9.21.2009

Grace is 18 months old!

I know I haven't finished my California Dreamin' posts, however, I still can't find my camera cable, and now, to further the situation, I've left my camera at my sister's house. So, it may be a while before my trip diaries are completed.
But, since this is a form of journaling for me, I couldn't let another day go by without mentioning that my baby is 18 months old!! On the 18th, actually. So, I'm a little late. But, that's nothing of a surprise.
Grace never ceases to amaze me. She is constantly growing and changing, and very slowly, she is turning into a little toddler. I no longer feel like I can call her my baby. Babies are not as active, energetic, affectionate, silly or stubborn. She has always had a strong personality. No one can dispute that. She has definitely had all the same characteristics since she was born, but she can express them much more now.

She is into EVERYTHING, and I don't even try to keep up with her anymore. She makes messes faster than I even find them. Such as this morning, she found my food coloring. Let me just say that the cupboard the food coloring was in, was supposed to be baby proofed. She found a way around that. Found a way to get the lid off the food coloring and proceeded to turn her face green. Only once I saw her did I also see that she'd emptied out all my pancake mix onto the floor, the nesquik mix, the plastic cups, (now placed strategically AND individually all over the kitchen floor), the cereal, and the crackers. Along with everything being on the floor, she also had a handful of said foods in each hand, and lumps in each cheek.
What joy.
Honestly though, I wish I could have put on a straight face and scolded her, just so she'd know I meant business. But all I could do was laugh. So I turned and walked away so she wouldn't see me laughing hysterically at her mischief.
When I came back she had a look of such elation. Grinning from ear to ear, but at the same time, pausing every couple seconds to look at me for confirmation that she wasn't in trouble.
See, that is why I can't call her my baby anymore. Babies don't make that much of a mess!! Only toddlers on their way to being terrible twos.
Some other new things Grace is learning, is how to spin in a circle when she dances. She has always loved dancing, shaking her hips and such, but the spinning in a circle is definitely a new acheivement. Of course, I should mention she gets thrown off balance before a whole rotation and usually runs into an adjacent wall or falls down. But it is adorable to watch none the less.

She also has started trying very hard to take care of her baby dolls. She rocks them, puts blankets on them, tells us "shhh", becuse they're sleeping, and carries them all over the house. She also is trying not to bite their fingers and toes as much anymore, (I think this is because she bit her cousin Ellie's toes the other day, and Ellie didn't like it so much).
She wants to watch movies, ALL THE TIME. It used to be that when we got her up in the mornings, she wouldn't leave us alone until she was fed. She would grab our faces, pull them towards her and tell us hungry in sign language REPEATEDLY until we got out of bed and to the kitchen.
Now, she gets in bed with us and yells "Wa! Wa! Wa!" (To mean Watch of course) We tell her to pick out a movie, and she brings us one, exclaiming again "Wa! Wa!" We of course like to repeat this sequence a few times, to give ourselves a few more minutes to snooze while she is putting one movie back and picking a new one. But she is constantly wanting to watch movies. Yes, sadly, she may be becoming a couch potato. Although, she only watches any given movie a maximum of 15 minutes, then she wants a different one, or some food.
She hugs, kisses, tickles and blows raspberries on EVERY BABY SHE SEES. And this includes PICTURES of babies. It's a bit awkward when I don't even KNOW the victim of a baby, or their parental units, and I then have to apologize for my daughter's over excessive display of affection.
One thing that has completely changed is her favorite food. That's not to say she doesn't still like oreos, cheese and berries. However, none of these match up to Bananas. She can down an entire 'nana' in about 5 minutes. With oreos, she has discovered how to twist them to separate top from bottom, and she now just licks out the cream filling. Smart girl that Gracey. I didn't even teach her how to do that!!

Anyway. That is my girl. She is adorable. And a large majority of the time, she is a big pain in the pants. But I love her to pieces. Sometimes I feel like all I'm doing is feeding her, giving her a place to sleep and changing her diapers. But then she does little things, without being prompted, to show me that I might just be teaching her some things. Like wanting to say prayers at night, listening to her primary lullabys, saying please, thank you, and sorry, giving hugs and kisses to people that come or go, and sometimes just knowing when I need her to calm down and just let me hold her. Those are the moments I can console myself with thinking that maybe, just maybe I'm doing a few things right.

Anyway. Thanks for reading! Grace is growing fast into a healthy, strong, beautiful, and happy little daughter of God and we are so thankful for her and the time we've been blessed to have with her. Thanks for checking in on us and for all the love and support!
By the way, my apologies for all the pictures being so out dated. Once I get my camera back, and the right cable, I'll be sure to post plenty of pictures of our beautiful girl. She has definitely changed a lot!

11 comments:

princess jen said...

I'm sad you weren't able to get a picture of that fabulous sounding kitchen disaster!! I can only imagine... You are the perfect mommy for little Gracie-lou. I can't believe she's already 18 months!! I do have to say that I'm really happy to be almost done with the terrible, I mean terrific, two's. She will have you hopping!

Liz said...

so beautiful are the both of you!!
and i guess, topher too?
oh i haven't seen adorable grace in so long, i miss her!!
missing you of course, goes without saying. :)

The Andersens said...

My daughter is the cutest ever...I'm glad I was at school for the cleaning up part of the food coloring incident! Love you Buggy and Grace
-topher

Super Daysh said...

What a little cutie!! Those were some pretty funny stories. I'm bummed you didn't have your camera to take pictures of the green food coloring- hopefully you got some on the other camera- that would surely be a shame to miss!! Love our little gracey girl!!

Rachel's Mommy said...

Darn, I wanted pix of the mess too. She's a handful, that Grace, but oh so cute so she can get away with it!

Sara and Company said...

These posts are the best! I love learning all about her cute little personality!

Jons and Celeste Leigh said...

Aw, what a beautiful little girl. What a blessing to see her growing so much--even if the "joys" of having a toddler come with that. I can tell you are a wonderful mother. By the way, I really like the picture of your family you made your facebook picture!

Lauren K said...

Alysia she is gorgeous! And this post was fantastic. I am so excited to see you and The Liz. What a trio we make at every wonderful stage of early adulthood life! You both are such incredible friends and I love you so much.

thanks :)

Alan J said...

i like the gansta hat.

Thoughtful Runner said...

I'm elated that she still likes Oreos....and that she already has the twist and separation technique down! (By the way - what does the Baby Book say about when a youngster ought to be able to master THAT trick?!) I wasn't sure that trait and inclination could be passed on...but it appears it can be - even through multiple generations!
I've shared some of Grace's story this week with fellow employees as I have pitched the United Way campaign for our project. What a joy; what a blessing. I probably can't even imagine all the care and energy that has gone into her 18 months so far (nor do I really want to find out first-hand) - but I'm awfully grateful to have her in the family. Go Gracey!!

Amy Finnegan {BookshopTalk.com} said...

Oh, man, I love this little girl. She just keeps getting cuter and cuter!!! :)