First zoo trip of the year!

Gloria and I went to the zoo two weeks ago on Monday, March 16. It was a beautiful day out - not too cold, bright sun, and no wind. Not all of the animals are out for the winter, but we were able to see many of the ones that endure the winter and early spring weather.


Our first stop was at the petting zoo. Even though we couldn't go in to pet the animals, they came right up to us at the fence. The goats thought Gloria's shoes smelled delicious!




We stayed about an hour, walking/strolling around the zoo, looking at the animals that were out enjoying the nice weather. We saw the llamas, the chimpanzees, the lions, the tiger, the mountain lions, and the bears. Gloria got really into watching the animals run around and play. We're going to have a blast at the zoo as it gets warmer.


While we were looking at the bears, I asked Gloria if she could say "bear" and she did!

When we came home Gloria crawled through my garden and let Rob chase her around the driveway! It was such a great day!

Holy moly molars! and more

Last week Gloria's two bottom molars finally began to emerge. Nothing like waiting months for them to make their debut. She's been chewing on her fingers quite a bit, but other than that she's been just as perfect as usual. Her top molars don't appear to be close to coming out. There's not even a swollen spot yet.















On Tuesday, Gloria and I were looking at pictures of her and Grandpa at Grandpa's birthday party. I was narrating the pictures for her, telling her what we were seeing when all of a sudden she said "Grandpa." It was pretty close to the actual word too with two syllables...not baby babble. Then, not a minute later, she said it again!

"If you need someone to help you open presents, you can hire me!"

"I love my Grandpa."

Back in January when we started giving Gloria whole milk to drink she was having none of it. She didn't like it, didn't want it, no way, no how! We were able to get her to drink a little bit by mixing some chocolate milk with it and giving it to her out of a big cup.

"Milk from Daddy's cup. (This was before I really liked it.)"

Fast forward to now. Gloria drinks at least 8 ounces of milk a day with her meals, and usually more. She doesn't need any chocolate mixed in and she drinks it from a sippy cup (without a stopper) and doesn't spill. We are in no way worried about her dairy consumption because she loves cheese and yogurt too.

"You've all seen milk mustaches, but I'm the first one with a milk beard!"

"Cheese!"

I'm almost done with nursing Gloria. We are down to just one nursing session a day, right before she goes to bed at night. I will miss the closeness, but it is definitely time. April 16 is the last time I will nurse her. (Yes, I have a scheduled date. I have a bachelorette party on the 18th and then April and I are going to a Britney Spears concert on the 28th in Chicago.) It's going to be hard because she's known this since the day she was born. I've nursed her before bed every day of her life. Thus I am going to enjoy and savor each night from now until then. My sweet baby girl is growing up.

"I love playing farm!"

It's beginning to look a lot like SPRING!

"My first little red car ride of the year!"
2-27-09

We have been so glad that the weather is getting a bit warmer and the snow has finally melted. Well, all of it except for a little pile in the front yard. Gloria has a blast outside! She likes to walk around the driveway, pick up leaves and sticks to put in her bucket, push her little red car around, ride in her little red car, sit in the chair that Zach built, look at the creek, look for deer, look for dogs, and the list goes on.

"I'm queen of the rock!"
3-15-09

"Off to explore with my favorite exploring partner - Daddy!"

"I'm looking for treasures to put in my bucket."

"Here's something cool!"

"All done exploring. We're heading home for lunch."

Ouch!

On Saturday, Gloria got her first big ouchie. She and Grammy were walking to Great Grandma & Grandpa's house. Gloria did not want to ride in her stroller. She wanted to walk. Well, somewhere between Grammy's house and Great-Grandma's house, Gloria fell down on the sidewalk and scraped up her face. She didn't cry much at all and wanted to keep walking. Her nose and forehead were pretty red on Saturday, but now it's just a bit scabby and red on her nose.

Oh, the dangers of learning to walk and wanting to do things on your own.

"My scraped up nose and the bump on my forehead don't bother me one bit!"

