Joe and I take turns on the weekend sleeping in and getting up with the munchkin. Usually I sleep in on Saturdays and get up early on Sundays. We switched this weekend because he was up extra late last night hanging out with a friend. I love having one morning each week that I get to sleep in. I can't really sleep in that late anymore anyway, but it's nice to have the choice. It's also nice to just lay there and relax and know that you don't have to do anything at all if you don't want to.
As nice as that is, I think I like getting up with the munchkin early and having that time to ourselves just as much, if not more. I don't even get to see her in the mornings during the week, as I am out the door before she is even awake and Joe brings her to the sitter. I am so excited each day around 4:00 when I go to pick her up and she runs to me, arms stretched out, yelling Momma! Momma!! It's one of my most favorite things. So having that one morning a week that I wake up with her and we just hang out and do whatever we want, is really special to me and I try to cherish it. Even if I have a million things I need to do, and it is sometimes tempting to get some chores done while she plays around me, I usually just let it all wait.
Today, for some reason, just seemed extra special to me. She was in such an amazing mood today (to be honest she is usually pretty happy most of the time, but today it was even more so). We went to the store to get a birthday present for my grandpa and any time we walked passed a person she looked at them and shouted "whee"! She had everyone cracking up. When we were in the dressing room (ofcourse I had to try on some clothes while we were there), she started singing to me "rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah", you know from Lady Gaga, Bad Romance. I am not sure why she likes to sing that, I don't really ever listen to Lada Gaga. And she just kept lauging and making faces at me while I was trying on clothes. She was just being so much fun!
I just can't believe she is 17 months old now!
The last couple of weeks, her vocabulary and ability to express her wants, needs and thoughts to me has really exploded. She'll repeat just about anything you say to her now, and what is amazing is that all of a sudden she understands so much more of what she is saying. Instead of signing the words "done" and "more" while we are eating, she is saying the words instead. She tells me when she wants her cup, which sounds more like "cuck". She keeps surprising me with all the words she knows and things she recognizes and can say all of a sudden. She can point out most of her body parts when you ask her where they are and tell you what sounds some animals make. In the morning, when I bring her in the kitchen for her breakfast, she sees her plate and exclaims "eggs"! with a huge smile on her face. She loves eggs so much (which is awesome, because personally, I like to eat eggs just about every morning in some form or another).
She is such a good eater. She will eat just about anything I give to her. So far, she hasn't been a fan of green peppers, but really that's about it. Her favorite proteins are eggs, salmon, tilapia, black beans, cottage cheese and stuffed mushrooms with beef and cheese. Her favorite vegetables are broccoli, sweet potatoes, caulitators (mashed cauliflower), green beans, peas and avacodo. She will eat any fruit with gusto. Her absolute favorites are blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, any kind of melon and mangos. She loves blueberry flax muffins. She goes crazy over cheese of any kind. Cheese was actually one of her first words. Sometimes, she will stand in front of the fridge and say "cheese"! I love that she is at that age where she can pretty much just eat whatever I am making for dinner. Some things are still a little harder for her (since she still only has 4.5 teeth!), but I just cut most things up really small for her still.
She actually likes going to bed. She takes a nap at 1:00 (for 2-3 hrs) each day and goes to bed at 8:00pm. Each evening around 8:00, I ask her if she's ready to go "night night" and she runs to the kitchen cabinet where I keep her binkys and points up to it. I hand her a binky and she runs to her room, she climbs into the glider and picks out a book from a little basket on the table next to the glider for me to read to her. Sometimes, during the book, she turns her head up to me and puckers her face up to say she wants a kiss. Then after the book is over I lay her down in the crib and she snuggles up with her blanket. I usually rub her back for a couple of seconds and run my fingers through her hair. Then I say "night night" and leave the room. Most nights we don't hear a peep from her till 7:30 or 8:00am the next morning. I have no idea how we got so lucky. I don't know how long it will last either, but for now I am truly enjoying it!
And she's so sweet. She loves giving hugs. If you ask her for one, she wraps her arms around your neck and squeezes really hard. She tries to help us with anything she can. She will hand me all the laundry out of the basket when I am putting it in the washing machine, or hand me dishes out of the dishwasher when I am putting them away. Yesterday, some jackets fell off the kitchen chair and she picked them up and carried them to me one by one, all of her own accord.
Sometimes I look at her and just can't believe what a big girl she is all of a sudden. Time is just flying by and it seems she was just a little baby not that long ago. I guess it really wasn't that long ago, they just get big so fast! I just know it's all going to go by so quickly. She'll be starting school before I know it, and I am trying so hard to take one day at a time and really pay attention to what is going on and to try to really enjoy it while it's here.
Joe and I have been talking about when we might want to start trying for our next (and most likely final) child. We have decided to enjoy this summer with the munchkin and put things off till the end of the summer. We originally were going to start trying at the beginning of June, but I just want some more time with just her. We are planning a little vacation to Lake Michigan the beginning of June with my sister Amy and her family, and hopefully we can do alot more fun stuff with her this summer.
Right now she is taking a nap and I can't wait for her to wake up and play. She has been sleeping for 3 hours already!
3 comments:
I remember when you were newly preggo with her. It really is amazing that she is so old already. I love hearing about her words! :) :) She needs to hang out with G and L soon now that we are hopefully on the mend.
She's getting so big and cuter than ever! :)
She's so so cute!!!
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