3-9-11

Let me preface this by the fact that Grandpa has been gone and I have had little to no daycare help with a lot of work responsibilities. Last week and the week before Grace was a serious 2 year old. She had a nasty fever too. Regardless, at my witts end I went to the book store and bought love and logic for 2 year olds. What a difference! She is back to her sweet little self with only occasional I'm-too-tired or I'm-so-hungry melt downs. Which leads me to wonder how much of the terrible twos is that terrible. I've had about 2 weeks, with extenuating circumstances, of the terrible twos and now, they are over. her favorite word is no, and she love, love loves to make choices, but that is one smart little cookie I have. She understands consequences and can remember when she makes choices. I love being Grace's mom.

By the way, we saw Santa Claus today! As I was driving to the daycare this morning Grace yells out, "It's Santa!" She was ecstatic and I was looking around everywhere as she pointed. THen I see an Indian man with a long white beard and a bright orange hat on the corner where we are stopped at a light. Lol. Way to generalize little Grace, but sorry, a long white beard does not make you Santa. She and I talked about it and I think she was disappointed. :(

July 2010

So it has been an eventful month already. The fourth of July was great. We spent it with our good friends. The fireworks were fun and Grace liked the cherry bombs best. However, sparklers were met with a "fire, hot" statement and she did not like holding them. Well, at least she has fire safey concepts down. Also there was a water table and a sprinkler to run through. Grace wasn't that interested in the sprinkler either! But she loved the water table. All in all it was a good day filled with Popsicles and family.

On July7th, Grace did some amazing things! We went to a daycare to interview them and check it out. While there Grace got to color and asked me to "write Bob, mama." So I did, just like Grandpa does. I spelled as I wrote..b-o-b. Then of course I had to write it three ore times. The last time Grace did the spelling! She also knows what words are. She can point them out and say words, read. All very cute. Then the next day I brought out the paper we were writing on at the daycare and tried to get her to spell Bob for her dad. Instead she read the word! Go Grace. Preschool here we come. Thank goodness I am a teacher and can supplement her learning needs.

Fairy Tale Town & the Zoo

So this wasn't the first time Grace has been to Fairy Tale Town or the Zoo, but there some firsts yesterday. Grace rode the carousel yesterday and had a blast. Her animal of choice was the polar bear...over and over. We rode three times and she waved to all her relatives uncle Joe, Grandpa and everyone. In fact I had to let her kiss the polar bear goodbye she loved the carousel so much. Grace also rode the train that runs through the zoo. She rode with Grandma Donna, Uncle Joe, Cousin Victoria and Cousin Ariel. However, she loved the carousel best. Grace also got her leg painted at the zoo. She wanted the giraffe but I talked her into the turtle. I wasn't sure she could sit still long enough for the giraffe. I had them paint it on her leg so that she could see it. She walked around and showed everyone the turtle by standing on one leg and lifting the turtle leg. It was cute. She loved the zebras, and Grandpa took her to feed the giraffes. She wasn't quite ready to do it herself but she came within a foot of a giraffe tongue. All in all a great day.

Sorry it has been a while since the last blog. Grace is doing well. She is a very resilient child and we are lucky that she is so strong, social and intelligent. She is talking in sentences now...well baby sentences. And today I caught her saying her first cuss word. Thanks family!! Oh shit was what came out of her mouth when she dropped a toy while Grandpa was holding her. Why do I feel like I have failed her as a mother. Not just over cussing but other things as well. Wouldn't it be great if I had my own house to raise her in. Wouldn't it be great if the people who are supporting me in so many ways, thanks by the way, didn't have to live with their grand daughter. I mean grandma's house is suppose to be fun and undisciplined but not when you have to live there 24-7.

BubbleObsession

So today I got a video of my daughter doing her favorite thing in the whole world. Well at least for the last month blowing bubbles has been an obsession. Nana, aka Grandma Donna, bought a bubble gun today thinking it was the kind that you put bubble soap in and pulled the trigger. The whole family has been bubble blowing slaves lately and we needed some relief. However, this gun ended up being the same old dip and blow kind of gun, but it made a lot of bubbles in one shot so that was good.

Grace had learned with another bubble gun long ago how to load and shoot a bubble gun. However, that bubble gun had a more difficult trigger. Today she dipped, made bubbles and chased them with no problem. In addition today was great to watch because of all the words and exuberance she used. She would run around with a like skip in her step and babble Bubbles, POP POP. then, just as I turned the video camera off, she said "I like bubbles." It was very mumbled but you could tell what she said. So I countered with " You like bubbles? They do make you happy." To which she let out a musical yeah! and raced off in chase of more bubble adventures. Considering the drama in my life right now, that was about as good as it gets. Watching the joy in a 19 month old's eyes as she plays with bubbles makes it all worth it in the end.

First Sentence

On Wednesday before swim we were having a snack. My parents were there too. As my dad was opening the refrigerator he was talking to Grace when she said said "Papa, I wana pickle." She and my mother eat pickles together occasionally. The first time I guess she ate a pickle she made a face and said yucky. But she came back over and over and eventually my mother said she ate her whole pickle. what a funny first sentence.

Singing, Talking, Swiming

Grace is growing everyday by leaps and bounds. What is funny is that it is hard to tell really how much until you stop and think about this time last year. She was only 8 months old last Easter and just pulling up and crawling. This Easter Grace was walking and putting Easter eggs in her basket all by herself. She now says over a hundred words and loves to swim on her own. She sings about 8 songs. Well she sings parts of the songs at the right time. Her favorites include: Kookaburra, Old McDonald, ABC Song and Michael Buble's Cry Me a River. We actually got a video of her singing this last song with her Dad on Easter day.

The last Saturday in March Grace did her first sleep over at our friend Chloe, Colby and Katie's house. This was following a play date the Tuesday before. When I picked her up on Tuesday she cried bloody murder. I guess she is ready for a more social atmosphere. It is really too bad that she is the only child because she loves other kids of any age. Anyway, Saturday went off without a hitch, so Katie says.

Grace is starting to say more complex things now. For instance when we read Dora the Explorer she can say " Swiper, no Swiping" and it sounds like it should give or take a bit. She is also a great mimic now. She knows a hand full of Spanish words including: mira, adios, hola, papas, and gato.

All in all it has been a hectic, but exciting month in Graceland.

Singing Diva

Grace has really gotten into singing this week. She started a little while ago with Old McDonald. She sings the "E I E I O," and the "Old McDonald" parts of the song. What is great about it is that she can sing the "O" on key and if she is off from the rest of us she will raise or lower the note accordingly. This week she also started to say "Happy and know" which is of course her request for the If You Are Happy and You Know It song. She can clap her hands, touch her nose, touch her ear, splash the water, stomp her feet, turn around, wave, and kick the water when prompted to during this song. She can even stop and start the activity when you actually say "touch your nose" she will and then do it again again for the next phrase. She was singing in the water during swim class too. She was saying "town," and "up and down" during the wheels on the bus and "hehe and haha" during Kookaburra.

Her ability to talk and mimic is great. Just the other day she said a whole sentence that I understood "oh no, bow-wow barking." She has said other sentences,but that is the one that stuck. She can currently say around 100+ words. She can also recognize letters. She calls them ABC's. And she understands that there are words, but thinks that they all say "dad."