dancing in the minefields: what I love about my bug...

What a reminder... I'm one who easily gets caught up in my lists and my projects that I lose sight of my greatest responsibility, the charge I've been given, my ultimate task--to train my child in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding and to live a life that embraces and embodies the love and grace of our sweet Jesus. She is my most important work.

This is such a fun age, this toddler but pre push-my-limits-and-independence two year old. I love seeing the world the way she does--with absolute awe and wonder, yet with the utmost simplicity. She's exploring and learning so quickly; becoming very creative; understanding and communicating; expressing emotion clearly; learning to set boundaries and abide by ones set by others...it's fascinating! And it's fun!

Here are some things I want to remember and love about this age:
--she is still my sleepy sleepersome (and I still LOVE that about her!). Most days, she doesn't get up before 11, and a lot of days it's later than that (going to bed between 9 and 10 these days). Her schedule is right up my alley since I love to sleep too!

--she loves animals. Going to Petsmart to get Tech's food has become a fun outing because she gets SO excited looking at all of the animals. Her favorite friend this week was a rat. Not my top choice, but she loved "giving him fives" on the glass.
--speaking of animals, she is picking up on what the look and sound like so well! She can identify several of them by picture. She knows sounds for the dog, cat, monkey, tiger, lion, bear, fish (my favorite!), and duck.
--being the Saints fans that we are, Hunter has a football with their emblem on it. The day she discovered it, I pointed to it and said, "Who Dat!" a few times. Ever since, if anyone says "Who Dat!" she scurries off to pick up that football and point at the emblem. I have to admit, it makes us quite proud! She's bound to be a football fan as much as her daddy and mama like it. Start em young!

--if she sees me pick up my purse and get my keys, she immediately runs to the door and waits for me. She definitely knows that means it's time to go!
--she knows what "change your booty" means and will scurry into her room and wait at her changing table for you.
--she will answer yes and no questions (if she wants to do something, etc.). If she agrees, she'll shake her head yes and sometimes say yeah.
--if you ask for a hug while standing (and she's in a loving mood...), she'll run up and squeeze both of your legs. If you ask for one while you're holding her, she'll snuggle in on your shoulder and usually give you some pat pats. Kisses are wide-open mouthed lean ins. Both are absolutely fantastic.
--she knows where eyes, ears, nose, teeth, and belly button are {and can say eyes, ears, and teeth}. She also loves finding those on other people...including the belly button. If your shirt slips up slightly (for example during a stretch) and she sees it, brace yourself; those tiny little hands are coming over to lift up your shirt and dig in your belly button. It's not the most pleasant of experiences, but that pride beaming off of her makes it worth your while.
--I can finally get all of her hair pulled into pigtails and a single ponytail! It only takes about 5 minutes for little strays to start to fall out, but the fact that it all fits is a glorious achievement for me! That long hair in the front and long hair in the back business is tough to work with when it won't meet in the middle.

--we sing together every night before she goes to bed (usually a combination/rotation of "You Are My Sunshine", "Hush Little Baby", and "Jesus Loves Me" with few others thrown in). She'll take her binkie out and sing a little bit with me, then pop it back in, snuggle in on my shoulder, pat pat my arm, and hum along as I finish the song. Such sweet moments.
--her excited face is priceless. The complete oval mouth, wide eyes, accompanied by a gasp or a deep, giggly "ooooooh". LOVE.

--she also started doing this scrunchy nose, squinty eye expression when she's being silly. It's probably my favorite face she makes--that little wrinkle in her nose gets me every time!
--this past week she was sick, so when she woke up early one morning, she got to come snuggle in bed with mama and watch cartoons for the first time (she's done both of those separately...just not at the same time). And then we may or may not have {but definitely did} snuggle in and fall back asleep together. Special morning for me and my baby girl.

--she now runs. And she will run when she's being chased. Or thinks she's going to be chased. Or gets caught with something she shouldn't have. So fun!
--speaking of getting caught... She will go get something she knows she's not supposed to play with (most often the remotes and her wipes), bring them over near me and show me what she has, wait for me to stand up, and scurry back to put them up like nothing ever happened. She's a rascal but it's actually pretty cute. She puts them back exactly where she found them every time. Limit pusher...
--she snuggles and cuddles and squeezes her stuffed animals and babies. She gives them the sweetest little loves. We found this monkey at Sam's and I decided he was too cute not to have :) He's quite a bit bigger than her, but that doesn't stop her from loving him. In these pictures, Hunter had tied his hands and feet around her so they weren't dangling and he was hugging her back! It was hilarious to watch her toddle around with a monkey strapped to her, and even more hilarious when she wrestled him on the floor trying to get him off!

--she finally says Mama! However, she prefers to call me Gigi...(what my nieces and nephew--and pretty much my whole family--call me). We're working on that. But when she calls me Gigi and I say mama back, she either retorts with another and louder "Gigi" or her favorite, "daddy".
--I mentioned a few posts ago that we were so lucky, blessed, relieved, that her guardian angels swooped in just in time as a 20ish foot ladder toppled over on her at church (it was folded and leaning against the pews). It could have done some real damage on her tiny body (it took five of us to get it off of her...extremely heavy and extremely scary), but graciously and miraculously, she came out scared with a few minor cuts and bruises. (The picture below is about 6 hours after it happened and the swelling had gone down. It could have been SO much worse--Praise our God it wasn't!)

--speaking of that daddy of hers... him coming home from work is one of the sweetest moments of the day. He used to have to come find her to get their sweet moment. Now as soon as she hears his key in the door, she runs to the foyer to greet him with a sweet, high pitched and drawn out "hiiii!" before running up to him, arms raised. Makes his day, melts my heart. I adore how much they love each other.
--she got to turn to front facing in her car seat and she loves it! Catching each other's eye in the rear view mirror and making a silly face is our favorite :)
--she's festive (no idea where she gets that from!) and is starting to enjoy "dress up"--at this point it's mostly just head gear since she doesn't really know the difference in what she's wearing as clothes just yet (except for the comfort level I'd assume).

--she can drink out of a straw (and it surprisingly didn't take much or long to learn...I showed her once, exaggerating what I was doing to get the drink to come up. I put the straw in her mouth after that and she went to town. Quick, she is.)

--she absolutely loves to climb and get into things (like my crafting tote in the pictures below). She's still a little too short to make it up to the couch from the floor, but if the recliner is out at all, up she goes (and she has figured out how to put the chair out a little {electronic, pushes the button} for the purpose of getting herself up on the couch. She can get up on the dining room chairs though, and the pews at church.