Megan Update

Oh boy, it's been way too long since I wrote anything about what Megan's been up to lately. She seems to change every day. So, here's a quick list of things that I want to remember, one day:

• She's talking ALL THE TIME. Oh my gosh. She loves to run around the house making up words. Her favorite is one that sounds like Donkey Kong...but its more like shonkey dong. She also loves to add "dee" at the end of all of her words...mommy-dee, four-dee, no-dee, etc. It's just really too funny.
• Making up new sounds all the time
• She says "no, I don't think so" or "No, I don't" or just plain "NO!" to pretty much everything. If you ask her if she's cute, her response is "No. (pause) No, I'm not".
• She loves to say "You little stinker" and shakes her finger right by her mouth. I don't know where this came from. She also loves to say "stinky", but there's a southern twang to it and it sounds more like "st-Ankee".
• Another favorite word is "funky" (emphasis on the UN--fUNkee). We have no idea where that came from!!!
  
• She tells the dogs to "stop barking" and "come here. This way." (as she's attempting to herd them in a particular direction). She also loves to "play" with them. She goes to their toy basket, mutters something about what toy to play with, then tries to get them to play with her. She also loves to crawl in the dog crate with Dakota and shut the door. Dakota isn't so fond of this new playtime experience for Megan!
• She's waffling back and forth on whether she wants to nap or not. I think she's prefer not to, but she's still getting up so cotton-pickin' early she just can't make it without some nap. She's still getting up between 5:30 and 6:30am every day. She's going to sleep around 8pm, unless she doesn't nap.
• She can do 24 piece puzzles with very little guidance.
• She loves to do "hand prints" aka finger painting, except she does NOT paint, she just likes to put the paint on her hands and press (okay, really bang) her hands on the paper.
• I know we're a bit behind the curve, but she's now eating her cereal with milk.
• She loves to sit on the "big girl" chair (no booster), but she really just loves to push the envelope and stand (when she's not supposed to).
• She's doing all pottying by herself, but still wants us to go with her. She rarely has accidents now.
• She's spelling words like crazy. There are very few 3-letter words that she can't spell. It's nuts, actually.
• She's starting to follow with her finger the words in books that we are reading.
  
• She MUST climb into the car by herself. And she must get into her car seat by herself (and her time line, of course!).
• She sings the words to so many songs (Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me, Zaccheaus, and ABCs come to mind)
  

That's the best I can do right now...maybe I can come up with a few more in a few days.

It's the end of the semester, so things are really super crazy for me with 41 students each turning in 2 papers ranging from 4-9 pages each! Plus they have weekly discussion posting requirements that I get to read. Add to that I need to write my proposal for my dissertation by late May. The plan is to propose by mid-June and finish up over the summer and defend my dissertation in the fall. This would mean I graduate in December! Definitely do-able...assuming things don't come crashing down! I'm just trying to keep my head above water daily.

The move..I have mentioned that on here, right? The house is still for sale, the job hunt is still...hunting. Although, there is one lead that's got great possibilities. So, we'll just wait and see what happens with it all. I pretty much keep my nose in my work as I've got plenty there to keep me busy, that's for sure!