So Happy Together: Buddy pet

"Buddy pet", this was Ainsley's first phrase. It the first thing she said when she got up from her nap a couple of days ago. Buddy and Ainsley have developed quite a love for each other this past 18 and a half months. When we first brought Ainsley home Buddy wasn't so sure about her. For the first few months it seemed he viewed her as competition, a new dog getting all the attention. And the poor guy was in need of some attention having spent the two months while we were in the NICU pretty much alone. Anyway, their relationship has evolved into a pretty amazing friendship. Buddy follows us through the house and most days lays in front of Ainsley's bedroom door when she is napping and for a while after she goes to bed in the evening. The feeling is mutual from Ainsley, she often calls for Buddy (she now says Buddy instead of Bud-ah) and of course usually says, "Buddy pet." He is so patient with her, whether she is pulling on his ears and collar or grabbing his bone or ball. They both love to play fetch. Ainsley adores throwing the ball and claps when Buddy grabs it. Now she just needs to learn to say drop, because she gets very impatient with him when he has the ball in his mouth.

Along with the above phrase, Ainsley continues to develop her vocabulary quickly. She has many words that she knows and uses each day. Ainsley is also very fond of repeating words (Mommy & Daddy must be careful). Our two favorites in the last couple of days have been "turtle" and "rock on". One of her preferred activities right now is to read a book with Mom or Dad and point to animals and/or objects in the pictures and say "dat?" meaning what is that? The book of choice for this game lately has been her big animal book with photographs of animals - this is best played with Daddy who is pretty fantastic at making the animal sounds to go along with the name. It is awesome to watch her grow and develop.

January has been a fun month so far. One highlight was going to the beach with friends for the weekend. We had a great time and it was neat to see Ainsley play with our friend's daughters, Madelyn and Gretchen. Ainsley got a chance to work on her sharing skills. =) Besides relaxing, chatting, and eating, we also took a trip to the Hatfield Marine Science Center and then had lunch at the Rogue Brewery. Ainsley had a blast looking at all the sea life - she even got to touch a starfish and a sea anemone!

Here are some recent pictures:

Another new favorite activity - climbing onto and off of the couch

She is becoming more interested in clothes lately, sometimes picking out specific shirts to wear. This time she wanted to wear Mommy's shirt while I was folding laundry.