Wild Berries in the Pacific Northwest (Huckleberry and Salmonberry)

This is a series about wild berries in the Pacific Northwest.  I decided to separate the berries in their own posts.  Here is my first post that has mostly duplicate information as this one.  Here is info on Thimbleberry, Blackcap Raspberry, and Blackberry.

Red Huckleberries

Sorry the picture isn't that great.  I'll try to get a better one.  Red huckleberries like to grow out of nurse logs.  So sometimes the bushes can be way up high.  The bushes I have seen range from about 2 feet to 10 feet tall.  They have small red berries that progress in ripeness from white to green to pink to red.  They are supposed to be ripe from late July - October but there were some ripe ones near my home in late June early July.  The early ripened berries were pretty sour, but I have tasted some sweeter ones that ripened in mid July.  Both my girls have loved them. They tasted delicious in muffins and this scone recipe.  You have to do a lot of picking to get a decent amount.

Salmonberries

I'm a little confused on the salmonberries.  There are supposedly yellow ones and red ones.  But around here I've been seeing both on the same bush.  So I'm not sure if they are both growing on the same bush or if the berries turn from yellow to red and the yellow ones aren't really ripe yet. (It seems to me that the red ones and yellow ones were growing on the same bush and they were both ripe.)  The ones that ripened in late June were pretty sour.  When I tried them a few weeks later they taste pretty plain and didn't have a whole lot of flavor.  This article said to avoid red ones, but I have no idea why.  The berry book just said there were two different kinds.  The bushes can be really tall.  Lots of the berries have been way over my head.  The bushes don't produce a whole lot of berries.  They supposedly ripen mid July to mid August, but there were ripe ones at my house in late June early July.  The ones I managed to hide from Allie ended up in ice cream and tasted good.

The Babe

Selena's given Allie a new nickname.  She calls her babe.  It's cute.

Allie's been learning new words.  Some new words are shoes, and banana.  Usually when I ask her a question if she agrees she makes happy noises, and if she disagrees she makes whiny noises, but the other day I asked her if she wanted something and she simply replied, "No", very clearly.  When she does something she's proud of she says, "da" in the tone of "tada".  She pretty much understands everything I say.  I can ask her to get things, or go find someone.

She continues to amaze me at her mobility.  She's been following her sister climbing everywhere.  At the playground I'll turn around and she'll be on the second or third rung of a ladder.  Eek.  If the playground has even half way manageable steps she can get to the top and go down the slide (feet first on her tummy) by herself.  She can easily run/walk down a hill and stop at the bottom without falling.  She thinks its hilarious to run away mid diaper change.  She takes off giggling with glee.  (Sound familiar?  Dyna and Selena both love/loved to run away from me).

Sleep.  The constant challenge.  Maybe partly to blame on my philosophical thoughts about it.  She has now become hard to put down for a nap.  I used to turn on the TV for Selena while I put Allie down, but now Allie likes to watch TV, or at least the intro music for Super Why.  She gets all excited and dances.  Stomping her feet and twirling in circles.  Night time has also become hard.  She does not want to be left out.  She wants to be involved when Floyd reads books to Selena.  Unfortunately most of the time that is by sitting on the books.  If I say the word sleep she starts screaming.  Some nights it is fine, she'll come to me, crawl in my lap and nurse to sleep.  But other nights if I try to take her into the bedroom, she freaks out.  Some nights she has cried for an hour.  Nothing consoles her.  If I try to hold her she'll jump out of my arms.  If I let her leave the bedroom she goes to the corner and cries.  We've seemed to have adopted a long summer night schedule and have been staying up late and sleeping in.  I guess that's ok.

She's been potty training herself.  (Well not really)  Every time I or Selena uses the toilet.  She wants to as well.  Sometimes I take off her diaper, other times I just set her up there with it on.  Then she gets off and gets some toilet paper.  Pretends to wipe and then drops it in the toilet and flushes.  Granted she has never actually gone in the potty, but its cute just the same.  Except when she uses it as an excuse to not go to bed.  One night I tried to put her to bed and she got mad.  When I let her out of the room she went to the bathroom and asked to sit on the toilet.  Well I have to admit it was kind of cute.  After she went potty then she wanted a drink of water.

