Popsicle

Mimi gave Adde her first popsicle. She wanted nothing to do with it at first, but then could not get enough of it. Her little tongue was so fun to watch.

Fun Times

Addelynn is thoroughly enjoying time playing with family and all the new toys. I guess I should say all the new cabinets and drawers too.


This is her first motorized toy at Grandpa and Mimi's. She ran over Titus' paw before this filming. We can't believe she's old enough to sit on it and push the button to make it go.

Rohrer Christmas

Some pictures from the Rohrer Family Christmas - Round 1. More to come later. I couldn't resist posting pictures when she's wearing this cute Christmas dress and is not screaming around family members that she hasn't seen in a while. We're making big strides in the separation department!

Indiana Snow

There's snow in Indiana too. She finally warmed up to playing in it once she discovered the swing set and slide.



Her favorite was the slide for sure.

Sledding

Both grandpas wanted to take Adde sledding - each in their own way. Unfortunately, she isn't so sure about this activity.

John, where's your tool for this activity?

Minnesota Christmas

We celebrated a little early this year...not like Adde will know the difference. She participated for a while in opening presents. She has changed so much in a year. Last year all she did was stare at the wrapping paper. We are so thankful for her growth and development over the last year. She has turned into quite a special little lady.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Snow Bunny

Really, I needed a happy memory of Addelynn right now after the events of the morning. We had our first public temper tantrum in the post office parking lot. Hmm, not sure I want to repeat that again, but am sure that it will happen many times during my time as a mother. She was so stiff I could not physically get her to sit and stay in the carseat. I really wasn't sure how we were going to get home. I thought about calling Mark to come get us. However, I should take some of the blame as I had her out when she was tired and coping skills were low. She has been sleeping now for 3 hours, I've enjoyed watching these videos of her, and I now feel ready to be a parent again (as long as there are no more tantrums today).

Found

The barrette has been found, and it did not go through her digestive system. I found it when changing her crib sheet...whew!

Maniac

I always read about cousin Zane being such a maniac on the Potter's blog. Normally when I read or see what he's doing, I think to myself "That isn't normal?" I know she's my first and all, but I'm fairly certain that I have a bit of a maniac on my hands too.

A few disclaimers for the video...
1. She normally wears a shirt. She just had bbq sauce all over it and soaked it with water because she thinks she needs to use a real cup instead of a sippy.
2. I'm not sure what is going on with one pant leg.
3. She has been fascinated with her tongue recently, which is what we tried to capture. She does this multiple times in the day.

Yogi

If she has yogurt for breakfast, it normally goes something like this...

She wants the cup and spoon herself.

Titus sits by her high chair salivating in anticipation. (Can you see it on both sides?)

Adde wants to give him the "yogi" cup. Normally it lasts longer than this with intense squealing, but the camera was a big distraction.

Hair

Finally has enough that...

we can put in a barrette!

We have since lost the barrette. Hopefully she did not eat it.

Thanksgiving

A bit overdue, but here are some pictures of Mark preparing and cooking the birds for us. Since we decided to stay here for Thanksgiving this year, Mark thought he needed to get a turkey fryer. While I might have thought this was crazy, I did not complain too much because it meant I didn't have to cook the turkey. Needless to say, the turkey turned out really well. Mark did an excellent job with his first turkey frying experience.

Obsession

Can you figure out her latest obsession?

Wearing two in this photo.

The purse of choice until it disappeared. Mimi had to stop taking it places and had to hide it in her room.

Has one when someone is carrying her.

Has one when playing.

Here's some footage of her in action with the camera. I don't think she has been without her purse the entire day. We were walking around Target with it earlier - quite the sight.

What?

Oh what is she wearing on her arms? Any guesses? Anything that has a hole, is light enough, and can be manipulated ends up on the arms.

Reading

By herself is the new fad...

sometimes in a chair...
sometimes on the floor.
She thinks she's a biggie girl.

Baby Doll

Adde has started to play "mommy" recently with her baby dolls. She puts them in her little stroller, pushes them around, and feeds them with a spoon and bottle. We try to catch them on film, and have multiple attempts of her playing with the baby, seeing the camera, and then instantly bolting for the camera. These show her feeding her baby yogurt. However, you will see that the conditions have to be right (i.e. baby in the right place, spoon and yogurt aligned, etc.) for the baby to get a bite.

Ornery Girl

Well, I guess we don't need the rice in the kitchen anymore. The problems started after I poured in a new bag. Now we are learning to leave the lid on.

I left the fridge open today to quickly pour some milk for a recipe. When I found Adde she had helped herself to a stalk of grapes and was biting off pieces of grape.

