Little Milestones

Several little milestones today. Some are not new for Anna Claire, but for me. Like her shape blocks, I know she can do this because her teachers have told me so, but she NEVER plays with them at home. But today she did. She emptied them all, and within a couple of minutes she had placed them in the right holes and then put them all back in the bucket. I was glad to see it for myself!

Anna Claire also followed a FIRM instruction I gave her today. I say FIRM, because she does things I ask her in a kind tone all the time. When I have repremanded her and ask her to do something in the past, she would scream or cry. Tonight she took her infamous purple crayon over to her kitchen (don't worry- they're washable crayons) and began coloring on her kitchen counter. I said, same as always, "Anna Claire, we color on our paper. No color on kitchen." Normally one of two things would happen. She would keep coloring on the kitchen and look at me to see if I really mean it, or she would color on something else she shouldn't and look at me to see if that was ok. Tonight...breakthrough! She walked (on her knees) to her coloring table, colored on her paper and looked at me and smiled. I told her what I good girl she was! She was proud and I was proud of her!

Later in the evening she held a crayon up to my mouth and said "No no!" She knows we don't eat crayons or put them in our mouths!

We are learning more about "her language" and how she communicates day by day. When a TV show she likes goes off, they are "night night."

"Paci", for some reason, is coming out "totsy." I say "for some reason" because she really does get consonant sounds right in most words.

Anna Claire is parroting me a lot. Tonight I was talking to her about CDs and how someone took my DVDs. She copied back, "CD, CD, CD!" and "DD, DD!" During diaper changes I tell her I always tell her what I am doing, that I am putting on her cream and paste and diaper. She always repeats back, "ceeeeam!" "pace!" and "diada!"

Her favorite words/sounds right now though are "uh oh!" "mmmmmm!" "beep beep!" and especially "awwwwwwwwwww!" She says "awwwwwwww!" whenever she sees a baby or cute animal, when she give/receives a hug, or when you give her blanket or paci. It's really sweet!

Drawer pulls remind her of our door knocker so she always gives them a knock and says "knock, knock." Any handheld electronic or remote is a phone to her. She will hold up to her ear and say "ho?" (hello).

I was listening to a radio dj explain that no one thinks stories about your pet or child are half as funny or cute as you do. I don't know, I think hers are pretty cute!

Oh, I almost forgot the best one. It's the best because I see that it's going to make my life easier. No more WONDERING if she is pooping. Today she looked up at me as she was going and said, "Mama, poop."