She can use a fork and spoon pretty easily now.  She doesn't seem to have a real favorite food at the moment.  Except maybe berries.  We've been doing a lot of berry picking and she devours the berries as quickly as she can.  She is very good at spotting berries and picking them herself.  She also keeps on picking the unripe blueberries in our back yard.  She still eats dog food on occasion.  She likes sitting in my lap and eating the beans and berries off my salad.  She also likes feeding you.  She tries to stuff food in my mouth faster than I can chew.

She likes animals.  She always points out dogs and crows when she sees them.  She loves our trips to the zoo and pays more attention to the animals than Selena does.  She's been playing with Legos a lot lately and she can fit them together and pull them apart by herself.

I'm a Cat

Selena has been doing great.  I'm not sure if its coincidence or not, but I've been using some gentle discipline techniques and since I've started Selena's behavior in general has been great.  She has been patient with her sister.  She has been saying sorry when she makes a mistake, and overall has been fairly helpful.   It is wonderful.  It wasn't that long ago that she would run off in the blink of an eye.  But she doesn't do that any more (well almost) and even more she attempts to keep Allie from doing it.  

Lately she's been into climbing.  We have tons of playgrounds near our new house and we've been exploring all of them.  She has also learned how to slide down poles.  Which she loves.  She has also been practicing the monkey bars and if they aren't too far apart and have a slight decline she can do them 95% on her own.  

We got a membership to the Everett Children's Museum and her favorite part was the construction room.  They have these really cool toys that you can build child size cars and houses out of.  They have special screws, bolts and wrenches to put them together.  So she strapped on her tool belt and grabs her wrench and shouts, "Righty tighty, Lefty Loosey" and starts building.  We spent at least an hour in that room the first day, and we had to go back the next day and she spent another 45 minutes.  When we left the first day I told her we needed to take apart her creation and she got excited and said, "Now I can do lefty loosey!"  

We've visited my new nephew a few times and she absolutely loves him.  She always wants to hold him and she carries on about how cute he is, and how much she loves him.  

Her and Allie have been getting along pretty well.  She carries on about how cute Allie is as well.  When Allie is upset she tries to make her happy.  Selena loves to snuggle and Allie has started snuggling with her more often and Selena likes that.  She does not like the baby slobber kisses Allie likes to plant on her however.  

I think Halloween is one of her favorite holidays because she seems to remember it well, even when she was only one.  Floyd asked her if she was going to be a cat this year and she looked at him with a puzzled expression and as if he was crazy and said, "I'm already a cat."  The fourth of July was fun.  Last year the smoke bombs were her favorite, this year she could care less about them.  This year she liked the pop-its, the sparklers, and the parachute guy.  

She got a book at the library about Arthur losing a tooth, and there was an episode in her new favorite show, Super Why, on the tooth fairy so she is very excited about her and Allie losing their teeth.  

She likes doing the "make a word" games on starfall.com and she is getting pretty good at them.   She knew all her letters at a pretty young age, before she was two, but I'm not sure if she still knows them all.  When she has to pick the letter that fills in the blank sometimes she says the letter name, but sometimes she doesn't.  

Berry Picking - Wild Berries in Western Washington

Right before we moved, on our last visit to Northwest Trek (love that place) I actually spent some time reading all the signs labeling the plants along the path between exhibits.  I found out that lots of the plants growing were edible and some of the signs even contained recipes on them.  Those signs got me thinking about plants that I would like to have growing around my new home.  I figure if they are native they are probably pretty easy to maintain.  Then I found that King county has a website on planting native plants and I searched for edible ones and found the nurseries in the area where you can buy them.  So I went off to Molbaks in search of wild strawberries and huckleberries.

While I didn't find the strawberry plant I was looking for I did find a huckleberry plant.  I took it home and then looked to see how I should plant it.  I learned that huckleberries like to grow in nurse logs (trees that fall down) so to grow one you need to replicate a nurse log with sawdust, bark, etc in a big mound. But then I thought that maybe it would be better to actually plant the bush in a real nurse log.

Our new house has miles of trails around it and we've been exploring them and running on them (it is wonderful).  So I kept on the lookout for a potential nurse log to guerrilla plant my huckleberry, but what I found was that we already had tons of huckleberries growing all around us.  I also saw salmonberries, raspberries (maybe), blackberries (of course), salal, and maybe some blue elderberry (for sure red elderberry but it is debatably editable).  So I kept an eye out on the berries and amazingly some of them already started to ripen.  I also went to the library and checked out The Pacific Northwest Berry Book and then I took the girls out to pick berries.

