Rachel is in a really cute phase. If you hold out your arms to her, she runs to you. Her sense of humor is really developing; she teases and giggles and laughs at the drop of a hat. And she loves to dance!
My mom made the purple tiger (okay, I see that they’re zebra now) pants. She’s got some great pajama pants tips!
On the off chance you’re wondering, she’s growing. She turned 19 months last Thursday, and she visited the doctor recently and she’s 22+ lbs and 30+ inches. She seems even bigger to me!
We were worried about her language at her 15 month appointment, when she didn’t even say “Mama” or “Dada.” The doctor said to wait until 18 months to see if she started talking. And she did! She has about 15 words now, including [always whispered] “titititi” (tickle), “h’ow” (hello), “buhbuh” (bubble), and “deydis” (there it is).
And best of all, she picked up another word in the middle of her exam. Hayden tried to take the toy she was playing with and Rachel declared, “MY!”
Rachel loves to wiggle and shake. The other day I watched her waggling her head all around. “I love your dancing,” I told her.
She smiled, and either blew me a kiss—or signed thank you.
Rachel’s middle name is Diana; she’s named after my mother. Growing up, my mother had a nickname she absolutely hated: Banana Cake. (I only tell you this in the strictest confidence. Do NOT use this against my mother.)
Rachel doesn’t really talk. For a couple days, she said “Out” a lot. She has managed to hold onto “Uh ohs!” whenever she sees something on the ground. But her signs are really picking up. She’s gotten really good at Thank you, and also learned please, apple, baby and:
A few cute stories from Rebecca over the last few months:
As we walked through our home airport, after three weeks’ summer vacation at Nana’s and 8 hours of traveling:
“For my birthday, I’m gonna go back to Nana’s,” Hayden proclaimed. “Becca, do you want to come with me?”
“Come wis you? Awe we gon’ get mawwied??”
While we were visiting, my wayward sisters taught Rebecca what to say when she received a proposal of marriage. I didn’t realize how deeply it’d sunken in until we’d been home a few days. Rebecca was rolling around on the floor (for fun, you know) and after a minute, I heard what she was saying:
“Whewe’s my big diamond?!”
Last night, since Hayden was sick, I brought Rebecca with me to his school’s literacy night. She was so well-behaved! I let her draw in Hayden’s notebook and she used the crayons on the table—though not always for pictures. Well, two-dimensional ones:
I asked if it was a house. She informed me, “It’s Hayden’s schoow! An’ dis ownge c’own [orange crayon] is Hayden!” After I took the picture, she added another crayon next to Hayden: “His teachew.”
I was letting Rebecca play in our fenced-in backyard while I put Rachel to bed. “Be careful,” I warned her.
“Don’t wowwy, Mommy.” She gave me a thumbs up. “I wiww be pewfectwy fine.”
Checking things off my to do list (like this post!).
Putting the kids to bed early-ish.
That Rebecca’s hair will grow. (See last picture.)
Potty training! (And being done!)
Finishing off the cookies we made last night—no more temptation.
Left overs and Ryan reheating them.
Tuna salad sandwiches with celery, making me think of my mom.
Hayden including his sisters in playing with his blocks. And his blogs. But more about that next week.
One day—it was a Friday, but that doesn’t matter—there was a little girl—and that does matter—learning to use the potty. And as she sat on the potty, she perched her fingers on her knees, with her pointer fingers out.
“Dees are my wobots,” she informed us. So these are Rebecca’s Robots:
(Her hands. Also note the plate of shredded cheese, which is pretty much all the child will eat for dinner.)
Her robots talk and help her do all kinds of things (being her hands). They love their mommy robots (my hands) especially.
Some cute things Rebecca has said lately:
Teese neveh wive in cups! Teese wive in bowws! (Cheese never lives in cups! Cheese lives in bowls!)
Wohwa’kates: roller skates
Yeh weww: yeah, well (at the beginning of a sentence)
Beebee: I’m not even sure what the exact translation of this would be (baby?), but it’s something she says a lot when she’s playing with Pinky, her stuffed animal. It’s either what she called Pinky, or what Pinky calls her. Or maybe both.
And some more:
Another favorite game is MontahINK! (Monsters, Inc.) Rebecca is Suwwy (Sully) and Pinky is either Boo or Mike ‘Akow’ki. I’m usually whatever Pinky isn’t, though sometimes Rachel gets that honor. Hayden has played Mike and Wannaw (Randall). Once I was even Wannanoos (Mr. Waternoose).
Her hair, obviously, spends a lot of time in her face, so today I did this (she cried, but she’s come to accept it):
I’m not really thrilled with how I did, but cutting my kids’ hair too short is something I’m good at.
What do you think? What are you grateful for? Isn’t Rebecca pretty much the best little girl in the world?
My kids have a few odd speech habits—”feww” for “smell,” “foon” for “spoon,” and today “ball” for “small” (while crying). But so far one of the most persistent impediments is saying Y for L.
yeyyow
yittle/yiddew (especially Rebecca’s favorite nickname for Rachel, “yiddew baby!”)
yeash (leash)
And my favorite: I yub you!
I also love little kids’ attempts to jump. Rebecca is obsessed with jumping over the cracks when we’re walking on pavement, but her little feet never leave the ground at the same time (though she actually can jump—just not while walking).
What are your favorite learning (yearning?) processes to watch?
Pe-p’ease? (Pretty please?) (This just recently advanced from “Me-mease?”)
Mayme we can . . . (Maybe—Rebecca is generating alternatives)
F’iends (Friends)
But I think the most surprising recent words were this:
Last night at dinner, we were talking about our visit with Nana (my mom). I asked my son Hayden what his favorite part of the visit was. He decided his favorite part was getting new blocks from Nana.
“Here’s the backstory,” he said. And he proceeded to explain in great detail the shopping trip a week ago when we bought the new blocks.
MamaBlogga: mom's search for meaning is devoted to helping mothers find encouragement, empowerment and fulfillment in motherhood. It's written by Jordan (MamaBlogga), a professional blogger and, more importantly, mother of three. You can read more about MamaBlogga's mission.
.
