Friday, May 05, 2006

Almost 20 months

Seems like there are so many things to write about I don't know where to begin. You just get more and more adorable and dad and I talk about how we just keep falling more & more in love with you as we get to know you better. You've got this amazing smile -- toothy and wide and in it I can see dad and myself. And you are so funny -- you've got an amazing sense of humor and are always doing funny little things.

You like to hide yourself and other things and then quizzically ask where they are, like you don't know. You hide behind the couch and I hear your little questioning "Hmmm?" Like "where am I?" Then I play with you, saying, "Hmmmm I wonder where Thor is..." and then you jump out and "scare" me. You laugh and laugh. You hide other things, too, anything really. You hide them under rugs, under the couch cushions, in the bed, etc. You also find and then hide my belly button, which you think is very funny now that it pokes out because I'm so pregnant. You like to poke and laugh at it.

You are adding more words to your vocabulary, but they are odd ones. Then again you've never had very typical verbal development. You can now say, "Spider" (SPIdey), "Bee," "Lawnmower" (MOWer), "apple" (PUHL), "jeep," "banana" (bnana), and maybe a few others. You don't talk very much -- well, I take that back -- you talk CONSTANTLY but it is a stream of babbling which sounds like a mix between Chinese and German. Sometimes you will look at me with a very serious, intent look on your face (frowned eyebrows, tongue sticking out) and "talk" to me for like 3 minutes. I can't understand what you're saying, but you seem to really be wanting to communicate. I keep waiting for a language explosion to occur, but I kind of feel like I'm waiting for a pot to boil -- it feels like it's taking a long time. That's probably just because I'm dying to hear your little voice all the time.

You love to go outside and every day we play in the backyard for quite a while. It's starting to get really nice outside, like 70 degrees, and we're going to make you a sandbox. You're not crazy about your little wading pool, except that you can fill up the watering can and "water" the plants. You like to pick dandilions and bring them to me and say, "BOW, BOW!" Which means you want me to blow the seeds away.

You chase Winston all around and attempt to force feed him anything that you have. Even yogurt smoothies out of a cup! He swats at you sometimes, which you find VERY disturbing, so I keep trying to remind you NOT to bother the kitty.

You love to eat.... and will eat almost anything except for vegetables. Though you're getting better about that. You'll eat spinach in scrambled eggs, you'll take bites of asparagus and green beans (fresh). You love couscous, rice, tofu, chicken, toast, eggs, cereal, waffles/pancakes, bagels & cream cheese, yogurt, applesauce, etc. You absolutely love couscous, risotto, and ricey things like that. I mix yummy stuff into it like pesto and tofu and green onions and you still love it.

Some of my favorite things lately are: Napping with you and sleeping with you at night. Except for last night when you were super restless for 2-3 hours. But generally you sleep pretty well. You cling to me like a monkey at night and sleep with your paci. You are so incredibly snuggly and you love to give me hugs at night. I love it. I give you drinks of water out of a sippy cup if you wake up. Sometimes you'll drink a whole cup of water! Right now you prefer to have me go to you at night than dad, but that seems to fluctuate. Sometimes you don't mind who it is. You're definitely rather clingy to me lately though, probably because you sense the new baby is coming...

Speaking of that, only 3 weeks left until your sister is here... YIKES!! Talia Marine Umlauf? Anna Marina Umlauf? We're not sure...