Checking in.

I have a  gloomy half-written post in the works but couldn't finish it on Saturday because both of my children were being impossibly whiny and needy - needing lunch, needing new diapers, needing hugs.... you know, frivolous stuff.  Then I was going to finish it Sunday but we went to the botanical gardens with some friends and it is logistically impossible to be Grim when it's 67 degrees in February in Flyover Country.  There was hand holding, hedge-maze running, "accidental" flower picking, and generous dessert sharing.  There was, sadly, no photo taking, despite my new camera batteries, because my memory card was left safe 'n sound at home in my computer.  It's always something, right?

I also think there's been a lot of medical, errandy, & Grim hereabouts lately, so how about a fun quick update on my girl instead?

Reading:  No, not yet.  But she has a distinct list of favorites and knows the books well enough to anticipate the dramatic high points - when the bear sneezes in Bear Snores On, when the hippo finally joins in in But Not The Hippotamous, or when Mr. Brown makes that knock-knock sound.   When she wakes up in the morning she'll either knock on the inside of her door (funny, and clearly resourceful, but also a little disturbing in that confined child, may I please be let out way, like we've left her in there too long), or she'll sit in her chair and read aloud.  She's technically babbling, not reading, and I know I've been peering over that non-verbal cliff for a while, but she's babbling a LOT, in conversational tones, in what every speech pathologist we've met calls "pre-verbalization".  When she's babbling-while-reading there isn't a shred of doubt she's telling herself a story - she laughs, she acts surprised, she signs a bit.  In my less grim moments I'm reassured by this, and assume she'll be chatting with us (in English) in no time.  Exemplar videos were attempted but failed to meet quality control.

Potty Training:  No, not yet, but an A+ for effort.  She knows what to do while sitting there and WILL try, often with success if mommy & daddy are paying attention to her, um, cues and get her there in time.  She's even told us a couple times she's had to go - with me usually, because there's candy involved (disturbingly, the sign for "candy" and "potty" are developing a close relationship).  And once she actually grabbed Matt's hand and walked him over to the toilet (I'm going to pretend that wasn't because he missed her signing).  But... if we're not paying attention or she's busy or the moon is in the 3rd quarter, not the 4th, she has no qualms about not using the potty.  So not there yet but we're on the right path which is a fine & dandy place to be.

Pretend Play:  If I were a real blogger I'd post a video here too, of her tucking her dolls and lions and tigers in at night, or trying to feed her doll raisins or offering it her straw, or taking her doll to the potty, or trying to line them all up on the couch so they can watch TV with her.  You'll just have to take my word for it.  I made the mistake bringing THREE dolls downstairs over the weekend for her to play with but as every parent knows, 2 can play and 4 can play, but 3 always means someone gets their feelings hurt.  She, of course, intuitively understands this and became ENORMOUSLY frustrated when all 3 of her dolls wouldn't fit in the front (in the front! not the back!) of the little grocery cart she has.  I bent limbs, squished dolly ribs, counted one-two-three heads for her and was rewarded with a belly laugh, and then she marched off, content with an equitable world. 

Oh, how I long for her to keep that feeling forever.