SR is 19 months tomorrow

Enough about me already.  :)  I'm okay.  I'll admit that walking to Walmart this morning, doing the shopping, and walking home (all while pushing SR in her stroller) may have been was probably too much on the day after a medical miscarriage.  I did start the journey thinking about how nice the fresh air would be.  Walmart is only a five-ten minute walk from my condo, so it's not like it was a hike.  I also took SR to the park after her lunch and did go down the slide with her.  But I am okay.  I now have one more month of summer before going back to work, and probably until a period surfaces.  So other than my follow up u/s on Wednesday, I am actually able to really focus on SR during August - except that I need to start transitioning her back to daycare starting the third week of August and the last week I will be spending a lot of time setting up my classroom...I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Feeding a little pony all by herself.  She's so brave!

SR is turning 19 months tomorrow.  She just blows my mind.  Our new thing to do in the morning is to let SR have her milk in my bed and then put on Dora and snuggle.  She now asks for her "Kaiya" to come to bed too.  I wish she would bring her with us when I get her from her crib in the morning.  No, we're all snuggled in my bed and her milk is finished and I'm about to start Dora when she insists "Kaiya, mommy bed".  What's a mommy to do, but take the baby and go and get Kaiya to join us?  So as we're snuggled together, she rolls over to me and gives a big smile and says, "smiling".  She is quite the actress.  If I tell her to frown, she takes her smile and changes it to a serious face.  We had been working on our opposites with many books that we have.  She seems to totally understand the difference.  She is my joy.  I need to remember our snuggling mornings because when I go back to work, it will be me saying "here's your milk.  Quick, let's change your diaper and get dressed.  Okay, out the door."  No more snuggling in my bed.

It is very rare that someone else takes our picture.  We were out with two other choice mom families and Scarlett and I got on the slide.  One mom said, "Quick, look at me."  And she got a great spontaneous photo.

I love the way SR knows so many songs.  She will spontaneously break into a song.  If I try to make a request I get a "no, no" and she will tell me the next song she will sing.  If I try to join her, she only fills in the blanks.  She is definitely a solo performer.  At programs, she knows the words to all of the songs.  She no longer wants to sit with me.  Instead, she leaves me in the circle and goes to stand in front of the instructor.  But she never sings along.  She just stands and takes it all in.  In one class the instructor changed "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to "Head and Shoulders, Bums and Tums".  At home, SR always sings the new version and then says "Funny"....at not even 19 months!

Hi Geese, Hi Ducks!

She is so aware of what people say and can answer questions.  I always say "Hi Babe" when I talk to her.  When we are out or at programs, she gets my attention by saying "Hi Babe" to me.  Well now, when she sees my mom she says "Hi Sweetheart" which is what my mom says to her all the time.  When I ask her a question, she thinks about her answer and then responds.  My dad was lifting her out of the car the other day and said, "It's raining.  What will happen to you in the rain?  You get..."  And SR paused, thought, and then said, "wet".  It's like that with anything I ask her.  She thinks and then gives me an answer.

My new favourite thing to do is find whatever clothes I can (even if I have to dig into my laundry hamper) and carry them to the living room and put them on my legs.  I can even put on my own headband!  Mommy, I'm dressed!!!

It's truly amazing how much she communicates.  It really takes so much frustration out of our life because she tells me exactly what she wants.  We go on the swing at the park and she asks first, "too hot?" because she knows I check it first.  She also talks about the temperature before washing her hands, taking a bath or eating food.  She'd say, "too hot?  too cold?  ok."  It's adorable.  But it doesn't explain all of the new tempter tantrums.  I think it's because she has now discovered that she does not get everything she wants just because she can ask for it.  I do try to give her warning before moving onto a new activity though.  She starts off by stamping her feet.  Then she falls to the floor and puts her head between her arms.  She cries real tears, but they shut down as soon as she is distracted.  Except for one melt down that I just let her cry and scream - it happened right after a nap so I'm not sure why - until she calmly asked for water and mommy's lap.

I'm going to be the basketball player my Zaidy has always wanted.  My mommy and uncle were too short and didn't have the skills, although my mommy was a terrific baseball player.  I am going to make my Zaidy proud...especially with the tall Donor genes I am getting.

I've already mentioned that she's learned 8 letters...she starts to point them out while reading now.  And she counts to 11.  While we read she will stop me on a page and say "count" - then will decide if "myself" or "mommy count" and who is the pointer.  She points to each item and says the corresponding number.  Some of our kindergarten students haven't made that connection yet.  It could be that I have modelled this from the start - it's the teacher in me, but I have never taught young kids...I'm a third grade teacher.  I just always model things....Scarlett is a good follower and has just caught on very young.

I'm so happy that I'm in my Zaidy's car and my mommy is sitting beside me.  It's funny to sit beside mommy during a car ride!

Aside from her early awareness of language and numbers - did I mention her 6 word sentence:  I know how to do it! - right now she has just become so cuddly snuggly.  She wasn't an affectionate baby - didn't need to snuggle against me like I see some of my friends' babies.  But now, she asks for huggies and kisses and offers them in return.  I will admit that when she saw me crying, she did say "funny" and "again" as I must have looked pretty silly sobbing...so while I'm trying to teach her empathy and I think she does understand love and affection, I'll give her the fact that I probably did look funny and I would want to see it again.

This blog has gotten very long...and I'm sure there is so much more that I haven't yet captured to describe my SR at 19 months.  I will have many more opportunities.

And now, off to climb into bed to read before I shut my light.  Six o'clock rolls around really fast - I'm not sure why SR stopped sleeping until 7:30 but it's making me crazy!