My daughter is all these things, all the time.
One of her latest expressions is “no bye.” She really really doesn’t like saying by to anyone or anything. When I leave in the mornings, it is heartbreaking to hear her little voice say “No bye, mama! No bye!”
She seems allergic to sleep lately. Whatever rituals we try at bed to calm her down only seem to give her more energy. Bath? Stories? Nursing? WHEEE!!! Though I’m sure it’s a phase, and I’m committed to parenting her to sleep, I’m getting wiped out. On the other hand: babbling in a random baby language while laughing and kicking the sheets … so incredibly adorable that I kind of love it.
She continues to demand our participation in her activities (drumming, pretend-sleeping, feeding her animals, anything) with her persistent “Mama too. Dada too. A’ya too.” She also is playing more on her own, moving things back and forth, arranging things, doing all kinds of things, perfectly contentedly. Last night, when the initial sleep attempt completely failed, she took the bottles in the wash bin out and arranged and re-arranged them all over the kitchen. She also LOOOVES splashing in water – at the kitchen sink, not in the bathtub, silly! – and can entertain herself with a stream of water for a long, long time.
Baths are still joint affairs. She won’t get in unless I do.
And when she kisses us, or laughs, or uses a new word we didn’t know (eating; reading; hop; on and on the list goes!), it is so beautiful.