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Have I mentioned lately how much I adore you? You are hard work. And it’s the most rewarding, satisfying, joy-filled thing I’ve ever done… being your Mom. You bring me so much happiness, entertainment, meaning. I’m just totally in love with you. I’m daily amazed by you. Every day it freaks me out how much you’ve grown up. And every day I look forward to what comes next. Tonight I got you out of bed and rocked you for almost an hour, just thanking God for you, for giving me the chance to be your mom, asking him for wisdom to teach, love, support you. I will miss it when you’re not little anymore. Thinking about it makes me sad. It’s why I get you out of bed so often. Because I can still. I know these days don’t last forever. I really try to hold on to them, to appreciate them. I try not to take you for granted. I love you so much. And I’m so proud of you and the little girl you’ve become. God couldn’t have given me a more amazing daughter.
I posted so many times this month about all the cool things we’ve done – between visits to the pumpkin patch, the library, your first ballet class, and all of our tot school activities – that I think I’m going to just post this one sans photos. But I still want to record a few of the cute and interesting things you’re doing this month that I wouldn’t want to forget about.
*You are totally in to group hugs. Whoever is holding you before naptime or bedtimes, if the other parent it near by, you lean out until we come close so that you can get one arm around each of us. So sweet.
*You love to play animal sound guessing games in random moments. All of a sudden you’ll start panting and look up at me smiling, waiting for me to say “Doggy!” And then you’ll go through each one of your sounds one at a time, waiting for me to guess.
*You have figured out that you can grab a hold of fingers and hands and drag people with you. In some moments you are content with independent play, but if you decide you want company you’re not afraid to demand it. You will grab on and pull and say “Momma, Momma, Momma,” over and over again and grunt and pull until I go with you.
*We love to play “eat the belly.” I pretend that your belly is the most delicious of snacks and I’ll beg you for a small nibble. You always start out by shaking your head and saying no (which actually just sounds like “da” like so many of your words, haha), but you always give in with a smile and a giggle and fearfully let me pretend to take a bite. It’s funny. Of course, belly is not the only delicious baby part. I also settle for fingers, toes, thighs and ribs. 🙂
*In addition to weekly story times and ballet, we’re also going to the park a lot. You love the slide. There’s a double slide at our local park that you adore. You almost always demand that I go down one side while you go down the other at the same time. You tell me which side to sit on and get very upset if I’m not following your instructions.
*You really love the night time sky. You freak out (in a good way) when you see the moon and you get almost excited about stars. Luckily we have a beautiful view of them out here in the desert.
*Every now and then you really surprise me by doing something I didn’t know you could do, like you got a wind up toy in a happy meal last week. I was going to show you how to use it when you picked it up and wound it yourself. It always shocks me when you do something like that for the first time. Stop growing up so fast! Kidding. 🙂
*Itsy Bitsy Spider is your favorite song. You touch your thumbs to your fingers and put all the tips together and twist your hands back and forth and wait until Daddy or I starts singing it for you. My favorite part is “washed the spider out.” You violently fling your arms out to the sides at just the right time.
*We love putting you in bed with us. We were so strict with bedtime rules when you were little because we didn’t want you to develop any bad sleeping habits. Mission accomplished. Now we bend the rules all the time. You never fight me when we put you back in your own bed. I will continue cherishing those late night giggly cuddles for as long as I can. I’m not going to kick you out of bed until you’re at least 25.
*I continue to be amazed at how obedient you are, for the most part. I’m really proud of you for how you listen to me and Daddy… especially me. You respect me. I’m going to enjoy that for now too. I hope that I always stay worthy of that respect. It feels really good. I mean, you have your moments, but consistency pays off. I think you really believe me when I say things. If I say no, it means no. If you do something praiseworthy, you get praised. When I tell you to ask without whining or you’re not going to get it, you believe me and change your tone. I’m really proud of you and am really excited whenever we get to see the fruits of our labor pay off. Some of it is our parenting. Some of it is just you. You’re really amazing… a really good little girl.
And a noteworthy first time…
You peed in the potty on October 22, 2011. You told us you had to go, waited for us to strip you down, sat on your little chair and went. Good job! We’re not really trying to potty train you yet, but if you want to initiate it, I’m all about empowering you to do it.