Ok folks, I'm normally long-winded, but because this is a combo of two months worth of Shaelyn stuff, it's a doozy... I don't expect most of you to finish. But hey, grandparents, aunts and uncles, ENJOY!
I wasn't good these last two months and recording exact times these things happened, and I didn't take a lot of pictures last month, so this is a hodge-podge of funny things Shaelyn has done as well as new things she has learned. One thing I noticed as I compiled these pics/videos is that our child is only half-dressed most of the time. Oh well!
* We sing "I am a Child of God" every night with Shaelyn before bed. She has started to sing with us, very loud and off key, and proudly sings "day" at the top of her lungs at the end of the song - she knows it's the last word.
* We close our prayers "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen". Shaelyn is very good about saying "Jesus" and "amen". Tonight when I said "Jesus", she said "Dada". Whoops - let's get some things straight, kiddo. But glad you think Daddy is someone to emulate.
* Shaelyn loves to climb on things/jump off of things all around the house. I usually don't stop her from doing these activities, but I do say "careful" as I closely supervise the craziness. Shaelyn has started identifying when an activity is considered "dangerous" and says "care-cul" before engaging in it. At least I know she's listening to me!
* Shaelyn has learned how to say "thank you" and "you're welcome", but she doesn't know the appropriate times to say these phrases. Now when any exchange occurs, Shaelyn says both "thank you" (chank-u) and "you're welcome" (nel-come). She's just extra polite.
Is this polite, Mommy? How does my nose look?
When can I start dance classes, already?
* I am frequently calling out for Michael to do things for me around the house since I'm too lazy/don't feel well enough to do them myself. Shaelyn has picked up on this trend and has started calling out for Michael, too. Except she walks around the house yelling "Ny-chul". Adorable. Michael says she's going to be like Bart calling his dad Homer.
* Shaelyn can now say her name, but we're not sure she knows that it's her name. She usually says it in a sing-song voice, sing that's how I call for her when I'm looking for her in the house or need her to come to me. It has now evolved to a very clear "Shae-nin". I love hearing her say her name! We caught her saying her name at the end of this giggly video:
* Shaelyn is a big help around the house and wants to do everything I'm doing: the laundry, sweeping the floors, cleaning up toys, emptying the dishwasher... This works very well when I want her to pick up her blocks or crayons. I just start doing it and she immediately starts copying me. She decided that she wanted to help with the dishwasher, so she now has an official job - helping to unload the silverware. She really enjoys it and it makes the task fun for me. The only catch - we have to wait until she's not around to load it, or she tries to help unload all the dirty dishes, too. (My favorite part of the video: Michael's thumbs up at the end. It makes me laugh out loud every time!):
* We had a family cookout recently in the backyard where Michael made very yummy hot dogs with a barbecue sauce that our friend Jeremy introduced us to. Shaelyn had a blast playing ball with Daddy. It wasn't funny so much as cute, but I wanted to share the pictures:
* Shaelyn's new favorite show right now is "Super Why!" on PBS. I think she is in love with Whyatt, the main character. She actually kissed the screen one day when he was on. She watches it every morning while she eats her breakfast (an Eggo, what else?!?) and gets very excited when it comes on. She usually screams "super dye" much louder, but got a little subdued when I turned the camera on. But you get the general idea:
*Shaelyn picked out her outfit for the first time. It doesn't match, but it ended up looking cute together I thought. She wants to be naked most of the time and objects to getting dressed, so I thought if she was involved in the selection process, she might be more inclined to let me put clothes on her. I was right! I told her to pick out a shirt and some shorts. She picked out a skirt instead and practically begged me to put them on her. Good job, little girl!
* Shaelyn loves to open drawers. The drawers in the kitchen don't have locks on them since they are all high and up until now, Shaelyn wasn't able to reach them. Now she can and LOVES opening them all up. She will open every drawer in the kitchen and leave them all open. I don't know why that is so appealing. But it definitely makes her laugh.
* She also loves to open the drawer in her bathroom. I have stocked it with ribbons and pretty barrettes that she can play with. She knows what's in there - she most open that drawer and empty it's contents at least 5 times a day, and yet she still says "oohh!" in a very awed voice every time she opens it.
*Shaelyn has gotten very into watching her reflection. She has found out that the fireplace and the stove are almost as good as mirrors. So likes to watch herself dance in them. Her new form of dancing: marching in place. I love the bent-over march she does to see herself in the fireplace. (And if you haven't seen Zac Effron dancing in "Bet On It" in High School Musical 2, you don't know what you're missing. It's like the 2008 version of Kevin Bacon's "I Need a Hero" dance in Footloose. Excellent!):
These cookies are good!
That Cookie Monster sure does know what he's doing!* Speaking of eating, Shaelyn has a new favorite after dinner activity. She started it and Michael just started copying her. That led to giggles you rarely hear out of this little girl. She laughs so hard she turns red in the face:
* Shaelyn remains fascinated with Maggie. Today she tried to feed Maggie some of her banana from breakfast. Maggie was not too interested.
* I caught the very end of this game, so there's not much to see, but Shaelyn was rolling wiffle balls to Maggie who was hiding under the dining room table. Quite funny to watch them play together:
* Shaelyn has started walking backwards out of rooms. I'm not sure the purpose, but it reminds me of a Simpsons episode where Homer sees something shocking and walks all the way home backwards with his mouth hanging open. When Shaelyn does it, it always makes us laugh.
* Shaelyn usually wants to watch an episode of Curious George after playing outside for a while. I think it's her way of cooling off and calming down. But lately she has become the queen of lounging. Uh oh. Monkey see, monkey do in this case.
I love George almost as much as I love Super Why!
* And finally, as one of Shaelyn's favorite jumping games, she loves to jump off the ottoman into the waiting arms of me or Michael. I think most people clap their hands before asking someone to throw them something. Well, Michael and I clapped our hands enough before she jumped into our arms that she picked up on the pattern. She now claps her hands to tell you she's ready to jump, and waits for you to clap your hands to tell her to go ahead. Love it!
