Having fun eating out

Yea, I know what you're thinking - we eat out too much. That's probably true, but when it yields such great photos how can you really fault us? We took Abbie out for Italian on Sunday night and she had a pretty good time trying lots of new foods - calamari (not battered), sun-dried tomatoes and bread pudding were just a few of her new adventures. So much for introducing one new food at a time.

Once boredom set in we took her outside to run up and down the sidewalk. As you can see below, she found a pine cone and insisted upon bringing it inside with her. The picture below also shows off her new shoes which she got a week or so ago and really loves.

Talk about multi-tasking.

Notice the pine cone bits around her mouth. Nice.

In the picture above, I personally think she looks like my brother looked as a baby. The fact that people used to mistake us for twins, implies that she must look at least somewhat like me.

More Teeth

OK, this will probably be the last tooth that I announce. Once you've reached 4 I think you officially have a set and the novelty wears off a bit. Abbie has officially reached that point. Tooth #4 broke though yesterday and is making good progress. It is the right, center upper tooth. That means that she now has a very symmetrical, and complementary set of teeth. She made sure to alert me to this yesterday as I was trying to feel her gums. She literally grabbed onto my hand to hold it in place while she chomped down on my finger. I let out quite a yelp - those suckers are sharp!

Other activities - tonight we took her out for sushi for dinner. It works out pretty well because she can chow down on edamame, sticky rice, veggies, and cooked beef, while we can get a few rolls from the sushi bar (not to mention the sake). In addition, there are two fish tanks to look at and plenty of waitresses interested in carrying her around.

This weekend, one set of grandparents is coming for a brief visit, and next weekend the other set of grandparents will be here for a few days. I'm sure these visits will yield some great pictures that I can post. . .

Tunnel of Fun

We recently set up a Fun Tunnel in the living room. Both Abbie and Boris have had fun crawling in and around it. It's pretty impressive. It's probably 8 feet long but then flattens up and packs away really easily.

Abbie has gotten much better about gently petting Boris rather than torturing him incessantly. Accordingly, he has gotten better about staying in place and not running at the first sight of her.

Last night we took Abbie to an outdoor concert at the student union. She really liked the music a lot and did a fair bit of dancing. It's pretty cute to watch. Intermittently she'll just bend her knees and start bouncing. The whole activity worked out pretty well. She got lots of exercise, got to see a dog, and got to interact with some other kids her age. Meanwhile, Mommy and Daddy got to enjoy a beer and a brat.

Another Tooth

Tonight I discovered that Abbie's third tooth has arrived. It is the left center tooth on the top. It has just barely broken through the gumline. Now that there is about to be something to oppose the two bottom center teeth, I suspect she will be unstoppable. :)

Entertaining Tricks

Abbie is quiet the entertainer lately (whether she means to be or not). I thought I would share a few of her recent "tricks".

Face in Water - For this trick Abbie practices deliberately sticking her face in the water at the pool. However, she doesn't realize that she should be holding her breath, so she always comes up coughing a second later.

Panic Button - Abbie likes to play with our keys and has realized that pushing the red button will cause the car to make an interesting noise that can easily be heard in the house. Accordingly, she makes a point of getting the keys and setting off the car alarm on a regular basis.

Cell Phone - Abbie likes to play with our cell phones. So that she doesn't call anyone accidentally, we have tended to turn off the phone before giving it to her. She has now figured out how to turn it back on.

These are all the interesting tricks I can think of off-hand, but there are others potentially in the works. We know that she knows which button to push to unbuckle her seatbelt, but she doesn't have the strength to do it yet. Also, she knows how to pull the blue tabs to unfasten her diaper, but so far she has only chosen to perform this trick once. I'm waiting for the day when I leave her in her diaper only to see her running down the hall naked moments later.

Random Photos, etc.

Reading the paper with Mommy on a lazy Sunday.

I was in the kitchen the other day when I heard Abbie playing in her toy box. When I went in a few minutes later to see what she was up to I was shocked to find that she was literally playing in her toy box. She is a little climber these days.

Enjoying the swings at the park. This one is blurry but it conveys her love for swinging really high.

Updates from Abbie's one-year check up with our new pediatrician - she is doing well on the development front, and is dainty like Mommy used to be on the growth front. 28.5 inches in length (30th percentile), 18 pounds, 14 ounces in weight (17th percentile), 46.5 cm head circumference (85th percentile).

Other than that, there isn't much excitement. We have been taking her to the mall to run around a lot lately. Victoria's Secret has a couple of stuffed dogs that she likes to visit and another store has a couple of stuffed sheep that she likes. Turns out that she can make a "Baaa" sound like a sheep makes. It's pretty cute. This is her first animal impersonation (unless you count the little scream that she makes whenever she sees a kitty, which may be her attempt at a "meow").