Big Girl Ashlyn

So Ashlyn is almost 17 months old, wears 18-24 month clothes, and size 5 shoes. She still loves to dance and now will twirl and dip. G-pa taught her to "high-five," G-ma taught her to do fish kisses, Tom taught her to put coins into a water container, Deena taught her to kick, and Court taught her to "pound it." She loves to learn and to imitate 2-3 year olds. She goes down the "big kid" slides at the park, though she can't climb the ladder to get to them... so Momma has to lift her past that part. :) She's learning to share her stuff, but does really well sharing others toys. She still signs "more, finish" but likes to point and say "dis" when she doesn't think I'm paying attention to her requests or responding fast enough. She still will not let me take a shower without pull the curtain open and complaining that she's not playing in the water. She likes to look at books independently, she knows her nose, eyes, ears, mouth, tummy, bellybutton, and toes, and can inconsistently make the correct animal sounds for a dog, tiger, and elephant. She's starting a toddler story time group at the victoria gardens library tomorrow. I have pictures, but I can't upload them with my internet for some reason... so due to popular demand, I'm typing an update with pictures to come. Sorry, I know that text-only is BORING!

Bubbles

This is her new trick.

Just Gotta Dance!

I don't know where her hip dancing went, but now she's a head-banger and arms-waver!

More Utah Pictures

Rocking hard on the horse!

4 generation picture
Ashlyn in G-Ma's childhood dress.




The Backpacking Crew, at the end of the hike... hence the smiles. :)

There were so many mosquitoes that Rhys and Ashlyn spent most of their time in the tents. This picture shows Ashlyn wanting to get into the tent to hang out with Rhys and Kelly.

Ashlyn in a daze.

So how did the anxiously awaited backpacking trip go? Thank you for asking!! Well sit back and relax, it's a long one... even though I'm trying to give the readers digest version. So Tom made sure that Ashlyn had applesauce, yams, baby cereal, gerber puffs, formula, biodegradable diapers and Tylenol. Everything was accounted for... accept how Ashlyn would react to the whole backpacking experience. She was in my pack, which meant that I had the only pack that independently jumped, swayed, pulled you hair or ears, and cried. We all had very heavy packs: Justin-60lbs, Tom-55lbs, Danny-55lbs, and Me-45lbs... AND Kelly's and my packs didn't decrease weight like those with food in them. It's not like we could toss our kids articles of clothing out onto the rocky trail after they used them! As much as I was tempted to! :) AND, Danny put a pot and dishes in my pack when we were packing out... which means that I ended with more weight than I started with! Thanks honey! On top of the packs obesity issues, we were swarmed, dive-bombed, viciously attacked, and inundated by mosquitoes and some horse flies! HOLY.COW! I have never, ever been around so many! But I learned a valuable lesson: mosquito repellent needs to go on ALL exposed areas of skin... including the skin that just is exposed for short amounts of time while going to the bathroom! My poor bum looked like it had chicken pox. Ouch! It was hard to be lady like and not scratch in public! :) Also, did you know it is FREEZING cold in Park City at night IN.THE.SUMMER!? Well, I didn't either. Luckily, Aunt Ean let me borrow her sweatpants and long johns... too bad I left behind my winter coat! Along with the nighttime shivers, it was impossible to sleep with Ashlyn crying and screaming. I couldn't tell if she was having anxiety attacks from the heavy sleeper that made it difficult for her to move around in, claustrophobia from the 2 person tent/2 mummy bags we zipped together for the 3 of us to sleep in, upset stomach from not eat OR drinking anything which gave her a hemorrhoid from pushing out hard pellet-poops, or if she was scared of the new sounds of the mountain environment. I am guessing it was a combination of EVERYTHING! One perk from not sleeping at night is that Ashlyn was so exhausted she started to take naps in her pack instead of being fussy. So needless to say... by the third day of our 4-day trip, with Tommy's tonsillitis and Ashlyn's dehydration, we decided to pack out a day early. I'd also admit that Danny's and my sleep deprivation play a gentle and loving role in the decision making process! :)

Jumping and Salsa Dancing

Labor Day Saturday

Danny, Ashlyn, Deena, and Court went to the LA Fair. They took Ashlyn to the petting zoo...

Here she is walking in looking so grown up. By the way, that Dora hat is the ONLY hat she will wear! I tried to get her to wear a jean one similar, but she wouldn't keep it on! :)
She was alright looking at the animals...
but check out the death grip she has on Danny's shirt! She didn't want to be down on the ground. I don't blame her; those farm animals are bigger than she is! :)

While they were at the Fair grounds, I went to Raging Waters with my friend, Abby! IT.WAS. A-MAZING! I convinced Abby to go on "flowrider" which is a man-made wave where you're supposed to use a body-board to ride the wave... I was tossed against both sides and the rear grates, twice. Abby is a lot lighter than I am, so she was tossed out as soon as she jumped in, twice!! Lots of laughter, lots of bruises on our knees from the grates, but good thing we did it first thing in the morning when there aren't a lot of people there! It has been a week and a half, and I can still see the faint purple-greenish-yellow colors of fading bruises! I highly recommend this water park! Just make sure you're there first thing at 10am, or you'll wait about 45 minutes to get on each ride! :)

Imitating Mommy

The way I lotion my legs is to rest one foot on the sink counter... Ashlyn decided she wanted to join in on the fun and rest her leg on the toilet while rubbing in the non-existent lotion! :) Danny and I get a big kick out of it! She will also take a little empty bottle (that looks like a mini lotion bottle) and dab it on Danny's leg, like she's putting lotion on his leg. Then she will rub her hand up and down his lower leg like she's rubbing the lotion in! It's surprising how much this little one observes and copies!