Oh Gracie. You are reaching the point where you do so many new and fun things each day that I'm afraid I'll forget them forever if I don't tell you about them now.
You are napping right now, thanks to your new habit of getting up at 5:45 am, then napping from 9-11:30. I'm not blaming you. It's the party girls who moved in next door and kept you up this weekend that I blame! Regardless, it's the perfect opportunity to tell you about yourself.
This hat is new & I have been wanting to get you one since you were born! You LOVE hats and sure look cute in them. I love that a hat can make your wild curls look tame when we go out. You're such a cutie! We always have hats on our heads thanks to you acting as our stylist each day. The other day, I almost left the house wearing one of your toddler hats because I'd forgotten about it.
Yes, this is you eating corn on the cob in the car. Why? Because we were late to meet your daddy for lunch but you insisted that corn on the cob would be your in car snack. We needed to get going so I didn't argue with you--boy was your daddy surprised when we picked him up for lunch and saw you eating this!
Your favorite food is corn on the cob so I shouldn't have been surprised, right? If you see we've bought it, you start husking it immediately & will take big bites of it raw. Popcorn is also a big hit. You brought your daddy the children's book Popcorn by Frank Ash several times on Saturday. He kept trying to read it to you & you'd shut the cover, mad at him. Then, you brought it to mommy who figured it out--oh! you want popcorn! Of course, you know the word for popcorn, but I guess you were just testing our riddle-solving skills.
Every night you want us to take you on stroller walks. This is the same girl who HATED her stroller for the first two years of her life, right?
On Saturday night, you were helping daddy cook when you decided to get out the base for my mini food processor. You carried it to the living room, set it down and proceeded to drag it across the floor by the cord. I watched you, confused at first. Then, you started panting, stopped & told it to sit. OH! You were pretending it was a dog! It was hard to figure out what to do next. Let you continue & risk taking the cord off the machine (let's face it, you're very strong & rough on things) or break your heart? A call to grandpa (the man who would've had to replace the cord) fixed it all. He had the idea of tying yarn around your stuffed animal dogs for an instant leash & you were thrilled. Of course, your daddy thought we should get you a real dog. I agree but you need to wait a bit, monkey. We aren't ready to enter the world of dog ownership again just yet. You favorite animal by far is dogs, and I am relieved that our former dog's attack on you at 6 months has obviously left no emotional scarring behind!
Daddy has been teaching you about trees. You love to feel their branches & leaves. This one is a pine tree & you were laughing at the needles & how they felt on your hand.
Your smile wins us over all the time, monkey. You really know how to get your way, especially with your daddy. You know I melt if you use your words so you're really working on talking to me. The other day you got a container of frozen custard out & brought it to me. "Help!" you said, a new word I've been trying to get you to say for about a year now. When I started to laugh you added "PLEEEEAAASSSEE!" so of course you got ice cream right away! If I ignore your requests, you often go to your daddy where a simple smile usually gets you exactly what you want.
We have been telling you no more though and people all over town have seen the tantrums to prove it. You have your mother's German temper little girl!
Why was I ever worried about your language skills? You have been coming along well in the past few months. You counted five objects last night and we haven't even worked on that! We don't really work with you on academic stuff because we think you are too young but we've been trying some Montessori activities and you love them. You know almost all your colors & say their names thanks to your love of painting. You got me up at 4:45 the other day to have me refill your paint cups! You know a lot of letter names A, B, C, D, E, G, I, J, K, M, O, P, R, T, U, V, Y and Z! You try to write them a lot but e has been the only recognizable one. P is your FAVORITE letter. You always say "P--puh, puh." It's very cute. You count your things and tell us how many you have, lifting up two of something and saying "Two!" Grandma tried to get you to count on the phone last night & when she said "1, 2, 3, 4" you said "Wow!" like "Wow Grandma, you can do it, too!" "Wow, cool" is one of your favorite expressions, right up there with saying "Aw, man!" and slapping your leg when you spill something. I guess you're getting these things from us because you're around us the most!
We love the time we spend with you Grace. Daddy's favorite part of the work week is when we meet him for lunch. You watch for him & when you see him, your smile is priceless. Thanks for making all our days just a bit brighter with your smile Gracie!
