I’ve found myself using this expression of my husband’s lately as I watch our girl make her way in the world. She amazes me more and more as she grows up with every new thing she does, each emerging aspect of her character and personality.
- She’s walking – around things, a step here and there (or several if walking from one parent to another), lets go, walks the house with only a finger to hold onto.
- Her appetite is growing! Sometimes we’re amazed at how much food she puts in. She ate dinner, then wanted to eat before her bath (spoonfuls of rice, almond butter, yogurt), then again as we tried to put her to sleep (almost an entire pear!)
- She LOVES to help. So far, she’s helped take clothes out of the washer, to hang them up, taking TP out of its wrapper and then putting it on the shelf in the bathroom, and helped dada unload the dishwasher (cutlery tray).
- This goes along with her LOVE of taking things in and out. Blocks into the bag, out of the bag. Stuffies onto the couch, then the floor, then back up. Into the box, out of the box. On and on!
- Her voice is growing. She has two laughs, one that seems real and one that’s a loud stage laugh. She shouts, yells, talks at the top of her lungs. Including just before she crashes to sleep.
- Favourite moments: Sweet nursing baby, soft and quiet, suddenly detaches and declaims “mama mama mama mama” followed by her smile. Big mischief smile. Then back to the boob. Aaaah.
- She’s really gotten into brushing her teeth. We have a couple toothbrushes for her, a kids’ one and then one of the regular ones we got from our dentist. But what she really, really wants is the toothpaste. She knows it’s there, she knows we use it, and she wants it. Her whole bathtime today was “eh!eh!eh!” pointing to the toothpaste.
- She’s really definitely figured out her name and who she is. When she hears her name, she taps herself on the chest with her palm. We were very busy tonight (during her second unauthorized snack) with pointing to dada, then at the picture of dada, then at baby, then the picture of baby … repeat ad infinitum.
- She’s really into independent play sometimes. I was folding laundry and she was collecting her blocks and putting them on top of a table in the back room. Then back to the floor. And so on. She kept trying to grab three in each hand but could only manage two each (her grasping ability amazes us! So strong!).
It’s wonderful to experience how with each new stage we just love her more and more. It’s such a joy to be able to communicate more with her and see her perspective on the world. We are so blessed, and so grateful each day for our girl.
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Today was house cleaning and stuff reduction. More baby clothes gone (she’s really not into sleepers, though we kept a few). a pencil holder. I broke a bowl to go with the cup husband broke the other day. Took some items to the baby store (jolly jumper, ring carrier that’s too big) and got rid of other things that didn’t work (too small socks, shoes she never wears). We did return with some booties for winter, which she’s super happy with 🙂 – something we’ve needed to get. I got rid of a sweater and a bra. We are making progress!