I absolutely love being Addie's mom. She's just so down-right silly and full of personality. She's our little comedian, always coming up with the silliest stuff just to make us laugh. (Sadly, I left my camera at my parents' house in Sunday so I have no pictures to post of her silly stunts.) She'll walk around with her belly sticking as far out as she can get it and her bottom lip poking out, or she'll put on my galoshes that go up to her bottom and strut around dragging her feet with each step. She says, "Aye yie yie" , "Ah bah bah (something my brothers and I would say when one of us would get into trouble)" and "Uh-ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!" along with a few animal sounds (dog, rabbit and fish).
She gives millions of kisses, high-fives and knuckles (she even gives herself knuckles now and then).
She loves to climb on everything and I am constantly surprised by the things I find myself getting her down from. Her latest trick is climbing into her highchair by herself. She pushes a chair over by her highchair, climbs onto the chair using a grab-and-wiggle technique, climbs onto the tray and then lowers herself into her seat. She did this the other night as I was getting cinnamon rolls out of the oven...I was shocked to turn around and find her in her highchair. She also climbs onto the kitchen table, inside cupboards and onto the computer desk so she can "type". It sounds like I never watch her, but I swear she's got a little rocket pack she's hiding somewhere.
She loves coloring (as is evident by the current state of our dishwasher and the pile of colored bills on our desk. She pulls a little chair over to the desk and starts coloring on whatever is there). Thank goodness for washable crayons. I can still remember my mom cleaning crayon off the wall with toothpaste.
She also is a fan of puzzles and has become quite a whiz, being able to put together a puzzle faster than I can. I'm being serious, too.
She loves eating and takes a long time to finish a meal or a snack. In nursery the other kids will be done with their snacks and have moved on to music time, but not Addie. I'm amazed by the things she'll eat (like bell peppers and asparagus) although she doesn't like soup. She even took a bite from a bunch of green onions we had yet to buy at the grocery store the other day. She didn't like it, but I was surprised she even wanted to try it. And I had a good laugh watching her pull it out of her mouth with "disgusting" written all over her face.
She's starting to want to do everything by herself. Even if its something that scares her a little bit, like going down stairs. She may have to stand there for a little bit, but she does NOT want your help.
Lately she hates having her clothes changed. On Sunday I was trying to get her out of her pajamas and into her dress and she started wailing and went stiff. Stiff like a board. I couldn't bend her legs to get them out of her sleeper. Apparently she's also really strong. Or I am really weak. After church I tried to change her out of her dress into some play clothes. The shirt went on fine but she took off across the bed (she was laying on my bed to get changed) and shoved her legs down between the wall and the bed (our bed is against the wall) so that I couldn't put her pants on.
She's also really smart. She knows what a dung beetle is and can point one out to you if you're not sure what it is. She has her own potty in the bathroom, and while she doesn't actually "use" it yet she does pretend quite well. She opens the lid, sits down, gets a piece of toilet paper and wipes her pants (because she doesn't pull them down yet), then throws it in the potty and closes the lid. I didn't even teach it to her.
I am convinced she understands nearly everything I say to her even though she doesn't really talk yet. The other day we were out and about and she took off down the sidewalk and was about to cross a car entrance into a parking lot when I ran and jumped in her way. I said, "Turn around, Addie." Which is something I have never said to her before, but like I said, I'm convinced she knows everything I say to her. She just looked up at me and stared. "Turn around," I said again. She got this confused look on her face and tilted her head to one side. "Turn around." Then she turned completely around until she was facing me again and then looked up with a look that said, "I don't know why you wanted me to do that." She cracks me up.
Like I was saying, I love love love my little girl and I can't think of anything more worthwhile than being her mom. It's crazy how much you can love one little person when you've only know them a year or so and they don't even speak English. That being said, I find that I often have no idea what I'm doing. And the older she gets the less I know what I'm doing. For instance, the two things I am trying to teach her right now are: No hitting and No throwing food/ spilling milk on purpose. She does both of these things because she thinks they are hilarious and it cracks her up. She's not mad, she's not frustrated, she just thinks she's being funny. I tried telling her we don't do those things and she just sits there grinning. I tried using my stern voice and pointing my finger at her and she just sits there grinning. I tried having her clean up the mess (not for hitting, just for food spills), but it just adds to the fun. I tried putting her in time-out in her room but she doesn't even mind (even after I take the puzzles out). I am currently trying the ignoring route (for the food, not the hitting) because I think she just likes to see a reaction. Maybe if she doesn't get a reaction the hilarious part of it all will disappear and there will be no reason to make huge messes. Who knows? It's like we're a couple of scientists: she's figuring out the whole world by testing and I'm figuring her out by testing. Sometimes it's fun and sometimes it's not. I guess the secret is to just to not take everything so seriously and enjoy the ride while I'm on it, right? I have a hunch that someday I'll miss having a little Addie around that flings her food on the floor and then busts up about it. And, to be honest, it is kind of funny. Until I have to wipe it off the wall.
