Queries, inquiries and pretend

Abigail has been very interested in people's birthdays asking just about everyone, "When's his birthday?"

She loves to pretend.  Her favorites are: Wonder Woman, Lilo, Mulan and Ariel.  She will be receiving a Wonder Woman costume for Chanukah.  When we visited DisneyWorld in October we met Lilo and Mulan and have happy memories of them (and a cup with her picture with Mulan on it).  And she has always loved Ariel--she memorized and sings Part of that World.  We particularly like when she sings herself to sleep singing it.

A budding mathematician, she's asking "Should we count?" for just about anything she comes in contact with.

Two of our favorite things she says:

"That's a good plan."
          and
"I love you Fink.  She's so cute."

We have a master hula hooper.  She may be running of to the circus one of these days with an act.

We are ever diligent about her wearing her eye patch so she also likes to put eye patches on her stuffed animals.  When a pal takes off his eye patch she makes sure to take it off in a place that's not too bright.  Smart lady.

All smiles!

Well, we were walking out of music class and couldn't go to the playground because of the rain falling on us so what did the Ettinger ladies do?  Get a new, shorter haircut for Abigail:

And she and the rest of us have a smile on our faces because we're so proud that Barack Obama has another FOUR MORE YEARS!  Abigail was watching for Barack last night on the TV and when she didn't see him asked, "Maybe Joe Biden will come on?"  That's our little political girl!

So...

So much has happened since we last wrote.

Abigail likes to say "So..." to start a conversation. "So, mama, I'm going to go to work.  You stay here and enjoy your house and I'll be back in a few minutes."  Then will proceed to walk away, check back a few times and then rush back, "so, how was work?" She'll ask you to remind you to ask her this question.  She can easily hold up her end and your end of any discussion.

We recently got back from Disneyworld.  She got to meet Mickey (and even posed long enough for a non-blurred picture to be taken), both Lilo and Stich--"he touched me!" She said after that encounter, Mulan and Ariel (who she loves but was a bit shy meeting).  Plus we saw animals everyday at our hotel and she loved to run ahead of us as we went down the hallway.  At the park that was a different story- she only wanted mama to carry her, not even sit in her stroller!  "I'm not going to sit" was a favorite phrase from this trip, making the first days a no-rides zone for her.  Luckily it is the most magical place on earth and she came to enjoy It's a small world and Peter Pan, along with some fun shows.  It was exhausting  and yet totally enjoyable.  So, basically, it was the day in the life of a two year old, just with a little more pixie dust than usual.

We returned back to our Forest School class, a lovely few hours in Prospect Park, which includes making mud, nature walks, singing, puppets--rain or shine!  Abigail has said, "this is a nice, wonderful day," during this class and says "I don't want to go," at the end it. We swim once a week too, she's loving jumping into the water and visiting the hot tub after class is done.  She takes a zoo class where she's touched a chicken named Pigeon and a turtle named Sleepy.

She loves to glue things and she LOVES to swing on bars.  There is scaffolding outside our apartment and those bars have become a playground.  She first just swung backwards and forwards and now she whips up her legs, folding herself in half, puting her straights legs over the bar, then bending her legs over the bar. She has not yet let go, but, that's the next step!  It's great but it can make but it makes our hearts skip a beat!

Other news is we will only be the Plaza Street Ettingers for another few months.  Where we will be after that, well, do you know of anything?  Send us a line if you have any leads!

From Mama

Abigail, I love listening to you.  You use big grown-up words for sure, like when you say, "I am a women" when you insist you're not a little baby anymore but I also just love listening to you talk in your own language, which you just started to do again.  I  won't call it baby-talk because it's not babble, it's got a ryhthm and sing-song quality to it, mixed with a lot of laughter and sweet banter.
You have a lot to share with the world.

I love watching you play.   A hula hoop becomes a magic oversized ring when you let it twirl around your body.

I love to watch you dance.  One arm swings up and the other locks in a perpendicular way and you ask, "mom can you do this?" and I can never get it just right but we still laugh seeing mama try your unique dance.

I love to watch you be Abigail Rose Ettinger.  You create yourself new everyday.  And it's a wonder to be around you.

Today is my birthday and I celebrate you.

"Join us!"

There are several phrases Abigail says lately that we want to remember she said at this age.

"That's incredible!"  as she bounces off a slide.

"Join us!" as she joyfully said as we searched for clovers.

We talk about Daphne as our dogness (dog and goodness made into one word).  Well, she likes using that word and then created her own: catness!  She LOVES her Fink.

And she loves singing "Wheels on the Bus."

She is so full of life (please read: exerting her independence) and exploring her world every second of every day.  No wonder we're all so exhausted every night!

What a joy

While Abigail eats she will ask questions like, "Papa, do you want some?"  And sometimes she'll even give you the thing she's offering and sometimes she'll pull a "psych!"

We're adjusting to life now that "Mama not go to work."  She loves this idea (and so does Mama) but really doesn't understand when she still goes to daycare (and it's simply because after all the crying she does have a good time and we're all paid up through July!).  She has a new favorite song she calls Blue, Blue, Blue.  She told us about it one evening and much to her dismay (which led to our dismay) we didn't know which song it was.  We played songs that had to do with Blue, no.  A Laurie Berkner song that says Moon, moon, moon; a very exasperated no!  How about Bluebird on my Shoulder--oh goodness no!  Finally, a few days later we asked the woman who runs her daycare and she sent us the lyrics which led us to a YouTube video of a very sweet song.  "What color is the sky? It's blue, it's blue.  What color is the sun?  It's yellow, it's yellow.  The sun is yellow, the sky is blue, it's blue, it's blue, it's blue. (and so forth with other hues).  The kid knew what she was talking about and thankfully we now know too!

