Opinionated Abby

We all know Abby has some strong opinions. We knew from the beginning. At first her opinions were relatively innocuous. She hated the car seat. She loved Mommy and only Mommy (most of the time). She loves cheese. She hated the baby swing. She hated pacifiers. She loves sucking her thumb.

Well, other opinions have developed over time While she still prefers Mommy, she seems to enjoy some others, but she doesn't enjoy when another child is with Mommy, including her brothers. When one of the boys sits with me she starts fussing (screaming sometimes), hitting at them, pulling at them and otherwise showing displeasure.

Abby has very strong opinions about food, although she is fairly open to trying different foods too. She loves cheese and would eat cheese for every meal. If she sees cheese in any form, she immediately wants it and loudly lets you know. She doesn't care much for cereal and when given it in the morning she picks at it, then starts sweeping her hand back and forth or dropping it piece by piece on the floor, or her newest move is to put food she doesn't care for  in her seat. She will pick it up and set it beside her rear.

She also wants to be free or held on her own terms. We went to Barnes and Noble on Monday (since Matthew was starting to have a cold and I wanted to stay away fro the Y) and she was walking around grabbing books and dropping them, so I picked her up and she screamed "No!" and started thrashing about.  But then when I'm trying to get dinner ready she only wants to be held and will scream at my feet until I'm able to do so. Opinionated Abby. Life on her terms or else.

On a different note, Abby is learning a lot about how to get a rise out of her brothers. She has learned the fine art of the "grab and run" and will often grab a particular toy of the boys, take off and then the boys start screaming and run after her in hot pursuit. Goodness, she is almost ready to run on her little toddler legs and manages quite a pace in her toddler speed-walk. When they catch her, they take it back or she stops running around, sticks out her little arm and hands the toy back to her disgruntled brothers. Matthew is especially a target of her antics (and he really loses it when she takes his toys) and I think we will have an interesting future before us. The kids like to play chase on fun terms too, but Abby really enjoys the unexpected grab and run.