Kitties and Hatties and Bears, Oh My!

After turning a mature 3 months old, Adalyn is making lots of progress towards her dreams of world domination by way of cute. Last Saturday, she giggled for the first time! Her laugh was so cute and contagious. She also seems to have inherited her mother's ability to uncontrollably giggle for long periods of time. :) Adalyn has also figured out that her toys have buttons that she can press with her chubby little hand. So playtime has definitely become more interactive. This is also an important skill to learn when she has to press buttons to launch her weapons of mass cuteness.

Sometimes, when Adalyn isn't interested in exercise or playing, I put some of her silly outfits on her. It cheers me up, and she seems to be distracted by something different.

"My head feels heavy...like something ginormous and frilly is sitting on it. I think I'm going to be sick."

"What hat? I don't see a hat."

Motion blur gives the hat a certain je ne sais quoi

Let's see what else we dug up from the dustbins of Adalyn's closet...

An outfit Michael and I had picked out before she was born. Even though she looks like a boy, I think it's adorable! It even brings out the blue-gray in her eyes.

Okay, surely we can find something fuzzy that threatens to swallow Adalyn whole....ah, yes. The "Insta-Teddy Bear" outfit. Let's listen as the Insta-Teddy Bear gives a public service announcement:

"Hai!"

"Okay, you gotsta listen to this."

"There's this place called the internet....but don't go there cuz it's gross!"

"The End." (Michael and I think all stories and PSAs should be narrated by a cute bunny or bear with nubby paws.)

Here's some more bear action:

Bear Butt and Wildlife Action

"There's no peeking, Mommy! This is a No-Peeking Zone."

Looks like we've been spotted

So, what else did we do this week besides play, exercise, and put on ridiculous outfits? We came up with some silly verses to songs....

"Oh I wish I was a little baby bertum, baby bertum.
 Oh I wish I was a little baby bertum, baby bertum.
 I'd go poopy, poopy, poopy,
 And make my diaper droopy.
 Oh I wish I was a little baby bertum, baby bertum."

"Oh I wish I was a little baby nose, baby nose.
 Oh I wish I was a little baby nose, baby nose.
 I'd go sneezy, sneezy, sneezy,
 And make the room real breezy.
 Oh I wish I was a little baby nose, baby nose."

"Oh I wish I was a little kitty kat, kitty kat.
 Oh I wish I was a little kitty kat, kitty kat.
 I'd go scootchie, scootchie, scootchie
 On my little kitty tushie.
 Oh I wish I was a little kitty kat, kitty kat."

What's a bertum you ask? Why, it's otherwise known as a keister, tush, tocks, etc. I'm pretty sure only babies can have bertums, though. What else did we do...oh, yes, we learned what it means to be a kitty.

Adalyn learns that being a kitty means lounging on the floor in high traffic areas.

Ninja takes over Adalyn's lessons

Peeper and Ninja are pleased with their protege

Peeper learns what it means to be a baby. It's like a foreign exchange program around here.

When I Grow Up....

Adalyn's had a tough few months here. She's had to endure cute training, learn new motor skills, and interact with her parents. But it was only a matter of time before the subject of Adalyn's future career paths came up - you can never think of these things too soon. So, Adalyn tried her hand at a few choices....

First choice: Ballerina.
Pros: Great exercise, cute clothes, exposure to culture and the arts...

The Strawberry Ballerina practices her pirouettes

The audience watches as the Strawberry Ballerina attempts a complicated move

Adalyn smiles for her audience

Adalyn shows off her high arches

Cons: They say my arms have to reach the top of my head for some of the moves!? What will the Strawberry Ballerina do now?

Adalyn buries her face in her short, chubby arms. I don't think her hands can touch the top of her head - and that's cute.

Where'd we get all of these pink baby clothes? Bah!

 
It looks like a new career path for Adalyn. Let's see, what could Adalyn do with her love of eating and chubby cuteness? Aha! How about Official Couch Potato!

"Who farted, y'all?" (Michael's first thought upon seeing this picture)

Adalyn contemplates whether to wear the A&M snuggie or the heart blanket...decisions, decisions

"They caught me - now I might have to actually do something productive!"

Daddy's seal of approval

DOUBLE CHIN ENHANCE! Adalyn takes her work seriously

Dad joins in on the couch potato action

Well, being a couch potato was fun for all of 1 day. Adalyn needs something with action and style....

Third Choice: Daycare Thug, Streetname Baby Phat

Adalyn in her penguin jumpsuit

Adalyn wonders where her homies went (apologies to all people with good taste :) )

Adalyn peeks out from underneath her ginormous hood (SUPER CUTE! This picture made me giggle.)

Adalyn hides a smile

Adalyn's mugshot. "I'm innocent!"

Maybe being a daycare thug involves too much action. And just maybe, it's a little too early for career choices. After all, Adalyn has a good 18+ years to decide that. For now, she's just going to be happy being a cute baby. A cute, very chubby baby. Who might one day rule the world with her cuteness! MWAHAHAHAHA! (Missing choice: World Dictator, Ruling with a Cute Fist)

New Year's Resolution - Play More...And Be Cute More, Too

Since Adalyn is getting bigger (last pediatrician's visit: 10 1/2lbs, 22 1/4" long), we've been squeezing in more playtime! She is slowly becoming aware of her surroundings and getting distracted by things that she's not yet a part of. Once she does become a part of something interesting though, she's not entertained by it for long. Sigh. Below we have pictures of tummy time:

"Huh, I really AM cute and adorable!" I like her chubby tush in this picture.

