Standing on my own!

Today we went to a birthday party for one of daddy's coworker's daughters who was turning a big 8 years old! We were the first ones there so I had lots of time to just hang out without many people around. We were in the living room on the hardwood floors and mommy wanted to test my balancing skills so down I went from her arms onto my feet. I think Dora the Explorer was on TV (and I NEVER watch TV so this was something cool to see) and I stood....and stood....and stood....and stood! Mommy and daddy were getting so, so excited that they just kept cheering and clapping for me! I started clapping and getting excited too! I started falling to the front and to the back but I was so good that I caught my balance whichever way I leaned. Wow! This standing thing really is cool! I think I've got it!

My First Bike Ride with Daddy

Today daddy put my bike seat on the mountain bike that we had since I'm now a year old. This was daddy's gift from mommy on Father's day but I was way too little for us to use it. Mommy and daddy were so excited that they still tried it out tonight, even though the sun was down and it was freezing outside! They put my cute vest on and my ducky helmet on and we were off! As daddy and I were riding about he all of a sudden realized he wasn't wearing a helmet...bad model daddy (and he's a cyclist too!). I forgive him...he was so excited to ride with me and see how much I liked it. As you see in the pictures below, I really liked it!

From My first bike ride with dad

From My first bike ride with dad

From My first bike ride with dad

Play date with Cadin

Tonight my friend Cadin came over while his mommy and daddy went out for a "date night." Cadin and I had so much fun together. Neither of us ate all of our dinner because we were so excited to play together. I showed him the ropes, playing with my piggy bank toy and my big pink horsey that he didn't like too much. Mommy bought us some Color Wonder markers and paper for us to experiment with but we didn't really see the joy in using the markers to color. Mommy said it took too long for the color to show up and that's why we only wanted to take the caps on and off. Both of us wanted to have as many markers we could hold but mommy and daddy both made sure that each of us only had two so that it was even. After we played for a while we took a warm bath together! It was kind of crowded with all the toys that we had floating around but it was so much fun! I really liked sharing my baby duckies with Cadin; I put them in his mouth and he put them in mine and mommy got lots of pictures. Hehe. We ended our night (almost!) by Cadin having a bottle and me having a sippy cup of milk, both together downstairs with my mommy and daddy. Cadin lay in mommy's arms and I lay in daddy's arms...so cute! We both got a little distracted though and neither finished our milk. Cadin went to bed and I went upstairs where mommy and daddy TRIED to put me to bed. After a while of talking and then fussing they realized I was probably hungry so they got me up, fed me the rest of my dinner and I was able to stay up until like 9:00! Wow! Mommy felt a little bad that Cadin didn't eat his dinner either nor did he finish his bottle so she went down, got him up, gave him the rest of his bottle, and put him back to bed too. What a fun night we had! I can't wait to do it again, next time at his house so my mommy and daddy can have a "date night." What's so special about these date nights?!

Taylor's First Haircut

Tonight mommy gave me my first haircut. I am 13 1/2 months old and finally got a trim! I seem to have my daddy's very large forehead so mommy was a bit worried about cutting my bangs. Although, after the job was done both mommy and daddy commented on what a job well done mommy did! They say I don't look as rugged anymore. (o: I'm nice and clean cut now. Take a look at my photos below.

	From First haircut

From First haircut

From First haircut

Going to work with mommy

Today was MLK Jr. Day so I wasn't able to go to daycare. Mommy took me to work with her and boy was it fun! I was more confident this time to leave mommy's personal office and explore the entire office. I crawled into the playroom, into other coworker's offices, and even let other people hold me, play with me, and take me outside away from mommy! I took two naps and was so happy both times when I woke up. Mommy had to lead a "supervisor meeting" so I played on the floor next to the conference table, talking, eating and reading my books the whole time. All of mommy's coworkers wanted to see me use my sign language so mommy showed me off and everyone cheered and gave applause for me. Oh what fun that was!

