The Downing Family

Once again, the month got away from me! I guess I've totally given up on monthly pictures for Sally. Who's got time when you're running from toy to toy playing all the time!! Certainly not Sally and me! :)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with both families. We spent the Sunday before Thanksgiving with all of my family in Bolivar. We joined Megan and Eric with the rest of Megan's family for Thanksgiving on Thursday, and we spent the weekend in Oklahoma City with Ted's family. What a perfect holiday! (Ok, minus the strep throat for me, but that is only a minor detail!) Ellyn, Luke, Jack, Sally, Rob, and Madison...a pretty cute crew!

Sally is truly a chatterbox these days. She literally wakes up talking and talks herself to sleep at night. A few words that I want to remember:



hummy- hungry

hichoo- high chair

amaa- banana

happy- candle (apparently this is connected to a birthday cake-- It is all that I can do to not go get her a birthday cake so she can enjoy a real 'happy.' I just think its so cute!)

habaniday- have a nice day -- all run together in one word

sit sit- when she wants you (or a stuffed animal) to sit by her...not sure why its always doubled

ma- milk

me mow - minnie mouse



There are many other words that are completely clear, but these few "Sally" words just melt my heart! I love the interpretation of a 19 month old!

What happened to October? I can't believe we are already in the last few days of the month! Sally's 18th month has been very busy...She continues to love going to school on Friday's, we closed on our house in Tulsa , we visited a couple of pumpkin patches , and we've finally had time to catch up with some friends! Hopefully we can really take a deep breath now and continue to catch up on life!Getting ready to go to school.
Visiting the pumpkin patch with the Johnsons.
Piper, Taylor, me, Sally~ What a fun (dusty!) day!!!
I have no idea what the girls are doing, but it sure does look like they don't want to be down in the dirt! Hilarious-- this certainly is not the true case with Sally! The girl loves to be dirty!!
The highlight of the pumpkin patch for Sally...Pumpkins? NO! Cut outs of her best friends, Minnie and Dora?? Oh yeah!!
These are clean, right?
We did slow down at one point for some good bedtime stories with Daddy. Sally LOVES this Clifford book from our sweet neighbors in Tulsa...
Another visit to the pumpkin patch by our house...I love how the sun glistens on her hair in this picture.
The days of posing for pictures are long gone, but we did get some action shots of some sweet smiles.

Sally started Mother's Day Out (or Nana's Day Out in our case) at First Baptist Church this morning. Clearly, I was more worried about it than she was!

Seriously, Mom...Why all the pictures?

Whew! Moving, working, selling a house (yay!), tailgating, etc, etc, etc... A catch-up in pictures:
This is how Sally spends her mornings...ma (milk), Minnie Mou (no type there), and Mickey Mou (who sounds strangely like Minnie) all watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Minnie is Sally's best buddy these days. We don't go anywhere without her!

In a word, EVERYTHING. First things first. We have moved back to Texas!!!!!! Ted has a new job in Addison and I am teaching at Liberty again. We are unofficially living in Denton at Nana and PopPop's house while they take an extended "vacation" in Bolivar (about 20 miles north of Denton). This move has been so bittersweet. We are so sad to leave Tulsa. We loved our friends up there, we loved our house, I LOVED staying home with Sally...BUT we are so happy to be back in Texas. We are enjoying being closer to our Texas friends and our family. My new job has also been very bittersweet. I am so excited to be back in the classroom and back at Liberty , it is truly a second home for me, but it breaks my heart every morning to leave Sally. However, we have the best of both worlds because she stays with Nana every day. She hardly has time to give me a quick kiss and wave goodbye before she is grabbing Nana's hand to go off to her room to play. Sally is LOVING this new set up!

Well, with all of that moving business behind us, here is a little update on our Little Miss...
She is a MAJOR phone-talker these days. She takes our phones and walks around the house chitter chattering away.
In fact, just today I had a full conversation with her while I was running out to get lunch. It made my day!
"Can I help you? I'm on a business call."
We got to swim with Uncle Mark, Jack, and Ellyn.
Uncle Marky is so fun!!
Sally finally got her first official haircut. She now has the cutest little bob!
She was very patient.
But also a little unsure...However, it was a success!
So, she found my make-up bag one morning. Before I knew it she had my eyelash curler out and knew exactly what to do with it!
A few fun things I want to remember about Sally at this age (especially since I missed our official 16 month post):
- She's a great sleeper...13 hours at night and a solid 2 hour nap in the afternoon.
- She loves to eat with utensils and she will only eat something she can feed herself.
- She grabs your hand to take you wherever she wants to go.
- She talks ALL. THE. TIME.
- She is a huge climber. I constantly get her off of tables, chairs, the back of the couch...
- She will repeat just about anything you ask her to and most of it is recognizable.
- "What's that?" is her newest favorite saying.

More to come soon!

Little Missy turned 15 months old on July 2. I so clearly remember her at 3 months in her flag dress ready for the 4th of July. My o' my...what a difference a year makes!

Official stats:
Weight: 22 lbs - 37%
Height: 32.5 in - 96%

This month talking has been her biggest accomplishment. She chatters all the time. Her newest words and sounds are:

- all right! (I didn't teach this to her- apparently I say it very often!)
- ok
- BA-DAH - I have no idea what this means, but she always yells it. Usually she yells this when she is looking for someone.
- monkey and dog noises are still her favorites. We're working on the lamb sound.
- ball - we had to buy a watermelon at Sam's to commemorate the first time she said ball. I'm still tempted to buy each ball that she points out at the store-- but I've learned some restraint! She loves to tell me each time she sees a ball!

We spent about a week with Nana and Sally's cousins, Jack and Ellyn. After spending so much time with a 6 and 7 year old she thinks she is a big girl! She runs after them and tries to do everything they do. Every night that they were here Sally would beg to get in her crib at bedtime. She was worn out! But she sure did have fun!

I can't get my act together to get her "official" lambie picture...but I do have a few from this month....This was right before she crawled off the reindeer and held on to me for dear life until the carousel ride was over.
Jack, Sally, & Ellyn waiting for the train at the zoo.
Swimming with her good buddy, Michael.
Always the fashionista!
She thinks she's so big!
Her model pose. (This is safe, right?)
We got to spend a couple of days with Andress and Patrick. LOVE these two!
We swam all afternoon!
Love the crooked sunglasses!
Happy swimmer!