Abby Takes Over

Whoa.  I have been missing in action for a while!  Sorry about the delay, friends - I have been very busy taking over more rooms in my house!



Mom and Dad said it was time for me to move to a "Big Girl" room. Here's how I understood this to work: First Dad and I paint another room for me.  Then we move a lot my toys and books in there.  But we leave some of my older toys and books in my first room.  Then I freely walk back and forth between both rooms.  Mom and Dad share one room.  Abby has two rooms.  The guest bed that Callie used to like to sleep on in down in the basement and Callie has to sleep on the floor like a dog.  Sounds about right to me.

So here's how putting my new room together went:

 It should be noted that my mom gets fatter and fatter and by extention more and more useless each day.  So it was up to Dad and me to paint.  I've been working hard on learning my colors.  This is Dad talking to me and signing "blue" - that's what color my new room is. 

 "Blue" is actually one of my favorite words to SAY!  I only have a few words that I actually "say"... and somehow when I say the word "blue" I suck my entire face in.  It takes serious skill, folks.  Most of you probably push your lips out when you say "blue".  But not Abby.  I do things my own way.

 I've heard about these "Big Girl" rooms before.  Usually they include some sort of move to a "Big Girl" bed... which usually means FREEDOM to get up out of bed whenever you want.  I was PSYCHED about this idea, so I helped Dad build my new bed.

 When building was too much "guy" stuff, I just supervised and directed. 

Wait, WHAT???  Weren't you guys supposed to leave those front bars OFF this time?  Mom and Dad say that I'm not quite ready for complete freedom.  They can take the bars down when I (well, I guess: when THEY) are ready.  Aw man!  So close.

Fantastic aspect of my new room:  I have a big book basket.  I LOVE books.  LOVE!  And I love having them all right here for me to go through selectively and demand that people read them to me.  I grab one, walk over to someone, plop down in their lap (or in the case of my mom - plop down in whatever is left of what used to be her lap) and sign "read book". 

 And when people are not able to read to me at the moment I demand it - I snuggle down in the chair my Aunie Em got for me when I was a baby and I just read to myself.

Callie says she's seen this show before.  The show where Mom gets fat, we move rooms around and everyone starts talking about a "new baby"....   Callie says it means that someone new is coming to invade our turf.  Callie says she bets that just ONE of the rooms is for me and the other is probably for this so called "new baby".  I don't really believe that anyone could ever be as impressive as me:  but just in case; Callie and I have been practicing how to fend for ourselves and take care of each other.

While we're on adorable video clips of me... here are a few other things I've learned this month.

I've learned how to ask for my favorite things.  I have many favorite things - most of which I know the signs for... ice cream, crackers, milk in my cup, etc.  But there were two things that I LOVE that I didn't know the sign for... so I made one up.  For weeks, I'd make an "L" and rub it up and down on my cheek, begging and pointing at the DVD player.  My SLOW and NON-GIFTED parents just didn't get it.  Then one day, it occured to them!!  I was signing "Leah" - the girl who stars in my "Signing Time" videos that I love to watch - finally my parents understood that I was asking (demanding) to watch my video.  This must be how Helen Keller felt... like it would be nice to have smarter parents.

So then, I'd walk up to the TV and make a bird beak (the sign for bird) and say "Buhhhhhh".  I'd even go so far as to hand my parents the remote.  I TRIED to make it easy on them - but it still took them a while to figure out that I was asking for "Big Bird".  Seriously.  Did they want me to Finger Spell "Sesame Street"??  I'm TWO.  When we moved the guest bed down in the basement it just made even a better and more cozy place for me to go to demand my favorite shows.

And for one more fun video clip:  Gabby (my nanny) and I have been trying out a bunch of free trial classes trying to see how we'd best like to spend our time this spring.  We went to a trial ballet class... which was fun - but what I really, REALLY loved was all the mirrors.  I love nothing more than a nice reflection of ME... so of course I managed to find the corner of the mirror walls where there were nothing short of FOUR Abbys.  At the end of ballet class, the teacher, Miss Amber, lends out tutus.  She said black was "my color".  I wasn't sure if she meant because it's slimming and she was impressed by the size of my belly... but I'm choosing to believe it's because she recognized right away how "edgy" and "sassy" I am!

 At the end of the month the weather has turned nicer some days, and one evening we took dinner to my favorite big playground and met my Auntie Em. This was my first trip to the playground as a walking girl and man is it COOLER now!!!

Boy do I love a good slide ride!

 Auntie Em and I played the piano.

 I have the attention span of a flea, Auntie Em... I'm over here now!!

 Trying out the balance beam... concentrate, concentrate. 



YAY!  Dolphin ride!

And finally, for a fun family-of-three outing; my mom's friend gave us tickets to the JMU vs. Oklahoma University Women's NCAA basketball game at UVA.  I had just been given a new JMU shirt from my friend Ryleigh, so my mom whipped me up a new purple and gold hairbow and off we went.  Mom and Dad had LOW expectations of actually watching the game. 

 BUT I LOVED IT!  At first it was a little loud - but once I got used to that - it was AWESOME.  First of all, we sat down, and within 30 seconds people on all sides of us had (a) commented on how adorable I am - DUH and (b) given me pom poms.  After a quick lesson on the proper use of a pom pom I had that skill mastered and I went to work.  For both teams. 

I mean, really, why reserve clapping, cheering and my new-found skill of pom-pom shaking for just ONE team?  Why dance to just ONE band?  The world would be a happier place if everyone did like Abby and just joined in cheering every single time.

 I loved watching the big stuffed animals (yup, you guessed it - BOTH of them!) and the cheerleaders who flipped and danced (yup- BOTH teams of them!) and it was an all around awesome day.

Until we got in the car and Dad said to Mom, "WOW!  Abby did great!  She LOVES sports!  Now we'll need to start taking her to more and more sporting events!"  Uh-oh.  Sorry, Mom.