They loved it!  We've gone out almost every day the past week.  We found a real nice patch of huckleberries on the trail right behind our house.  On one trip Selena said, completely unprompted from me, "Picking berries is fun.  It is better than Halloween when we go and get candy from our neighbors."  How cute is that!  Allie has become a berry picking fiend.  She gobbles the berries faster than I can pick them and if we are lucky and find a bush that has some low berries she climbs right into the brush and snaps them off straight into her mouth.

Here is Allie stealing all the salmonberries we did manage to collect and gobbling them up before we could take them home and try to make something from them.

Allie is snagging them even when I'm trying to photograph them.

Red Huckleberries

Sorry the picture isn't that great.  I'll try to get a better one.  Red huckleberries like to grow out of nurse logs.  So sometimes the bushes can be way up high.  The bushes I have seen range from about 2 feet to 10 feet tall.  They have small red berries that progress in ripeness from white to green to pink to red.  They are supposed to be ripe from late July - October but there are some ripe ones right now.  So far all the ones I've eaten have been pretty sour, but the girls like them.  They tasted delicious in muffins.  You have to do a lot of picking to get a decent amount.

Salmonberries

I'm a little confused on the salmonberries.  There are supposedly yellow ones and red ones.  But around here I've been seeing both on the same bush.  So I'm not sure if they are both growing on the same bush or if the berries turn from yellow to red and the yellow ones aren't really ripe yet.  The yellow ones seem pretty sour while the red ones don't seem to have a whole lot of flavor.  I've also seen some red berries on totally different looking bushes and am not sure if they are also salmonberries or if they are wild raspberries.  This article said to avoid red ones, but I have no idea why.  The berry book just said there were two different kinds.  The bushes can be really tall.  Lots of the berries have been way over my head.  The bushes don't produce a whole lot of berries.  They supposedly ripen mid July to mid August, but there seem to be some ripe ones now.  The ones I managed to hide from Allie ended up in ice cream and tasted good.

Salal

I haven't tried this one yet since the berries are just now forming.  Salal starts out with little tiny white flowers that will eventually turn into blue berries.  It is a ground covering bush so it doesn't grow very tall.  We'll be on the lookout for these when they ripen.

Allie Mally Pudding and Pally

Allie is 13 months now. Her first birthday flew by while we were moving. She amazes us every day with her independence and mobility. She climbs on and up everything attempting to match the feats of Selena.  At the moment she is climbing all over the computer chairs which makes it hard for me to type.

She talks quite a bit and has lots of words and even some phrases. She is always asking "tts that" (what's that) and pointing at everything she wants saying "that", "that" sometimes saying "I wan that" (I want that). I've sworn I've heard the phrases "Iwanoutside" (I want outside) "Iwandessert" (I want dessert - while she was pointing at cookies). "Thatdidnthurt" (after she hit me and I said she hurt me). "Iwango" (I want to go). I'm not sure. The words are all blurred together, but it really seems like she says some of that stuff. She also babbles a lot and sometimes it sounds like she is counting. She's not saying the words, but she has the tones down.

She says Dyna pretty clearly. She likes dogs and when we are at the park and she sees a dog she always wants to go and say hi. She is always asking for Dyna's leash and collar and tries to walk Dyna around the house. She is always eating her food and dumping her water all over. :/

She's been eating a lot of bananas lately.  She seems to have become a blueberry snob.  She would gobble the frozen berries we got at the farm faster than you could put them in front of her, but when I've given her berries not from the farm she wouldn't touch them.  Maybe she likes them frozen?  Those berries are the best berries I've ever had.  But overall she is pretty picky.   She still gets the majority of her nutrition from nursing.

Allie is very independent and does not want to be treated like a baby. She wants to climb in her car seat herself.  She doesn't want to sit in the high chair anymore.  She wants to use silverware and she does not want the child size stuff.  I think she gets upset when I give her a plastic plate instead of a glass plate as well.  She wants to peel her own banana.

She is so sweet.  She will climb in your lap and grab your head and plant big slobber kisses right on your mouth.  If you ask for a hug she'll wrap her arms around you and rest her head on your shoulder.

She is learning a bit on cooperating, sharing and cleaning up.  She will clap for herself when she puts stuff away.  Sometimes she'll hand Selena puzzle pieces instead of tearing the puzzle apart.  If you ask her sometimes she'll hand stuff to you.

