Spotlight on Abbie

Abbie is16 months old now. She adds so much to our life--sweetness, giggles, pink, messes, dollies, crumbs all over the floor.... She is a girly girl: loves pretty dresses, shoes, hats, hair things, necklaces, and sunglasses. It's fun to watch her get excited about her accessories. We've tried "hair pretties" a few times, but they don't usually last long before she pulls them out.

The hat is a "must" whenever we go out.

Showing off her sunglasses. She puts them on and runs around like a crazy woman, grinning from ear to ear and only stopping long enough to get a squeeze from me for her cuteness.

She loves books and always seems to be on the lookout for someone who is sitting down. Apparently, she thinks that is an open invitation to grab a book, climb in the lap, and be read to. She points out animals and makes some of the appropriate noises. Her favorite books are "Farmer Will," "Baby Looks," "Baby Listens," and the Llama Llama books. She gets really animated on certain pages, like the one where Mama Llama is drinking coffee just like Abbie's mama does and the one with dark clouds and rain coming down. She goes through a lot of trouble to show us the connections she's making. For example, she points to the llama's pajamas, then to her pajamas. Or she'll point to the teddy bear and hold up Toby's Pooh bear. It's fun to see her interact with the books.

Abbie is also an excellent mess-maker. She loves to strew things about the floor, get out all the plastic containers, dump the clothespins, etc. She has discovered the fun of climbing and often gets stuck in awkward places. Her independence is growing, and she wants to feed herself, which results in big messes after meals. She has recently spurned the high chair, so we are in the process of teaching her to stay seated in her chair during meals. Obedience has really become an issue now that she has her own ideas of what she wants to do. All part of being a toddler.... =)

Such fun!

 She has such an expressive face! Her sad faces are especially precious and funny. The 3 most tragic things in Abbie's life right now are being denied the camera, Mama's cell phone, or a trip outside. This is almost certainly her reaction to one of the three:

So far Abbie doesn't care a whole lot about talking. She likes to make animal noises and says "uh-uh" and "gah!" a lot. She can say "Mama" but rarely does. She calls our house helper "Bah." We're pretty sure she says "Baba" for Papa (usually in a distressed tone and accompanied by loud wailing because he isn't taking her along outside). Last week she learned the word "enak" (Indonesian for "yummy"), and she proudly uses that word now.

I think her language is coming along slower because of hearing 2 languages and because she's focusing more on physical skills. She's a fantastic little walker! I occasionally take the kids with me down to a little store to buy groceries. It's hard to estimate the distance, but it's at least half a mile round trip, maybe more like a mile. She usually walks almost the whole way there and back. She loves it! And she gets lots of attention from the locals, who just think it's the cutest thing to see this tiny little white girl walking on her own two legs. Abbie has also acquired the very important skill of bracing herself for her brother's tackles. She's pretty good at preparing herself for his rough play, and if she's in the mood, she quite enjoys it.

We really love our sweet girl.