Are you sharing your juice with your StormTrooper?

The things I find myself saying, while marveling at the oddity of the words that came out of my mouth, are pretty hilarious. Such as when Adelaide kindly gave some juice to the toy that came in her Happy Meal of a Storm Trooper from Star Wars. Or, just this evening, she gave a random blanket some toy bottle that came with her baby doll, complete with the "Numnumnum" sounds she makes indicating drinking.

In other news lately... we spent a really nice weekend in Pittsburgh when I headed up to do some IBM recruiting at CMU. We hung out with my parents, got to see all four great grandparents, Aunt Mimi, and even got to have a play date with Colleen, Anthony, Mya and Ella. Ade made out - she ended up with so much loot! Grandma got out a bunch of old toys, which I also enjoyed remembering, and also ought Ade a bunch of new stuff as well. Aunt Mimi gave Ade a kitten that she now calls Mimi when she sees it. Colleen somehow knew with a mother's instinct that Ade is newly in love with Elmo, and got her several Elmo-themed gifts.

I will post some pictures from the trip as soon as I upload my Flip videos and capture a few still shots. A few of my favorite moments from the trip:
- Adelaide becoming OBSESSED with the animals at my parents' house. (Bunny hop hop hop, and deer!!!)
- Mya telling us about stairs no no, as Colleen explained she fell down the stairs. Ryan said that must have been scary and Mya solemnly confirming, "It WAS scary!"
- Ade riding the rollercoaster at the Malloy's.
- Anthony pleading "Don't go! I haven't had a friend for so long" after he and Ryan chatted away like old ladies during our visit. (Anthony, we know EXACTLY how you feel! You guys should move down South so we can hang out more!)
- Our awesome trip to the zoo, where Ade was in awe over all of the animals. And, grandma once again wanted to buy her everything in the gift shop.
- The big cheesy smiles she saved for Grandpa every time she saw him.

Though the plane ride up wasn't great as Ade did spend a good portion of the time screaming, and she lost a shoe in the airport on the way back, in all, we had a really great trip.

We are, however, relieved to be home without any travel plans until November. Phew. Myrtle Beach, Chicago, New York for me, and then Pgh all in a row is a little much to handle with a little one.

UPDATED: Still shots from Flip:

MORE!

Adelaide has learned to shout MORE when she wants... well, more. She also says Bubbles pretty impressively. She has a new babydoll that she adores, which made me buy at Target last week. She has clung to it since then and feeds it a bottle going MmmMmm. She is so sweet when falling asleep at night; I sing Row, row, row your boat, and she looks at me and whispers "boat" like it is a secret.

Also, I forgot to even mention it because it ended up being such a minor deal - Ade is totally weaned. The last time she nursed was August 18, after we got back from Myrtle Beach. It takes her a little longer to fall asleep for me now, but no big deal. There were a few nights of her yanking on my shirt and a little crying, but it really turned out to be no big deal to drop that last night feeding.

Ade also likes to shout Elmo when she sees a diaper because there are Sesame Street characters on her diapers. She acts like she is auditioning for an agent everywhere we go - smiling and waving hello at everyone. She is definitely a little extrovert...hmm, where could she have gotten that from? ;-)

We've got a talker

In the past week or two, Adelaide's verbal skills have really taken off! She repeats words all the time, and is saying two-word phrases (such as Blues Clues!). Notably, she says:
- Rainbow
- Adelaide
- Boat (Row, row, row your boat!)
- Eyes, Nose, Mouth (identifying on your face)
- Dinosaur
- Roar! (when she sees a lion)
- Names of the kids in her class at school (for example, Nolan)
- Outside (OUT! side)
- Up (Uhhh PAH)



Also, she randomly started performing strange karate kicks and going "Hiiii Yeee!" Last weekend she learned to kick a ball, and she is surprisingly skilled at maneuvering the ball around. She is already better at soccer than I ever was!