Elizabeth is doing great! Each passing day she does something new, that at times it really does feel like some sort of switch has suddenly been turned on inside that sweet little brain of hers. For instance, for the past few months she's been counting to three, and only three. Then all of a sudden over breakfast a few days ago, she counted all the way to 13 and has been doing so ever since! That same day, she went from only knowing the color red, to also knowing blue and yellow. Similarly, she's able to recognizing almost all letters and she loves to sing along to children's songs; her communication is also jumping by leaps and bounds... she understands plurals, but is still working on those tricky pronouns. And at times, she's started talking in small sentences... "Read to me, Daddy!" She'll say. Or, "The baby deer running... running over dare!" I'm ever impressed with how quickly children learn!!!
She continues to remember family from Kansas... "spotting" look-a-likes just about everywhere we go... even remembering little details about these people, like what they like to drink (I was reminded that Maddie likes Koolaid in the juice aisle). And she must have had a lot of fun on our playdate to The Hopper House nearly 3 weeks ago, since I often hear her talking to herself saying "Hopper! Hopper! Hopper... House! Leeenie (Delanie), Palek (Caleb)!" Who were our jumping-bean buddies that day.
And the cutest part of her development is her new found manners... when she wants something I will ask her, "What do you say?" And she'll reply, "Peeeeas!" And when I go to hand it to her, I will then say, "Now what do you say?" and she'll reply, "Tan-too!" She's also started reminding us of "prayer" when we forget at dinner time. She will clasp her hands together, and say something like, "Dada... Prayer!" She's also started refering to herself as "Elizabeth" but since it is such a tricky name, it usually comes out "Ebba-bet." In the car, I will often hear her say, "Mommy, Daddy, Buba (Bella), Ebba-bet! Family! Happy Family!" It is simply melt your heart sweet!!!
But along with leaps and bounds, she's also taken to a bit of regression, in that she's started imitating Wyatt, the little boy I watch. Since he's quite a bit younger than her, he mainly says one syllable all day long ("Buh! Buh!"). Thus, whenever we talk about Wyatt or watch Wyatt, she suddenly refuses to talk and only says "Buh! Buh!" all day long. It's cute on a 13 month old, but gets old very quickly on a 17 month old. We've even starting to refering to him as W. since even just saying his name can set off her baby-talk. We don't think she's doing it to get attention, or because she feels ignored... she just seems to want to imitate him. Anyway, sensing that she might be one of these kiddos to "regress" when her sibling is born, we've been spending lots of time with library books about becoming a big sister and taking care of baby. And hopefully she will get all the baby-talk out of her system before our baby arrives. I guess we'll soon see.
In fact, this brings me to the next development, which is her love of reading. Okay, so that isn't much of a "new" development, as she's always enjoyed books. But for the past couple of months, my crazy, ever-in-motion child will curl up with a good book and read for (at times) an hour or so on end--extremely focused and intense the whole while! Her favorite books include: Are You My Mother? (which she wants to read about a thousand times each day; in fact, we read it so much she has parts of it memorized and will read along with me) along with Yummy, Yucky, A Fly Went By, daddy's Business Week, and Hello Baby! After reading the last one she will often explain to me that "Mommy, baby, tummy, doctor, out!" Which I translate to mean: "Mommy has a baby in her tummy and the doctor is going to help get it out one day." Although, often times, she points to her own tummy, saying "baby, tummy!" ;)
Speaking of which, mommy and baby are both doing well. Sciatic nerve still bothers me, but I'm sure it could be worse. It has been awhile since we've had an OB visit, so I will be interested to learn how much I've gained and how the baby is doing. I feel enormous, and the baby is definitely starting to feel big, and active, both of which worries me ;)
Life for Vassil is pretty much the same these days. Working hard, hoping not to be in the next group of impending layoffs. Then coming home to work hard (or nap hard) some more! We are excited to take a little trip in March once Vassil's sister has her baby, and are looking into staying in Alexandria and possibly enjoying the beginning of the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC, along with visiting other family in the area!
Anyway, that's the scoop for now! We hope all is well with you and yours!
PHOTOS: 1. Elizabeth chillin' in mama's shades; 2. all wrapped up in a valentine boa with baby Lulu under there somewhere--the two of them have become quite inseperable these days; 3. asleep on the couch (1 of only 2x in her entire life that she's spontaneously fallen asleep like that) 4. showing off her snow boots, which Olivia, the neighbor girl, gave to us (thanks!) Elizabeth adores these boots and successfully puts them on no matter what the weather or outfit; 5. lost in a good book; 6. "Mirror!" which is what Elizabeth says after I do her hair and/or she finds a purse to wear on her sholder--she HAS to check herself out; 7. Daddy's Valentine card that Elizabeth made; 8. Trip to the park... can't go without Baby Lulu (ignore the messy hair... she HAD a hat on before she insisted on not wearing it)!