3-14-09

"No more bump on my forehead! Just some scratches on my nose."
3-15-09

3-15-09

"Bath please."

Gloria said her second sentence last week. Rob had told her that she was going to take a bath, so she kept saying bath - sounds like "bah" - and he asked her to say "bath please." And she did! "Bah plea."

Tonight we weren't planning on giving Gloria a bath. Rob and Gloria came inside after walking up to get the mail and Gloria started doing the sign for bath. Rob asked her if she wanted to take a bath, and she nodded and kept doing the sign for bath. She loves taking baths!

"There are bubbles on my head, on my head!"

Baby signs

Rob, Gloria, and I signed up for a class to learn baby sign language. It's 6 weeks/classes long and put on by Gymboree. At first I thought Gloria was too old to do it, even though it's geared toward 6-18 months. I talked to the teacher of it and some parents who have done it before and they convinced me that Gloria was at the perfect age to learn and use sign language. It's a great age for it because kids finally have good control over their hands and fingers, they can comprehend what we say and know what we're talking about, and because they want to communicate with us.

We've gone to 4 classes so far. In each class we learn 6 signs that correspond with the theme of the class. We've done mealtime (more, all done, drink, eat, cereal, and milk), bathtime (frog, duck, bath, bubbles, water, and toothbrush), bedtime (love, stars, light, sleep, moon, and book), and getting dressed (socks, shoes, coat, hat, diaper, and comb).

Gloria has quickly picked up the signs that we do consistently. She does the sign for more if she wants more bites of food or wants to play something again. She will sign all done if we ask her if she is done. Occasionally she will sign drink. She knows how to sign book and say it at the same time. Gloria learned how to sign stars at Gymboree because we do it when we sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and will sign it whenever she hears that song or hears the word 'stars'. She can sign hat which is pretty easy, just patting your head, because she knows that's where a hat goes. She also signs bath when she wants to take a bath or when we tell her it's bathtime!

It's amazing how quickly Gloria picked it up and how well she understands it. We're excited for the next two classes - pets and at the park!

"Vrooming around on my bus - I'm just learning how to use my feet to go on my own."
2-24-09

First cold

Poor baby Gloria just had to endure her first cold ever. It lasted 10 days - February 24 to March 5. Her nose was running, she was congested, she couldn't nurse very well and had coughing attacks whenever she tried to sleep. We had to wipe her nose off all of the time, and she didn't enjoy that. Rob bought a baby nose saline spray and it only took one time for Gloria to realize that, hey, it helped her quite a bit. So, she didn't fight that after the first time. But, we got through it and now Gloria is back to her normal happy-go-lucky self. I hope that we don't have to deal with too many colds. It was no fun at all.

"Even though I have a cold and my nose is running, I still have fun and smile - sometimes."

Adventures - August & September 2008

I came across some pictures from last year that I never shared on the blog, so I thought we'd do a flashback. Back to August and September 2008 - here we go!

"My first time in a high chair at a restaurant!"

August 8, 2008

"Visiting Saugatuck, Michigan with Mommy and Grammy!"

August 27, 2008

"Cruisin' around the driveway in my walker"

September 3, 2008

"Having lunch with Mommy and Auntie April..."

"...and then playing at the park!"

September 5, 2008

Chillaxin'

"Here I am, waking up after my morning nap. Mommy just took off my jammies and is ready to get me dressed. I have other ideas though! I want to play in my bed!"

"Chillaxin' as Mommy changes my diaper."

(Chillaxin' : chilling + relaxing
I'm picking up new lingo as I get older!)

"I love to stretch!"

"Holy moly! I can't believe I was ever that little. That can't possibly be me, can it?!"
February 1, 2008 to February 23, 2009

An artist!

Little Gloria Grace is a budding artist. She loves to draw on her magna-doodle and we are starting to let her color on paper with crayons. She gets quite into it, pulling out her coloring book every chance she gets. Sometimes Gloria is more interested in getting the crayons out of the bag and putting them back in, but when she chooses to color she creates the most gorgeous masterpieces!