Summer Fun

We have been to the mountains as much as we can to beat the heat in Charlotte. On our weekends in Charlotte we try to get outside early with a run or bike ride to the park. Ivey loves bike rides and 'asks' to go frequently by pulling out our helmets or pointing to the bikes. She is understanding everything we say but still not talking much at all. She will repeat anything we say if we ask her to, but rarely says anything on her own. She still just points and makes the Ivey noise.

She is becoming more independent everyday. She is also becoming more stubborn. We should not be surprised. Her latest fight is wearing a bib. She also insists on doing things herself - brushing her teeth, washing herself, brushing her hair. This would be great if only she did these things well. She still loves to clean and if you leave the kleenexes or wipes in her reach she will clean the whole house with the entire package. She does use the swiffer fairly well.    

Trip to Charleston

We headed to Charleston to meet our newest family member, Margaret Rhodes Hyde. She was born on August 29th. She is a very sweet and precious baby. We tried to get Ivey to touch her, but she was not interested. She was more interested in Anne's toys, specifically her doll stroller.

Ivey did touch the horseshoe crab at the SC Aquarium. Gammie, Joe and I took Anne and Ivey to the aquarium and they both had a ball. Ivey pointed at all of the fish and made fish faces at them.

Ivey also really enjoyed the beach. She would giggle every time the water touched her feet. She even played in the sand some (much to my surprise). She really enjoyed dumping the bucket of water that Gammie and I kept refilling.

Mountains with Gramma & Grandad

We went to the mountains with Gramma & Grandad in August for a few days. We are still amazed at the temperature difference above 5000 feet. Ivey didn't seem to be bothered by the cool morning temperatures. She wanted to be outside every minute.

Napping Away

Mountains with Grandma & Grandpa

We headed to the mountains to cool off at the end of July with Ed & Diane. Ivey loved being able to go in and out by herself on the deck of the condo. She would go in one sliding glass door and out the other sliding glass door. She would close the sliding glass screen every time she came in or out. She must have done 100 laps. So silly.  She loves to hike with us, and almost always falls asleep in the pack. 

SO BIG! - Almost 18 months old

Ivey is getting so big and so independent. She loves to mimic everything we do - one of her favorites is wiping up pretend messes all over the house. (Ironic since all those real messes she sees us cleaning are hers). She also likes to walk around with one of my empty purses on her shoulder (or dragging on the floor behind her) telling us bye as she heads for the door. She has started to tell the house bye-bye when we leave it in the mornings. She also says bye to the upstairs or downstairs on our way up or down the stairs. She is extremely friendly with adults, but very shy around children - she blew a kiss & waved bye to the service agent at the Toyota dealer, but whines when one of her little friends at school invades her space. (Hope this is one of those quickly passing phases). Her new favorite song is the itsy bitsy spider song - she prefers it to be sung at least 5 times in a row. 

Mountains, Orlando & Cooling Off at Home

This month we did lots of fun things.  We went to the mountains for Mom's birthday to go hiking, went to the park in Salisbury to see Mommy's family, Gammie visited us in Charlotte, Went to Orlando for Dad's work (Mom & I went to Disney for 2 days) & cooled off in the pool on the porch in 100 degree weather.

Eating makes me sleepy.

Sometimes it is hard to be still.

Taking advantage of a pool on the covered porch in the 100 degree heat.