How Sweet it is to be Loved by You....

So, I always tell your father that you are bored of me. What I mean by that is that we spend so much time together and I am not as exciting to you as I once was. So, when we play you are always off to something else, away from me. Or when we sit together and I hold your hand or rub your hair you say "no-no" over and over. You want your space from me, and that's OK.

But...every night when your Daddy comes home you get super excited to see him and you smile and reach for his hugs...but soon after, all you want is "Mama-Mama." Dad keeps trying to play with you in your playroom while I either go to the office or work in the kitchen, and you come running after me, arms wide open, waiting for me to scoop you up. It's pretty hard to resist.

Today for example, Dad was not working so he spent most of the day with you while I ran errands. Each time I came home your head would turn my way, you would exclaim "mama" and give me the sweetest smile you have to offer. You would blow me kisses from your highchair as I unloaded groceries, you would sign 'Love' as I walked past you back to the garage to get bags from the car, or you would wait at the laundry room door squeaking out your cutest "Mama-Mama" as I finished hanging some shelves.

I cannot express how incredible that makes me feel. Or how you nuzzled your head on my shoulder and snuggled tonight as I danced with you before putting you to bed in your crib. Oh, how sweet it is to be loved by you.

Smarty Pants

Sometimes you are so smart, it blows my mind. Other times you are such a little kook, it makes me giggle. The picture shows your goofy side, but let's focus on your brains for a moment. We all know you love your books, but the other night you pulled out your coloring book from the bookshelf and showed it to Daddy. You kept grunting something to him so he showed you the pictures in the book. You were trying to tell him something, but he didn't understand...so you picked yourself up, grabbed your coloring book, and walked out the room. He followed you out to the kitchen, where you stood pointing upwards at the counter and grunting like a little mad woman. You were clearly asking for something. Sure enough, way up high above your eye level was a box of crayons you had seen the day before (guilty- I did not clean the kitchen counter!). Wow, did you really put two and two together! Daddy was amazed. I nodded my head when he told me the story- I know you are capable of so much. :)

But then the next day, perhaps you felt the need to prove something to me....so again, you pulled out your coloring book from the bookshelf. You kept saying "whoooo, whooo" which is your sound for an owl. So I tried to pull out a book with a picture of an owl. You kept shoving the coloring book at me so I opened the book and started flipping through the pages. You kept 'whooo-ing' and sure enough, the one colored in page in the entire book had a little bitty owl that you and daddy colored in blue. It was the only thing you colored! Amazing. Your memory grows leaps and bounds each day.

I cannot say the same for myself...to be quite honest, I have no idea where those crayons are now! :)

The Baby in the Library Goes Bumpity-Bump...

Well, another bump on the head for you today my dear. You poor thing, you just keep falling! I think you get really excited and want to get to places faster than your little legs can get you there and you end up toppling over!

We've had a number of forehead bumps on the tile floors or side bumps on the sofas or chairs, and of course, how can I forget the millions of bruises to your legs and knees since the day you started to crawl. But today's bump is noteworthy. Why? Because it scared me. It was just so fast. One minute we were walking down the aisles full of books, and suddenly the window caught your eye. You beelined for it and fell straight forward into the wooden window sill. Ouch you poor thing, you cried of course but were calmed by some water and cheesy crackers...so I knew you were OK. But within minutes I got you in your car seat and a goose egg the size of a quarter was instantly blue and protruding from between your eyes, just above your nose! Ayayaya baby!

But your spirits were fine and the medical professionals, internet and otherwise all tell me you are fine. I checked in on you during your nap and you guessed it, you are fine. I guess it's just another part of being a child...and being a mummy. We'll get through it...I'm sure you'll fare better through this one and many others than I will.

Happy Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. All I need to say is Thank You.

Just for being you.

I Spy...

...the moon, owls, sheep... It's amazing how you find little details that I wouldn't have noticed at all if you didn't point them out. You also see pages in books or magazines and manage to find images on them I would have never seen. They always say to look at the world through the eyes of a child. I should try it more often because I would appreciate more and learn more. There's a lot I can learn from you my dear.

Every evening you like to sit in your swing and crane your head back to look at the moon. You point and say "Moo." You know it from your 'Goodnight Moon' book.

You received your Rocking Moose from Mimi yesterday. That too is known as "Moo." It's all about context, because cows also fall under the same name. You came up with a great zinger today: 'Babu' now seems to mean vegetables. I love it.

We went to the Living Desert today. It was incredible. We pulled into the parking lot, and you immediately pulled your Lovie out of your mouth and said "Animals." Wow. Perhaps you can give me directions to places now? :) You had a great time running through the butterfly exhibit, exploring Gecko Gulch and strolling through different animal exhibits.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I couldn't be more thankful for you and everything amazing that you have brought into your father's and my life. Thank you my sweet.

Decoding Finley

My how time flies! Three weeks ago your Mimi was in town for Halloween. She hadn't seen you in 5 months so she was amazed to see how much you had changed from a baby to a little girl. We of course had to teach her all your sign language so she could communicate with you since at the time all you truly consistently said was "Dada, Mama, Nana and Mimi." Well, at least you know who loves you baby :).

Well, three weeks later and here she is again today, visiting with 'Grandaddy' Sam for Thanksgiving, and what a language explosion she's seen! I was amazed too because I had no idea it had only been three weeks since you started with all your new vocabulary! Here's what we have so far:

Up, Apple, Animal, Book, More, Duck, Down, Dog, Bee, Ball, Bug, Bear, Baby, Milk, Purple, Swing, No-no....

Now of course, they don't all come out sounding like that so there's a lot of decoding going on, but it's amazing how in 3 weeks you've starting using your words along with your signs! Your sign language is also exploding and right now your favorite signs are:

Mouse, Orange, Purple, More (that one may never go out of style!), Eat, Milk, Book, Red...

You've become obsessed with Mice for some reason and you take out every book on your shelves that has one, you point to them all, sign "Mouse" and wait for me to turn the pages and discover them all! What a funny little monkey you are.

Oh, speaking of monkey's, you've renamed Marvin "Mambo." I prefer it so that's what we are sticking too. Oh, and please don't grow up too fast...This Mama Monkey can't get enough of her baby.

55 Minutes to Fun

Today we had such a wonderful morning. We went to the Children's Discovery Museum with your friend Abby and her parents Emily & Ryan. You and I usually go to the museum every Sunday but this week they had a "Healthy Family Fair" today so we decided to go a day early!

Well, you love the museum, but like any other thing in your life, it takes you just under an hour to warm up to your environment. That philosophy works fine at park play dates and the museum, because we could stay there for hours and after clinging to my leg (or any of my good friends' legs) you then decide "It's time to start having some fun!" I love it when you suddenly come out of your shell and next thing you know you are running around the playground or exploring toys or pulling out all the books from wherever we are. Attending the 1 hour My Gym sessions on the other hand, were not a lot of fun when considering your 55 minute warm up, so we've opted out of continuing those since you never really had any fun there anyways.

So today we spent a perfect afternoon out in the grass in a shady spot filled with beach balls. Abby had a blast kicking balls and rolling on top of them. You preferred sitting in Emily's lap and munching Mighty Bites. But we stayed there about 2 hours which meant you came out of your shell...so a perfect day indeed.