The past few months have been different for us. We have had to be much more independent since Daddy is working so much. You have had to be more flexible because I get tired easily these days and you manage to get in a lot of trouble if we stay home for too long. So, we go on all kinds of adventures together. Thankfully it is summer, so there is a whole new world open to us.
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| Water Table Fun |
You love, love love, the park. When I tell you we are going to a park (or you see a park out the window) you shout "peyay, peyay, peyay!" (play, play, play!) the whole way there. Once we get there you quickly point out all the things you want to do "shide, swee, peyay!" (slide, swing, play!). You are quite independent at most of the parks we frequent. You manage the stairs impressively and go down the slides by yourself. I just wait at the bottom and cheer for you. You are a bit of a daredevil and try to go down head first sometimes. I emphatically disallow this since several of the slides aren't shallow at the bottom and would result in head trauma. I do let you go on your tummy feet first though and that is always a hit.
One of the parks we go to regularly has a pond with geese and ducks. You are quiet the animal lover and almost always cry when we have to leave the pond. I save this park for days you are in a really good mood because if you are too tired you just can't handle saying goodbye to the birds. On too hot days, we sometimes go to PetSmart and look at the animals. You love this too, and are constantly trying to figure out a way to get them out of the cages. You talk about Sweet Pea (Nonnie's cat) incessantly! Sometimes you even walk around talking to her on your play phone. I will hear you saying "Sweet Pea, Sweet Pea, maow."
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| Some pipe cleaner fun |
You haven't quiet mastered meowing since you stick your tongue out every time, but you do a pretty good job of it. Anytime you see a dog you bark. SO funny! You usually keep barking until someone acknowledges that it is a dog. You know most of your animal sounds now including cow, pig, sheep, horse, monkey, lion, duck, goose, and mouse. You probably know more. I can't keep up with your rate of learning!
You are really into colors right now. It started the day you realized that your paci is purple and so was your cup. You were obsessed with finding purple things for a few days and then started to branch out a little. You currently label purple (po), blue (boo), yellow (yeyow), red (rej), and white (why). Every once in a while you will attempt to say green and you can pick out something black if I ask you to. But, as far as you are concerned the color orange does not exist. Fine with me. It's not one of my favorites. You will say orange if I'm offering you the fruit.... you just ignore the color or sometimes call it yellow.
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| Slip-n-Slide, Water Fountain - Who's to say |
One of your favorite activities right now is playing in your new water table on the patio. It is so funny to watch you because you are incredibly serious about it! You have a variety of cups and containers to fill and pour water into and you focus very hard while you work. I generally just sit and watch you and hold things as you ask me to. You always end up soaked and its a great activity for a hot day! We've been swimming twice so far this summer and you LOVE it! As with most everything else, you are fearless. I would have loved to put you in swimming lessons this summer, but it will have to wait for next year. Every time you notice the pool on our way home (we pass it going through the apartment gate) you say "Swee! Swee! Yayow!" (Swim, swim, water!). I hate to have to tell you no. I think swimming will be a very regular part of our summer activities!
You talk constantly these days. You still sign a little bit, but only if it's very necessary. I have not kept track but I would guess you have close to 200 words now. Almost all nouns. For about a month you labeled things constantly. You would point to or touch everything in sight and say its name. Now you are more concerned with whose everything is rather than what it is. So all day long you go around pointing to things saying "Mamma" or "Daddy" and more recently "Poppy" (Promise). Occasionally something belongs to Bear or BabyDoll as well. Computers, water bottles, chairs at the table, sides of our bed, phones, books, etc. You also use this method to tell me you want me to do what Daddy did. One night during your bath you handed me a huge spoon and your paci and demanded "Daddy! Daddy!" I asked Daddy about it the next day and he said he had put the paci in the spoon and thrown it up over the shower rod and caught it in the spoon. Shame on my lack of imagination - you were being as clear as you could be. Until this week you had not used any verbs besides "go". You now added "sit" when you want me to sit with you somewhere - usually at the picnic table to watch the geese. You aren't stringing words together very often, but I notice you starting to branch out a little. Last week you said your first sentence ("Ow do, Momma" - "Love you, Momma") and I have hear you make a couple more attempts. By the way, that totally makes up for your first word being "Dada". You absolutely melt my heart.
