Daddy's Girl: 2011

Friday, August 19, 2011

Taylor is almost 2

Where has the time gone? In a little over 3 months Taylor will be 2 and I look at her and she really has grown up so much. Taylor is an awesome little girl. For the most part she listens well, she obeys, she knows right from wrong with most things and if not she learns real quick. Taylor is absolutely the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. (I mean I am her mom and all but I believe her dad would agree too.)Taylor is no longer in the young toddler class at school. She and her best friend Lucy have moved up to the "young 2's" class. They sit at a big kid table. It is crazy to walk by her room at lunch or snack and see her sitting in a big kid chair eating at the big kid table. I think we are about to have to buy a booster seat for her. She actually fell out of the chair the other day because she was on her knees. Before the teacher could get to her she had already fell and has a little bruise on her cheek and side. Her teacher said she didnt even cry. She is a tough cookie. She fell off the couch not to long ago too and hit the coffee table and was just fine.

Well if you didnt notice I said Taylor has a best friend named Lucy. Lucy is a sweet little girl in Taylor's class and she is actually just a few weeks older than Taylor. I was talking to Lucy's mom the other day and she informed me that Lucy had been calling Taylor on her tinkerbell phone. The funny part is that Taylor calls Lucy on her play phone as well. I think we are going to set up a play date for the two of them because they just seem to "click". Seeing the two of them play together at school and then pretend to talk to each other on the phone is the cutest and sweetest thing I think I have ever seen. Taylor will call some of her other friends but not like she calls Lucy. Lucy's mom and I think a play date would be perfect. Its also another way I can tell my baby girl is growing up.

Taylor is not much of an eater these days. She will eat just not a lot at a time. If i were to give her M&M's all day or chocolate she would eat for sure. Well because she has not really been eating much Clay picked up some of those pediasure sidekicks. The chocolate flavor to be exact. We are hoping this will give her the nutrients and stuff she is not getting enough of. Taylor's face when she took her first sip of it (let me remind you Taylor has never had chocolate milk before that I know of)was priceless. At first she saw it and was asking whats that? So we told her chocolate milk. Taylor says milk? Yes Taylor milk. She takes her first sip and her eyes get big and the straw is still in her mouth but you see this huge grin on her face. Each time she drank the milk it was the same reaction. Almost as if she could not believe she was really drinking something so yummy. Of course her reaction was so great I had to take a sip. If it were not for it being room temp. it would have been great. I should have taken a picture of her drinking it and her reaction and sent it to the company. It was awesome. It tasted awesome to her but it was also like she had just been pumped full of caffine. When she got done with most of it she was wired. Talking nonstop, could not sit steal, yelling, jumping, up and down on the couch and in daddy's chair. This lasted at least 30 minutes and then she crashed. She was laying on one end of the couch and I was on the other. Clay and I decided to only give it to her in the mornings from now on not at night before bedtime. So funny.

We have not started potty training yet. Although we do let her sit on the potty so that she will be use to that when we start. She has never tee-teed in the potty but just the other day she did poo-poo in the potty. I really dont think she understood what she did. Clay gave her a hand full of M&M's :) which I thought was funny because I would have only given her one. I am hoping to start the real deal after her 2nd birthday. I think she will do great with it. At least that is what we are hoping for.

I wanted to mention some ideas for Taylor's birthday and Christmas. I figured it is easier to do it this way rather than telling everyone seperately. So here you go: clothes, shoes, hair bows/ribbons, toddler bed, potty seat and stool, books, educational toys, cd player and cds, of coursse she loves phones, computers, and anything that makes noise. Taylor also likes to help me clean so anything toys that she can use to "clean" while Mommy is cleaning would be great too. This is all I can think of right now if I think of anything else I will post it in the next blog.

I will put pictures in the next blog as well. The computer is not letting me right now.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

19 months and counting

Hello, everyone. Taylor stayed with Pop and Grin a few weeks ago for an entire week. She had a blast. Clay and I also had a blast doing absolutely nothing. We were kid free for a week and all we did was work and hang out at the house. I was nice not to have to get up and get Taylor ready in the mornings and not to have to worry about her at night too. Although we thoroughly enjoyed the time away from her we missed her very much. I was so happy when she got back. I was ready to get back into the swing of things. Pop and Grin stayed for the weekend and we had a great Fathers Day with them here. We did the balloon festival and Taylor got to go the beach with Pop and Grin while Clay and I hosted a baby shower. It was a crazy weekend. To end the weekend Grin took us to Ihop for Fathers Day breakfast which was fabulous. Taylor loved it and ate so much. Then Taylor and I went shopping for a little while and got some great gifts. I believe Taylor showed off some of her shoes that weekend too.

