Allie's 22 Month Birthday
Monday 24 May 2010 at 02:35 am.
Used tags: alya, birthday, critters, family_outings, lily
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So Allie turned 22 months old on the 22nd (yesterday)! Since it fell on a Saturday and I didn't have to work, Vin and I had a fun day planned out for the girl. And I apologize way in advance for the sheer number of pictures in this entry.
(Allie wanted to try her old entertainment center again - she was much too tall for it but she had fun pretending to be half her age!)
* Mouse over the pictures for captions
So in the past month, Allie seems to have gone through a bit of a growth spurt. She's outgrown her shoes and a bunch of her clothes so Vin and I have outfitted her for the summer with 24-month clothes. She definitely is very chatty and says a lot of things (none of them actual words), and her animal noise repertoire keeps growing. She knows how to yawn, to sneeze, body parts (in English and Malay), and some animals in Malay too. She's quite adept and walking and running, branching out to walk (upright!) up and down the little stairs by the stage. She practises walking on her knees and she also loves to walk backwards like a little mini-moonwalker. Her hand-eye coordination seems pretty good, too. Allie chases after those bubbles and pops every one that she can, throwing her body around on the grass as she does this. She sings and dances, picking up melodies very quickly. She's quite good at climbing on the furniture - she can get on the piano stool by herself to play the piano. She is starting to learn her colors (she knows red, green, and yellow), and is beginning to understand that the letters on the page mean something. As of May 14, 2010, she is now fully weaned! I think I probably miss our time together more than she does. She took it like a trooper. So we had to establish a new bedtime routine. Her new favorite book is Hop on Pop by Dr Seuss, which we have to read multiple times before bed (and sometimes before her nap as well). She giggles with anticipation when she gets the book in her hands!
Okay, enough chit-chat. Let's get to the pictures. In the morning, we start with milk and running around in the house.
The above is a combination of my breakfast (Coke, empty chocolate soy milk glass, and strawberries & dark chocolate raisinets), and Allie's breakfast part 2 (toasted cinnamon raisin bagels with butter, and milk). She had, by this time, already demolished her fruit course (blueberries/oatmeal/milk). And before anyone gets their knickers in a twist about the Coke, I only have one can of Coke on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays when I'm home. I've really cut down. 
Allie really was only playing with my bowl of strawberries. She, as it turns out, does not like strawberries. Nor is she too excited about chocolate. She does like raisins though. But there you go. She loves most other fruits though so I don't make too big a thing of her preference to avoid strawberries, and maybe it's a good thing she doesn't like chocolate!
Then we get dressed! Like I said before, we had big plans for the day!
I chose the above dress for Allie's day out because a) it was going to be a high of 80 F (roughly 25 C), and b) the hummingbird in honor of Vin's newly published poem (page 29).
But first, Vin drove Allie in the car for the surefire quickest way to get her to fall asleep and take a short nap (she slept for 50 minutes or so). And then it was time to go.
It had been cold and rainy in the past week or so, and Allie had been chafing and dying to go outside to play, and today was the first day that it was both warm and occasionally sunny. And not rainy at all. And so, off we went to the Cincinnati Zoo!
Okay, so I don't actually know what the animal's name is in the enclosure behind Vin and Allie. They were primates of some kind, and had really long fluffy white tails, and they were colored like skunks so I have dubbed them Skunkeys (skunk + monkey). And holy cow, everyone in the tri-state area and their brothers were at the zoo! Filled to bursting with humans and their young! But Vin and I have become members of the zoo, and will now be able to go to the zoo for free for a year, which means we plan to take Allie there during the weekdays when hopefully, we won't be completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of people there. So in my defense, there were too many people there and we didn't get to read all the signs and enjoy the leisurely day of animal-watching that we had envisioned. Anyway, it was then time for a lunch break.
Back to animal-watching.
We had an adventure at the elephant enclosure:
The elephant-keeper petted and scratched that elephant's trunk and I swear, it started a weird loud growl. I imagine that is what an elephant's purr sounds like. It was quite happy. And then the elephants all started trumpeting, and holy cow it was LOUD! All the spectators jumped, Allie jumped about a foot (she was in Vin's arms luckily), and a bunch of the children started crying! Allie was a trooper and did not cry even though it was clear she was frightened. So then we said goodbye to the elephants, and goodbye to the zoo (vowing to return for a more thorough view on a less crowded day). Allie fell asleep on the way back home, tired out by her adventures.
So then we got home, and when Allie woke up she was ready for more fun!
It wasn't the first (or last) time she did it, too. Yes, Allie's new milk trick consists of chugging a bunch of milk then opening her mouth and letting it trickle down. She breaks out into fits of giggles afterwards. We get frustrated about it because we have to now try to balance between knowing when she's actually really thirsty and will just keep drinking milk like there's no tomorrow (spilling nary a drop), and when she's no longer thirsty and just ready to play with the milk. Vin's given her a stern talking to about milk being a "privilege, not a right". As you can see, it's not done much good.
So...outfit change!
We went outside again to enjoy the beautiful, warm weather.
We go in for dinner and a little more hanging out:
And then it was bath- and bedtime for little girls!
It's been yet another amazing day and an amazing month! Allie is full of fun and love, and hugs and kisses. We can't wait to see what she will do in the coming days. And to close, one of my favorite pictures of Vin and Allie taken while they were looking at the white tiger:
See y'alls next month!
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