22 Months

Dear Ayla,

This has been a busy month for us! Mommy is off work and you were only in daycare a few days so we got to hang out lots! We had such a great time visiting friends and checking out new places to play and hang out.

Stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 14 oz
Height: 30.75"

You are starting to chat a lot more and put a couple of words together into phrases. Its pretty awesome to watch you learn and grow. You are starting to ask for things using "please", we are still working on thank you. You have definite ideas of what you like and don't like and you are starting to tell us those, not always in the most fun ways, but we are working on that too!

We spent a lot of July hanging out with friends. We went Redwood park a few times with Mabel and Aliyah and Daddy's friend Jessica was in town and her kids came for dinner. You had a great time playing with Benjamin and Talia. You and Talia are only about 3 weeks apart in age and had a fun time playing in the turtle pool.

You have really started to use your imagination when playing. You cook lots of things in your kitchens and here you are pretending to go "night, night" on the kitchen floor. You have also discovered "hiding" in both the laundry room and pantry and then saying "boo" to daddy or I. 

Mommy has been working out in the park with Phaedra and Erika and you are happy to come along for the ride, as long as you get to play at some point. We often end up walking to Starbucks after and you "steal" mommy's tea.

You had anther visit to the hospital this month :( but thankfully they were able to help you and you were home quickly. We still dont know why, but when you woke up, you threw up 7 or 8 times for no reason, you couldn't keep anything down. Even at the hospital, they gave you meds to help you stop throwing up, and you threw those up too. It was so sad and scary to watch helplessly. We finally got meds, and liquid in you and within an hour you were feeling much better. The silver lining, mommy got lots of cuddle that weekend! On the Monday, we tried to go out for breakfast for Laura's birthday, but you didnt want to eat much, so you drank milk from a straw for the first time.

The biggest change this summer was mommy's new "beep beep" which you quickly claimed as "Aya's car." You love mommy's new car and you even let her drive it, after you have done everything you need to do in the front seat.

It was a bitter-sweet day in mid-July when we said goodbye to your first daycare. You made some very special friends there and learned some pretty cool things, but the time came to move on. It was sad to say goodbye to the people who people who played such an important part of the last 10 months of your life, but changes there led to the decision that it was time to move on. I am thankful and appreciate of these lovely people who were part of your life! Hopefully we will see them at the park once in a while!

This month we went back to music and you really enjoyed being able to make noise. Mommy was very impressed with how well you were able to keep the beat and play in time to songs. You were also an excellent cleaner, something we wish you would do as well at home. After after class, we would walk over the the play cafe for lunch and a play date. We also met up with some baby group friends there one rainy Saturday, So great to have such a fun place walking distance from our house.

Mommy's friend Jen was in town and we met up with her, her husband and 2 kids. It was the first time they had met you and mommy met Kirstie. Kirstie is 6 months younger than you, and you guys had fun playing together at the park. You even went up a super high ladder onto a giant slide! So much fun!

It was Sophia's 9th birthday, and sadly it rained so the swimming part got cancelled. You had a great time dressing up at her house and celebrating with your big cousin!

We had a lot of fun just hanging out and being with friends. Here are some of my fav pics of us just hanging out...

We also spent a lot of time at the park, and you discovered that its fun to run in bare feet. You also insist that when your shoes come off, that so do mommy and daddys!

August 1 was a BIG day for you - you went on your first air plane ride! While we had been talking about it for a while, I dont think you really knew what it meant. We had to wake you up super early (4:00) and you were so groggy but you LOVED the bus ride from the car to the terminal. On the way to Toronto, we tried everything we could to get you back to sleep, but you decided that it was too much fun and you only needed a 45 minute nap on mom and dads laps. In Toronto we spent a lot of time with cousin Matthew, autie Lindsay, uncle Eyal and auntie Maya and uncle Andrew. You loved checking out all the new places we showed you.

You got to ride a miniature train and dip your feet into Lake Ontario. You didnt care that it was cold!

 We went to the Aquarium one morning with autie Maya and got to see all kinds of cool fish.

We even took a ferry to Toronto Island for a morning. You sand Matthew loves being outside and exploring.

 The plane ride home was CRAZY!!! You were overtired and hungry and didnt want to eat or sleep, you just wanted to be up and checking out everything and everyone one on the plane. Mommy and daddy tried everything to get you to nap, but you were having none of it! You wanted to be part of the action and play on your ipad. It was a long 5 hours, but you fell asleep in the car and slept all the way until the next morning, so that was good!

What a busy 22nd month!

Love you Gator!

Mama

20 Months

Dear Ayla,

The time is just going way too fast and you are learning so much every day...its crazy! Mommy and daddy can't believe how much you grow and change every day! You are so curious and adventurous and determined to explore EVERYTHING around you.

Stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 8 oz
Height: 30.5"

You love cheering on the Whitecaps, even if you haven't been to a game in a while. We are teaching you to raise your hands and cheer when they score.

You love your friends at daycare and enjoy all the activities they do there. Here you are doing some water sensory play to go along with the ocean theme for the month. I am so glad that Ishminder took these and sent them to me as I never get to see all the cool things you do at daycare. 

You are still an amazing eater, so many people comment on how well you eat and how not picky you are. Corn (or kern) has become a real favourite this summer. You eat it every chance you get. You ate very literal in your language, daddy called you a corn hear and the picture on the right is what you did with the corn!

We had lunch at the mall one afternoon and you insisted on using chopsticks, because we were. You managed to get some food into your mouth that way, we were impressed!

You LOVE to have fun! Here you are at an rare afternoon Whitecaps game having so much fun! You barely watched the game, but enjoyed seeing all the people and checking out the stadium! We are been working on getting you to wear sunglasses, its not easy! Here is a rare picture of them actually on your face! 

The park is still one of your favourite places to hang out. You own that place! When we get there you know exactly what you want to do and play with and you have a great time. We are working on walking all the way there, but often you sit and wait for one of us to come and pick you up and carry you the rest of the way,

Your favourite place in the swing and you always ask to go HIGHER!! You scare lots of people watching as they think you are too little to go that high, but you ask for more! We also give you under duck pushes, which you think are hysterical!

While you are getting better about playing in the water at the park, it still scares you when it comes on suddenly! 

You are starting to play more in the backyard, now that we have some toys for you. Mommy got this great water table for free for you. You love it, but its a pain to keep clean! 

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Daddy put you up on the fence to see Jim and Karen and now you ask to do it all the time. I think you just like being taller than all of us! You also enjoy helping do the yard chores, sweeping and cutting the grass. Soon you will be big enough to do them all by yourself!

We went for a long walk in Fort Langley to check out the trail and river. You really enjoyed checking everything out, saying hi to people on the trail and the playground we found. There was a parade happening, but we were too early and you were too tired to wait for it to start; we will take you to a parade another day!

"Outback" is fast becoming your favourite place to hang out after dinner, especially if Tyson is there. You love running around, shooting hoops, playing with balls and colouring with "yeyos".

You recently discovered that cars make noise "beep, beep" and now you always want to drive. Telling you that you can do "beep, beep" seems to be the only way that I can get you to leave certain places in a short amount of time.

You are such a joy and delight to spend time with and watch you learn and discover about the world around you!

Love you Gator!

Mama