Talking and Tricks

This is Hollee this week because Scott is very, very busy with basketball tournament-ing. We don't have any new pics or video for this week. But here's a running list of Allison's oldest and newest gestures. We agreed this would be a good post since her first birth day is just a few days away. We should have some good pictures after her mini-birthday party set for next Sunday. Hope you enjoy. We do.

Here's a list that we've compiled in her baby book starting with some of her first words (if that's what you would call them):

1. The verdict is still out on Allison's favorite non-word. She pushes out "Bahoh" intently as she points to any and everything. No one really knows what it means, even though Maw is still convinced it's Allison's name for her. I try to tell Maw that if that is the case, Allison talks about her a whole lot. I don't think Maw realizes just how many points are accompanied by a "Bahoh".

Aunt Lee's only speech therapy advice over the holidays was to try to name something when Allison throws out a "Bahoh". It is very hard to look around and guess where in the world she is pointing, and it's so tempting to "Bahoh" right back at her. But... we try.

2. "Ba-ba"= baby. This one started when Allison started talking about herself in the mirror. Now, she loves to point and refer to other babies and dolls. She has done this in the middle of church as she pointed to another little girl that is exactly her age.

3. "Bye-bye" as she flaps her hand up and down. 95% of the time this is done at appropriate times of exiting. But sometimes she decides to tell someone "bye-bye" in the middle of a visit. Not very polite. Libby was at our house last week when Allison told her "bye-bye", and Libby told her "Oh, you're ready for us to leave? We'll be leaving before too long."

4. She used to just mimic someone else running their finger over their lips making a "Bbbb" sounds. And now she does it randomly to herself and others. Scott thinks she will do this and smile/laugh a lot hoping that if she's cute enough maybe we'll pick her up out of the pack-n-play when we're trying to get ready to leave the house.

5. "Hey-a"- this first came out as she held a toy phone up to an ear as if she was on the phone, which is a sad statement on how much her mommy talks on the cell phone (but brilliant none the less). That brilliant act evolved into holding all kinds of toys up to her head as if she's talking on the phone. Who knew plastic giraffes could double for a phone? She also says "Hey-a" with a smile when she crawls into a room and spots you. Usually that involves her crawling around the corner and seeing one of us working in the kitchen.

6. "Nay-nay-nay-nay..." you get the point. This is her form of fussing at us. This comes out loud and often as she squishes up her nose and shows her new top teeth. Recently, she throws in a little one-sided lip flare as she fusses. Sort of like an Elvis lip. It is quite a combination and very effective. The bottom line is...somebody just pick me up. If only our problems were that easily solved.

7. "Uh-oh" Sometimes she uses this phrase appropriately when she (or we) obviously make a mistake. But, it loses its effect after she intentionally drops something off the highchair and then throws out a mischievous "uh-oh". And, she often says this at random times for no reason at all.

8. "Pap-a" = puppy (anytime she spots Cokee) or Paw-Paw (anytime she spots Paw-Paw). In Paw-Paw's defense, she gets much more excited when she is referring to him. She enjoys saying, "Bye bye Pap-a". All those syllables are fun to run together.

9. "Cah-coh" = Cokee. She does call Cokee "Pap-a" for puppy when she spots her, then she will repeat "Cah-coh" after she hears us say "Cokee".

10. A very throaty "Gaack" = Quack. I think she picked this up from us making our parental animal sounds and a little stuffed duck that you squeeze to get a great quacking rant. She put all this together, and she is on top of her duck spotting. You'd be surprised where she can find ducks (or birds or chickens). Their all in the same species, right? So, if she starts "gaack-ing" you should look around to try and find a duck-looking creature- in a book or where ever. She "gaack-ed" at the birds around a bird feeder the other day. Except, she does disappoint me when she sometimes quacks for a pig (but we're working on that).

11. "Ah-ah-Ah" with an emphasis and upward inflection on the last "Ah" (almost as if it's a question). She definitely picked this up from her Honey who does this exact sound to her a lot. So much so, that we think that Allison is often referring to Honey when she does it. It is the closest thing the does to calling her Honey, except it's "Ah-ah-Ah". Not even close. We all warn Honey to stop saying this if she ever wants Allison to learn to say "Honey". That would be so funny if this name (if that's what you call it) sticks.

12. "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah.." like a machine gun sound. This is the sound that comes out when she sees sheep in her farm animal book. I was proud when she did it unprovoked. She's not consistent with it yet, but it is definitely trying to be a "Bah bah bah".

13. Lastly, Scott for some reason thought to click his tongue at her (like a click on the roof of your mouth). She will smile and then will attempt to do the same thing in her own mouth. She not proficient yet, but it's fun to watch her work on it.

