Catching Up

Things have been so busy around here. DH has been working 50+ hr weeks which makes for little time for me to have someone to watch Megan so I can blog. We leave on Aug 1st for vacation in Massachusetts and I've been attempting to get organized for it. We're renting an apt with my sister, Katie, and her DH so that means planning meals, etc. in addition to sight seeing. I've also been trying to work on my dissertation for the few hours Megan is at grandma's every week. I'm teaching online again this fall, so I've also been updating my class...and making some adjustments from last semester I didn't like. As you can see, blogging has take a back seat right now! I try to at least put some photos up of our sweet Megan.

Okay, so back to Megan! Some things to note:

• She is talking all the time. Mostly just putting various sounds together, but I would guess she has about 50 or so words she says regularly. (I love to eves drop on her talking.) The majority of the words she knows are taken DIRECTLY from her Sign ing Ti me videos. Thank goodness she signs when she says them because some of them are hard to understand (for example, her current favorites: "like" and "don't like"). For "milk", she says "gilk" and "stop" is "bop". Oh, and "hungry" is "hum".
  
• She's beginning to recognize the first letter of words. For example, she says "M-mom"; "A-apple"; "D-dad"; "L-la la la" and she always signs "grandma" whenever she says "g" only she says "guh" for "g".
• She just started saying some family names...Nana, Katie (ta-tee), Ashley (ash) and she says "bubba" for both Brady & Brooklyn. I'm trying to get her to say "bee" for Brooklyn since it's her nickname.
• She loves to ride her bike. She loves to say "crash!" when she runs into the wall or door or whatever larger object was in her way.
• Funny story: last week went to W@l-m@rt to escape the heat. I made the mistake of going down the kids shoe aisle to see if they had their sandals are sale yet. We had to stop and look at the tennis shoes...and try on a particular pair that was white with turquoise sparkly ribbons on them. She was quite frustrated when I told her we were not going to buy them, but we would tell daddy that she found a pair she liked. (Oh my, I couldn't believe it!)
• She is working on her bottom 2-year molars. They are kicking our tails. It's been horrible. We've even had to break out the paci for more than just nap time. I think it helps distract her from the pain in her mouth.
• She loves to write and color.
  
• She also loves foam stickers, puzzles, balls and making towers with her blocks (which also have letters on them). Oh and how I could forget: pushing her dolly stroller I got at a garage sale for 50 cents! Best 50 cents I've spent!!!!
• She's beginning to express interest in numbers. She identifies and says 8. She'll identify numbers up to 10, but won't say any other ones, yet.
• She loves to brush her teeth. If she could brush them all day, she would be most happy. In order for her to know when teeth brushing time is over (and therefore minimize the number--well, and length--of the fit), we have one of her stuffed animals in the bathroom that plays music. We let her brush for a little while, then we start Ms. Elephant playing her music. If she thinks we are waiting too long to start the music, she points to Ms. Elephant and makes sounds like "you forgot to start the music!". Too cute.
• She's really gotten into stuffed animals (which she has a lot of!). Ms. Bunny, Ms. Rabbit and Mr. Bear are some of her favorites. Oh, and how could I forget Pooh!? Pooh plays music and she loves to carry him around listening to his music...and asking for more and more and more. She often likes to take a stuffed animal in the car. Currently, Bunny & Rabbit have made several journeys.
• Getting her in the car completely stinks. Its horrendous. She wants to go wherever we are going, but she prefers to run away from me and the car. I used to have Mr. Bear in the car which would get her to come to the car to give Mr. Bear a hug. Now, however, that doesn't work (or she's already taken them all in the house!). So, this past week, I've simply sat in the passenger front seat with the door open and ask her (repeatedly) if she's ready to go. She always says "yes" (which she says to most everything), but still takes her time coming to the car. It's the MOST frustrating thing! She doesn't do it for DH, but then he either holds her hand or carries her to the car. She also does it coming in the house. Lately, I've just been carrying her into the house since it's SO MUCH easier. And she doesn't object. Yet.
  
• She knows that red means stop and she recognizes stop signs. We'll be in the car and I hear her say "bop"...and sure enough, we're at a stop sign. She also knows that green means go. Now, knowing these things do NOT mean that she's any better at waiting at the red light! She still complains when we have to stop.
  

Sleep...you know things are really hit or miss at our house. What we have had the MOST success with right now is having her sleep with us. It's not ideal, but it helps all of us sleep. Ultimately, that's most important right now. I have noticed that once the ibuprofen wears off is when she begins stirring. If I don't get her another dose right away, we're up for at least an hour while waiting for it to kick in. In fact, the best way for her to get back to sleep is simply to sit in the rocking chair with her. If I do, it can often just be 30 minutes or so. Sometimes less, sometimes more. I'm desperately hoping these teeth come in very soon. Although, I know that right now we'll just have the bottom ones in, at least we'll be half way there!

That's the best I can think of right now...I'm sure there are a TON more things I'd want to put on here...but they are not coming to mind right now.