Allie enjoys flipping pages in books and asking "ttsthat."  She likes digging in the dirt.  Racing and chasing with her sister.  We went to the zoo and she was really interested in the animals.

That's what Allie has been up to.

Digging, Tree Climbing and Puddle Jumping

Welcome to the June Carnival of Natural Parenting: Outdoor fun

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared their stories and tips for playing outside with kids. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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I recently read the book, Last Child in the Woods. Basically the premise is that time spent in nature is essential for the physical and emotional well being of all people, especially children. He summarizes various research that concludes that people who spend time outside are happier and smarter.  Also the less structured the time spent and the more natural the environment the better. I had heard about the book a couple years ago, but hadn't read it.  But I readily agreed and embraced the premise. My clearest memories of when I was young are playing outside. When I ran x-country in college running was always easier in the forest than it was on the road. When I started working, sitting at a desk, inside with no window, 8-9 hours a day was torture for me. The book's message matched my experience.

Thus I try to get my children outside often.  Selena and Allie don't fight as much when they are outside, and outdoor play seems to keep Selena on a more even keel than physical activity alone.  We did toddler gym for a while, and it was fun, but it didn't seem to have the mood balancing result that outdoor play has. 

Our favorite outside play is simply to explore our front yard and the cul-de-sac.  Not anything complicated.  I just take the girls out and see what they want to do.  We have a Japanese Maple tree in our front yard that is perfect for small climbers.  We have some landscaped areas that are great for digging.  (At least they were until we put beauty bark in them.  We are in the process of moving and we put in some stuff to give our house more curb appeal and it gives you splinters like crazy.)  Allie digs too, and I pretend I don't see all the dirt she eats.  We stop at our neighbors houses and stack rocks.  We play hide-and-seek behind the HOA sign. When it rains (which is about 9 months out of the year) we put on our rain boots (usually) and splash in puddles.  Allie got to do her first puddle splashing a week ago.  I think she liked it.  When she was younger I would put her in the backpack and carry an umbrella.

When we move one of the things I am going to miss is our climbing tree.  I made a comment to our Realtor that our new house doesn't have a good tree for climbing and she seemed to think I was crazy. She mentioned that there are lots of playgrounds in the neighborhoods.  But I don't think a piece of playground equipment can be quite as good as a great tree.  Hopefully we'll find a suitable one.  But either way I look forward to exploring our new neighborhood and seeing what new activities the girls invent.

