HANGIN WITH THE BOYS

When I got home from work this evening, I noticed Allegra was not acting as Kristen's typical shadow. Kristen said that she was in the basement with her brothers. A minute or two later she heard me and started yelling, "DADA!" from the bottom of the stairs and quickly came up to greet me.

A bit later she ended up back down with her brothers. When it was time to sit and eat dinner, I went down to let the kids know. I turned the corner to find all three of them sitting contentedly on the couch, watching television together. Even Allegra! She was just sitting between her brothers, hanging out. It was just so funny to see her not being the typically busy little baby, but rather just happy to sit with her big brothers and relax.

MAGELLAN

It blows my mind how quickly younger children learn from their older siblings. Allegra is up and at em and just everywhere. She winds up buried behind stuff in our closet, climbing up onto step stools to get closer to the counters, and her favorite, climbing onto the kitchen chairs, and then onto the table where she wreaks all kinds of havoc.
My favorite story however, was when Kristen heard Allegra's muffled voice calling for her. Kristen came to find that Allegra had gotten up onto the table, walked across her high chair, and gotten stuck upside down in the chair. (I wish I'd been there to see that.) So Kristen righted her, and put her back on the floor, before going back to laundry. A few minutes later she heard the clinking of glass. Thinking she'd moved glasses from the table already, she went to check. What she found was that Allegra had made it to her chair again, but this time right side up. And she was reaching to the elevated counter top behind her high chair, where she'd removed the candle votives from the holder, put the candles back in the holder, and was clinking the glass votives against each other. Incredible.
It's so much fun to see what she'll discover and get into next. We should probably be afraid, but we're just enjoying our little princess way too much.

MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO

Allegra has quickly taken to mimicking everything we do.

We'll huff, and then she'll huff.
We'll dance, and then she'll dance.
We'll clap, and then she'll clap.

Whatever it is, she can duplicate it, or at least tries her darndest. I like her dancing the best - a little head sway from side to side. Too cute.

LITTLE HOUSEKEEPER

Allegra did the cutest thing today. Each time I load the dryer with
wet clothes, I tell Allegra, "throw it in!" She helps me throw the
clothes in and seems to enjoy being a little helper. So tonight we
got home from a family walk and I emptied the dryer to put in the next
load from the washer. Once the dryer was empty, Allegra came over and
noticed what I was doing. She found the t-shirts and shorts the boys
had left by the dryer after their bath and decided to pick them up
and, "throw them in!" It was so cute! I love that she knew just what
to do! I was so proud of my little girl, she's gonna be a good mommy
some day! :)

LOUIS

A big thanks to Aunt Jenna for hooking Allegra up with her very first (and probably last, while she's under my roof) Louis Vutton purse. Being a way-cool Manhattan-ite, I'm hoping Aunt Jenna found this at some knock-off place in the City...

Anyway, Allegra's princess status continues to grow. Far too cute for any 13 month old, but she's handling it well.