Day 101 -- Miss Allie (and Mom) spent the day with me!!

Jamie called and asked if they could come over.  I was absolutely thrilled.  She had said that she would come over for a day while Christian was gone, and was so pleased that he call and today was the day!  I was particularly wanting to see Allie doing her standing, walking and VERY rapid crawling.  When they got here, Jamie said that she had decided it was just too much hassle to bring the dog also, so I missed a day with Bella and Spike.  However, that meant that Jamie, Allie and I could just have fun together without distraction.
Allie got comfortable being here, and soon decided to explore.  She showed her skills at standing up, standing alone and walking.  Right now, she takes about three steps by herself and then has to sit down.  I told Jamie if is sat down like that I'd never get up again.  That apparently did not bother Allie.  She would just either do her straight-legged crawl or stand back up and take three more steps.  Most short walks were punctuated with cheers and hand claps by the three of us.
With the visibly improving standing and walking skills, Allie did some other things.  She discovered a cup with pencils in it.  She started by just making open handed movements moving the pencils around.  It wasn't long before she was standing by my knee, with me holding the cup, and figured out how to take out one pencil and when I held out my hand, she would give it to me.  I of course thanked her for the gift.  The amazing thing was she really demonstrated learning the new skill and repeating it, getting better each time she did.  Jamie was taking pictures on my phone, and we probably spend a half hour transfering the pencils out of the cup (I would put them back so she had an endless supply.)  She was very intent on the task, and often cheered herself on!

At one point, Allie held court on the floor with Mom and Grandpa taking pictures of her .  She wanted to demonstrate that pencils are for using, and so she gave us instructions:


And if this were not enough, she managed to climb the stairs up to the kitchen (from the Great Room), and showed it was a usable skill by negotiating the step between the kitchen and dining room -- both ways!
It was really a great day.  Because of Allie, YES.  Jamie and I had lots of opportunity to share which was very complimentary and comforting to me.  Jamie said something about stuffed peppers -- so we grabbed Allie, went to Publix to get ingredients we did not have and came back to make stuffed peppers for a late lunch.  The recipe produced 6 stuffed peppers -- so we ate two, and will put two in Jamie's freezer (Christian does not like green peppers) and two in my freezer.  Our agreement is to let each other know how the peppers tolerate freezing for future reference.
It was absolutely a GREAT day.  I was so honored to have a small part if Allie's ongoing growth and development.  That also includes being honored to watch Jamie's developing and impressive parenting skills.  Am sure that I will probably have to do some reassuring Christian that it is the nature of being a father to miss some of the firsts for his child, and it is OK to accept surrogates when he has to be away!