The coolest thing of all was that I learned (or discovered) how to blow my own nose! Mommy was working at her desk and I was sitting on the floor playing with hand towels from the bathroom (really rough paper ones). All of a sudden I blew out my nose into a towel! Mommy got so excited that she did it with me and we were laughing and blowing our noses together. How fun!

I also had a lot of fun sitting in an executive chair next to mommy in her own executive chair, right in front of mommy's top drawer in her desk so I could take EVERYTHING out of it (pens, clips, papers, glasses, disks) and throw it all on the floor. It seems that everytime I throw things like this all around me mommy tends to start singing this song, "Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere, clean up, clean up, everybody do your share." I really like hearing the song and so I start doing what mommy calls "cleaning up." I guess that's why she sings the song!

Thanks mommy for taking me to work. I liked seeing all of the people you work with and spending the day with you.

Visit to Grandpa Al's house

This weekend Mommy and me traveled up to the Bay Area so that mommy could go to a baby shower for one of her very good friends from when she was a baby (wow!). Daddy stayed home to get lots of work done and lots of training in for his triathlons. On Saturday Grandpa Al babysat me and we had so much fun. We took a long walk up to Great Grandpa Al's house so I got to see two generations of Grandpa Als...wow! Grandpa and I had such a fun day together...just me and grandpa. That night mommy's friends, Liz and Bobby came over for dinner and wine and watching the Sharks game. I was pretty tired by the time they arrived so there was only a little time for "Taylor viewing and interacting."

What a fun weekend!

From 2009_01_17 visit to Granpda Al's house

From 2009_01_17 visit to Granpda Al's house

From 2009_01_17 visit to Granpda Al's house

From 2009_01_17 visit to Granpda Al's house

From 2009_01_17 visit to Granpda Al's house

Babysat by Aunt Lisa

Today mommy finally got her hair done by another mommy in our mommy-and-me class so Aunt Lisa watched me while mommy got pretty. Cadin and I were so excited to play with eachother that we didn't want to go down for a nap. We stayed up until like 4:00 and then didn't get up until about 5:30. When I woke up there were two other kids from our mommy-and-me class at Cadin's house for us to play with...yay! Both Henry and Allie came to play.

Thanks everyone for watching me and letting mommy get herself all pretty. She enjoyed the long time she got to spend getting pampered and chatting with another mommy.

Imitating words (mommy's behavioral procedure)

When mommy picked me up from daycare both the executive director and associate director continued to be in amazement at all of the signs I knew. They like showing me off to other parents and all of the staff. At recess they will ask me all of my signs and of course I will do them all for anyone who wants to come and see. I'm like a kid at the circus! Ms. Tina told mommy that I was even imitating things she said at recess. Mommy was very impressed because mommy has been kind of frustrated (in a funny way) that everytime she says "mommy" for me to imitate I just say "daddy." Hehe. So, mommy and I got in the car to leave and I guess since Ms. Tina told mommy that I could imitate words she felt thta she could get me to imitate "mommy" by the time we got home in the car. She tried this new procedure that she's doing at work (yes, I'm always the guinnea pig) where she tells me what to say ("mommy") and then if say anything else other than "mommy" or don't say anything at all she waits a few seconds without correcting me and then says what she wants me to say again ("mommy"). Almost everytime she said "mommy" I said "daddy." Hehe! I think we went through this about 15-20 times and finally I gave in and said "mama". From the front seat I heard lots of cheers and clapping!!! Wow! She said it again ("mommy") and so I did it again, again, and again. I did it so much that when mommy was trying to make a green light she didn't clap for me so I clapped for myself from the backseat. Mommy thought that was funny.

Needless to say, mommy was so excited and proud that she was able to teach me to imitate what she said, all in one trip from daycare to home.

Metlox with Cadin, Sienna and Aren

Today I met my friends Cadin, Sienna and Aren at the Metlox in Manhattan Beach. Our mommys enjoyed their coffee together while we all ran around playing in the water and carrying around our GAP bags that Auntie Amanda gave to all of us.

I love my friends!!!

Best and Worst Day...all in one!