We also got to visit Jones Beach (above picture and more here) and its pool.  She is a water baby.  In the foot deep pool she threw herself around and pretended to be Ariel swimming under the sea.  It was such an incredible pleasure to see Abigail have such a joyful time in a pool Amanda had visited as a child.

It's been incredible seeing Abigail continue to blossom, now into an inquisitive, strong, opinionated little person of the world.  What a joy. 

"One day"

Abigail now is saying "one day" in regards to doing things when she's older.  One day she'll be able to change a light bulb and stand precariously on top of counters like Mama does or climb up onto the air conditioner to look out the window...when she's tall enough, when she's big enough, when she's a "big girl."  She's our amazingly independent, carefree, loving, little girl.

Who's 2 today?!

Happy Birthday Abigail!!!!!!!

Getting dressed!

Abigail dressed herself into her pajamas tonight!  Getting her feet through the hole was tricky for her, "make the hole bigger," but she didn't give up!  If we went to help her she said, "self" and eventually got her pants and then her shirt on!  "So impressed" she parroted to us after Papa said it to her.

Approaching Two

For more pictures click here

Abigail went for her two year old check up this morning and in her words, "Don't like it!  Out the door!"  Her doctor said, "she's verbal, isn't she?"  We then went to the playground to find out if the bouncy bridge was still broken or had it been fixed?  It was still broken but we did find another bridge to cross and she got herself intertwined with a whole bunch of children, didn't like that tight squeeze and made her way out of that mob with the ease of a seasoned New Yorker.  It was quite the morning.

She asks for the lights to go off often now--so she can practice singing, Happy Birthday.  (which is just three days away!)  She sings all the time to herself.  It ranges from Stayin' Alive to the ABC's to Humpty Dumpty.

Her favorite saying now: "where's your pants?!"  Our little comedian.

Imaginative Play!

Abigail's pretend play has kicked up a notch.  She is taking objects and turning them into brand new things.  Tonight she was playing with two toilet rolls and "pouring" one into the other, making tea.  She THEN put them onto her feet and said, "shoes!"  Love it!!!!

'sup and other phrases

Abigail has been saying so many new words and phrases it's hard to keep up.  "What's up pussycat," a top favorite at the moment.  She walks into our lobby and says it to our doormen, she'll say it to a store owner and she'll say it to us as a greeting in the morning when we slide open her door.

"Whoa boy," is another exclaimation she uses when something is difficult or really interesting.  She learned that one from Grandma.

And you'd never forget to "Shake your booty!" if you spend any time with this dancing machine.

Maybe you'd like to have a "slice of pizza?"  Abigail sure does.

And have we mentioned she's starting to use the potty?!  We are so proud of her whether she makes it into the potty or just about makes it...she's trying really hard.

Also we've been delighted as she sings, "itsy bitsy spider...up....spout!  Down, plop!  Wash...the spider out."  And then goes straight into:  "Row, row, row...boat...dream."  And, "head, shoulders, knees, toes, knees, eyes, mouth, head, shoulder!"  Or, "wheels...bus!"  She'll also say "Frank" when she's singing these songs, he's her music teacher at day care.  She also sings, "where is pointer?"  What's even more fantastic is that she's is so thoroughly delighted with herself as she sings these songs and does the hand gestures.

She'll ask us to "sing song?" which could mean singing Yellow Bus or Staying Alive.  Or, if she's brushing her teeth it means, (to the tune The Farmer in the Dell), "I love to brush my teeth.  I love to brush my teeth.  Up and down and all around, I love to brush my teeth."

Oh and blue is the new yellow.  Usually she'll answer the question, "what color is_____?" and whatever it is, it'll be blue.  Then she'll say "silly goose" because she knows it's wrong.

She'll be two in just about a month and half--it's true what they say.  Time does fly by.

Amazed

We're constantly amazed by Abigail and what a wonderful person she's turning into. She says new words and does new things every day. And, she gets happier every day too.  Here's a sampling:

She loves listening the classic disco song--"Ha Ha" or as the rest of the world calls it, "Staying Alive," by the Bee Gees.  She'll dance to it, saying "booty" and encourages herself as she moves by saying, "Go girl!"

She loves going out into our hallway and running "FASTER!" Her arm is extended out behind her, to help her move so unbelievably fast! You might even see her doing the crab walk.

"Fluffily" may be one of our most favorite words she says. Fink the cat is fluffily!

"I sorry" is one of her favorite phrases. She picked up those words from daycare. She also learned "hit" and "push" too. She's not actually doing those things, she just likes to talk about them. When we tell her no, we don't hit. She asks, "why?" We let her know that hurting people isn't acceptable. I'm sorry.

When she says "heavy," she says it in her lowest, heftiest voice.

She likes to do things for her"self." It could be feeding herself, it could be fixing the door she likes to pull off from her toy schoolbus or her attempts to put on her own shoes, she announces she does it, "self!"

She loves to put on our shoes and march with them on. She sometimes says "dinosaur" when she says she's marching, just like in the song, "We are the Dinosaurs."

She likes water (or as she says it, "wadur") but chances on she'd prefer Seeeelzter. She loving refers to the bubbly water with that elongated "eeeeee" most time she sips or slurps it from a straw, from her "pup" (cup).

She counts to 10. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 8 - 9 - 10 - Tennie - Twelvie. And, she says "1-2-3-FAST" and then runs.

And, she's now full of hugs for us and says "love you!"