I hope you all had a great long 4th of July weekend. I know we did. Saturday we went swimming, Sunday we went out on a boat, Taylor did not because honestly I was just a little nervous about that. She stayed with Papa and Honey. Monday we put a boston butt on the grill, along with some bacon wrapped hot dogs. Yummy!! Monday night we got to watch fireworks from our backyard. Taylor didn't see the fireworks because she was already asleep. She was exhausted from a long, fun weekend.

I look at Taylor now and think she no longer looks like a baby anymore, she is growing up and looks like a little girl. Its so amazing how fast she has grown up. We were looking at pictures the other day of her in the hospital. We were telling stories of Clay changing his first diaper. The memories are so great. Taylor is such a big girl and is learning new things everyday. We are working on learning the alphabet and numbers 1 to 10. She knows lots of songs and loves to do the motions to the Itsy bitsy spider, wheels on the bus, the monkey and alligator song, row your boat, if your happy and you know it, and lots more. Taylor also still loves her books. Most nights she wants to sleep with a book. In the mornings she will wake up, sit in her bed and read the book she slept with. It's adorable. Taylor also loves shoes. Her favorite pair right now are a pink pearl color with a bow on them that Grin bought her. They are church shoes but she will wear them all day around the house. Well, all day until she finds another pair to strut around in. Yes, Taylor struts her stuff.

We have gone swimming a lot this summer. Taylor absolutely loves the water. She will put her face in it, she will jump off the side of the pool to you, and she is learning to kick. I actually took her swimming this morning and she floated on her back. She had a floaty on but that was awesome for her because she does not like to lay on her back in the bath tub much less the pool. I was so proud of her. We have also been to the beach a few times. Taylor has such a great time in the water. She is not to fond of the sand but after some time she will start playing in it. She just doesn't like the sand sticking to her. It's actually kinda funny.

So, I started this blog last week and never had a chance to finish it until now. Anyway, this weekend was just as much fun as last weekend. It was a weekend of family time. Friday night we all went to bed pretty early. All three of us were exhausted from a long week of working hard. I am teaching pre-k right now and love it but its just as exhausting as being with 5 to 6 toddlers all day. Taylor has a new teacher at school and it was the best thing for her. It's still hard sometimes(if she sees me she is really wanting me) but she is slowly getting adjusted. The other day she came up to me and instead of crying and wanting me to hold her she just looked me up and down and said she was going outside, bye mommy. It was a good feeling. She also likes her new teacher very much. Oh, back to the weekend. Saturday we got up, made breakfast, played inside for a little while then went to Fairhope to see Mama June and Pop pop. We also stopped to see Bob and Mary and their new baby boy Sam(Tay says Sm). When I held Sam I think Taylor was a little jealous. Bob just took her outside to see their dog Mac. Outside will fix anything for Tay. After Bob and Mary's we went to the pool in Fairhope. Taylor loves this pool but the baby pool part was closed so we did not stay very long because the big pool was very crowded. Today we went to church, had some lunch and later we are going swimming again.

Taylor has definitely grown up so fast. To think she is almost 2 blows my mind. I also keep thinking I have got to start potty training. I am not looking forward to it. So if you have and tips please let me know because I don't know where to start. She does sit on the potty right now but nothing has happened. I am thinking about as a reward giving her an m&m or sticker or something along those lines. Its going to be tough especially since she is not in a class in which they go to the potty. When we start I will let you all know and I'll let you know how her progress is. This should be very interesting.

I hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Ashley

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Taylor is growing so fast!!!!!!

Taylor is 15 months and 13 days old. I am such a proud mommy. Taylor is so smart. Books, books, and more books is Taylor's most favorite thing. Yes, as a teacher that makes me very happy. She is also a little climber. If she can get on top of it she will. I have started working and fortunately Tay can be there with me. She is in my class so I get to spend aaaaaaaallllllllll day with her. Most days I love it and then there are the other days. I will leave it at that. At school though, Taylor learned to slide all by herself. Also, outside on the playground she loves to climb the stairs to the play set. The only problem with that is that she is not allowed so it is a constant, "Taylor no", "Taylor get down", Taylor don't even think about it", Taylor Cleveland", and yes I have had to use all three names, "Taylor Carson Cleveland". We all have out hands full with this little wild one running around. So anyway I know its been a while since I have updated Taylor's blog so I figured I would keep the reading short and just shower all of you with pictures. Love you all lots!

P.S. I am on a team for Relay for Life. We are trying to raise $100 per team member. If anyone is willing to donate any amount of money I would greatly appreciate it. You can make checks payable to Relay for Life and mail them to me. 8073 Deerwood Dr. Daphne AL 36526.

Taylor's 1st snow at Grin and Pop's