Today mommy seemed to have so many highs and lows with me...what a weird day! When I first woke up in the morning I was really tired so mommy nursed me and then put me back to bed (mommy should have thought about this ahead of time!). I slept until 8:30 and when I woke up I was so happy and refreshed. Mommy picked me up out of my crib and I gave her the biggest hug, putting both of my arms tightly around her neck. Mommy told me that she had been waiting for the day that I gave her a hug like that so I think she was pretty happy.

Because I slept in so long I didn't go down for a nap until 11:15, the time we typically leave to go to Mommy-and-me. Mommy let me sleep for an hour and then woke me up to go. I did NOT want to get up but she got me up anyway to go see my friends. I got dressed and we headed over to the school. the whole time I either wanted to eat or be held by mommy. Not a good first day back to see my friends. It was so cool to see my friend Cadin though walking all around exploring the classroom on his two feet! Wow!

We stopped by Trader Joes on our way home and I was such a good girl in the store, as always. When we got home I took a really good nap. When I got up mommy had some more shpping to do for dinner so we headed over to Costco. What a mess this was! When we parked mommy couldn't find her wallet so we headed home again, the whole time I was fussy in the car just wanting to get out! To mommy's surprise there was no wallet in the house, it was on the passenger seat in the car under my shpping cart cover! Mommy seemed a bit frustrated at this point but she was determined to get food for dinner so we went back to Costco and did our shopping trip. The whole time I wanted to hold every item that mommy put in the basket, even if it was a 15 pound box of cans...why not?! Mommy gave me some things but wouldn't let me have others. I got a little frustrated and screamed a few times. I actually think I screamed one too many times because mommy stopped the cart, looked at me, and told me to "shhhh!" Uh-oh. I think mommy was getting a little frustrated.

When we got home mommy put me in my high chair to get some food. She was rushed to get dinner ready for her and daddy but I wanted to eat too! She fed me some bites while she cooked and I started to find my screaming voice again. Sometimes it was fun and sometimes I wanted food. Mommy wasn't paying attention to me but the kitties were. Tiger kept jumping up on the chair next to me and swatting my arm. I just laughed and laughed! We were playing together. He'd jump back down and circle below my chair when I'd start screaming again. Finally he jumped up but instead of playing he bit me on the arm!!!! Mommy got really mad, yelled at him, put him in a time-out and held me for a while. Mommy seemed so relieved when daddy came home.

As mommy said, it was her best and worst day with me so far. (o:

Tia's Dive Meet

From Taylor Reese Wickett

Today mommy, daddy and I headed up to Thousand Oaks to see Tia compete in a dive meet for her college, UCSB! Tia was a gymnast for so long and so amazing at trampoline that she thought she could possibly do diving. Sure enough she did a few dives in front of the team, they cheered, and said welcome to the team. I got to go see her at one of her dive meets and it was so cool! Not only was that big pool filled with water so enticing but I loved seeing my Granny M, Grandpa Bill, and of course, Tia. She dove so good I was so impressed. How she jumped off that board, kept her legs so straight, and dove into the water with not much splash beats me! I really liked having mommy hold me while I touched the lane ropes, all rolled up behind the bleachers. All the plastic colors, blue, yellow and red, really intrigued me. Of course, Granny had more clothes for me (I can't wait till I'm 18 months to wear this ADORABLE outfit) and another really cool book (The Saggy Baggy Elephant) that i just know I'm going to love. It's a really big board book so mommy really likes it because I can't rip the pages. Hehe.

After the meet we all went out to eat at Red Robin, our family tradition with the Wicketts. We had tons of fun and I really liked tasting the fries, milkshake, and soda (although I made a really funny face with the soda and mommy and daddy told me that I could only have one sip of the soda...really weird because it was like they were all staring at me and laughed when I took a drink...what's the big deal?!).

Tia came to spend the night and watch the Charger's game with us that evening. We made burritos, talking with Brian, Tia's boyfriend over the video on the computer all night, and watched the Chargers WIN!!!! Yay!

I had a really fun day hanging out with Tia. Thanks for coming and spending some time with me. Love you!