All the wonderful things

You are just a barrel of laughs these days. Quite an interesting week it's been. You've been saying ma ma ma when you whine to me and it's so sweet because you really mean me! You learned how to scream in a high-pitched, blood-curdling kind of way and it's out of pure glee, so it's not annoying - yet! And you learned how to stick out your tongue on command, leading us to see some white spots on the very back of your tongue and having to take you to the doctor to get that thrush treated. Not that it seems to be bothering you and not that we have any idea how long you've had it... And you've been so affectionate. Since learning to make the smoochy sound, you gave Creeson a birthday kiss this morning when we dropped off his gift and then when Uncle Nigel came over this afternoon, you gave him a kiss without anyone even asking you to!

Have I told you how cute it is when you are defiant, when I ask you to do something and you shake your head 'no' at me. And when you eat (macaroni or pudding) boxes and completely freak out when we take them away. Or when you kick the dog when you're laying down to go to bed or when she gets too close to your legs at the table when we're eating. You've really been power tripping over poor little Skye. You tease the poor dog all the time. Like when you are finished eating, I put you on the floor to run around and give you a piece of meat to specifically feed to Skye, you hold it tightly in your hand, hold it to the dog's mouth to let her try and bite it before taking in away and putting it in your mouth! Not nice, but amusing to watch. And you're so smart. The other night you were holding the heavy flashlight in one hand, a CD in the other so I told you to hold it with both hands. Obviously you knew exactly what I said because you put the CD on the floor and held the flashlight with two hands...but I don't remember teaching you those words!

You learned about clouds today and can point to them when asked, just like the moon and stars. A few mornings this week, we stood at the window and checked out the moon and stars to your great delight. It sure is dark at 6 a.m. I was hoping the darkness in the evenings might help you to fall asleep easier or maybe quicker, but no. I think your extensive naps with Nana during the day might be cutting into your bedtime. (You've been sleeping over three hours most days -even until 4:50 p.m. yesterday...I thought a girl your age could go for longer between sleeps.) Anyway, you've also been eating better than ever before and it makes your dad and I so happy. You ate five perogy insides and one whole one, along with Ukrainian sausage - after your baby food supper at 4:30. And you ate linguine with mushroom sauce for almost half an hour on Tuesday. You were still eating when the rest of us had even finished our Cheerio cake dessert. That's something new.

It's always so hard to remember everything, but I know there are so many more wonderful things about you from this week alone. Like how you've been colouring, how watching Elmo when we go to work distracts you so you don't howl and cry, how you run at full-tilt, how you lead us up to bed when you are tired...