Paint a Picture

Atlie is... a unique little girl.  She truly is a "girly" girl in that she loves to dress up in princess and fairy costumes.  Her favorite color is pink.  If Atlie had a saying, it would probably be, "The sparklier, the better".

I do not have boys, so I can't say from experience that something is "your typical boy".  But based on what I've heard, Atlie has many "typical boy" characteristics.  One of them being she is very mischievous and if there is trouble to be found, she will find it.

Atlie is not allowed to use things that can make marks (i.e. crayons, markers, paint, etc) without close supervision and even then she has a very limited usage of these things.  There have been countless incidents where Atlie's drawing pallet has ended up on the wall, on her body, or on one of her sisters.  (Branna was and is so good about following directions when it comes to things like this, so I've never had to worry about it.)

With our start of school, I have been allowing Atlie to use her markers and do-a-dots while I sit right next to Atlie, all the while continuing to remind her that we do not draw on anything but paper.  And to my surprise, she has actually been very good about it!

Since she proved to me that she could handle markers, I allowed her to graduate to paints (again supervised) and, oh boy, does she love to paint!  Every morning, when Branna and I start school, painting is what Atlie wants to do.

And again, she has surprised me!  The times that she accidentally gets paint on her, she tells me and wipes it off with a napkin (not her shirt).  She loves to create masterpieces and I love to see her imagination at work.

As she was painting one morning recently while Branna was laid up in bed sick, I thought to get a picture.  She looked so cute in her Cinderella dress and headband.

As I mentioned earlier, this happened to be a day that Branna was not feeling good.  She had an ear infection that was causing terrible nausea and during Atlie's painting session, Branna got sick I had to clean up a mess.

So let me paint this picture (no pun intended...) better: At this point, I have put Aisely in her crib to keep her away from the mess, and she is going berserk.  She's also very tired and needs to be put to bed.  Branna is sick in the bathroom and I am doing my best to not get sick myself while cleaning things up.  Atlie is by herself in the kitchen painting.

After finally getting everything cleaned up and getting Branna settled down, I run down the hall, past Atlie still painting, to turn the TV on for her while I get Aisley to sleep.  As I catch a glimpse of Atlie, I think to myself, "I don't remember her having a colorful bow in her hair..." And then it dawns on me: she's painted her hair!  Her reason for doing it was because it makes her look beautiful.

Here are the pictures of me telling Atlie she is grounded from painting and of her beautiful hair...

In the moment, it was not funny, but looking back it's hard not to laugh a little.  This girl is definitely her own, unique person!

Aisley at 9 Months (August 17)

Over this month, I have seen you becoming ever more aware of your surroundings.  You have really turned the corner from being a baby, to on your way to toddler-hood.  I love watching you make new discoveries (like how your hands work and what happens when you drop something).  You are so observant and do your best to mimmick sounds (like snapping and whistling) and even try to recreate events (like bonking your head or falling).



You definitely have a sense of humor already, too.  When we were at Grandma Lena's house last time, I tried I couple of PaPa's old wigs on you.  You thought it was hilareous and couldn't stop laughing.  (It was pretty funny!)

Even though you've understood some signs for a couple of months now, this month you've actually signed some of them.  In particular: more (said this too), Daddy, and no (at least tries by waving an arm).

Your main mode of locomotion is still army crawling (and you can GO!) but you've gotten more comfortable with hands-and-knees crawling, mainly over short distances.  However, I think it will only be a matter of time before you're walking since you've started standing without assistance for short periods of time.

When I give you Cheerios in your "non-spillable" bowl (haha), it's pretty easy to find where you are and where you've been. You have figured out that if you get a finger over the flap, you can get the Cheerios out more easily, but it also creates a huge mess.  Fortunately, you usually make your way back around and eat the trail.

You've also gained 3 top teeth this month (that makes 5 total) and another one is on the way.