Michael gets in on the action. Michael also had a lot of fun one weekend setting up her room! It's actually starting to look like a baby room now.

For now, we mostly have playtime in the swing, or as Michael and I call it, the poo chair. The poo chair is aptly named since almost every time she sits in it, she poos. In the video below, we were having lots of fun and smiles, but then things started to turn serious (poo time is serious business round these parts).

 

Finally, I was able to capture our usual playtime in the video below.

Adalyn really likes to keep her hands intertwined like this

So when Mommom was visiting for Adalyn's birth, she found an awesome maneuver to distract and entertain Adalyn - the silly airplane hold (thanks, Mom, still works)! It's not only silly because of the sound effects you have to make but because of the blank expression she has on her face whenever you do it. Behold, the power of AIRPLANE!

Part of the bedtime routine is for Michael to take Adalyn and ever so slowly change her diaper as I get ready for bed. This is a part of "Daddy time," and Adalyn really enjoys it. The sounds and faces she makes are so cute that it's really hard to take sometimes! And by hard to take, I mean hard to keep myself from swooping her up in my arms and NOM-NOMming her.

SUPER CUTE! Somebody really loves their Daddy

The other day, I was holding Adalyn but really needed to put some laundry in the washer - without her help. I really didn't want to wait for her nap since the things needed to be put in the washer were things she had recently overflowed with poo; one of the things being her poo chair. So since I couldn't set her down in her poo chair since I was about the clean the cover, I had to set her down on the ground right next to the washer. At first, she wondered why everything looked different, but then she had a blast! She looked so cute and tiny on the floor that I had to take pictures.

"La dee dum dee dum dee dee, WHOA, alright, who spilled some baby on the carpet without cleaning it up?"

Don't think you'll be able to get all that baby out of the carpet, ma'am

Santa has been caught!

Few people believe Santa Claus exists in the wild - like the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot. Well, I'm here to tell you that Santa IS real....



.....tiny. Here are pictures that capture this elusive creature. (No Santas were harmed during this photo shoot.)

I was able to catch Santa before she got away. (I call my look Nouveau Mama. It's all the rage in Paris.)

What a freshly caught Santa looks like

Santa poses for the press release photos

Santa sneers at the accommodations of her captors

"Hey, where'd everybody go?"

Santa makes demands to be let go at once or children everywhere get no Christmas!

Adalyn really liked her Santa suit, courtesy of Grandma. We figured we couldn't have a Christmas without Santa, and well, Adalyn drew the short straw. We had so much fun taking pictures, and she was such a good girl during the whole thing. Her hat kept falling down over her eyes, and Adalyn would really look around like we suddenly disappeared. The whole thing was really cute.

This morning, Adalyn was again Smiles McCuterpants. Here's a picture of her smiling at Michael.

And here's a picture of Daddy time.

Bonus kitty pictures:

Peeper decides to give herself away to the lucky recipient on Christmas

Ninja decides that petting herself is more efficient

Baby Shark Strikes Again!

The Quicktime to Flash video conversion works! TADA! So, here's a video of Adalyn right after she's eaten. I do stress right after because she started to make hunger cues during the video. Sigh. It's amazing I have time to post these pictures. :)

Grandma Stanley and Uncle Jeremy came for a visit last weekend! Adalyn is slowly gathering her minions so she can rule mercilessly over them with cute...I mean meeting her relatives. :)

Adalyn tries to fist bump Uncle Jeremy

In Grandma's arms. Yes she really does sleep like this (THRILLER!)

Ninja has defected to someone with enough time to pet her

We all had a really fun visit! Too bad it was only for a short time. Uncle Jeremy did go through baby boot camp though before heading off to his 8 month pregnant wife. He learned the following:
1. Babies cry. A LOT. Especially ours. And it hurts our ears. We'll be deaf by 35.
2. Babies poo a lot. Especially ours. And it's gross.
3. How to change a diaper. This was rated Intermediate instead of Beginner since Adalyn squirms around a lot.
4. Babies will steal your soul; and your sleep. There's really nothing you can do about this except avoid babies. Some of us choose to have babies despite this, and our souls and sleep are now gone. :)
5. Cats in new baby households will defect to anyone willing to pet them. They might even crawl into your luggage for an extended "vacation." Our cats had the chance, but they missed it - probably because their souls had already been stolen by Adalyn.

This morning, Adalyn was all Smiles McCuterpants. She's slowly understanding what a huge responsibility it is to be a cute baby - she must train relentlessly day and night to increase her cute skills.

The camera captured a rare glimpse of a behbeh in the wild. They're known to lurk in plain sight and lure their prey in with flashes of cute.

If I didn't already have my soul stolen, this smile would've stolen it.

First, I was all practicing the ways of teh cute....

But then I serioused.

Adalyn gets really excited when she's about to eat. So excited, in fact, that we've had to implement a "No Unsupervised Latching" rule around the house.

Baby shark begins circling....

Baby shark opens mouth in anticipation....

Baby shark checks if victim is aware of surprise attack....

Baby shark goes in for the attack, but gets thwarted by victim. This time.

Kitty Bonus Pics:

May the floors be with you (why yes we're huge nerds, why you you ask?)

Peeper uses Ninja as a body pillow

Kitty Kiss - Mwa