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!

Abby's first haircut!

Some of you have heard/read my complaints about how our stupid carpet sheds little fibers that end up in drifts all over the house, as well as settling into the bottom of Abby's curls. It usually takes me about 20 minutes to comb her hair out after a bath, because of all the fibers tangled in it--and that's AFTER spending a good five minutes pulling out whatever I can before she even gets in the tub. VERY frustrating for both of us. Well, either from my finger nails constantly scraping through her hair to get the fibers out, or because of the shampoo we use, or because she's never gotten her hair cut at all, the bottom bit of her hair in the back was just fried. So when I went in for a cut on my birthday, I lamented to my awesome stylist Alisha, and she said to bring her in and she'd trim the back for free!

So I took Abby in last week, and she sort of freaked out. But Alisha, being totally awesome, totally backed off and offered to take us on a tour of the spa. (The salon is part of an Aveda day spa in downtown Castle Rock.) We were the only people there at 9 in the morning, so she took us all over--through the locker room, through the nail salon where the girls played on the big massaging chairs, through the massage rooms, and then down to the salon to play on the twirly chairs. Abby loosened up a bit during the tour, and when we got back downstairs I really thought she'd go for it. But she didn't. So Alisha made a deal with her. She gave her two of the plastic claw clips they use to pin your hair up when it's long, and told her we could play salon at home until her next appointment, and when she came back she could trade in the clips for some nail polish. Brilliant.

So since then we've played salon, using our playsilks as capes and pinning each other's hair up with the clips and pretending to cut. (Though I actually did cut Abby's hair at one point just to show her it doesn't hurt, since she refused to believe me). And then today we gave it another shot. And it worked! Granted I bribed her with a trip to the coffeeshop for a muffin if she cooperated--I really need to stop doing that.

So when we got there Alisha surprised Abby with one of those washcloths that's all compressed into a little cube. She let us come into the back room where they mix hair color and stuff, and Abby got to sit on a stool and play in the big sink while the washcloth hydrated.



Then we went back to Alisha's station and Abby decided she wanted to stand, while holding my hand, and that I should be the one wearing the cape. So that's what we did! PJ sat on another chair and played with Abby's Nintendo DS the whole time. And when I went to take pictures, Abby was content to play with her new washcloth.



When we were done Alisha admitted she'd forgotten the nail polish, but I promised Abby we'd go down the street to Walgreen's and pick some up. (We did. Hot pink. With sparkles. I'll be sure to get a picture of her nails up soon.) So, knowing she was promised both nail polish and a muffin from the coffeeshop, Abby was calm despite Alisha's blunder.



(Note PJ with the comb--I think she wanted a cut too, actually.)

So when we were there last week Alisha recommended cutting off about 2 inches. When we went in today and she got a better look, she recommended more, given just how damaged it was. It was growing in a V--very long in the middle, and tapering up towards the sides. After promising me the curls wouldn't disappear if she cut off that much, she ended up cutting it even with the shortest pieces that were still in the back. If I'd been thinking I'd have gotten a "Before" picture so you had a good comparison, but I didn't--you know Abby and pictures, they're nearly impossible to get. But just look at how long it still is (and how curly still!) after about THREE inches were removed from the longest pieces:



So now she's got some quality shampoo that should last us quite a while, and I'm praying we'll be done with the carpet-covered curls now that the ends aren't so frazzled that they'll snag anything that floats by them in the air. I can't wait to see how it grows now that it's all even and healthy!