"ok, night night, bye bye"

Today was a day for a few firsts for Alli. Ever since being in her toddler bed, Alli has remained in bed until we come get her. This holds true even if she has been lying awake in bed for 30 minutes playing with her stuffed animals. Ben has been home the last three days and it has been wonderful. I think it played with Alli's mind though and she expected daddy to be home again today. I heard Alli wake up around 7:15 and got out of bed. I went to the bathroom to get my contacts. While in the bathroom, I hear a loud bang. The dogs didn't bark so I just chalked it up as a strange noise and went on. Shortly after I hear my bedroom door slam closed. Now this can happen if the door isn't shut all the way and the A/C or heat kicks on. But I knew that door was closed because I hadn't opened it yet. So as I'm thinking "who in the world is coming into my bedroom", in pops Alli's little head. I was shocked (yet relieved at the same time). So I told her good morning. She then asks me, "daddy?" I told her, "No baby, daddy is at work today. You are home with me today." She then says, "ok, night night, bye bye" and shuts the bathroom door. I couldn't help but laugh to myself. Then I called out to her and she opened the door back up. I asked her if she wanted to stay up. She then said no and tried to shut the door again. I followed her out and she ran down to her bedroom. When we got to her bedroom, she shut me out and went to lay on her bed. I turned on her monitor to watch her for a minute. She tucked herself back in bed and laid there for a few minutes. I guess she decided mommy was enough for today and got back out of bed asking to play. Ben and I both got a good laugh out of this this morning and we thought we would share. I told Ben that the days of Alli staying in bed were over. She did well going down for a nap so we'll see what she does when she wakes up.

Another first for Alli today was finding more independence. We spend a lot of time downstairs and therefore don't get to play much in her room. This morning I told Alli, instead of bringing some of her toys downstairs, why don't we go and get breakfast, then come back upstairs to play. She liked this idea and when we came back upstairs she immediately went for her toys. I turned her bedroom light on so she wouldn't be afraid to go in and out. I went to get a shower and to my shock, she pretty much left me alone the whole time and played in the her room or in my bedroom. I'm glad to see her achieving independence. It would be nice to be able to work on some crafts in my bedroom while Alli plays in her room.....yay!