Updates!

Sorry it's been a while, folks! Here are some updates...

PENNY JANE:
Oh, the talking! I think she's going to grow up to be a commentator. When we watch TV she talks about what's going on, constantly points thing out to you. "Awwww, baby! See? Sleeping. Awww. Cute. Look, Mama! Sad! Crying. Awww." On and on. It's hilarious. Though if you don't really look at the TV, and just sort of "Mm-hm" to her, she gets mad.

We get lots of spontaneous hugs with "I love you." (Though it's actually "I choo Mom." Yes. She calls me Mom. She's way too young to be saying that!)

She can count to ten now, though when she's counting "1, 2, 3, surprise!" she still says "1, 2, 1".

I think she's getting her two year molars. The last two days she's had four episodes of uncontrollable crying and furious screaming. Not fun, especially when it's 10:30 at night. :( I went to GentleChristianMothers.com to post and ask what was wrong, and found a post from someone else saying almost exactly the same thing. Everyone responded saying it sounded like 2 year molars. So out came the Motrin and we got a decent night's sleep.

The eating thing is still a problem. Sometimes she does really well trying lots of different kinds of foods, but then she'll go on a jag of only nursing and eating Cheerios. *sigh* Though she recently discovered clementine oranges, and holy cow, she LOVES them. Seriously addicted. She'll say, "Orangie?" and go crazy if I tell her no. (She adds "ie" to the end of everything. We're guilty of doing this with some words--sockies is a common one--but she tacks it on to everything. Nosie. Facie. Orangie.) She will "juice" each little section in her mouth, then cram the leftover pulp into her cheek. She had TWO ORANGES stuffed in there the other day. I told her she had to spit some out so she wouldn't choke and she got all mad and refused to--until she started gagging. Stinker.

She's still in therapy--group therapy now, one of four children, and she does really well. I'm always impressed by how well she participates and how unconcerned she is that I leave her there. WE're still waiting for the insurance to make up their minds about whether or not they'll bill the clinic with in-network pricing or not. If they don't then we'll be switching to the free therapy through the state. Please pray we're able to continue at the clinic.

She's getting very independent. She insists on at least trying to do things herself. She can peel her orange halfway on her own, she can put on her socks (Abby still can't do that!) and can almost zip her jacket (that either!). And she copies everything Abby says, which is sometimes cute and sometimes incredibly annoying. And she sings! On key! It's adorable.

ABBY:
Abby sings all the time, nowhere on key, but still extremely cute. She has a great imagination, and is constantly engaging in little games of pretend and talking to herself. Very cute. She doesn't dance as much as she used to, but she still does now and then. The rec center has a new kind of dance class, a creative movement class that is much more unstructured and focused on just having fun with dance. I'm going to enroll her in it soon and hopefully that will give her a more positive class experience than she had with the ballet class.

We've cut way back on the paci--it stays in bed about 90% of the time and she's learning to get through bouts of upsettedness without it, though she doesn't like to. But her teeth have already shifted where they were misplaced by the paci, so that's encouraging.

She still talks about missing California, and liking our house back there better than this one. We're joining two new playgroups, and I'm really praying we'll meet some kids in those that she enjoys (and whose moms I like). Chloe is still her favorite friend, and we try to see them every couple weeks. We met her and her family at the museum Wednesday night for a special members-only night and had a great time. It was the first time Dan had been there, and we ended up finding a whole new section that Christina and I had never gone into with the kids. We had a great time, and the girls were, as always, not happy about having to part company. If only they didn't leave 50 minutes away!

She asks questions all the time. When we're driving, she'll ask what every sign says, where every other car on the road is going, why we're turning here, why aren't we going that way. Sometimes it's fun--we get to explain all sorts of things. Sometimes it's annoying, like when it's the same question she's asked for the last ten car rides. I have to keep reminding myself that this age learns best with and is most comfortable with repetition.

Recently Dan, PJ, and I all had the stomach flu. Abby somehow managed to escape it, and my parents took her one afternoon to give us a break while we were feeling miserable. They took her out for lunch and kept her through dinner until bedtime, and she did *great*. Didn't ask for us once! I knew the day would come eventually. :) Now if we could just get PJ weaned, Dan and I might actually get some time to ourselves!