More Family Pictures

We just got the rest of our family pictures back tonight. Grandparents, you need to select the ones (plural is acceptable) you want. Aunts and uncles, let us know your favorites too. We can print whatever we want. Email us your order. Enjoy!

Another compliment?

When I went to pick Adde up at the end of mops this morning, the volunteers commented about how she REALLY likes crackers. They could not get over how many she ate and wondered where they all went in such a little person. Apparently she kept asking for more, and they kept giving.

I will fess up to contributing to this characteristic.

Aggressive

So what do you think? Are the following statements made by several moms at the family playtime this morning a compliment? They are in regards to Addelynn.

"I can't believe how aggressive she is for being such a little girl."

"She is so aggressive."

"She sure jumps right in there and grabs what she wants."

I'm curious too how I, being so mild and meek, ended up with an aggressive child.

November 60s

We are so thankful to have four 60 degree days in a row in November. It has been great to be outside. Here are some videos of our time outside. I've decided there really is no reason for me to put forth the effort to go to the park as the garage and yard are just as fun. And Titus is more under control...well maybe not as you see one of the videos.

We started in the garage. She is not afraid to walk and fall down on the cement. You'll hear her saying "uh-oh" when she falls and drops things. The vacuum is normally not in the garage, but we had an issue today, which is the reason we were in the garage in the first place.


Then we went out back to the sandbox. You'll notice her sorting habit with the rocks.


We ended on the deck. She loves playing in her house (thanks Aunt Jen!) and going down the slide.


Well, that's a bit of our day. Sorry the videos are so long...I left the details for grandmas!

Titus, what have you done?

This is what I found in the corner of the yard today. I don't know if he killed the bunny earlier in the day or what, but this is disgusting.

A Daily Event

This is a daily event in our household. Titus does something fun, Adde giggles and chases him. For as much as he sheds and the extra cleaning I do, he is an irreplaceable source of entertainment. In the video watch for Adde signing for more (2 times) and all done. She also says "bah bah" at the beginning, which might mean ball.

Morning Entertainment

Last week we did not have much going on, and someone was crabby due to lack of sleep. The latest she woke up last week was 6:30 am - earliest was 4:30. Needless to say, we needed new events to keep us happy. Yes messy, but the amount of time this occupied her far exceeded the time it took me to clean it up. And yes, she did eventually dump the entire pan of rice.

Halloween

She was a little pumpkin this year. Had a bit of a hard time walking with all this on, especially the shoe covers, but didn't let that stop her. She's now a fan of what's inside the crinkly little wrappers, namely Milky Ways. Mommy learned her lesson.

The Bin

So I hear that daddy used to do this? This was her first time to intentionally get in the toy bin. Last time she fell in, which was not a popular thing to do. This time, she loved it.

Getting in,

re situating,

and reading a really funny story.

What a ham!

Movie Marathon

A few movies to show her daily activities...

1. The tripod crawl. This was the method of choice for moving before walking came along. This way she could carry something while scooting around. Don't mind the crying...the camera is out.


2. Walking for the camera. Are you starting to notice a trend here? Immediately after filming these first two, I had to find her camera so she would calm down. Ridiculous! But notice the progression of chasing me with the camera down the hall. And you might notice that she can stand up in the middle of the room now.


3. Lastly the door game. This is one of her favorite things to do now. See if you can hear what she says behind the closed door. Hopefully you can hear her saying mama too.

Pumpkin Patch

Well, the pumpkin patch just up the road was sort of a dud. We spent about 5 minutes there, took a few pictures, and then took her to the playground to play. She was just too young for the pony rides (and they were overpriced with a long line) and inflatable toys, and the hay ride just went around the parking lot. Adde and I are fighting bad colds right now, so we are trying to avoid situations where she will chew on toys and infect other children, but at the same time we can't stay in our house all the time. I/we will go crazy!

One Cool Pumpkin

Surprisingly, she actually leaves these sunglasses on, even for an entire stroller ride.

A few fun updates from the weekend...she took more than five steps two different times. The unfortunate thing is that she will never "practice" when you want her to. Someday she'll get this walking thing figured out. Also, tonight I was telling her to say "Hi daddy!", and it sure sounded like that was what she said on command. Mark and I just looked at each other wondering if we really heard that.

October 12th

You have got to be kidding me. A few days later it is 60 degrees.

Leaves

Yesterday two of our trees decided to drop all their leaves, which meant for a fun pile of leaves for Adde to explore. She didn't really do anything in the leaf pile other than stand there, but we sure took a lot of pictures.

