Toddlerdom

Shayla is at a really fun age right now. She is always learning and saying new things. I said something to her last night (I wish I could remember what it was), and she repeated the sentence right back to me. She repeats almost everything I say. She always points out to us everything she sees: “twee!”, “car”, “ball”, etc. She still loves her Baby Signing Time videos and sings small bits of the songs to me (very small as in a couple words).

One thing that I think is really cute, is anytime she sees someone not wearing an appropriate amount of clothing, she always says “clothes!”, as if, “hello, why are they not wearing clothes?” We have this picture on the cover of a church book I made for her:

She always points to the boy on the left and says “clothes!.” (It’s really more like “koes.” Maybe teaching her modesty will be easy?

The other day I sneezed, and without batting an eye she says to me “Bess you.” I wasn’t sure that’s what she said, until she repeated it the next time I sneezed.

She also has learned about things breaking. David gave her a piece of cheese the other day and broke it into smaller pieces. She had a fit “boken, boken!” and she refused to eat it. This coming from a little girl who obsesses over cheese. You can’t tear bread into smaller pieces or we have the same problem. She even gets upset when she is the one that does it. Not sure how you’re supposed to eat it without it breaking eventually.

Shayla is getting pretty good at her colors. Blue is definitely her favorite, and I think pink is probably a close second. She always gets those two colors right, and if she can’t remember what a color is, then it is automatically “boo.” I go to get her out of bed in the mornings, and she lets me know what color of shirt I am wearing.

She is also in a stage right now where she is very obsessed with herself. She can say her name quite well “Shay-ya,” and she loves to look at pictures of herself, look at herself in the mirror, or her reflection on the oven. She always points herself out whenever she can. When she wants us to take a picture, she gives us the camera, or our phone, and says “cheese.” Problem is, she can’t hold still long enough, and she won’t smile for us to ever actually get a picture of her. I feel like a horrible mother, but I have almost given up taking pictures, because she’s never looking, and they’re all blurry. This is the typical picture.

She is starting to get more imaginative and actually “playing” with her toys. She loves the Little People house. We have Mom, Dad, and baby sit on the potty, or take a bath. Sometimes even the farm animals come in and want to sleep in the baby’s bed. It gets a little difficult when she wants her baby doll to sleep in the bed too, because although to me it is obviously too large, to a little mind, it should fit just fine. 

We also like to take her baby doll’s clothes on and off all day long. Sometimes she can get the clothes off by herself, but it is usually Mommy that has to do it. She has also started mothering her baby much more. She gives it a drink out of her sippy cup, or tries to wash the baby, or read it books. Shayla also likes to use the baby’s hand to do things: point to pictures in books, or push buttons. She loves to push the button to close the garage door when we come home. If she has her baby, then we have to hold her hand, holding the baby’s hand, to push the button.

All week long we talk about nursery. If we sing a song that they sing in nursey, then she get’s all excited and says “new-see,” then she goes on to tell us what she does in nursery: “nacks,” “bubboos” (bubbles), “stars,” (they have little stars on a stick that they hold while singing  some of the songs). What a relief to us that she loves it so much. When I peek in on her during lesson time, she is almost always looking at the teacher and listening. She is usually more interested in the crayons than actually coloring her pictures, but she is getting better. As much as she loves it, she is generally pretty quiet and reserved, and just watches what everyone else is doing. It is such a relief to us that she does so well and we don’t have to worry about her in there. 

I’m not pushing the potty training thing, but I feel like she is so close. She often tells me “pee pee,” or “potty, woo-wee” after she has done her business. I wish I could figure out how to get her to tell me BEFORE she goes. I try to sit her on her potty several times a day, and she thinks it’s great, but she never does anything in it. All she’s learned is that when I put her on the potty she is supposed to say “Pssss” and to grunt. Two and a half more months until little brother’s arrival….think we can get any closer before then? I’m not sure, but hopefully it won’t be too long afterward.

That’s the latest in Shayla-land.