Now that I look back at this list. Sadly, I'm realizing that most of these aren't actually words, BUT they definitely have their meanings and they are trying to be.

Thanksgiving Holiday 2009

We all had a wonderful holiday with family. Unfortunately, Allison has grown to be very attached to her mother and father. Consequently, she was not as warm to her aunts as I am sure she will be in the future. To clarify, Allison was very happy to see and smile at her aunts as long as they did not want to hold her with mom and dad around.
In New Orleans, we all went to Storyland in City Park. This first picture is Allison with Uncle James.

Here we are with the cow who jumped over the moon. Ellis is signing cow to Beth.

This is the best picture ever of me, my sisters, and Allison.

Allison and Ellis decided to relax on a bench together. Allison ended up imitating Ellis swinging her feet in the mulch. Beth took a video of it and I'm sure will have it on her blog.

Thanksgiving morning, Ellis helped Allison eat part of her lunch... crackers.

That night, mom invited some friends and family over. Uncle Hankie and I took a break from discussing the woes of LSU football long enough to take this picture.

After spending the morning in New Orleans, we returned to Denham Springs to spend the evening with Hollee's family. Aunt Lee fed Allison Thanksgiving Dinner. There were lots of kids. They took over the floor while the family watched home videos.

Maw, Honey, Johnny, and Andrew.
Ellis is 11 months older than Allison. They are both a little slow to warm up to new surroundings, yet you can see they are going to be good friends.

11 months

On Friday the 13th, Allison turned 11 months. She has started getting in the position below and bouncing. She also points at everything and says some form of the letter b followed by a vowel sound. Maw and Allison are celebrating the 11 month special occasion.

Leslee and the boys were in town this week. Andrew is especially nice to Allee. He often brings her things out of nowhere for her to play with. Here they are taking a bath.

Last weekend, we had dinner with our friends Joseph and Kelli. Allison wanted to look over the dessert menu.

Hollee and Honey took Allison to North park to swing. According to Hollee, Allison did not really enjoy the swing.

Hollee was able to babysit for some friends, and this video shows how much Allison enjoys older children.


Allison is starting to walk while holding herself up. She has been moving around the activity table better than the video shows, but as is often the case, Allee does not perform once the camera rolls.

Duck and Watermelon

Hollee got great video last week of Allison. The first video shows Allison eating watermelon (there wasn't much left so Hollee had to spead it out to make it last).



We are pretty sure Allison has begun quaking when she sees a duck or at least when she hears someone esle quack like a duck. Judge for yourself in this video.

Halloween and 10 Month Birthday

Sorry to those who have been waiting a while for an update. This first picture is from Allison's 10 month birthday.

Hollee babysat this week. From reports, Allison really enjoyed Isabelle, but Isabelle did not care about Allison.

We are getting the house painted. The siding is the new color. The door is still to be painted.

When Allison goes to Honey's house, Allee gets a bath when she has a dirty diaper.

Allison is a very good eater, though we are not attached to what she eats. Like her dad, Allison really enjoys pasta.

Aunt Leslee was kind enough to donate some 18-month PJs. They are on the big side, but that doesn't keep us from using them.

Allison did not really go trick or treating for Halloween, but she did dress up like a monkey.

While dressed up, Honey, Hollee, and Allee went to visit a few people. Here they are at Kristen's house.

Look at that monkey go!

The next blog should have some great videos.

Playing with Lips

About a week ago, I was playing with Allison and she was sticking her fingers around my mouth and lips. So I took my finger and made a noise with my lips. Allison really enjoyed that and then she mimicked what I had done. It was awesomely cute! What's better is she has kept doing it and at random times. Sometimes Allee does it when she is upset and then she does that as if to get a reassuring response from me or Hollee. Other times, she has done it toward strangers. Either way, we seem to just miss the best moments with the camera, but this video gives you the idea.

Hollee had taken about a 3 week break from watching Gilmore Girls until last night. We were wondering if Allison would respond to the theme in the same way. We were ready with the camera to document her response and here it is:

Reading at Bed Time

The best part of the day with Allison is first thing in the morning and the end of the day. She is always in a great mood when she wakes up in the morning. She plays for a short time and then loves breakfast. I do not get to experience this joy during the school week, but I do get the joy of bed time most nights.

Amazingly, Allison is not very fussy around bed time at night. The routine is to go in her room around 7:30, let her play, read a few books, give her a "Hollee snack" and put her to sleep (not always in that order). I especially have come to love reading books recently. As you will see in these videos, Allison flips the pages, points at some pictures, and calls everything "baba." Tonight, Allee enjoyed finding a certain page in a Winnie the Pooh book and pointing to the butterflies and bees. It is great. These videos are from a few nights ago.