Our Little Changeling

OY! We are embracing our toddlerhood with wide open flailing arms. Bug is definitely a "changeling" now. It's like having someone with bipolar disorder around only about a hundred times worse. One minute she is adorable and you can't help but hug and squish her. The next minute you're wondering where the sweet little thing went and the nasty screaming flailing child on the floor came from. Bug has jumped feet first into toddlerhood. David and I are lucky we aren't both bald from the hair wrenching that's going on in our corner. But, we gear up for it and muddle through the best we can. Which I'm assuming is how you get through it. Clench your teeth and try to survive the wild ride.

On a lighter note Bug has overcome a few hurdles lately. She's not quite as shy around people anymore. She still takes a few minutes to warm up and then if she decides you're OK she'll interact with you. We also have FINALLY had fun in the pool. David filled it up one day and took her out. At first she was really mad and not liking it. And, i noticed she acted like she didn't realize that she could move around in the water. When she finally figured out that she could she loosened up quickly. She liked splashing so long as it didn't get in her face. She still wouldn't actually sit down though. She'd stand and kick her feet in the water. *Whew*

Our neighbors down the street with the triplets loaned us a few new signing videos. (They are "Signing Time" if anyone wants to know what they are.) Bug loves them and has picked up even more new signs. She can sign "colors," "rainbow," "bean," "potato" and a few more new ones on top of all the old ones she knows. It's been fun and educational for Momma and Daddy too. Oddly enough even though David and i sign it all the time she still doesn't sign "thank-you." She says it, she just doesn't sign it.

We've been working on manners and table manners lately. She's very good about asking nicely and saying thank-you. We're working on how to learn to use the fork and spoon though. she's actually pretty good at it we just need to get her to figure out that you don't turn the fork sideways when you eat. I tried a cup the other day and while she knows how to use it, she hasn't mastered the technique slowly tipping the cup so that she doesn't pour the water in her lap all the time. It'll come with time and as her coordination gets better.

Bug loves to dance. She boogies to all sorts of tunes but seems to prefer the old eighties hits and daddy's jazz tapes. Although she also busts a move every time the "Backyardigans" starts. She has some pretty cute little dance moves. her favorite one is the "happy feet" move that she does. She basically runs in place. it's really cute. We've also been working on jumping. We aren't quite there yet. her feet don't quite make it off the floor. Her favorite shows are "The Wonder Pets" and still the "Backyardigans" She can sing "The Wonder Pets" theme song. (I think i mentioned about the Wonder Pets song before though.) We have also found 2 other shows that she seems to like. "Sagwa" and "James the Cat" on the Sprout channel. I think she's more excited about the fact that they are all about kitties. We talk about the "Maows" and she points and does her little happy feet dance when she sees them. Bug is really good at doing the puzzles we have for her. (They're the simple one-piece wooden peg puzzles.) she knows what all the animals are too, except the hamster one; she insists that it is a cat. And, i have to agree it does kinda look like one.

Bug has completely mastered going down the slide by herself. She stands at the top and yells "one...two..." and then you're supposed to say "three" before she slides down. it's pretty cute. She can also do one of the bigger slides at the park by herself now too. We also have fun playing with Carson next door and the triplets; Drew, Katie and Tyler who live on the other side of Carson. She plays pretty well with them and enjoys stealing Carson's red peddle-foot car. daddy bought her a pink push car for her to ride in and a "popping" mower to play with outside. We also have the little mini tricycle that she enjoys riding on now. She is definitely busy and she keeps us busy too. I've got some pictures below of a few things we did this past month. Enjoy!

We finally had a breakthrough with the pool!!! It took a few minutes but David was able to get her to actually enjoy herself playing in the pool. It almost seemed like she didn't realize you could walk in it. But then she learned about splashing and that seemed to be alright, just so long as it didn't get in her face.



We went down to Auntie Denise's recently and Jordan had a new toy. It's one of those blow up castle jumping things. Bug had an absolute ball in it!!! She literally spent most of her time bouncing in the castle. she would jump in the air and land on her butt. Here's a good action shot of her mid-jump.

This is probably one of the cutest things I have ever caught Bug doing. I came out of the shower to a very quiet bedroom. The door was shut and Bug can't open closed doors yet but she was nowhere to be found. I was stumped because I knew she couldn't have left the room. Then I heard a very quiet "Daddy" from the other side of the bed. I peeked around the bed to see her sitting on the floor with David's wallet. She had gone through and pulled somethings out but, she was holding his driver's license and saying "daddy." She was very excited at the revelation that she had daddy's picture in her hand. It was so damned cute.

David and i got bug her very own tent. (Which happens to be taking up about half of my living room at the moment.) Bug enjoys going in there. I set it up with a blanket or two and her purple chair. She goes in with her babies and books. The other night David had crawled in with her and they were reading together. Today though she decided that she was going to try and drag her riding car in until I told her that cars don't belong in the tent.

Bug has been letting me put some barrettes in her hair the last few days. She calls them her "pretties" and is pretty good about leaving them in.

Here she is signing "please." I can't for the life of me remember what she was asking for though.