"No, Ig Girl!"

Sylvia is growing like a weed and developing at lightening speed these days.  I don't know if I'm just paying more attention because I'm home now, or if she's hit some sort of growth spurt, but I wanted to write down some things before I forget, and before I'm too busy to sit down and write anymore!

She is obsessed with WORDS. 

She never stops talking, from sunup to sundown.  I knew this day would come, and I thought I'd be all "Geez, kid, shut UP already!" but I'm not.  I'm the opposite.  I absolutely LOVE hearing her voice and deciphering her words.  She asks questions all day long and I love to answer them.  "Where Daddy go?"  "He's cutting the grass."  "Yeah, cut gray-us!" Then two minutes later she asks the same question and we go through the whole thing again.  Whenever she doesn't know where Sylvain is, she thinks he's cutting the grass.  Her second favorite question is "Dat, Mommy, daaat?" and I answer as matter-of-factly as I can.  "That's a bus."  "That's a dandelion."  "That's a tatoo on that man's arm."  It's not always easy and sometimes I can't answer her without laughing, but I always answer her in some way or another.  She also likes to repeat herself, especially when she's excited.  She follows the "_______, Mommy, _______!" pattern of speech most often.  Like when we're on our walks and she bends down to see a bug, then hops up and shouts at the top of her lungs while pointing at the ground, "ANT, Mommy, ANT!" or "Lay-gee bug, Mommy, Lay-gee bug!"  When she runs out of things to ask or things to talk about, she just sits by herself and starts LISTING things: people she knows, colors, places, you name it.  It's like she's a little computer, compiling a data base of information all the time!

She loves to EXPLORE. 

She wants to run everywhere she goes, but she always stops to touch something or point at something or jump over something.  The excitement with which she sees the world is astonishing.  I don't know how many times I could ever get excited about an ant, but every time she sees one, it's like Christmas morning.  She will climb on ANYTHING, which means she will fall off of EVERYTHING.  She falls down at least once a day, and we've already had an entire summer's worth of bloody knees.  Thank God for Dora Band Aids.  They're like magic.  So far she hasn't gotten herself into too much trouble.  If she runs ahead of us and goes too far, we just shout "STOP!" and she stops and waits.  She knows she has to hold our hand in a parking lot or crossing the street.  Sometimes she'll get scared of a loud noise or some unidentifiable moving thing and she'll come racing back to us, grabbing onto our leg and saying "I scay-erd, Mommy, I scay-erd."  Usually a pat on the head and a quick explanation of why she shouldn't be scared is all she needs before she's running ahead and exploring again.

She is very INDEPENDENT. 

Her two favorite phrases are "My do it!" (which is usually accompanied by snatching her clothes out of my hands and trying to dress herself) and "No want it!" (which means she doesn't want something - usually food).  She is much too busy to eat, which is driving me INSANE, but I'm dealing with it.  Watching her figure things out for herself is fascinating to me.  She's starting to figure out how to blow bubbles from a bubble wand, but she only does it right about half the time.  When she doesn't get it right, she just shouts "Oops!  Try again!" instead of crying and whining and asking for help, so I love hearing her say that!  She also likes to have pretend arguments with us.  She likes to shout, "No, MY Daddy!" and waits for me to say, "No, MY Daddy!" and we go back and forth and laugh about it together.  There are so many things that she knows how to do by herself now and sometimes I forget that I can say things like, "Put your shoes on," or "Go get your robe," or "Climb up in your seat," and she'll know exactly where to go and what to do!  It's a great feeling.

She is LOUD and proud! 

I've just recently decided that I love this.  At first I wanted quiet kids.  I wanted them to be like my husband - quiet and thoughful and serene.  Not like me - loud and obnoxious.  But I'm starting to understand that being loud isn't bad, especially when you're loud about something you feel very passionately about - like bugs, or seeing Daddy walk in the door, or making a funny joke.  Now that she's using words so well, I really love to hear her shout and sing and giggle.  It's like the greatest music I've ever heard!  And speaking of music...

She loves to SING! 

You have no idea how happy I am that she can sing by herself.  ABC's, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Frere Jaques, Edelweiss, you name it!  We sing together all day long, especially in the car and at bedtime, but she sings by herself very often, especially when she thinks I'm not listening - like when she's falling asleep or waking up from a nap.  (She also talks to her Dou-Dou Bunny about all kinds of things when she's in her crib, but lately there's been a lot of talk about the new baby.)  She also loves to dance while she sings and she usually insists that we all sing along with her.  There are some songs that she won't let anyone else sing, for example, Daddy is the only one allowed to sing Frere Jaques, even though I KNOW all the words and I pronounce them CORRECTLY, I'm still not allowed to sing it.  Go figure. 

Sometimes, she breaks my heart...

Every day for the last two years, I've asked her, "Are you my sweet baby?"  She used to say, "Yeah," or, "Sweet Baby!" or, "Mama-Silya!" but now she says...."No, IG GIRL!" for "big girl," and I get all choked up because I never taught her to say that, but it's true.  She's my big girl.  And she's getting bigger every day.  I never thought it could be this fun, or that it could possibly get any better, but it always does.  I try to explain to her that even though there's a new baby coming, and she gets to be a big sister, she'll still be my sweet baby always and forever, but she'll have none of it.  She wants to be big.  So...big she will be, and there's not a whole lot I can do about it.