August 27, 2012 - August in review: "Up!"

The beauty of your toddler's burgeoning language skills is that they're still at an age where they assume that any demand will be acknowledged and met. If only the world would comply.

So our daughter becomes frustrated and irrate when her proclomations of "Up!" are not complied with at every utterance. Say, for instance, when you're on the toilet or trying to pay for groceries or sound asleep. Her other favorite request is "Shoes?" which need to be replaced since she enjoys practicing taking them off every five minutes. Not to be outdone by her capacity for watching her favorite BBC claymation show, Shaun the Sheep, or taking walks.

Walks that normally took us ten minutes now take two hours or more because she stops to say hello to everyone, pet the lavendar bushes, chase bees, and laugh at dogs. Every walk needs to be marked with a memento as well. Normally a prized pinecone, an especially sharp stick, or a cancerous cigarette butt. Yard sales are beauty contests where she plays dress up with people's belongings, sprinklers are water parks no matter what outfit she has on, and flowers are for petting.

She's learned to eat with a fork in the past two weeks, sits at the table like a big girl, and pulls her pants up with a little bit of assistance. She listens intently when we're on the phone and mimics us by holding up a rectangular block to her ear and says "hi?...hi....bye" while nodding and smiling.

We setup a play kitchen in our kitchen for her so she can cook while mama does. She zig zags across the kitchen while chattering and singing to herself and dancing. Apparently I walk very fast while cooking and dance while standing in place in front of the stove. She helps put dishes away and picks up items that she drops and puts them back or in the garbage. The cats help eat the food she drops.

I love her prideful smile, eyes downcast and the slow rising of a smile from an expression of consternation as she achieves her intent. Whether that's setting a bowl on the table or managing to figure out how to put on a dress. She's incredibly intelligent and gentle, even forgiving her cousin for kicking her or stealing her toys away. Not once this past weekend did she cry or get angry with her older cousin but quietly watched her and tried to please her. I hope she learns to stand up for herself and I see signs of it when she takes her toys back or moves away from kids that are being rough with her.

But she still pats you when you pick her up, leans her head in your lap to check in periodically while playing, carefully sits in your lap after bringing you a book to read to her, and gives the most gentle kisses like the whisper of a butterfly wing ever so primly to you when you have to leave her.
She loves looking at her picture book of family photos and talks our ears off with gibberish stories after seeing her cousins. She's becoming a big girl, she's not a baby any more...I'm a little sad about that at moments but I can't wait to see her grow over the years.