In Memorium ;)

The past couple days I have been mourning the loss of my adorable toddler. Don't get me wrong, she's still cute, but it's not the same. My favorite age is from 12-14 months until 20-22 months. It's so much fun to watch them learn: they are walking, learning new words everyday, doing songs and playing little games. But they are still babies and allow to do snuggle and love them. You can still discipline with distraction. I feel like I just can't get enough of them. I have felt this way about each of my babies at this age. And now my baby is growing out of it.

I can hear it in her crying. It's not so much of a 'I'm hungry/tired/frustrated cry' as it is a 'I'm just throwing a fit' kind of cry. After not being allowed to hold her, I played KenKen for 15 minutes on Monday while Rachel just screamed on the floor at my feet. When I was done I said, "Should we go pick up Lizzie from school?" "Ee-yah!" she said, as she jumped up and ran to get her shoes with no more tears. *Sigh*

She also has decided that she can do certain things for herself now. I'm no longer allowed to spoon feed her. (I really hate the mess.) She can take off her clothes AND put them in the basket. She also likes the read the book and turn the pages all by herself. And she thinks she should buckle her car seat before she gets in. Now, I know that she is supposed to learn to do most of these things on her own and I try to let her, but sometimes we're in a hurry and I just need to get her clothes changed or help her finish her bowl of oatmeal or get her in the dang car seat and then it becomes painful.

She is also smarter now. When I would say, "Let's change your diaper!" she would run away and 'hide'. She was just playing and usually wanted to be found, but she would hide in plain sight in the corner of the room. This week, as I walked out of my room (expecting her follow me) she didn't. When I went back to get her, I couldn't find her. She had gone in my bathroom and shut the door almost closed!!! Not only was she not in plain sight, but she was quiet.

She hasn't lost all of the cuteness though. Storytime at the library is still the highlight of her week. She knows most of the actions to all the songs and is engaged for most of the 30 minutes. She also recently discovered Baby Einsteins. After a traumatic viewing of "Jack-Jack Attack" I thought she would enjoy watching some more normal babies, so I popped in a Baby Einstein DVD. She giggled and laughed and danced her way through it. It entertains me to watch her watch the DVD.

She is also really good with "thank you" and will use it without prompting quite often. (It always surprises me.) Thanks to her sisters her vocabulary now includes bum, poop, toot, pee-pee and potty. Every morning, she comes in and watches me get ready in the bathroom. Then she runs to the other room to get the giant rubber duck and put it on the potty in my bathroom. "Duck! Potty!" followed by giggles. The funny girl also knows big words like "motorcycle", but can't quite say it yet. So it's the same sound every time, but only I know what she's talking about.

She takes roll call a million times throughout the day.
Mama?
What, Rachel?
Daddy?
He's at work.
Bye-bye?
Yep, you said bye-bye and he went to work.
Oh. Lala?
She's at school
Mimi?
She's at school too.
Oh. Juju?
She's at work.
Oh. B?
She's at work too.
Bob?
Also at work.
Oh. Koh-ee? (Chloe)
She's at B's house.
Oh.

I can't even tell you how many times we have this conversation. Every. Single. Day. And every question is in this very concerned little tone, like she is worried about the whereabouts of these people. All. Day. Long. I'm lucky if it's only one round.

Her motor skills are getting better too. She loves to color (for about 5-10 minutes) and always uses her right hand. She can kick a ball and she thinks she's funny when she walks backwards. She also likes to build her own towers with the blocks now and to shut all the doors in the house.

In conclusion, a part of me is very sad that my baby is growing up but the rest of me is still excited to watch her learn and grow each day. I guess that's life in a nutshell.