Some new silly, funny RE stories

She cracks me up these days...if it isn't one thing it's another.

She LOVES to talk, and is constantly (and desperately) trying to communicate with us. Example: on Tuesday, she was telling me something, in Toddler, that I couldn't understand. I told her I was sorry but I didn't know what she wanted. It's hard, but I have to remind myself that she understands English, even if she doesn't speak it well yet. She rolled her eyes, sighed emphatically, and repeated herself, "yabahdahdbablahblahdahabayaya BALL." Uh huh. Right. Ball. OK. "What about the ball?" I ask. To which she replies, "Nooooooooo," whilst shaking her head and again, she repeats herself: "yabahdahdbablahblahdahabayaya BALL." She then goes over to the ball, and pushes on it like she wants to bounce, so I ask her if she wants to bounce on the ball. I got an excited head nod (cutest thing ever, really) and we bounce. Good times, but this communication thing is tricky. Very tricky.

And on that communication note, she says many words now. What can she say, you ask? Pretty much anything I ask her to, at least the once. She's getting great at names: Julie, Lucas, Meghan, Mike, Matt (though they sound VERY similar), Owen, daddy, mommy, Nonna, Papa, Kai, Sadie and the list goes on. One of my personal favorites, blueberry, which sounds like boobewwy and is SO cute. She also says butterfly, sounds like buhfy, and flaps her wings (either her bath towel, or if it's her "little wings" her hands). She had to learn butterfly after asking what that on my back was. Oh yeah, mommy has a tattoo. You can't have one until you're 18. And don't get a butterfly.

She also loves to dress up, loves shoes, and loves sweaters/jackets/sweatshirts. She will run around the house in her red polka dot raincoat, flip flips that are 2 sizes too small, and her purple first birthday crown (thanks Nonna and Papa). She loves this, and gets rather angry when I tell her that we a) must wear clothing when we leave the house and b) she may not wear flip flops (that are 2 sizes too small) out when it is raining. We compromise and she wears her 1 size too small faux Crocs that she LOVES. They're hot pink, what's not to love? I am thinking that nothing but hot pink Ugg boots will do as a winter replacement for those. But yes, my little peanut loves to dress up, and she also loves to undress. She managed to remove a dress while in the carrier, on my back, in Macys a few weeks ago. Classy. And today, at home, she nearly got a poopy diaper off on her own. Yeah, my bad for not hearing her say, "poopy," and removing it. But in my defense, she says poopy all the damn time and it usually means nada!

She loves babies. LOVES babies. Real, fake, whatever. Doesn't matter. We saw Meg and new baby Elaina today, and Ryan was just fascinated with her. Elaina was pretty smitten with Ry too, which spells TROUBLE for Meg, sorry to say. Ryan's a bad influence. But no, she just loved her, and I let her hold Elaina on her lap, very carefully, on the floor, with me right there. She did so well, holding her gently, and touching her hair, and saying, "baby," and detailing all of her facial features, in case we'd forgotten where her eyes were. Then she lost interest, found her baby sling, and popped Elmo in for a good nap. Oh, excuse me, Melmo.

Speaking of naps, she actually takes them now. Willingly. I asked her the other day if she was ready to take a nap, and she walked into her room. I told her to grab her stuffies so I could put her in her crib, and she grabbed them and walked over and just stood next to her crib. I picked her up and put her in and she settled herself down on her pillow and waited for me to pull the blankie up. That was it. I walked out of the room and she slept for 2 hours, and woke up super happy, hollering for me! It was great, and I really hope this is a turning point for us!

Other big news for the kid? Well, at 18 months, she weighed 23 pounds, was 31.5 inches tall, and her head is in the 80%tile! She's just shy of average for everything else, though I still think she's a bit of a peanut. She's got every tooth she needs at this point, and will just continue to rock some molars as she gets older. She will start pre-preschool next month, and I think she'll have a blast! It's mostly playtime, with a short circle time for songs, and an outdoor playtime and a snacktime, but I think it'll be great for her to get with some other kids, and have access to activities I'm not willing to do at home, like art tables, water tables, and sand tables. No room, no patience, and no desire to clean that up!

I am certain there are more, and there are certainly pictures that deserve to be posted, and I'm sure sometime in the near future I'll get on that. In my spare time, you know, those hours I have between 11-1am when no one else is awake?

Oh, and what's going on with the rest of the fam? Well, Zoe's great. She's a farty dog though, and it's high time we changed her food and spared the air. Hey, I'm concerned about gas emissions. Daddy is doing well...work's going well for him right now. He's also been chopping up a downed tree from last years storm, and is enjoying playing Paul Bunyon. Me? I'm working at the mall again, just a few hours a week to supplement that darn car payment! The writing center starts back up in early October, and I'm looking forward to getting back over there. Oh, and I am taking classes to become a Childbirth Educator, and look forward to teaching classes on labor and delivery in the New Year. REgarding Peanut is doing well, and growing, and we're in the process of getting a website up and running.