You now love to wave at anyone you see. Though if someone initiates a wave or says hello to you first, you aren't so sure about that and tend to turn shy. You especially loved our trip to Hawaii because, well, people are friendly when they are on vacation. Everywhere we went people loved your waves and always waved back. On the plane when you started to get restless we would walk the aisles with you and you would just walk along waving the entire time and eating up all the attention. I honestly think you were a little sad when we got home and the first time we went in to Santa Monica you didn't get quite the reactions we did on vacation. People here are more busy and less likely to make eye contact. I'm with you on that, it makes me sad too.
You are very concerned with things being out of place. If something is dropped on the floor or spilled you remain focused on it, pointing and sounding very distraught until it is picked up or cleaned up. I find this an interesting characteristic. If it means you are going to have a neat and tidy side to you that's fine with me, but I do find it a little surprising at this age. When we were at the Zimmer Museum in the snack room there was a younger boy eating his lunch and there were some peas scattered on the floor that he'd dropped. You were very insistent that they be picked up. I tried and tried explaining to you that he was still eating and they would clean them up with they were finished. But you were so bothered by it that eventually his nanny stopped helping him eat and cleaned up what was on the floor just to make you feel better. I told her she didn't have to, but she could tell you were very distraught.
I sometimes let you throw things away for me and you of course love to help. The trash can in our kitchen has a latch that you can't open so when we do, I will open it for you and then you throw it in. For awhile you started trying to invent trash so that you would have things to throw away. I would be making dinner and turn around to see you standing at the trash can waiting for me to open it, holding a label from a food package out of the pantry or the top of a cereal box that you tore off just for the sake of being able to throw it away. A lot of our boxes no longer close properly but it was pretty cute so I'll deal with it.
Since our trip to Hawaii, we can now add another new destination to the list of states you've visited: CA MO IL OK IN OH KY HI. You're up to 8 now. I don't think I had even visited 8 states when I was in college. I bought you a US map and have started coloring in the states you've been to. There may be large gaps between adding new ones but it might be fun to see it start to fill up over the years.
While in Hawaii I had one day of the conference that I was busy all day and had a business dinner that night so it was a full on Daddy-Daughter day. When he was trying to get you to nap in our hotel room, he put you in the Pack N Play then sat down to read a book. He looked up a few minutes later to see you straddling the top edge, smiling and clapping because you were so pleased with yourself. We immediately decided not to risk a serious fall and when we got home we quickly converted the crib into a toddler bed. You love it. The day I took the front rail off you spent the next hour climbing in and out of the bed on your own. It took you about 2 days to realize that you no longer have to wait on us to come get you out of bed and the first time you came walking out of your room on your own you were beaming with pride. It also has its advantages for me because on the nights that you get up and would end up in our bed anyway, you just walk in on your own and all I have to do is pick you up.
I have now officially had to replace my car battery thanks to you. Twice you have gotten my car keys and, because we live directly above the parking garage, the remote works from our apartment. Without my knowledge, you opened my trunk, which has a light, and the next time we tried to leave the house: dead battery. This has me thankful for our decision to join AAA several years ago. On the second occasion that this happened, after they came to jump the car the battery ended up dead AGAIN the following day. After this 3rd service call I took it to an auto parts store where the tested it and determined I was in need of a new battery. No big deal really, it's actually a funny story, but not so much when we are trying to go somewhere and I have to deal with a dead battery for the 3rd time.
You are becoming more independent and wanting to do things on your own. You like to try to buckle the chest clip on your car seat. I worry about you pinching your fingers so for now we settle for you "helping" with me really doing the fastening.
You mimic faces that I make at you. When I first noticed this it was the first time I realized how much I make faces at you, but I guess I do. You enjoy it and occasionally even try to turn it around and make faces at me and see if I will mimic you in return.
You have been giving lots of kisses lately and we love that. One of the first nights that you were in your toddler bed you woke during the night and I came in to calm you. I tried settling you back in your bed, but you put your arms up and as if you wanted me to pick you up. I did, assuming we would be headed straight for Daddy's and my bed. But instead you leaned forward to give me a kiss. I was happy to oblige, and then you immediately reached back for your own bed. I put you back down and you fell back to sleep almost instantly. All you wanted was a kiss. It was one of the absolute sweetest things ever.
You like to run up and pat Daddy and me to let the other one know that we are there, or something like that. Like, when you get up with Daddy in the morning and I'm already working, you run to my desk and pat me while looking at Daddy like you are saying "Hey look, Mom's here!"
You know lots of words, more than I would have guessed. But after sitting with you this week and asking you to name the pictures in one of your books, rather than the other way around, I discovered that you know a lot more than I realized. Some of the things that have impressed me the most are shapes (heart, star), letters (B, Y, D), and colors (blue, green, orange).
You have been really trying to repeat words lately and I have been encouraging you and saying new words several times so you can really hear them and try on your own. You have been articulating your words much more clearly and just this week you really started saying "Mommy" and "Daddy" very clearly. You have been saying variations of "Daddy" fairly regularly for awhile but you generally would only say "Mommy" or "Mama" if you were upset, so I am loving this new development. It makes my heart smile every time.
I have a small photo album filled with pictures of our extended family that you love to sit and look at. We've flipped through the pages countless times I would name each person. This week I started asking you to repeat the names and you are starting to learn them really well. Most of them are hard for you to pronounce, but I can tell you are trying. For example, Skylur is "Shwa" and Matt is a very emphatic "Dat."
We ended up with 2 helium balloons this week which has been lots of fun for you. When the first one lost its ability to float I saw you holding it up in the air above your head like you were trying to coax it back up there. The second one is the shiny foil kind so hopefully it will last longer.
We have been giving potty training a whirl. You are still fairly young for it, yet it's not unheard of at this age. You have been very interested in the potty for awhile and, let's face it, two of your favorite words are "pee" and "poop." We figured we may as well try it out and see how it goes. We've had a lot of accidents with a sprinkling of success mixed in so we're just going to see how it goes. If we decide you're not ready that is fine and we'll hold off until later, but if it seems like we're making progress we'll stick it out for awhile. You definitely like being diaper free and you seem to like wearing underwear so I think that's a good start. I try to keep the potty close by wherever we are in the apartment and you've gotten so accustomed to it that now you carry the potty with you when you go to play in a different room. And a couple of nights ago you gave it hugs before bed. I consider these good signs.
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