!@(Img_0197small.jpg popimg: “I’m Sliding Daddy!”)Dear Sierra,
Yet another month has gone by – I can hardly believe that 14 months ago I was holding a fragile little 5lb baby girl. To look at you now, there is no way anyone could tell how fragile you were. You are a strong independent young girl now, and you get stronger everyday. Yesterday night, daddy and I took you to the park. You climbed the stairs of the jungle gym all by yourself, and when you got to the top you sat down on the slide yourself, then wiggled your bottom yourself in order to slide down the slide. At the bottom you wiggled off the slide yourself, then you repeated it again and again – grinning ear to ear. You didn’t care that it would take you almost 5 minutes to get up the stairs and 20 seconds to get down the slide. You were so determined to do it by yourself and gosh darn it – you were having fun! At one point a 2 year old little boy was sitting at the top of the slide blocking you and oh no – you wouldn’t let him stop you from going down the slide! You climbed right over him to go down the slide. And when it was time to go you let us know by throwing a tantrum that you absolutely did NOT want to leave!
This past month has been quite a busy little month for you. You cut two new teeth, your upper right incisor, and your upper left molar! They must’ve been really painful coming in because they really disrupted your sleep. Then, we went away with you three weekends in a row!Â
First, you and I went camping at the Pinery in Grand Bend. You had a great time playing with the other toddlers and even though you were the only girl there, you were the messiest of the bunch – just covered in dirt from head to toe the entire weekend. You are really going to be quite a tom-boy (just like mommy). While camping, I brought you swimming in Lake Huron and the minute I put you down on the beach you ran for the water. You were not content to just sit and play in the sand like the other toddlers. You are completely fearless and would just keep running into the lake.Â
The second weekend, daddy and I took to Chuck, Barb and Abby’s cottage on beautiful Snake Island on Lake Simcoe. You got to travel by boat to the cottage. At first you were scared on the boat, but then you nodded off to sleep. It was a good thing you slept on the boat, because that was pretty much the only time you slept all weekend. You had a great time playing with all the kids at the cottage, and loved swimming in the lake with daddy. We had to keep you in a playpen whenever you weren’t swimming because if we left you loose you would walk to the end of the dock and attempt to use the stairs yourself to go into the lake.Â
The third weekend, we took you to Ottawa to visit your grand-parents, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Brian and cousins Danielle, Emma and Nathan. You slept the whole 5 hr drive to Ottawa! But by Saturday night we realized that you had slept so well during the drive because you were sick. You developed a fever and were up ½ the night tossing and turning. Sunday, you slept for a good chunk of the day, but once you woke up you were rested and ready to play! Sunday night you slept fine and were feeling much better by Monday. Your cousins had a new pool put in, so when you weren’t sleeping you were swimming, or lazing in a chair near the pool. You are quite a water baby! You seem to like swimming a lot, so mommy will be enrolling you in swimming lessons all winter.
This month you have developed some firsts – you now identify me as “Ma Maâ€, and your homecare provider as “May Mayâ€. You’ve been calling daddy “Da Da†for quite some time now, so it was exciting for me to finally have you call me by name. You can also follow simple directions (give mommy a hug, ta ta to mommy). However, you’re not so fond of ta ta to mommy because you know it’s because I’m taking a dangerous object away from you. You have begun to point to things that interest you (usually parks and doggies). And I have finally gotten you to try some new foods, just so long as I mix cheese in with them – you really seem to like cheese!
This coming month may not be nearly as exciting. This coming weekend you’re going to the Luke Family Annual Christmas Pool Party (yes, Christmas in August – it’s a long story). The following two weekends will be spent quietly at home, though your cousins may come down to Toronto for a trip to the zoo August 26th. The weekend following that grandma and grandpa will be coming to visit and look after you while Daddy and Mommy go to a wedding. It will be a great opportunity for you to bond with grandma, and she’s been anxiously and patiently waiting to look after you for a weekend.Â
Darling, we love you so much and it’s such a joy to share the world with you and watch you grow and learn everyday!
Love,
Mommy
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Geez you guys are so busy you’re almost tiring me out.
When you mentioned the tantrums for leaving the park, that brought back memories I’d forgotten about. I remember thinking that I didn’t want to go to the park any more because of the trouble leaving.
That’s when we started introducing rules like “in 10 more minutes we’re leaving”. Did that work? No, it only put off the tantrum for 10 minutes.
Looks like she finally has great hair like momma too!
Boy they really do grow up fast huh? I was looking at my boy the other day hardly believing that it wasn’t long ago that he was a tiny little thing only capable of crying, eating and pooping. And strangely enough, I’m starting to feel like he’s growing up too fast!
Ack! She’s getting so big! I lost your new-ish link for a while and just found it. Glad to read everything’s still going great!