12 Months - On the move

Today I decided to tackle those 12 months onesie pictures by myself. I've lowered my expectations for these "photo shoots" and was pleasantly surprised today that we only had one short meltdown caused by camera coveting during the ten minutes we were taking pictures. Granted there are no poses, but this shows the progression of Adde's typical play...ping-ponging from one thing to the next. Please excuse the toothbrush in the first pictures and the bruise on her forehead (crawled straight into a door at full speed).



Here are a few new things Addelynn has accomplished in her 12th month:

• Signs more, which really means "I want". She points to whatever it is that she wants and signs more. This happened at Target the other day as the berries were going down the belt to the cashier.
• Says "uh-oh" when she drops something.
• Picks her nose...wish she would not have discovered those holes.
• Walks all over if her hand(s) is(are) held.
• Brushes her own two teeth.
• Climbs on and off riding toys.
• Empties any drawer, basket, cupboard in sight.
• Drinks whole milk.
• Claps (mainly for herself).
• Gives high fives.
• Rides in her big girl carseat, still rear facing as she hasn't reached 20 pounds yet. (Weighed 19 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 29 1/2 in. at doctor's yesterday)
  

Birthday Buddies

Addelynn is not quite sure what to think of a shared cake...

Well, maybe it's okay (as she picks up the entire slice of ice cream cake).

Silly Girl

Here are some of her sillier moments caught on camera...

Using the pumpkin as a purse. It's humorous to watch her crawl and keep her "purse" up over her shoulder. I'm trying to convince her that walking with her pumpkin purse would be much easier, but she's not buying into that. Hey, I must say that I'm proud she is already into purses. We just need to work on her style a bit.

Sucking on a bottle nipple that she found in the crawl space. I decided the other morning that it was pointless to have two baskets full of bottles taking up space in the cupboards when she doesn't use them anymore. So I boxed them up and put them just inside the crawl space to put away later. Well, before later came, someone was in the crawl space, and bottles are strewn all about the house. This piece must have been the treasure though as she could suck and chew on the nipple. And yes, we do allow Adde to play in the crawl space...easy babysitting.

Lounging in the high chair. She started doing this...putting a foot up and relaxing during snack time when the big tray is not on. What a silly girl.

Hunting

Perhaps a little laugh for you...

This morning Adde found a spider on our white baseboards. She pointed at it and tried to touch it. As the spider ran away, her finger kept chasing after it, attempting to crush it. I really didn't want Addelynn playing with spider guts, so I called for reinforcements. As Adde pointed, T-man sniffed and eventually killed and ate the spider. It was a team effort by the Rohrer "children" to get rid of this unwanted house guest.

Happy Birthday Little One

I just finished putting my "little one" to bed. Tonight I wanted to savor our snuggling time before putting her to bed as I realize this isn't going to last forever. I think of all the bedtime routines and sleep patterns that have come and gone in the first year. Oh enough of a sappy mommy who can't believe her little baby is no longer a little baby.

We had a fun birthday today even though it wasn't quite what I had planned. Mark still isn't feeling 100%, but I did get to do some birthday shopping at a big garage sale this morning while leaving Adde to have some daddy time. I was hoping to find a kitchen set, but found a doll stroller (with straps...most important feature) instead. After some more shopping, I came home to find a fort in the dining room that Adde loved playing in with dad.

Funny that dad made a fort for her today because my super creative friend made a tent cover for the card table as a birthday gift. I had to chuckle as Adde crawled right in, moved the curtain, looked out the window, and proceeded to crawl out the back even though there is not a door on the other side. She will have so much fun playing in here.

We also took her out for a birthday lunch at Culver's. She was too distracted by the people to eat her chicken fingers and french fries. But with that first bite of frozen custard, she was tuned in to eat. She started signing "more" as fast as she could. Wish we would have gotten that on camera. We then went to Ikea to do some shopping and let her play a bit in the kid area. She also enjoyed the cart her daddy put her in as it spun in circles really well.

She spent the rest of the day playing and napping. It was a great day to celebrate her first year of life. She is doing so much right now that makes me smile and warms my heart (that was for you Mark:)). Here are two that we captured on film...

The ornery look. I believe this is direct from dad. So many times she looks at me with this look, starts giggling, and does something silly or naughty. Today I was attempting to try on two different coats to determine the right size when she did the look and giggle and crawled off as fast as she could in the other direction.

Her independence. She just wants to do things for herself (once again direct from dad), such as feed herself yogurt. You can see how well that worked for her, but she was having a good time. As she does these things for herself, she just continues to learn more and more.

Happy Birthday Little A!