***

Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Garden Treats — Asha at Mom Costume has once again been bitten by the gardening bug — and this time her baby's tagging along for some fresh air and dirt exploration. (@titbagsandsnoot)
• Outdoor Free Roam — Mamapoekie at Authentic Parenting follows her daughter's lead whenever they go outside. (@mamapoekie)
• Summer fun in Austin with a toddler — Jessica at This Is Worthwhile is brainstorming ways to beat the heat in Texas. (@tisworthwhile)
• summer fun… — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children is looking forward to spending the summer outside with her children the way she used to spend summers with her mother.
• Outdoor Fun for Pre-Walkers — Maman A Droit has figured out ways to let her pre-walker enjoy the outdoors. (@MamanADroit)
• Summer Homeschool Fun at Camp Review — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now discusses how Camp Review motivated and captivated her homeschooling family. (@DebChitwood)
• Digging, Tree Climbing and Puddle Jumping — Laura at Laura's Blog bemoans the loss of her girls' climbing tree but knows they'll find something else just as naturally tempting.
• The Sweet Smells of Summer — Erin at A Beatnik's Beat on Life is looking forward to the many smells of summer she and her daughters enjoy and identify. (@babybeatnik)
• June Carnival of Natural Parenting: Outdoor Fun — Sybil at Musings of a Milk Maker is a confirmed couch potato who can't help but be inspired by the outdoor opportunities Seattle offers her family. (@sybilryan)
• Take a Hike — Michelle at The Parent Vortex connects with her family and the Earth on frequent hikes in their Pacific wilderness. (@TheParentVortex)
• Following Paul — Julie at Simple Life gives her kids unstructured time to dig in the dirt and pick mulberries. (@homemakerjulie)
• Instilling a Love of the Outdoors in Your Baby/Toddler — Tessasdad at Stay At Home Dad in Lansing offers a photo book of tips for helping your little ones enjoy the outdoors. (@tessasdad)
• Camping, baby! — Jen at Grow With Graces has easy tips for tent camping with a little one. (@growwithgraces)
• Think Outside the Easel for Summertime Fun — Acacia at Be Present Mama finds several ways to bring art fun to the outdoors.
• Outdoor Learning in our Urban Environment — Andrea at Ella-Bean & Co. has found ways to get grass between her daughter's toes, even in the city.
• Outdoor Education — Alison at BluebirdMama offers parents tips and resources for making each outdoor excursion a learning experience. (@childbearing)
• Turning Inside Out — Christie of Childhood 101 finds kids get a kick out of taking indoor toys outside. (@Childhood101)
• Watching Peas Sprout — Deb at Science@home combines fun with purpose in this educational outdoor activity. (@ScienceMum)
• How To Create a Pirate Treasure Hunt & Other Easy Outdoor Pirate Activities (June Carnival of Natural Parenting) — Dionna at Code Name: Mama has pirate-themed play ideas for ye scurvy landlubbers. (@CodeNameMama)
• What We Do — Luschka at Diary of a First Child has managed to expose her 8-month-old to a wide variety of outdoor fun, even with the notoriously dreary UK weather. (@diaryfirstchild)
• Summer Fun — Darcel at The Mahogany Way finds her family's visits to the beach refreshing in so many ways. (@MahoganyWayMama)
• Playing outside without a backyard — Sheryl at Little Snowflakes doesn't let the lack of a backyard stop her family from enjoying the outdoors. There are plenty of things to do outside of your yard! (@sheryljesin)
• Having Fun Outdoors, Playset Free — Guavalicious at They Are So Cute When They Are Sleeping has resisted a backyard playset in favor of the regular backyard. (@guavalicious)
• Moon Gazing with your Toddler — Paige at Baby Dust Diaries is keeping her toddler up at night, but it's for a good reason: to share the wonders of the night sky! (@babydust)
• the great outdoors — The grumbles at grumbles and grunts wonders whether her urban child can experience the same free-range childhood she enjoyed. (@thegrumbles)
• Let's Take It Outside! — NavelgazingBajan at Navelgazing is looking for ideas: how can she spend time with her pre-walker outside this summer? (@BlkWmnDoBF)
• A home by the sea: June Carnival of Natural Parenting: Outdoor fun — Lauren at Hobo Mama is living her dream of a home near the beach, and taking full advantage of it. (@Hobo_Mama)
• An Outside Girl — Zoey at Good Goog moved her family to (almost) the middle of nowhere so that her outdoor-loving girl could have more grass and less concrete. (@zoeyspeak)
• Neighborhood Nature — Kelly at Kelly Naturally has learned to connect with the nature she has instead of mourning the nature she misses. (@kellynaturally)
• Building Lovely Memories of Swimming, Spiders and Gravestones — Joni Rae at Tales of a Kitchen Witch and her family are simply outdoorsy people. (@kitchenwitch)
• "Buh-Bye" Season — Danielle at born.in.japan must leave laundry behind and follow her son's call to the outdoors. (@borninjp)
• Backyard Camping — Becoming Mamas took her family camping very close to home! (@becomingmamas)
• The Color of Dreams — Seeking Mother at Woman Seeking Mother makes gardening magical by teaching her son that each flower is a faery. (@seekingmother)

Selena Update

Selena is doing great.  She seems to be handling the idea of moving well, except for the fact that I am constantly using it as an excuse for why she can't do things.

Her and Allie are up to their same old tricks; constantly bothering each other.  Except if I try to take Selena to the store without Allie than Selena says that we have to bring Allie because she loves her.  When Allie is sleeping she oohs and aahs over how cute she is.  "Oooh she is such a cute little baby."  She is constantly comparing Allie to her new baby cousin Issac.  She said, "Issac wasn't wiggly like Allie.  HE liked to be held. Why isn't Issac squirmy like Allie?  Why isn't Allie nice like Issac? Why isn't our baby like baby Issac? "

She likes to talk about how old things are and how long they are, but sometimes she gets her types of measurements mixed up.  "I am 6 minutes tall."  or "My birthday is in two inches."  But other times she does get it right.  She also likes to talk ask, "When will Allie be three?  Then how old will I be?" or "When I'm 4 and Allie is three we'll...." She also is very proud of being three.  Whenever the number three comes into conversation she notes that she is three too.

