate yogurt, fish, French fries, and some cereal. She also sampled milk, juice and water. MMMMmmmm good.

For me? You shouldn't have

For me? You shouldn't have
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

Yeah, you REALLY shouldn't have ... But it's the first surprise brought back by DAD from one of his trips to NYC so how could you resist? This most recent job brought him right nextdoor to FAO Schwarz. And, as luck would have it, (depending on your definition) dad had some time to kill and decided to take a peek inside.

"I knew it was something special because there was a soldier out in front of the place tooting on his trumpet, and two guys inside jumping around on the BIG piano, playing Chopin."

He searched high, he searched low ... and it was THIS duck -- bigger in girth but equal in height to little miss Annabel -- that caught his fancy.

The only other sound's the sweep ...

sweep
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

Ah, a lazy early summer day at Lori's house. Taking a break from her new favorite game of "sweeping" to make her mark on the front steps. A budding artist and clean freak, what more could we ask? Annabel is certainly making the most of her time at Lori's. She sleeps off her weekends there on Mondays and spends the rest of the week practicing learning her colors, making homemade clay sculptures and reading all her favorite books. She cries when she has to come home, and we thing that's GREAT.

Fun in the sun

fun bounce
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

Annabel had a wonderful time at Maeve's hot dog party Saturday (until mom went to catch her coming down the slide, bent over and the camera strapped to her back came crashing forward, landing smack-dab in the middle of Annabel's forehead.) That was it ... playtime over. But she's OK, not even much of a bruise after we forced her to sit with an ice pack for an hour. The important part is that she had copious amounts of fun splashing with Maeve and Soirse in the pool and bouncing in the bounce house in their backyard. She loved it!
We also went visiting Abby, one of her other friends, for lunch on Saturday. The whole time Annabel just wanted to hug and kiss her and climb on her "tea cart."

Here kitty, kitty, kitty ...

cat chase I
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

What a pip. Annabel loves our neighbor's cats, and, oddly enough, they like her, too. Usually she can catch up to one and give him gentle strokes. They often roll over and let her rub their tummys.
Don't let the serenity of this moment fool you, though. If they don't oblige, there's a price to pay. Usual in the form of tears and liberal stomping of feet. The terrible one-and-a-halves are already here!

Namaste

yoga baby
Originally uploaded by toyfoto.

"The devine in me bows to the devine in you." Namaste.
Seventeen months old and still enjoying a little yoga with mom. She'll do anything to keep from going to bed. Actually, though, yoga has really been a joy. She went through phase where she didn't like any of the poses and just wanted to be held. Now she's enjoying Flying Baby again and loves to give and get eskimo kisses while she rests in the soles of my feet in bhadakonasana.
Happy baby.