Here are some of the myriad highlights I never want to forget.
- Squirt finally really likes her grandparents, especially grandpa. He always makes her laugh. The funny thing, though, is that she hasn't figured out that she should call him "grandpa" or "papa" or "hey you"; instead, she simply calls both grandparents "grandma".
- Every afternoon last week, when I picked her up from daycare, I found Squirt curled up in a quiet corner by herself with books.
- She's still working on counting. Right now when she "counts," it's always "one, two, seven, eight!"
- She loves pink. She says it's her favorite color. She loves it so much that when you ask her to identify the color of something, she almost always exclaims, "pink!" Note, though, that she does know her colors and can correctly identify them - I think this is just wishful thinking on her part.
- More than ever, she loves to help and insists on doing things herself. This can be pretty stressful for both of us. I'm learning to let go and let her help with activities I normally wouldn't (like filling the humidifier or chopping up veggies) and am always amazed by how quickly she learns!
- She shares. Voluntarily. When she has a cup of chocolates, she will pick out a piece and give it to me (or dad or a friend or all of the above).
- She can't yet identify the letters of the alphabet (and is still working out the proper order of them in the "ABC song"); however, she can identify every C on the piano and correctly points out the middle Cs on sheet music!
- She sings often - every day. She sings about her day. She sings made-up stories. She sings noises. She just sings. And it is beautiful.
- She is so compassionate - she always has been. If she sees a friend crying, she will pat her back and try to soothe her. Not long ago, one of her friends at daycare was upset when her dad dropped her off. Lily gave her a hug, held her hand, and said "i's ok, I wit' you."
- Squirt's imagination is not only blossoming, but is through the roof! Watching her play is such a delightful adventure. This, I think, is only going to get better in the coming months and years.
- Right now, she wants only to sleep in my arms. At bedtime, she always asks, "Momma, arm p'ease", then curls up against me. We read (and read and read) before I turn out the lights and she falls asleep (sometimes more easily than others). But she insists on being in the nook of my arm. I doubt this will last much longer, so I really don't mind.
- She says please (actually, it's more like "p'eeeeeease"), almost always. And she says it with such a sparkle in her eye and the sweetest little smile that it is almost impossible to say no...
- Every single time she kisses daddy, she turns her head and goes "BLEAH!", pretending to spit his cooties out. <3
- She hates having pictures taken of her. Anytime she sees a camera (or camera phone) pointing her way, she waves her hands in front of her and yells, "no pi'tures!" For every good picture I have of her, there are easily a dozen "bad" ones...
- She randomly gives hugs. Every now and then, for no apparent reason, she will stop what she's doing, run up to me or dad, and give us a big hug and a kiss, then resume what she was doing. Sometimes, this includes a spontaneous "I ya you!"
Beautiful girl.
Addendum
A few more wonderful things came to me right after I saved the above list...
- Ever since that first frozen yogurt date, Squirt has been crazy about "c'eam". One of her favorite things (and she'll sing about her "c'eam day" both before and after to let you know how much she loves it) is to go on "c'eam dates" at her favorite fro yo joint - the one where they give out cute colored spoons.
- She also gets adorably excited about getting pizza. If I tell her we're going to have pizza for a meal, she cheers and happily sings her "pizza day, pizza day, pizza day, yaaay" song until she sits down to eat. Even later in the day, if you ask what she did or how her day was, she'll cherrily tell you she had pizza. One of the last times we went to get pizzsa, she told me "I hold pizza in my hands like dis" [holds hands together, palms up], "den I eat pizza wit' my mouth like dis" [pretends to enthusiastically stuff her face with pizza and nosh away].
- She invented a rather interesting game that she plays all the time with us right now. She proclaims she will eat your [insert random body part here], pretends to eat it, then says "I put it back!" and slaps your body part back in place. This has branched out into everyday life, too. We went to the aquarium last weekend, and she pretended a fish ate her finger and squealed, "Put it back, fish!" She pretended to grab it back from the fish and push it back into place on her hand.
<3