She's made up the word "catty".  It is when someone is acting like a cat.  :)

It seems like she needs a nap again.  She is falling asleep often in the car or in the stroller.  But if she takes a nap, she is up till midnight.  I wish she would sleep easier and would take a short nap before lunch.

Activities this month have included lots of trips to Northwest Trek, the Olympia Children's Museum, and the Poker Player's Alliance Rally (Selena enjoyed making posters for this).

My baby is going to be one

It is sad how fast they grow.  I've been reluctant to attach the toddler name to her even though she acts like one in every manner, but since she isn't one yet she is still a baby.   We've definitely got our hands full with this little girl.  She is very tactile and always has been.  But now that she's getting older the hitting, head butting, pinching, etc are not as easily avoided and more problematic.  She is constantly going after Selena and its hard because sometimes Selena retaliates.  It's hard to blame her.  I get frustrated too.  Especially in the middle of the night when Allie has decided the only way she wants to "sleep" is while nursing and pulling my hair.

I think it is also about time where we are going to have to be more equitable.  Allie notices what Selena has and she wants it too.   We went to Northwest Trek today and Selena got some juice that came in a gorilla squeeze bottle.  Allie spent the entire time trying to steal, trick, or sneak the juice away from Selena.  When she did finally manage to get it Selena said, "Everything is terrible".  She really is pesky.  She will take Selena's toys and run off with them giggling and laughing.  When will they play together?  Selena tries, but Allie doesn't get it and thinks its more fun to make Selena upset. 

Allie's getting quicker with her walking.  She's almost running.  She is also good at climbing and has mastered stairs.  Her talking is coming along as well.  She can say diaper change (dida uh) while she signs it.  This is very consistent so I guess besides mama and dada, diaper change is her first word.  I've also heard her say Nana, Dyna, and bear. 

She loves to explore things and gets very angry when you interrupt her.  She likes toothbrushes and at the moment specifically Floyd's.  She also loves shoes and is always insisting on wearing shoes; even to bed.  So I've put her to bed with her little soft soled shoes over her footed jammies.  (See she is like a two year old.  Selena did the same thing a 6 months ago)  She likes playing peek-a-boo and will cover her face and then uncover it, or hide behind a wall and pop out.  She also likes the game I made up, "Allie is walking, walking, walking Allie is walking all day long."  Then we go on to jogging, running and jumping.  She'll wiggle her legs in anticipation of the game while getting her diaper changed.

She usually takes two naps a day.  I think I've convinced her to make bedtime a little later 8 - 8:30, which means she is up at 7.  Which isn't ideal, but much better than 6am.

Busy, busy, busy

The past month has been busy trying to sell our house and look for a new one. The unfortunate side effect of this is that Selena has been less able to cook and paint because it is messy. But we've been taking more trips to Nana's and Papa's and to Grandma and Grandpa's.  We went to the zoo a couple times and to the spring fair.

A few months ago I declared success in the potty department, but then after 2 1/2 months she started having accidents once a day again.  That lasted about two months and now we're back to no accidents.  She also decided to start wearing underwear at night.  I bought her some new undies and there were stars on them and she declared them good night undies and wanted to wear them to bed.  But I do have to be diligent about reminding her to go first thing in the morning and in the evening if she hasn't gone in a while.


Selena's comments and observations of the world:

-  Allie is messy like Papa.  When I was a baby I was messy like Papa too.
-  Selena says that Allie is going to the baby village when she tries to escape upstairs.
-  I say, "Nobody's perfect."  Selena replies, "Mama your perfect"
-  We are looking at new houses and Selena says she doesn't want to move because she likes the carpet in this house.  When we look at pictures of new houses she would point out one and say, "I like that one, it has nice carpet"
-  Curious George is one silly monkey.
-  My socks aren't in good order. Can you fix them?
-  "Why is daddy driving?",  "He's a better driver."  "Why?"  "Because he has better eyes than me and can see better than me in the dark."  "Hmm.  Maybe green eyes are better than brown eyes."
-  Me and my mom were snuggling on the couch and Selena comes up and says, "Look two mamas."
-  Floyd fell off a ladder painting the house.  Selena said he forgot to switch tail for balance.  (This phrase comes from the book High-Wire Henry)
- She is always climbing, but if you tell her she is being a monkey she says, "I'm not a monkey. I'm a cat."
-  Oooh Allie is the cutest baby.
- Mama you are a mama and you don't know better.  (She got this from me telling her that Allie is a baby and doesn't know better, except somehow she has applied it to me)
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Ten Months Going on Two

This post has taken me forever to write because we are really busy trying to get our house ready to sell.  It also seems like as every day goes by Allie is doing more new things to write about.