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| Taking Daddy's temperature - good little nurse |
You have been both increasingly affectionate and increasingly aggressive over the past couple of months. You give great kisses! And they always include sound effects (Muh!). Lately you have learned to give great hugs as well - you squeeze our necks with all you've got and of course there is a sound effect for hugs too (Mmm Mmm). I almost cry every time. On the flip side you are a pincher. You mostly take out this pinching aggression on me, but you have been known to pinch Daddy or other babies at church. I am at my wits end with it. We tried everything from teaching you to be gentle to time out to redirection and a few other ideas but nothing worked. So, you got your first spanking. And several more after that. But it is starting to click that pinching is not okay. I HATE having to revert to spanking (even if it is just a smack on the leg) already. I thought you would be 3 or 4 before we ever had to go down this road. But you my dear, are one stubborn, hard headed child. I have no idea where you got that from, but lets just say that Nonnie was the one to convince me spanking was our only option.
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| Hard at work and focused as usual |
Obedience has been more of a challenge for you in the past month that it was earlier in your toddler days. I think it is just your age. You are testing your boundaries, seeing how serious I am when I tell you to do something, and seeing what the limits are on your world. It is exhausting. I know its a very necessary part of your development. But it makes me tired. You are still what I would call a good kid. You seldom have tantrums, you are generally very kind, and you are pretty laid back as long as you are well rested. You did have your first public meltdown a couple weeks ago over not being allowed to stand up in the shopping cart. I hope it was an isolated incident.
You are sleeping great these days. You have to be extremely flexible as we are at church 2 nights a week and often have at least one more late night. You handle it very well and still sleep until 7:30 most mornings. You also switched to one nap instead of 2 this month. You've handled that amazingly well also. You are not completely consistent with it yet, and the length of your naps depends greatly on your activity level and how much sleep you got the previous night. On average though, you sleep 2 - 2.5 hours each day. I think as you get more used to it you will sleep a little longer and hopefully we will push it back about 30 minutes so that it starts at 12:30.
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| Finger Paint! |
You are really starting to notice all of the people in your world. For quite a while now you have talked about family members a lot. When we pray you always want to pray for Nonnie, Papa (Grandpa), Shake (Jake), and Sweet Pea. You also ask to pray for Daddy frequently throughout the day - which is a great reminder for me. When I tell you we are going to church or playgroup you start listing your baby friends that you will see. Pretty cute. You are obsessed with babies right now too. Anytime you see a baby you shout "Baby baby baby" over and over until I agree that it was, in fact, a baby. You also do this when you see a car seat, which I think is pretty clever.
We have had a lot of baby talk around here as your little brother is closer to making his appearance. You love to kiss my tummy and often point and say "baby, baby!" This has caused a couple of embarrassing moments when you've tried to pull my shirt up in public! but otherwise I think its sweet. I'm sure you have very little (if any) understanding of the fact that there will be an actual baby living with us in a few short weeks. But it is sweet nonetheless. I haven't done a whole lot of baby prep, so I haven't really included you in the baby prep as the books say I should. Most of the "baby stuff" will be in my and Daddy's bedroom to start out, so it won't affect your living area too drastically. You are allowed in our bedroom, but only with supervision. The biggest change for you will be moving your rocking chair into my room and replacing it with a wingback chair. I REALLY should do this soon so you have time to adjust. But I cry every time I think about it. I can't believe that my baby girl doesn't need rocking any more. Sigh.
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| More Slip-n-Slide fun |
You are maturing more and more every day. I am shocked at how independent you really are. You climb into your highchair by yourself, you bring me things when I ask, you express your opinions and make many choices for yourself (small choices - which dress to wear, banana or grapes, what toys to play with during IP, etc). I know growing up is good. And you are doing a great job of it! But I think it will always be bittersweet for me. The Bible warns us of the here-today gone-tomorrow quality of life on earth (James 4:14), but it is so hard to grasp. I do my best to live in each moment with you. I am trying to give you my full attention as much as possible. I second guess myself as a mother frequently. Well, constantly. But I do my best to give you my best. You are worth it baby girl!
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| That smile never gets old! |
I love you more and more each day. I love living my life with you. I love watching you learn and grow. I love that I get to be your Mamma. You are a bright spot in the world, my little love. You are joy in a cute little package (At last check a 32in 26lb package). Happy 18 months my Promise!
Love,
Mommy
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