It was kind of a rough month for Allie.  The trouble started off as a little blister on a her bottom.  I think it was a result of some diaper chafing.  A few days later it turned into two blisters, the next day three, the next day four.  I was starting to get concerned but her well child appt was in 4 days.  I thought it might be a yeast infection so I started spreading some Lotromin on it, but the next day it was over her entire bottom and up her back.  It was all red and raw.  It was really sad and I felt awful.  I took her to the doctor and after a 2 1/2 hour wait he gave her a prescription for antibiotics and anti-fungal.  The medicine seemed to stop it from spreading but by her well child appointment it still looked pretty bad.  Plus she had a double ear infection, a runny nose, and goo oozing out her eyes.  I felt really bad.  Two days later Selena started having blisters on her hands and face.  I had a couple blisters as well.  I took them both back to the doctor and he started freaking me out saying it might be MRSA.  He swabbed Selena since Allie's finally looked better and then we had to wait while in quarantine.  It ended up coming back as a regular staff infection, but I was worrying for a while.  I was kind of frustrated with the doctors because the never told me it was contagious or gave me a final diagnosis until 5 days after the swab test (I had called earlier to make sure it wasn't MRSA).  It might have been inevitable that Selena or I got it, but we had been hanging out with friends.  Needless to say Allie was not sleeping well during these two weeks and was pretty much nursing all night long. 

Other than that trouble Allie is doing really well and impressing us every day.  She has mastered walking and is moving quicker.  It is kind of funny when she gains momentum and ends up waddling places she didn't mean to because she can't turn as quickly as she'd like.  She loves playing with the dog's food and water and is constantly making a break for that or the stairs whichever is available at the moment.  She is also getting good at climbing.  She can get up on the chaise chair on her own which means she can get up on the chest/table thing right next to it.  Just what we love a wobbly girl standing on a platform a couple feet high. Eek.

8ih7jkiiiiii (that was Allie's contribution to the post)  Allie's favorite toys seem to be the toy golf clubs, golf balls, the play kitchen, books, and Dad's chapstick (she knows it will be on Floyd's bedside table when he is home and goes straight for it and then proceeds to take the lid off and dig her fingers all over it.  Obviously not really safe or ideal), anything her sister has.  She really likes playing with toys.  It is so weird because Selena never and still doesn't play with toys, but Allie does like them and it is convenient because if she is upset I can actually give her something and it actually makes her happy.

Her language is getting better every day.  She can say mama and dada.  Mama was first!  :(  She can sign milk, all done, diaper change and more.  She even made up her own sign for chapstick once.  Her signs aren't always consistent, but she has done them on more than one occasion in the proper context.  Her first sign was milk and she was so excited to have learned it that she just walked around the house jabbering and signing milk.  Any time someone would say something to her she'd lift her hand and sign milk.  She was so proud.  She likes to "read" books, by herself, and point to the pictures.  If I try to read to her or Selena, she sits on or closes the books.

She just seems to act a lot older than 10 months.  She is very independent and opinionated.  She wants to do everything by herself and she gets frustrated when she isn't allowed to or able to.   She has figured out how to drink out of a straw cup by stealing her sister's.  I haven't really given her a cup much because she is nursing and doesn't really need any other liquids.  She is working on the sippy but hasn't quite figured out how to tip it yet.  She is kind of picky as far as eating.  She likes peas (but leaves most of the corn), crackers, bread, bananas.  She loves blueberries.  She gobbles them so fast.  It is funny because I kind of had a goal of avoiding purees and I guess it was a good one because she does not seem to like them at all.  I frequently make soups that are pureed (and are super yummy) and she will beg for some but as soon as she sees what it is she rejects it.  A few times she has even picked out what clothes she wants to wear.  Selena was visiting with my parents for the weekend and Allie pulled out Selena's sponge bob pj's and threw a fit when I put different pj's on her.  I put the sponge bob pj's over hers and she was happy as a clam.  Already claiming the roll as the pesky little sister ;)